Great Construction

The Spirits of Those Living in the Physical World

     And here is an account much like that of the previous chapter. I was having a discussion about spirits with the student of a certain university and he could not believe my explanation. At that point he asked me to try to examine him spiritually, and I immediately started a spiritual examination. He fell into a trance and started to speak in a young, feminine voice. The possessing spirit was that of a woman of a brothel in the then Asakusa Park and this student had visited her from time to time where she had fallen in love with him. She had become a living spirit and possessed the student. The spirit gave her request, “This guy doesn’t come at all. I want to meet him more than anything else. Please tell him to come visit me.” So, even though this was a living spirit, I was asked to give a message to the young man with whom she had fallen in love, so it was a big job. When he awakened, he had a dubious face. I asked him how he was. He said he hadn’t realized he had fallen into a trance, but when I told him about the woman’s story, he was surprised and rather shamefacedly scratched his head. He timorously admitted the existence of spirit.
     In another instance, there was the time when I had the occasion to spiritually examine a young geisha. As I started the examination, the spirit of her sponsor appeared. After various questions, I discovered the following facts. The spirit was the head of a certain sugar wholesaler and said, “I had a date to meet this geisha, but something urgent came up and I could not meet her, so could you ask her to meet me tomorrow?” From the vocabulary usage and the attitude in the voice, there is no doubt that it was a man between the ages of forty and fifty years. When I told her what happened, she was surprised. Because she had fallen into a trance, she did not know what she had said. Because of what I relayed to her, an appointment was able to be made as the possessing spirit had requested.
         The daughter of a certain household of about twenty years or so came to me with the following account. “I am having problems because recently it seems I suffer from depression and the whole world looks dreary” to which I asked her several times in various ways: “For someone like you who looks to be in good health and probably as beautiful as one woman in ten, don’t you think you’re being unreasonable? There must be something that is the cause of this feeling,” and I finally understood that something. That something was that a certain youth in her neighborhood had fallen in love with the woman, and she said that “through letters and various other means he tries to get her to acknowledge him, but I dislike the man and have refused him many times. Since he continually loiters in my neighborhood, I am terrified and hardly ever go out.” I told her that “the living spirit of that man is possessing you.” She readily assented to the explanation, and from that point started to recover until she was completely recovered. The woman was very relieved to find out that her condition was not a physical disease.
     Contemporary people find it difficult to even acknowledge the existence of spirits of the dead, so it is even more so of the spirits of those still living in the physical world. But as these spirits are a fact without any room for doubt, I would hope readers pursue this explanation in that vein.
         I still have various examples of living spirits, but I believe the three examples described above are more than sufficient, so I omit any more examples. Almost all the cases of living spirits involve the relationships between men, women and romantic love. The reason for the melancholia in the woman described above is because the pessimistic thoughts of the man with an unrequited love were reflected as is through the spiritual cord to the young woman. Since the living spirit reflects on the other person as described above, unlike the case above, when both parties love each other, their spiritual cords mutually interact and deep feelings arise, and the fact that romantic love can fall into an inseparable relationship is because this pleasant feeling greatly helps. Another aspect of spiritual possession is that when the spirit of a dead person possesses, chills are incurred, and when a living spirit possesses, warmth is felt.
     If possession is attempted by a living spirit when feelings of love are not felt by other side as in the third example above, the problem is not that great, but there are instances of terrifying living spirits. In the case of a three-way relationship between a man, his legal spouse, and a mistress, the jealousy of two women competing for one man become living spirits and fights ensue. Usually the wife wins. The reason is because it should be that the side which is right should win, and in these cases, the tenacity of the wife either leads to sickness on the part of the mistress, or, the wife runs away to her own lover, effectively parting from her husband.
     The living spirits of human beings are not that terrifying, but what is to be feared is the Japanese phenomenon of living spirits of foxes kept in tubes. Since olden times, these have had several names, and they were used by women ascetics to settle scores when requested by people. Tube foxes are the size of small melons and have white hair like peach fuzz which is very fluffy. These fox spirits are very obedient to human commands and will venture to commit any variety of evil deed. Since olden times people who manipulate these fox spirits have been common in the Kansai region of Japan, and it is a practice to warn men not to marry women who manipulate these spirits due to the revenge engendered when the woman feels emotionally harmed even if only slightly.
     There are also the living spirits of foxes. Their physical bodies inhabit the plains and fields and only their living spirits are active.

Glimpses of the Spiritual World, page 54, August 25, 1949
translated by cynndd

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“Ikiryō” which first appeared as the fourteenth chapter of the volume Reikai Sōdan, Jikan Sōsho, Daisanpen (Glimpses of the Spiritual World, Jikan Library, Volume 3), page 54, August 25, 1949, was later reprinted while Meishu-sama still alive in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyō Hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 198, March 25, 1954. “Ikiryō” has previously appeared in translation. Citation is given for reference.

“Spiritual Possession by Living Beings,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 426.

“Living Spirits,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, page 98, no date.