Shinreikyo
Shinreikyo (神霊教 Shinreikyō) is a Japanese new religion founded in 1947. It claims to have 100,000 members.
Founder
The group claims Kanichi Otsuka (大塚 寛一 Ōtsuka Kan'ichi) as its founder, but his wife Kunie Miyashitain also had a role in the development of the group. Kanichi Otsuka claimed to be a child prodigy and took the religious name "Kyososama" ("revered founder"). Shinreikyo believes "Kyososama is God made flesh." The group began in Nishinomiya, but by 1953 a site on a hill in the Akasaka district of Minato, Tokyo would become Shinreikyo headquarters.
Beliefs
Like many Japanese new religions the group is syncretistic. The primary connections are likely Buddhism and Taoism. The idea of "Kyososoma" as God made flesh has precedents in various pagan religions, as well as later in Christianity. The sect is dualistic in that it believes in a material and spiritual division, but apparently it values both. The group strongly believes in miracles. They also believe the deceased faithful go to heaven through Sublime Transmigration, leaving bodies without rigor mortis or putrefaction. Also that miracles can occur to animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. That in fact the world is full of miracles.
Unusual claims
Adherents believe that their founder knew everything almost at birth due to his connection with/being a Divine Power. They also state that for members "the skull enlarges and expands into a fine rounded shape" due to their faith, making them more intelligent. They state their women suffer from no morning sickness when pregnant and that their childbirth is naturally without pain.
See also
References
- Koepping, Klaus-Peter. 1997. "Ideologies and New Religious Movements: The case of Shinreikyo and its doctrines in comparative perspective." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 4/2-3 (June–Sept): 103–149.