Great Construction

The Religion That Forms Fortunate Persons


     The very definition of a religion is that which arises to guide through God’s love, those who are unfortunate to conditions of being fortunate. Religion is nothing else. As all are aware, every one living in this world discovers that plans do not go as expected no matter how hard efforts are made to find good fortune. The number of those who can attain circumstances of happiness within a lifetime are probably a drop in the bucket. Rather than fortune, we see that most people experience one misfortune after another. We thus observe that it is the rare case where the putting into practice of what has been learned from academic theories in school, moral precepts received from the elites, or reading of legends and books has been of benefit. Indeed, the logic behind academic theories and morality is laudable, but everyone has probably had the experience that in reality, matters do not proceed in a logical manner.
     In short, making one’s way in life based on a policy of honesty will cause those around to consider such persons as good-natured or naive, and if that policy is changed, matters can go awry, and trust is then lost. If affairs worsen, the law can become involved, and knowing which way to turn will be impossible. Clever people will pretend to be honest while being dishonest in the shadows, as in the Japanese idiom for “the rascal who feigns ignorance.” This is because as a philosophy for getting along in the world, individuals nowadays vigorously become firm believers, and as champions of this philosophy become the most successful, everyone wants to imitate the champions. This phenomenon is the reason why social evil does not decrease. We live in such a world, so sayings like honest persons make fools of themselves are often heard. Therefore, the more honest the person, the more the person is taken to be stubborn and out of touch. Individuals who proclaim justice are considered a nuisance, and it is often seen that they are viewed as outcasts.
     Toward such a world, my efforts are not ordinary because I always brandish a sense of justice. The average citizen thinks I am crazy, and the standard line of others involved in religion is that I seem to be just a peculiar guy who is a spineless coward without ambition. Indeed I was described in newspapers and magazines for the amusement of readers in very insulting terms. There were even instances when I was taken to court and have been bullied. Even so, in my struggle against evil, I fight and write without restraint, so in addition to being harassed, much jealousy has been spurred by our rapid growth, like the big tree that catches much wind.
     But even as we face such pressure, the strength of the growth of our expansion has witnessed a re-evaluation of our work and our circumstances have relaxed, so we are gratified that the situation has become better. But as long as God is backing us, we do not wince in the face of any attack. That is because we have a great weapon that religions until now have not had. I will write about our weapon.
     When are observed the way religions have conducted themselves up to the present day, we see there are basically two basic forms. One type is the faith that advances, brandishing justice head on, one example of which is the Lotus Sutra faith of the Priest Nichiren. He was that way because he faced a great amount of persecution, and unfortunately the faith did not meet much success during the lifetime of its founder, but several centuries afterwards, we see the great degree that it has come to thrive today. If Nichiren’s followers had feared persecution and followed a safe path, expansion may have required much more time. Or, the faith might have even disappeared. This is the dilemma. But, thankfully, society has become democratic, freedom of faith has come to be permitted, so Japan is blessed with an age that differs greatly from prewar times, and fatal persecutions have been avoided. Thus, I continue advancing toward the goal of good, eliminating evil step by step, following the policy of embodying justice.
     Next, I will address the issue that is the happiness of the human being. The basis for giving birth to happiness is of course good, and carrying out good needless to say requires sufficient power to defeat evil. Because existing religions lack this degree of power, believers have not been able to obtain true happiness. Material benefit was forsaken, and religions responded to the demand from the populace for at least peace of mind on the mental and spiritual levels. One example are the teachings on satori in Buddhism, and those in Christianity which teach believers to imitate Christ and preach resignation through the spirit of redemption. The Christian teachings such as “If struck on the right cheek, offer your left cheek” are a defeatist spirit of non-resistance towards evil. Because religions could not defeat evil on the material level, what resulted was the concept of a denial of material benefits. It is not unreasonable that it came to be put about that a religion based on material benefits is one of a low level and that religions that stress spiritual salvation are those of a high level.
     This concept was only an expedient necessary until a certain age. In this regard, I give some examples. There are those who suffer from disease for a long period but are satisfied to have been saved on a spiritual level, and these are cases where true feelings have been repressed for the sake of resignation to a situation, a form of self deception. The truth and reality is that a sense of satisfaction can be had from one’s true feelings only after one has been completely healed. Since antiquity, no matter how enthusiastic the faith, it was not blessed materialistically, and many families never saw an end to unhappiness, and as a result all came under the delusion that religion’s essence is only spiritual salvation.
     World Messianity, however, saves on the material as well as the spiritual level. World Messianity’s salvation could even be said to surpass the material and spiritual levels. The prototypes of paradise and the art museum   being constructed by World Messianity for the past several years all proceed with the donations of believers. Moreover, exploitation is eschewed in World Messianity, and our policy is to accept only voluntary donations. Even so, managing and developing projects on such a large scale does require ample funding, and the accumulation of these amounts has been and continues to be truly a miracle. This miracle shows that believers have sufficient funds. Their donations have not been temporary, and because the amounts gradually increase, we have never had to worry about funding.
     The final issue that deserves mention is the age in which we live. Every religion since olden times has been a shojo faith, and for the times, such strained conditions were adequate, but religion these days cannot proceed in such a manner. Religion must be global, and if it is to save all of humanity, it must have something great to offer the world. In other words, the larger the scale, the greater will rise the number of those saved. As the reader can see, World Messianity has a grand plan which demands that World Messianity be reconsidered.

Eikō, Issue 212, page A1, June 10, 1953
translated by cynndd


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“Kōunsha o Tsukuru Shūkyō” first appeared on the front page of Eikō, Issue 212, June 10, 1953, and later, while Meishu-sama still alive, was reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyōhen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 79, March 25, 1954. “Kōunsha o Tsukuru Shūkyō” has appeared previously in translation. Citation is given below for reference.

A Religion That Helps to Develop Fulfilled Individuals,Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 11.