Continued from above:

>Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were both assassinated because of their efforts to change the social structure so that the downtrodden could have equal rights. But nobody cares enough about Ikeda to try to assassinate HIM! Because he's made no effort to change the status quo in any way that will promote more equality within society. Ikeda frames societal inequities in terms of personal problems, much like Christianity does, and thus ensures that not only will he never face any significant persecution (as Gandhi and King did), but that these entrenched societal inequities will remain unchanged.

>At the individual level, the authors believe that the white evangelicals do not see that we have a racialized society; rather, they see racial problem only in individual cases and bad interpersonal relationships. By this the white evangelicals are minimizing the race problem, and thus they offer poor solutions that are profoundly individualistic and interpersonal and do not exceed their individualistic view. These solutions do not touch "the system," because they do not include any financial or cultural sacrifices. "They maintain what is for them the noncostly status quo."

>White Christians are fine with Christianity supporting the status quo, because they benefit from the status quo. And Christianity itself always supports the status quo, because Christianity likewise benefits from the status quo. Christianity will always be a highly racist system. Source

It's the same with Ikeda and the SGI. Ikeda's got power and privilege. He's wealthy beyond measure. He can do anything he wants! And what he wants is to be considered not just the equal to, but, rather, the successor and SUPERIOR to Gandhi and King! And to win a Nobel Peace Prize, of course - he's been banging on about that for decades - and failing.

This is not how a societal leader behaves; this is how a parasite ensures his own privilege will never be threatened.

Now if only he can get people to swallow it...people are stoopid enough, right?

Neither Gandhi nor King had significant wealth; Ikeda is one of the richest men in Japan. Ikeda, in fact, uses the SGI as his own personal piggy bank. Both Gandhi and King challenged their respective countries' governments over human rights violations - Ikeda hasn't done diddly squat. He's profiting handsomely from the status quo - don't expect him to rock the boat!

I was still in when the GKI Exhibit came out - and I was appalled. If there is ONE person who does NOT deserve to be in that company, it's Ikeda! It's like a game of "One of these things is not like the others"!

>I like Ikeda. I liked SGI, for the most part for a long time. But when the Gandhi-King-Ikeda exhibit appeared my break began. I hoped it would go away and it did not. The constant mentioning of his honorary doctorates was nauseating. Did they think all of us simply believed that any reputable or not reputable school just spontaneously chose him as this special individual? Furthermore, if he is comparable to Gandhi and King then we MUST hold him to their standard and then he fails miserably. Who are the oppressed, downtrodden, disenfranchised people in or out of Japan for whom he has laid his life on the line? What public positions has he taken on human rights violations in and out of Japan–in CHINA? No, he is treated like a rock star and manages SGI like a monarch. Does any SGI member actually believe that any leader or member has ever dared to disagree with him or criticize him to his face, publicly, or in print? SGI leaders are committed to extol his greatness even if it means alienating long-time members, newer ones, and guests. He is everything or your Nichiren practice is nothing.

>"(T)here are countless Buddhist teachers on the planet with equally impressive credentials — some more so, actually — but no one is spending money like a drunken sailor seeing to it they are all similarly “honored.” It makes Ikeda look vain and cheap, and if you all had genuine respect for the man as a spiritual teacher (and assuming he is not, in fact, vain and cheap) SGI would stop doing stuff like this." Source

>I couldn't believe the arrogance and grotesque preening of the "Gandhi/King/Ikeda" exhibit. It disgusted and embarrassed me - with the members already unwilling to invite friends to SGI activities (according to SGI's own polls), this really takes the cake. Source

No, saying it's so doesn't make it so, not in the REAL world!