Great Construction
Freedom of Faith
There are often instances when due to a difference in religion, one is not saved as there are no opportunities for being blessed with salvation. That is because, in some religions, coming into contact with other religions is scorned and becomes something of a great misdeed or sin. This policy exhibits proof that the religion has no power. Put in other terms, such a stance is a sort of feudalism that constricts freedom of faith. A truly admirable religion feels secure as the idea that an individual’s faith can become confused in faith by coming into contact with other religions is not possible. Not only do I think it permissible for my followers to come into contact with other religions, I do hope they would study and research other religions. As a result of their study, if they find another religion they perceive to be more admirable, I find it acceptable on account of the freedom of religion for them to convert. That is because, the better the religion, the greater the possibility of salvation. Deeds in such a religion will be just and good and since the presiding deity is true, there should be no blame for converting to the religion.
Generally, though, in the religions throughout society, when believers convert to another religion or sect, they are threatened with divine punishment, disease, disaster, and in extreme cases, ruin of the entire family, but it is these very religions which do so that are wrong. The will of true divine beings is fair and gives freedom of choice to human beings, so if conversion to another religion is undertaken for true reasons, God is pleased and there never will be condemnation. For example, suppose we have a married woman. Because she has the self-confidence that she has no peer in wit, intelligence, and beauty, even if her husband should come in contact with another woman, she need not worry in the least. Even if there are many women in the world, she is at ease because she knows there is no one like her. The same applies to religious conversion. However, it would be fair to say there is no religion with such a peer in the world. If so, then the value of World Messianity is clear.
World Messianity has this confidence and conviction because many saints, including Christ and Shakyamuni, understand that at the end, World Messianity will appear and save all as such has even been prophesied. Believers of those religions would ordinarily understand this, but as they think that the appropriate time has not come yet, it is regrettable that they do not reach this awareness. There is, however, something more intractable to deal with. That something is the warning that before the appearance of what Christianity calls the true Messiah will appear a false Messiah. Because of this warning, even though the true Messiah appears, there is the danger that the Messiah will be uncritically determined by society to be an impostor. And this is troubling because such a reaction is only inevitable as indeed thus far in the world there have been several examples of false Messiahs. The account presented below illustrates this conundrum very well, so if someone comes across a situation as described in this report, I do believe that a sufficient explanation should be enough for understanding. Actually, to be saved by World Messianity is something for which to be grateful, but even if people want to convert right away, they may hesitate. However, there is no doubt that in the spiritual world the founders of the great religions would be considerably gratified by salvation through World Messianity, and it is essential to inform potential believers of this fact. There will probably come the time when believers of all the religions of the world convert to World Messianity. That is because the founders of all religions in the spiritual world want their followers to be saved and they will exercise great effort to get them to join World Messianity.Because They Are Christian
Fujie Tanaka, 42, Kōhō Grand Church
Hirakoba, Nagayo Village,
Nishisonogi County, Nagasaki Prefecture
I have needed much courage to be able to write this report. Many times I hesitated because I am not good at writing. But I am deeply aware of the many blessings from God that I have received and have wanted to report at least a few of them, so while I am suppressing the urge to write hastily, I am also very afraid of committing any rudeness, so I do apologize for any complicated or confusing parts.
What I am going to say, although not pertinent to my report, may have a loose connection to it. To explain my upbringing, I was born in an impoverished village into an ancient Catholic upper class household as the fifth daughter. Because my father had drowned at the time of the sinking of a ship on a voyage to the Goto Islands when I was seven years old, I was raised by my mother alone. My natural inclination was to eschew faith, and as I grew up, I became increasingly unhappy. I am sure I must have made my stubborn mother suffer much. Even now I am wrung with grief just remembering those days. There is no doubt that the deep wrinkles engraved on her face in her old age were put there by me. She appeared to firmly believe that she and the spirit of her husband could not be saved for having produced a heretic in a Catholic household. It is most certain that Jesus Christ did not say anything like that, but I believe that somewhere sometime someone started that belief. Mother could not get this idea out of her head, that it was most important, so she strongly urged me to join the Christian faith. Of course my stubborn mother believed that all religions other than Christianity were heretical and evil. Whenever my mother brought the subject up, I would look, like an eel, for a slippery way to evade a direct answer and tried very hard to avoid the subject. But the more my mood became grouchy, the more irritable I got, and as she would repeatedly say the same thing. I really thought of my parent as a mixed blessing.
Moreover, a mother’s love compels the connection with solemn tradition, and I was utterly distressed. When I thought, oh, she’s at it again, at times I could just barely manage to skillfully change the direction of the conversation and at other times I would try to avoid the topic. I really could not come up with any kind of excuse. In this way, even I who stubbornly persisted in atheism, was sickly for sixteen years with cardiac beriberi for which I received injections in my spinal column five times. I came down with an intractable internal gastric ulcer and vomited blood. There were two times when I even made a will but was saved by the Tathagata of Divine Light. I did not think much of myself but joined the path. There is nothing for me to think other than that God took pity and saved me. But when I began to see things clearly, I could not be still. Finally I came to have only the thought that I wanted my mother as well to have the opportunity to be saved both physically and spiritually and brought her the Eikō newspaper, the Chijōtengoku magazine, and other church publications. To my stubborn mother, I said I would speak from the perspective of a new and true religion. Even though my mother is a Christian, she unexpectedly seemed to readily understand what I had to say, but she countered with various objections that for the most part were clearly arguments for argument’s sake. She was anxious to defend her own religion. Not giving up, I steadily and tirelessly kept trying to explain Meishu-sama’s doctrine to my poor mother.
My mother, however, struggled as the more she understood the truthfulness of what I was saying, the more stubborn she became, barricading herself behind the shell of her faith and not even allowing what she was feeling inside to be expressed on her face. It seems that from the perspective of my mother as a member of the Christian faith, she took the opposite tack and would not listen to what I said, deciding within herself that she would not be saved by a daughter who believed in a heretical religion. But for myself, rather I began to feel sorry for my mother who was bound by the cords of the sin of betrayal and infidelity. I thought that I should not seek to press joining World Messianity on my elderly mother even though I knew it was the right thing to do. I only thought that I wanted her to let me have freedom of faith and hoped that she would feel ease with that. The time came when she did feel easy with my faith. One day, my mother asked me for Johrei. That thoroughly stubborn mother! Oh! Meishu-sama, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Until this day arrived I had been praying to God that the stubborn nature of my mother would yield. Those prayers had been answered. I was happier than when I had been saved from my own illness. Soon after that, the husband of my younger sister in Nagasaki City recommended that “If you [mother] go and pray for blessings, any illness can be cured,” as he had had his neuralgia cured by Johrei. Of course, he had had a blessing that matched perfectly with what I was trying to accomplish.
My mother appreciated World Messianity from her heart. But no matter how much she praised it, she did not have the courage to join. For one thing, thinking of her reputation among fellow Christian members, bound by strict religious commandments, unable to do anything, and yet still knowing that World Messianity was the right thing, a good religion, the right religion, and a religion by which she could be saved physically and spiritually, she was not able to muster the courage and rejected it. I saw that she was suffering from the continual subconscious fight between recognizing World Messianity and the sin of betrayal.
I again caused trouble. While I know that World Messianity is the only way that salvation can be had, I could not endure to bear the continual suffering of my elderly mother. With the more than human feeling, I finally told my mother: “Mother, I do not say, ‘Please join the church.’ It is sufficient that you understand that World Messianity is the true religion. It is sufficient that you are relieved of anxiety and keep watching over me as your daughter as I continue striving on this path.” Several months passed peacefully. After than, several times, mother who used to praise World Messianity from her heart, encouraged me by saying, “Please assist the divine program of saving souls.” I had to be away from my mother for a while, and just as I had started to become anxious about her, I got the message that she was not doing well and rushed to her side.
Sitting by her bedside, I saw that she had some amount of regret. In a weak voice, she said, “I don’t have to worry about you, do I,” and her final words to me were the joyful words that she had really left me in God’s hands. But because my mother was a Christian, did she have some bit of anguish in her breast? When I thought this, I felt a lump in my throat. But purposefully, I consoled her: “Oh, you need not worry. Mother and daughter. Even though our paths up the mountain may differ, we will huff and puff but when we get to the summit, we will be together, won’t we? Please rest easy. With peace of mind, please go to heaven.” As I spoke these sympathetic words, she gave a slight smile, and took her last breath as if going to sleep. I could not suppress the tears of joy on top of my tears of sorrow. Even though my mother’s religious domicile differs, I was clearly shown that she would be guided to and saved in heaven through the freedom and flexibility of God’s power. Meishu-sama, thank you very much.
Because she was a Christian, bound by the strict commandments of her religion, the feelings of my mother who had to deceive herself were not just the problems of one individual. These are problems that believers of all existing religions will definitely encounter in the world at the end of the Buddhist law, at the end of the world. These are situations that all persons must experience.
Meishu-sama, I pray that you bestow salvation upon the spirit of my mother who somehow believed, even if weakly.
Eikō, Issue 121, page A2, September 12, 1951
translated by cynndd
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“In the canon of Meishu-sama’s prose works, “Shinkō no Jiyū” is considered a “testimonial critique.” “Shinkō no Jiyū” first appeared on the second page of Eikō, Issue 121, September 12, 1951, along with the testimonial, “Kirisuto Kyōto Naru ga Yue ni.” While Meishu-sama was still alive, “Shinkō no Jiyū” was reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyō Hen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 331, March 25, 1954, without the testimonial that had accompanied its original appearance. After Meishu-sama’s Ascension, the testimonials attached to testimonial critiques have customarily been deleted, and for most ordinary readers of Meishu-sama’s works, that is probably sufficient. Here the testimonial is included to provide context for Meishu-sama’s guidance, particularly what Meishu-sama was referring to when he wrote, “the account presented below.” Neither Meishu-sama’s essay or the testimonial has, as far as is known, appeared in translation.