In Tenrikyo, God is a single divine being and creator of the entire universe. God in Tenrikyo is most commonly referred to as ''Oyagami'' (親神) (), ''Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto'' (天理王命) (), and ''Tsukihi'' (月日) (). The first two characters in the Japanese

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

for Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto are 天理, where 天 refers to heaven or divinity, and 理 refers to reason or knowledge, thus "Tenri" (天理) refers to divine or heavenly knowledge, and in a sense adds a divine nature to truth itself whereas "天理" also means "natural law" or its pseudonym, "divine law." The English name most frequently used to refer to Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto outside of ritual is "God the Parent"; in Japanese, the equivalent common names are ''Oyagami'' (親神) and ''Oyagami-sama'' (親神様). In Tenrikyo, God has no

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

. Tenrikyo followers vary in their understanding of this creator, from the early understanding of spirit (''

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

'', god/deity) through the underlying natural causality (''Tsukihi'', moon-sun) and eventually to an understanding of a parental relationship between the creator and themselves (''oya'', parent). This progression of understanding is a key teaching of Tenrikyo, where it is accepted that everything must proceed "step by step" — by small stages of understanding instead of by great leaps of faith.

Names

In historical documents and scriptures related to Tenrikyo, a number of different appellations are ascribed to God. The most commonly used names for God are: *God the Parent (親神 �� *Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto (天理王命) *Tsukihi (月日) ("Moon-Sun") *God of Origin (元の神) *God in Truth ( ��の神) In the '' Ofudesaki'', God identified as three different entities. In 1869, when the first verses were composed, God initially identified as ''

'' (神), a spirit in the Japanese

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

tradition. The designation ''kami'' was broader than the

Abrahamic The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...

notion of God, as it could be applied to any object that possessed divine power or inspired awe, such as animals, trees, places, and people. However, the '' Ofudesaki'' stressed the uniqueness of the ''kami'' (神) by adding various qualifiers such as ''moto no kami'' (元の神; God ''of origin''), ''shinjitsu no kami'' (真実の神; God ''in truth''), and ''kono yō o hajimeta kami'' (このよふをはじめた神; God ''who began this world''). From 1874, God began to identify as ''tsukihi'' (月日), or moon-sun, and from 1879, God began to identify as ''oya'' (をや), or parent, though ''kami'' and ''tsukihi'' continued to be used until the last part of the scripture. In Tenrikyo's creation story, outlined in the ''Ofudesaki'' and elaborated upon in various notes on her talks known collectively as ''kōki'', there are ten figures credited with the creation of human beings. Some Tenrikyo authorities suggest that two of these figures, ''Kunitokotachi-no-Mikoto'' and ''Omotari-no-Mikoto'', represent ''tsukihi'', or more precisely the duality ''tsuki-sama'' (月様) and ''hi-sama'' (日様). The other eight figures are tools subordinate to ''tsukihi'' that were drawn in, consulted, and trained in the creation of human beings. In the '' Mikagura-uta,'' the songs of Tenrikyo's

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

, God is commonly referred to as ''

''. At the end of most of the songs, God is invoked with the name ''Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto'' (てんりおうのみこと or 天理王命), or "absolute ruler of divine reason." The historical sources written during Nakayama Miki's lifetime and in the years following her death suggest a number of other appellations of God. In Nakayama Shinnosuke's ''Oyasama gyōden,'' the source on which '' The Life of Oyasama'' is primarily based, Miki refers to God as ''ten no shōgun'' (天の将軍,

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

) in the initial revelation. In early attempts to obtain religious sanctions from the Yoshida Administrative Office of Shinto and a Shingon Buddhist temple, the name of God was recorded as ''Tenrin-Ō-Myōjin'' (天輪王明神) and ''Tenrin-Ō-Kōsha'' (転輪王講社) respectively. An early doctrine of the Tenrikyo church, written to conform to the State Shinto doctrine at the time, records the name as ''Tenri-Ōkami''. Tenrikyo's current doctrine maintains that ''Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto'' is the divine name to be used in the context of prayer. The doctrine frequently refers to God as God the Parent (親神様 ''oyagami-sama''), emphasizing the parental nature of God revealed toward the end of the ''Ofudesaki''. The doctrine claims that the changes in God's names in the ''Ofudesaki'', from ''kami'' to ''tsukihi'' to ''oya'', were made in accordance with the spiritual growth of the early followers.

Attributes

A number of qualities have been ascribed to God as understood in Tenrikyo, by both Tenrikyo and

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

scholars.

Healer

Out of a fundamental desire to see people thrive, God, through Nakayama Miki, showed followers several ways by which they could receive God's healing power. At first, Miki administered the grant of safe childbirth, where she would lay her hands and breathe on the hands of pregnant women and would assure them of easy delivery if they relied on God. Later, Miki taught a healing prayer called the '' Sazuke'' and a

called the

Service Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

, intended as specific rituals followers could perform to heal people physically and spiritually. In addition, Miki gave sacred amulets to those who had visited her residence, which she said would protect her followers from disease and decay. However, Miki asserted that, for God's healing to be effective, the participants must have full faith in God and the desire to purify their hearts (Ofudesaki X:20–24, XII:91–94).

Immanence

In Tenrikyo, God is

immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheist ...

in the sense that God provides for all matter in the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...

, such as human bodies, living organisms and inanimate objects, and sustains all of the physical processes behind them. In the ''Ofudesaki'', the universe is referred to as the "body of God" (Ofudesaki III:40, 135). In Tenrikyo's doctrine, God's providence over the universe explained as the "ten aspects of God's complete providence" (十全の守護 ''jūzen no shugo''; see section on Providence).

Omnipotence

A frequently appearing term in the ''Ofudesaki'' is ''jūyō'' (自由) or ''jūyō jizai'' (自由自在), translated as "

omnipotence Omnipotence is the property of possessing maximal power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to the deity of their faith. In the monotheistic religious philosophy of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as ...

" or "free and unlimited workings." This omnipotence permeates the physical world and its laws, for example, the God of Tenrikyo is the cause of natural disasters such as rainstorms and earthquakes (Ofudesaki VI:91), and of events in one's personal life, such as dreams and diseases (Ofudesaki VIII:58). However the physical laws of the world can be superseded at times in order to produce miracles, which suggests that God's power is not purely mechanical or rigid.

Omniscience

The ''Ofudesaki'' implies God's

omniscience Omniscience is the property of possessing maximal knowledge. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, it is often attributed to a divine being or an all-knowing spirit, entity or person. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any ...

by asserting that there is nothing that God does not know (Ofudesaki VIII:11, XVI:42) and that God scrutinizes the hearts of all people (VIII:52–3, XVII:29). With this omniscience, God gives appropriate returns to each individual depending on how close his or her mind is in accordance with God's intention.

Personhood

In Tenrikyo, God is a personal god who acts as an idealized parent. Just as parents conceive and raise their children, God took part in the conception of human beings and continues to be involved in their upbringing. God moves, plans, acts, and expresses emotions such as love and regret in order to guide human beings toward greater spiritual maturity and joy.

Transcendence

The God of Tenrikyo transcends time and space and rejects systematic classification. Because of this quality, God has the ability to become finite and limited so that God's teachings could be understood by human beings, i.e. through the life and writings of Nakayama Miki.

Revelation

Tenrikyo's doctrine claims that God was revealed through Nakayama Miki on the lunar calendar date of 26 October 1838, in order to clarify the means of humankind's

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

. Because God was hidden before that time, God's teachings could not be fully understood by human beings. Verses in the ''Ofudesaki'' acknowledge the revealed nature of God (e.g. I:3, XI:67), and the '' Osashizu'' makes a number of references to the time when God became revealed.

Providence

The immanent of God in Tenrikyo is distinguished into ten aspects, each endowed with a sacred name, a function in the human body, and a function in the world. Known as or the , these ten aspects are represented by ten individual dancers in the portion of Tenrikyo's

known as the Kagura Service. The ordering below follows that of the list of divine aspects given in Chapter 4 of '' The Doctrine of Tenrikyo''. Although the names of the ten divine aspects are mostly derived from the names of Shinto

, the aspects are not considered to be separate kami or deities in Tenrikyo, but rather as different characteristics of God.

History

In 1880, in order to evade continuous persecution by the government, Tenrikyo placed itself under the administration of a Shugendo temple named Jifukuji. During this time ''Tenri-Ō-no-Mikoto'' was officially called ''Tenrin-Ō- Nyorai'' and the ''

'' of various other deities were changed. However, by 1890, Tenrikyo was given approval by the Meiji government, and the original names were restored.Henry van Straelen. "The Religion of Divine Wisdom: Japan's Most Powerful Religious Movement." ''Folklore Studies,'' Vol. 13, (1954), pp. 1-166

References

Citations

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