'Facts' & Assumptions...

AlienProgeny wrote:
My second issue is that it seems to believe that just because the Japanese studied Christianity, that it means that they all converted. I will be the first to admit that Western ideas were of high interest to the Japanese of that day, but there is a HUGH difference between studying something and living it.

Are we talking about the links i showed? I definitely didn't get that from James' two pages. It wouldn't make sense, James goes into much detail about the other indigenous religions throughout his site. .

AlienProgeny wrote:
For example, I do not believe there was a historical Jesus.

Ah, i'm kinda into this area of research also.

AlienProgeny wrote:
At best I feel he is a composite figure. I do not find any evidence to support him historically. I should mention that I do not consider the Bible or biblical text historical documents much for the same reasons that you have for not believing Doi.

I see a bit of a difference. The Bible, as we know it, is based on manuscripts, that do date, nearly 2000 years at times. The excerpts are in existence, some also are not recoqnised by the Church.

Doi, and his Hikkei is really more outta thin air, compared to pieces of texts many scholars & scientists have studied. I Know the Bible can be very inccaurate. I've a copy of the Lord's prayer in translated directly from aramaic, and it's quite different from the version commonly told, for instance.

AlienProgeny wrote:
There are also a good many biblical text that refute other text.

I appreciate this. And find this opinion a lot of 'conspiracy forums' i frequent. A mistake is being made with this though. Well, a few actually. The first mistake was Christianity saying the bible was God's word. This has opened them up to critizism. THe Bible obviously isn't God's word. It's the word of earthly people, whom have divine, political, sociological, expereinces.

The second mistake is that the bible is a collection of seperate books, spanning thousands of years. Even the books in the new testament where wrote by different folks. You & i could walk down the street, and see the same thing, yet describe it differently. This is where inconsistencies may come in. It's to be expected, .

AlienProgeny wrote:
I study Christianity and the Bible, that does not make me Christian. The same is most likely true for the Japanese of the Meiji. Curiosity more so than conversion would be a safer bet. Althoug I am sure some did convert as well. There was a Christian population many in secret before the Meiji. Once the ban was lifted, it just meant the secret ones could now be more public. As the article states, Western thing were trendy.

Here's something you might wanna ponder. It's available on the interent, check James' site, and James has spoke on here about it. CKR & Nao hi. See: http://www.aetw.org/reiki_symbolsP_naohi.htm .

As you can see Nao hi, is the most purest aspect of a person, and translates the same as CKR. And what is Reiki again? Many say it's our own divine spark. Sound familiar?

what's important about this is that Osniburo Naguchi, and Omoto Kyo, specifically mention Nao hi. IMO, in such a way that also describes deep expereinces with Reiki. And, Omoto Kyo was a new religion that took aspects of Buddhism and Christianity.

It's not beyond the realms of possiblity, that Usui sensei either got infleunced by CKR and/or Nao hi (as one thing or seperately), or in fact, was a member of Omoto Kyo. Usui sensei was well versed in theology, it wouldn't be surprising he'd be interested in truths within others religions. This easily explains both Buddhist origins to certain practices in Reiki, and why Hayashi sensei told Takata sensei of Usui sensei being Christian. And lastly, why Takata sensei was so comfortable tieing Reiki up with 'God'. And, why we all find it easy to align with any personal religious beliefs.

Maybe the founder was multi-religious. I doubt he travelled the world without seeing the universality of it all. I if can, i bet he sure as heck could! Hehe.

AlienProgeny wrote:
I took a "Original Reiki" class for shoden under the International house of Reiki lineage.

The tendai influence is there also. they ascribed to Chris Marsh's suzuki san.

AlienProgeny wrote:
Thirdly, just because one Japanese fellow sneaks off to America and returns to set up a University, does not mean that Usui did. The fact is we do not know.

I think, what James was doing was to give an alternate possibility , to one of the many 'assumptions' of inacuracies about Takata sensei. that you in fact may hold yourself, since you already alluded to inacuracies, .

Take care
Wayne

AlienProgeny wrote:... the article states over and over again that it was the Roman Catholic religion first introduced to Japan which is untrue. The first exposure to Christianity for the Japanese came on 23 September 1543 when a Chinese junk carrying two Portuguese merchants was forced by a storm to make landfall at Tanegashima.

Over and over again ?

In the article I state that Roman Catholicism came to Japan in 1549 - not Christianity per se

I am speaking about the official introduction of Roman Catholicism to Japan

I do not dispute that European Christians* had visited Japan prior to this date, however they did not go there with the intention of converting Japanese citizens to their faith.

AlienProgeny wrote:
Shortly later, in 1546 the Jesuit Order dispatched clergy to Japan. These clergy came from China and the Philippines to Japan.
....... The Catholic faith did come to Japan, just later.

Perhaps there is a little confusion here.

The Jesuits are Roman Catholic.

The first Jesuit Missionary presence actually arrived in Japan in 1549.

The Jesuits travelled from Malacca onboard a Chinese ship.

Francis Xavier, a Basque, was the leader of this mission.

Interestingly, Xavier came ashore at the port of Kagoshima, at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyūshū, on August 15....




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* There is of course also a possibility that prior to this, Japan may have had contact with Chinese Christians, belonging to the socalled 'Nestorian' Church (Nestorian Christianity had come to China somewhere around the early 7th century), however that's another story...
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