New Philosophy of Life
Written by Okada Jikan Mokichi, 1950

People say Myo-chi-riki or Kannon-riki from before, which have the same meaning. ‘Riki’ means power in English. It is strange that people never say the power of Amitabha, Sakyamuni or Bodhidharma. They say just the power of Kannon. There must be a reason. However, we have found no literature nor tradition to refer to this. I have been pondering about it for a long time. As I deepen my religious belief, I well understand the reason. Let me explain it.

Before that, I answer the question that I am often asked. That is whether Kannon is male or female. This answer is deeply related to the power of Kannon. To tell you the truth, Kannon has both male and female characteristics. As everyone knows from before, men are characterised as Yan and whereas women are as Yin. Men are also characterised as fire and women are as water. Fire burns vertically and Water flows horizontally. These vertical and horizontal characteristics are tied together. That time has finally come.

The light consists of the tight coupling of fire and water. The altitude of the light becomes higher as the amount of the spirit of fire increases. In this sense, the light gets stronger when the daylight era comes as the amount of the spirit of fire increases. It means that the work of Kannon changes into that of Komyo-Nyorai of Tathagata of Light.

The most important thing is that the true power exerts when vertical and horizontal characteristics are tied. The power is written as ‘力’ in Japanese. When a vertical and a horizontal line are tied, the horizontal line bents and the tip of the line upstrokes. It shows that a rotational force occurs and starts to move clockwise. It is surprising that letters have deep meanings. As I explained above, only Kannon has both male and female characteristics because the power is generated by both of them when they are tied together. Therefore, we call this power the power of Kannon.

Here I tell you one more important thing. Kannon becomes Komyo-Nyorai and then Miroku or Meshiya. It means Kannon works as Miroku or Meshiya when the time has come. As I mentioned, the light consists of fire and water. When the earth is added to them, Trinity power of fire, water and earth has exerted. This power is called Cintamani or Mani-no-tama, too. Fire represents five, water represents six and earth represents seven. Therefore, the numbers of five, six and seven are read as ‘Miroku.’ Sakyamuni foretold that the world of Miroku would start five billion and sixty-seven million years later. It means that the world in the correct order of five, six and seven, or fire, water and earth will emerge. If it doesn’t, then what does it mean?

Although Sakyamuni is a great prophet, I don’t think that he needed to foretell such a far future of five billion and sixty-seven million years. It doesn’t make sense. Prophecy would practically work up to thousands of years ahead. Christ prophesied the future of three thousand years. That would be practical.

As I said, Kannon works as Miroku, which means Ohsin-Miroku. This is exactly what Buddhism preaches. From now on, Kannon does the infinitive variety of works as Ohsin-Miroku. That should be noticed. Five, six and seven make eighteen. Three, six and nine also make eighteen. Eighteen is written as ‘十八’ in Japanese Kanji. ‘十’ represents the union of vertical and horizontal characteristics and ‘八’ represents expansion. The figure of Kannon is made of gilt bronze and its height must be one ‘su-n’ and eight ‘bu’ or about 5.5 centimetres. Kannon is enshrined in an eighteen ‘ken’ or an about thirty-three-metre squire temple hall. They would have deep meaning.

Translated by N.H.