Opera Nut

I have a web buddy out in CA that gave lots of $$ to Soka Gakkai. He says it is a very dangerous cult.

I occasionally attend a Mahayana Chinese buddhist temple and have never heard or seen anything cult-like about any of the main branches of traditional buddhism.

Stay away from Soka Gakkai!

Good luck in your search in Buddhism or whatever works for you.

Ameena

BTDT,

I was a member of SG (in Tokyo from 1987 to 1991). My advice to those who seek Buddhism: If it is SG, turn away and run with the velocity of light!

Most of the points directed against them are true. There however, is one good thing in SG. That is, desperate people can get relief from the chanting they practice everyday. It is kind of self-hypnotism. When you are at the lowest ebb of your mental stability, you will feel that you get self-confidence, self-esteem etc. by chanting Nam-Myou-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo. But you can get the same effects from many other sources too, such as psychological therapy, Transcendental Meditation etc.

Also, the members of SGI are very kind and helpful to each other (but not towards the non-members always).

All these are (or may be) characteristics of a cult IMHO.

Regards

Attila

My wife and I have a couple of good friends who were into Nicheren Soshu buddism for a while and even looked into it ourselves. It seemed to be okay on the surface, but there was just something about Soka Gakkai that didn't seem quite right to me. And then there was the Dishu Ikeda, the head of SGI. We blew it off completely when we read of Dishu Ikeda wanting to re-militarize Japan. I didn't like the cult of personality about Ikeda and SGI, but the remilitarizing Japan was the icing on the cake.

I don't know if Ikeda is still the head of SGI, or if he is even still alive.

Ameena

He is "Daisaku Ikeda" not "Dishu". Yes, he is alive and well. He is a charismatic leader who worked very hard to spread SG ideals into the western world. He is the founder of SGI (Soka Gakkai International) and now the honorary president. Officialy there a is an executive president but still what Mr. Ikeda says goes. The followers of NS blow him out of proportions and worship him like a god.

I think the NS political wing (Kouminto) opposed sending peace-keepers to Iraq citing their pacifist constiutuion. So, what you heard of Mr. Ikeda wanting to re-militarize Japan may not be true.

However, it was a wise decidion you took to keep away from SGI.

(When I was a member, they even prohibited me sending Xmas cards to my christian friends )

Regards

Ameena

Friends.

The political wing of NS is Kou-Mei-Tou (written Komeito), not Kouminto.

Sorry for the misake.

Regards

andy_d

Why? Do they have something against pieces of cardboard?

They sound pretty unbalanced.

Ameena

They are not unbalanced but kind of supremacist.
Theirs is the only true religion and the Gohonzon (a piece of cloth/paper in which some excerpts of Lotus Sutra were written caligraphically in chineses characters) is the only thing worthy of worship. It is very much akin to Islamists rejecting idol worship as sin.

If it is a B'day card it is allowed. Xmas cards are regarded as symbols of an inferior religion.

Corgan Sow

You know, from my analysis since my last post about this "cult", I very much agree with most of you folks here. They claimed their religion is atheistic, yet they had prophesies like Revelations (Bible) and they treat Dai-Gohonzon like Jehovah. Nicheren Dashonin's writings actually "predicted" that the Nikken sect of the Nicheren religion will rebel against Soka Gakkai, or so from what I heard, and one of their verses from the Gosho is actually frighteningly militant:

"Rather than offering 10,000 prayers for remedy, it is better to wipe out such evil for good."

I went to a testimonial meeting of SG members and one shared his experience that he was so moved by the organization that he gave away almost all his monthly salary to the organization to build a new temple for the Malaysian branch. Worst still, that guy had to survive with RM 50 (US$ 20, roughly) for the remaining of the month! And then he claimed now he is a MBA holder despite barely passing his SPM (or Malaysian equilavent of O' Levels) and had a six-figure salary plus four months bonus at least every year.

Another testimony I heard was hilarious. This former Christian tried to commit suicide after his faith failed him when a friends called him in a nick of time and shared the "gospel" to that chap.

No, actually they claim that Buddhist who doesn't practice Nicheren Daishonin's Buddhism and chant nam-myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo will never gain enlightenment, hence the "hell".

andy_d

What's the difference?

Ameena

What I wanted to say is, they are very intolerant/onerous of other faiths including the other sects of Buddhism.

If you are just unbalanced, you still can be tolearnt of others, but spremacist (like KKK) are out to destroy those who hold opposing views.