So my friend and I are walking from here to there downtown, and we happen across this unusual building. I would describe it as being in a sort of neo-classical Western style. There are some pictures here.
http://www.kofuku-no-kagaku.or.jp/sh...kyo/tokyo.html
The building is called the 正心館 (しょうしんかん・shoushinkan), which transliterates to "true heart hall". I knew in the broad strokes what it was immediately, and of course I had to go inside.
I got the usual warm greeting. The people there were all quite cordial and even laughed, apparently genuinely, at my friend's intentionally irreverant jokes. It turns out that the organization is called 幸福の科学 (こうふくのかがく・koufuku no kagaku), which transliterates as "happiness science" but which they call in English, "The Institute for Research in Human Happiness."
Here's the English Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofuku_no_Kagaku
My favorite prediction for the future: "Within the next 100 years... there will be war in the Middle East". Say it ain't so.
It's a garden variety Eastern syncretic cult. Perhaps their only claim to originality is their deliberate focus on the synthesis of Eastern and Western traditions. If you look at the picture on the lower right in that link, you will see a couple of angels, above which hang a circular object. You can't see in the photo, but they are flanked on the lower left by a bunch of bodhasittvas (sp?!), and on the right by a bunch of angels. It's rather a nice piece of art, and there are others there. The stained glass windows were part of what attracted me in the first place. There are dolphins, feathers, and wonderful pastel colors here and there. Some of it is really nice.
I went in and asked for some literature. They took me to an area which looked like a book store, and handed me several pamphlets for free (They are filled with personality tests... What color is your soul? Which inner goddess resides within you?). Then we proceeded to a kind of sitting/studying room, and that's where my interest died, instantly and eternally.
There was what looked liked a shrine to some deceased founder (we found out quickly that he is still alive). Below his picture are seven names... I can't remember them all, but the idea is that this guy is the current reincarnation in a series defined by those seven. The list included the obligatory Gautama, although curiously, not Jesus, and a few other familiar names. Apparently Hermes was a person (not a god) in their doctrine. Thoth is on the list, but they explained to us that he is from Atlantis (we thought he hailed from Egypt).
The man himself is some guy named Ryuuhou Ookawa. He prefers the honorary "El Cantare". Now don't get me wrong. Drake is not my birth name, but it's how I introduce myself... I think everyone should have a creative name, and more than one name. The difference is, mine does not mean (according to my enthusiastic followers) "The beautiful land of light, the Earth".
There's a picture here.
http://www.kofuku-no-kagaku.or.jp/whatsirh/sosai.html
<sarcasm>He looks like a real charmer.</sarcasm> Almost the first thing they tell you on that page is that he is a law graduate of Tokyo University and studied finance in New York after first working in a trading company here in Tokyo. Tokyo University is the Japanese equivalent of Harvard or Yale, and it's the heart and soul of the old boys' network over here.
Stop, go back, and read that again. Tokyo University, law, trading, finance. A rare glimpse into the inner workings of Drake's mind: Given this information only, the man can never be trusted. End of analysis.
Maybe you're not as judgmental as me, but it gets better. Have a look at the photo of the building in that first link. See the gold lettering in the top center? What you are looking at is a large circle, actually a letter "O", with a partially encompassed "R" hanging down from its center. R.O. Ryuuhou Ookawa.
And in the photo of the guy. See a medallion hanging from his neck? In the center: "R.O." In the photo in the shrine to the leader I mentioned before, he has got the initials not only on his medallion, but on both lapels.
If I ever start a cult, please join it. If I ever wear my own initials in three places on my own clothing, and put it on buildings, please give me a cyanide kool-aid and take over the cult yourself (Tell them I have "moved on to the next level").
I do not understand you humans. Why is it that every time you start to get all excited and religious, what it really turns out to mean is slavish devotion to some charismatic megalomaniac? Why can't you see that Ookawa is no different from Abraham, Guatama, Jesus, Crowley... take your pick?
Drake
