Seicho-No-Ie

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The logo of Seicho-no-ie

Seicho-No-Ie, sometimes rendered "Seicho-No-Iye," (生長の家, Seichō no ie, (IPA: [seːtʃoː no ie]) roughly translated into English means "The Home of Infinite Life") is a syncretic, nondenominational, monotheistic, New Thought religion, one of the 新宗教 Shinshūkyō (or new religious movements) in Japan that have spread since the end of World War II. It emphasizes gratitude for nature, the family and the ancestors and, above all, religious faith in one universal God. It inherits its basic characteristics from Buddhism, Christianity and Shinto.

One of the most important activities of Seicho-No-Ie is the annual Spiritual Training Seminar. Devotees attending the Seminar (which can last several days), do not hear the "imperfect words of the outside world" but instead only hear about and practice the "life of a child of God in the purified atmosphere of the training hall". This is meant to help a devotee to realize and develop their divinity, which in turn will cause "disharmony to disappear" and consequently "liberation from all human suffering".^[1]

[edit] Further reading

Clarke, Peter B. (ed.), A Bibliography of Japanese New Religious Movements: With Annotations and an Introduction to Japanese New Religions at Home and Abroad - Plus an Appendix on Aum Shinrikyo. Surrey, UK: Japan Library/Curzon, 1999. ISBN 1-873410-80-8.
Clarke, Peter B. (ed.). Japanese New Religions: In Global Perspective. Surrey, UK: Curzon Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7007-1185-6.
Gottlieb, Nanette, and Mark McLelland (eds.). Japanese Cybercultures. London; New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-27918-6, ISBN 0-415-27919-4.