A lot of Mahikari's teachings focus around the process of cleaning our spiritual, astral and physical bodies of all the disgusting sins and impurities that currently pollute everything about us. It's a rather confusing topic, so I've made this ridiculously oversimplified fish diagram to help clarify things.

Still confused? Don't worry, Mahikari has a lot to say about Misogi Harahi. A lot.

Here's a basic definition from the Primary Kenshu (initiation course):

Concerning Misogi Harahi, true Misogi Harahi is “removing the impurities of the spirit and opening the yang spirit”. In the Divine era “spirit” used to be called “Mi”, and to remove impurities of the spirit, that is, to scrape off the impurities, was called Misogi.

Some more from Kenshu:

In other words, if you have committed sins and impurities in your previous lives, they'll return to you and you'll receive suffering phenomena in greater measure. This is called Misogi. If you haven't compensated in the astral world for the sins and impurities you committed in your previous lives through your reincarnations and transmigrations, you must compensate (aganahi) for them in the physical world. This is called “aganahi”. As it says ... “sins and impurities of ancestors spirits”, unless the ancestors erase their sins and impurities, these sins and impurities will enter their descendants. The sins and impurities of your ancestors will come into you.

In the same way you yourselves have impurities. Therefore, if you have any disease or illness, any kind of continuous suffering or turmoil, disasters that go on and on, that is, if unhappy phenomena are happening to you or your family, it means that impurities are now being shown like this because in your previous lives you yourself or your ancestors made other people suffer, or harmed or killed them. And such sins and impurities have accumulated.

Maybe some teachings from their book of holy words, where Su God is speaking directly to Okada (the founder), will help?

The earth is contaminated fully with spiritual poison, producing a foul scent in the Divine Realm. The very time is approaching when I cannot but carry out the great MISOGI-HARAHI of this earth. Do humans recognize a means to stop this chaos with their intellect and power? Unfortunately they do not. They will end up being blown away.

What about these?

Nowadays there are too many in the human world who are controlled by evil spirits. Therefore, due to my intensifying the Divine Light, the compensation phenomena will become more serious and widespread. Many souls in the three worlds of the Divine, Astral, and Physical will begin to feel uneasy, thus, “the Age of anguished resistance (AGAKI)” shall come. Consequently, in the human world, chaotic and aberrant phenomena will ceaselessly increase. Thus, NINGEN will continue to create the cause of twofold and threefold sufferings and plunge into agony. This is, indeed, the self-inflicted suffering. It cannot be avoided since the great spiritual cleansing (MISOGI) has started. They do not realize until I cleanse them. They must be forced to go through compensation (AGANAHI) with the Power of Spirit and Fire, unless they realize this by themselves and start making voluntary compensation (AGANAHI). Otherwise, they cannot complete the cleansing to develop the Positive Spirit (HARAHI); and furthermore, they cannot bring about the positive world of pure spirits (AKANAHI) forever.

Or this?

You may well think that God takes cruel action; however, it is not so. It is a manifestation of God's Great Love for eternity that the Arrangements have been set by the Law to let them end up in such a result. To begin with, these Arrangements had begun to be planned and set in motion at about the end of the creation of Heaven and Earth, that is, around the time when God began to create HITO. Therefore, it is not an arrangement that has been and will be able to be made by NINGEN who is so vain and conceited as to say, “God has been made up by NINGEN.” On the contrary, he will eventually go rampant in accumulating sins toward the Celestial World (AMATSU-TSUM1) and the Terrestrial World (KUNITSU-TSUMI) and leaving the negative karma to his descendants. Besides, he, himself, will have to go through suffering for hundreds of years in the astral world; and his bereaved family and descendants will have to suffer from worry, distress, and calamity in this world until their compensation can be completed. Thus, both of them have to go through the cleansing (MISOGI) together. It is due to God's “necessary evil” that is the goodness in MAHAYANA (in the Light of God).

Any clearer?

Anyway, here's how you compensate, according to Primary Kenshu:

Even if you say you haven't done a single bad thing ever since you were born into this world, still, if the impurities from your ancestors have not been completely erased, these impurities are transmitted to you. Therefore you need to have Misogi, that is, to scrape off the impurities of the spirit. And if you don't have aganahi, you can't become a bright spirit. Well, the point is that one's life will be completely different depending on whether one goes through aganahi willingly and actively or receives it passively.

With passive compensation the impurities committed must nevertheless be scraped off. Therefore, if a person killed someone or something like that previously, he would have to have a major accident, for example, and have his leg amputated and suffer for the rest of his life with a disabled body. Or he may have to have a horrible face injury, and by living the rest of his life with an ugly face, going through a lot of insults and shameful experiences, he continues to apologise and pay for the sins he committed. Or, he might have to suffer from, say, cancer or be paralysed from stroke and so on.

Then there follows a bunch of stories about how kumite who were destined to have serious accidents to erase their sins and impurities ended up just having minor accidents instead, because they offered divine service.

In this way, major disasters change into minor ones, and minor disasters change into no disasters at all. In other words, if a person devotes himself wholeheartedly to serving God, that is, continues compensating actively, he will erase his impurities. Even though he is receiving the same compensation, the suffering will be rather small. Well, after this kenshū I hope you'll become involved in active and willing service for God.

So there you have it, folks, the divine arrangement for changing major disasters into minor ones, and minor disasters into no disasters at all.

#mahikari #cleaning #misogiharahi #compensation #ancestors #karma

Spirits and ancestors are a big deal in Mahikari. Spirits attach to your body, and cause diseases or other ailments. But that’s another blog post.

What I want to talk about today is the obsession with a special sort of spirits — your ancestors. In Shinto tradition, ancestors are revered. A great deal of Mahikari is based on Shinto.

In Mahikari, if you’re really devout, you have an ancestor’s altar, and then a second one for your maiden line, so both parts of your family are covered and you have twice as much to do.

The altar sits on a high shelf in your living room, usually. There are all kinds of rules about where in the house it's allowed to be located. Can't have any beds with their feet pointing towards it, for instance.

The alter contains name tablets. There’s a main one for all ancestors who died more than 30 years ago. Those who have died more recently get their own name tablet, inscribed with a new name, to help them give up attachment to their past life. There should always be a tiny vase with some scented flowers in it, too. There is also a Japanese-style bell.

Ancestors require constant attention. Their altar has to be opened every morning, the light turned on, with a good morning greeting. If you go out, you need to tell them. And tell them when you’re back home too. Introduce them to any visitors to the house. Inform them of any major events. Close it at night, turning off its light, and wishing your ancestors a pleasant evening. So civilised.

And they need dinner every day. They have a tiny set of dishes, glasses and cutlery, all bought new (second-hand is not acceptable, not pure enough). These are all put on a small tray. Mahikari members are forever seeking out cute tiny crockery and cutlery. Liqueur glasses are popular as wine glasses. Miniature cutlery sets are the best. All sorts of tiny things, like this ...

For dinner, they should be served a small part of your meal, and the best part of it, too. Don't forget the wine. And don't cook anything with a microwave oven, because that destroys the spiritual aspect of the food, which, after all, is what your ancestors are 'eating'. And they should be served before you eat. The bell is struck to get the ancestors’ attention, to call them for dinner.

When cleaning up after dinner, don't use your usual dishwashing things, either. Special washing up cloths for the special ancestors' crockery and cutlery 🙄

Their altar also needs to be cleaned regularly. With special purified altar cleaning cloths (Mahikari has a lot of purity rituals!). And they need to have Mahikari prayers and teachings read to them regularly. Don't ever sit with your feet pointing towards the altar, either. So rude.

Ancestors send warnings too. If you get headaches, or head injuries, or eye problems, or anything like that, it’s your ancestors telling you to ‘look up’ and pay heed to them. Aren’t you glad you know that now? Feeling guilty yet?

Looking after an ancestors altar or two is a shitload of work, and keeps you very involved in daily ‘cult tasks’, all the time. I still get nightmares about the fucking thing. But maybe that’s my just my poor imaginary ancestor spirits having a bit of a grizzle about my neglect?

Aaaw, diddums.

Quite a responsibility, really. I'd rather have a dog.

#Mahikari #cult #ancestors #rituals #warnings #karma