The Practice of “Natural Healing” of Sekai Kyusei Kyo: A Case Study of MOA Natural Farming in Japan and Taiwan
Date Issued
2016
Date
2016
Author(s)
Lee, Wen-Hsin
Abstract
This study focuses on the “MOA international community” derived from the Oriental Light, one branch of the Japanese new religion Sekai Kyusei Kyo (World Salvation Teachings). From an organizational point of view, I analyze the alternative agriculture network of MOA natural farming both in Japan and Taiwan by way of multi-point Fieldwork Ethnography. In addition, I explore how to use the doctrine of the MOA community, namely, “elastic structure of thought”, to produce a natural healing hierarchy system, and how to mitigate the conflict in concept and practice in order to build a Japan-centric multi-national farming network and the mode of organizational reproduction. For the purpose of organizational expansion, MOA followed Okada Mokichi’s concept of natural healing, which is a dual symbolic structure that combines religion and science. On the one hand, MOA developed a scientific system of knowledge and teaching of natural farming. On the other hand, they also developed a set of dual symbols of hierarchy, which is able to freely converse the symbol of hierarchy between inner morality and external action. While MOA emphasizes the cross-border expansion and various pilgrimage activities to Japan to justify the supremacy of Okada’s idea and Japanese centricity, in the case of networks in MOA natural farming in Taiwan, we find that the Japanese religious communities and the “Okada Purifying Therapy” is still the core of MOA international community. Therefore, even though the farming network in Taiwan lacks Okada’s concept of natural healing and local community of farmer experts, they still maintain the MOA international community’s daily operation and integrity of the network of natural farming in Taiwan through self-cultivation of Okada’s three therapies in everyday life and the pilgrimage to Japan. The results of this study show that the daily self-cultivation of Okada’s three therapies and the pilgrimage to Japan in the MOA international natural farming network not only reveals that the MOA natural healing order is a symbolic structure of accidental opposition for the propose, but also demonstrates MOA’s Japanese Enlightenment, which is strengthened by repeated performances that take Japan as the center of civilization. In this way, we are able to better understand the alternative agriculture network developed by Japanese new religions and the features of the concepts of natural healing in this network, as well as explore in depth contemporary Japanese new religion.
Subjects
Japan
Taiwan
MOA natural farming
Sekai Kyusei Kyo
natural healing
alternative agriculture network
pilgrimage
Type
thesis
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