healing; Japanese new religions; Mahikari; Okada Mokichi; purification
摘要
In generalizations about the healing practices of the new religions, Jōrei and Okiyome, the purification rituals of Sekai Kyūsei-kyō, Shinji Shumei-kai, and Mahikari, have been mislabeled as forms of faith healing. According to the cosmologies, leadership, and membership of these groups, these techniques do not require faith, but in fact are the source of faith due to their empirically verifiable results. This paper contextualizes these practices and their underlying cosmologies and etiologies, by placing them in a history of Japanese religious thought and practice and by contrasting them with yogic healing, qigong, and Reiki: other Asian spiritual practices that also claim to heal the sick through the manipulation of invisible, cosmic energies. It concludes that these religions’ conceptions of purity and pollution, inherited from Ōmoto-kyō, is significantly different from those of the dominant Japanese religious traditions, and that the emphasis on purity distinguishes these practices from the other spiritual healing practices, which emphasize balance.
目次
The Healing Practices of jōrei and okiyome 118 The Cosmologies and Etiologies of jōrei and okiyome 120 Historical Contexts 123 Indian, Chinese, and Non-sectarian Japanese Spiritual Healing Practices 128 Analysis and Unanswered Questions 133 References 138
