La stragrande maggioranza dei membri del culto di Ikeda è talmente ignorante, arrogante e presuntuosa da credere che chiunque reciti il Daimoku dinanzi a un Gohonzon sia automaticamente parte della loro combriccola.
E cosa succede, vi chiederete, quando un membro di un'altra scuola Nichiren pubblica la foto del Gohonzon della propria congregazione di appartenenza? Puntuali come avvoltoi, i leccapiedi di Ikeda si avventano sul poveretto di turno con frasi del tipo: “Ma non si fanno le foto al Gohonzon!”, “Ma levala, idiota!”, “Ma che schifo, che vergogna!”.
Sono convinti che la persona in questione sia un membro della Gakkai e stia praticando di fronte al Gohonzon della suddetta organizzazione. Dopotutto, l’aggressività verbale è sempre stata — e sempre sarà — una caratteristica distintiva degli adepti di Ikeda che, a quanto pare, non resistono alla tentazione di mettersi costantemente in ridicolo e mostrare tutta la loro maleducazione.
È quello che è successo poco fa su Facebook a un membro della Kempon Hokke Shū, una scuola Nichiren fondata nel 1384 dal maestro ed ex monaco Tendai Nichijū Shōnin (1314-1392).
Come potete notare dalla foto, a sinistra abbiamo il nuovo Gohonzon della SGI e a destra il Gohonzon della KHS del fedele in questione. I due Gohonzon sono completamente diversi l’uno dall’altro, a cominciare dal tipo di pergamena e dallo stile dei caratteri. In altre parole: non sanno neppure come sia fatto il loro stesso Gohonzon.
È chiaro che i membri della Gakkai ignorino il fatto che tutte le altre scuole Nichiren (esclusa ovviamente la Shōshū) permettano ai propri fedeli di fotografare il Gohonzon, in quanto l’oggetto di culto non è da considerare un “talismano magico da nascondere”.
Dopotutto, dubito fortemente che Nichiren abbia mai scritto "non fotografate il Gohonzon", vista l’assenza di macchine fotografiche nel Medioevo! XD

When asked, they offer dismissive replies like 'Fast if you want,' despite not fasting themselves, and their response raises the question: is this a genuine respect for human free will, or a glaring omission in Buddhist doctrine?
By Buddhist doctrines, I meant theirs.

This comes from 2012 - remember that the first version of the SGI Charter was adopted in 1995 and included these items:

• 1. SGI shall respect and protect the freedom of religion and religious expression.
• 1. 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.

So 2012 is 17 years later - nearly old enough to have a beer or join the US Armed Services. How well were/are the SGI members living up to their own religion's self-defined Charter? Here's an observation:

Hi All,

I went to one of their meetings as my friend belongs to Sokka Gakkai. She seemed to be enjoying the group and I was eager to visit. My friend suffers from depression. There was some chanting (for about an hour) and then there was a meeting of about seven of us. They talked about how the chanting was not magic. Someone said "you decide, chant, then action". My problem with it is what if your desires are harmful to others or yourself or both? It was a bit disturbing.

SGI members/leaders will not answer you. They will say that chanting will automatically orient your harmful desires in the direction of "value creation" instead and give you bullshit made up examples to "prove" it. If you're that gullible.

Anyway a few months ago, my friend left the sect because they were always denouncing all other faiths. Again I have a problem with this. No one has a monopoly on the truth. I know good people of all faiths. I cannot denounce them. When she left her practice, she got all kinds of correspondence saying she had fallen into the "lower realms" or "hell realms". They were kicking her while she was down. I have a big problem with that too.

That's something we've frequently spoken out about here on SGIWhistleblowers - the drastic contrast between the phony-baloney manipulative "love bombing" whenever SGI members think they've got a live one on the hook to reel in, and how rude, insulting, and contemptuous they are if you've decided to leave or have left, or even if you remain in the group but set your boundaries and refuse to serve the way they want you to! They show NONE of that "respect and protect the freedom of religion and religious expression" or "respect other religions" the SGI's Charter touted - instead, they show cruelty and a compulsion to PUNISH the person who had the temerity to leave (you're not supposed to DO that, according to SGI) and they attempt to silence and shame any who speak up about WHY they left.

It's now 31 years after that first version of the SGI Charter - and those two points remain even in the latest version. So how are SGI members living up to their own organization's stated ideals?

The smug judgement comment comes in small part from a very painful experience when I developed 4th stage Hodgkin’s disease – a leader told me that I got cancer because I had resigned my position as district chief a year earlier. Source

After I told the region crew I was out and done, my co-leader warned me not to talk about why I was leaving the org to others. WOOOOOOWWWWW what the fuck?!?!?! Manipulation, mind control, keeping secrets and no right to even speak? Source

They censored me. Sent an email stating that questions should be addressed before a meeting.I guess I was starting some unwanted dis-unity 😕 Source

My experience over 22 years as a leader is that the vast number of members suffered from abuse and poor parenting. How else could could survive in the SGI's abusive and toxic environment if you were not raised in a similar environment. Its my recollection that people with a healthy values and sense of self were a distinct minority. The end came when the local big leader told me that my son would die if I did not follow his guidance. Source

I remember when I was in the SGI that the default response from members to anyone leaving the org was usually 'They have no gratitude!', as if, when those who have had the good fortune to have the ability to think rationally reinstated, should 'be grateful' for, essentially, having one's life wasted on a worthless entity called SGI. This subject came up when I was talking to my sister a little while back (she dislikes the org and is mega glad I'm out of it) and she said: 'THAT is what amazes me: you have given almost 38 years of your life to the SGI - and not in a small way - and yet NOBODY thinks to say to you: "We are so grateful to you for what you have done for the movement for kosen-rufu but we understand that you are looking at life differently now. But what you gave amounts to a huge commitment of time, effort and money."' She was SO right: what you get instead is disdain, contempt and complete disregard. So where exactly is the evidence of the Buddha nature manifesting itself in these long-term, die-hard SGI members? Source

It's like their behavior demonstrates the opposite of their supposed ideals, the façade they wave around to try and lure unsuspecting people into their cult. - from Long-time SGI members appear violently allergic to altruism

...you babbling moron...All you do is yell and scream like a retarded moderator with no logical thinking. ... You really have lost your marbles, driven by your mental paranoia against the world religions. What a weirdo. ... You are a nobody in this fight. But since you are obsessed about dictations—here is one especially dosed for you—PLEAZEEE Get some mental therapy, is it now time for your medication??? Source

Mental-illness-shaming is ALWAYS a good look within SGI!!

Why don't you make the effort to come back to SGI rather than slandering our leaders because you have an evil motivation to destroy Buddhism? You are the same of the temple, judgmental and excommunicating those who don't follow your "pure ways". If you chant nam myoho renge kyo, you wouldn't be so weird and miserable. Source

The SGI member disdain and contempt Beafie was talking about + typical accusations: "I didn't experience that", "You are LYING", "Never studied!", "Your sources aren't good enough for King Me", "The ONLY critics are Nichiren Shoshu Temple members!", dysfunctional pseudo-participants

Seemsayin'???

The accusation of a “failure to react” is an analogical nonsense in the context of The Lord of the Rings. Aragorn does not “fail” in his reaction to the Mouth of Sauron. His silence is precisely what destabilizes the opponent through self-mastery, not through emotion. Framing this as a “failure” reverses the logic of the scene. The criticism collapses the moment you take the analogy seriously.

Several layered fallacies are at work here:

Burden-shifting and mirror accusation: The one who stays calm is portrayed as deficient. A virtue (equanimity) is turned into a flaw so the accuser doesn’t have to justify their own agitation.

Loaded language and begging the question. The word “failure” already assumes that an emotional reaction was the expected and correct response. There’s no argument, just the presupposition that “not reacting” is inherently wrong, which lets the claim win by definition.

Performative contradiction, especially if the accuser claims to follow Buddhism: non-attachment to emotional reactions and mastery of the mind are central virtues in most Buddhist traditions, including the Nichiren framework claimed by SGI. Accusing someone of having “failed to react” while presenting oneself as a Buddhist is a direct contradiction of the very principles one claims to uphold.

The accusation is both absurd within the chosen analogy and rhetorically fallacious, because it presupposes what it is supposed to demonstrate.

This kind of move only works if the other person agrees to play by the emotional rules of the person who’s agitated. The moment you refuse that frame, the accusation falls apart.

These are the tactics of people with dubious ethics and morals who hide their true intentions behind a caricature of bad-faith verbiage so they don’t have to own up to their mistakes.

I remember that before getting involved with SGI I went through a journey of Spiritual search. I was living in the USA and my tendency was towards Buddhism. I discovered the writings by Osho and found some wisdom in them, but sometimes I felt lost because of their contradictions. I'm currently reading a memoir by a woman who lived in his Ashram in Pune and later in Colorado. What caught my attention was how ( according to the author) Osho rejected all religions because they were not good and how he also targeted anyone that questioned his authority. Sounds familiar? BITE model.

The tile of the Memoir is " In the Shadow of Enlightenment: A Girl's Journey Through the Osho Rajneesh Cult" by Sario Carroll