The Japanese New Religious Practices of jōrei and okiyome in the Context of Asian Spiritual Healing Traditions

In generalizations about the healing practices of the new religions, Jōrei and Okiyome, the purification rituals of Sekai Kyūsei-kyō, Shinji Shumei-kai, and Mahikari, have been mislabeled as forms of faith healing. According to the cosmologies, leadership, and membership of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese religions
Main Author: Stein, Justin B. (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Center 2012
In: Japanese religions
Further subjects:B Okada Mokichi
B Purification
B Healing
B Mahikari
B Japanese new religions
Description
Summary:In generalizations about the healing practices of the new religions, Jōrei and Okiyome, the purification rituals of Sekai Kyūsei-kyō, Shinji Shumei-kai, and Mahikari, have been mislabeled as forms of faith healing. According to the cosmologies, leadership, and membership of these groups, these techniques do not require faith, but in fact are the source of faith due to their empirically verifiable results. This paper contextualizes these practices and their underlying cosmologies and etiologies, by placing them in a history of Japanese religious thought and practice and by contrasting them with yogic healing, qigong, and Reiki: other Asian spiritual practices that also claim to heal the sick through the manipulation of invisible, cosmic energies. It concludes that these religions’ conceptions of purity and pollution, inherited from Ōmoto-kyō, is significantly different from those of the dominant Japanese religious traditions, and that the emphasis on purity distinguishes these practices from the other spiritual healing practices, which emphasize balance.
ISSN:0448-8954
Contains:Enthalten in: Japanese religions