Great Construction

What Is True Salvation?

     A point that critics always make is that as the Japan Kannon Church is a religion, it is a mistake for it to devote itself to healing the sick. Upon serious consideration, however, there is nothing as incomprehensible as this criticism because it is made is based on the idea that what is called religion is salvation only on the mental or emotional level and that the level of substance, of the material, is not the field of religion. Such matters as healing the sick belong to the material level and not to religion. Critics believe that material salvation diverges from religion and that only the mental or emotional levels are the essence of religion. Of course, what is meant by salvation on the mental and emotional levels, spiritual salvation is, in a word, resignation. Because there is no power to save on a material level, unavoidably attempts are made to decrease suffering at least through resignation on a spiritual level. This is the concept of religion that most people have today.
     Resolution that ignores the material and pursues only the spiritual is practically speaking not salvation. That is because if evidence can be shown of resolution on a material level, true freedom from anxiety can also be had on a spiritual level. For example, if you become hungry, you can be without anxiety because you have the trust that sometime someone will bring you food, so it is only natural that you feel threatened by the terror of hunger when you know that no one is bringing you food. In other respects as well as with disease or tough living conditions, if it can be recognized that these can been resolved through faith, you can obtain true peace. In this way, through resolution on both levels, the material and the spiritual, salvation with the state of true peace of mind is possible.
     Thus, the basis of both material and spiritual salvation can be nothing less than the elimination of disease and the creation of a healthy person. For example even if you had a mountain of gold and silver treasure piled high, even if you had dishes loaded with delicacies from land and sea, even if you had high positions and honors, if you are suffering from disease, you are at zero. Thus, the first condition for saving humanity must be the achievement of health. The basis for the salvation of the Japan Kannon Church is nothing other than the conditions outlined above, that is, the salvation of human beings free of disease, of a society without disease.

Hikari, Issue 41, page 1, December 24, 1949
translated by cynndd

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“Shin no Sukui to wa Nan zo ya” originally appeared on the front page of Hikari, Issue 41, December 24, 1949, and was reprinted while Meishu-sama still alive in the essays anthology for ministers Goshin Sho: Shūkyō Hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 297, March 25, 1954. “Shin no Sukui to wa Nan zo ya” has previously appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.

“What Is True Salvation?” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 4.

“What Is True Salvation?” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume Five, 2008, page 46.