A Teacher
Masaharu Taniguchi
Japanese New Thought: only God’s perfect True Image exists
The transmission
Masaharu Taniguchi (1893–1985) was a Japanese spiritual teacher and founder of Seicho-No-Ie (“House of Growth”), one of the largest New Thought-derived movements in the world.
Born near Kobe and educated at Waseda University, he left his studies to seek truth, drew deeply on Western New Thought — especially the writings of Fenwicke Holmes and Science of Mind — and blended it with Japanese Buddhist and Shinto sensibilities.
He launched the Seicho-No-Ie magazine in March 1930, and his teachings spread internationally through his multi-volume Truth of Life series. Taniguchi’s central doctrine is the True Image (jissō): only the perfect world created by the one absolute God truly exists, all phenomena are manifestations of mind, and apparent sickness and limitation are unreal appearances to be dissolved by perceiving one’s real, God-created nature.
The signature practice he taught for realising this is Shinsōkan, a seated meditation in which the practitioner visualises and contemplates God while delving into the perfect True Image of self. Taniguchi is the principal figure in the transmission of New Thought to Japan and its growth into a major Japanese religious movement.
What they gave
Seicho-No-Ie: founded a major international New Thought movement (1930) carrying mind-power teaching into Japan.
- True Image doctrine: taught that only God’s perfect creation is real and limitation is an appearance of mind.
- Shinsōkan meditation: developed a seated visualisation-contemplation practice for perceiving the True Image of self.
- Cross-cultural synthesis: fused Western Science of Mind with Japanese Buddhist and Shinto thought.
In their words
Of course the pen in my hand writes the spiritual teachings in this book, but once I sit at my desk to write for it, I am no longer the ordinary ‘I.’
God is all of everything, everywhere. I’m a child of God, His spirit within me.
O Parent God who gives life to all living beings, fill my whole being with Your Spirit and all blessings.
This means that we are all the only begotten of God. There are a large number of only begotten sons.
The line they stand in
Influenced by: Fenwicke Holmes and Ernest Holmes / Science of Mind; the wider New Thought stream; Japanese Buddhism and Shinto.
Influenced: the worldwide Seicho-No-Ie movement and Japanese New Thought more broadly.
Revelations they taught
Their Practices 1
Essential Works
- Seimei no Jisso (The Truth of Life)1930s
- Divine Education and Spiritual Training of Mankind1956