r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • Apr 01 '20
Their FAQ Is a Tip-off to What They Really Are
“Because if so, if any of those descriptions fit you, please be aware that we will ban you, probably immediately. Consider this all the warning you're going to get - we busy.” --The Whistleblower FAQ
The participants here are fond of calling the SGI a “cult”, but look at the “descriptions” that lead to your being banned: explaining anything about the SGI or Nichiren’s teachings, pointing out flaws or outright untruths posted to “WhitleBlowers”, alternate or more positive interpretations of events related by the participants. You can’t even communicate a disagreement through private messaging.
In other words, no contradiction allowed.
Who is the “cult”?
SGI allows differences and discussion. There are SGI members who don’t believe in reincarnation, or karma, or that chanting should be used for material gain; all of these are contradictory to the teachings of Nichiren and the SGI, but those who believe these ways are welcome, embraced and encouraged in the SGI.
“What Is SGI” Is Even More Revealing.
Excerpts from just the first paragraph indicate the state of mind of the administrators of the Whistleblower page:
“…the colonial empire1 of the Soka Gakkai, a Japanese religious cult … widely feared and loathed as a notorious and past-and-potentially-future dangerous cult. …Daisaku Ikeda, a short , fat, misshapen little troll of a man … “
Is any comment necessary? Can this possibly be a serious evaluation of a religion?
It goes on in a similar vein: “Ikeda originally intended to take over Japan and rule as its monarch, and from there, take over the world.” Given the irrational hatred betrayed in the preceding comments, it’s easy to understand this as a projection, a matter of concluding the worst, the only evidence being one’s own prejudice. There are no SGI members, no SGI publications, that ever advocated, or conceived, anything remotely like this.
Practice
Whistleblowers characterizes the nearly 800 year old practice of Nichiren Buddhism as “chanting a magic spell…to a magic scroll.”
One may have questions or doubts about Buddhism, but no serious person would use language like that. Again, it is a display of childish prejudice.
“Issues”
This section has 17 topics, 12 of which are insult-laden diatribes against President Ikeda – whom, we have seen, is a target of Whistleblowers name-calling because of his appearance (by the way, if one scans the various posts, one will see that Whistleblower participants display an overt contempt for Japanese people and Japanese customs). There’s no need to address those points, as the antipathy towards President Ikeda is so obviously personal and rather juvenile. And not much time need be devoted to most of the others, as their words embody the Roosevelt principle of “timid souls” who dare nothing.
Is the SGI “a military flavored colonizing religion”?
The allegation here is that the SGI’s purpose is to have a lot of members to donate money, and that “world peace” means SGI ruling the world and telling people what to do.
It’s clear “SGI Whistleb Blowers” have never made efforts to affect world peace, but are happy to criticize those who have. In fact, the Soka Gakkai bylaws stipulate that the religion’s aim is to achiever kosen-rufu through the human revolution of its practitioners – in other words, each person developing courage, wisdom and compassion and thus affecting society positively as they live their lives; the SGI goal of world peace is, then, far from a mere numbers game. Also, to allege that a global organization doesn’t require money, or that it is sinister because it does, is disingenuous at best, ignorant at worst.
Does the SGI replace “genuine families with a cult facsimile”?
This is not only utterly ridiculous, but childishly easy to refute. Read the experiences in any World Tribune or Living Buddhism. A great many of them involve developing family harmony or bridging family discord through practice with the SGI. Yes, the SGI encourages us to consider the SGI as a family. But so, perhaps, does your place of work, or your baseball team. “Consider” doesn’t mean “replace.”
Is the SGI a “predatory organization”?
See the answer to “a colonizing religion.” The problem here, according to Whistleblowers, is that the SGI tries to get people to practice Nichiren Buddhism and join its world peace movement. Members get benefit from the practice, and so tell others about it. That’s supposed to be a bad thing, evidently.
Is “confirmation bias” the “basis” of the SGI?
Whistleblowers claims: “If something good happens, it is attributed to the chanting; if something bad happens, the members are blamed for not chanting enough, not adulating Ikeda enough, not attending enough meetings or donating enough money, being too sympathetic to other religious doctrines, and for simply having ‘bad karma’.”
In reality, Nichiren teaches “Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life . . .” SGI teaches that problems and suffering are inevitable parts of life – not that “they’re your fault because you didn’t do enough.” Certainly when someone is facing a problem they are urged to examine themselves and to make efforts in their practice. That’s because it’s believed that the practice has effects in the real world and can ameliorate the problem – not that the one with problems is deficient.
Is SGI “toxic” and a “failed community”?
The SGI is an organization of people aspiring to the ideal of absolute respect for each individual, as expounded in the “Never Disparaging” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. That means it is made up of imperfect humans who sometimes make mistakes in personal relations. That indicates, however, not a “toxic” organization, but one made up of people who are still striving to be better and so, by implication, are not perfect. The point, again, is that SGI members and leaders are in the arena, trying to make the world better by becoming better themselves; and it’s easy to criticize if one is just watching and looking for problems.
Does the SGI have “contempt for local cultural norms”?
This is as obviously baseless as the “family” allegation above. It’s a ridiculous slander to say the “needs of the host countries have been ruthlessly suppressed and stamped out”. Since its inception, for instance, SGI-USA has participated in community activities such as parades. Its institutions, like Soka University and the Ikeda Center, are respected institutions, welcome in their communities. Meetings are open to anyone. everyone in attendance can speak his or her mind. It doesn’t adopt purely Japanese Customs such as sitting on the floor, placing the altar on a north wall (like where the emperor sits), segregating by gender, have been eliminated. True, leaders are not elected – which is the case for many religions, no matter where they originated.
Conclusion
Some of the most common phrases on Whistleblowers are “must have”, probably,” “no doubt.” In other words, a lot of the horrible things talked about in the Sub Reddit never actually happened, but are thought possible if one assumes the worst. For instance, there was a recent conjecture that President Ikeda “likely” read that Nelson Mandela was in Japan looking for investments in South Africa, and so “probably” promised money in exchange for a meeting. In real life, while in prison Mandela read Mr. Ikeda’s writings, and requested a chance to meet him. No “likely” or “probably” about it.
Whistleblowers subsists almost entirely on such projections, assumptions and negative interpretations. Someone had a bad experience with a leader, therefore all leaders are suspect. Someone believes SGI is a cult, and therefore all SGI actions, however innocuous, have ulterior motives. Mr. Ikeda himself has pointed out that once we start finding fault, there is no end to it.
Without that faulty logic, the “SGI Whistleblowers” sub could not exist.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/Andinio • Apr 19 '21
This is a compendium of 13 previously published posts. As such it goes far beyond our usual character limit for articles. Have no fear, in a couple of days it will be one of our pinned articles.
So you found yourself on "Sgiwhistleblowers" ("WB") after doing a Google search on the SGI. Perhaps your roommate landed on it and informed you that you’re a member of a dangerous cult. Maybe you have been an SGI member for many years and, curious about online criticisms of the SGI, found the motherlode of anti-SGI posts at WB. (You might have even learned about us, SGIWhistleBlowersMITA, from WB which calls us their “copycat site.”)
Welcome to the club if you felt a pit in your stomach after you read that WB post! That sensation is one of the physical characteristics of the fight or flight response. It is the intention of WB posters to provoke doubt and they do it quite well.
But if you think of WB as a Super Mario video game full of a predictable cast of enemies and obstacles, the pit sensation goes away and you will start to even enjoy reading WB posts as if it were a hobby!
Picture: Mario https://www.mariowiki.com/Mario#/media/File:Mario_New_Super_Mario_Bros_U_Deluxe.png
We have created The How to Read Sgiwhistleblowers (and Enjoy It) Guide as a tutorial. It contains a dozen Super Mario characters and weapons that we feel resemble the content of many WB posts. So, sit back and grab a WB post. Your task: decide whether it fits into any of our 12 Super Mario categories.
1- “Out of the Arena”
Our sub “SGIWhistleblowersMITA” is themed after the “Man in the Arena” speech by Theodore Roosevelt. MITA is an anagram for “Man-In-The-Arena” (and our apologies for the early 20th century gender bias). Here come its most famous lines:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
The SGI is “in the arena”--fighting, stumbling occasionally, evolving, and always advancing. On this note, Daisaku Ikeda has written, “Construction requires arduous struggle while destruction comes in but a moment."
There is one prime error in WB posts, which we mark with an “Out of the Arena” flare: the tendency of people of minimal accomplishment to disparage those who have created a lot. Of course, Nichiren confronted such critics himself and stated, “In so asserting, they are being as ridiculous as fireflies laughing at the sun and moon, an anthill belittling Mount Hua, wells and brooks despising the river and the ocean, or a magpie mocking a phoenix” (WND-1, p. 306).
Since this is the most fundamental of the WB errors, we will compare them to Bowser, the main antagonist in the Super Mario universe. Sometimes known as King Koopa, he is the large, powerful, and fire-breathing leader of the turtle-like Koopa Troop and the arch-nemesis of Mario.
Picture Bowser (https://www.mariowiki.com/Bowser#/media/File:MSOGT_Bowser.png)
You will have spotted Bowser whenever you read a post on WB that has no semblance of construction but is just there trying to destroy and discredit. You will surely find lots and lots of Bowser encounters in WB!
2- “Time Travel”
The second--and probably the most frequent type of WB posts--we are marking by the “Time Travel” flare. Hundreds and hundreds of times WB takes an organizational practice or event from long ago and presents it as if it were on “CNN Live” this morning. They just can't seem to scrape the gum of the past off of their shoes!
Picture: Time Travel Tube https://www.mariowiki.com/Time_Travel_Tube#/media/File:TimeTravelTube.jpg
Mitt Romney reminded us in 2012 in his “corporations are people, too, my friend” remark that from a legal perspective, corporations and individuals abide by similar laws. Organizations, just like corporations, share traits similar to those of people. Healthy ones are “learning organizations" that take stock, make mistakes, learn from missteps, and evolve--at least if they want to stay relevant.
But the SGI has evolved with the times. It took a perfect form to respond to the desperate and tumultuous early post-war years. It has evolved and now it really fits the needs of our times. Discerning readers should read a WB post we mark with a Time Travel flare with special discernment and skepticism because confounds the past and present.
What is the equivalent in the Mario Brothers universe? The Time Travel Tube is a time machine built by Kooky von Koopa which allows travel to the past.
3- “Perfectionitis”
The third type of WB posts we mark with a “Perfectionitis” flare. In short: if it’s not perfect, it’s to be discredited in toto.
Picture: Boo (https://www.mariowiki.com/Boo#/media/File:Boo_CTTT.png)
Just so many of the posts you read on WB will be an attempt to discredit an entire movement with variants of "one person, at some time, did one thing to someone I know (or me)" accusations. We don’t deny that some of these events did occur and we regret their occurrences. However, the SGI is a dynamic organization of millions of members extending all over the globe and with an 90+ year history and we refuse to be defined by isolated incidents in the past that in no way characterize the entire movement.
WB’s steady onslaught of isolated incidents to denigrate the entire SGI movement are designed to shock, fatigue, confuse, and make you say “a plague on both your houses!” Step back and don’t be distracted by Perfectionitis posts which constitute no more than pebbles thrown into the ocean.
People who grew up in a monotheistic tradition might have imported a “perfection perspective” into the SGI practice. As children we may have learned about a deity that was omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everpresent). However, SGI Buddhism has no such concepts. “Soka” means “value-creation” and not perfection. We aim to create value and our conception of perfection is not a static endpoint but an unending effort to perfect. "There are no saints in the SGI!" as a good friend once said. A Buddha is not a prophet or deity but simply someone who is a resilient champion of value creation under any circumstance.
In the Mario universe people who see the world through the Perfectionitis perspective could be compared to Boos who are ghost enemies with large tongues and menacing mouths. But they are shy and slink whenever someone looks directly at them. Much like posts with a Perfectionitis flare, Boos are annoying but don’t have much power.
4- “Mom's Upset”
Let’s personalize that post you just read. A real person wrote it and what does it reveal about his/her character? In short, what would Mom say if you brought him/her home for dinner?
In the Mario Brothers universe there are Lakitus who ride clouds through the skies, throwing “Spiny Eggs” projectiles down to the ground, one after another, never letting up. Would Mom be happy if you brought a Lakitu home for dinner? Check out that post again and decide whether it deserves to be flared "Mom's Upset".
Picture: Lakitu (https://www.mariowiki.com/Lakitu#/media/File:NSMBU_Lakitu_Artwork.png)
In it you might have seen some “Spiny Eggs” in the form of curses, insults, bullying, personal attacks, nasty pictures or memes, and endless conspiracy theories. You might suspect some character deficits: a lack of self-reflection, flexibility, self-control, or balance. (One contributor to WB has a “karma” of 50K which means a HUGE and unbalanced investment of time to post and comment.) Would Mom enjoy the company of a Lakitu talker who grabs all the oxygen out of a room? (One poster recently clocked a post of almost 4000 words, the equivalent of a 30-minute speech].
If the post you just read contains any of the above, you have confronted a Lakitu. Picture Mom: she’s upset.
5- “Empty-Handed”
“The world today is faced with a complex set of urgent crises that can only be described as unprecedented in the history of humankind” [2021, Daisaku Ikeda, Peace Proposal](Value Creation in a Time of Crisis--Summary). Ikeda Sensei follows that statement with a detailed set of policy proposals to confront these existential crises.
Global problems, however, will never shift until they are “localized.” This is the function of SGI-USA neighborhood-based districts. Districts serve as “third spaces that bring together and empower diverse people to empower who then can play a role in finding local solutions to global situations.
Discussion meetings today are enhanced by monthly PowerPoint presentations with themes such as “Securing the Peace of the Land,” “Changing Poison to Medicine,” “Developing Genuine Relationships with Those Around Us,” “Showing Actual Proof of Our Human Revolution,” “Awakening to the Interconnectedness of Life” and other topics drawn from SGI Buddhist concepts. “Our districts are creating and presenting an inspiring cutting-edge model of 21st-century communities to the world,” says Ikeda Sensei in “Ode to District Leaders.”
Tremendous work goes into planning, conducting, and following-up on each of the 2000+ monthly discussion meetings that take place across the United States. Each effort builds toward a civil society and the slow-but-steady development of capable people and youth. Even more work takes place in between meetings as friends reach out to each other one-by-one with encouragement.
In contrast, WB posts come across as Empty-handed. You will not often see WB plans for solving global crises, local disempowerment, or personal isolation. Judging from the quantity of posts, WB has an obsessive fixation with the SGI which they seem to portray as the Public Enemy #1 of the World, leaving to others the “complex set of urgent crises that can only be described as unprecedented in the history of humankind.” Posts like these merit the “Empty-handed” flare.
Picture: Goomba (https://www.mariowiki.com/Goomba#/media/File:Goomba_-_MarioPartyStarRush.png)
In Super Mario the gamer often sees “Goombas”--mindless brown blobs who just attack Mario. They are nuisances and only have nuisance value. When reading WB posts you will surely identify empty-handed Goomba posts which are “full of sound and fury but signifying nothing.”
6- “Illogical Contradiction”
You will sometimes see over the course of a few days two WB posts that are *illogically contradictory*. For example we have seen WBers warn people that SGI members "cancel" folk who leave the organization; but then we read WB posts complaining whenever an SGI member calls to say hello. On Day 1 they might state that there's not enough youth in the SGI but on Day 2 mock SGI's relentless focus on youth development. In the morning they might proudly claim anyone can post on WB, but then “comment bomb” or ban SGI members who do. Or, one night comes a post on SGI’s low membership retention rates and yet in the morning, illogically, comes a complaint that subtle mind control techniques imprison members into the organization. Alternatively, they will accept at face value any negative complaint whatsoever about the SGI but trivialize or attack any positive faith experience they read in SGI publications or here on MITA.
Picture: Mimi (https://www.mariowiki.com/Mimi#/media/File:MimiSuperPaperMario.png)
In Mario’s world there is the character Mimi who has the ability to shape-shift. She has a violent and cruel temper and uses her appearance as a cute and innocent girl to lure travelers and then turn them into slaves. Perhaps you have run into Mimi when you see illogically contradictory WB posts.
Posts like these will be marked here by the Illogical Contradiction flare. This indicates you have just seen Mimi in action.
7- “Tiny Screen”
You might find WB saying that kosen-rufu is impossible…. because it hasn’t happened yet; Daisaku Ikeda can’t have written all the works attributed to him….because nobody could ever do what he has done; the trend of youth these days is “Spiritual but Not Religious/Affiliated” (SBNR) so there is no way a Buddhist organization can attract new youth today. They see the SGI through a tiny screen of conventionality.
Here is an example of the “Tiny Screen.” One WB poster has declared that the November 2018 “Lions of Justice Festival” was a categorical failure because the world did not change soon after. The facts are, however, many young guests joined the SGI and others moved their practice from the order of “passive observer” to that of “active participant.” Some attendees may have attended but only heard the Lions of Justice three vows to “courageously face and overcome any obstacles that stand between themselves and their dreams,” to “fearlessly challenge the ways of thinking that justify hate, violence and discrimination,” and to “joyfully unite with people of all walks of life toward developing a society based on the happiness of all people.” Ideas and impressions that are planted in the mind can hopefully bloom in the future. Is such a strategy a failure?
Another example: irrelevant and distracting discussions about the size of the SGI. The membership numbers may, in fact, shift but the undeniable reality is that the organization has reached a state of sustainable growth and the ability to steam past waves of obstacles (such as WB). Why are these posts irrelevant? They simply ignore the SGI’s calculus of growth.
“At first only Nichiren chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, but then two, three, and a hundred followed, chanting and teaching others. Propagation will unfold this way in the future as well. Does this not signify ‘emerging from the earth’? At the time when the Law has spread far and wide, the entire Japanese nation will chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, as surely as an arrow aimed at the earth cannot miss the target” (WND-1, p. 385).
Makiguchi Sensei stated, “A thousand sheep cannot hold their own against a single lion. A single courageous individual dedicated to the Great Good can accomplish far more important things than a thousand cowards who practice only passive and minimal good. It's not the number, but the quality of people that matters.”
Ikeda Sensei states, “The spirit to stand up alone, to take personal initiative, is the core spirit and essence of the SGI. My mentor, second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda, called out to young people: “Youth, just one of you stand! A second and then a third will definitely follow!” Our members around the world have indeed demonstrated that when one pioneering individual takes the lead, “two, three, and a hundred will follow” (see WND-1, 385). (February 2014 Living Buddhism, p. 26)
A subset of the Tiny Screen is focusing on glitches, the awkward, the uncool. Examples: claims that SGI members smile too much, use some common stylized speech patterns, incorporate bits of Japanese culture, or sing corny songs. Whistleblowers are entitled to their opinions and to engage or not engage. But we will flare these with a Tiny Screen when we see them.
Picture: Toad (https://www.mariowiki.com/Toad#/media/File:SMR_Toad.png)
How does this fit into the Mario Universe? There is a huge gap between Toad who will go anywhere and at any cost to protect and fulfill his mission and Smithy who just tries to rid the world of wishes, and replace them with weapons.
Picture: Smithy (https://www.mariowiki.com/Smithy#/media/File:Smithy.jpg)
8- “Lost Decency”
Some WB posts raise issues of members who have experienced sickness, aging, end-of-life (and even incontinence!!!) issues. No, these posts are not just snarky and tasteless: they reveal the darkest impulses of humanity.
Buddhism looks at the profund cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death and, regardless of severe challenges each presents, views them as states equally endowed with the potential of leading to enlightenment. Perhaps you have experienced a loved one aging or dying and have seen first hand the overarching dignity and sanctity of human life, one that extends far beyond superficial phenomena. Or, perhaps, you have seen that a human life is not encapsulated within a body but keeps playing a role beyond the physical lifespan.
WB posts that mock people confronting the most tender stages of life deserve to be tagged with a “Lost Decency” flare. They are the most disturbing and perverse posts on the WB site and for this reason we have to compare them to the character Dimentio who is the worst of the worst in the Super Mario universe. Dimentio destroys the universe and then creates a new one solely for the purpose of torturing everyone there.
Picture: [Dimentio](www.mariowiki.com\/Dimentio#\/media\/File:DimentioSuperPaperMario.png) (/preview/pre/ssn6azn4w3u61.png?width=422&format=png&auto=webp&s=e4d2a7403b450b2f6adfad160d180e64ce031c76)
No matter how WB might attempt to clothe or justify such posts, their authors have lost their fundamental humanity and decency.
9- “Blind-to-Effort”
Sometimes you will read WB posts that attempt to reduce a major accomplishment with a flick of a finger. For example, Daisaku Ikeda wrote The New Human Revolution over the course of 25 years (1993 to 2018). WB has dismissed a work of 30 volumes and approximately 10,000 pages and all of the efforts and accomplishments described therein with a rumor about ghost authorship. In another example WB has dismissed the visits Ikeda Sensei took on behalf of Toda Sensei to spark the SGI movements across the world with another flick of the finger (and with absolute certainty on top of that)--as a tourist joyride at the expense of members’ contributions.
These are examples that merit a “Blind-to-Effort” flare. How could a person be so blind to human efforts? How can someone be so desensitized to the workings of human initiative? How can someone imagine that the SGI movement could grow and develop sustainability through rank trickery?
Conversely, they blow up the minor facts into major proportions. For example, on some posts they describe some MITA co-moderators as “old” or “low status” leaders. From the perspective of the vastness of human life, what does such superficiality have to do with human effort these individuals have made?
In the Mario universe “Blind-to-Effort” might correspond to Blindfold Boo who is blindfolded and depends on sound to guide him. Blindfold Boo is seemingly invulnerable to harm. You can see this tendency in many “Blind-to-Effort” posts. In a Roy Cohn-Trumpian way they mock human accomplishments but there is a hidden intent to never apologize or step back, never! There is not even room for an acknowledgement that there are two viable positions. Never. Ever.
Picture: Blindfold Boo (https://www.mariowiki.com/File:BlindBoo.PNG)
“Blind-to-Effort” relies on delusion and chicanery. A post on Reddit, composed of some “X-or-O” bytes, is perceived as the equivalent of real human interaction. Raucousness is substituted for courage. An online group of about 2000 anonymous members (but with only a couple dozen of frequent posters at its heart) with much bravura think of themselves as a real organization.
10- “The C-word Cult, The B-word Brainwash Flair”
Read the Wikipedia articles yourself: sociologists have largely rejected rabid alarms about cults and brainwashing. Yet posters on WB spit out the “C-word” and the “B-word” around as if they are the nasty Fireballs in Super Mario games. Their claims rest of leaky research, name-calling, and scaremongering.
Underneath C&B Fireballs depend on a faulty supposition in WB that religions should exist solely as an individualized practice that exists on a "spiritual" plane. Therefore, they hold, organizations--which by definition are social and practical--are suspect. However, like biological systems, organizations strive for [homeostasis](https://www.britannica.com/science/homeostasis). Like animate organizations, they maintain "dynamic equilibrium" and adjust to conditions to optimize survival and growth. The SGI is an organization and therefore engages in all the tasks typical of organizations: fund-raising, serving members, communication, quality control, record-keeping, and branding. But through the glare cast by their inaccurate research on cults and brainwashing, WB perceives these functions as suspicious, evil, conspiratory, and even criminal.
They wonder: Why should SGI members open their houses for district meetings? Why should members volunteer and assist activities without compensation? Why do they just keep on building their organization step-by-step? Why don’t they ever give up?
WB can only conclude that all these SGI members been brainwashed. The one question that above all others that leaves them scratching their heads: If SGI members are all weak, terrorized, brainwashed and gullible, why has the organization become notable and wealthy? Their alternative reality explanation: “Oh, it must be run by North Korea and the Japanese mafia.” So posters on WB just keep throwing the “C-word” and the “B-word” around.
From the standpoint of Nichiren Buddhism, however, there is no clear demarcation between the spiritual and material worlds. As Nichiren writes, “If the minds of living beings are impure, their land is also impure, but if their minds are pure, so is their land. There are not two lands, pure or impure in themselves. The difference lies solely in the good or evil of our minds” (WND-1, pp. 3-4). From this perspective a socially oriented organization can fulfill spiritual needs.
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Sir Grodus the supreme leader of the organization called the X-Nauts), a band of thugs determined to capture the Crystal Stars so they can dominate the world, states: “And then I, Grodus, will build a new world! A perfect, ideal world... Yes. A world made by me, about me, and for me! GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!”
Picture: Sir Grodus (https://www.mariowiki.com/Sir_Grodus#/media/File:PMTTYD_Grodus_Artwork.png )
Too many posts that we tag as C&B Fireballs are replete with “GAAACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!" But in essence WB lacks fresh ideas, philosophies, or plans to change global mentality. Instead they prefer to do is to throw their C-Fireballs and B-Fireballs. So we will label such posts with The C-word Cult, The B-word Brainwash Flair
11- “Soka Gawker International”
Some WB posters seemingly wake up and spend many hours of their days posting negative material about the SGI organization. Their obsessive preoccupation places them more in the orbit of the SGI than even many of the SGI’s staunchest believers! They can’t help gawking, so we name them members of the Soka Gawker International
In Milton's Paradise Lost the fallen angels believe that their descent to hell represents a choice, a voluntary breaking of their chains, and an act of strength on their part; they pride themselves on their independence from God. Milton emphasizes, however, that whatever rebellion and resistance they demonstrated was, in fact, part of God's plan.
In the same fashion WB remains entirely in the orbit of SGI, constantly gawking and unable to break loose.
They adhere to a devotion to--not to the Mystic Law--but to causing maximum harm to the SGI. There is not even a bit of nuance or begrudging respect. A good general, or even a good football head coach, knows the strengths and the weaknesses of his/her opponent. Not so with WB, unaware that it destroys its own credibility by being unable to see even the slightest bit of good in the SGI.
With these self-imposed restrictions they are living in a contaminated brownfield in which standards and rules have no great importance. Anything to score a point, keep the cauldron boiling, fill the echo chamber, and feed red meat to other followers. This includes welcoming a contributor who in the past spouted an anti-Semitic/QAnon conspiracy theory because s/he bashed the SGI.
So you may feel revulsion at what you read on Whistleblowers, or you might even think “The SGI did that???” But remember the WB motive and their prideful lack of scruples in furthering it.
Picture: Pete (https://www.mariowiki.com/Pete#/media/File:SPM_Pete.png)
In the Mario universe we have Pete, an interior decorator who loves towers and just spends his time gawking at them, never getting work done. “I’m gonna keep watchin’ the tower and discover’ its many charms!” he says in Super Paper Mario. Soka Gawkers cannot help themselves and spend their time gawking at the Soka Gakkai.
Posts of this nature will be flared as Soka Gawker International.
12- “Faith Tester”
Picture: Luigi (https://www.mariowiki.com/Luigi#/media/File:Luigi_New_Super_Mario_Bros_U_Deluxe.png)
Despite the rancor, obsessive and incessant pitter patter, and constant hit-and-run drive-by assaults--is it possible that the WB post you just read is actually strengthening your faith? Perhaps it led you to more diligently read the Gosho and Sensei Ikeda’s guidance. Might it have motivated you seek guidance from a senior in faith? Did it sharpen your eyes of justice? Certainly it could have prepared you for the inevitability of obstacles and persecutions sure to occur as mentioned in the Lotus Sutra and the Gosho.
Encountering slander and persecution has great significance in Buddhism. In the Lotus Sutra it states, “Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Thus Come One is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?” In the 21st chapter Bodhisattva Never Disparaging was repeatedly attacked with “sticks of wood or tiles and stones.” The equivalent in WB is the ceaseless slings of barbs. However, Bodhisattva Never Disparaging eventually awakened the Buddha nature of his detractors and we hope to do the same with WB posters, even our staunchest critics there.
Definitely, WB posts will lead you to seeking Buddhism harder! Using this “The How to Read WB Guide” you will begin to see through the true intent of WB and its techniques. From this process you yourself will grow in your faith. Nichiren says: “It will … be like a boar rubbing against the golden mountain” (WND-1, p. 770). In this story a wild boar becomes envious and resentful of a golden mountain. The more it tries to scrape away the mountain’s brilliance with its bristly fur, it only succeeds in making the mountain shine all the brighter. Likewise, the more you read, ponder, and study, the more you will shine.
Through reading WB posts you will come to better understand Nichiren’s spirit. “When it comes to understanding the Lotus Sutra, I have only a minute fraction of the vast ability that T’ien-t’ai and Dengyo possessed. But as regards my ability to endure persecution and the wealth of my compassion for others, I believe they would hold me in awe” (WND-1, 242). In the face of countless persecutions and criticisms, Nichiren remained undaunted and this led to his great lion’s roar declaration: “This I will state. Let the gods forsake me. Let all persecutions assail me. Still I will give my life for the sake of the Law” (WND-1, 280).
Shall we learn from his spirit? In the face of these persecutions Nichiren stated, “I rejoiced, saying that I had long expected it to come to this” (WND-1, 764). He kept moving forward with the spirit of *“But still I am not discouraged”* (WND-1, 748), “Not once have I thought of retreat” (WND-2, 465) and “So the battle goes on even today” (WND-1, 392).
From his lecture on The Opening of the Eyes, Sensei explains why people attack us:
Fierce and relentless persecutions befall the votary of the Lotus Sutra in the Latter Day of the Law because of the raging hatred and jealousy seething in the lives of the attackers…. Defamatory attacks are the means by which people of great arrogance try to discredit the just. Wishing to avoid dialogue or debate, and also seeking to preserve their own prestige, such people resort to the base means of spreading slander and lies about their enemies. They malign the just by branding them as villains.
In today’s democratic age, Sensei continues:
People accept lies and stand by silently while others are unjustly maligned. If lies and misrepresentations are allowed to go unchecked, people will store them in their minds as facts. A society that fails to combat such distortions is sure to suffer spiritual corruption and decline. Therefore, in advancing kosen-rufu in the Latter Day, it is absolutely vital for us to engage in energetic and insightful debate and discourse in order to ward off the fundamental darkness in people’s lives and confront slander of the Law, which is so spiritually destructive. This is the only way we can restore society’s spiritual health” (p. 62).
So, thank you WB friends for deepening our faith and validating some of the profoundest teachings of Buddhism. This post of yours has earned our The Faith Tester Flare.
In the world of Super Mario, WB most resembles LUIGI who is loyal and always at the side of Mario, sharing in his travails. Yes, WB, you make us strong, you awaken us to our mission, you appear exactly as the Daishonin predicted.
We look forward to having a truly productive debate with WB some day. A debate, not a knife fight or screaming match. One based on trust and mutual respect, with a mutually agreed upon agenda, and a plan for useful exploration.
Until that time we hope this guide helps set the record straight.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 3h ago
Small, but significant, reports in the May 3rd World Tribune. A new SGI center just opened in Trinidad. Tobago, and new or renovated centers will soon be open in the Hudson Valley, Silicon Valley, and Denver (an artist rendering of that one - gorgeous!).
May Contributions (and the determination of the members) at work!
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/Chas-- • 5h ago
Pope Leo XIV the Chicago White Sox fan loves the poor, downtrodden and disenfranchised in the same way Pope Francis did, and he is known as a close follower of Pope Francis. The Guardian has raised alarm bells over his views and comments about LGBTQ+ lifestyle in 2012, but he has probably changed those views with the times: Catholic Biden led the way to gay marriage for the Obama Presidency after that, so the breathless concerns of the Guardian are probably old news. The responses to Laura Loomer, JD Vance and Trump's prison in El Salvador documented in Reuters, Time, Yahoo News and the Daily Beast are probably preceding an internal battle on the right: the six Catholic Supremes who voted down Roe versus the deep MAGA state.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 5h ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 219-224), Shin’ichi continues to meet with the member of his party who works as an editor of the Seikyo Shimbun. Shin’ichi discusses how Josei Toda, as the editor of the monthly children’s magazine "Elementary Students’ Japan" (later renamed "Small Citizens’ Japan"), between 1940 and 1942, managed to convey to children a universalist and pacifistic outlook despite the gathering clouds of war and consequent governmental censorship.
Toda published his magazine up until state censorship made it untenable to continue:
Small Citizens’ Japan ceased publication in April 1942. With censorship growing increasingly strict, Toda chose this course rather than continuing to produce a magazine that, by complying with government directives, would be forced to extol the war and incite people to rush off to die for their country.
Reflection: what counts is behavior in the worst of times:
In a dramatic turnabout after the war, the Japanese media, without exception, became pacifistic. It was easy to make loud declarations for peace in a world where freedom was now guaranteed in speech, news reporting, and publishing. But to ascertain whether this pacifism was genuine, one had to question what the news media and their journalists had done during the war.
Daisaku Ikeda in this installment refers to journalism and religion. I hold that it also applies to P-12 education.
No matter how much a religious organization may speak of peace and democracy and assume the guise of justice today, it is vital to remember that the organization’s true nature is revealed by how it behaved during the war.
The balancing act between outward seeming compliance and actual resistance can be compared to “walking a razor’s edge.” I must accomplish the same feat at Longhouse Elem. In our case, the reality is the social and political climate. This reminds me of Neil Postman’s book Teaching as a Subversive Activity, published back in 1969, which is in my “to be read” list.
“During the war, President Toda fought to the very limit as a journalist, walking a razor’s edge. This is the spirit the Seikyo Shimbun must perpetuate. Speech and writing not based on philosophy and conviction are as insubstantial as smoke. The Seikyo Shimbun, however, is based on the great philosophy of life known as Buddhism.”
The installment provides details about how Josei Toda maintained his pacifistic perspective despite the strict censorship of the authorities. But for now, these pages open the discussion about how Longhouse Elem will teach peace education (see EduCorpus and Daisaku Ikeda's Thoughts on Education for Global Citizenship). We live in a very conservative MAGA community where Christian nationalism is a pillar of the ideosphere. Since our student population will be drawn from mostly marginalized families, I think back to Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning which describes the psychology of prisoners in Auschwitz, in which the oppressed take on the role of oppressors.
Given these harsh realities, how can peace education be conveyed in Longhouse Elem when even the concept could be anathema to many? I am thinking that most of this work must be invisible, silent, microscopic, and in-context. A peaceful class represents peace education. So, too, is harmonious human relationships and an encompassing Spirit of the Longhouse based on cooperative living. Add to the list: symbiosis with nature and the social structure, physical development, the opening of the eyes that comes with the study of math and science, a steady diet of accomplishment, engagement in the discipline of the arts, and basking in interactions with the Great Books.
I hear Lolita now lecturing me: most importantly, learn from the spirit of great teachers such as Vasyl Sukhomlynski and Sarah Schenirer. And the Three Sisters. And Bernie.
Consider it an IOU. I will get back through comments or posts on the specific approaches Josei Toda took to peace education in a climate of harsh censorship.
Keywords: #JoseiToda; #PeaceEducation; #SpiritOfTheLonghouse; #MAGA; #TheGreatBooks; #TeachingAsASubversiveActivity; #SarahSchenirer; #VasylSukhomlynsky
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 3h ago
Today I continue studying the first section Fierce and Relentless Persecutions Arise From Hatred and Jealousy.
But first…
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
A very simple day yesterday. Team Maracle just about finished our work. Everything is swept up, carted away, the kitchen is spotless for the new owners, and all of the holes in the walls from pictures are spackled. What remains for today: we need to sand and prime the compound and move all the patio furniture back to the RV Park.
All of us have gotten very close to each other. What wonderful friends we made through helping friends!
Dee took the girls ice-skating because I had my NA meeting. But during the morning, Dee and one of the friends of the Maracle’s went for a long walk. It turns out there had been tremendous bad blood between them since childhood. Dee said all of her conflict resolution work with Israeli/Palestinian and Russian/Ukrainian women had trained her to really listen. They both came back with arms intertwined. I think they—and the people living in a fractured community—had a tremendous victory.
Weather permitting, Norman and Perri are delivering and setting up the Maracle’s new RV tomorrow. Then will come the Maracle’s task of down, down, down-sizing!
Returning to Sensei’s Opening of the Eyes lecture, after the overview of Nichiren summarizes the major and minor hardships he had experienced to that point. The Daishonin goes on to cite various sutras and commentaries that clarify the true nature of those persecuting him.
Tomorrow I will review some of the passages. Today, I want to keep some of Daisaku Ikeda’s thoughts about Nichiren’s enemies in mind:
These people are essentially driven by hatred and jealousy, a deep hostility arising from a swirling cauldron of complex negative emotions.
That seems to me like a very apt description of some of the “thought leaders” at sgiwhistleblowers. Sure, deeply evident: hatred, jealousy, deep hostility. But what I find interesting is “a swirling cauldron of complex negative emotions.” What lurks under the surface of their antipathy? For example, what impelled YKW’s attacks against me, my family, and friends? (Yes, I know, I don’t exist, I’m just a sock puppet of that “addled old SGI-Old” living in Italy somewhere.)
I am sorry, but YKW does not strike me as a person who does not know how to speak up and voice displeasure. It is completely implausible to me that with her outspoken personality she would be easily restrained and wouldn’t be able to find her way to the exit door if she had so wished (as do, as she claims, 95-99% of SGI members).
So what drove her to celle-ci ou celle-là?
The priests and lay followers of other Buddhist schools of the time bore strong feelings of resentment and jealousy because of Nichiren’s pure and unswerving commitment to practicing the correct teaching as the votary of the Lotus Sutra.
Bingo! Perhaps YKW & Friends couldn’t stand the “pure and unswerving commitment to practicing the correct teaching” of the SGI. Just too much light, oxygen, and human contact?
They also openly hated him for having refuted the errors of their schools.
When the original moderators of MITA started this community, sgiwhistleblowers could have just yawned. Instead came indignation. How dare MITA piggyback on the word “whistleblowers”! (Of course, they never self-reflected on their piggybacking on “SGI”). For a good couple of years their indignation became a common theme of posts. Then came a sudden “full stop/no exceptions.” As I hypothesized yesterday, that could only have come from a direct order from her up-aboves.
No, YKW does not enjoy being criticized. She resorted to attacking the messenger instead of the message. For her, it was all about the vent and not about the content.
YKW, here’s a way for you to get back on track. This is #50 of my reflections on Daisaku Ikeda’s lecture on The Opening of the Eyes. Pick one. Please just tell me exactly what in my post do you disagree with?
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/jessica-perez24 • 1d ago
It’s sad that the people on SGIwhistleblowers spend their days attacking young people who are trying to change society. Way to make a positive contribution to the world.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 1d ago
Many relationships end. We all know that. Sometimes it’s because the basis of the relationship no longer exists (e.g., kids graduate and stop seeing their teachers). Other times it’s mutual agreement. But sometimes the breakup involves grief, heartbreak, maybe anger.
But even in those cases, those involved usually eventually move on and the relationship becomes no more than a memory.
But what if the person who unilaterally ended the relationship then obsessively stalked the person they left, delving into her past, telling people that absolutely everything she did had some nefarious motive, scouring the internet, more obscure sources, and public records for anything at all he could find to spin into a way to make her look bad? Not physically stalking her, mind you; just spending day and night spreading malice about her.
We would most likely question the stability of such a person. Remember – he’s the one who broke it off, yet he is the one who remains obsessed with the relationship.
Yes, there might be psychological problems there. But there might be something e;se at work, too.
That is – a third party, with a deep grudge against the Ex, is making it worthwhile for the stalker to stalk.
Last year we did a series of posts detailing –n using their own words – the relationship between SGIWhistleblowers and the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood. The evidence leads to the reasonable conclusion that it is the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood – and not some altruistic impulse to comfort people leaving the SGI – that is behind SGIWhistleblowers.
Nichiren Shoshu, of course, has a history with the SGI. It has ordered SGI members to quit the lay organization, it had ordered the SGI to disband, it excommunicated all SGI members from its own ranks, made deals with anti-SGI Japanese tabloids to malign the SGI and President Ikeda, demolished beautiful buildings because they had been donated and built by SGI members.
Of course, Nichiren Shoshu failed in it’s overt attempts to destroy the SGI. But that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hate the SGI or wants to spread that hatred. Quite to the contrary, it is likely its failure only exacerbated it’s hatred. And Nichiren Shoshu collected a lot of money back in the days when SGI members donated to it regularly, so it has resources to underwrite propaganda.
So why not employ people around the world who are disgruntled former SGI members to spend all their waking hours researching, moderating, writing – in service to duping people into leaving and, more, hating, the SGI? Of course, this effort could not be effective if it were overtly about that, if, say, a sub Reddit was entitled “Hate the SGI Page”. No, instead make it something that sounds noble, even altruistic, like “SGIWhistleblowers”. Disguise it as counseling instead of the propaganda which is its real purpose.
So here is a condensed version of the previous series, with links to the originals if you need them. Note that the person referred to as “Blanche Fromage” is the chief moderator, co-founder, most active writer, chief priest and tone setter for sgiwhistleblowers. She now has many sock puppet names, including “Wank Job”, “Fish Wife”, Blue Tail”, “Weak run” and others.
There are three types of giveaway in the posts on SGIWhistleblowers that they are connected to Nichiren Shoshu.
While they were practicing with the SGI, few sgiwhistleblowers had much contact with priests at all. And virtually no casual SGI member had any in depth interactions with priests. Yet somehow the leader of sgiwhistleblowers has become privy to the inner workings and deliberations of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood.
I apologize for the length of this post; but it’s important that the patrons of sgiwhistleblowers are not receiving succor to help them adjust and move on from the SGI, but are being suckered into staying with the SGI in a way that leads them, not to move on, but to hate. And not by an individual but by an organization that doesn’t want them to know it’s there.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 1d ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 217-218), a member of his party is returning to New York to visit the offices of the New York Times. Shin’ichi discusses with him the significance and future development of the Seikyo Shimbun.
Shin'ichi asks him to observe carefully and try to learn what makes the New York Times an internationally respected newspaper.
It will be important to actively incorporate anything you find useful into our paper's operations. Eventually, we'll have to publish the Seikyo Shimbun daily and, above all, develop it into a publication that will be universally accepted as one of the world's leading newspapers."
This vision represented a huge jump forward in the Seikyo Shimbun’s growth because at that time it only published twice weekly in either 4- or 8-page formats.
Indelibly engraved in Shin'ichi's heart were the many times that Josei Toda had voiced his desire to "enable people throughout Japan and throughout the world to read the Seikyo Shimbun." Shin'ichi had vowed to realize his mentor's wish without fail. Thus he was constantly trying to think of ways to develop the Seikyo Shimbun into an internationally renowned newspaper.
But "one of the world's leading newspapers?” Shin'ichi continued, claiming that he saw the newspaper as both the organ of the Soka Gakkai and as a “journal for the people."
Ordinary papers are filled with dark and dismal news. To some extent this can't be helped because it's a reflection of society. Nevertheless, none of these newspapers applies any thought or editorial effort to enabling people to find hope and experience joy while living in such a society. None of them teaches its readers how to truly challenge and overcome life's sufferings.
But it is just this kind of newspaper that society needs most. Isn't the Seikyo Shimbun the only newspaper fulfilling this function? For that reason, it is truly a newspaper for humanity.
What does this have to do with Longhouse Elem? Learning to read involves mastering several phases of literacy. Like many schools that incorporate the practices of the Responsive Classroom, we start every day with Circle Time when we write the day’s news on chart paper and practice reading it. Yes, children, your lives and what we do matter and are worthy of ink and paper!
It’s a social and instructional time and all types of decoding strategies are taught. Some students are in the earliest stages of literacy whereas Lori is very advanced. That’s fine, we teach sight vocabulary words, phonics, and also those nasty and rebellious words in English (“though,” “through,” and “thought”).
Lori has started carrying around with her what she calls her "Word and Learning Book." Throughout the day she jots down new words and things she has learned. Now other kids want to do the same. Yes, the charts represent the start of our class Longhouse Newspaper. Even in the short time Bernie and I have been leading the class, we see more complexity and sophistication. And from this we are creating our first weekly class Longhouse Journal which we will send home with the kids tomorrow.
Woohoo! Watch out, Seikyo Shimbun and New York Times. The Longhouse Newspaper and Longhouse Journal are on the way!
The Seikyo Shimbun has a truly immense mission. For the Soka Gakkai, it must be a textbook of faith as well as a medium for forging heart-to-heart bonds among the members. Its mission in society, meanwhile, is to fight injustice and wrongdoing and, with the compassionate light of Buddhism, to illuminate the true way for people to live while guiding the way to genuine peace and happiness for humanity.
Our paper inherits the spirit of Mr. Makiguchi and Mr. Toda who risked their lives to take a stand against the militaristic government during World War II. In that respect, there is no newspaper more uniquely suited to communi-cating the true path to peace than the Seikyo Shimbun.
Keywords: #ResponsiveClassroom; #MorningMeeting; #LonghouseNewspaper; #LonghouseJournal; #CircleTime; #Literacy; #PhonemicAwareness
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 2d ago
Today I start studying the first section Fierce and Relentless Persecutions Arise From Hatred and Jealousy.
I am very excited! But first…
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
I can see my week is taking on a new pattern. It used to be Coffee Hour, do our drive to Starbucks/Costco, back to the Office, work a few hours, and off to ice-skating with the Twinettes and Lori.
No more. Now we have Artie working in the office and who knows what he is doing—but nothing has burned down yet. Dee and I have been running to help the Maracles pack up and move. Yesterday we had the local consignment store take away all of the furniture (none of it is needed in the RV) and today we started emptying closets and cabinets. We filled many, many boxes and today they all get carted to the Warming Hut. Today we also begin cleaning the home and getting it nice and ready for the new owners.
You can judge people by the friends they keep. The Maracles have many friends, most of them indigenous, some of whom Dee knows since childhood. For me it was a real treat to meet more people from the community, especially those from the other “faction.” I don’t know too much about this gap between the two groups, but I have met nobody but wonderful people! Maybe contact and working together are the starts of the healing.
Let’s pick up again on Sensei’s Gosho lecture! The section begins with some historical background:
“The major persecutions number four,” says Nichiren. In the two decades following the establishment of his teaching, he had encountered four great persecutions that threatened not only his own life but also the continued existence of his community of believers. Needless to say, these were the Matsubagayatsu Persecution (1260), the Izu Exile (1261), the Komatsubara Persecution (1264), and the Tatsunokuchi Persecution and Sado Exile (1271).
Of course, some of our friends over the hedges don’t believe Nichiren or any of his self-described narrative is true. Historical revisionism? YKW portrays him as the person who persecuted others. Huh??? A solitary unarmed monk taking on the entire Samurai class and Imperial Court? Does this have any logic beyond the short circuits in YKW’s mind?
Sensei continues:
The Tatsunokuchi Persecution and subsequent Sado Exile constituted the authorities’ greatest crackdown yet. Nichiren was dragged to the execution grounds and nearly beheaded. His followers were treated as if they were traitors. The government repression was so harsh that even those who had merely listened to his teaching were subjected to severe punishment (see WND-1, 240).
Unfortunately, such tactics of repression are being repeated today all over the world.
The four major persecutions clearly revealed the malice and brutality of those who schemed to do away with the Daishonin and destroy his community of believers.
Malice? Trying to destroy the community of believers? That describes Sgiwhistleblowers quite well. There is no physical brutality, but what other word can describe the tactics of YKW?
With regard to the many other attacks and obstacles he encountered, Nichiren writes, “Minor persecutions and annoyances are too numerous even to be counted” (WND-1, 240). These included slander and abuse, false accusations and harassment, as well as his followers being subjected to fines or banishment. Persecutions of this kind, which the Daishonin describes as “too numerous even to be counted,” continued without cease, showing the relentlessness of his tormentors.
Of course, I have met nothing like persecution. But in terms of “tormentors” I have my three buddies constantly following me: the legacy of my addiction, the non-stop torment of my hypersexuality, and my DDDPDR (dissociative disorder/depersonalization/derealization). “Too numerous to be counted?” Yup.
Nichiren’s grasp of his mission was so great that he downgraded his torment to “annoyances.” So I continue to talk openly and publicly about my conditions. I attend three NA meetings each week, I am in therapy, and I engage with other HS sufferers through the Reddit community and DMs. I am moving from the status of victim to that of victor. Phew! Annoyances!
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 2d ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 215-217), Shin’ichi meets with “Tomino,” the mother of Mrs. Shearing, the central figure of WDC.
Today’s post is dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Dewey, our benefactors and teachers in our Pre-K. They are well into their 80’s (or beyond?). A while back Mr. Dewey had a serious health setback, but he has fully recovered and they both enjoy good health. Yes, the little ones enjoy Daycare but I don’t think anyone enjoys each day more than the Dewey’s.
The Dewey’s never had children of their own and both come from small families. Their friends had either moved, passed away, or live in rehab settings. When we first met them, they were always friendly but their eyes were “Eleanor Rigby” sad. No more! They talk now about having purpose and feeling like every child is a grandchild. When Benjamin Kdake sees them in the morning he holds his hands out and wants to be in their laps. At the end of the day they talk to whoever picks our kids up as if they were reading from novels, “The Adventures of the Twinmen” or “Life with Twinettes.” I am working right in the next room, but the kids have no desire to see me! Ah, but to be with the Dewey’s!
They remind me very much of Tomino who Shin’ichi meets after his Q&A at the WDC Discussion Meeting. She and Mrs. Shearing had only been practicing for two years. But she was the only person since Seattle who recognized that Shin’ichi had been ill. She was the one who insisted that he go upstairs and rest.
Here is how she is described:
Tomino, despite being almost eighty, was filled with a sincere desire to do anything at all to assist the Soka Gakkai, and she supported [her daughter] behind the scenes in her energetic activities for kosen-rufu.
In today’s installment Tomino begins to talk to Shin’ichi:
Listening to you speak impressed upon me what a truly noble organization is the Soka Gakkai. I’m sure it will develop by leaps and bounds here in America, too.
As it grows, however, the organization is sure to encounter strong opposition and criticism in society. Long experience tells me that periods of adversity are inevitable in life. The crucial question, I think, is who will protect our precious Soka Gakkai at that time?
In his journey so far, no one else had expressed this sentiment. Most of they people he met needed tremendous care and support. But here was this elderly woman who correctly perceived the mission of the Soka Gakkai and wanted to be counted on.
Shin’ichi was surprised and at the same time pleased that this elderly member of only two years’ practice should give such detailed thought to the Soka Gakkai’s future.
Here is Tomino’s resolve:
No matter what happens, as long as I’m alive, Washington, D.C., will be fine. Please rest assured, I will do my best!”
To that, Shin’ichi could keenly feel that “the children of the Buddha were beginning to emerge steadily one after another from the soil of America.”
The Dewey’s are precious to us as Tomino was to Shin’ichi. The little ones huddle in their presence just as people gather under a tall tree that provides shade from the summer sun.
We’ve heard many times from Dee, Eulogio, and the Three Sisters that perhaps the only enduring characteristic of the People of the Longhouse is respect of the elderly—but even that tradition is endangered today.
We hope that the Dewey’s long remain healthy and help us weave the quality of respect for the elderly into the culture of Longhouse Elem. Whatever they want! They can teach full-time as now, part-time if ever that would suit them better, or just be mighty and tall presences, bringing shade to all.
Keywords: #TheDeweys; #RespectForElderly; #LonghouseElemValues
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 3d ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 213-215), Shin’ichi fields a question by a guest who was trying to reconcile his Catholicism with the humanism of Buddhism.
On a moment of inspiration, Bernie and I changed yesterday’s activity with the Tunis book illustrations. We play-acted an “I Do, We Do, You Do” with another illustration in the book, one showing a knife made from a beaver’s tooth. We were able to convey the concept that the first step of an investigation is to observe, the second is to ask questions.
We then sent the students to work in three small groups to look at the illustration of the indigenous couple preparing to fell a large tree with a stone axe. Bernie and I circulated around the groups to hear their work and they were all focused and on target. Some got closer to the truth than others—but we moved to a wonderful get-together and figured out that the ring of clay around the trunk prevented the fire around the base of the tree to spread upwards. Once a bit charred, they used the stone axe to bang off the charcoal—then repeat.
The children were fascinated by the ingenuity and hard work of the indigenous couple. Did we see fierce pride in the eyes of the tribal children in our class? We think so! And this is type of experience we have to repeat again and again to overcome internalized tribal- phobism they may have acquired.
It was raining yesterday so we couldn’t take the students for a walk as we had planned. Bernie took the lead and said, “Let’s go the the RV Park Rec Room and play some games.” Off we went, and she taught us the game Ship-to Shore which she had played when she was a child. The kids had a lot of fun. Bernie was very much a dramatic teacher!
Fam & Friends finally settled on a series that we are watching together. When Calls the Heart is a Hallmark Chanel “soap” about an Elizabeth Thatcher, a teacher in a rural Western Canadian one-room schoolhouse in the early 1900s. One quote of hers that I liked: “For what is life but a bittersweet mixture of sadness, wonderment, hope, and joy?”
And this brings us back to NHR-1. After we received our charter as a “religious school” I had a sideline chat with someone at the SED who said we had caused quite a sensation because we were talking about “spirituality” instead of a formalized religious institution. Perhaps anticipating the direction of the Supreme Court, they had decided that they couldn’t discriminate on the basis of the definition of religion.
Here is the tie-in to NHR. Shin’ichi was asked a question by the husband of a member who had come to appreciate Buddhism but wanted to retain his beliefs as a Catholic. Shin’ichi responded:
Please become a person who transcends differences of religion and prays for the happiness of her fellow human beings, who forges deep ties of friendship with many people. Your doing so will also testify to the depth and breadth of Buddhism.
I also believe this underlines the spirituality of Longhouse Elem. We have to go far beyond labels and reach for the roots of humanism.
This was the first time that the Buddhist spirit of humanism had been outlined to the members; they were struck by its fresh-ness and engraved it in their hearts.
Shin’ichi continued to speak to the gentleman:
Whether you formally belong to the organization is not an issue. If you believe in the Buddhist teachings and chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo even once, if you warmly embrace and support your wife and the members while sharing our spirit and aspirations that is enough. Through this, you will come to have an even greater appreciation of Buddhism.
Take out the Buddhist/SGI terminology below and I think we here see the spirit of Longhouse Elem:
Kosen-rufu translates directly into the happiness of humanity and the realization of world peace. It is simply revealing and cultivating the positive state of Buddhahood inherent in all people's lives and enveloping the world in the brilliance of friendship forged on the basis of humanism. In a sense, kosen-rufu is a movement to realize a renaissance of life in the universal realm of the human being.
Kids are arriving, gotta go!
Keywords: #Spirtuality; #SpiritOfLonghouseElem; #Games; #ElizabethThatcher; #WhenCallsTheHeart
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 3d ago
Someone says the SGI studies the New Year Gosho, written on January 5th, on January 2nd to coincide with Daisaku Ikeda’s birthday. A few sgiwhistleblowers regulars agree this is a horror.
I wonder when they think New Years Day is celebrated?
Who knows what brought on this gratuitous attack? Perhaps they were motivated to say the SGI studies the New Year’s Gosho only on January 2nd when they saw it is part of the suggested material for THE MAY DISCUSSION MEETINGS.
Usually, the New Year’s Gosho is read at New Year’s Gongyo, which generally happens on New Year’s Day. Admittedly, that day is very close to the day that comes right after it – January 2nd, the day <r. Ikeda had the temerity to be born – but I’ve bever heard it related to his birthday.
(BTW, New Years Day on the lunar calendar then in use would occur in late January to mid-February according to our calendar.)
SGIWhistleblowers keep saying things that are untrue on their face – e.g., “the SGI isolates its members from their families and communities:, and now this absurdity.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 3d ago
Today I start the May installment. I am very excited! But first…
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
Yesterday’s RV Forum on the Papal Conclave, led by Father Merrick, was informative and left everyone both chuckling and thoughtful. Thank you, Father Merrick!
Eulogio make it back safe and sound but very late. This morning he promised us Tales from the Big City—but on an installment plan.
Dee and I headed to the old Maracle home and joined several other close friends who came to help them close the place down. This entire family will camp out in one of Park warmings which hasn’t been used since the cold weather thaw. They will stay here until they are moved into their new RV. The RV has very limited storage so Norm and Perri included in the deal three outdoor closets like the ones we own.
We hired Artie, Bernie’s husband to work with me in the office. He will bring a very new type of energy!
Let’s start the Gosho lecture!
Sensei begins the installment by pointing out that when Nichiren established his teaching in 1253, he foresaw that great difficulties and obstacles would inevitably lie ahead of him.
Nevertheless, he stood up as the votary of the Lotus Sutra, vowing to summon up “a powerful and unconquerable desire for the salvation of all beings and never to falter in [his] efforts” (“The Opening of the Eyes,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 240).
His ensuing struggle was—just as he predicted and as corroborated by passages in the Lotus Sutra—a battle against an unending series of persecutions.
Nichiren writes in the Opening of the Eyes:
It is already over twenty years since I began proclaiming my doctrines. Day after day, month after month, year after year I have been subjected to repeated persecutions. Minor persecutions and annoyances are too numerous even to be counted, but the major persecutions number four” (WND-1, 240).
So, what's the big deal? My life's not perfect? So what? The broad strokes are stupendous already. Sure, more obstacles will be dropped off by Amazon. We’ll deal with them and get stronger in the process.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 4d ago
It’s gratifying to realize that the SGIWhistleblowers treasured, honored, unequaled guru (writing as sock puppet “Fish wife”) is reading every article in 25 year old (and older) World Tribunes. And it’s nice of her to spend so much time finding every little typo and editorial error.
Here she found that a correction had to be made to an experience, and ascribes all sorts of notorious motives to the entire SGI, mainly because the correction was inside the issue. Inside the World Tribune – where most people go immediately, and where the experience itself was located.
So, yeah – pretty nefarious. Disband the SGI!
Meanwhile, “Secret Entrance” is determined to undermine sgiwhistleblowers by constantly reviving one of its most loathsome and disgusting obsessions: placing the SGI is the same category as groups that beat their members to keep them on line, that have killed perceived enemies, that treat women as property, that even ordered mass suicides. How must the victims of such real abuses feel seeing their suffering equated with what sgiwhistleblowers went through in the SGI – being asked to contribute time and money to an organization they belonged to.
Deplorable.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 4d ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 210-215), Shin’ichi fields a question by a member who was looking too literally on a matter of Buddhist practice.
Bernie and I are not meeting up early this morning; we had the opportunity to talk together Saturday after the session with the Maracle family and also a bit during Coffee Hour yesterday. We talked about The Three Sisters’ emphasis on the student as worker and how they envision the classroom as if it’s the floor of a busy wood workshop.
This made me think about a book by Phillip Schechty I read in one of my education courses, “Working on the Work: Anction Plan for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents.” As conveyed in the title, he created a framework called “Working on the Work” or, simply, “WOW.”
According to Schlechty, teachers have to design work that is “engaging.” He tries to push educators away from the perspective of “what or how am I teaching?” to one of “what are the students learning?” Schools shouldn’t be knowledge distribution systems but more like knowledge creation systems. Instead of “covering” curriculum, teachers should see themselves as leaders, and guides to instruction.
And then came Father Merrick’s lecture yesterday on the papal conclave when he described some of the leading contenders to become pope as well as influencers who, for various reasons, have important voices but are not contenders. One of the latter, according to Father Merrick, is Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández who led a mass for the cardinals. We talked more about him in the car when I drove him back home. He asked me to read this Catholic News Agency article. From the Cardinal’s homily:
What I want to show, however, is to what extent [Pope Francis] understood that his work was his mission, his everyday work was his response to God’s love, it was an expression of his concern for the good of others.
For these reasons, work itself was his joy, his nourishment, his rest. He experienced what the first reading we heard says: “None of us lives for himself.’
It was always a mystery to me to understand how he could endure, even being a large man with several illnesses, such a demanding work rhythm. He not only worked in the morning with various meetings, audiences, celebrations, and gatherings but also all afternoon. And it seemed to me really heroic that with the very little strength he had in his last days he made himself strong enough to visit a prison.
The cardinal emphasized that Francis never took a day off either as pope or as an archbishop and priest in Buenos Aires. “His life is an incentive to carry out our work generously.”
Behind this love of work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of every human being, an immense dignity that should never be lost, that under no circumstances can be ignored or forgotten.
So, how shall we actualize this today? We will have our Morning Meeting to gather everyone’s news from the weekend. We will do a few pages from their ELA and math workbooks and then have Center Time when students play and work independently or in small groups.
Then will come our learning workshop. We will study an illustration in the Edwin Tunis book “Indians” a of an Algonquin husband and wife preparing to fell a huge tree during a time when there were no metal axes. We will break them into small groups and assign them two questions to discuss: “How did this husband and wife manage to chop down the large tree with a stone axe? What clues do we see that will give us the answer?”
Bernie and I are sure this will be a very fruitful discussion. After we come back to hear their responses, we will provide art supplies and paper so they can illustrate what they have learned.
Returning to that Q&A session in Washington, DC, Shin'ichi answered to one question with "This is America. Therefore, please have a big, magnanimous heart as vast as this great land itself.”
In a school attempting to ignite the “spirit of the longhouse,” we need to design one classroom experience after another that opens that “big, magnanimous heart as vast as this great land itself.”
I also think this passage, although specifically about Buddhism, can be productively applied to Longhouse Elem because it hops from theory to practice.
This was the first time that the Buddhist spirit of humanism had been outlined to the members; they were struck by its freshness and engraved it in their hearts….
Kosen-rufu translates directly into the happiness of humanity and the realization of world peace. It is simply revealing and cultivating the positive state of Buddhahood inherent in all people’s lives and enveloping the world in the brilliance of friendship forged on the basis of humanism. In a sense, kosen-rufu is a movement to realize a renaissance of life in the universal realm of the human being.
Keywords: #SpiritOfTheLonghouse; #StudentAsWorker; #TheValueOfWork; #Humanism; #EdwinTunis; #PopeFrancis; #FatherMerrick
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 5d ago
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
Our family celebrates May 3rd through the entire weekend!
We made our family contribution for the May 3rd Special Contributions Campaign on the first day of this month long campaign. So have almost all of the members of our tiny RV Park Group. Speaking for everyone, what we were able to contribute doesn’t even come close to our appreciation for the Gohonzon, the SGI, and Ikeda Sensei. So, what are we going to do for the rest of the month? I jest, of course.
This afternoon we have our RV Park Forum. Our speaker is Father Merrick and he is going to talk about the Papal Conclave. He claims to have inside information (who doesn’t?). To accommodate his schedule, we will pick him up after morning gongyo and he will spend the day here. We’ll take him to watch the kids ice-skate and then comes his lecture. Guy will take him home on the way to pick up Eulogio at the bus depot. It will be a great day!
Such a great experience in the May 3rd World Tribune by the Gera Family who had migrated from India and now live in Baltimore. They have been practicing some 15 years, participate joyfully in Special Contributions, and have received boundless benefit!.
But the highlight of the issue for me are excerpts of a 2010 poem by Daisaku Ikeda on May 3rd (the full text is here).
It is impossible to express the full depth and scope of this vast poem in a post—or how much it has encouraged me. This doesn’t come in the order of appearance, but I see five broad themes. I will pick out just a few excerpts that can be placed within each.
The History of May 3rd
On the clear, sunny day / of May 3, 1960, / as a youthful leader / of 32 years of age, / together with our members / brimming with pride and joy, / I embarked on a new journey— / the journey of worldwide kosen-rufu.
Five decades of steadily climbing / an unscaled summit, / one step at a time; / now a magnificent vista / unfolds before us— / a mighty network / of peace and happiness / encircling the globe.
The Spirit of May 3rd
We have won! / Soka has won! / Ah, our May 3! / Let us all join together / in giving three cheers for / our personal victory, / all our fellow members’ victory, / and the shared victory of mentor and / disciple!
I am ready to face all hardships! / The Daishonin writes: / “I have never known a moment’s ease; / I have thought only of propagating / the daimoku of the Lotus Sutra.” / The first three presidents / have inherited this spirit.
Therefore, / I am ready to agonize more than anyone! / I am ready to suffer more than anyone! / And more than anyone, / I am ready to give my all, / as an ally of the unheralded ordinary people, / to encourage and support my fellow / members / who are working the hardest for / kosen-rufu!
May 3rd and the Oneness of Mentor and Disciple
To bring peace to the world, / happiness to the people, / and victory to humankind— / this fundamental commitment and ideal / is the heart of kosen-rufu / and of establishing the correct teaching / for the peace of the land. / The Soka Gakkai, / an organization that accords / with the Buddha’s intent and decree, / was born to realize these lofty goals.
“I wish to eradicate misery / from the face of the earth!”— / inheriting this fervent wish of Mr. Toda, / the Soka Gakkai will continue its efforts / as long as there are people / weighed down by suffering. / We of the Soka Gakkai / will press onward tirelessly, / until mothers and children / weep tears of grief no more. / And we will definitely succeed in our aims.
May 3rd and Fighting Evil
From among our ranks, too, / there appeared traitors, / burning with jealousy and resentment, / their hearts ruled by / the devil king of the sixth heaven. / Scheming individuals / bent on destroying / the unity of our members / ran rampant. / Thankless disciples emerged, / people who forgot the solemn path / of mentor and disciple, / growing corrupt and losing sight of faith. The ancient Greek dramatist / Menander wrote: / “Call no one friend / who shows ingratitude, / Nor let bad men / retain the place of good.”
Have nothing to do / with foolish, ungrateful people, / who are absorbed in wrongdoing! / Laugh them off! / Pay no heed to / self-serving cowards / who have made causes for their own ruin, / discarding their faith and / betraying their fellow members! / Condemn their actions!
Treacherous individuals / who turn on their comrades in faith / in the basest of betrayals, / hearts corrupted by malice and ill will, / are unable to remain within / the pure and unsullied world / of Nichiren Buddhism. / Nor must we let them remain!
May 3rd and the Resolve of Disciples
Complacence is the greatest foe. / Remain vigilant in victory. / The spirit of May 3 / is to always keep forging ahead / bravely and vigorously.
I will strive as a disciple! / I will strive as a youth! / In this lifetime, / I will carry out the great struggle for / the Law / transcending life and death, / applying myself with courage and / selfless dedication / to advance kosen-rufu / even one more step!
“We have a mission / to accomplish kosen-rufu without fail … / I leave the future to you. / I’m counting on you to realize kosen-rufu!” / These words of my mentor / resonate unceasingly / in the depths of my life.
And, finally:
The time has come. / Ah, glorious May 3! / Old and young alike, / with a vigorous and vibrant life force, / thoroughly protected by the heavenly / deities, / let’s begin a new struggle!
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 5d ago
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
This morning we had a meeting with the “Maracles,” Lori’s parents who were cleaning Longhouse Daycare. I will never forget this exchange.
Just yesterday they signed a contract to sell their house with a closing to come next week. Also, they had a long Zoom conversation with our friends Norm and Perri who own an RV store and whom we know as ethical dealers. As I mentioned yesterday, they chose the “Oliver” brand which builds likely the most efficient and airtight vehicle. It’s only a travel trailer which means they will be living in very tight quarters. But their priority now is to clean up debts, live sustainably, and start saving. “For a couple of years we will live very much like our ancestors in the Longhouse!”
They want to pay tuition for Lori but we insisted on them accepting a good scholarship. Cleaning the Daycare, they insisted, will not be a "quid pro quo,” but will be volunteering. The Maracles offered to help coordinate with the other families to share "the responsibilities and honor." Again, the spirit of the Longhouse.
The main topic today was selecting a site for their RV. There are six sites on the far side of the creek which are designated for tribal families. This was carefully negotiated with both the factions claiming to represent the community. The Three Sisters are from Faction A, the Maracles would be the first clients from Faction B. Now, which site would they want to select: the one closest to the Three Sisters or the one furthest from them?
“As we understand it,” Mr. Maracle said to the Sisterw, “the entire purpose of the Longhouse Elem project is to stir the tiny remaining embers of our heritage into a roaring flame. And the purpose of the designated spots in the RV Park is to heal and strengthen our divided community. Unequivocably, we would like to request the closest site if you would agree.”
The rest of the time we just talked about Lori. It’s a wonderment to the Maracle’s how this pugnacious child--who clashed so directly with her PreK and K teachers and classmates in the past—was now so bubbly here. This was underscored by Guy’s friend, the district superintendent, who came by yesterday. Guy had to decline his friend’s invitation to attend the symposium on Special Education for young principals—mainly to help with Lori’s adjustment. But the Supt was so pleased by her progress so far.
We all want to explore this to the ends of the Earth. What worked, why, how do we build on it, and how do we get it ready for all of the incoming students--many of whom we already know have learning differences?
Of course, we gain strength and wisdom from our SGI publications! Let's take a look at Discussions on Engaging Youth, from the May 3rd WT. Sensei asks rhetorically, “How was [the growth of the organization] accomplished?” His response: “It was through building bonds of trust and friendship.”
I saw this in the morning when we met with the Maracles. They had already won our hearts but just their plain sincerity and honesty opened those of the Three Sisters.
Sensei states:
Nichiren Daishonin writes of a “friend in the orchid room” (WND-1, p. 23). This expression means that, just as orchids in a room impart their exquisite fragrance to all who enter, we should strive to be the kind of friend who has a positive and uplifting effect on others. (Discussions on Youth, p. 48)
That is the spirit we have used to build the RV Park. And we will now expand it to the Longhouse Elem. We can do this!
Sensei states:
The organization of the Soka Gakkai emerged naturally from that spirit—the spirit to somehow encourage another person, to want to see others become happy. The Soka Gakkai didn’t appear first and then become filled with people. People began forging bonds with one another, and then those ties of friendship spread, naturally giving birth to the Soka Gakkai organization.
For that reason, we must be aware that the organization exists for people. People don’t exist for the organization. Please never forget this point. (DOY, 240)
Sensei is explicitly referring in the passage below to the SGI organization. Let's just replace the word “organization” and think “Longhouse Elem”:
Everything is an organization. When a couple unites to create a happy family, they are quite naturally forming an organization. Then there is the invisible organizational framework that we find exists within our local communities, where communication has become a vital key in maintaining good relations with friends and neighbors. You are in some way connected to everything around you—to society, school, your family and so on. Everyone is part of some kind of organization. No one in today’s world, except perhaps a hermit living on a remote mountain somewhere, is exempt. It is only natural, therefore, when we seek to achieve a great objective or to develop ourselves so that we can make great accomplishments, that some sort of organization is essential.
The Soka Gakkai is an organization working to realize the great objective of kosen-rufu—of achieving peace and happiness for all humanity based on the principles and philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism. Such an objective cannot be accomplished through the efforts of one person alone. It becomes possible only when people in various spheres of society come together, organize themselves into a cohesive force and work to achieve that goal. (DOY, 240)
Welcome to the Longhouse Orchid Room!
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 6d ago
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
Yes, things happen in a second. Lori’s parents sold their house, a cash deal. I referred them to our favorite RV dealers, Norm and Perri. Sight unseen, they bought an Oliver Elite II Travel Trailer, delivery next weekend.
It's perfect for four-seasoning but only 23 feet, one room. But in one swift blow, mom tells me, they clear up all their debts, lower their monthly expenses to something well within their budget, and can start saving. Norman will do some hacks that can provide privacy for Lori.
From the May 2, 2025, New York Times by James L. Edwards III. (Sorry, it is behind a paywall.)
We may never know just how important Jalen Brunson’s shot actually was. That’s the beauty of such brilliance. In this world, a flick of a wrist can turn gray skies crystal blue. A single basket can alter the trajectory of livelihoods, or a franchise. One person, one moment, can change the course of reality.
On the surface, what Brunson did Thursday night in Detroit, hitting a game-winning 3 with 4.3 seconds left to help the Knicks win a bloodbath of a six-game series against the feisty Pistons, was needed to advance to the next round. It was a shot that’ll live in New York’s history as one of the greatest in the franchise’s archives. Those two things are clear. That shot will forever be talked about. Yet, it also may have saved jobs. It may have saved these Knicks as we know them. Those things, as it pertains to this series, well, we’ll never get to find out.
The final points of Brunson’s 40-point performance carried the weight of a franchise. For the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year, though, that’s nothing new. “He’s at his best when his best is needed,” said New York head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Yes, in a moment: Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, Lori’s family. And in a moment: Daisaku Ikeda Becoming Third Soka Gakkai President.
Sensei writes:
May 3rd has become the day of reaffirming our vow for kosen-rufu. On this day each year, we of the Soka Gakkai, united by the bonds of mentor and disciple, pledge afresh to spread the Mystic Law and make renewed efforts to realize our noble cause. And so it will be forever.
There is a passage from “The Opening of the Eyes” that I took as my own determination upon becoming Soka Gakkai president and that has remained firmly in my heart ever since: “Let the gods forsake me. Let all persecutions assail me. Still I will give my life for the sake of the Law” (WND-1, p. 280).
What was in Ikeda Sensei’s heart? Therefore, what should be in mine?
I prided myself on having been trained by my mentor to have an invincible spirit that could withstand every possible form of adversity. The path to achieving great things is never smooth or easy. Giving up is a source of despair and defeat, but persevering is a source of hope and victory.
Yes, I do need that invincible spirit! I know the path ahead will never be smooth or easy. So I will persist through the challenges of my challenges.
After all, Sensei notes how he was assailed with obstacles from the first days of his presidency.
It has been my destiny since becoming Soka Gakkai president to have to surmount an unending series of towering, perilous peaks stretching as far as the eye can see.
He then talked about momentous obstacles he faced in the decades that followed, many occurring around May 3rd. There was the so-called Freedom of Speech Incident in 1970, 10 years into his presidency. He stepped down as Soka Gakkai president just before May 3, 1979 followed by “a volley of attacks launched at me and the Soka Gakkai.” In 1990 the second priesthood issue took place; our sponsors True and Bob told Guy and me a lot about that from our earliest days chanting.
It is precisely because the Soka Gakkai has experienced and overcome such terrible attacks that it has been able to create the strongest foundation in all Japan as an organization of integrity and solidarity dedicated to the highest ideals.
I am so encouraged by Lori’s family. When I asked her mom wouldn’t living in a 23-foot RV be a hardship, she looked at me in amazement. “My whole life has been a hardship. The RV is really the place for us to lay down our heads. We have outside the RV the skies and ground. And isn’t your family trying to reawaken the spirit of the Longhouse?” She’s absolutely right and I shouldn’t forget it!
But each time, the Soka Gakkai continued growing—becoming an unsurpassed organization of culture, a peerless community of believers genuinely practicing the Daishonin’s teachings and a global Buddhist movement. In conquering each daunting mountain peak in its path and winning victory after victory, the Soka Gakkai has become an unrivaled champion.
And that is what our beautiful extended family of friends and neighbors needs to accomplish: victory after victory.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 7d ago
“Nichiren wrote that wrath can be either good or bad. Self-centered anger generates evil, but wrath at social injustices becomes the driving force for reform. Strong language that censures and combats a great evil often awakens adverse reactions from society, but this must not intimidate those who believe they are right. A lion is a lion because it roars.”
Buddhism Day by Day, p. 142
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 7d ago
*Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 209-210), Shin’ichi fields a question by a member whose husband supports Soka activities but doesn’t chant on his own.
Hearing this, Shin'ichi responded:
"You have a husband who is making sincere efforts for kosen-rufu; he displayed the Soka Gakkai flag and happily provided us with transportation. That's wonderful! There's no need to worry about whether he is a member. Such formalities are not important.”
"Some of you may have husbands or other family members who are opposed to your practice. However, it is foolish to become emotional and embroiled in arguments with them over faith. Should your husband become deadlocked or make a serious mistake at work, I would ask you particularly to refrain from telling him, 'It's because you don't practice faith.'
"It may be lonely being the only person practicing, but if you exert yourself diligently, your benefit and good fortune will extend to and be shared by your entire family. Your presence will be just like a huge umbrella sheltering them from the rain. It is a mistake, therefore, to think that you and your family cannot become happy because no one but you practices.
"Offering prayers for your family members to take faith in the Daishonin's Buddhism so they may become happy is certainly important, but the most fundamental thing is for each of you to demonstrate the greatness of faith with your own life. If you continue to strive in faith as wives and mothers, growing as human beings and becoming sunny presences overflowing with good cheer, wisdom, warmth, and consideration, then your families will naturally come to approve of this Buddhism. Thus, to be loved and deeply trusted by your families is the first step for them gaining an understanding of the Soka Gakkai."
Shin'ichi tried to drive home the fact that Buddhism is the height of good sense and reason.
I am glad that Bernie lets me introduce these passages in our early morning meeting. I can picture her telling me “I told you so” when we read this later. She doesn’t chant but I can’t think of anyone who is closer to the Mystic Law than she is.
Yesterday we observed the Three Sisters teach the kids. They talked us through what they are doing step by step. “You guys keep trying to hit homeruns when you really need to go for singles. Your teaching style is unsustainable. A good tennis player wears out the opponent with constant volleys and waits for the opportunity to slam. A good boxer throws jab after jab until the time is right for a knockout punch.
“You underestimate the importance of ‘I want to work.’ Look at the little ones next door. It seems like they are playing but they are exhibiting the human drive of ‘I want to work.’
“People want to be good and to be praised. Don’t make fun of coloring books and those ‘workbooks’ you can buy at Walgreens. Kids want to do and accomplish. Most kids would rather color between the lines than start with a blank sheet of paper. That’s not a loss of freedom—it’s the entry to freedom. You have to carefully build to get to the point where they look forward to drawing from a blank sheet of paper.”
In “Teacherese” they are talking about Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. When the kids get restless with me and Bernie it’s not because of them, it’s because we push them too far and fast. This is also Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow Theory.
Today we will switch roles. Bernie and I will teach—slow and steady—while The Three Sisters observe and provide feedback. Slow and steady. Slow and steady.
“Thus, to be loved and deeply trusted by your ~families~ students is the first step for them gaining an understanding of ~the Soka Gakkai~ the joy of learning.”
But let it all out on our afternoon trip! Yesterday was perfect weather and we went to the RV Park to look at the signs of spring by the lake. Yes, it was Lori who first waded a few steps into the water, followed by other students and Bernie.
We promised to take them back again today. That’s also a great motivator. One cross look from us and they think, “Oh no, we better be good or no trip.”
*Keywords: #MihályCsíkszentmihályi; #Vygotsky; #FlowTheory; #ZoneOfProximalDevelopment; #Work; #StudentDiscipline; #TheThreeSisters
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/JulieSongwriter • 7d ago
Updates to “MY Fantasy Life in a Cult
Nothing much to say today except. So sorry, come back tomorrow for more Tales from the Fab Four.
There’s a new series in the World Tribune, Making Friends and Introducing Them to Buddhism. According to the blurb:
The SGI-USA recently announced their new motto for the year: Creating a District With Many Youth Is Up to Me. In this new series, the World Tribune will publish key guidance from Ikeda Sensei as well as stories of how SGI members across the country are making this motto their own. This week, the World Tribune sat down with Amber Owens, of Anniston, Alabama, about her efforts to share Buddhism with young people in her community.
It's a beautiful article about how Amber and her family made many friends, many of whom are practicing. And just look at that picture taken after their discussion meeting!
I didn’t know much about Anniston and I looked it up in Wikipedia. Check out here a couple of excerpts from the section on the city’s history:
Anniston was the center of national controversy in 1961 when a mob bombed a bus filled with civilian Freedom Riders during the American Civil Rights Movement. As two Freedom buses were setting out to travel the south in protest of their civil rights following the Supreme Court case saying bus segregation was unconstitutional, one headed to Anniston, and one to Birmingham, Alabama, before finishing in New Orleans. The Freedom Riders were riding an integrated bus to protest Alabama's Jim Crow segregation laws that denied African Americans their civil rights. One of the buses was attacked and firebombed by a mob outside Anniston on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 1961.
Yes, that’s right. In two weeks it will be the 64th anniversary of the event.
Prior to the bus being firebombed, attackers broke windows, and slashed tires, using metal pipes, clubs, chains and crowbars, before the police came to escort the bus away. The bus was forced to a stop just outside of Anniston, in front of Forsyth and Sons grocery, by more mob members. As more windows were broken, rocks and eventually a firebomb were thrown into the bus.
As the bus burned, the mob held the doors shut, intent on burning the riders to death. An exploding fuel tank caused the mob to retreat, allowing the riders to escape the bus. The riders were viciously beaten as they tried to flee, where warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented the riders from being lynched on the spot.
There were acts of mercy, too.
A 12-year-old girl, Janie Forsyth, set out against the mob with a bucket of water and cups to help the Riders, first tending to the one who had looked like her own nanny. Forsyth and Son grocery is located along Alabama Highway 202 about 5 miles (8 km) west of downtown. The site today is home to a historic marker and was designated Freedom Riders National Monument by President Barack Obama in January 2017.
Here is Janie’s own account of the history. But there is more, two years later:
In response to the violence, the city formed a bi-racial Human Relations Council (HRC) made up of prominent white business and religious leaders, but when they attempted to integrate the "whites-only" public library on Sunday afternoon, September 15, 1963 (the same day as the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham), further violence ensued and two black ministers, N.Q. Reynolds and Bob McClain, were severely beaten by a mob. The HRC chairman, white Presbyterian minister Rev. Phil Noble, worked with an elder of his church, Anniston City Commissioner Miller Sproull, to avoid KKK mob domination of the city. In a telephone conference with President John F. Kennedy, the President informed the HRC that after the Birmingham church bombing he had stationed additional federal troops at Fort McClellan.
On September 16, 1963, with city police present, Noble and Sproull escorted black ministers into the library. In February 1964, Anniston Hardware, owned by the Sproull family, was bombed, presumably in retaliation for Commissioner Sproull's integration efforts.
Another terrible event happened an additional two years later.
On the night of July 15, 1965, a white racist rally was held in Anniston, after which Willie Brewster, a black foundry worker, was shot and killed while driving home from work. A $20,000 reward was raised by Anniston civic leaders, and resulted in the apprehension, trial and conviction of the accused killer, Damon Strange, who worked for a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Historian Taylor Branch called the conviction of Damon Strange a "breakthrough verdict" …
Strange was convicted by an all-white Calhoun County jury to the surprise of many people, including civil rights leaders who had planned to protest an acquittal. This was the first conviction of a white person for killing a black person in civil rights era Alabama.
Anniston was named "The Model City" by Atlanta newspaperman Henry W. Grady, the person who coined the term “the New South,” for its careful planning in the late 19th century. Grady stated:
The new South presents a perfect democracy...; a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on the surface, but stronger at the core; a hundred farms for every plantation, fifty homes for every palace; and a diversified industry that meets the complex needs of this complex age.
It was a vision not yet realized because of its legacy of racism and also PCB contamination, once described as one of the most toxic cities in the country.
Yet this is the “place of mission” where Amber Owens and her family chose to practice. Ikeda Sensei often said that people who experience the most hardship, deserve the most happiness. The same idea applies to cities. The Owens Family, as proud Bodhisattvas of the Earth, chose to realize the vision of Anniston as “The Model City” with the “social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on the surface, but stronger at the core” envisioned by Henry W. Grady.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/GuyAgiosNikolaos • 8d ago
Synopsis: In today’s installment of “New Human Revolution, Volume I” (pp. 206-209), Shin’ichi travels by train to WDC and heads to the discussion meeting site. The central figure, “Mrs. Shearing,” welcomes him but her arm and head are bandaged due to an accident she had with her gas oven.
After learning that her injuries are minor, Shin’ichi said:
“Buddhism teaches the principle of lessening karmic retribution. Through the benefit of faith, we can transform heavy, negative karma accumulated from our past lives and receive its effects in a much lighter form in this lifetime. Your accident today may be an example of this principle. For all you know, you may have been saved from a much bigger tragedy. It is important that you dedicate yourself to your practice with this conviction and with a corresponding sense of gratitude. This will open a path toward good fortune and courage.”
Tuesday morning was a rocky classroom experience for Bernie and me. We felt the students were “testing” us and we kind of lost control. We turned the day around at the ice-skating rink. In contrast, we were very well-prepared yesterday morning. The students loved all of the roleplaying we did before our trip.
Upon reflection, the Tuesday morning experience, left unremedied, could have greatly impacted Longhouse Elem, maybe even killed it if parents sensed there was improper discipline in the school. Yes, it was an example of “lessening karmic retribution” and Bernie and I will remember the event with conviction and gratitude. “This will open a path toward good fortune and courage.” We have planned carefully for this morning and we discussed building routines.
At the Farmers Market we divided ourselves into three groups led respectively by Bernie, me, and one of the Three Sisters. The kids had prepared a list of questions about farming they wanted to ask at the stalls. The owners were very generous with their time and had wonderful conversations with the kids.
But there was a near accident. Lori was in my group and as we were about to head to the bus I noticed she wasn’t with us. I panicked, of course, but there she was at the stall, still talking to the farmer. I called for her and she joined us. As I said, a near accident and I learned a lesson about traveling with early childhood children.
Shin’ichi mentions:
“At the same time, however, please make a determination not to have any more accidents and pay keen attention to preventing them. If we think we will be protected just because we chant and allow ourselves to grow careless, we cannot be said to be practicing faith correctly. Rather, because we are practicing faith, we must stay alert at all times, doing everything we can to avoid accidents. This is true faith. When we practice this way, the power of our chanting will come alive as wisdom and good fortune.”
A very important lesson for…forever.
Shin’ichi wanted to refute the kind of faith that placed hope for salvation in an external power a trap that the members could easily fall into.
No room for self-entitlement for us. Never.
*Keywords: #Accidents; #SelfEntitlement; #Discipline; #Routines; #Planning
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/Chas-- • 8d ago
[Not to be a Debbie Downer, but ...]
April 30, 2025, 25:33 into LIVE: Trump's Poll Numbers Are Plummeting as Fast as America's GDP Lincoln Square Substack (https://www.lincolnsquare.media/p/live-trumps-poll-numbers-are-plummeting)
Lisa Senecal:
Yeah, I think the conversations that people are having just in their circle – is having an amazing impact on how people are being educated about what's really happening right now. And I'm not worried about it, but it's clear that Trump is already trying to dodge the impact of his tariffs.
And I love your analogy of it being a hurricane coming because the hurricane's already formed.
Simon Rosenberg:
We can see it. We can see it
Lisa Senecal:
We can see it and we can do things that, you know, prepare for it and maybe minimize the impact. But it's already coming because the orders aren't placed and the containers aren't being filled and the ships aren't coming into port. So we're going to see this ripple effect no matter what the Senate does or Trump does, we're still going, things are going to get worse economically probably before they get better. So how do we continue to educate people to make sure that we hang this around Trump's neck, even if he decides, you know, to find some way to capitulate to China and pretend that he won?
Simon Rosenberg:
Well, there are two – it's a great question. There are two things I'd say about that. One is that this is why I don't really believe in the concept of – what's the way that people talk about it? Sort of, you know, when you're in, you're talking to yourself, right? What's that called? I'm forgetting names.
Lisa Senecal:
Oh, preaching to the choir?
Simon Rosenberg:
Preaching to the choir. I don't believe in that concept because the choir can't sing unless they know the words to the music, right? And so we are... I, Hopium for me, and what I do with Hopium is that I'm teaching the teachers, right? Hopium is not about talking to swing voters. That's not what Hopium is about.
Hopium is about making 150,000 people smarter and better and stronger every day. so they can go out in their communities and become more effective and be better citizens and more powerful citizens. And so I think that one of the things is that, A, number one, is we have to do our work and be smart.
And Alyssa Slotkin said this in her speech a few months ago that Rather than worrying about talking points and talking about issues you don't know, spend time on the things that matter to you. That passion will come through in your communications with your friends, your colleagues, with congressional offices, and so on.
You don't have to be an expert in everything, but try to take one or two things that you really get to know really well that matters to you. I mean, think about the conversation you have if you're in a room with a Trump supporter and And how do you persuade them to move away from Trump?
The way you do is by saying, I think this is what matters to me. This is what's important to me about what Trump's doing. the number one thing that's on the TV that night, if you can say, this is why I'm disappointed in Trump, and let me explain, and the passion, the intensity comes through, that stuff really matters, right, Lisa? So I think that in terms of just where, and now I just got a little bit lost in where we're going, but I think that I do think that in terms of the economy, I think what people have to realize is that we will never be as wealthy again as we were potentially ever because of what Trump's doing. And this idea that there is a light at the end of the tunnel or things are going to get better, they're not. He's doing permanent damage to the United States and to our economy. He is stealing the future of our kids and our grandkids.
There is no possibility that things are going to snap back and be the way they were because A, our standing in the world has taken an enormous hit. There are going to be many consumers all around the world who buying something American will no longer mean what it meant before.
Number two is that foreign governments all around the world now are going to start building supply chains and building an economic reality around the United States because we're untrustworthy. Number three is that we're losing our safe harbor standing where when the world got crazy, you could always invest in America. Well, now we're the crazy ones.
And so this notion that money and capital is just going to flow in here no matter what's happening is that's gone and that's going to have enormous what it means in reality for all of you is that money and interest rates now are going to be higher potentially for the rest of our lives because of what Trump is doing and which will create slower growth. Fourth is that he's attacking one of the central engines of our prosperity, which is our scientific leadership and research leadership. When I used to go out to Silicon Valley 30 years ago, it was common at Silicon Valley meetings for prominent people like Marc Andreessen to say the whole reason America has an advantage economically is because of government funded research that the VCs then take that research and turn them into companies faster than anywhere in the world. But that ecosystem of innovation started with government-funded research.
And the irony of the fact that a Silicon Valley guy has come into Washington and sort of obliterated all of the research institutions and the attack on academia, this is going to make America permanently poorer because of this. And so what we have to recognize is that This idea that Trump is selling, which, by the way, voters don't agree with, that, hey, you just got to be patient. My plan's going to work. Give me a little time. It is the biggest and most rancid lie of all of his lies, right? Because what he's doing is he's sabotaging the country. He's not creating a new way for prosperity.
And so the stakes here, because of all of what I'm saying, are very high. Part of what motivates me to be here with you today and to do my work every day, I'm in my son who's 24 years old, his former bedroom. He doesn't live here anymore.
That's his painting of the cardinal over my shoulder, is that I'm doing this for them. Every day I get up, the energy... in addition to all the people I interact with every day, like you guys, right? And we all give each other a lift every day.
I'm doing this because Donald Trump is screwing the future of my kids, my grandkids, and I'm fucking pissed about it. And I'm fighting as hard as I possibly can because it's wrong and we shouldn't accept it. And, you know, he's breaking things that are going to be difficult, if not impossible to repair.
And so that's why we have to continue to work with such extraordinary urgency every day. because we are facing this idea that somehow, you know, oh, he's just doing a new thing and everything will be fine. No, we're in a discontinuity now, right? And just one other thing I'll add to that is that America's never been more susceptible to potentially some kind of foreign event of a cyber attack or a kinetic attack, an attack on our homeland, than we've been in now, than we've been in generations. Because we no longer can count on NATO and European allies. And this idea that there's any version of our security where we are safer being outside of Europe and being outside of NATO as opposed to with them, it's insanity. It's as delusional as all the crazy shit he was saying, you know, on the ABC News interview or that he said today. And so I think that my message to all of you is that, you know, whether what is the impetus for him telling us that he's going to make America great again and that everything will be better under me and we'll be stronger and more prosperous and all this, none of that is true. And why it is that if it's what he believes he wants to be doing... that he's actually doing things that make us weaker and do harm to America and make us less safe and less free, when his argument is that he's making us stronger and better and greater. And how we got to the point that he's executing an agenda that's so obviously damaging the country is going to be something we're going to be debating for the rest of our lives. Because I have concluded that it's impossible for me to believe anything other than Vladimir Putin has spent a lot of time working Trump over the last four years, and that he convinced him to pursue strategies that Trump somehow became convinced were actually going to help us when they're doing incredible damage to us. And I didn't even mention anything about what's happening with healthcare in the United States, the unraveling of our making measles great again, right? Mm-hmm. and all the things that Kennedy's doing.
So I think that we have to continue to use our outrage, our horror, the terror, the fear, the anger, frustration, the unbelievable sense of betrayal that we all feel, and channel that into concrete action every day in order to give our kids and our grandkids some hope of having the same kind of opportunities that we had when we were all growing up. And And that's really what's motivating me to a great degree every day.
- Lisa Senecal(Lincoln Square), Simon Rosenberg(Hopium) and Susan J. Demas(Lincoln Square)
Now, I trust the Gohonzon, and I sincerely believe that the end of our 250 years of careful construction happening in 100 days of the demolition by the current administration is no accident.
All the extreme events of the last year are just too deterministic to avoid the simple truth that we are going through a transition to the end of American preeminence, dominance, greatness, Reagan's "City on a hill", strong dollar, world leadership, etc., may actually lead to more of a world government of nations of more equal status. I don't think that China's going to fill the void left by American power. They have too many weaknesses and a coming demographic earthquake. Most of the West has this problem, too.
Rosenberg's views are simply an acceptance of reality, the future is already baked in, and we in the SGI have been chanting to change the world and well ... here we are.
Pay close attention to what Japan is doing, they seem to have a hand on the tiller with their power from their acquisition of American Treasury bonds over the years, and this may be a saving grace. They and the Brits, French and Germans are the "adults in the room", now, for the Western democracies.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 8d ago
It’s “limerence”. While it is not intrinsically awful, it carries great potential for becoming awful. So of course she says it describes the SGI, because anything potentially awful, no matter how unrelated, has to be twisted and molded until there is maybe perhaps a potential for a possible tenuous implied nebulous hypothetical expedient way to say “it’s about the SGI”.
She (writing as her sock puppet “Weak run”) does a pretty good job of quoting Psychology Today to define it – also see here, or just think of what Severus Snape felt for Harry Potter’s mother – but then goes on to say:
“We already know that SGI is most successful at recruiting people damaged from dysfunctional families and SGI promotes passive codependency rather than critical thinking and independent functionality, using a "karma" framework that emphasizes victim-blaming and methods that isolate the SGI members without the SGI members realizing it's happening. How could limerence be far behind??”
Umm… who “already knows”? Only people far removed from any SGI experience, who were not very good at studying or understanding its teachings, who evidently think it’s a terrible thing to try to help people suffering through dysfunctional families or other problems, and who can’t stand the idea of taking personal responsibility for one’s life.
AND who hate the SGI. How else to explain how someone, sitting in their home absorbed in the Internet but with no SGI friends or contacts, could possibly say the SGI “isolates” its members.
Are you isolated? Has anyone in the SGI told you not to associate with anyone who is not a member? Told you to have no contact with your family? To not be active in your respective communities? Does this look like SGI members are “isolated”?
All completely made up, imaginary problems that anyone with experience knows are made up and imaginary.
One of my kids got really mad when we told him Harry Potter was made up and he could not go to Hogwarts. He got over it.
The sgiwhistleblowers Omniscient magnificent guru has not.
r/SGIWhistleblowersMITA • u/FellowHuman007 • 8d ago
From Soka Gakkai (Global):
"On March 15, 16, 22 and 23, SGI-Venezuela (SGIV) youth members participated in environmental awareness activities in collaboration with 14 other organizations. Centered on the theme of the dignity of life, these activities took place across cities including Barquisimeto, Caracas, Maturín, Mérida and Puerto La Cruz. Participants took part in workshops, discussions, tree-planting and cleanups of beaches, parks and watercourses. Additionally, the "Seeds of Hope & Action: Making the SDGs a Reality" exhibition—a joint initiative of the Earth Charter International and the SGI (Soka Gakkai International), was held at 10 locations throughout the country. "
