Great Construction

Above Religion


     The title of this essay is a topic I always stress. World Messianity is not a religion, it is a something above religion. As the meanings of the ideograms used to write the word “religion” in Japanese show, a religion is “the teachings” of the founder of “a sect,” so preaching and sermons without exception take precedence. The means for transmission of teachings are explaining through the mouth and writing by the pen, the best examples of which are the Buddhist sutras and the Christian Bible. Because these methods have been the way for salvation of human beings until now, religion was nothing other than teaching and admonishing, which were sufficient for the times. In our complicated society today, however, methods of the past have not continued to be suitable. World Messianity, as such, was born with the mission to lead the peoples of the world and save the age.
     The first part of accomplishing salvation is healing disease. There has not existed a religion that was able to manifest healing power to the extent that World Messianity does today. Neither are their parallels for the construction of art museums and the improvements we urge for agriculture. From such fields as literature, art, and politics to economics, philosophy, and science, we teach, admonish, but also actually implement on fundamental levels all that is necessary for the human race. Sermons are only one part of World Messianity, but I would like to draw attention to the fact that much of what we do teach is often quite beyond people’s ken. In simple terms, the unfolding of World Messianity is a cultural project on a high level.
     A troubling aspect of this project is that human beings at present do not possess a perception of culture that is very advanced, so they find it difficult to understand our work. Particularly confounding to members of the general public is when serious illnesses are healed merely with the waving of a hand in space over a body or when abundant harvests of high quality crops are produced without piling fertilizers on the soil. In the twinkling of an eye, we assembled a wonderful art collection and built an art museum. Also, I have dared to write a book titled, Salvation for Americans. The Messianic Hall in Atami, now under construction, is a palace of new religious architecture not yet seen in the world. When completed, the building will astonish architects around the world.
     The ongoing construction at two sites of superb beauty in the scenic areas of Hakone and Atami has received attention, and my next plan is to create in the beautiful Hirosawa Pond area of Kyoto, a paradise on earth at Sagano, on a site of a little over sixty thousand square meters. This is just a rough list of our activities, but there are other marvelous aspects of God’s plan that are being unfolded on a world-wide scale, so prepare to be surprised. This may all sound exaggerated, but it is the almighty God of the universe who is guiding and watching over our work, so my account should in no way be seen as braggadocio.

Eikô, Issue 194, February 4, 1953
 translation by cynndd