D uring my SGI days I purchased every book that Daisaku Ikeda wrote and at that time I thought that Daisaku Ikeda was the most brilliant man living. Because we were not exposed to a lot of the High Priest lectures I thought that Daisaku Ikeda was more knowledgeable than the Nichiren Shoshu High Priest. However when you compare the lectures or Daisaku Ikeda to that of Nichiren Shoshu 67 th High Priest Nikken Shonin you will discover that Daisaku Ikeda is just a child under Nikken Shonin when you compare their Buddhist knowledge.
This morning as I am writing this lecture I picked up the book by Daisaku Ikeda called "The Living Buddha" it was my reading of this book and my reading of the "Black Buddha" that I lost faith in Daisaku Ikeda. Today as I picked up the book "The Living Buddha", I must admit that the book is bad and Daisaku Ikeda writes some bad stuff ( bad means good ). Knowing the background of Mr. Ikeda you can be assured that when collaborating on the book some of the best minds and scholarship went into this work. Let me not use the word scholarship but rather the best "marketing strategy" goes into Mr. Ikeda's books. Mr. Ikeda's books are designed for easy reading and mass-market sales. I am not criticizing the marketing approach because Mr. Ikeda's books are designed for easy reading and the easy reading does expose many to the Buddhist teachings.
In March of 1991 I left the SGI Buddhist organization for what I felt then was racial discrimination. Today a decade later I can confidently write that I have a clearer view of Buddhism than the times of my SGI days. Please excuse the side issues that I bring up because I do not get into SGI issues however some of the things that I have written in the past could be misconstrued the wrong way. The most important thing that I have gained since leaving the SGI is my mind, my dignity and my self-respect as a Black man. For those of you who have no background of the SGI we had to sing this song called Sensei (which means teacher) after each meeting. Mr. Daisaku Ikeda the head of the SGI Buddhist organization was the "Sensei". We would go to cultural festivals and this man would have pictures infused with the likes of Washington, Jefferson and Adams plastered over the walls. Mr. Ikeda would travel with film and media corps that could rival CNN news. On my Buddhist altar I had Ikeda Daily guidance, Guidance memo, Ikeda photograph, Ikeda Newspapers, Ikeda magazines and a huge Ikeda library. I had more books by Mr. Daisaku Ikeda than I had of True Buddhism's founder Nichiren Daishonin. All the information that I could find about Buddhism was via the SGI massive communications department. I mean I had an Ikeda movie, an Ikeda videotapes, audiotapes, records you name it, whatever media was available the SGI had the Ikeda marketing strategy down packed. If I say that I was bombarded with SGI mind manipulation tools that would be an understatement.
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