Kiitsu Kyōkai
On the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, the meeting will be held between 10:30am-12:00 midday UK time.
NB. There will be no meetings on any fifth Thursday, nor during the month of August.
Here is the stable Zoom link for both morning and evening meetings:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85775868333?pwd=LEuyKnfbRJORbqsuzkhsonHui4ttwA.1
Meeting ID: 857 7586 8333
Passcode: 970614
—o0o—
Kiitsu [帰一] means ‘returning to one’. In this context kyōkai [教會] is best rendered not as ‘church’ or ‘congregation’ but as ‘gathering’: a community devoted to communal learning, moral–ethical cultivation, and the mutual exchange of ideas about a universal, dynamic, creative and liberative free-religion [自由宗教 jiyū shūkyō], rather than the transmission of fixed doctrines. Hence Kiitsu Kyōkai is best translated simply as ‘Returning-to-One Gathering’.
The inspiration behind this free-religious gathering is the work and ideas of the Japanese educator, interfaith pioneer, and advocate of jiyū shūkyō, Imaoka Shin’ichirō-sensei (1881-1988). A selection of his essays can be found at the following link:
After a brief informal welcome, our gatherings begin with twenty minutes of Seiza [静座](Quiet Sitting). Basic instruction for this is always provided for first-time attenders, but before joining us online, should you wish, you can also watch an introductory video and download a free PDF book about Seiza found at the bottom of this page, or via this LINK. This is followed by a short thought for the day offered by one of those attending on some aspect of jiyū shūkyō that they have noticed in their own life and practise. The remainder of the meeting consists of a free-flowing, open-minded and open-hearted conversation on the same theme/subject. You can gain a general sense of what our meetings are like from the following order for a gathering. A PDF of this can be obtained by clicking this LINK.
—o0o—
(said by the convenor and all those who also wish to say them)
I place trust in myself.
I place trust in others.
I place trust in cooperative community.
I place trust in the trinity of self, others, and cooperative community.
I place trust in the unity of life and nature—the cosmic cooperative community.
I place trust in the kyōkai.
I place trust in jiyū shūkyō.
A short reading and/or talk by a member of the gathering
Music (optional)
A time of open and free conversation
A moment of silence ended with the following closing words
(said by the convenor and all those who also wish to say them)
We receive fragments of holiness, glimpses of eternity, brief moments of insight. Let us gather them up for the precious gifts that they are and, renewed by their grace, begin to walk a path that is safer than the known way.
May we all be persistent in a universal, dynamic, creative, inquiring, liberative and free faith, and go forward for the purpose of realising the Kingdom of God, or Pure Land of Buddha, that is nothing but the Ideal Cooperative Community.
Amen.
“Our Principles of Living” (with annotations)
1) I place trust in myself.
I am aware of my own autonomous selfhood, creativity and sociality, and find life worth of living. Autonomous selfhood, creativity and sociality can also be expressed as personhood, divinity, and Buddha-nature.
2) I place trust in others.
Others are neighbours who possess their own selves as others. By affirming myself, I inevitably place trust in others.
3) I place trust in cooperative community.
Neither self nor others exist in isolation or self-sufficiency; instead, they inevitably establish a mutual interdependency, solidarity, and a cooperative community.
4) I place trust in the trinity of self, others, and cooperative community.
The self, others, and cooperative community, while each possessing unique individualities, return-to-one. Therefore, there is no precedence or superiority among them; each always presupposes the other two.
5) I place trust in the unity of life and nature—the cosmic cooperative community.
The trinity of self, others, and the cooperative community further unites with heaven and earth and all things, to form a universal/cosmic cooperative community.
6) I place trust in the kyōkai.
The kyōkai is a microcosm of the universal/cosmic cooperative community. I can only be myself by being a member of the kyōkai.
7) I place trust in jiyū shukyō.
While placing trust in the kyōkai, the endless pursuit and improvement towards universal and ultimate truth is the core of religious life. Such a dynamic religion is called jiyū shukyō.
“Do not seek; sit quietly in the country of unconditioned spontaneity. With only a half-mat of space, the springtime of heaven and earth flows within you, and there life’s energy and life’s joy arise. Seiza is truly a gateway to the ultimate happiness (bliss).”
As a PDF A5 file in consecutive page order
As a PDF A5 file ready to print as a booklet
As a PDF Half-letter (ANSI A) file in consecutive page order
As a PDF Half-letter (ANSI A) file ready to print as a booklet
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