The Founding
　　The founding of New Style Zen or Daigen Mikkyo is based upon a mystical experience which its Founder. Daigen Sho(_)nin, had at 2.00 p.m. On Oct. 15, 1952. On this occasion he had his spiritual eyes opened to the complete mysteries of the universe, achieving a perfect union with the Supreme Being and thus realizing he had attained Buddhahood. With this as a beginning, he often got into similarly profound but different mystical experiences since then. For one year and ten months he meditated upon the matter, realized these were providentially arranged phenomena, and thought over the publication of a new religion from every side, which he was often exhorted to by the Supreme Being.
　　Having made up his mind and devised Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_), in consultation with the divine beings who assist and serve the Supreme Being, as the direct means for delivering mankind from their sufferings and sins, he named the new religion Daigen Mikkyo or New Style Zen and made it public on Aug. 15,1954.


　　The Doctrines in Brief
1. Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami, the Supreme Being and other divine beings
　　 The Supreme Being with whom the Founder, Daigen Sho(_)nin, has had perfect union is called Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami. Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami means literally in English "the Supreme Deity of Ultimate Origin". In order to understand why he is called so, it is necessary to know the composition or the other world.
According to what Daigen Sho(_)nin perceived in his profound mystical experience, those divine beings who are usually called "gods" or "deities" and have communed with human beings on earth are personal deities. The personal deities are those divine beings who through thousands of reincarnations in the human world and sojourning in various places in the other world between the reincarnations have enhanced their personality and purified their spirit to such an extent that they have deserved to be allocated to a seat in the divine hierarchy of the other world and have finally escaped the normal chain of reincarnations. But there are another type of deities, that is, natural deities. In this sense, deities are basically classified into two, personal and natural. The highest of the latter, the Supreme Natural Deity, is the Creator of the universe. Every phenomena in the universe is nothing but a manifestation of the Supreme Natural Deity, and there is nothing in the universe, either animate or inanimate, either visible or invisible, either material or immaterial, that is not His. No personal deity, however, but the Supreme Personal Deity can directly commune with the Supreme Natural Deity, and it is the Supreme Personal Deity that preaches on behalf of the Supreme Natural Deity. Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami is the Supreme Being who is the united body of the Supreme Personal Deity and Supreme Natural Deity. Hence the origin of His Name. There is no being in the universe that cannot be traced back to Him.
　　In conclusion, there is a world of deities, the supernatural divine Other World, in which a number of deities are assisting and serving the Supreme Being, Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami, in a perfect systematic order, each depending upon his own rank and field of work. Under the world of deities, there exists the world of spirits which is guided and controlled by the world of deities. It is this world that is usually called "other world" by men on earth and where most of the human spirits go to after death. The spirits with physical bodies are called alive human beings. Human beings are after all spiritual beings, repeating many incarnations.


2. The Significance of the name, Daigen Mikkyo or New Style Zen and the status of Daigen Sho(_)nin
　　Daigen Mikkyo means Mikkyo revealed and taught by Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami. As for Mikkyo, it is a long story to talk about it. Usually "esoteric" and "exoteric" are taken to be equivalents of Japanese "Mikkyo" and "Kengyo". "Esoteric", however, does not seem to impart the exact meaning of Mikkyo in the phrase of "Daigen Mikkyo". It seems safe not to use a traditional term which may have some misleading connotations. In any case, Mikkyo has a long tradition in the divine Other World as well as on the earth. But this is not the place to get into its details. In short, it may be best to define Mikkyo as a religion in which a man has a direct communication with the divine being(s) of the supernatural Other World, and is taught the Laws face to face without overt human speech. The content of teachings is not made known but between the one who teaches and the taught, and varies depending upon the capacity of the taught.
　　Every religion has some element of Mikkyo in its origin. A human being cannot originate a religion without any divine revelation or inspiration from the supernatural Other World. Or the founder of a religion may be a divine spirit reincarnated who has been sent down on the special mission of preaching the Laws and delivering mankind from their sufferings. The greatness or value of a religion depends upon what the divine being is that inspires the founder or is reincarnated in the founder, namely, the rank or the status of the divinity in the divine hierarchy of the Other World. In the case of Daigen Mikkyo, the divinity, the fountainhead of this religion, is the Supreme Being who is situated as it were at the top of the divine hierarchy, holding sway over all the universe, and the Origin of all. Besides, Daigen Sho(_)nin has not founded this religion on the basis of inspiration received from the Supreme Being. He is the Counterpart of the Supreme Being in the flesh, that is, the Incarnation. The nature of His mystical experience in perfect union with the Supreme Being is a proof for this august fact.
　　Hence the designation of his status, Kyo(_)shu-sama. Kyo(_)syu means the Supreme Teacher of the Laws, that is, the one who preaches the Laws of the Supreme Being in human speech, and sama is a term of respect.
　　In Daigen Mikkyo, it is not limited to the founder only to be able to have direct contact with the divine Other World. For anybody who wants to become a follower of Daigen Sho(_)nin, it is possible to have a communication or communion with the divine beings of the Other World, if not directly with Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami Himself. This is achieved by means of Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_). a new style Zen, which is the unique feature of Daigen Mikkyo. What better way is there to restore a genuine religious mind and sensibility to modern man, who can be persuaded by nothing but empirical method, than to allow him to directly commune with the divine being(s) and be put as it were in a place of the founder of a religion? Only by this means, may modern man learn, not in theory but in practice through his own first hand experience, that the human condition is a spiritual as well as a physical existence, that death on the earth is but a taking off of his physical body, and that he should live in awe of and aspiration for the Supreme Being, the source of his life, even while living on earth. Only by this means may modern man come to believe in God in the real sense and walk with God all through his life.


3. Reincarnations and the goal of human life
　　Daigen Mikkyo or New Style Zen asserts that the human being is repeatedly reincarnated however some of the existing religions may deny it or have failed to testify to it. This is one of the basic laws of human life, not only perceived by Daigen Sho(_)nin and written on a page of the Book of Great Wisdom in His Enlightened Mind, but also supported by the experiences of His followers in their practices of Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_). During the period after one's spirit leaves its physical body until it is once again born on earth, taking another body under another name, it is assigned a place in the other world and goes through certain disciplines. The place and the type of disciplines it is assigned depend upon what it has done cumulatively from its origin until then, either in thinking and feeling, speaking, or doing, for better or worse. In most cases a human soul accumulates sins and becomes unclean and degraded as it repeats reincarnation. The way of degradation is easier than that of ascent.
　　It is, however, essentially in accord with human nature, Daigen Sho(_)nin teaches us, that man should take the way through reincarnations upward to the Supreme Being. For human beings are after all sons of the Supreme Being. The ascent to the Supreme Being is made possible by nothing but the eradication of uncleanness from one's soul and the atonement for one's sins. This very purification and atonement are among the main effects of Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_). Moreover, every human spirit is assigned a mission whether great or small by the Supreme Being when he sets out upon a journey along the chain of reincarnations. In short, the human being is expected to accomplish the assigned mission on his way upward to the Supreme Being while repeating many incarnations.


4. The importance of faith and devotion
　　Thus it becomes a momentous question for one alive on the earth to know one's assigned mission and how to spend one's life on earth best. When it comes to such questions as: how one can find out one's assigned mission, or how one can walk straight to the Supreme Being, one is advised to consult with disciples of Daigen Sho(_)nin. Any question you may have concerning the way to the Supreme Being shall be made clear to you as you continue practicing Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_). under the guidance of authorized disciples. What is most important, however, is unwavering and steadfast faith in and devotion to Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami and Daigen Sho(_)nin, namely, Kyo(_)syu-sama, when you come to beg for His Teachings and what to practice Seiza Kanpo(_) Gyo(_). By the command of the Supreme Being, the divine beings shall come to help and guide your soul along the way upward to the Supreme Being. It is your faith and devotion alone that can move the Supreme Being. Those divine beings who are ordered to go to help and guide your soul are called Shido(_)-shin, that is, "guiding god(s)".
　　As you may have noted by now, Daigen Mikkyo or New Style Zen is monotheistic as well as polytheistic. It is monotheistic in the sense that our faith and devotion should be directed only to the Supreme Being, Daigen Taiso(_) Ohgami. This is because He is the absolute and infallible Supreme Commander of all. In Daigen Mikkyo monotheism and polytheism do not conflict with each other.