Sukyo Mahikari
Sukyo Mahikari is a religious lay community, which, according to Gantke / Schreijäck, "falls between the type of organization that does not require its members to be binding and the type of exclusive religious community."
Founded in 1959 by Kōtama Okada , the organization has centers in more than 70 countries around the world and claims to have over a million members. The community is involved in various areas, for example science, medicine , education, art and the humanities . Some scholars classify Sukyo Mahikari as a neo-religious movement. In Germany , Sukyo Mahikari is a registered non-profit organization.
Beliefs and practices
The purpose of the organization, it says, is to specifically promote the ability to achieve global peace through the practice of light energy and the understanding of the universal principles in all aspects of life. Sukyo Mahikari teaches the transmission of light energy in the form of the so-called "Art of True Light" (Mahikari), which is supposed to shine from the open palm. The organization claims that this energy purifies and revitalizes the soul, psyche and body. Members believe the light represents the wisdom, love, and will of God.
Sukyo Mahikari also teaches the "Concept of Universal Principles". When applied to everyday life together with light practice, these should help the user to personal growth. This should help him achieve health, more harmony and prosperity in his life.
Some scholars take the view that Sukyo Mahikari shows parallels in cosmology, values and rituals to the Sekai Kyusei Kyo (Church of World Messianity), which in turn is strongly influenced by Shintoism, Buddhism and Japanese popular beliefs.
If you are a member of Sukyo Mahikari, the organization recommends keeping the previous denomination. It claims to re-establish the spiritual connection with the Creator God.
status
In addition to the head office in Takayama, Japan, Sukyo Mahikari has established regional head offices in Australia-Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and North America and smaller centers in over 70 countries. In the USA and Canada, for example, Sukyo Mahikari has 21 spiritual development centers and one in Germany.
activities
For the past 20 years, Sukyo Mahikari members have planted trees in Senegal and Ivory Coast and helped restore several national parks and restore natural habitats. For this they received appropriate recognition and appreciation from the local and national government. In Angola, Sukyo Mahikari arranges activities for children and seniors to beautify urban areas. In New York and Hawaii, Sukyo Mahikari received community recognition for environmental conservation activities. In August 2004, Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn praised Sukyo Mahikari North America for his efforts to create a peaceful and harmonious society. In September 2009, Mayor Mufi Hannemann of Honolulu presented the organization with a certificate and declared September 27th to be Sukyo Mahikari Day in Honolulu. He thus set a sign of appreciation for the clean-up activities on the beaches and in the parks that the organization has carried out there for ten years.
In France, Sukyo Mahikari was classified as a sect in parliamentary reports in 1995 and 99. In 1997 the Belgian parliamentary committee drew up a list of 189 religious movements, of which Sukyo Mahikari was one. On May 27, 2005, the classification as a sect was officially revoked by Jean-Pierre Raffarin and declared invalid after the French report of 1995 was sharply criticized by sociologists.
literature
- Peter B. Clarke: A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements : With Annotations, Surrey, Japan Library, 1999, ISBN 1-873410-80-8 .
- Peter B. Clarke: Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective . Surrey, Curzon Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7007-1185-6 .
- Irving Hexham, Poewe Karla: New Religion ... it . Boulderstview Press, 1997.
- Laennec Hurbon: Mahikari in the Caribbean . Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 18 / 2-3: 1991, pp. 243-264.
- Peter Knecht: Aspects of Shamanism : An Introduction, 2003.
- Brian J. Mc Veigh: The M ... sm of Australia ... hikas . ... 17/2 (1992), pp. 98-125.
- Shigeyosu Murakami, Paul L. Swanson: Religion and Society in Modern Japan : .., Asian Humanities Press, 1991, pp. 239-256.
- Andris K. Tebecis: Is the Future in Our Hands? My experiences with Sukyo Mahikari. iUniverse, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4401-2425-9 .
- Wolfgang Gantke / Thomas Schreijäck (eds.): Religions in cultural change between self-acceptance and self-surrender. Forum for religious education intercultural. Berlin 2011. ISBN 978-3-643-11445-7