Great Construction
The Boddhisattva Avaloketishvara and I
As all want to know about my connection, my affinity with the Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World, I explain it here. I will never forget the occasion. I had begun my faith in Oomoto in 1919, but due to certain circumstances, there was a blank of about four or five years, after which I continued faith again from 1924. It was about half a year after I had renewed my faith in Oomoto that a certain man visited who wanted to ask me about Oomoto, a religion that was rather popular at the time. While we were talking, the man, a cartographer, steadily looked at my face and asked, “Does Oomoto have anything to do with Kannon?” to which I replied, “no, Oomoto is Shinto, and Kannon is Buddhist, so there is no connection.” He replied, “But, on the right side of where you are sitting, I see a lifesize figure of Kannon.” This person’s spiritual eye had opened. To give a brief explanation of “spiritual eye,” among certain types of individuals, there are those who have psychic abilities outside of the usual five senses. These people can see spirits in the spiritual world. It seemed this individual also had psychic ability and could see Kannon. He went on to say, “Whenever you stand up and go to the toilet, Kannon follows you. When you sit, Kannon sits at the same time.” When I pressed him further about this phenomenon, he said, “Kannon’s eyes are closed, and the face and body are just like in pictures and sculptures.” Later, the man told me that whenever he thought of going to my house, “Kannon would suddenly appear in front of my eyes,” which I found intriguing. Until the time of this episode, I had not thought about taking up faith in Kannon, but with this incident I realized that there was no doubt that I had some sort of relationship with Kannon.
After that experience one after another various intriguing incidents occurred. At one time, a certain Oomoto member said to me that above my head there appeared a whirlpool, and in its center was Kannon with a balanced cross on its back. I did not clearly understand the significance of this vision, but after that I underwent a great deal of persecution for my faith and fell to the depths of suffering, and then I understood. Just like the man had seen in his vision, I had had the fate of bearing a cross right in the center of a whirlpool. After that, for a period of about three months I was divinely possessed. During that period, I was possessed by several deities and buddhas, among which was the deity Izunome, the original manifestation of Kannon, who informed me of my mission. The mission was that Kannon would use my physical body for the great task of the salvation of humanity and that twenty-six hundred years ago when Shakyamuni was in the physical world, Izunome had ascended Mt. Potalaka in India as the Boddhisattva Who Can See Freely and taught the path to salvation. Various aspects of my affinities were clarified, and there are some very fascinating aspects, which I will discuss when it is the right time. Here, let me share some interesting facts about the Golden Dragon Deity, who is the guardian deity of the Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World.
One unforgettable moment was in April 1929 when I was continuing a very fervent faith in Oomoto. It involved the Grand Spring Festival, one of Oomoto’s annual events that was held at Kameoka in the Tamba Region of Kyoto. I believe it was on April 19. At the Kohata Shrine which is located in Anao, Sogabe County, the birthplace of the spiritual leader of Oomoto, Onisaburo Deguchi, there was a festival for a prince, the son of Emperoro Shomu. I decided I wanted to attend this festival, and since it was two miles from Kameoka, I hired a car, and as I was about to leave in the car with a fellow Oomoto member named Kamimori [“God Protect”] who had a surname like a protective talisman, a Mrs. Shiga, wife of House of Representative’s member Mr. Watari Shiga of the Seiyu Party, who had just come from far away Saitama Prefecture asked if she could come along. We agreed, let her get in, and the car sped off. As we started off, I thought there was something mysterious about the surname Shiga. Then I thought, “Yes, another name for Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province is the Sea of Shiga [different first ideogram but same pronunciation].” Shiga Prefecture, which had been Ōmi Province takes its name from “the sea of Shiga.” It was then that I thought that Lake Biwa had some relationship to the day’s festival.
Before we even knew if the festival had ended or not, Deguchi had gotten into the car and headed for Lake Biwa. I forgot the name, but in those days there was a well-known Japanese restaurant lakeside. Deguchi was going to this restaurant. It was because the owner of the restaurant was of course an Oomoto member. The following day, the twentieth, on his way back home, Deguchi had stopped by the same place, and later I heard that he had written a calligraphy there, four ideograms meaning “Angry Waves Rise [to] Heaven.” What is intriguing, though, is that on the following day, the twenty-first, there had been a heavy rainstorm above Lake Biwa. It had been sudden and forty-seventy boats sank. News of the storm had appeared in all of the newspapers. According to what was divinely revealed to me, the Golden Dragon Deity who is the guardian deity of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World had lain dormant in the depths of the lake for the past several thousand years, and when the right time came, rose to heaven, and when the Red Dragon (Satan in the Bible is known as the Great Red Dragon) observed from far away that that which it feared the most, the appearance of the Golden Dragon Deity, it went hurriedly to the lake to try to defeat the Golden Dragon Deity. There was a great conflict in the skies over the lake, in which the Red Dragon was defeated and fled to the north. The conflict had taken the form of a heavy rainstorm. One month later, when I was living in what is now Ota Ward, Tokyo, in an area which was then known as Omori Hakkei-en (“Eight-View Gardens of Omori”), at noon one day there was a great thunder and rainstorm above my home, and from that time the Golden Dragon Deity became my guardian deity.
Three years after that, in the spring of 1932, I have forgotten which month and day, unexpectedly a young Oomoto member, unknown to me, came to visit. He said, “Within Oomoto, a big problem is arising because of you. Oomoto places great importance on talismans, and that you, merely a member, are making some is outrageous. Such a heretic cannot be left alive, so for the Oomoto organization and as a traitor to God, I will punish you. If you don’t stop, I will take your life and sacrifice myself.” He took a dagger out of his pocket and stuck it in the tatami mat. The area from his face to his throat had became a reddened color not seen on ordinary people. Blood was running through his piercing eyes. I immediately sensed the problem. “Yes,” I thought, “the Red Dragon has possessed this youth and come to kill me.” The Red Dragon has started using human beings to settle the matter of the Golden Dragon. I decided that it would be outrageous if Satan won and refused his demand. Then, his face changed completely and the moment he started to move, he suddenly collapsed, groaning in agony. When I asked him what was wrong, he said he could not bear the pain in his stomach. I told him, “Ok, I’ll heal you, so lie down.” As I administered Johrei, he instantly became better. His attitude changed, and as he calmed down, he asked that I accompany him to Oomoto Headquarters in Kameoka, Kyoto to meet Master Deguchi to which I readily assented. The next morning we left and went to Kameoka. I had told the youth that I was creating talismans and amulets with Deguchi’s understanding, and the youth wanted to verify what I said. We were soon able to meet Master Deguchi who told us, “I myself am not permitted to make talismans. This is permitted by God only to the Third Spiritual Leader, Naohi (this lady was Master Deguchi’s eldest daughter whom Oomoto members called Sandai-sama), so believers may not make them. Mr. Okada is a special person, so please do it unobtrusively.” Of course, the youth had no choice but to be silent, and for the moment, the matter was settled.
Accounts of Miracles, Jikan Library, Volume 4, page 4, October 5, 1949
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translated by cynndd
“Kanzeon Bosatsu to Watashi” appeared originally as the first chapter of the Japan Kannon Church publication Kiseki Monogatari (Accounts of Miracles), Jikan Sōsho (Jikan Library), Volume 4, page 4, October 5, 1949, and was reprinted while Meishu-sama was still alive in the essays anthology for ministers Goshin Sho: Shūkyō Hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 405, March 25, 1954. As far as is known, “Kanzeon Bosatsu to Watashi” has not appeared in translation.