Monday, June 16, 2008

Address(6/15)_3

After the war, Japan was under the control of the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Allied Forces. Dr. Taniguchi taught that the reason for Japan’s defeat was because they started the war. “If Japan had not begun the war, there would have been no defeat. The Japanese people were conceited, arrogant, and against the will of God,” he said. This message also appears in the divine messages. However, Japanese society was heading in the direction where all the traditional values were denied. There prevailed a nihilistic way of thinking in the Japanese society.

Dr. Taniguchi was really disappointed with the situation and established the “Seicho-No-Ie Shakai Jigyodan,” or SNI Community Service Administration (CSA) to encourage the Japanese people and save them from the devastation of the lost war. Unfortunately the plan itself didn’t work due to the reason I will explain, but there was a wonderful by-product. There was a section in the SNI CSA titled, “Translation of Western literature and documents” to show the general public that SNI is teaching the universal truth. One of the young men who was impressed with the plan and was accepted to work at SNI Headquarters was Mr. Seicho Arachi. His enthusiasm, humbleness, and intelligence impressed Dr. Taniguchi. Eventually, Mr. Arachi got married to Dr. Taniguchi’s daughter and became Rev. Seicho Taniguchi in accordance with the will of God. In the Seicho-No-Ie 40-year history book, Mrs.Teruko Taniguchi recalled that the advent of Seicho Arachi was truly meaningful not only to the Taniguchi family but also to Seicho-No-Ie,.

Since Dr. Taniguchi wrote many articles to manifest his love of Japan, he was temporarily expelled from a public position by GHQ. This is why SNI CSA didn’t work well. However, he could keep on teaching without any title. After his expulsion ended, he could freely preach the central truths through publications and grand lectures. Through his lectures and writings, he provided spiritual awareness, improved people’s destinies and environments, and also taught that all correct religions emanate from one universal
God. He actively communicated with global religious leaders and even met the Pope when he went to Europe. He traveled outside of Japan three times during his lifetime to convey his messages.

However in those days in Japan, as a reaction to losing the war, public opinion was against traditional values including the emperor system, self-hatred historical view was taught in schools, and leftist ideology was spreading. It was Dr. Taniguchi who challenged those trends and encouraged the Japanese people by teaching, “You are a child of God. You don’t have to feel inferior. There are many priceless assets among Japanese traditions. Shintoism has nothing to do with militarism (Note: Shintoism was considered a cause of war),” and so on. This movement was named a movement to manifest the True Image of Japan and continued until Dr. Taniguchi passed away.

Dr. Taniguchi’s wholehearted and tireless efforts had a great impact on various fields of endeavor including politics, business, industry, and religion, and the Japanese people gained confidence in general.

In this way, Dr. Taniguchi focused on disseminating the central truths such as “Man is a child of God,” “Our mind and environment are reflections of our mind,” “All religions emanate from one universal God,” while contributing to solving urgent issues which appeared during his time. A movement to manifest the True Image of Japan was a long-term important issue during Dr. Taniguchi’s life.
(To be continued)

No comments: