Wednesday, March 25, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
East Asia
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Texts
Byakkō Shinkōkai — The Way of the White LightAn ethnographic introduction to Byakkō Shinkōkai (白光真宏会), the Japanese new religion founded in 1955 by Goi Masahisa — built around the prayer 'May Peace Prevail on Earth,' the theology of guardian spirits, and the conviction that the human being is, in essence, a divine spirit temporarily wearing a body.CheondogyoAn ethnographic introduction to Cheondogyo (천도교, the Religion of the Heavenly Way), the indigenous Korean religion founded in 1860 by Choe Je-u — a movement that synthesized the East's philosophical traditions against colonial threat, unleashed one of the nineteenth century's great peasant revolutions, and planted the seed of Korea's independence movement, all on the basis of a single thunderclap claim: that every human being is heaven.Gedatsu-kai — The Way of LiberationAn ethnographic introduction to Gedatsu-kai — a Japanese new religious movement founded in 1929 that synthesizes Shinto, Shingon Buddhism, and Shugendo asceticism around a single compelling concern: the liberation of suffering souls. The movement's defining ritual involves pouring sacred hydrangea tea over wooden spirit tablets to relieve the karmic burden of the dead — an act that is simple, intimate, and theologically serious.Happy ScienceAn ethnographic introduction to Happy Science (幸福の科学, Kōfuku-no-Kagaku), the Japanese new religion founded in 1986 by Ōkawa Ryūhō — a movement that synthesizes Buddhist cosmology, New Age spiritualism, and Japanese nationalism into an elaborate nine-dimensional universe centered on the claim that its founder was El Cantare, the supreme being of Earth, now deceased and of contested succession.Korean Muism — The Way of the MudangAn ethnographic introduction to Korean Muism (무속신앙), the indigenous shamanistic tradition of the Korean peninsula — a world of spirit descent, gut ceremony, and the calling of the mudang — which survived Joseon-era suppression, Japanese colonial regulation, and the modernization campaigns of the twentieth century, and now persists, contested and renewed, as one of the oldest continuous shamanic traditions in Asia.OmotoAn ethnographic introduction to Ōmoto (大本), the Japanese new religion founded in 1892 by Deguchi Nao — a movement of catastrophic prophecy, artistic mysticism, and universal religion, twice destroyed by the Japanese state and rebuilt, whose influence reaches from the ethics of Aikido to the roots of several major new religions.Omoto-Kyo — An Account of One of Japan's Popular FaithsA 1920 account of Ōmoto-kyō by a Japanese scholar writing for The Japan Chronicle — a contemporaneous Western-educated observer's portrait of the movement at the moment of its first national prominence, before either suppression. Contains translated passages from the Ofudesaki, the full ten-article Credo, and eyewitness description of the chinkon-kishin practice and the Ayabe compound.PL Kyōdan — The Way of Perfect LibertyAn ethnographic introduction to PL Kyōdan (パーフェクト リバティー教団, Church of Perfect Liberty), the Japanese new religious movement founded in 1946 by Tokuchika Miki — heir to the suppressed Hito-no-Michi movement — whose central claim, that Life is Art and every human being is a work of God's self-expression, constitutes one of the most distinctive theological moves in the history of modern Japanese religion.Risshō Kōseikai — The Way of Righteous CommunityAn ethnographic introduction to Risshō Kōseikai (立正佼成会), the Japanese Buddhist new religion founded in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma — a lay movement centered on the Lotus Sutra, the practice of dharma-seat group counseling (hōza), and one of the most ambitious interfaith programs in modern religious history.Seicho-no-IeAn ethnographic introduction to Seichō-no-Ie (生長の家, 'House of Growth'), the Japanese new religion founded in 1930 by Taniguchi Masaharu — a synthesis of Ōmoto revelation, American New Thought, and Buddhist philosophy that became, through a remarkable crossing, the only Japanese new religion to become majority non-Japanese, with more members in Brazil than in Japan.Sekai Kyusei-kyoAn ethnographic introduction to Sekai Kyūsei-kyō (世界救世教, 'Religion of World Salvation'), the Japanese new religion founded in 1935 by Okada Mokichi — tea master, poet, art collector, and conduit for divine light — whose practice of johrei healing, philosophy of natural farming, and theology of beauty have spread to over ninety countries and transformed one of Brazil's sacred landscapes.Sukyo MahikariAn ethnographic introduction to Sukyō Mahikari (崇教真光, 'Supreme Teaching of True Light'), the Japanese new religion founded in 1959 by Okada Yoshikazu — former military officer and Church of World Messianity minister — whose practice of tekazashi hand-raising healing, theology of the supreme Su-god, and Mu-centered cosmology has spread to over one hundred countries, and whose institutional history includes one of the cleanest and most instructive schisms in the Aquarian tradition.TenrikyoAn ethnographic introduction to Tenrikyō (天理教), the Japanese new religion founded in 1838 by Nakayama Miki — one of the oldest and largest of the Aquarian communities, built around the theology of the Joyous Life, the sacred geography of the Jiba, and the practice of selfless service.Won BuddhismAn ethnographic introduction to Won Buddhism (원불교), the Korean new religion founded in 1916 by Sotaesan — a movement that replaced the Buddha statue with a circle, insisted on the inseparability of spiritual and material life, ordained women from its first year, and emerged from colonial Korea carrying a vision of universal dharma for the age of science.World Divine Light — Sekai Mahikari Bunmei KyodanAn ethnographic introduction to Sekai Mahikari Bunmei Kyōdan (世界真光文明教団, World True Light Civilization Church) — the minority organization that emerged from the 1974 Mahikari succession dispute. Headquartered in Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on the slopes of Mount Amagi, it won the courts but lost the congregation, retaining approximately fifteen percent of the original membership while Sukyo Mahikari took the rest. Both organizations teach the same theology, use the same scripture, and build facing shrines toward the same God — a theological paradox that neither has publicly resolved.