Great Construction

The Character Which Embodies Order

     Constantly I urge that order should be correct, and one simple character that represents correct order is the ideogram for “principal” or chief.”
     The three horizontal lines of this ideogram represent heaven-earth-human being, five-six-seven, and divine-spirit-material and are joined together by a single vertical line in the middle that carries a slanted dot on the top. This arrangement is the correct order. Whether it be politics, the economy, education, or religion, if all does not proceed in this arrangement, there is no reason for matters and affairs to run smoothly in any way. Nowadays, however, in every aspect of society vertical and horizontal are for the most part disconnected. The greatest of these separated aspects is the gap between the vertical of Far Eastern thought and the horizontal of the West. The time has come, however, when the vertical and the horizontal will be balanced and joined together as in the ideogram for the number ten, the balanced cross. That is, the ideogram for “ten” is in the middle of the ideogram for “chief.” The top and bottom horizontal lines of the “chief” ideogram represent “heaven” and “earth” respectively. In other words, the world of human beings is intermediate between heaven and earth, so the balanced cross connects heaven and earth. This is the actual state of paradise on earth. In other words, the shape of the balanced cross is the world of God.
     The word God, or kami in Japanese, also has that meaning. Ka represents “fire,” and mi, “water.” Fire burns vertically and water flows horizontally. Putting the two together means kami, or God. As expressed in the names of two of the Japanese gods of creation, Kamimusubi and Takamimusubi, the activity of the gods are joined. One of the pronunciations for “buddha” in Japanese is hotoke which represents the spirit of speech of hodoke (“come loose”). God will join the world that has become undone and this world will become God’s world which is now coming. The cross that Christians wear around their necks also implies this world. The Buddhist counter-clockwise swastika also has the same significance, except that each end is bent. The bent ends mean that the balanced cross not only connects, they also mean that a new rotation will begin. In the above sense, whether politics or whatever, all must be in three levels. Top and bottom are firmly connected with the balanced cross supported by the vertical line. This connection means that the middle class has the role of harmonizing the upper and lower classes. The slanted dot on the top of the ideogram is a president or a prime minister who stands above the structure and supervises, so if all is conducted in the shape of the ideogram for “chief,” there is no failure and proceedings are smooth. The principles for managing a business or operating an association are based on the same logic, the state of the world of Miroku that we advocate.

Hikari, Issue 25, page 1, September 3, 1949
translated by cynndd

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For reference, the chief ideogram is 主, and the one for “ten” is 十. “Shu no Ji,” published originally on the front page of Hikari, Issue 25, September 3, 1949, was reprinted four months later with four major revisions as the seventh chapter of the Japan Kannon Church publication Jikan Setsuwashū, Jikan Sōsho, Daijūnippen (Narratives, Jikan Library, Volume 12), January 30, 1949. While Meishu-sama was still alive, the newspaper version of “Shu no Ji” was reprinted in the essays anthology for ministers Goshinsho: Shūkyōhen (Divine Writings: Volume on Religion), page 53, March 25, 1954. “Shu no Ji” has previously appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.

“The Character 主 (Su),” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 211.

“The Character Meaning ‘Principal’ or ‘Lord’,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, no date, page 142.