NKT? I rented a room from them once. Photos of the leader everywhere in the public areas.
Comment on The first cult is the deepest
lugal@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
I once went to a Buddhist meditation center and it felt weird in a way. I researched them: totally a cult. Now I am in a different Buddhist meditation group that’s totally not a cult
disgrunty@lemmy.world 3 days ago
lugal@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
That’s the second one, the one I’m in now.
Just kidding. Yes, the photo was a big red flag. Also their dharma just didn’t make sense and they were like “it may take a lifetime to understand this one thing”. Later I realized that most Buddhists teach kind of the opposite of that.
Now I’m in a direct democratic zen group that explicitly has no master. The founder has some natural authority because he learned it in Japan but no one cares about his strict rules. Which is the best of both worlds: you have rules for those who seek guidance but you can just ignore them with no consequences.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
Nice. I always found it easiest to follow the authority of people who don’t care about their authority, if that makes sense
ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 3 days ago
That’s interesting! Never heard of this sort of group
meyotch@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
Could easily be SGI too, they have some very culty elements to their practices. And they are all over with many convenient locations, like all the best cults.
ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 3 days ago
You all might enjoy this book on SGI written by a prof I know:
McLaughlin, Levi. Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern Japan. Germany, University of Hawaii Press, 2018.
www.google.ca/books/edition/…/AVgEEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&…
It’s an unbiased view on SGI. McLaughlin’s position as the religion as a mimetic nation is quite interesting too.
disgrunty@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Thank you for giving me a new rabbit hole to explore! I hadn’t heard of SGI.
meyotch@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
No problem! Say hi to the rabbits!
I was born into North America’s Own Original Real Estate Sex Cult. I coped by learning about all the other cool cults out there. Turns out they are all really about getting locals to pay for real estate owned by the inner circle.
ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 3 days ago
Since Lemmy should promote fun dialogue I am gonna reply one more time with something fun I learned. My prof from an undergraduate course on religion said we should have a more unbiased definition of cult. An unorthodox group that claims to have a novel, truer interpretation of an already existing tradition with a charismatic central leader. I find it interesting because many religions can fall under this category such as Christianity. Cult is also used to describe certain groups within a religion like the Buddhist cult of Guanyin. This use also has no negative correlation, instead pointing towards the groups focus on Guanyin. Wonder how one would add onto this term to specifically mean negative groups that try to control their members and draw others in? Simply having new teachings doesn’t do it for me. There are many Buddhist dharma doors that have very different teachings but what marks NKT as cult? Is it just what I added or something else as well? They certainly fit both definitions.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Well…yeah. The only difference between a religion and a cult is member count.
Kitathalla@lemy.lol 3 days ago
I think it also has a factor of how well it blends with current/dominant society. You’d probably be able to find a large amount of folks who agree that the amish are a cult, for example. They’ve been around for a while, and they have relatively large numbers, but their rejection of modern technology flies in the face of the average modern person. If pressed on ‘why?’ those people considering them a cult likely have that unique quality behind the ‘cult’ reasoning.
Just off the top of my head, the snake handlers and the jehovah’s witnesses are both considered cults in my social circle (as in, these topics have come up and are generally agreed on), despite both being large enough to be known in many areas and have been around for quite a while.
ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 3 days ago
I’m sorry but I think you missed my point. Religion is cult plus time is not a helpful framework.
lugal@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
I totally see where this is coming from but I still want a word for this toxic kind of group with a lot of centralized control of the members.
I heard of the BITE model (behavior control, information control, emotional control and I don’t remember what the T stands for). I need a word for this kind of organization and if you offer me a better one, I’ll take it.
SPRUNT@lemmy.world 3 days ago
T is likely for “time”. Abusers will always try to control how you spend your time.
meyotch@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
I’m sticking with “cult”. I just apply it liberally to include the old-money cults like the 31 flavors of Christianity. Cults BITE and you can find at least some of that kind of control in many widespread and socially acceptable groups.
Yes ‘cult’ is pejorative and that’s exactly the meaning I intend to convey when I use it.