The Bored with trolling poster
2013-11-26 22:01:12 UTC
1. "We are getting rid of all the ______s." A Chapter leader for the Soka Gakkai!
2. Soka Gakkai Member, Shinichi Kuzuha, Arrested for Attempted Arson
Emyo/September 1, 1999
Seikyo Shimbun reports, having fanned the flames, caused Gakkai arsonist, Shinichi Kuzuha to even attempt murder of an NS priest. He had in his possession a 30-centimeter-long carving knife to kill the priest with, as he, himself stated.
9:50 a.m., August 17, NS Hoshoji temple, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Pref., Japan.
The 46-year-old man, Shinichi Kuzuha said to the police with a grin, "I was wondering why other Gakkai members are not as militant against the evil religion, Nichiren Shoshu despite the Seikyo Shimbun reports on how terrible NS is. I thought, "If others do not, I will do it." I had a 30-centimeters-long carving knife to kill (Rev.) Eijun with when he came out of the temple to escape from the fire. When I am released from jail, I will do it again, no matter how many times it takes, until I accomplish my goal."
Fortunately for Hoshoji temple, they had found the arsonist before he set fire to the gasoline, which he had scattered about. The wife of chief priest Rev. Eijun Ishii was watching a monitor because a visitor was expected to arrive at the temple at ten a.m. However, at 9:50 a.m., what she found was not the visitor but an arsonist scattering gasoline about the temple grounds.
She cried out in alarm and called for help. Mr. Ishii, the director general of the temple, who happened to be there, tackled the arsonist despite Kuzuha's menacing behavior, as Kuzuha attempted to set fire to the gasoline. Mr. Ishii subdued the arsonist. Police soon arrived and arrested Kuzuha. Rev. Eijun Ishii was not at the temple during the incident.
Kuzuha and his family members are all faithful Gakkai members. His father is one of the top leaders of the SGI group located nearby the temple.
Soka Shimpo, SGI's organ newspaper, has been slandering NS with its repeated anti-NS campaigns against Hoshoji. Incidents such as this are the result of their campaigns. Needless to say, the campaign attacks by the Soka Shimpo were ordered by Ikeda.
3. THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF TSUGIO ISHIDA IS A 700 PAGE REMONSTRATION TO DAISAKU IKEDA
Shukan Shincho, 9/22/94
What is so strange about this organization is the fact that, on one hand, you have the members' blindness and enthusiastic support, and yet, on the other hand, there is no end to the defections of those who have been in long service, as well as those who have been in Ikeda's entourage. The tyrannical ways of the absolute monarch Daisaku Ikeda are coming to light, but among those who have defected, the pioneer of such defectors would have to be Tsugio Ishida, the elder brother of Komeito Chairman Koushiro Ishida. At one time, he was the leading candidate ahead of Daisaku to become the third president of the Soka Gakkai. He passed away in his bed the year before last. (1992) However, up until just before then, he wrote an immense manuscript titled "Remonstration [Kangen-no-sho]".
This is one passage from the manuscript which Ishida, who passed away in February of 1992 at the age of 66, left behind. "Ikeda never forgets to exact revenge against those under whom he has served in the past or those who have bullied him. He definitely exacts revenge. To get revenge is his unparalleled joy. That's because he has the heart of Ashura...I cannot help but think that once the weight of Toda Sensei was removed, his Ashura nature, which is wholeheartedly anti- enlightenment, grew obese. His jealousy and suspicions, which are growing both inside and out, are the result of his ambition for retainers to supplant lords, as well as his Ashura nature. This is his strongest and greatest garbage that he holds in his bankrupt heart."
The "Toda Sensei" in the text refers to the Soka Gakkai's second president, Josei Toda. It goes without saying that the "Ikeda" he mentions refers to the current Soka Gakkai Honorary President Daisaku Ikeda.
This manuscript, laced with fairly difficult to understand terms such as "the heart of Ashura" and "retainers supplanting lords," is a "remonstration" to Ikeda, a remonstration which he worked on continuously, irrespective of day or night, for three years before he passed away. There are approximately 700 pages in the original manuscript, which finally saw the light of day, two and a half years after his death. In October, a group of former Gakkai members who dearly loved the elderly Ishida and regularly came to listen to his lectures will publish this immense manuscript at their own expense and present it to the world.
The late President Toda said of Tsugio Ishida, "Ishida's my eldest son, Daisaku's my second son." He was the elite of the elite in the Gakkai, and was nominated to be the third president ahead of Daisaku. According to the journalist Kunio Naito, who had profoundly intimate relations with the deceased, "Tsugio's mother was the Soka Gakkai Women's Division Chief when Josei Toda was president. His younger sister is the wife of current President Einosuke Akiya. His younger brother, needless to say, is the current Komeito Party Chairman. The Ishida family is known as being far and away an elite family within the Soka Gakkai. Among other things, after graduating from Shiura Engineering College (now called Shiura Engineering Institute), he was designated in 1951 by President Toda to be the first editor of the Seikyo Shinbun, and then the chief of the First Unit of the Youth Division. It's said that at an early age he was the leading candidate to succeed to the presidency. He was unsurpassed in study and theory, and no one within the Gakkai could compare with him from that standpoint."
Ishida was three years older than Daisaku and enjoyed the deep trust of president Toda. After filling the above posts, he became the first Lower House Diet member, but he was obliged to recuperate from tuberculosis, and so Daisaku became the third president. It was not long before he revolted against Ikeda. As he successively filled the posts of the Komeito Shinbun Managing Editor and then the Managing Director of the Seikyo Shinbun, he drew a line between himself and Daisaku.
Since that time, he lived quietly in Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. This leading figure, who is one of the few who know about the early days of the Ikeda Soka Gakkai, revealed all the facts just before he died in this immense "remonstration" to Daisaku.
Desecration of the Teacher
"My husband said that he began to understand Buddhism when he turned fifty." The person speaking in the quiet voice is Ishida's wife, Eiko (71). Eiko herself is known as an elite who served as the Gakkai's first Young Women's Division Chief. "When my husband was young, he was told by Toda Sensei to be the third president, but at that time he didn't understand Buddhism very well, and he had a weak constitution, so he declined. So Daisaku became president in place of my husband. However, up until the time Daisaku became president, he seemingly held up my husband as his 'older brother,' but just when he became president, he openly attacked and ridiculed my husband in public. My husband and Daisaku walked different paths, but from the time Daisaku made those counterfeit objects of worship in 1977, he began to think that he 'had to do something' about Daisaku."
Eiko says that at the very end of his life, Tsugio displayed an unearthly tenacity in writing this manuscript. "My husband felt that the criticism of Daisaku which he was presenting to the world would not be understood immediately. He felt that he had to write it for the sake of the future 50 or 100 years hence. When we were shopping or when we went for walks, the manuscript completely filled his thoughts. Whenever I started talking to him, he'd say, 'Be quiet,' or 'You're interrupting my thoughts.' He was often in front of his desk even in the middle of the night. In 1987 he had three- fourths of his stomach removed because of a stomach ulcer, so afterwards, he could not be sure about when his body would fail him. His sole desire was to get the manuscript into shape as soon as possible, so he worked with all his strength."
The finished product was a 700 page posthumous manuscript. Ishida is said to have been an exacting theorist for the Gakkai. His writing, as shown in the opening paragraph of this article, overflows throughout with difficult to understand Buddhist terms, but he unceasingly denounces the haughty attitude of Daisaku, who created counterfeit objects of worship and who displays an arrogant attitude toward the sect in a manner unbecoming to a man of religion. He writes, "Ikeda made eight counterfeit objects of worship (So far, at least eight that have been confirmed). The creation of counterfeit objects of worship can only be done by one whose heart has deviated away from Nichiren Shoshu. It is definitely a tremendous backslide (taiten)...Except for those done by another sect, for seven hundred years there are no examples of believers themselves making counterfeit Nichiren Shoshu objects of worship."
He says, "Ikeda completely bullied Nittatsu Shonin, who was in a relatively weaker position, by making him dependent upon Ikeda's power and money. An intelligence network surrounded the High Priest without interruption 24 hours a day. They were watching for the High Priest's weaknesses and opportunities they could exploit. The goal was to control the sect. Even proceeds which should have gone to the Head Temple were dammed up and siphoned away from all the priests under the High Priest. Listening devices were installed in the inner recesses of Taisekiji, and the High Priest himself discovered them quite by chance when he placed his hands under a table and touched one of them.... Once Ikeda arrogantly shouted at the High Priest, and the High Priest, his body trembling, said, "He treated me just like an errand boy!" Nittatsu Shonin was at once insulted, angry and sad.... Such is the true nature of Ikeda's faith."
Daisaku despised the sect in a way totally unbecoming to a believer. Ishida censures him for this with his vehement writing style. In addition, Ishida indicates that Daisaku directed that attitude not only toward the sect, but also at the family of second president Josei Toda, to whom he should have felt a profound debt of gratitude. "Within ten days of the death of our honored teacher, Josei Toda, Ikeda proceeded to the Toda home, and without handing over the condolence gift of a little over $100,000 which he had taken with him, he took from Ikuko, the wife of Toda Sensei, various articles which had belonged to Toda Sensei. Among those items, he borrowed the long samurai sword which had been in the possession of Toda Sensei."
However, afterwards, that sword was displayed as a priceless treasure of the Soka Gakkai. "The explanatory note read, 'This is the sword which President Ikeda received from Toda Sensei while Toda Sensei was alive.'" That is not the only desecration against his teacher. "Ikeda created unnecessary cemeteries here and there throughout the country.... These cemeteries reeked of spiritual fraud, but in imitation of the monuments to the Three Masters, each time a cemetery was created, there would definitely and arbitrarily be created tombs for the three presidents, Makiguchi, Toda and Ikeda. These were created quite arbitrarily by him. The Makiguchi and Toda families were unable to decline their being built. Ikeda would then request cemetary plot maintenance fees from the Makiguchi and Toda families for those monuments.... Ikeda is not only a troubling existence for both of those families, but he has also employed high-pressure salesmanship against both those families in regards to the path of Master and Disciple, in which he himself is the Master.... Essentially, he used both of those families according to his own situation. What he has done is like ordering that 'The foot be molded to fit the shoe.'"
In this posthumous manuscript, Ishida thoroughly censures the attitude of Daisaku, whom his teacher never considered to be a "Toda's Last Will and Testament Is a Fabrication"
However, the highlight of this manuscript is the passage which deals with the "forged last request" put forth by Daisaku when he was chosen to become the third president. Daisaku says that on March 16, 1958, he was told by President Josei Toda in an elevator, "I leave everything to you." In the same manner, he says that on the 29th of the same month, he was told by President Toda just before the latter's death, "Don't retreat a single step. Don't loosen your grip on the chase." At the present time, this is presented as the "authentic history" of the Gakkai. In juxtaposition to that, Ishida gives the following account. "The last request which I received occurred just before 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 1958. Toda said, 'The next president will be determined by all of you. So be on good terms with each other.' All of the attendees received this with feelings of total confidentiality. This was received not just by me myself but there were also just under 50 people in attendance, including General Director Koizumi. All of these people were attendees of the party held in celebration of the completion of the Grand Lecture Hall. Ikeda, as the Chief of Staff, was responsible for outside (on the grounds), and was not present. The above meeting took place in the tatami mat hall on the fourth floor of the Grand Lecture Hall....If events had happened according to Ikeda's account, then Toda Sensei would have deceived the General Director, the Directors, the Chapter Chiefs, the Standing Committee members, the Women's Division Chief, and the Young Men's and Young Women's Division Chiefs. Think about it. Could such an important matter concerning the entire Gakkai have been conducted within an elevator? That would be horrifying to everyone, would it not?"
Ishida concludes that topic with his comments concerning the "last will and testament (of Josei Toda)" of March 29. "On the 18th, High Priest Nichijun Shonin paid a visit to Toda Sensei's sickbed.... (Toda Sensei) was unable to answer the High Priest. The visit lasted for 30 minutes, and all during that time, he was capable only of repeatedly responding with 'Hai, hai' ('I understand, I understand'). And that was done with only the weakest of voices.... After March 20th, he was incapable of rising from his bed, even with the help of others. His physical condition declined precipitously, and he was unable to speak.... In spite of that, how is it that around that time he could twice draw only Ikeda close to his bedside? How did Ikeda twice receive voiced directions from Sensei, who was incapable of speech? What did he do, hear Sensei's voiceless speech with the ears in his mind?... It's all a fabrication."
Ishida affirms that "Ikeda fabricated the last will and testament of his Master." We have related previously how those two were rivals for the position of the third presidency. But even beyond that, Ishida was in a position to give guidance within the Gakkai from the standpoint of theory. In juxtaposition to this, Daisaku rose from being a "claims collector" for the financial companies President Toda managed, and was part of an "actual practice" faction. Aside from that, they had completely different dispositions. But, Ishida came to look coldly upon Daisaku, who had designs for the presidency regardless of appearances.
"Toda Sensei said, 'Don't take money.' This was the thrifty philosophy of someone concerned with financial administration and financial relief carried out on a nationwide basis. Zaimu [financial affairs] members were limited to one-tenth of the total membership.... Ikeda is a 'Buddha' who chooses to manage affairs according to his own convenience.... Evidence of this are his nice promises that, 'If you bring me money and valuables, then your good fortune will increase,' and 'If you value what you send to me, then your good fortune will increase.' But, is that true?.... Toda Sensei said, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in poverty.' Ikeda reads that statement as, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in opulence.' It seems that Ikeda doesn't understand in the least the true intention behind those statements."
In this way, Ishida criticizes the fact that Daisaku is covered with money. "Three years ago, in my neighborhood, there was an executive leader with a tragic story. Immediately after giving $10,000, which was all the money he had, he became sick and had no money with which to enter a hospital. It is said, 'Anger understands both evil and virtue.' Become one hundred times angrier, my friend! Those who gave $10,000 should become a hundred times angrier. Those who gave $20,000 should be two hundred times angrier.... Why hasn't Ikeda ever said to those who bring him money and valuables, 'If you have money and valuables to bring to me, offer them to a temple instead.'? Local leaders (from Saitama Prefecture) once took President Toda some delicious whiskey. Right before their very eyes, he threw it out the window of the President's room, and after scolding them, proceeded to give them guidance. Where has Toda Sensei's spirit gone?" Sometimes in his posthumous work, Ishida kindly admonishes his junior, Daisaku Ikeda.
"Toda's Last Will and Testament Is a Fabrication"
However, the highlight of this manuscript is the passage which deals with the "forged last request" put forth by Daisaku when he was chosen to become the third president. Daisaku says that on March 16, 1958, he was told by President Josei Toda in an elevator, "I leave everything to you." In the same manner, he says that on the 29th of the same month, he was told by President Toda just before the latter's death, "Don't retreat a single step. Don't loosen your grip on the chase." At the present time, this is presented as the "authentic history" of the Gakkai. In juxtaposition to that, Ishida gives the following account. "The last request which I received occurred just before 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 1958. Toda said, 'The next president will be determined by all of you. So be on good terms with each other.' All of the attendees received this with feelings of total confidentiality. This was received not just by me myself but there were also just under 50 people in attendance, including General Director Koizumi. All of these people were attendees of the party held in celebration of the completion of the Grand Lecture Hall. Ikeda, as the Chief of Staff, was responsible for outside (on the grounds), and was not present. The above meeting took place in the tatami mat hall on the fourth floor of the Grand Lecture Hall....If events had happened according to Ikeda's account, then Toda Sensei would have deceived the General Director, the Directors, the Chapter Chiefs, the Standing Committee members, the Women's Division Chief, and the Young Men's and Young Women's Division Chiefs. Think about it. Could such an important matter concerning the entire Gakkai have been conducted within an elevator? That would be horrifying to everyone, would it not?"
Ishida concludes that topic with his comments concerning the "last will and testament (of Josei Toda)" of March 29. "On the 18th, High Priest Nichijun Shonin paid a visit to Toda Sensei's sickbed.... (Toda Sensei) was unable to answer the High Priest. The visit lasted for 30 minutes, and all during that time, he was capable only of repeatedly responding with 'Hai, hai' ('I understand, I understand'). And that was done with only the weakest of voices.... After March 20th, he was incapable of rising from his bed, even with the help of others. His physical condition declined precipitously, and he was unable to speak.... In spite of that, how is it that around that time he could twice draw only Ikeda close to his bedside? How did Ikeda twice receive voiced directions from Sensei, who was incapable of speech? What did he do, hear Sensei's voiceless speech with the ears in his mind?... It's all a fabrication."
Ishida affirms that "Ikeda fabricated the last will and testament of his Master." We have related previously how those two were rivals for the position of the third presidency. But even beyond that, Ishida was in a position to give guidance within the Gakkai from the standpoint of theory. In juxtaposition to this, Daisaku rose from being a "claims collector" for the financial companies President Toda managed, and was part of an "actual practice" faction. Aside from that, they had completely different dispositions. But, Ishida came to look coldly upon Daisaku, who had designs for the presidency regardless of appearances.
"Toda Sensei said, 'Don't take money.' This was the thrifty philosophy of someone concerned with financial administration and financial relief carried out on a nationwide basis. Zaimu [financial affairs] members were limited to one-tenth of the total membership.... Ikeda is a 'Buddha' who chooses to manage affairs according to his own convenience.... Evidence of this are his nice promises that, 'If you bring me money and valuables, then your good fortune will increase,' and 'If you value what you send to me, then your good fortune will increase.' But, is that true?.... Toda Sensei said, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in poverty.' Ikeda reads that statement as, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in opulence.' It seems that Ikeda doesn't understand in the least the true intention behind those statements."
In this way, Ishida criticizes the fact that Daisaku is covered with money. "Three years ago, in my neighborhood, there was an executive leader with a tragic story. Immediately after giving $10,000, which was all the money he had, he became sick and had no money with which to enter a hospital. It is said, 'Anger understands both evil and virtue.' Become one hundred times angrier, my friend! Those who gave $10,000 should become a hundred times angrier. Those who gave $20,000 should be two hundred times angrier.... Why hasn't Ikeda ever said to those who bring him money and valuables, 'If you have money and valuables to bring to me, offer them to a temple instead.'? Local leaders (from Saitama Prefecture) once took President Toda some delicious whiskey. Right before their very eyes, he threw it out the window of the President's room, and after scolding them, proceeded to give them guidance. Where has Toda Sensei's spirit gone?" Sometimes in his posthumous work, Ishida kindly admonishes his junior, Daisaku Ikeda
There Is No Freedom within the Soka Gakkai
In addition, with a reverse stroke of his sword, Ishida slices through Komeito's problem of the union of Church and State. "In the Gakkai, there is no freedom of propagation and no freedom to refuse Ikeda's guidance. There is also no freedom when it comes to 'Master and Disciple.'... In addition, for the Gakkai general members, there are no voting freedoms. To support a party other than Komeito is no good. Furthermore, there is no freedom of behavior (because of the restrictions the organization places upon one's time), and there is also no freedom concerning one's disbursements."
"Komeito continues to censure the LDP, pointing to its money- soaked elections. But let's look into the facts. In Japan, which political party has the highest unit cost per each successful candidate and, moreover, makes individuals of other parties one's private property?... It is Komeito which is money-soaked, with its fees for newspapers and magazines, secret supplies of election funds, gifts and expenses for food, travel and communications. When these and everything else are all totaled, they have the highest unit cost for each successful candidate. They rely 100% upon financial influence."
In this 700 page manuscript written just before his death, Ishida discusses everything from Daisaku's character to the problem of the union of Church and State. At times, he injects humor, and at times, he is extremely harsh. Drawing a comparison with six influential philosophers in central India during the lifetime of Shakyamuni Buddha, he likens Daisaku to the "six non-Buddhist teachers" and concludes that he is a "fraudulent spiritual teacher."
According to the Gakkai PR Department, "Ishida left the Gakkai and is someone who, in Buddhist terminology, went taiten. Such a person will say various things, and these are always limited to how things should have been done in accordance with his own ideas. The Gakkai has a sixty year history, and the organization still continues to expand. We have no intention of responding one by one to those who have gone taiten."
On the surface, the Gakkai assumes an attitude of indifference. However, the journalist Isao Dan interviewed Ishida during his lifetime and divulges his thoughts. "I've heard that Ishida's 'last will and testament' has come out, but this is the first time I've actually seen it. He gives many knowledgeable descriptions, but he accompanies the episodes that appear throughout with the dates. They are authentic. Isn't it only appropriate for the Gakkai to be quaking? Fifteen years ago I met with Ishida while he was recuperating from an illness. At first he denied having any information, but when I went to see him a second time, he had data about which he displayed a defiant attitude, saying, 'Would you care to debate this with me?!' He was as skinny as a crane, but his eyes truly sparkled. The interview lasted for five hours, but I recall him saying, 'Ikeda doesn't study Buddhism at all,' 'Ikeda's theories are no good,' and 'His specialty lies in mobilizing people.' At the end of the interview, he said, 'Write this after I die. It'Il be my last will and testament,' so I never published it anywhere until after Ishida passed away. However, he must have said that to me because he was assiduously writing a true 'last will and testament.' This is truly priceless material."
In the last years of his life, Ishida, whom the Gakkai regards as having gone taiten, had no contact with his younger brother Koushiro Ishida, the Komeito Party chairman. Chairman Ishida and their younger sister, the wife of President Akiya, did not attend their elder brother's funeral.
Why is there no end to the people who are alienated from Daisaku, who is supposed to be a "living Buddha?" It is certain that upon reading Ishida's posthumous manuscript, one will understand the answer to that.
4. Funny money stories uncovered in Japan
Boston Globe/July 6, 1989
By Colin Nickerson
Yokohama, Japan -- The mystery begins at the Yokohama All Seiso scrap yard, where last Friday a crane operator named Yoshikazu Mori was trying to smash a steel safe into chunks of metal for recycling.
Mori's crane hoisted the refrigerator-sized strongbox high into the air, then let it drop. The safe was well constructed, and it took several long drops followed by a smash with a power shovel before the door burst open and three cloth bundles flew out.
The bundles contained a fortune, and not a small one either: 170 million yen -- about $1.2 million at present (1989) exchange rates -- all in large- denomination bills printed in the early 1970s.
"It was very surprising," said Mori, who, like any good Japanese, immediately reported the discovery.
Police investigators quickly determined that the safe containing the huge sum was one of 100 sold to the Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect claiming more than 7 million adherents.
The Soka Gakkai has close ties to Japan's second-largest opposition party, the Komeito, or "Clean Government" party, several of whose members have been implicated in the Recruit influence peddling scandal. The scandal involves the questionable campaign donations made to powerful political figures by the Recruit Company, a Tokyo-based communications conglomerate.
Police also learned that the discarded safe was brought to the scrap yard on June 29 by a truck belonging to the delivery fleet of the Seikyo Shimbun, a daily newspaper published by the Buddhist group.
Then, on Monday, the former financial manager of the Soka Gakkai came forward with a bizarre tale to tell.
Haruo Nakanishi, who also is the former publisher of the sect newspaper, claimed that the money was his and his alone. The safe had been stored in an underground basement of the Seikyo Shimbun and he had simply "forgotten" it when he retired earlier this year.
And where had $1.2 million worth of 10,000 yen notes come from?
From the sale of cheap souvenir cups on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, the bespectacled, 60-year-old religious official told Japanese reporters at a press conference earlier this week.
Nakanishi maintained that he had operated a souvenir stand at Daisekiji Temple for three years beginning in 1970. The gilt cups sold for around 400 yen apiece, or about $2.85 at today's exchange rate.
Police, factoring in the estimated wholesale price of the cups and other business expenses faced by a typical vendor, calculated that Nakanishi would have had to sell 2,000 of the souvenirs a day, 365 days a year, to earn the sum found in the safe.
"Profits were unexpectedly big," allowed Nakanishi. "Since there was nothing I wanted to do with the money, I placed it in a safe . . . and forgot about it."
Japanese police are normally a circumspect lot. But they openly describe Nakanishi's story as "unlikely."
Said one investigator: "People do not make huge fortunes selling fake gold cups from a single temple stall. There are inconsistencies in his account."
Other questions are raised by the cash itself: the wrappers around several thick sheafs of bills bore the imprint of the Finance Ministry, meaning the money had never been in circulation after leaving the issuing bank. The press has speculated that the money may be part of some sort of political slush fund maintained by the conservative Buddhist sect.
A spokesman for the Sokka Gakkai said yesterday the sect would have "absolutely no comment" on the matter
4. 91-93 harassment of NST
Mike
First report of incidents.
23/5/91: A dead snake was found in the temple parking lot. At the same time, the roof of the priest's car was détérioréàtrois places. The right front tire had étécoupé.
22/1/92: Between 8:25 ET 8:45 am for fifteen minutes, someone rang the bell outside without stopping. When the head priest said at last, someone speaking like a yakuza, the priest invited asort so threatening . The priest looked outdoors and saw a van row in front of the temple. A man about forty years driving. He threw his engine several times while awaiting the release of the priest. The priest went to see better. The vehicle was a Suzuki van with yellow license plates (trade), No. 40 NANIWA TE 8458. The dangerous cult member finally departed.
Shop for Buddhist altars Kongodo: Several times (before thundering article), one Mr. Naoru Kiyohara Shop Kondoro Buddhist altars, adjacent to the temple, led multifingered times his car then his bike so dangerously close, almost hitting son aged six years, of the chief priest. Once, Mr. Kiyohara had the same attitude towards the priest himself. Needless to say, such conduct is negligent harm Ala human life, and is nothing but inhuman attempts to intimidation.
Second report on the incident.
20 October 1992
Early September 92: The owner of the shop Kongodo Buddhist altars, Mr. Kiyohara, posted on the windows of the shop inventions offensive and defamatory articles from the Soka Shimpo newspaper against the high priest of Nichiren Shoshu, Nikken Shonin .
Early Oct. 92: Mr Kiyohara placards with slogans such as "Overthrow Nikken," "Meeting daimoku to expel (the chief priest) Aota," "Let us pray to expel the evil priest"! Every Wednesday and Saturday, twenty people began gathering ase the first floor of Kogondo shop to recite daimoku.
11 octobre 92: Fifteen members of SGI around gathered on the first floor of Kongodo store and began noisily slogans such as "Overthrow Nikken"! and "Expel Aota"! They intentionally interfére with ceremonies in the temple to commemorate the death anniversary of founder of the Nichiren Shoshu, Nichiren Daishonin. At the end of the ceremony, members of SGI, armed with video and photo equipment, and began photographing members of the temple which left the temple.
Third report on the incident.
Original Report Date: 2/12/92
1/11/92, Day memorial service for the temple. Twenty members of the SGI gathered on the first floor of Kogondo shop à10h morning. Having opened the windows wide, they recited gongyo, prayed and then began loudly Achante songs Gakkai. After several songs, they began to shout strong by the window, with slogans such as "Nikken - Aota are idiots"!
At the beginning of the memorial service, they gathered at the temple, raised a flag and began shouting through a horn statements such as: "We do not need a monk as inept Nikken"! "Get out of the temple"! "Meet our contributions"! etc. ... and demonstrated in the streets emitting à wide volume of songs recorded Gakkai.[Lord, multiple rounds of "Forever Sensei!" Shouldn't that be prohibited by the Geneva Convention?]
As the memorial service ended, they held each gate of the temple and hand out leaflets containing such statements as: "Do not bear the temple!", Members of the temple when they left. This was rapportédans the Chugai Nippo (the heretical religions of Japan with strong affiliations with the Soka Gakkai, which has linked in order to offend the Nichiren Shoshu).
In the afternoon, they gathered again on the first floor of Kogondo with other members and began voicing statements like:
"Get out of here!" We will expel Aota! Ei, Ei, Ohh! " [And I remember reciting "Ei Ei OH!" in SGI in the eighties -- what does it mean? Banzai!?]
"We will sweep the Nikken sect! Do you understand?"
"We will sweep Nikken! We will scan Aota"! {SCAN Aota? Are they going to squeeze him into a copier?]
"Exit làMAINTENANT"!
"Aota banish forever"!
"Do you understand?" Ei, Ei, Ohh! " [And Old MacDonald had a farm. E I E I Oh!]
15/11/92 Service commemorati for Nichimoku Shonin. In the middle of the service, members of SGI again gathered as usual on the first floor of Kongodo, recited gongyo, daimoku, sang songs Gakkai, then went to the temple and vociférèrent statements such as:
"Family Aota, exit the temple"!
"We will attack Until such time that the Nikken sect apologizes to Ikeda sensei!"
"It is a war to exterminate the Nikken sect"!
"It's a war zone"!
"We will crush the organization of the temple in this final battle"!
"Not relax our efforts in the attack on the temple"!
"We will no longer allow this again"!
Gakkai members write emails also called "Nikken" on the steps of Kongodo and made all members of the SGI trampling. Then they built an image of Nikken Shonin and stuck it on crackers. Then they tore into pieces and each ate a share. [Sorry. I know that this isn't funny; it's about religious intolerance, fanaticism and violence -- but, can you imagine? Putting Nikken's likeness on a cracker, breaking it into pieces and eating it. That'll show Nikken, the miserable cracker!]
In addition to the above harassment:
1. Every day from 10:30 à11h30, the SGI members gathered to harass the temple.
2. Members of the SGI wrote graffiti on the exterior walls of the temple.
8. The temple was under constant surveillance by camera clicking SGI
members.
3. The temple received threats and harassment by repeated phone.
4. The temple received repeated threats by postcards.
5. Each day, the chief priest was followed by members of the IMS.
6. Underwear for women were launched in the temple, hanging in the garage and trees. [Again, I know that this is not really funny...but Lord, how can people be so crazy? This sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live skit.]
7. Each member of the temple received visitors from SGI several times. The SGI members harassed them abnormally. One member of the temple who had a fragile constitution, ended up at the hospital for a physical disturbance causéd by stress.
The SGI members committed incidents of obstruction services of the temple above in total contempt of attacks on individual members of the temple in defiance of human rights, harassment, coercion, in violation constitutional rights of religious practice. This is the present conditions.
Report on the incidents.
Original Report Date: 9/11/93
21/10/93, every day from 10:30 on, twenty or thirty members of the Women's Division of SGI congregate on the first floor of Kongodo shop extending flags from the windows with slogans such as "Pray" for the ban demonic priest! "," Next life Aota "!, and then they recited daimoku.[Apparently they don't have enough housework to do.]
3/11/93, thirty members of the Young Men's Division of SGI, headed by a person claiming to be called Kawamoto, entered the temple and asked to have the Rev.. Aota. The Rev. Aota said he would not meet. They began shouting statements such as: "Do not send a postcard!" Get out of the temple "! The Rev. Aota out to talk to them. They did hurl obscenity.
Rev. Aota decided he could not get anywhere with them when he asked them three times to leave or he would call the police. They only continue shout after him. He told them he would call the police and went to. They shouted: "Who's afraid of the police!" Call whoever you want! "And they continued hurling obscenities after him. The Rev. Aota went into another room. They then disappear like little black spiders in the palm of a hand running in all directions. The Rev. Aota out yes! See were gone. They ran to their cars and trucks, and fled quickly. Two police officers arrived and made a report.
14/11/93, Ms. Otani, head of the Division for Women, and twenty other members made their usual program on the first floor of Kongodo shop. Then they went to the temple. Ms. Otani, with its characteristically began shouting hysterically. Since Rev. Aota was not present, Ms. Otani said: "I come back here, no matter how many times"! That evening, she called the Rev. Aota and talked hysterically. The Rev. Aota did not answer.
7/11/93, Forty SGI members came to the temple to protest àPropos postcards that had étéenvoyées Ades SGI members.
In addition to the above, members of the Division of Young Men, Matsumoto, Ogiri, Kawamoto called the temple several times, threatening and harassing the priest. There were six calls. The priest remained silent. Each day, more threatening postcards arrive without mentioning the name of the sender.
Report:
Two signals were introduced on the exterior walls of the temple under the leadership of the police and referring to warnings of prosecution of violators under the Criminal Code, Article 234, for obstructing business by force and violation of the law.
10/11/93, eight members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
11/11/93, Thirty-one members break the law and harass the priest. Two patrol cars respond at 110 (police emergency) for assistance. Also: Twelve phone calls of protest were received. An anonymous caller.
12/11/93, eight members of the SGI transgress the law and engage in shouting incomprehensible statements of an obscene nature. Two officers respond to 110. Sixteen members of the SGI trangressent law and harass the priest. In addition, ten calls of protest and an anonymous call was received. [But if the statements were incomprehensible, how did they KNOW if the statements were obscene?]
13/11/93 Twenty-two members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest. Twenty-four calls of protest were received.
14/11/93 Twenty-five members of the SGI transgress the law and harass. An officer responds. Ten members SGI transgress the law and threaten the priest. The IMS collects the first floor of Kongodo. They order other SGI members not to enter the temple. Two members of the SGI violate and threaten the priest. Six police officers respond to 110. Seven members of the SGI violate the law. Several police officers respond Ades further calls. Nineteen members of the SGI violate the law. A total of sixty-three members of the SGI transgress and cause trouble. In addition, three phone calls of protest and three anonymous calls were received.
15/11/93, fourteen members of the SGI violate the law. They steal all the publications that were on the counter. Two officers respond to 110. The Rev, Aota files complaint for theft. Seven members of the SGI transgress the law and harass. Also: Two calls of protest and three anonymous calls were received. The Rev. Aota discussed with the police on matters relating Ala prosecution of individuals.
16/11/93, thirty-five members of the SGI guilty and engage assault and destruction of the temple area. The Rev. Aota discussed with police violations perpetrated by members of the IMS and received instructions. Many threats were received by telephone. Ten members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
17/11/93, Fifteen members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
18/11/93 Six members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
The above actions of SGI members were clearly committed on the orders of the IMS. Statements such as: "Do not send postcards!" And "Get out of the temple"! were often repeated.
Source: Reports written by the Rev.. Aota, chief priest of the Temple Kyoshinji and filed with local police department; its reports made to the Office of General Affairs of the Nichiren Shoshu.
5. The POEM
The Victorious Future of Mentor and Disciple
I can see those who are like demons Milling around what Unbeknownst to them,
Is only an execution block Traitors!
Having turned your backs On the Daishonin's golden words,
Are you ready To be burned in the fires Of the Hell of incessant suffering?
To be imprisoned in a cavern In the Hell of extreme cold?
To be shut off in the darkness Of misery and strife,
Forever deprived of the sun's light? --Daisaku Ikeda -
6. Japan Finds Latest Scandal in a Dump
A fortune is tied to a powerful Buddhist sect
The New York Times/July 20, 1989
By David E. Sanger
A pile of yen notes, $1.2 million worth, on display for reporters and photographers at a police station in Yokohama, Japan, after being found in a garbage dump. The money has been linked to a religious sect that controls the country's second-largest political opposition party.
Tokyo, July 19 - When workers at a waste dump in Yokohama pried open an old safe two and a half weeks ago and $1.2 million in yen notes fell to their feet, Japan at first laughed it off as the latest in a series of madcap cases in which people here literally threw money away.
After all, only a few weeks hade passed since the police solved the mystery of the bamboo thicket in Kawasaki. That is the Tokyo suburb where passers-by, in two separate incidents, found wet, moldy packets that totaled $1.7 million in cash. The ensuing investigation spawned theories about underworld money and extortion, until a businessman stepped forward to explain sheepishly that he had dumped the money in Kawasaki, rather than prompt a tax audit.
But as the police have begun to unravel puzzle of the Yokohama safe, it has taken a decidedly more political turn. Days before Japan goes to the polls on Sunday in the first major election after two political scandals, the money has been linked to a powerful, militant Buddhist religious sect, the Soka Gakkai. The sect, in turn, controls the Komeito or Clean Government party Japan's second-largest opposition party, and one of several hoping to benefit from public disgust with the governing Liberal Democrats.
The explanations offered to investigators by the Soka Gakkai so far - that the money came from selling cheap trinkets at a temple - strike many people as highly dubious. And in the final days of campaigning, the incident has cast a spotlight on some less-discussed truths of Japanese politics: that the Liberal Democrats hardly command a monopoly on under-the-table money, and that religious groups can rival big business as a source of influence-peddling in Japanese politics. A year ago, the Komeito seemed above such problems, and bound for greater victories. But it tripped badly when some of the Clean Government members were implicated in the Recruit scandal, the stock-and-influence schemes that chiefly rocked the Liberal Democrats.
They May Find No Alternative
That incident tarred Komeito with the same charges of rampant corrupts that the governing party is fighting. Now the Liberal Democrats are hoping that voters will find the Yokohama safe Incident, along with mini-scandals that have enveloped the opposition, disturbing enough to think twice about throwing the governing party out in the elections for the upper house of Parliament. "We fear that while people hate the dirty old L.D.P., they may find no alternative," Takashl Yonezawa, the secretary General of the Democratic Socialist Party, another opposition group touched by scandal, said the other day.
Leads gathered in the Yokohama dump led the police to a transportation company owned by a former Komeito member of the upper house. The company distributes the Soka Gakkai's dally newspaper. And the safe, kept in the company's basement until It was carted away with refuse, was under the control of Haruo Nakanishi, once the informal treasurer of the Buddhist That post made Mr. Nakanishi a powerful, if little known, player in the world of Japanese religion and politics.
Depending on whose numbers one believes, the Soka Gakkai's membership numbers anywhere from 5 million to 8 million Japanese. The sect was founded in 1930, but it traces its roots to a 13th century Buddhist monk named Nichiren. The sect is under the strict control of Daisaku Ikeda, and by many accounts - chiefly from dissidents who have left the party or been thrown out - so is the Komeito,which was founded In 1964.
Technically, the Komeito has been fully Independent of the religious sect since 1970. But it is an open secret that the party draws most of its candidates and its constituency from the Soka Gakkai.Soka Gakkai members work as volunteers for the party candidates, and for a long time there have been charges, but little proof, that donations given at temple make their way into Komeito coffers. "This is a totally corrupt religious organization," said Yukimasa Fujiwara, a member of the Tokyo municipal assembly, who was expelled from the Komeito party when he publicly criticized the Soka Gakkai's control over its policies and finances. "Religious institutions get donations from worshipers that are tax-exempt so they don't have to account for (he money," Mr. Fujiwara said. "That leads to corruption. And where is the money is going? Into funding for the Komeito."
Both the party and the religious group deny the charges, pointing out that the Komeito's charter allows only Individual contributions, usually from the small businesses that make up the core of the party's following. Mr. Ikeda's political agenda, the group suggests, Is above board: He has developed something of an international reputation as a philosophizer about peace and founded a university.
Dissidents suggest that behind a facade of international respectability, Mr. Ikeda is a cult leader. Mr. Fujiwara asserts that Mr. Ikeda maintains "a dictatorship over the Soka Gakkai." A Soka Gakkai official said Mr. Ikeda gives no interviews. The police seem to suspect that the money in the safe was part of a larger slush fund, stashed away for a needy political cause. Compared with the Recruit scandal, which toppled Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and other politicians, business leaders and bureaucrats, the safe incident seems almost trivial. Compared with the allegations of sexual indiscretions by the current Prime Minister, Sousuke Uno, another money scandal may even seem a bit boring.
But the money in the safe added just a little more weight to the widespread doubts that Japan's opposition parties are capable of forming a credible government, should the Liberal Democrats lose the lock an power they have held for more than three decades. "We don't have to prove that we are the best," a lower-house member of the governing party said not long ago. "We only have to prove that they are not much better."
7. Soka Gakkai International -- SGI
old page 322
Former Cult Members and Affected Families
======================================================================
October 22, 2011 01:43PM
The Anticult
Date Added: 03/17/2006
Posts: 4558
Re: Soka Gakkai International -- SGI
If someone has time to check the SGI-UK documents, and find and post the figures for the total amount spent by SGI-UK per year, and what they spend it on?
Also, to post their total UK revenues for the year, and compare them.
In other areas, SGI's main expense was a few Executive salaries, investing, and real estate purchases, architects, lobbying the government, that is, money for politicians.
They can fudge the numbers, but it sounds like the laws for reporting are different in the UK than in the US. As in the US, if you are a "religion" then you don't have to report anything to the public. You can conceal everything, like SGI does.
Which is why SGI-USA does not deserve 1 dollar in donations, as SGI chooses to conceal their expenses, and not publish the gov't statements openly.
The only info found about SGI-USA was from the Soka U investment corporation.
SGI, The richest cult in the world, over $1 BILLION in the USA
[forum.rickross.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2011 01:45PM by The Anticult.
===================================================================================
October 23, 2011 06:01PM
The Anticult
Date Added: 03/17/2006
Posts: 4558
Soka Gakkai International -- SGI-UK Charity Number 1104491
A page that list some of the details about SGI-UK.
Yes, SGI-UK is a mickey-mouse peanuts organization.
If you consider $77 million US in assets peanuts.
So there is another close to 100 million in SGI-cash stashed in the UK, and they only registered this one in 2004.
How was SGI operating before 2004 in the UK?
Are there other SGI organizations in the UK with alternate names listed somewhere?
You can see that SGI-UK strategically spends about $1.5 million more a year than they SAY they take in to that particular "charity". (unless others are listed with different names, etc)
So what are the specific costs? Where exactly are they spending that money?
How much is going for salaries?
Where exactly is that money being spent?
SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL - UK
(05114516)
[opencharities.org]
[opencorporates.com]
Charity Number
1104491
Date Registered
2004-06-22
Company Number
5114516
Contact Name
MR ROBERT ANTHONY SAMUELS
Telephone
###############
Address
TAPLOW COURT, CLIVEDEN ROAD, TAPLOW, MAIDENHEAD, SL6 0EP
Website
[sgi-uk.org]
Email
***@sgi-uk##
Trustees
MR ROBERT ANTHONY SAMUELS, MISS FIONA JANE HARROW, MR KAZUO FUJII, MS SUE THORNTON, MR TONY BUTLER, MR ROBERT PHILIP HARRAP, MRS SACHIYO WILSON, MS STEPHANIE BALL, MR RICKY BAYNES
Charity Commission Classifications
General Charitable Purposes, Education/Training, Religious activities, Arts/culture, Environment/Conservation/Heritage, General public/Mankind, Provides human resources, Provides buildings/facilities/open space, Provides services, Provides advocacy/advice/information
Icnpo Classifications
Religious congregations and association
Full accounts for SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL - UK
Annual Returns to Charity Commission
Financial year ending
2007-12-31 2008-12-31 2009-12-31
Income from legacies £0 £0 £0
Income from endowments £0 £0 £0
Voluntary income £2.48m £1.40m £1.68m
Activities generating funds £277,000 £6,014 £7,814
Income from charitable activities £0 £1.18m £1.20m
Investment income £1.43m £1.41m £761,685
Other income £0 £0 £0
Total income £4.19m £3.99m £3.65m
Investment gains £0 £0 £0
Gains from asset revaluations £0 £0 £584,050
Gains on pension fund £0 £0 £0
Voluntary income costs £0 £0 £4,526
Fundraising trading costs £279,000 £3,161 £0
Investment management costs £0 £0 £0
Grants to institutions £0 £0 £0
Charitable activities costs £550,000 £5.14m £3.65m
Governance costs £1.64m £24,826 £22,885
Other expenses £0 £0 £0
Total expenses £2.46m £5.17m £3.68m
Support costs £0 £4.14m £2.74m
Depreciation £136,000 £1.98m £583,088
Reserves £600,000 £0 £525,235
Fixed assets at start of year £22.69m £23.45m £22.36m
Fixed assets at end of year £23.45m £22.36m £21.78m
Fixed investment assets at start of year £0 £0 £0
Fixed investment assets at end of year £0 £0 £0
Current investment assets £0 £0 £0
Cash £25.82m £25.62m £25.19m
Total current assets £27.20m £26.35m £26.13m
Creditors within 1 year £1.83m £1.08m £310,857
Long term creditors or provisions £1,000 £0 £0
Pension assets £0 £0 £0
Total assets £48.81m £47.63m £47.59m
Endowment funds £24.53m £25.70m £25.29m
Restricted funds £23.00m £0 £0
Unrestricted funds £1.29m £21.93m £22.31m
Total funds £48.81m £47.63m £47.59m
Employees 44 40 40
Volunteers 0 400
Consolidated accounts No No No
Charity only accounts No Yes Yes
6. Former Soka University Professor Loses Appeal in Religious Discrimination Case
OC Weekly, California/April 18, 2011
By Michelle Woo
An ex-professor at Soka University of America (SUA) who sued the school for religious discrimination has lost her appeal against a decision made in favor of the Aliso Viejo university.
Gaye Christoffersen was the subject of an OC Weekly cover story on former SUA faculty members and students who claim they were deceived by the university's nonsectarian status. The ex-professor of political science alleged she was denied tenure because she refused to abandon her Lutheran faith to join Soka Gakkai, the Buddhist sect that founded the 10-year-old university. Christoffersen, who was 62 years old at the time of her tenure denial, also sued the school for age discrimination, claiming that younger professors with fewer achievements were granted tenure.
On Friday, a California Court of Appeal based in Santa Ana rejected Christoffersen's appeal that the Superior Court of Orange County erred in granting summary judgment to the defendant.
University officials involved in the tenure process declared in documents that they did not know the religion or age of any of the candidates who were being considered for tenure.
SUA has previously been attacked by former faculty who say they were discriminated based on their non-Buddhist beliefs.
In 2002, Linda Southwell, a terminated fine-arts professor, sued the school for $25 million, alleging religious discrimination, wrongful termination and fraud, among other charges. She came to a settlement, which included a confidentiality clause. In 2005, Holly Ogren, a professor of Japanese language and culture, also sued Soka in Orange County Superior Court for religious discrimination, alleging she was "severely mistreated, degraded and berated" and "ultimately terminated for being a Hare Krishna." The case was dismissed in 2006.
Edward Feasel, the school's dean of faculty, has said, "We give absolutely no preferential treatment based on religion.
7. Powerful Politician Linked To Tokyo's Stock Scandal
New York Times/August 1, 1991
By James Sterngold
Tokyo -- An important political link to Japan's stock market. scandal was disclosed today in reports that the family of one of Japan's most powerful politicians was among the influential clients who received improper compensation for stock market losses from securities houses. Okasan Securities confirmed reports today that it paid 21 million yen, or about $150,000, to a company controlled by the family of Shin Kanemaru, a powerful member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a former Deputy Prime Minister. The improper compensation for market losses was paid to Oruto, a building rental company then headed by Shingo Kanemaru, Mr. Kanemmru's son, who left to work for his father last year as one of his political aides. improper Payments Japan's top brokerage houses have disclosed this week that they made more than $1 billion in improper payments to some of Japan's top industrial groups, banks and public pension funds.
The disclosures have created an uproar because they have confirmed longstanding suspicions that brokerage houses here show favoritism toward influential clients. There has also been speculation that politicians, who regularly use the stock market to raise campaign funds and frequently operate through the accounts of family members or aides, must have benefited from the payments.The first apparent evidence of this came Wednesday with the disclosure that the Soka Gakkai, the country's largest Buddhist organization, received more than $3 million in improper payments. The Soka Gakkai is affiliated with the Komeito, or Clean Government Party, a leading opposition group. The group has said the money was intended to compensate it for losses from unauthorized trading in its account.
The brokerage house, Kokusai Securities, denied that there had been unauthorized trades. Okasan Securities today confirmed the payments to Mr., Kanemaru's company, but refused to say specifically if they had been made to Mr. Kanernaru's son. Mr. Kanemaru's office refused to comment, but Japanese newspapers quoted him as having said that he had heard about the payments on Wednesday night and that they had come as "a big surprise to me." "My wife said that she did not demand it or recognize it as compensation," he was quoted as saying. "But it was my wife's action, and I am asking my aides to investigate." His wife, Etsuko, became a director of Oruto after his son left. Mr. Konemaru said, however, that he still backed a thorough investigation of the widespread pattern of discriminatory payments. Parliamentary hearings are expected to begin Friday, and the scandal is expected to be one of the top issues at an extraordinary session of the Japanese Parliament later this month.
A Sensitive Time
The disclosures about Mr. Kane-maru and the Soka Gakkai come at a particularly sensitive time. The ruling party was stung last week by charges that it was not seeking to get to the bottom of the affair and perhaps was even working to conceal details of who was compensated. The party put the securities industry under intense pressure to disclose the list of recipients. That was done, bringing hopes the scandal would die dawn. But the emergence of political beneficiaries and suspicions about the completeness of the disclosures have fed renewed public outrage.
8. INDICTMENTS BY FORMER SGI AMERICAN LEADERS
Weekly Post, 10/14/94
by Masao Okkotsu
Ikeda's house in Malibu, on the outskirts of L.A., has gilded bathrooms. Isn't that in violation of Federal Tax Laws?
"This is my home in America." - Mr. Daisaku Ikeda once made that comment about a building on the grounds of the Malibu Training Center, located in a high- class city on the outskirts of Los Angeles. However, it is the property of Soka Gakkai, which is recognized as a religious corporation in the States. If it is actually private property, it raises doubts about its legality. Continuing from the preceding issue, we report on location about the overseas activities of the enigmatic huge religious group
Three Conditions for Religious Corporate Tax Exemption
SGI-USA (Soka Gakkai International-United States of America), Soka Gakkai's American religious corporation, owns vast real estate around Los Angeles. We reported about this fact in our previous issue, but since most of the property purchased is owned by a religious corporation, no fixed asset taxes are assessed.
"American religious corporations, the same as in Japan, receive preferential treatment from the standpoint of tax laws. But in Japan, if a group possesses the qualifications to be a religious corporation, then no taxes are assessed unconditionally. That's different from America, where, even if religious corporate status is granted, they are not given tax exempt privileges unless a tax exempt petition is submitted to the local and state tax authorities and an audit is passed. Three prerequisites for tax exemption are stipulated in Article 501 of the City Tax Code. The first is, political activities and political donations are forbidden. The second is, excessive for-profit enterprises are forbidden. And the third is, the privatization of the religious group's assets by the head or the leaders is forbidden. If these regulations are violated, tax exempt privileges are not given." (International Business Law Professor Ishimura of Asahi University)
I flew to Los Angeles and received from many former SGI-USA leaders detailed testimony concerning the reality of the Soka Gakkai's overseas assets and overseas activities, which up to now have remained largely unrevealed. According to their testimony, there are suspicions about whether the SGI-USA is in violation of two of the three conditions which must be met to receive tax exempt status.
Among those former leaders, former SGI-USA Chapter Chief, James Eagleton points out the privatization of the religious group. "At the Malibu Training Center, there's a house for Ikeda that we members are never allowed to enter. We are allowed to enter only the training center itself. The house is a private building which is used only when Ikeda comes to Los Angeles, and it's shrouded in a veil of secrecy."
Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai Honorary President, is also the SGI President, the head of the SGI wherever it exists around the world. The Malibu Training Center, which occasionally appears in Mr. Ikeda's collections of photos, was opened in 1972 by the SGI-USA (at the time it was known as NSA, Nichiren Shoshu of America). The area of the site is approximately 9800 tsubo. (Translator's note: A tsubo is approximately 36 square feet.) The city of Malibu is an extremely high-class city which abuts the Pacific Ocean and is approximately one hour's drive by car to the northwest from the center of Los Angeles. It is well known that many stars, such as actor Kevin Costner and tennis' John McEnroe, live there.
When looking at the Malibu Training Center from the air, two buildings and a Western style park can be clearly discerned on the extensive site, which includes a private beach. The huge building nestled against a mountain is the training center, and the building nearer the ocean is the aforementioned "Ikeda house."
According to registration documents, the training center building was built in 1973. Its floor space is approximately 150 tsubo. The Ikeda house is older, having been built in 1964. Its floor space is approximately 60 tsubo. Former Los Angeles SGI-USA leaders who are familiar with the Ikeda house all testify that it is luxurious.
"When Ikeda came to America in 1990, I was ordered by a top Women's Division leader to clean the bathroom in the Ikeda house. I have entered the Ikeda house just that once, but I clearly remember that the bathroom was luxurious. The door and faucets did not have knobs. They had the expensive handle types. Furthermore, they were all gold plated. Also, a thick carpet covered the bathroom floor. I cleaned it completely, but the Women's Division leader who was supervising told me repeatedly, 'Ikeda Sensei's going to see it! Get it cleaner, get it cleaner.'I even shoved my hand down the pipes." (a former SGI-USA Young Men's Division leader who left the Gakkai in 1992) He says that it made him feel somewhat ill at ease that the bathroom in the Ikeda house was gilded.
A former leader, who is Japanese and who currently resides in Los Angeles, says, "I recently spoke with the caretaker, who said he's been a caretaker there for the past seven years, but that last year was the first time he had ever cleaned the Ikeda house. Originally, the wives of the top leaders, including the wife of the SGI-USA General Director, were responsible for it, but last year the wife of the man who became General Director was busy, so she requested a substitute. He said that there are no words to describe how luxurious it is.
Page 3 of 4
Local Leaders In Particular Are Not Allowed Near It
Even the caretaker first entered the Ikeda house after seven years on the job. I was able to meet with the person who carried out the renovations. His name is Mr. Steve Gore (46).
Mr. Gore joined NSA in 1965 at the age of sixteen. After graduating from UCLA, he became an employee of the NSA Headquarters. He is a former top leader who, at the age of twenty-one, became America's youngest Los Angeles Territory General Chapter Chief and who also worked on the planning staff of the Young Men's Division. He left the organization in 1974.
"The Malibu Training Center is a facility which used to be the villa of a famous playwright. NSA bought it in 1972 for $109,000. They built the training center building from scratch, and renovated the already existing building to be Ikeda's villa. An opening ceremony was conducted on April 19, 1972. When I was renovating the Ikeda house, I was instructed by Vice-General Director Mike Kikumura, 'Spare no expense. Take special care to use the best materials.'I remember purchasing the inside furnishings from Schneider Diamond Co., which handles only very top quality materials."
According to Mr. Gore's recollections, the house consisted of four spacious rooms: a living room, a dining room, a bedroom and a Gohonzon room, as well as a bath, a bathroom and a kitchen. (Translator's note: In Japan, the room containing the toilet is separate from the room containing the bath. Apparently, the Ikeda house in Malibu follows this pattern.) He says that, then, when they renovated it, they built a new open air hot tub lined with rocks, which Mr. Ikeda loved, and a sauna. "The interior had been built in the style of a cabin, with thick logs showing. But we renovated it in a semi-European style using plenty of top quality Japanese cypress."
Mr. Gore says that at the time they paid particular attention to soundproofing. "Ikeda hates noise, so we laid lumber over the wooden floors, spread sound proofing material over it, and then laid a double layer of three inch thick boards. We then put Japanese cypress on top of that, giving the floor four layers of wood. We put Japanese cypress on the ceilings and the walls for sound proofing. The bedroom windows were double paned as well. We covered the floor with thick white shag carpet. The bed was king size, with gold plated piping. We demolished a parking area big enough to hold three limousines and built a rock-lined hot tub. The water is always maintained at 102 degrees with a heater, and the hot water flowed down over the rocks like a cascade. Ikeda was extremely pleased with it, and often said, 'This is my home in America."'
When the Malibu Training Center was opened, local leaders and members gathered there and held a training meeting and garden party in the training center building and the Western style garden, but they were not allowed near the Ikeda house.
Even the leaders who accompanied him from Japan, except for the No. 1 General Affairs Dept. female employees who looked after Ikeda, all slept huddled together in the training center building.
However, things were different for one portion of Women's Division leaders and Young Women's Division leaders. "From Friday night until Sunday, Ikeda would occasionally assemble a small number of top Women's Division leaders and Young Women's Division leaders and hold special guidance meetings. Since they would enter the stone hot tub together, they were called 'Nude Guidance Meetings.' This was an open secret between leaders in America." (Mr. Gore)
While the Ikeda house on the grounds of the Malibu Training Center is the possession of the religious corporation SGI-USA, it is, in actuality, used as a facility and villa for Mr. Ikeda's individual private use.
"The privatization of a religious body concretely means that the head of the sect or the leaders personally use the religious group's assets, and that they receive excessive remuneration. Ultimately, it depends upon what sort of decision would be handed down by the American tax authorities, but if actual privatization can be proved, it is possible that their tax exempt privileges would be revoked." (the aforementioned Professor Ishimura)
Mr. Gore, who majored in political science at UCLA, also says that he was encouraged by Mr. Ikeda to "Create an American Komei Party." In 1972 and 1974, he accompanied Mr. Ikeda to both England and Panama as a bodyguard.
"During the '72 visit to England, Ikeda bought up paintings, bronze statues and the like. I suppose the total amount exceeded $10 million. The No. 1 General Affairs Chief Shigeru Ishida (presently a Vice President), who traveled with us, wrote memos saying that Ikeda indicated, 'This one, this one and this one,' and they would be purchased with cash using dollars, yen and pounds."
Mr. Gore entertained doubts about Mr. Ikeda, who used money as freely as water, and determined to leave the organization over a certain incident. "In 1974, it was discovered that Brazil Soka Gakkai General Director Robert Saito (currently Honorary General Director) was embezzling the organization's money. Vice President Satoru Izumi (currently Chief of the Supreme Guidance Council) came from Japan to handle the incident, and the three of us, he, NSA General Director George Williams (currently General Director Emeritus) and I, set off for Brazil. In the end, he was told that if he returned the money, no questions would be asked, and we collected $1 million. We put it into 2 suitcases and conveyed it to Los Angeles. At the same time, Williams said that he had purchased uncut gems as souvenirs and he asked me to carry them. He handed 3 boxes of gems over to me. But when we arrived at the L.A. airport, the customs agent called out my name and told me to show him the boxes of gems. When I did, rings and such with processed diamonds were rolling around inside the boxes. The customs form said they were uncut gems, so I was immediately arrested as a smuggler. In the meantime, Williams and Izumi passed through Customs carrying the suitcases. They used me as a scapegoat.
"Everything Depends on Money"
Along with the Ikeda house, SGI-USA's political contributions have also become problematic in terms of tax laws. A number of local mass media offices report that the SGI-USA sent large political contributions to the mayor of Los Angeles.
As stated in the Los Angeles Times (paraphrased), despite the fact that as a tax exempt religious organization they are prohibited from making political contributions, Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA)...in 1985 and 1986 twice gave Mr. Bradley (Editor's note: The former L.A. mayor from 1973-93) a total of $16,700 for his election fund. This is made clear by any number of articles. (11/17/91 Los Angeles Times)
(Translator's note: This is a translation of the Japanese, and is not a verbatim quote directly from the Los Angeles Times.)
Former SGI-USA Vice Headquarters Chief Thomas McCord (50), who left the organization in 1992, says, "Political contributions have become a problem within NSA as well. In 1986, Mayor Tom Bradley attended the opening ceremony for the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium and sat shoulder to shoulder with Ikeda. I had doubts about it, thinking, 'Mayor Bradley has no faith. Why is he here?' Later a member discovered a copy of a personal check which NSA had hurriedly sent to the mayor. This became a problem. As may be expected, they had many political problems, such as trouble over buying the land for the site of the Los Angeles branch of Soka University. The aim of the political contributions was to receive accommodations over these problems."
Mr. Steve Gore has very interesting testimony about political contributions. "It was the end of 1971, Christmas night, I think. Williams and I visited the municipal mansion of Mayor Sam Yoty with a political contribution. The purpose was to request that Ikeda receive the title of Honorary Citizen and to request approval for a planned parade down Wilshire Boulevard, a principal city street, when NSA held its nation-wide general meeting in April the following year. I waited outside the room, but when Williams came out, he laughed, saying, 'Steve, it's OK. Everything depends on money.' The impression I received from that remains with me."
The authorities have not investigated this problem of political contributions, but reporter John Datz of the Los Angeles Times says, "Reporters who have covered the SGI-USA know that Soka Gakkai, its parent organization, is becoming a topic of conversation in Japan as a problematic religion, and in particular that it is being inundated with severe criticism over the issue of the union of Church and State. They are also well aware that in America, SGI-USA is deluged with criticism over being a cult. However, it could only be said that the average citizen's concern for and knowledge of the SGI is low. That's because there have not been enough reports concerning the SGI. Therein lay the makings for SGI to expand its influence."
It is being said that the Soka Gakkai problem will once again become a focus in the Diet this fall. It is being reported that Mr. Ikeda has spoken about the political situation, but the facts do not stop at Japan's boundaries.
Translator's note: The names of the American citizens who appear in the original Japanese article are written with Japanese phonetics. Apologies are extended to anyone whose name was inaccurately transliterated back into English.
9. alt religion buddhism nichiren
More Horror Stories
2 months ago
This is regarding the FBI indictment of SGI star Walter L. Williams on charges including having sex with children. Brownworth notes that "both the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department have described Williams as a serial predator."
According to his CV, Williams advised global, multibillion-dollar Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International on human rights issues for a traveling exhibit. Williams was given the SGI-sponsored Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award in 2006.
Williams's decades-long membership in SGI was not mentioned. According to Brownworth: Williams and [Richard] Arlington were both members of a small group called the Buddhist Universal Association of Los Angeles, which, FBI spokeswoman Eimiller said espoused an ideology of "extreme sexual freedoms."
In addition to being a member of a fringe cult, Williams has been deeply involved in the largest Buddhist organization in the world, which he joined in 1986. In an essay explaining why he wrote the book The Teachings of Jesus, Williams mentions:
"...In 1987, when I won a Fulbright Scholar Award from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars. The Council sent me to do research in Indonesia. Once I arrived there, the Soka Gakkai put me in touch with their organization's branch in Indonesia, and they provided me with many beneficial contacts." If, as the FBI alleges, Williams used his research as a pretext to meet and have sex with boys, the possibility that Soka Gakkai might have put him in contact with any of those boys is chilling.
2. Soka Gakkai Member, Shinichi Kuzuha, Arrested for Attempted Arson
Emyo/September 1, 1999
Seikyo Shimbun reports, having fanned the flames, caused Gakkai arsonist, Shinichi Kuzuha to even attempt murder of an NS priest. He had in his possession a 30-centimeter-long carving knife to kill the priest with, as he, himself stated.
9:50 a.m., August 17, NS Hoshoji temple, Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Pref., Japan.
The 46-year-old man, Shinichi Kuzuha said to the police with a grin, "I was wondering why other Gakkai members are not as militant against the evil religion, Nichiren Shoshu despite the Seikyo Shimbun reports on how terrible NS is. I thought, "If others do not, I will do it." I had a 30-centimeters-long carving knife to kill (Rev.) Eijun with when he came out of the temple to escape from the fire. When I am released from jail, I will do it again, no matter how many times it takes, until I accomplish my goal."
Fortunately for Hoshoji temple, they had found the arsonist before he set fire to the gasoline, which he had scattered about. The wife of chief priest Rev. Eijun Ishii was watching a monitor because a visitor was expected to arrive at the temple at ten a.m. However, at 9:50 a.m., what she found was not the visitor but an arsonist scattering gasoline about the temple grounds.
She cried out in alarm and called for help. Mr. Ishii, the director general of the temple, who happened to be there, tackled the arsonist despite Kuzuha's menacing behavior, as Kuzuha attempted to set fire to the gasoline. Mr. Ishii subdued the arsonist. Police soon arrived and arrested Kuzuha. Rev. Eijun Ishii was not at the temple during the incident.
Kuzuha and his family members are all faithful Gakkai members. His father is one of the top leaders of the SGI group located nearby the temple.
Soka Shimpo, SGI's organ newspaper, has been slandering NS with its repeated anti-NS campaigns against Hoshoji. Incidents such as this are the result of their campaigns. Needless to say, the campaign attacks by the Soka Shimpo were ordered by Ikeda.
3. THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF TSUGIO ISHIDA IS A 700 PAGE REMONSTRATION TO DAISAKU IKEDA
Shukan Shincho, 9/22/94
What is so strange about this organization is the fact that, on one hand, you have the members' blindness and enthusiastic support, and yet, on the other hand, there is no end to the defections of those who have been in long service, as well as those who have been in Ikeda's entourage. The tyrannical ways of the absolute monarch Daisaku Ikeda are coming to light, but among those who have defected, the pioneer of such defectors would have to be Tsugio Ishida, the elder brother of Komeito Chairman Koushiro Ishida. At one time, he was the leading candidate ahead of Daisaku to become the third president of the Soka Gakkai. He passed away in his bed the year before last. (1992) However, up until just before then, he wrote an immense manuscript titled "Remonstration [Kangen-no-sho]".
This is one passage from the manuscript which Ishida, who passed away in February of 1992 at the age of 66, left behind. "Ikeda never forgets to exact revenge against those under whom he has served in the past or those who have bullied him. He definitely exacts revenge. To get revenge is his unparalleled joy. That's because he has the heart of Ashura...I cannot help but think that once the weight of Toda Sensei was removed, his Ashura nature, which is wholeheartedly anti- enlightenment, grew obese. His jealousy and suspicions, which are growing both inside and out, are the result of his ambition for retainers to supplant lords, as well as his Ashura nature. This is his strongest and greatest garbage that he holds in his bankrupt heart."
The "Toda Sensei" in the text refers to the Soka Gakkai's second president, Josei Toda. It goes without saying that the "Ikeda" he mentions refers to the current Soka Gakkai Honorary President Daisaku Ikeda.
This manuscript, laced with fairly difficult to understand terms such as "the heart of Ashura" and "retainers supplanting lords," is a "remonstration" to Ikeda, a remonstration which he worked on continuously, irrespective of day or night, for three years before he passed away. There are approximately 700 pages in the original manuscript, which finally saw the light of day, two and a half years after his death. In October, a group of former Gakkai members who dearly loved the elderly Ishida and regularly came to listen to his lectures will publish this immense manuscript at their own expense and present it to the world.
The late President Toda said of Tsugio Ishida, "Ishida's my eldest son, Daisaku's my second son." He was the elite of the elite in the Gakkai, and was nominated to be the third president ahead of Daisaku. According to the journalist Kunio Naito, who had profoundly intimate relations with the deceased, "Tsugio's mother was the Soka Gakkai Women's Division Chief when Josei Toda was president. His younger sister is the wife of current President Einosuke Akiya. His younger brother, needless to say, is the current Komeito Party Chairman. The Ishida family is known as being far and away an elite family within the Soka Gakkai. Among other things, after graduating from Shiura Engineering College (now called Shiura Engineering Institute), he was designated in 1951 by President Toda to be the first editor of the Seikyo Shinbun, and then the chief of the First Unit of the Youth Division. It's said that at an early age he was the leading candidate to succeed to the presidency. He was unsurpassed in study and theory, and no one within the Gakkai could compare with him from that standpoint."
Ishida was three years older than Daisaku and enjoyed the deep trust of president Toda. After filling the above posts, he became the first Lower House Diet member, but he was obliged to recuperate from tuberculosis, and so Daisaku became the third president. It was not long before he revolted against Ikeda. As he successively filled the posts of the Komeito Shinbun Managing Editor and then the Managing Director of the Seikyo Shinbun, he drew a line between himself and Daisaku.
Since that time, he lived quietly in Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture. This leading figure, who is one of the few who know about the early days of the Ikeda Soka Gakkai, revealed all the facts just before he died in this immense "remonstration" to Daisaku.
Desecration of the Teacher
"My husband said that he began to understand Buddhism when he turned fifty." The person speaking in the quiet voice is Ishida's wife, Eiko (71). Eiko herself is known as an elite who served as the Gakkai's first Young Women's Division Chief. "When my husband was young, he was told by Toda Sensei to be the third president, but at that time he didn't understand Buddhism very well, and he had a weak constitution, so he declined. So Daisaku became president in place of my husband. However, up until the time Daisaku became president, he seemingly held up my husband as his 'older brother,' but just when he became president, he openly attacked and ridiculed my husband in public. My husband and Daisaku walked different paths, but from the time Daisaku made those counterfeit objects of worship in 1977, he began to think that he 'had to do something' about Daisaku."
Eiko says that at the very end of his life, Tsugio displayed an unearthly tenacity in writing this manuscript. "My husband felt that the criticism of Daisaku which he was presenting to the world would not be understood immediately. He felt that he had to write it for the sake of the future 50 or 100 years hence. When we were shopping or when we went for walks, the manuscript completely filled his thoughts. Whenever I started talking to him, he'd say, 'Be quiet,' or 'You're interrupting my thoughts.' He was often in front of his desk even in the middle of the night. In 1987 he had three- fourths of his stomach removed because of a stomach ulcer, so afterwards, he could not be sure about when his body would fail him. His sole desire was to get the manuscript into shape as soon as possible, so he worked with all his strength."
The finished product was a 700 page posthumous manuscript. Ishida is said to have been an exacting theorist for the Gakkai. His writing, as shown in the opening paragraph of this article, overflows throughout with difficult to understand Buddhist terms, but he unceasingly denounces the haughty attitude of Daisaku, who created counterfeit objects of worship and who displays an arrogant attitude toward the sect in a manner unbecoming to a man of religion. He writes, "Ikeda made eight counterfeit objects of worship (So far, at least eight that have been confirmed). The creation of counterfeit objects of worship can only be done by one whose heart has deviated away from Nichiren Shoshu. It is definitely a tremendous backslide (taiten)...Except for those done by another sect, for seven hundred years there are no examples of believers themselves making counterfeit Nichiren Shoshu objects of worship."
He says, "Ikeda completely bullied Nittatsu Shonin, who was in a relatively weaker position, by making him dependent upon Ikeda's power and money. An intelligence network surrounded the High Priest without interruption 24 hours a day. They were watching for the High Priest's weaknesses and opportunities they could exploit. The goal was to control the sect. Even proceeds which should have gone to the Head Temple were dammed up and siphoned away from all the priests under the High Priest. Listening devices were installed in the inner recesses of Taisekiji, and the High Priest himself discovered them quite by chance when he placed his hands under a table and touched one of them.... Once Ikeda arrogantly shouted at the High Priest, and the High Priest, his body trembling, said, "He treated me just like an errand boy!" Nittatsu Shonin was at once insulted, angry and sad.... Such is the true nature of Ikeda's faith."
Daisaku despised the sect in a way totally unbecoming to a believer. Ishida censures him for this with his vehement writing style. In addition, Ishida indicates that Daisaku directed that attitude not only toward the sect, but also at the family of second president Josei Toda, to whom he should have felt a profound debt of gratitude. "Within ten days of the death of our honored teacher, Josei Toda, Ikeda proceeded to the Toda home, and without handing over the condolence gift of a little over $100,000 which he had taken with him, he took from Ikuko, the wife of Toda Sensei, various articles which had belonged to Toda Sensei. Among those items, he borrowed the long samurai sword which had been in the possession of Toda Sensei."
However, afterwards, that sword was displayed as a priceless treasure of the Soka Gakkai. "The explanatory note read, 'This is the sword which President Ikeda received from Toda Sensei while Toda Sensei was alive.'" That is not the only desecration against his teacher. "Ikeda created unnecessary cemeteries here and there throughout the country.... These cemeteries reeked of spiritual fraud, but in imitation of the monuments to the Three Masters, each time a cemetery was created, there would definitely and arbitrarily be created tombs for the three presidents, Makiguchi, Toda and Ikeda. These were created quite arbitrarily by him. The Makiguchi and Toda families were unable to decline their being built. Ikeda would then request cemetary plot maintenance fees from the Makiguchi and Toda families for those monuments.... Ikeda is not only a troubling existence for both of those families, but he has also employed high-pressure salesmanship against both those families in regards to the path of Master and Disciple, in which he himself is the Master.... Essentially, he used both of those families according to his own situation. What he has done is like ordering that 'The foot be molded to fit the shoe.'"
In this posthumous manuscript, Ishida thoroughly censures the attitude of Daisaku, whom his teacher never considered to be a "Toda's Last Will and Testament Is a Fabrication"
However, the highlight of this manuscript is the passage which deals with the "forged last request" put forth by Daisaku when he was chosen to become the third president. Daisaku says that on March 16, 1958, he was told by President Josei Toda in an elevator, "I leave everything to you." In the same manner, he says that on the 29th of the same month, he was told by President Toda just before the latter's death, "Don't retreat a single step. Don't loosen your grip on the chase." At the present time, this is presented as the "authentic history" of the Gakkai. In juxtaposition to that, Ishida gives the following account. "The last request which I received occurred just before 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 1958. Toda said, 'The next president will be determined by all of you. So be on good terms with each other.' All of the attendees received this with feelings of total confidentiality. This was received not just by me myself but there were also just under 50 people in attendance, including General Director Koizumi. All of these people were attendees of the party held in celebration of the completion of the Grand Lecture Hall. Ikeda, as the Chief of Staff, was responsible for outside (on the grounds), and was not present. The above meeting took place in the tatami mat hall on the fourth floor of the Grand Lecture Hall....If events had happened according to Ikeda's account, then Toda Sensei would have deceived the General Director, the Directors, the Chapter Chiefs, the Standing Committee members, the Women's Division Chief, and the Young Men's and Young Women's Division Chiefs. Think about it. Could such an important matter concerning the entire Gakkai have been conducted within an elevator? That would be horrifying to everyone, would it not?"
Ishida concludes that topic with his comments concerning the "last will and testament (of Josei Toda)" of March 29. "On the 18th, High Priest Nichijun Shonin paid a visit to Toda Sensei's sickbed.... (Toda Sensei) was unable to answer the High Priest. The visit lasted for 30 minutes, and all during that time, he was capable only of repeatedly responding with 'Hai, hai' ('I understand, I understand'). And that was done with only the weakest of voices.... After March 20th, he was incapable of rising from his bed, even with the help of others. His physical condition declined precipitously, and he was unable to speak.... In spite of that, how is it that around that time he could twice draw only Ikeda close to his bedside? How did Ikeda twice receive voiced directions from Sensei, who was incapable of speech? What did he do, hear Sensei's voiceless speech with the ears in his mind?... It's all a fabrication."
Ishida affirms that "Ikeda fabricated the last will and testament of his Master." We have related previously how those two were rivals for the position of the third presidency. But even beyond that, Ishida was in a position to give guidance within the Gakkai from the standpoint of theory. In juxtaposition to this, Daisaku rose from being a "claims collector" for the financial companies President Toda managed, and was part of an "actual practice" faction. Aside from that, they had completely different dispositions. But, Ishida came to look coldly upon Daisaku, who had designs for the presidency regardless of appearances.
"Toda Sensei said, 'Don't take money.' This was the thrifty philosophy of someone concerned with financial administration and financial relief carried out on a nationwide basis. Zaimu [financial affairs] members were limited to one-tenth of the total membership.... Ikeda is a 'Buddha' who chooses to manage affairs according to his own convenience.... Evidence of this are his nice promises that, 'If you bring me money and valuables, then your good fortune will increase,' and 'If you value what you send to me, then your good fortune will increase.' But, is that true?.... Toda Sensei said, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in poverty.' Ikeda reads that statement as, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in opulence.' It seems that Ikeda doesn't understand in the least the true intention behind those statements."
In this way, Ishida criticizes the fact that Daisaku is covered with money. "Three years ago, in my neighborhood, there was an executive leader with a tragic story. Immediately after giving $10,000, which was all the money he had, he became sick and had no money with which to enter a hospital. It is said, 'Anger understands both evil and virtue.' Become one hundred times angrier, my friend! Those who gave $10,000 should become a hundred times angrier. Those who gave $20,000 should be two hundred times angrier.... Why hasn't Ikeda ever said to those who bring him money and valuables, 'If you have money and valuables to bring to me, offer them to a temple instead.'? Local leaders (from Saitama Prefecture) once took President Toda some delicious whiskey. Right before their very eyes, he threw it out the window of the President's room, and after scolding them, proceeded to give them guidance. Where has Toda Sensei's spirit gone?" Sometimes in his posthumous work, Ishida kindly admonishes his junior, Daisaku Ikeda.
"Toda's Last Will and Testament Is a Fabrication"
However, the highlight of this manuscript is the passage which deals with the "forged last request" put forth by Daisaku when he was chosen to become the third president. Daisaku says that on March 16, 1958, he was told by President Josei Toda in an elevator, "I leave everything to you." In the same manner, he says that on the 29th of the same month, he was told by President Toda just before the latter's death, "Don't retreat a single step. Don't loosen your grip on the chase." At the present time, this is presented as the "authentic history" of the Gakkai. In juxtaposition to that, Ishida gives the following account. "The last request which I received occurred just before 4:00 p.m. on March 16, 1958. Toda said, 'The next president will be determined by all of you. So be on good terms with each other.' All of the attendees received this with feelings of total confidentiality. This was received not just by me myself but there were also just under 50 people in attendance, including General Director Koizumi. All of these people were attendees of the party held in celebration of the completion of the Grand Lecture Hall. Ikeda, as the Chief of Staff, was responsible for outside (on the grounds), and was not present. The above meeting took place in the tatami mat hall on the fourth floor of the Grand Lecture Hall....If events had happened according to Ikeda's account, then Toda Sensei would have deceived the General Director, the Directors, the Chapter Chiefs, the Standing Committee members, the Women's Division Chief, and the Young Men's and Young Women's Division Chiefs. Think about it. Could such an important matter concerning the entire Gakkai have been conducted within an elevator? That would be horrifying to everyone, would it not?"
Ishida concludes that topic with his comments concerning the "last will and testament (of Josei Toda)" of March 29. "On the 18th, High Priest Nichijun Shonin paid a visit to Toda Sensei's sickbed.... (Toda Sensei) was unable to answer the High Priest. The visit lasted for 30 minutes, and all during that time, he was capable only of repeatedly responding with 'Hai, hai' ('I understand, I understand'). And that was done with only the weakest of voices.... After March 20th, he was incapable of rising from his bed, even with the help of others. His physical condition declined precipitously, and he was unable to speak.... In spite of that, how is it that around that time he could twice draw only Ikeda close to his bedside? How did Ikeda twice receive voiced directions from Sensei, who was incapable of speech? What did he do, hear Sensei's voiceless speech with the ears in his mind?... It's all a fabrication."
Ishida affirms that "Ikeda fabricated the last will and testament of his Master." We have related previously how those two were rivals for the position of the third presidency. But even beyond that, Ishida was in a position to give guidance within the Gakkai from the standpoint of theory. In juxtaposition to this, Daisaku rose from being a "claims collector" for the financial companies President Toda managed, and was part of an "actual practice" faction. Aside from that, they had completely different dispositions. But, Ishida came to look coldly upon Daisaku, who had designs for the presidency regardless of appearances.
"Toda Sensei said, 'Don't take money.' This was the thrifty philosophy of someone concerned with financial administration and financial relief carried out on a nationwide basis. Zaimu [financial affairs] members were limited to one-tenth of the total membership.... Ikeda is a 'Buddha' who chooses to manage affairs according to his own convenience.... Evidence of this are his nice promises that, 'If you bring me money and valuables, then your good fortune will increase,' and 'If you value what you send to me, then your good fortune will increase.' But, is that true?.... Toda Sensei said, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in poverty.' Ikeda reads that statement as, 'The Gakkai will eternally advance in opulence.' It seems that Ikeda doesn't understand in the least the true intention behind those statements."
In this way, Ishida criticizes the fact that Daisaku is covered with money. "Three years ago, in my neighborhood, there was an executive leader with a tragic story. Immediately after giving $10,000, which was all the money he had, he became sick and had no money with which to enter a hospital. It is said, 'Anger understands both evil and virtue.' Become one hundred times angrier, my friend! Those who gave $10,000 should become a hundred times angrier. Those who gave $20,000 should be two hundred times angrier.... Why hasn't Ikeda ever said to those who bring him money and valuables, 'If you have money and valuables to bring to me, offer them to a temple instead.'? Local leaders (from Saitama Prefecture) once took President Toda some delicious whiskey. Right before their very eyes, he threw it out the window of the President's room, and after scolding them, proceeded to give them guidance. Where has Toda Sensei's spirit gone?" Sometimes in his posthumous work, Ishida kindly admonishes his junior, Daisaku Ikeda
There Is No Freedom within the Soka Gakkai
In addition, with a reverse stroke of his sword, Ishida slices through Komeito's problem of the union of Church and State. "In the Gakkai, there is no freedom of propagation and no freedom to refuse Ikeda's guidance. There is also no freedom when it comes to 'Master and Disciple.'... In addition, for the Gakkai general members, there are no voting freedoms. To support a party other than Komeito is no good. Furthermore, there is no freedom of behavior (because of the restrictions the organization places upon one's time), and there is also no freedom concerning one's disbursements."
"Komeito continues to censure the LDP, pointing to its money- soaked elections. But let's look into the facts. In Japan, which political party has the highest unit cost per each successful candidate and, moreover, makes individuals of other parties one's private property?... It is Komeito which is money-soaked, with its fees for newspapers and magazines, secret supplies of election funds, gifts and expenses for food, travel and communications. When these and everything else are all totaled, they have the highest unit cost for each successful candidate. They rely 100% upon financial influence."
In this 700 page manuscript written just before his death, Ishida discusses everything from Daisaku's character to the problem of the union of Church and State. At times, he injects humor, and at times, he is extremely harsh. Drawing a comparison with six influential philosophers in central India during the lifetime of Shakyamuni Buddha, he likens Daisaku to the "six non-Buddhist teachers" and concludes that he is a "fraudulent spiritual teacher."
According to the Gakkai PR Department, "Ishida left the Gakkai and is someone who, in Buddhist terminology, went taiten. Such a person will say various things, and these are always limited to how things should have been done in accordance with his own ideas. The Gakkai has a sixty year history, and the organization still continues to expand. We have no intention of responding one by one to those who have gone taiten."
On the surface, the Gakkai assumes an attitude of indifference. However, the journalist Isao Dan interviewed Ishida during his lifetime and divulges his thoughts. "I've heard that Ishida's 'last will and testament' has come out, but this is the first time I've actually seen it. He gives many knowledgeable descriptions, but he accompanies the episodes that appear throughout with the dates. They are authentic. Isn't it only appropriate for the Gakkai to be quaking? Fifteen years ago I met with Ishida while he was recuperating from an illness. At first he denied having any information, but when I went to see him a second time, he had data about which he displayed a defiant attitude, saying, 'Would you care to debate this with me?!' He was as skinny as a crane, but his eyes truly sparkled. The interview lasted for five hours, but I recall him saying, 'Ikeda doesn't study Buddhism at all,' 'Ikeda's theories are no good,' and 'His specialty lies in mobilizing people.' At the end of the interview, he said, 'Write this after I die. It'Il be my last will and testament,' so I never published it anywhere until after Ishida passed away. However, he must have said that to me because he was assiduously writing a true 'last will and testament.' This is truly priceless material."
In the last years of his life, Ishida, whom the Gakkai regards as having gone taiten, had no contact with his younger brother Koushiro Ishida, the Komeito Party chairman. Chairman Ishida and their younger sister, the wife of President Akiya, did not attend their elder brother's funeral.
Why is there no end to the people who are alienated from Daisaku, who is supposed to be a "living Buddha?" It is certain that upon reading Ishida's posthumous manuscript, one will understand the answer to that.
4. Funny money stories uncovered in Japan
Boston Globe/July 6, 1989
By Colin Nickerson
Yokohama, Japan -- The mystery begins at the Yokohama All Seiso scrap yard, where last Friday a crane operator named Yoshikazu Mori was trying to smash a steel safe into chunks of metal for recycling.
Mori's crane hoisted the refrigerator-sized strongbox high into the air, then let it drop. The safe was well constructed, and it took several long drops followed by a smash with a power shovel before the door burst open and three cloth bundles flew out.
The bundles contained a fortune, and not a small one either: 170 million yen -- about $1.2 million at present (1989) exchange rates -- all in large- denomination bills printed in the early 1970s.
"It was very surprising," said Mori, who, like any good Japanese, immediately reported the discovery.
Police investigators quickly determined that the safe containing the huge sum was one of 100 sold to the Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist sect claiming more than 7 million adherents.
The Soka Gakkai has close ties to Japan's second-largest opposition party, the Komeito, or "Clean Government" party, several of whose members have been implicated in the Recruit influence peddling scandal. The scandal involves the questionable campaign donations made to powerful political figures by the Recruit Company, a Tokyo-based communications conglomerate.
Police also learned that the discarded safe was brought to the scrap yard on June 29 by a truck belonging to the delivery fleet of the Seikyo Shimbun, a daily newspaper published by the Buddhist group.
Then, on Monday, the former financial manager of the Soka Gakkai came forward with a bizarre tale to tell.
Haruo Nakanishi, who also is the former publisher of the sect newspaper, claimed that the money was his and his alone. The safe had been stored in an underground basement of the Seikyo Shimbun and he had simply "forgotten" it when he retired earlier this year.
And where had $1.2 million worth of 10,000 yen notes come from?
From the sale of cheap souvenir cups on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, the bespectacled, 60-year-old religious official told Japanese reporters at a press conference earlier this week.
Nakanishi maintained that he had operated a souvenir stand at Daisekiji Temple for three years beginning in 1970. The gilt cups sold for around 400 yen apiece, or about $2.85 at today's exchange rate.
Police, factoring in the estimated wholesale price of the cups and other business expenses faced by a typical vendor, calculated that Nakanishi would have had to sell 2,000 of the souvenirs a day, 365 days a year, to earn the sum found in the safe.
"Profits were unexpectedly big," allowed Nakanishi. "Since there was nothing I wanted to do with the money, I placed it in a safe . . . and forgot about it."
Japanese police are normally a circumspect lot. But they openly describe Nakanishi's story as "unlikely."
Said one investigator: "People do not make huge fortunes selling fake gold cups from a single temple stall. There are inconsistencies in his account."
Other questions are raised by the cash itself: the wrappers around several thick sheafs of bills bore the imprint of the Finance Ministry, meaning the money had never been in circulation after leaving the issuing bank. The press has speculated that the money may be part of some sort of political slush fund maintained by the conservative Buddhist sect.
A spokesman for the Sokka Gakkai said yesterday the sect would have "absolutely no comment" on the matter
4. 91-93 harassment of NST
Mike
First report of incidents.
23/5/91: A dead snake was found in the temple parking lot. At the same time, the roof of the priest's car was détérioréàtrois places. The right front tire had étécoupé.
22/1/92: Between 8:25 ET 8:45 am for fifteen minutes, someone rang the bell outside without stopping. When the head priest said at last, someone speaking like a yakuza, the priest invited asort so threatening . The priest looked outdoors and saw a van row in front of the temple. A man about forty years driving. He threw his engine several times while awaiting the release of the priest. The priest went to see better. The vehicle was a Suzuki van with yellow license plates (trade), No. 40 NANIWA TE 8458. The dangerous cult member finally departed.
Shop for Buddhist altars Kongodo: Several times (before thundering article), one Mr. Naoru Kiyohara Shop Kondoro Buddhist altars, adjacent to the temple, led multifingered times his car then his bike so dangerously close, almost hitting son aged six years, of the chief priest. Once, Mr. Kiyohara had the same attitude towards the priest himself. Needless to say, such conduct is negligent harm Ala human life, and is nothing but inhuman attempts to intimidation.
Second report on the incident.
20 October 1992
Early September 92: The owner of the shop Kongodo Buddhist altars, Mr. Kiyohara, posted on the windows of the shop inventions offensive and defamatory articles from the Soka Shimpo newspaper against the high priest of Nichiren Shoshu, Nikken Shonin .
Early Oct. 92: Mr Kiyohara placards with slogans such as "Overthrow Nikken," "Meeting daimoku to expel (the chief priest) Aota," "Let us pray to expel the evil priest"! Every Wednesday and Saturday, twenty people began gathering ase the first floor of Kogondo shop to recite daimoku.
11 octobre 92: Fifteen members of SGI around gathered on the first floor of Kongodo store and began noisily slogans such as "Overthrow Nikken"! and "Expel Aota"! They intentionally interfére with ceremonies in the temple to commemorate the death anniversary of founder of the Nichiren Shoshu, Nichiren Daishonin. At the end of the ceremony, members of SGI, armed with video and photo equipment, and began photographing members of the temple which left the temple.
Third report on the incident.
Original Report Date: 2/12/92
1/11/92, Day memorial service for the temple. Twenty members of the SGI gathered on the first floor of Kogondo shop à10h morning. Having opened the windows wide, they recited gongyo, prayed and then began loudly Achante songs Gakkai. After several songs, they began to shout strong by the window, with slogans such as "Nikken - Aota are idiots"!
At the beginning of the memorial service, they gathered at the temple, raised a flag and began shouting through a horn statements such as: "We do not need a monk as inept Nikken"! "Get out of the temple"! "Meet our contributions"! etc. ... and demonstrated in the streets emitting à wide volume of songs recorded Gakkai.[Lord, multiple rounds of "Forever Sensei!" Shouldn't that be prohibited by the Geneva Convention?]
As the memorial service ended, they held each gate of the temple and hand out leaflets containing such statements as: "Do not bear the temple!", Members of the temple when they left. This was rapportédans the Chugai Nippo (the heretical religions of Japan with strong affiliations with the Soka Gakkai, which has linked in order to offend the Nichiren Shoshu).
In the afternoon, they gathered again on the first floor of Kogondo with other members and began voicing statements like:
"Get out of here!" We will expel Aota! Ei, Ei, Ohh! " [And I remember reciting "Ei Ei OH!" in SGI in the eighties -- what does it mean? Banzai!?]
"We will sweep the Nikken sect! Do you understand?"
"We will sweep Nikken! We will scan Aota"! {SCAN Aota? Are they going to squeeze him into a copier?]
"Exit làMAINTENANT"!
"Aota banish forever"!
"Do you understand?" Ei, Ei, Ohh! " [And Old MacDonald had a farm. E I E I Oh!]
15/11/92 Service commemorati for Nichimoku Shonin. In the middle of the service, members of SGI again gathered as usual on the first floor of Kongodo, recited gongyo, daimoku, sang songs Gakkai, then went to the temple and vociférèrent statements such as:
"Family Aota, exit the temple"!
"We will attack Until such time that the Nikken sect apologizes to Ikeda sensei!"
"It is a war to exterminate the Nikken sect"!
"It's a war zone"!
"We will crush the organization of the temple in this final battle"!
"Not relax our efforts in the attack on the temple"!
"We will no longer allow this again"!
Gakkai members write emails also called "Nikken" on the steps of Kongodo and made all members of the SGI trampling. Then they built an image of Nikken Shonin and stuck it on crackers. Then they tore into pieces and each ate a share. [Sorry. I know that this isn't funny; it's about religious intolerance, fanaticism and violence -- but, can you imagine? Putting Nikken's likeness on a cracker, breaking it into pieces and eating it. That'll show Nikken, the miserable cracker!]
In addition to the above harassment:
1. Every day from 10:30 à11h30, the SGI members gathered to harass the temple.
2. Members of the SGI wrote graffiti on the exterior walls of the temple.
8. The temple was under constant surveillance by camera clicking SGI
members.
3. The temple received threats and harassment by repeated phone.
4. The temple received repeated threats by postcards.
5. Each day, the chief priest was followed by members of the IMS.
6. Underwear for women were launched in the temple, hanging in the garage and trees. [Again, I know that this is not really funny...but Lord, how can people be so crazy? This sounds like a bad Saturday Night Live skit.]
7. Each member of the temple received visitors from SGI several times. The SGI members harassed them abnormally. One member of the temple who had a fragile constitution, ended up at the hospital for a physical disturbance causéd by stress.
The SGI members committed incidents of obstruction services of the temple above in total contempt of attacks on individual members of the temple in defiance of human rights, harassment, coercion, in violation constitutional rights of religious practice. This is the present conditions.
Report on the incidents.
Original Report Date: 9/11/93
21/10/93, every day from 10:30 on, twenty or thirty members of the Women's Division of SGI congregate on the first floor of Kongodo shop extending flags from the windows with slogans such as "Pray" for the ban demonic priest! "," Next life Aota "!, and then they recited daimoku.[Apparently they don't have enough housework to do.]
3/11/93, thirty members of the Young Men's Division of SGI, headed by a person claiming to be called Kawamoto, entered the temple and asked to have the Rev.. Aota. The Rev. Aota said he would not meet. They began shouting statements such as: "Do not send a postcard!" Get out of the temple "! The Rev. Aota out to talk to them. They did hurl obscenity.
Rev. Aota decided he could not get anywhere with them when he asked them three times to leave or he would call the police. They only continue shout after him. He told them he would call the police and went to. They shouted: "Who's afraid of the police!" Call whoever you want! "And they continued hurling obscenities after him. The Rev. Aota went into another room. They then disappear like little black spiders in the palm of a hand running in all directions. The Rev. Aota out yes! See were gone. They ran to their cars and trucks, and fled quickly. Two police officers arrived and made a report.
14/11/93, Ms. Otani, head of the Division for Women, and twenty other members made their usual program on the first floor of Kongodo shop. Then they went to the temple. Ms. Otani, with its characteristically began shouting hysterically. Since Rev. Aota was not present, Ms. Otani said: "I come back here, no matter how many times"! That evening, she called the Rev. Aota and talked hysterically. The Rev. Aota did not answer.
7/11/93, Forty SGI members came to the temple to protest àPropos postcards that had étéenvoyées Ades SGI members.
In addition to the above, members of the Division of Young Men, Matsumoto, Ogiri, Kawamoto called the temple several times, threatening and harassing the priest. There were six calls. The priest remained silent. Each day, more threatening postcards arrive without mentioning the name of the sender.
Report:
Two signals were introduced on the exterior walls of the temple under the leadership of the police and referring to warnings of prosecution of violators under the Criminal Code, Article 234, for obstructing business by force and violation of the law.
10/11/93, eight members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
11/11/93, Thirty-one members break the law and harass the priest. Two patrol cars respond at 110 (police emergency) for assistance. Also: Twelve phone calls of protest were received. An anonymous caller.
12/11/93, eight members of the SGI transgress the law and engage in shouting incomprehensible statements of an obscene nature. Two officers respond to 110. Sixteen members of the SGI trangressent law and harass the priest. In addition, ten calls of protest and an anonymous call was received. [But if the statements were incomprehensible, how did they KNOW if the statements were obscene?]
13/11/93 Twenty-two members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest. Twenty-four calls of protest were received.
14/11/93 Twenty-five members of the SGI transgress the law and harass. An officer responds. Ten members SGI transgress the law and threaten the priest. The IMS collects the first floor of Kongodo. They order other SGI members not to enter the temple. Two members of the SGI violate and threaten the priest. Six police officers respond to 110. Seven members of the SGI violate the law. Several police officers respond Ades further calls. Nineteen members of the SGI violate the law. A total of sixty-three members of the SGI transgress and cause trouble. In addition, three phone calls of protest and three anonymous calls were received.
15/11/93, fourteen members of the SGI violate the law. They steal all the publications that were on the counter. Two officers respond to 110. The Rev, Aota files complaint for theft. Seven members of the SGI transgress the law and harass. Also: Two calls of protest and three anonymous calls were received. The Rev. Aota discussed with the police on matters relating Ala prosecution of individuals.
16/11/93, thirty-five members of the SGI guilty and engage assault and destruction of the temple area. The Rev. Aota discussed with police violations perpetrated by members of the IMS and received instructions. Many threats were received by telephone. Ten members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
17/11/93, Fifteen members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
18/11/93 Six members of the SGI transgress the law and harass the priest.
The above actions of SGI members were clearly committed on the orders of the IMS. Statements such as: "Do not send postcards!" And "Get out of the temple"! were often repeated.
Source: Reports written by the Rev.. Aota, chief priest of the Temple Kyoshinji and filed with local police department; its reports made to the Office of General Affairs of the Nichiren Shoshu.
5. The POEM
The Victorious Future of Mentor and Disciple
I can see those who are like demons Milling around what Unbeknownst to them,
Is only an execution block Traitors!
Having turned your backs On the Daishonin's golden words,
Are you ready To be burned in the fires Of the Hell of incessant suffering?
To be imprisoned in a cavern In the Hell of extreme cold?
To be shut off in the darkness Of misery and strife,
Forever deprived of the sun's light? --Daisaku Ikeda -
6. Japan Finds Latest Scandal in a Dump
A fortune is tied to a powerful Buddhist sect
The New York Times/July 20, 1989
By David E. Sanger
A pile of yen notes, $1.2 million worth, on display for reporters and photographers at a police station in Yokohama, Japan, after being found in a garbage dump. The money has been linked to a religious sect that controls the country's second-largest political opposition party.
Tokyo, July 19 - When workers at a waste dump in Yokohama pried open an old safe two and a half weeks ago and $1.2 million in yen notes fell to their feet, Japan at first laughed it off as the latest in a series of madcap cases in which people here literally threw money away.
After all, only a few weeks hade passed since the police solved the mystery of the bamboo thicket in Kawasaki. That is the Tokyo suburb where passers-by, in two separate incidents, found wet, moldy packets that totaled $1.7 million in cash. The ensuing investigation spawned theories about underworld money and extortion, until a businessman stepped forward to explain sheepishly that he had dumped the money in Kawasaki, rather than prompt a tax audit.
But as the police have begun to unravel puzzle of the Yokohama safe, it has taken a decidedly more political turn. Days before Japan goes to the polls on Sunday in the first major election after two political scandals, the money has been linked to a powerful, militant Buddhist religious sect, the Soka Gakkai. The sect, in turn, controls the Komeito or Clean Government party Japan's second-largest opposition party, and one of several hoping to benefit from public disgust with the governing Liberal Democrats.
The explanations offered to investigators by the Soka Gakkai so far - that the money came from selling cheap trinkets at a temple - strike many people as highly dubious. And in the final days of campaigning, the incident has cast a spotlight on some less-discussed truths of Japanese politics: that the Liberal Democrats hardly command a monopoly on under-the-table money, and that religious groups can rival big business as a source of influence-peddling in Japanese politics. A year ago, the Komeito seemed above such problems, and bound for greater victories. But it tripped badly when some of the Clean Government members were implicated in the Recruit scandal, the stock-and-influence schemes that chiefly rocked the Liberal Democrats.
They May Find No Alternative
That incident tarred Komeito with the same charges of rampant corrupts that the governing party is fighting. Now the Liberal Democrats are hoping that voters will find the Yokohama safe Incident, along with mini-scandals that have enveloped the opposition, disturbing enough to think twice about throwing the governing party out in the elections for the upper house of Parliament. "We fear that while people hate the dirty old L.D.P., they may find no alternative," Takashl Yonezawa, the secretary General of the Democratic Socialist Party, another opposition group touched by scandal, said the other day.
Leads gathered in the Yokohama dump led the police to a transportation company owned by a former Komeito member of the upper house. The company distributes the Soka Gakkai's dally newspaper. And the safe, kept in the company's basement until It was carted away with refuse, was under the control of Haruo Nakanishi, once the informal treasurer of the Buddhist That post made Mr. Nakanishi a powerful, if little known, player in the world of Japanese religion and politics.
Depending on whose numbers one believes, the Soka Gakkai's membership numbers anywhere from 5 million to 8 million Japanese. The sect was founded in 1930, but it traces its roots to a 13th century Buddhist monk named Nichiren. The sect is under the strict control of Daisaku Ikeda, and by many accounts - chiefly from dissidents who have left the party or been thrown out - so is the Komeito,which was founded In 1964.
Technically, the Komeito has been fully Independent of the religious sect since 1970. But it is an open secret that the party draws most of its candidates and its constituency from the Soka Gakkai.Soka Gakkai members work as volunteers for the party candidates, and for a long time there have been charges, but little proof, that donations given at temple make their way into Komeito coffers. "This is a totally corrupt religious organization," said Yukimasa Fujiwara, a member of the Tokyo municipal assembly, who was expelled from the Komeito party when he publicly criticized the Soka Gakkai's control over its policies and finances. "Religious institutions get donations from worshipers that are tax-exempt so they don't have to account for (he money," Mr. Fujiwara said. "That leads to corruption. And where is the money is going? Into funding for the Komeito."
Both the party and the religious group deny the charges, pointing out that the Komeito's charter allows only Individual contributions, usually from the small businesses that make up the core of the party's following. Mr. Ikeda's political agenda, the group suggests, Is above board: He has developed something of an international reputation as a philosophizer about peace and founded a university.
Dissidents suggest that behind a facade of international respectability, Mr. Ikeda is a cult leader. Mr. Fujiwara asserts that Mr. Ikeda maintains "a dictatorship over the Soka Gakkai." A Soka Gakkai official said Mr. Ikeda gives no interviews. The police seem to suspect that the money in the safe was part of a larger slush fund, stashed away for a needy political cause. Compared with the Recruit scandal, which toppled Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and other politicians, business leaders and bureaucrats, the safe incident seems almost trivial. Compared with the allegations of sexual indiscretions by the current Prime Minister, Sousuke Uno, another money scandal may even seem a bit boring.
But the money in the safe added just a little more weight to the widespread doubts that Japan's opposition parties are capable of forming a credible government, should the Liberal Democrats lose the lock an power they have held for more than three decades. "We don't have to prove that we are the best," a lower-house member of the governing party said not long ago. "We only have to prove that they are not much better."
7. Soka Gakkai International -- SGI
old page 322
Former Cult Members and Affected Families
======================================================================
October 22, 2011 01:43PM
The Anticult
Date Added: 03/17/2006
Posts: 4558
Re: Soka Gakkai International -- SGI
If someone has time to check the SGI-UK documents, and find and post the figures for the total amount spent by SGI-UK per year, and what they spend it on?
Also, to post their total UK revenues for the year, and compare them.
In other areas, SGI's main expense was a few Executive salaries, investing, and real estate purchases, architects, lobbying the government, that is, money for politicians.
They can fudge the numbers, but it sounds like the laws for reporting are different in the UK than in the US. As in the US, if you are a "religion" then you don't have to report anything to the public. You can conceal everything, like SGI does.
Which is why SGI-USA does not deserve 1 dollar in donations, as SGI chooses to conceal their expenses, and not publish the gov't statements openly.
The only info found about SGI-USA was from the Soka U investment corporation.
SGI, The richest cult in the world, over $1 BILLION in the USA
[forum.rickross.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2011 01:45PM by The Anticult.
===================================================================================
October 23, 2011 06:01PM
The Anticult
Date Added: 03/17/2006
Posts: 4558
Soka Gakkai International -- SGI-UK Charity Number 1104491
A page that list some of the details about SGI-UK.
Yes, SGI-UK is a mickey-mouse peanuts organization.
If you consider $77 million US in assets peanuts.
So there is another close to 100 million in SGI-cash stashed in the UK, and they only registered this one in 2004.
How was SGI operating before 2004 in the UK?
Are there other SGI organizations in the UK with alternate names listed somewhere?
You can see that SGI-UK strategically spends about $1.5 million more a year than they SAY they take in to that particular "charity". (unless others are listed with different names, etc)
So what are the specific costs? Where exactly are they spending that money?
How much is going for salaries?
Where exactly is that money being spent?
SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL - UK
(05114516)
[opencharities.org]
[opencorporates.com]
Charity Number
1104491
Date Registered
2004-06-22
Company Number
5114516
Contact Name
MR ROBERT ANTHONY SAMUELS
Telephone
###############
Address
TAPLOW COURT, CLIVEDEN ROAD, TAPLOW, MAIDENHEAD, SL6 0EP
Website
[sgi-uk.org]
***@sgi-uk##
Trustees
MR ROBERT ANTHONY SAMUELS, MISS FIONA JANE HARROW, MR KAZUO FUJII, MS SUE THORNTON, MR TONY BUTLER, MR ROBERT PHILIP HARRAP, MRS SACHIYO WILSON, MS STEPHANIE BALL, MR RICKY BAYNES
Charity Commission Classifications
General Charitable Purposes, Education/Training, Religious activities, Arts/culture, Environment/Conservation/Heritage, General public/Mankind, Provides human resources, Provides buildings/facilities/open space, Provides services, Provides advocacy/advice/information
Icnpo Classifications
Religious congregations and association
Full accounts for SOKA GAKKAI INTERNATIONAL - UK
Annual Returns to Charity Commission
Financial year ending
2007-12-31 2008-12-31 2009-12-31
Income from legacies £0 £0 £0
Income from endowments £0 £0 £0
Voluntary income £2.48m £1.40m £1.68m
Activities generating funds £277,000 £6,014 £7,814
Income from charitable activities £0 £1.18m £1.20m
Investment income £1.43m £1.41m £761,685
Other income £0 £0 £0
Total income £4.19m £3.99m £3.65m
Investment gains £0 £0 £0
Gains from asset revaluations £0 £0 £584,050
Gains on pension fund £0 £0 £0
Voluntary income costs £0 £0 £4,526
Fundraising trading costs £279,000 £3,161 £0
Investment management costs £0 £0 £0
Grants to institutions £0 £0 £0
Charitable activities costs £550,000 £5.14m £3.65m
Governance costs £1.64m £24,826 £22,885
Other expenses £0 £0 £0
Total expenses £2.46m £5.17m £3.68m
Support costs £0 £4.14m £2.74m
Depreciation £136,000 £1.98m £583,088
Reserves £600,000 £0 £525,235
Fixed assets at start of year £22.69m £23.45m £22.36m
Fixed assets at end of year £23.45m £22.36m £21.78m
Fixed investment assets at start of year £0 £0 £0
Fixed investment assets at end of year £0 £0 £0
Current investment assets £0 £0 £0
Cash £25.82m £25.62m £25.19m
Total current assets £27.20m £26.35m £26.13m
Creditors within 1 year £1.83m £1.08m £310,857
Long term creditors or provisions £1,000 £0 £0
Pension assets £0 £0 £0
Total assets £48.81m £47.63m £47.59m
Endowment funds £24.53m £25.70m £25.29m
Restricted funds £23.00m £0 £0
Unrestricted funds £1.29m £21.93m £22.31m
Total funds £48.81m £47.63m £47.59m
Employees 44 40 40
Volunteers 0 400
Consolidated accounts No No No
Charity only accounts No Yes Yes
6. Former Soka University Professor Loses Appeal in Religious Discrimination Case
OC Weekly, California/April 18, 2011
By Michelle Woo
An ex-professor at Soka University of America (SUA) who sued the school for religious discrimination has lost her appeal against a decision made in favor of the Aliso Viejo university.
Gaye Christoffersen was the subject of an OC Weekly cover story on former SUA faculty members and students who claim they were deceived by the university's nonsectarian status. The ex-professor of political science alleged she was denied tenure because she refused to abandon her Lutheran faith to join Soka Gakkai, the Buddhist sect that founded the 10-year-old university. Christoffersen, who was 62 years old at the time of her tenure denial, also sued the school for age discrimination, claiming that younger professors with fewer achievements were granted tenure.
On Friday, a California Court of Appeal based in Santa Ana rejected Christoffersen's appeal that the Superior Court of Orange County erred in granting summary judgment to the defendant.
University officials involved in the tenure process declared in documents that they did not know the religion or age of any of the candidates who were being considered for tenure.
SUA has previously been attacked by former faculty who say they were discriminated based on their non-Buddhist beliefs.
In 2002, Linda Southwell, a terminated fine-arts professor, sued the school for $25 million, alleging religious discrimination, wrongful termination and fraud, among other charges. She came to a settlement, which included a confidentiality clause. In 2005, Holly Ogren, a professor of Japanese language and culture, also sued Soka in Orange County Superior Court for religious discrimination, alleging she was "severely mistreated, degraded and berated" and "ultimately terminated for being a Hare Krishna." The case was dismissed in 2006.
Edward Feasel, the school's dean of faculty, has said, "We give absolutely no preferential treatment based on religion.
7. Powerful Politician Linked To Tokyo's Stock Scandal
New York Times/August 1, 1991
By James Sterngold
Tokyo -- An important political link to Japan's stock market. scandal was disclosed today in reports that the family of one of Japan's most powerful politicians was among the influential clients who received improper compensation for stock market losses from securities houses. Okasan Securities confirmed reports today that it paid 21 million yen, or about $150,000, to a company controlled by the family of Shin Kanemaru, a powerful member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a former Deputy Prime Minister. The improper compensation for market losses was paid to Oruto, a building rental company then headed by Shingo Kanemaru, Mr. Kanemmru's son, who left to work for his father last year as one of his political aides. improper Payments Japan's top brokerage houses have disclosed this week that they made more than $1 billion in improper payments to some of Japan's top industrial groups, banks and public pension funds.
The disclosures have created an uproar because they have confirmed longstanding suspicions that brokerage houses here show favoritism toward influential clients. There has also been speculation that politicians, who regularly use the stock market to raise campaign funds and frequently operate through the accounts of family members or aides, must have benefited from the payments.The first apparent evidence of this came Wednesday with the disclosure that the Soka Gakkai, the country's largest Buddhist organization, received more than $3 million in improper payments. The Soka Gakkai is affiliated with the Komeito, or Clean Government Party, a leading opposition group. The group has said the money was intended to compensate it for losses from unauthorized trading in its account.
The brokerage house, Kokusai Securities, denied that there had been unauthorized trades. Okasan Securities today confirmed the payments to Mr., Kanemaru's company, but refused to say specifically if they had been made to Mr. Kanernaru's son. Mr. Kanemaru's office refused to comment, but Japanese newspapers quoted him as having said that he had heard about the payments on Wednesday night and that they had come as "a big surprise to me." "My wife said that she did not demand it or recognize it as compensation," he was quoted as saying. "But it was my wife's action, and I am asking my aides to investigate." His wife, Etsuko, became a director of Oruto after his son left. Mr. Konemaru said, however, that he still backed a thorough investigation of the widespread pattern of discriminatory payments. Parliamentary hearings are expected to begin Friday, and the scandal is expected to be one of the top issues at an extraordinary session of the Japanese Parliament later this month.
A Sensitive Time
The disclosures about Mr. Kane-maru and the Soka Gakkai come at a particularly sensitive time. The ruling party was stung last week by charges that it was not seeking to get to the bottom of the affair and perhaps was even working to conceal details of who was compensated. The party put the securities industry under intense pressure to disclose the list of recipients. That was done, bringing hopes the scandal would die dawn. But the emergence of political beneficiaries and suspicions about the completeness of the disclosures have fed renewed public outrage.
8. INDICTMENTS BY FORMER SGI AMERICAN LEADERS
Weekly Post, 10/14/94
by Masao Okkotsu
Ikeda's house in Malibu, on the outskirts of L.A., has gilded bathrooms. Isn't that in violation of Federal Tax Laws?
"This is my home in America." - Mr. Daisaku Ikeda once made that comment about a building on the grounds of the Malibu Training Center, located in a high- class city on the outskirts of Los Angeles. However, it is the property of Soka Gakkai, which is recognized as a religious corporation in the States. If it is actually private property, it raises doubts about its legality. Continuing from the preceding issue, we report on location about the overseas activities of the enigmatic huge religious group
Three Conditions for Religious Corporate Tax Exemption
SGI-USA (Soka Gakkai International-United States of America), Soka Gakkai's American religious corporation, owns vast real estate around Los Angeles. We reported about this fact in our previous issue, but since most of the property purchased is owned by a religious corporation, no fixed asset taxes are assessed.
"American religious corporations, the same as in Japan, receive preferential treatment from the standpoint of tax laws. But in Japan, if a group possesses the qualifications to be a religious corporation, then no taxes are assessed unconditionally. That's different from America, where, even if religious corporate status is granted, they are not given tax exempt privileges unless a tax exempt petition is submitted to the local and state tax authorities and an audit is passed. Three prerequisites for tax exemption are stipulated in Article 501 of the City Tax Code. The first is, political activities and political donations are forbidden. The second is, excessive for-profit enterprises are forbidden. And the third is, the privatization of the religious group's assets by the head or the leaders is forbidden. If these regulations are violated, tax exempt privileges are not given." (International Business Law Professor Ishimura of Asahi University)
I flew to Los Angeles and received from many former SGI-USA leaders detailed testimony concerning the reality of the Soka Gakkai's overseas assets and overseas activities, which up to now have remained largely unrevealed. According to their testimony, there are suspicions about whether the SGI-USA is in violation of two of the three conditions which must be met to receive tax exempt status.
Among those former leaders, former SGI-USA Chapter Chief, James Eagleton points out the privatization of the religious group. "At the Malibu Training Center, there's a house for Ikeda that we members are never allowed to enter. We are allowed to enter only the training center itself. The house is a private building which is used only when Ikeda comes to Los Angeles, and it's shrouded in a veil of secrecy."
Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai Honorary President, is also the SGI President, the head of the SGI wherever it exists around the world. The Malibu Training Center, which occasionally appears in Mr. Ikeda's collections of photos, was opened in 1972 by the SGI-USA (at the time it was known as NSA, Nichiren Shoshu of America). The area of the site is approximately 9800 tsubo. (Translator's note: A tsubo is approximately 36 square feet.) The city of Malibu is an extremely high-class city which abuts the Pacific Ocean and is approximately one hour's drive by car to the northwest from the center of Los Angeles. It is well known that many stars, such as actor Kevin Costner and tennis' John McEnroe, live there.
When looking at the Malibu Training Center from the air, two buildings and a Western style park can be clearly discerned on the extensive site, which includes a private beach. The huge building nestled against a mountain is the training center, and the building nearer the ocean is the aforementioned "Ikeda house."
According to registration documents, the training center building was built in 1973. Its floor space is approximately 150 tsubo. The Ikeda house is older, having been built in 1964. Its floor space is approximately 60 tsubo. Former Los Angeles SGI-USA leaders who are familiar with the Ikeda house all testify that it is luxurious.
"When Ikeda came to America in 1990, I was ordered by a top Women's Division leader to clean the bathroom in the Ikeda house. I have entered the Ikeda house just that once, but I clearly remember that the bathroom was luxurious. The door and faucets did not have knobs. They had the expensive handle types. Furthermore, they were all gold plated. Also, a thick carpet covered the bathroom floor. I cleaned it completely, but the Women's Division leader who was supervising told me repeatedly, 'Ikeda Sensei's going to see it! Get it cleaner, get it cleaner.'I even shoved my hand down the pipes." (a former SGI-USA Young Men's Division leader who left the Gakkai in 1992) He says that it made him feel somewhat ill at ease that the bathroom in the Ikeda house was gilded.
A former leader, who is Japanese and who currently resides in Los Angeles, says, "I recently spoke with the caretaker, who said he's been a caretaker there for the past seven years, but that last year was the first time he had ever cleaned the Ikeda house. Originally, the wives of the top leaders, including the wife of the SGI-USA General Director, were responsible for it, but last year the wife of the man who became General Director was busy, so she requested a substitute. He said that there are no words to describe how luxurious it is.
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Local Leaders In Particular Are Not Allowed Near It
Even the caretaker first entered the Ikeda house after seven years on the job. I was able to meet with the person who carried out the renovations. His name is Mr. Steve Gore (46).
Mr. Gore joined NSA in 1965 at the age of sixteen. After graduating from UCLA, he became an employee of the NSA Headquarters. He is a former top leader who, at the age of twenty-one, became America's youngest Los Angeles Territory General Chapter Chief and who also worked on the planning staff of the Young Men's Division. He left the organization in 1974.
"The Malibu Training Center is a facility which used to be the villa of a famous playwright. NSA bought it in 1972 for $109,000. They built the training center building from scratch, and renovated the already existing building to be Ikeda's villa. An opening ceremony was conducted on April 19, 1972. When I was renovating the Ikeda house, I was instructed by Vice-General Director Mike Kikumura, 'Spare no expense. Take special care to use the best materials.'I remember purchasing the inside furnishings from Schneider Diamond Co., which handles only very top quality materials."
According to Mr. Gore's recollections, the house consisted of four spacious rooms: a living room, a dining room, a bedroom and a Gohonzon room, as well as a bath, a bathroom and a kitchen. (Translator's note: In Japan, the room containing the toilet is separate from the room containing the bath. Apparently, the Ikeda house in Malibu follows this pattern.) He says that, then, when they renovated it, they built a new open air hot tub lined with rocks, which Mr. Ikeda loved, and a sauna. "The interior had been built in the style of a cabin, with thick logs showing. But we renovated it in a semi-European style using plenty of top quality Japanese cypress."
Mr. Gore says that at the time they paid particular attention to soundproofing. "Ikeda hates noise, so we laid lumber over the wooden floors, spread sound proofing material over it, and then laid a double layer of three inch thick boards. We then put Japanese cypress on top of that, giving the floor four layers of wood. We put Japanese cypress on the ceilings and the walls for sound proofing. The bedroom windows were double paned as well. We covered the floor with thick white shag carpet. The bed was king size, with gold plated piping. We demolished a parking area big enough to hold three limousines and built a rock-lined hot tub. The water is always maintained at 102 degrees with a heater, and the hot water flowed down over the rocks like a cascade. Ikeda was extremely pleased with it, and often said, 'This is my home in America."'
When the Malibu Training Center was opened, local leaders and members gathered there and held a training meeting and garden party in the training center building and the Western style garden, but they were not allowed near the Ikeda house.
Even the leaders who accompanied him from Japan, except for the No. 1 General Affairs Dept. female employees who looked after Ikeda, all slept huddled together in the training center building.
However, things were different for one portion of Women's Division leaders and Young Women's Division leaders. "From Friday night until Sunday, Ikeda would occasionally assemble a small number of top Women's Division leaders and Young Women's Division leaders and hold special guidance meetings. Since they would enter the stone hot tub together, they were called 'Nude Guidance Meetings.' This was an open secret between leaders in America." (Mr. Gore)
While the Ikeda house on the grounds of the Malibu Training Center is the possession of the religious corporation SGI-USA, it is, in actuality, used as a facility and villa for Mr. Ikeda's individual private use.
"The privatization of a religious body concretely means that the head of the sect or the leaders personally use the religious group's assets, and that they receive excessive remuneration. Ultimately, it depends upon what sort of decision would be handed down by the American tax authorities, but if actual privatization can be proved, it is possible that their tax exempt privileges would be revoked." (the aforementioned Professor Ishimura)
Mr. Gore, who majored in political science at UCLA, also says that he was encouraged by Mr. Ikeda to "Create an American Komei Party." In 1972 and 1974, he accompanied Mr. Ikeda to both England and Panama as a bodyguard.
"During the '72 visit to England, Ikeda bought up paintings, bronze statues and the like. I suppose the total amount exceeded $10 million. The No. 1 General Affairs Chief Shigeru Ishida (presently a Vice President), who traveled with us, wrote memos saying that Ikeda indicated, 'This one, this one and this one,' and they would be purchased with cash using dollars, yen and pounds."
Mr. Gore entertained doubts about Mr. Ikeda, who used money as freely as water, and determined to leave the organization over a certain incident. "In 1974, it was discovered that Brazil Soka Gakkai General Director Robert Saito (currently Honorary General Director) was embezzling the organization's money. Vice President Satoru Izumi (currently Chief of the Supreme Guidance Council) came from Japan to handle the incident, and the three of us, he, NSA General Director George Williams (currently General Director Emeritus) and I, set off for Brazil. In the end, he was told that if he returned the money, no questions would be asked, and we collected $1 million. We put it into 2 suitcases and conveyed it to Los Angeles. At the same time, Williams said that he had purchased uncut gems as souvenirs and he asked me to carry them. He handed 3 boxes of gems over to me. But when we arrived at the L.A. airport, the customs agent called out my name and told me to show him the boxes of gems. When I did, rings and such with processed diamonds were rolling around inside the boxes. The customs form said they were uncut gems, so I was immediately arrested as a smuggler. In the meantime, Williams and Izumi passed through Customs carrying the suitcases. They used me as a scapegoat.
"Everything Depends on Money"
Along with the Ikeda house, SGI-USA's political contributions have also become problematic in terms of tax laws. A number of local mass media offices report that the SGI-USA sent large political contributions to the mayor of Los Angeles.
As stated in the Los Angeles Times (paraphrased), despite the fact that as a tax exempt religious organization they are prohibited from making political contributions, Nichiren Shoshu of America (NSA)...in 1985 and 1986 twice gave Mr. Bradley (Editor's note: The former L.A. mayor from 1973-93) a total of $16,700 for his election fund. This is made clear by any number of articles. (11/17/91 Los Angeles Times)
(Translator's note: This is a translation of the Japanese, and is not a verbatim quote directly from the Los Angeles Times.)
Former SGI-USA Vice Headquarters Chief Thomas McCord (50), who left the organization in 1992, says, "Political contributions have become a problem within NSA as well. In 1986, Mayor Tom Bradley attended the opening ceremony for the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium and sat shoulder to shoulder with Ikeda. I had doubts about it, thinking, 'Mayor Bradley has no faith. Why is he here?' Later a member discovered a copy of a personal check which NSA had hurriedly sent to the mayor. This became a problem. As may be expected, they had many political problems, such as trouble over buying the land for the site of the Los Angeles branch of Soka University. The aim of the political contributions was to receive accommodations over these problems."
Mr. Steve Gore has very interesting testimony about political contributions. "It was the end of 1971, Christmas night, I think. Williams and I visited the municipal mansion of Mayor Sam Yoty with a political contribution. The purpose was to request that Ikeda receive the title of Honorary Citizen and to request approval for a planned parade down Wilshire Boulevard, a principal city street, when NSA held its nation-wide general meeting in April the following year. I waited outside the room, but when Williams came out, he laughed, saying, 'Steve, it's OK. Everything depends on money.' The impression I received from that remains with me."
The authorities have not investigated this problem of political contributions, but reporter John Datz of the Los Angeles Times says, "Reporters who have covered the SGI-USA know that Soka Gakkai, its parent organization, is becoming a topic of conversation in Japan as a problematic religion, and in particular that it is being inundated with severe criticism over the issue of the union of Church and State. They are also well aware that in America, SGI-USA is deluged with criticism over being a cult. However, it could only be said that the average citizen's concern for and knowledge of the SGI is low. That's because there have not been enough reports concerning the SGI. Therein lay the makings for SGI to expand its influence."
It is being said that the Soka Gakkai problem will once again become a focus in the Diet this fall. It is being reported that Mr. Ikeda has spoken about the political situation, but the facts do not stop at Japan's boundaries.
Translator's note: The names of the American citizens who appear in the original Japanese article are written with Japanese phonetics. Apologies are extended to anyone whose name was inaccurately transliterated back into English.
9. alt religion buddhism nichiren
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2 months ago
This is regarding the FBI indictment of SGI star Walter L. Williams on charges including having sex with children. Brownworth notes that "both the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department have described Williams as a serial predator."
According to his CV, Williams advised global, multibillion-dollar Buddhist group Soka Gakkai International on human rights issues for a traveling exhibit. Williams was given the SGI-sponsored Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award in 2006.
Williams's decades-long membership in SGI was not mentioned. According to Brownworth: Williams and [Richard] Arlington were both members of a small group called the Buddhist Universal Association of Los Angeles, which, FBI spokeswoman Eimiller said espoused an ideology of "extreme sexual freedoms."
In addition to being a member of a fringe cult, Williams has been deeply involved in the largest Buddhist organization in the world, which he joined in 1986. In an essay explaining why he wrote the book The Teachings of Jesus, Williams mentions:
"...In 1987, when I won a Fulbright Scholar Award from the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars. The Council sent me to do research in Indonesia. Once I arrived there, the Soka Gakkai put me in touch with their organization's branch in Indonesia, and they provided me with many beneficial contacts." If, as the FBI alleges, Williams used his research as a pretext to meet and have sex with boys, the possibility that Soka Gakkai might have put him in contact with any of those boys is chilling.