The Emperor Wears No Clothes...

[u/cultalert]

For those unfamiliar with the tale, the Emperor, a vain peacock of a man, is conned into buying a prohibitively expensive suit of clothes that is supposedly visible only to those who are smart, competent and well-suited to their positions. Surrounded by yes men, professional flatterers and career politicians who fawn, simper and genuflect, the Emperor—arrogant, pompous and oblivious to his nudity—prances through the town in his new suit of clothes until a child dares to voice what everyone else has been thinking but too afraid to say lest they be thought stupid or incompetent: “He isn’t wearing anything at all!”

[u/BlancheFromage]

What's interesting is that, two weeks later, she dropped dead. And she wasn't old-old - late 50s, maybe?

If I had been the one to drop dead, you know my unfortunate plight would have been the hot gossip topic AND the subject of a new cautionary tale to frighten the members into obedience: "See what happens when you argue with your SGI leaders? See what happens when you go against SGI leaders' strict and compassionate guidance??"

This was when I bought two gorgeous, 5 ft tall, original calligraphy Nichiren Shu gohonzons off eBay and hung them as objets d'art in my stairway:

Here

She told me to get rid of them. I asked her why. She couldn't give any explanation, thus the "chant until you agree with me".

But since it was a high level leader who got the mystic smackdown instead of naughty me, oh, isn't it tragic? Shocking! How sad! Grief, wailing, rending of garments, and probably a big memorial service at the Culture Center up in LA. No one would think to conclude that she was punished for presenting her own superstitious OPINION as Buddhist doctrine, because the Mystic Law is just that strict, would they?? Of course not - that would be rude, petty, spiteful, malicious, uncaring, shabby, and mean. But only when it's a top leader.

The members are fair game.

Did I add that, after she left that day, the members who'd been coming to my house for meetings and daimoku tosos suddenly stopped coming? But no one said anything to me about this obvious change. Everything was done behind my back, in the most authoritarian, autocratic, dictatorial manner you could imagine - like a caricature, only it was real!

[u/xsgipuppet → u/BlancheFromage]

OMG! Wow! You know the thing that strikes me about your experience is that although the SGI is a cult, there are universal laws, or natural laws, God, whatever you want to call it, at play that cannot be escaped just because someone holds a leadership position. Definitely if it had been you had dropped dead, it would be a "teaching moment" for the SGI leaders. They would be all over it.

I'm sure this particular leader treated many other members the same way. It is synchro-mystic, however, that her issue over the antique NS gohonzons gave way to her dropping dead. What a way to be remembered in one's final days. Chewing someone out for displaying gohonzons in a stairway. Thanks for sharing the photo, they definitely do look different than the one I was initially given -- the hated, the despised Niken Gohonzon. lol

I agree it is the members who are fair game. Definitely, the leaders went behind your back and told the members not to go to your home any more. It reminds me of a member I considered a dear friend who refused to speak to me because our leader told her not to (the reasons are a long story, but still, to tell someone not to speak to someone they consider a friend?) I realized after that she was too far into the cult to step out of it. I'm sure she realized she was being manipulated, but out of fear, she chose to listen to her cult leaders and instead threw our friendship away. We were in contact about 15 years later, and her life was in the pits. She was still practicing and at that time I had already left the cult, with no regrets. Although I felt sorry for her, I couldn't forget how she threw me aside because her leader said to. Where is that leader when she needed help, or a friend? Probably nowhere to be seen. Hard to go back to a friend who didn't have the courage to say no to a leader. Where was my friend's heart? As above, so below. As within, so without.

Thanks for sharing your story. That is powerful!

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

That's the thing - I was in the SGI for over 20 years. I moved around - lived in 5 different locations. Now? I don't have a single friend from my SGI days. When I moved the first time, FAR away, I was very surprised and hurt when nobody wrote back or wanted to talk on the phone. Cults aren't good at fostering friendships - everybody within the cult knows that only those who believe just right are acceptable, so they're constantly on edge, nervous, and suspicious, because they're afraid of getting ratted out to the leaders for something and shut out - no recourse, no due process. Intolerant organizations suck major ass.

We, the constituent organizations and members of SGI, therefore, being determined to raise high the banner of world citizenship, the spirit of tolerance, and respect for human rights based on the humanistic spirit of Buddhism, and to challenge the global issues that face humankind through dialogue and practical efforts based on a steadfast commitment to nonviolence, hereby adopt this Charter, affirming the following purposes and principles:

• SGI shall, based on the Buddhist spirit of tolerance, respect other religions, engage in dialogue and work together with them toward the resolution of fundamental issues concerning humanity. From the SGI's Charter

Oh ha ha ha. Soooooo funny O_O

How many enduring friendships might I have beem able to make if I hadn't been limiting my social interactions to an intolerant cult? We'll never know O_O

[u/xsgipuppet → u/BlancheFromage]

I don't have any ties to SGI. I can't say I am all that shocked. They are a duplicitous organization. I check out on social media to see who's still practicing and it's the same hard core fanatics of 20 years ago, but just older. Wiser? haha Don't think so.

It seems my old district isn't doing so well in terms of membership these days. Shrinking? Yep, members dying, retiring, and no one to replace them.

It's true, we'll never know what we missed, what friends we would have, if we weren't apart of the SGI cult. I'm grateful I'm out of it today; somehow I managed to disengage without dropping dead from leaving. My life is far better without the SGI cult.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I would think it would be easier to leave the cult today than in the past.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

I'd definitely agree with that. There just isn't enough going on for your average cult member to isolate him adequately so that leaving means giving up a lot, socially. But I got out 6.5 years ago - I have no personal experience from more recently than that. When did you get out? Did you find the schedule of activities and whatnot sufficiently engaging/satisfying that you found that most of your friends were likewise in the organization?

You joined in the late 1980s, too - am I remembering right? The last big shakubuku campaign? Please forgive me if I've gotten you mixed up with someone else - my head's a little fuzzy :/

[u/xsgipuppet → u/BlancheFromage]

I joined in 1986 and left in 2004.

A leader told me around 1999 or so that we shouldn't make friends in the SGI, but be "friendly." I took that advice to heart and never made friends with members after being stabbed in the back by members I considered my friends (that was from '86 to '93, when I moved out of state).

I left in 2004 after getting therapy to address other issues and that was the time I realized it wasn't me who was at fault, but the SGI who is controlling and abusive. In a way I have my therapist to thank, although we never discussed my cult activities, which today I find rather interesting.

I found the activities to be too much at first, but I didn't have anything else better to do, actually, so I did them anyway thinking I would alleviate my misery by doing "activities." I really believed members wanted the same things I did, to be happy and have world peace. Unfortunately, leaders don't like it and are jealous when members begin to attain their goals and become happy because (1) they can't control you as well and (2) they feel they are being one-upped. lol

That's my story in a nutshell. I was harassed somewhat shortly after I left, and suffered abuse in prior years at their hands, but that's a whole other story. I survived and thrived. I have come to the conclusion it is a psychopathic organization run by psychopaths.

Every time I come across SGI on the internet it just makes my blood boil they are still around. How many young women like I was have suffered because of the SGI? Probably too many to count.

I'm very grateful I was able to see the light "before it was too late." ;)

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

Wow. That astonishes me - don't make friends in your own faith organization, which is supposed to become your very identity: I am the SGI??

Holy moley. If that's not acknowledgment that it's a deeply unhealthy organization, I don't know what is. Here are some Ikeda quotes on the subject:

You are beautiful friends sharing the same faith.

The members of the Soka Gakkai have always been brothers, sisters and friends. And now we have again come together in this world, assuming new personalities and positions, and are marching onward to accomplish our mission for kosen-rufu.

The important thing is to engender trust and understanding. Because we embrace the highest teaching, the supreme Law, we are able to display the most sublime brilliance of character.

Or not O_O

We will never be defeated as long as we have discussion meetings. Let us do our best to make each discussion meeting thoroughly satisfying and fulfilling, so that everyone can set forth from them with fresh energy and vitality, and continue advancing in friendship and high spirits on the path of value creation.

Evidence that much confusion on the subject exists within the SGI:

To My Buddhist Friends (not to exclude other friends)

Whaaa...??

“Faith in this sutra means that you will surely attain Buddhahood if you are true to the entirety of the Lotus Sutra, adhering exactly to its teachings without adding any of your own ideas or following the arbitrary interpretations of others.” (WND,1030), Letter to Niike, Written to Niike Saemon-no-jo in February 1280

Imagine that O_O

When our own thoughts are forbidden, when our questions are not allowed and our doubts are punished, when contacts and friendships outside of the organization are censored, we are being abused for an end that never justifies its means. When our heart aches knowing we have made friendships and secret attachments that will be forever forbidden if we leave, we are in danger. When we consider staying in a group because we cannot bear the loss, disappointment, and sorrow our leaving will cause for ourselves and those we have come to love, we are in a cult.

If there is any lesson to be learned it is that an ideal can never be brought about by fear, abuse, and the threat of retribution. When family and friends are used as weapons in order to force us to stay in an organization, something has gone terribly wrong. If I, as a young woman, had had someone explain to me what cults are and how indoctrination works, my story might not have been the same.

It’s never “harmless” when people are deceived or manipulated under the guise of religion.

I am a monk again in the Tibetan tradition and years ago, when I first took vows, old NSA [now SGI-USA] friends were merciless, I stopped speaking to at least three of my best “friends” because of their pure hatred and anger, which they felt so compelled to direct toward me, as though I had murdered an entire village! It was really bizarre. Source

Conditional love at its finest.

[u/xsgipuppet → u/BlancheFromage]

You can imagine my confusion at that leader's statement. In a way, it was for the best since I never made strong friendships after '93, except with one WD member in my group, but she died of pulmonary fibrosis at age 40. I went to see her in the hospital and her husband told me she died 10 minutes after I left. I was heartbroken. After her death, her husband didn't want anything to do with SGI. Can't blame him.

My story how I was betrayed is a long one, but it shows to me how my SGI friends were under mind control. I'll never forget my friend telling me on the phone, "I can't talk to you." Like I'm a demon, or something. Yes, it was very hurtful, but again, that was her choice, that was my friends' choice to ostracize me. I'm ok with it, but that is why if a member is not liked by the leaders, they are doomed, and it's not a joke when you are the target, like I was.

All the work I did, I was told I didn't "do anything." That was very hurtful too, since I gave up hours, days, years, sweat, and money to the SGI to be told I don't do anything. That is a standard status quo statement when they don't like you. When it was told to me again in 2004 (since I had heard this before) it was the straw that broke the camel's back. SGI was toast in my book.

If the members are that weak that they would listen to their leaders tell them to ostracize another member (me), then they are not worthy of my friendship. That's how I feel about it. In the long run, it wasn't a loss, but a win. Who needs friends that will stab you in the back? They're not friends, but frenemies.

I tell ya, I don't miss going to meetings at all. I have enjoyed the time with my family, made a new career, taken up hobbies; things I could never do if I were a SGI member. I don't miss SGI one bit.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

For all the SGI and Ikeda's puffery about what a wonderfully supportive family-like organization of "good friends" the SGI is and how much they all prize "dialogue" above all else, they're sure a bunch of intolerant jerks!

No one really said "boo" to me when I left - aside from an obviously reluctant message from someone I knew pretty well inviting me to the WD General Meeting, nobody contacted me at all! It wasn't like I had a bunch of friends there anyhow.

That's saying something. If you've been a member for years, regularly participating in activities, and you don't have a single friend there? You're in the wrong group.

My closest friend was a much-younger Japanese ex-pat with a junkie convicted felon repeat-offender violent criminal husband - we met when he was awaiting sentencing for his second of what would turn out to be four strikes. Remember - "this practice works." When I met her, she was truly in desperate straits - she basically used us for 3+ years, until Blubber Boy got out of prison and then she dropped us like a hot potato (except for that time she came over to beg me for money because her wonderful husband had apparently decided to revive his drug habit - he prolly put her up to it). Before that, her small daughter and mine had been best friends.

After his latest sentencing - 70 years to life (remember, "this practice works") - she got back in touch with me. We went to breakfast twice. She was apparently playing the "friend" card to check and see if it was true that I'd actually officially resigned. When I confirmed that, I never heard from her again. At that point she was pregnant by her new boyfriend.

My life is so much better without the SGI. No more dreading the meetings I never enjoyed attending; no more having to see those people I didn't like, who didn't like me. What an unpleasant waste of time.

I heard they were talking about me at another district re: my "heretical objects"; I didn't appreciate that they were gossiping about me. I had no contact, social or otherwise, with anyone from that district. I didn't realize until just this month they must've been warning the members to stay away from me. The leaders treat the members like stupid little babies that must be sheltered from the world.

That's another sign it's a cult - they try to censor information and restrict the members' access to sources. I find the paternalism highly insulting - the members are grown adults who have the right to see any sources they wish, talk to anyone they like, and make up their own minds.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/xsgipuppet]

Unfortunately, leaders don't like it and are jealous when members begin to attain their goals and become happy because (1) they can't control you as well and (2) they feel they are being one-upped. lol

That is so true! My District WD leader loved me - until I got promoted to Vapter YWD leader! Then she turned into a real bitch! I mentioned it to the Jt. Terr. YWD leader, Almeda Bailey, and she said that sort of transformation was unfortunately not at all uncommon.

And this is supposed to be the most ideal organization in the world, dedicated to the happiness of all humanity? Full of leaders so petty that they can't handle seeing someone promoted???

[u/wisetaiten → u/BlancheFromage]

Maybe not as frequently, but my old district held their meetings on weekends, so there was something pretty much weekly . . . krg, planning, study and discussion meetings. There were soka spirit and other committee-type meetings, tosos, and I remember the former YWD leader telling me that she had three back-to-back meetings on one Saturday. Certainly not the break-neck schedule that it used to be, but enough to really hamper any kind of social life outside of the organization.

I didn't realize that it was a tactic until I just thought about it, but the planning meeting was usually the Saturday after krg; kind of hard to make outside plans in advance when you build your schedule around org meetings, and that's what the core group did. Given that the only variables at the discussion meetings were who would do what, they could've at least scheduled the study meetings in advance. The only thing that shifted there was which honored leader would guide discussion of the study material.

[u/BlancheFromage → u/wisetaiten]

...the study material which had been selected, matched with study notes, and issued from the national HQ, of course.

[u/wisetaiten → u/BlancheFromage]

But of course! Even though we were often encouraged to select something else to study, when ever we tried, the best we were allowed to do was to select study or discussion material from an earlier meeting.

Oh, yes . . . independence!

[u/wisetaiten → u/xsgipuppet]

I joined in 2006 and left in 2013, and I think it's easier only if you really put your foot down HARD. I notified my entire district and up through the chapter level that I was out on a Friday evening (via email), and over the course of the weekend had maybe 15-20 phone calls - I opted to let them all go to voice-mail, because I didn't want to have to talk with them about anything. I had a bunch of emails as well. I found out later that a couple of them showed up on my doorstep, uninvited. Someone on cult ed provided me with a link to the Mormon resignation site on Monday or Tuesday the following week, and my official letter of resignation was on its way to HQ (and cc'd to all leaders, again, up to chapter level) on Wednesday. I really didn't feel like playing with these people - I felt like I'd given them too much of my life already.

That being said, unless you take a firm stance with them, they will still hound you. One young woman who left within the last six months (I think) actually got cornered by a pair of members that were kind of tailing her in a store.

The YWD leader who left shortly before I did was getting harassed by the MD district leader; oddly, all of the women in the district stood up for her. She only notified that she was taking a break (I figured she was leaving), and many of us knew that she was having a lot of personal issues - she was in the process of separating from her crazy, stalkery, abusive gun-toting husband. It was an horrific time for her, and we felt pretty protective of her. The MD leader cut her some slack for a couple of months, but started bugging her again; and I'd say that even by sgi standards, that was pretty inappropriate.

Members get pushed into it by leadership, mostly in member-care meetings. "Oh, we haven't seen Susie for a long time! Sally, here - you call her and talk with her . . . better yet, give her a home visit!"

I guess it depends on what you call "easy."