What is Johrei?

• a Japanese word, the simplest translation of which is "purifying spirit"....
• a healing method using the subtle energy of Jourei — a composite of Fire and Water (Sun and Moon) energies, channeled through the Bodhisattva Kannon (a.k.a. Kanzeon Bosatsu, Kwan Yin, Kuan Yin, Qwan Yin, Quan Yin) — which can be directed anywhere in space and time....
• a lifelong Way of spiritual awakening, Self-realization (and of which the healing effects are secondary and automatic), which also includes the appreciation of natural beauty, the making of artworks ... and a spiritual approach to the growing of food, known as Nature Farming. The word "Johrei" is trademarked by Johrei Fellowship, a religious organization, which incorporates all these elements — energetic healing, appreciation of natural beauty and the making of artworks, and Nature Farming. (For information about my system of using Jourei energy, please see Jourei and Johrei — What's the Difference? and Great Things About Reiki & Jourei.)

Meishu-sama and the development of Johrei

Mokichi Okada was a Japanese businessman and artist in Tokyo. He was an atheist/materialist until, after experiencing a series of personal calamities, he joined the Omoto Kyo religion in 1920. Three years later came the Great Kanto Earthquake* — after which Okada became much more involved in Omoto Kyo and deeply interested in learning about the spiritual world. "I realized that human beings enjoy the protection of spiritual and divine beings," he later wrote, "and that if one does not know about the existence of spirits, one is empty as a human being."

* At this time Mikao Usui was teaching his "method for achieving personal perfection" in Tokyo, and became renowned for his healing abilities in the days and weeks after the earthquake.

Mysterious happenings with Bodhisattva Kannon

In the following years, Okada became inextricably associated with the Bodhisattva Kannon. Several people reported seeing the spirit of Kannon around Okada on various occasions, and a small, ghostly image of Kannon appeared mysteriously in a 1934 photo, in the air above Okada's head.

Chinkon kishin was a spiritual practice taught for a time in Omoto Kyo, and Okada used it to invoke the spirit of Kannon. "In my abdomen there is a sphere of light," he wrote. "This is the spirit of one of the highest of the divine beings." And, "Using me as its instrument, it orders me to help each and every living creature." Through the practice of chinkon kishin, he received knowledge and abilities that allowed him to bring about great healings; in many cases, of things that were thought to be incurable.**

** Chinkon kishin was actually the combination of two practices, borrowed from ancient Shinto by Onisaburo Deguchi, one of Omoto's founders. Though it brought beneficial results for Mokichi Okada, that was not the case for all members. In fact, the practice of kishin proved quite dangerous for some, who became possessed by undesirable entities — and the practice of chinkon kishin was eventually prohibited within Omoto Kyo. See this page for more details.

Okada became so busy with this healing work that, in 1928, he "retired from active participation" in his business, Okada Enterprises. By this time he was also realizing that his own spiritual growth was taking him beyond the boundaries of Omoto Kyo — though he did not resign from Omoto until 1934. Shortly before that, he refined his chinkon method of healing and began calling it Okada-Style Spiritual Finger-Pressure Therapy (which conjures up a very different image than the way in which Johrei is given today). The term "Johrei" was not used until much later, 1947.

Meishu-sama

Photo courtesy Rev. Michael Daniel Neary From the 1920s through World War II, the Japanese government acted relentlessly against new religions and spiritual organizations. Many spiritual leaders, including Mokichi Okada, were jailed and even tortured at various times. In 1934, Okada started a group in Tokyo called Oshindo. Then, on his birthday (December 23) that year, he held a "provisional inauguration" of the Great Japan Kannon Society (Dai Nihon Kannon Kai), at which he was designated "spiritual leader" (the Japanese word is Meishu, and his followers have called him Meishu-sama ever since).***

The official inauguration of the Kannon Society followed on January 1, 1935. This was shut down by the government the following year, and Okada started the Great Japan Health Society (Dai Nihon Kenka Kyakai). When that was also shut down, Okada continued to work and to accumulate followers but with no official organization. After World War II, the government persecution ended and Meishu-sama formed the Church of World Messianity (Sekai Kyusei Kyo, literally "World Salvation Sect"), which began with 100,000 members. It continues under that name today (also known, in North America, as Johrei Fellowship).

Shedding the Buddhist mask

On the Beginning of Spring, February 4, 1950, the Japan Kannon Church and Japan Miroku Church (both of which had been established in 1947) united to become the Church of World Messianity. Meishu-sama explained the change as follows: "Buddhism is of the moon, and because the moon is the light for night, and the Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara [Kannon] is a Buddhist being, Avalokiteshvara performed activity of the moon during night, so it could not wield absolute power, which was unavoidable as the time was not right. The world of daylight is now beginning, so the activity of the Buddhist beings will end, and the time has come for the activity of God. Thus, our activities have become World Messianity." [ read the full article ]

Or, put slightly differently: "...the salvation of Buddhism was for the age of night and ... as night is extinguished, the salvation of the Boddhisattva ... will be transferred and expanded. This transition, simply speaking, is what is referred to as the end of the Buddhist law. Therefore, the activities of the Boddhisattva ... will come to be those of the Messiah. In other words, the Boddhisattva ... which was merely one of many manifestations, will shed its Buddhist mask and perform the activities of its original, true divine self. [ read the full article ]

*** In the same way that "-san" is attached to Japanese names as a term of endearment, "-sama" is a term of reverence.
        Here is a different story of how and when Okada came to be called Meishu-sama.

The above information comes mostly from Volume 1 of a 2-volume biography of Mokichi Okada, The Light from the East (MOA Productions, 1986), and from "Reminiscences of Religion in Postwar Japan" (on the Nanzan University website).

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