神と人間 安心立命への道しるべ
ー 五井 昌久著
第６章 正しい宗教と誤れる宗教①
宗教とはいったい何か、ということが最初に問題になる。
宗教とは、神仏（絶対者）と人間との関係を説き教え、明らかにする道であると、私は解釈する。
この原理に沿って、正しい宗教と、誤れる宗教とを区分し考えてみることにする。
神とは、人間理念の根本であり、智慧（創造力）、愛、生命の根源である。従って、完全にして、円満、調和せる象徴である。
この完全円満なる力を内にもちながら、業因縁の渦巻の中で、その渦巻、そのものが自己であると誤認し、悩み、苦しみ、もだえながら、その渦を脱しよう、逃れようとしているのが肉体人間の姿である。
そして、その業因縁の渦を脱して、内なる神性を完全に輝やかせた人を、解脱者、仏陀といった。釈迦はそうであり、イエス・キリストもそうである。他にもそのような完全神性を現わした覚者がいたわけである。
最初にそうした人たちが、神と人間との関係を説き、人間は完全円満な神性であることを明かし、行じて、人びとを安心立命の境地に導いていった。自己が完全円満なる神性であることを悟ったら、この人間は業生を越えて救われたことに間違いない。
この導師は、神の使徒たちであって、真の宗教家である。
しかし、この覚者たちが、肉体生命を終えた後、この覚者たちの教えを、種々な弟子たちが、それぞれ独自な形で伝え始め、これが、何宗、何派、何教会、等々、世界全土に拡まっていった。日本では、仏教が最も盛んで、各宗派に分れ、しだいに教えの根本を忘れて、激烈なる宗派争いをしながら信者獲得に狂奔した。その他、神道、儒教があり、現在に至って、キリスト教が非常に盛んになってきた。
このように宗教が、各種の組織をもって、世界各国に拡まっていったのであるが、人類の宗教心はその組織の拡大と正比例して深まってきている、とはいえないのである。古代の人類は、宗教を学理的に知るよりは、行為で理解し、直接体験で、神を知ろうとしていたが、中世、現代としだいに、宗教を行から哲学に移してゆき、学理究明が先きになり、行からくる直接体験は薄らぎ、本来の宗教心から、知らず知らず遠のいていった。
やがて宗教は、学理的究明者と、教団、教派の形式の踏襲者並びに、真に神仏と人間との関係を直接体験として知らんとする行の人、の三つの流れに分れてきた。
宗教は、学理的に究明しただけでは肉体脳髄に知識として残るだけで、先覚者の志を継ぐものではなく、形式を踏襲したのでは、神仏のいのちが枯れてしまって生きて来ない。
神仏は生きとし生けるものであり、人間も生きとし生ける者である。生きとし生きて自由自在に形の世界を造ってゆくものが神であり、人間である。
学理に固着し、形式に捉われた世界には、いくら求めても神はいない。
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God and Man ～Guideposts for Spiritual Peace and Awakening
ー Written by Masahisa Goi
Chapter 6: True Religions and Mistaken Religions Part 1
The first question is 'what is religion?'
I interpret religion as being the way of explaining, teaching and clarifying the relationship between God (the Absolute Being) and man(※15) Following this principle, I shall consider the distinction between true religions and mistaken religions.
God is the source of human ideas, and is the origin of wisdom (creative power), love, and life. Consequently, God is perfect and integral, and is the symbol of wholeness and harmony.
Although they have within them this perfect and integral power, human beings, caught in the whirlpool of karma, have mistakenly taken that whirlpool to be themselves. Troubled with worries and agonies, that which tries to free itself from the whirlpool of karma is the image of a physical human being.(※16)
A person who has got out of the whirlpool of karma and let his or her inner divinity shine perfectly is called an awakened one. Sakyamuni was such a person, and so was Jesus Christ. There have also been other awakened people who manifested their perfect divinity.
To begin with, these people taught the relationship between God and human beings, revealing man's perfect and integral divinity. They put the truth into practice, and guided others to a state of spiritual peace and awakenment. If a person awakens to the reality of his or her perfect and integral divinity, it is certain that this human being has overcome karma and attained spiritual freedom.
The spiritual leaders who guide people to this state are apostles of God and are 'religious leaders' in the true sense.
However, what has been happening is that after these awakened ones have completed their lifetimes in this physical world, their various followers have started to hand down their teachings each in his or her own personal style. As a result, those varied teachings have spread throughout the world as individual religions, sects, churches and so on. In Japan, Buddhism flourished the most, and it was divided into numerous sects. Gradually, religious proponents forgot the fundamentals of the teachings and, while carrying on vehement struggles against other sects, they went about busily trying to obtain followers. In addition to Buddhism, there were also Shintoism and Confucianism, and at present Christianity has become very active.
In this way, religions have taken a variety of organizational forms and have spread to each country in the world. However, it cannot be said that the religious spirit of humanity has deepened in proportion to the expansion of the organizations.
In ancient times, people used to understand spiritual truths through deeds rather than theory. They tried to know God by way of direct experience. However, from the Middle Ages to modern times, religion has gradually shifted from spiritual exercise to philosophy. Theoretical study has taken first place, and direct experience deriving from spiritual exercise has declined. Humankind has unknowingly drifted further and further from the original religious mind.
In time, religion came to be divided into three streams: in one were the theorists, in another were those who followed after the formalities of a sect or an independent religious group, and in another were those who truly sought to know, through direct experience, the relationship between God and human beings.
If it is only studied theoretically, religion simply remains in the physical brain as knowledge, and the will of the great spiritual founders is not carried on. If one only follows after the formalities, the divine life withers and loses vitality.
God is all that haslife, and man is also all that has life. That which lives forever and freely creates the world of shapes is God, and is man.
In a world that adheres to theory and is caught up in formalities, however hard one may seek, God is not found.
To be continued in Part 2
※15: In the original, the term used is ningen (人間), which means 'human being(s).' The word has no masculine or feminine gender.
※16: A 'physical human being' is someone who lives without an awareness of his or her divinity.
Dios y el Ser Humano (Spanish Edition)
Deus e o Homem (Portuguese Edition)
