HAPPY SCIENCE
The First Global Religion?
The most influential and the fastest growing spiritual organization in Japan today
with over 12 million members across the world, Happy Science is a spiritual
movement dedicated to bringing greater happiness to humankind
by uniting religions and cultures to live in harmony.
R R
eligion in Japan is
predominantly Shinto and
Buddhist. Traditionally,
Shintoism focuses on daily
rituals aimed at connecting the
practitioner to Japan’s ancient roots
and his/her ancestors, as well as the
divine essence that supports all
life—rocks, trees, animals and the earth
itself. Buddhism, of course, is based
upon the teachings of Gautama
Buddha. Practitioners follow his
teachings with the intention of spiritual
development leading to insight into the
true nature of self and reality.
As steeped in religion as Japan seems
to be on the surface, however, a large
percentage of followers of both Shinto
and Buddhism are not regular
practitioners. And a whopping 60
percent of the population, or 76 million
people, consider themselves
fundamentally irreligious, ascribing to
no faith at all.
Into this relatively agnostic modern
atmosphere arrives Ryuho Okawa,
global visionary, renowned spiritual
leader, Founder and CEO of Happy
Science.
The most influential and the fastest
growing spiritual organization in Japan
today with over 12 million members
across the world, Happy Science is a
spiritual movement dedicated to
bringing greater happiness to
humankind by uniting religions and
cultures to live in harmony. Strongly
based in the tenets of Buddhism as well
as Christianity, the fundamental
teachings of Happy Science can be
found in Okawa’s basic sutra (a set of
laws), The Dharma of the Right Mind.
Written in 1986 via automatic writing, it
was swiftly followed by a trilogy of
Jan. 2020 www.yogicherald.com
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