More obscure cults plague Japan

[Maciamo]

Rise of Japanese cults

If anyone in Japan is still unaware of the Armageddon poised to take place on Thursday, it won't be the fault of the Pana Wave Laboratory.

Police raid Pana Wave base on pretext of vehicle registration fraud
This cult organisation - one of many in Japan - has caught the nation's attention with its prediction that a close encounter with a 10th planet will set off earthquakes and tidal waves destroying most of humankind.

Several explanations are offered to explain the growth in cults in Japan, but many trace them back to the loss of spiritual certainties taught before the war, and to the more recent economic decline that has eroded the confidence of a society that has measured its worth by work

The Japanese Government - which recently estimated that there could be more than 200,000 cults at large - says many have profit as their main motivation.

In other Western countries a hunger for spiritual exploration is not being met by established religions; in Japan their failure seems far greater. Japanese attend services which include Shinto, Buddhist and Christian rites, but stripped of much of their theology.

[Zanza]

WTF?

[Mandylion]

Darn, I have a road trip planned for Thursday! Stupid Armageddon... I would like to know how the government defines cult as it is used in the BBC article. It might turn out that many of the cults are just a bit outside the mainstream but really harmless. The profit motive alone is a fairly weak legs to stand on in naming something a cult. If you want to get picky groups like Soka Gagaki, Tenrikyo, Ennokyo, Kuromizukyo, etc., which are harmless religious organizations unlike those in the articles, can be called cults. The groups named in the article are harmful and need to be kept in check, but it is a bit of a leap to conclude Japan is a raging cesspool of religious exploitation from the BBC article. It is interesting though. Thanks Maciamo!

[jspecdan]

hmm...it's thursday. nothing crazy is happening. except i gotta go see the dentist.

[Hoyu]

There appears to be some ancient Buddhist cult in Japan known as the "Cha-no-yu" that we should all be aware of. The cult has something to do with the ritualistic consumption of a powder stimulant. Many different types of specialized paraphenalia are utilized in a formal fashion by the cult in order to bring about (what they claim to be) a sense of tranquility.

Check it out at the following website:

http://www.246.dk/teatcoj.html

In Gassho, Kakuzen

[Hoyu]

I guess no one got my little joke about the Tea Cult.

Oh well... I thought it was funny.

In Gassho, Kakuzen

[Zanza]

oh...! haha