• There are about 10
different types of donation.
Reisen Hoji Onrei: This is the comparatively small
monthly "membership fee", otherwise known as the spirit line
maintenance donation. Sukyo Mahikari teaches that Keishu maintains the
spiritual cord between a member's omitama and God, and that failure to
offer this donation will result in this spiritual cord being severed.
This cord is considered essential in order to be able to give okiyome
and receive God's protection. This is the only donation that has a
fixed amount, but the amount depends on your currency rate in relation
to the Yen. The current US amount is $6 for adults, and $3 for
children. [Estimated amounts below are in $US.]
Okiyome donation: Members are strongly encouraged to
offer a donation to express gratitude for giving and receiving okiyome
every time they visit a Mahikari center (which is every day for
dedicated members). Not offering this donation is considered "stealing
from God". Depending on income and the frequency of this donation,
typical amounts range from $1 to $5.
Otamagushi: Members are encouraged to offer this
donation whenever they attend the monthly ceremony at a Mahikari
center, and as a means of expressing gratitude and apology. If
something good happens, members are encouraged to offer this donation
to demonstrate their gratitude to God. If something bad happens,
members are supposed to consider that this is evidence of their own
impurity, and to offer this donation as a demonstration of their
apology to God. Typical amounts range from $2 to $10.
Maintenance donation: This is the only donation
revenue that is used locally to pay for rent and other operating
expenses of a Mahikari center. Therefore, all members are encouraged to
make a regular monthly maintenance donation of an amount that,
collectively, will cover such expenses. Hence, the amount of this
donation will vary widely from place to place.
Goshugo onrei: Members are taught that, once they
receive kenshu, they immediately begin to receive all sorts of
protection and divine arrangements from God to help them better fulfill
their role as Mahikari members. Perhaps they will receive improved
health, a pay rise, protection from accidents, etc. When something like
this happens, members are encouraged to write the details of the
blessing in a letter, and make a comparatively large donation to
demonstrate their gratitude. Some members offer this donation once a
month, because they consider that they are always receiving God's
protection, even if nothing particularly unusual has happened. Typical
amounts range from $20 to $50.
Goshugo onegai: This donation accompanies a written
request for special protection for something specific. The amount of
this donation is supposed to reflect the importance of the request, and
is usually quite large.
Kenshu reattendance donation: Members are told that
they can reattend kenshu without paying another kenshu fee, and are
encouraged to do so as often as possible. In practice, members are
strongly advised to offer a reattendance appreciation donation each
time they reattend kenshu. Typical amounts range from $20 to $50.
Onenji: This is a special prayer organized by
Mahikari staff in times of extreme emergency. I have no actual figures
or experience of this donation, but I've heard a large sum of money is
required.
Oharaisai donation: Once a year, members are allowed
to write a request, and are told that Keishu will offer a prayer to God
on their behalf. Typical amounts range from $20 to $100.
Note: The above typical amount ranges are estimates
based on what several former members report they donated. At times,
some members would offer much larger donations. Most members also
donated specifically towards the construction of Sukyo Mahikari
buildings in Japan and, when relevant, towards construction of local
Mahikari centers. In some cases, these amounts reached thousands of
dollars.
Attitudes concerning donations (and some practical
considerations)
Donations are made in an envelope bearing the name of the
person and the type of donation. Every day, staff record all donations:
who made which type(s) of donation, and how much. This information is
not made public. However, if a member is having a problem of some sort,
staff do check to see if the member is making what they consider
appropriate donations. If a member is not meeting their expectations in
relation to donations, this will be considered a likely cause of the
problem.
All donations must be in cash, and it is recommended that
members use clean, smooth money (preferably new notes).
Members are encouraged to view donations as a manifestation
of sincerity...a kind of put your money where your mouth is type of
thing...and regard themselves as giving (or returning) the money to
God. Questions such as, "God doesn't need money, so who gets it?", and
"What is the money used for?", and "How much revenue does Mahikari make
from donations?" are regarded as signs of spirit disturbance and
shallow thinking.
This attitude training is amazingly effective. I was a
member for 10 years, and it never occurred to me to "do the sums".
Since there are no accurate figures of the numbers of active Mahikari
members, and no disclosure of donation amounts, even now it is not
possible to accurately work out the amount of revenue from donations.
Even so, let's attempt to do the sums concerning just one
donation, the once-a-year Oharaisai donation. Not all members would
make this donation, but it is quite popular, so there must be at least
100,000 members who do (and perhaps even twice that number). I would
guess that $20 is the smallest amount anyone would offer, and that many
people donate higher amounts. So, a very conservative estimate
of the total amount would be $2 million.
Now lets "do the sums" on what we are told Keishu does. It
is always stressed that she is busy day and night with divine service,
so we should feel reluctant to take up her time (which is one reason
why many people feel they need to donate a high amount for this
donation). We are not told exactly what Keishu does when she makes the
Oharaisai prayer on our behalf, but all the prayers written in
languages other than Japanese are translated into Japanese so that she
can read them.
So, how long would it take to unfold the piece of paper,
read the content, and offer a prayer? Is 3 minutes per letter enough?
100,000 letters at 3 minutes each comes to 5,000 hours. At 12 hours per
day of non-stop reading and praying, that would take up 417 days of the
year... even at 1 minute per letter, it comes to over 4 months! And
remember, there well could be many more than the 100,000 letters we
estimated.
Members take this donation extremely seriously. After all,
there is only this one opportunity in a whole year. I remember thinking
for weeks about what I should write in the letter, and saving up money
to be able to offer an amount that I considered sufficient for the
trouble Keishu would go to on my behalf. The translation into Japanese
of non-Japanese letters also involved hours and hours of work for
Mahikari center staff. I now wonder if the letters were even delivered
to Keishu.
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