Universal laws vs rules in Sukyo Mahikari
Sukyo Mahikari teachings are about universal principles rather than rules.
I first noticed the above quote on Thomas David's site about 6 months ago, and its been bothering me ever since. At first I thought these were his own words, and that he was just trying to make Sukyo Mahikari sound like it does not try to control people's lives by long lists of rules. My subjective impression from 10 years of experience of Mahikari was that Mahikari rules govern every aspect of life...surely it must be false advertising to imply there are no rules!
Later I noticed the exact same wording on the official Europe/Africa Sukyo Mahikari site, and now also on the new US site. Apparently, this statement is "official", not just one person's take on the teachings.
After a bit more thought, things did not seem so simple. What are "universal principles"? Surely these sound even more rule-like than simple "rules". In the US site, and also in Tebecis' book, there are many references to universal principles/laws, principles/laws of the universe, etc. After reading all these references to "universal principles", I started to wonder exactly what these principles are supposed to be. I kept on hoping I'd find a convenient list of them somewhere...even though I think I know the teachings of Mahikari pretty well, I couldn't think which of the many teachings were specifically the "universal principles".
The US site also refers to the universal laws God established at the time of the Creation so that all things in the universe can prosper eternally. Tebecis talks of these laws being like oxygen. Regardless of whether or not we believe we need oxygen, without it we will die. At this point, these universal laws/principles definitely sound more rule-like than ordinary rules!
Suddenly the "established at the time of creation" part and the oxygen analogy started to sound rather familiar, so I checked through my old translation of Goseigen and primary kenshu contents. Aha! These "universal principles" are what used to be called "okite [laws] of the arrangements of God" when I received kenshu. These are the laws kenshu says we must follow in order to prosper and be happy. According to Goseigen, not following these laws leads to deadlock/being beaten to a pulp, etc.
According to the old wording of primary kenshu, the grand arrangements of God for creating all things of the universe and allowing them to flourish and prosper is called "okite [laws] of the arrangements of God"...and... from the viewpoint of God's "laws" (okite), phenomena of unhappiness indicate that the person is walking with a sign on the chest saying "I have been doing the wrong things".
That sure sounds like "rules" to me.
The analogy with oxygen seems designed to convince us that these universal principles (laws of the arrangements of God) simply are. The analogy is supposed to prove that these principles apply whether we believe them or not but, like most of Okada's analogies, it simply muddles our thought processes. Our need for oxygen is an observable and provable fact. Okada's "universal principles" are supposed facts that he claimed God revealed to him. They are neither observable or provable.
So, what are these laws or principles? They include:
- law of spirit first, mind follows, body belongs
- principle of misogi harahi (cleansing/purification)
- principle of the cross (of fire and water)
- principle of balance
- law of being sunao (obedient to God)
- law of being grateful for everything, good and bad
- law of revolution (circulation)
- law of aganahi (compensation)
- law of eternal prosperity
- principle of sōsoku sōnyū (inter-connectedness)
- principle of dawning
- principle of hardening
At first glance, the above all appear to be just explanations (not necessarily correct explanations) of how the world works. As such, I suppose people who believe Okada's claim that these are the laws of God could logically refer to these as "universal principles rather than rules".
However, I see two main problems with that. The first is that the term "universal principles" tends to obscure the fact that these are not observable provable natural laws...they are just based on Okada's revelation claim. The second problem is that, even though these "principles" might not sound much like behavioral rules on the surface, they are the basis of an enormous number of rules that do affect every facet of the daily lives of Sukyo Mahikari members. But that's another topic for next time....
I first noticed the above quote on Thomas David's site about 6 months ago, and its been bothering me ever since. At first I thought these were his own words, and that he was just trying to make Sukyo Mahikari sound like it does not try to control people's lives by long lists of rules. My subjective impression from 10 years of experience of Mahikari was that Mahikari rules govern every aspect of life...surely it must be false advertising to imply there are no rules!
Later I noticed the exact same wording on the official Europe/Africa Sukyo Mahikari site, and now also on the new US site. Apparently, this statement is "official", not just one person's take on the teachings.
After a bit more thought, things did not seem so simple. What are "universal principles"? Surely these sound even more rule-like than simple "rules". In the US site, and also in Tebecis' book, there are many references to universal principles/laws, principles/laws of the universe, etc. After reading all these references to "universal principles", I started to wonder exactly what these principles are supposed to be. I kept on hoping I'd find a convenient list of them somewhere...even though I think I know the teachings of Mahikari pretty well, I couldn't think which of the many teachings were specifically the "universal principles".
The US site also refers to the universal laws God established at the time of the Creation so that all things in the universe can prosper eternally. Tebecis talks of these laws being like oxygen. Regardless of whether or not we believe we need oxygen, without it we will die. At this point, these universal laws/principles definitely sound more rule-like than ordinary rules!
Suddenly the "established at the time of creation" part and the oxygen analogy started to sound rather familiar, so I checked through my old translation of Goseigen and primary kenshu contents. Aha! These "universal principles" are what used to be called "okite [laws] of the arrangements of God" when I received kenshu. These are the laws kenshu says we must follow in order to prosper and be happy. According to Goseigen, not following these laws leads to deadlock/being beaten to a pulp, etc.
According to the old wording of primary kenshu, the grand arrangements of God for creating all things of the universe and allowing them to flourish and prosper is called "okite [laws] of the arrangements of God"...and... from the viewpoint of God's "laws" (okite), phenomena of unhappiness indicate that the person is walking with a sign on the chest saying "I have been doing the wrong things".
That sure sounds like "rules" to me.
The analogy with oxygen seems designed to convince us that these universal principles (laws of the arrangements of God) simply are. The analogy is supposed to prove that these principles apply whether we believe them or not but, like most of Okada's analogies, it simply muddles our thought processes. Our need for oxygen is an observable and provable fact. Okada's "universal principles" are supposed facts that he claimed God revealed to him. They are neither observable or provable.
So, what are these laws or principles? They include:
- law of spirit first, mind follows, body belongs
- principle of misogi harahi (cleansing/purification)
- principle of the cross (of fire and water)
- principle of balance
- law of being sunao (obedient to God)
- law of being grateful for everything, good and bad
- law of revolution (circulation)
- law of aganahi (compensation)
- law of eternal prosperity
- principle of sōsoku sōnyū (inter-connectedness)
- principle of dawning
- principle of hardening
At first glance, the above all appear to be just explanations (not necessarily correct explanations) of how the world works. As such, I suppose people who believe Okada's claim that these are the laws of God could logically refer to these as "universal principles rather than rules".
However, I see two main problems with that. The first is that the term "universal principles" tends to obscure the fact that these are not observable provable natural laws...they are just based on Okada's revelation claim. The second problem is that, even though these "principles" might not sound much like behavioral rules on the surface, they are the basis of an enormous number of rules that do affect every facet of the daily lives of Sukyo Mahikari members. But that's another topic for next time....
posted by Anne at 9:59 PM
6 Comments:
You're right Joe, SM has no way of proving how much karma a person has. What's more, they have no way of proving that karma even exists. Does it?
I liked your comment about the teachings concerning karma, apology, and innermost attitudes being a recipe for insanity. Throw in the part about "Is this what I think, or is my attaching spirit tricking me?", and I'm surprised that anyone gets out with their sanity intact.
Anne,
Now this is the road to insanity..
SM puts itself out there as a spiritual organization proposing non-judgement of others etc. Well from what I have observed it is turning into a farcical Circus…
In late 2005 a very special Ceremony was held in Japan to which only Spiritually
Elevated people were permitted to attend. The criteria given by Odair in 2004 was that kanbu (staff members) only were to JUDGE who was eligible to attend this “special” event based on the kumite’s efforts to elevate spiritually by doing 5 consecutive hours of giving light per month and making written reports of their so called “elevation”. SM had to cull the numbers attending as there were only a specified number of seats available so only those judged as “spiritually elevated” could attend.
Sadly yes, there were some who were told they weren’t good enough in their spiritual elevation and not permitted to attend. Since when has “a little competition is a good thing” in spiritual organizations been the benchmark? Who gave kanbu the right to judge another person – and also who judged the kanbu to see if they were spiritually elevated enough to attend that ceremony. I wonder how many poor Kumites were told they weren’t good enough?
When I murmured my objection to entering such a practice, (after all who would set themselves up for rejection), there was absolute silence around me, with everyone jostling in to do their divine practice and vying with each other to give light to others so they could notch up their 5 hours and get their gold stars. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call themselves a sporting organization with kumites competing against one another in the arena (dojo). I wonder what SM Japan will serve up next.
SM has lost the plot and unfortunately doesn’t know it.
Butterfly
Hi Anne,
I too witnessed the same thing at my dojo. How can we judge ones spirituality? On what basis? There is no such thing as the best person or the worst person. This whole exercise seemed futile to me. What did happen in this special ceremony, does anyone have a clue?
Hi Anonymous,
I don't know what happened, but I'll see if Butterfly knows and ask her to answer your question.
Hi Anonymous
The special Ceremony was in fact “Convention for Practitioners of the
Divine Principles”. Those people who were permitted to attend had to be practicing prior to their going to the Convention a couple of his 10 points from the new set of 10 rules that he put out in 2004. They displayed the 10 rules in all dojos. It is all very mind controlling and subtly done. My mind boggles about those who did finally get to
attend this Convention. Were their egos thinking how great they are for being more “spiritually elevated” than those who didn’t make the cut. We are all equal in the eyes of the Creator of All That Is.
When I was a member I never questioned anything as we were told to just be sunao/obedient to whatever SM Japan fobbed on us. However alarm bells rang out loud and clear to my inner being when Odair requested kumites to “compete” for a place at
the Convention. Not very spiritual according to my heart. Until kumites start “feeling” whether or not what is asked of them by SM as being right or wrong instead of just
automatically accepting their decrees, then their spiritual growth remains stagnant. We give our power away to SM and wonder why we feel joyless. Our journey in life should
be one of joy. If it is not, then choose differently. There is only Love.
Blessings
Butterfly
your all being controlled by attaching spirits the end of the materealistic centered civilization is upon us god is going to let you sink because you only belive in rational science obviously u didnt listen to anything for yourself your mindless sheep
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