Isn't it necessary for you to try to think about matters calmly without being absorbed in selfish desires? What do you think of the ranks of gods and of living things? It is very dangerous that you are liable to regard a man or a spirit invisible behind him as a god when the spirit possesses the man, and the spirit shows something mysterious to you through his physical body. All the living things gain more powerful Tsuhriki (ability cultivated by oneself) with advancing years.

 It is due to your more powerful Tsuhriki gained or cultivated through experiences with. Advancing years that you can know more of the world than you did in your childhood. Yet, what you are now is not a god but a human. You may get considerably great Tsuhriki, but you can never be called a 'god'. You will not be gifted with Jin-tsuhriki (Heavenly power) and will not gain the rank of Myohjin or the higher rank than that from the gods in high rank until your services are recognized by them. The Jin-tsuhriki is also the power transmitted through the gods in lower rank from the gods in higher rank. Therefore, the power of the gods in higher rank than that of Ametsuchi-no-kamis (or Zohbutsu-nushi - Creators) manifest itself through the lower ones. If they take a wrong way, they will lose the Jin-tsuhriki in a moment. There has been laid down a divine law, whereby all the disciplinarians lose their Jin-tsuhriki if they fail in their disciplines or relax their attention and efforts, or are fascinated or distracted by something else in the course of their missions. If you also relax your attention, or fascinated by something else, you will hurt yourselves or will be robbed by dishonest persons. The gods called Magami always watch over your disciplines.

Magamis are not evil gods. Their duty is to watch over and test all the disciplinarians, gods, you humans, and living things, even over Amatsu-kamis and Kunitsu-kamis. Therefore, even other gods have a horror of those Magamis. You should also be attentive to your own duties. As one of the divine laws, all spirits are to rise in higher rank, step by step in compliance with their disciplines, so that happiness and prosperity can be given to them. All the living things vary in rank from amoebas to human beings: amoebas, plants, insects or worms, fish, birds, reptiles, beasts, and human beings. Now you were born here on the earth as human in the highest rank of all the living things. However excellent Tsuhriki you may have, you can not be called 'gods'. 'Gods' I call and introduce to you are the titles of the spirits of higher rank than human. You must not mistake them for man's servants. Many people are liable to try to make gods their own servants by treating them as watch dogs. "I'll believe in gods if I am cured of this disease of mine." "Heaven, I pray you to give me a good chance to marry that man (or woman)." "May I be prosperous." "I pray you to guard me against thieves." Thus, many people treat gods like servants and do not have a deep sense of gratitude to them. I was surprised to find how spirits get self-conceited when they were raised to as high a rank as that of human. You have ascended to the rank of human which is the highest of all the living things. I want to tell you that you must know highness is comparative, that is, there live many gods above you in rank. In Nipponese, (gods), (hair), (paper), (top or above) are all pronounced 'Kami' though they are quite different from each other in their spelling and meaning. This 'Kami' can be devided into three kinds of meanings. First, '' (kami-paper) and '' (kami-hair) are a kind of material things, and in Nipponese the verb of ' or ,(aru or nai)' is applied in expressing their existence. Second, '(kami-top or above)' is the word which has a meaning of top or above. Third, '(kami-gods)' is not substance, and so in Nipponese the verb of ' or (iru or inai)' is applied in expressing their existence. I'm sure that every one knows what (paper) and (hair) are except those who have not been basking in civilization's comfort. Therefore, there is no need of explanation about these things like (paper) and (hair). Here I will teach you about gods, Kamis in the world of 'living or not', and about the Heavenly rules. It is true that man made paper, and used it as his servants. So with paper money which children ask their parents for. This also can be a servant for you. Hair, which small animals of germs in the root of hair made, can not be treated as you please. You can not understand my teachings without accepting 'spirit' and 'body' being different from each other.

Though you have often seen your own physical body, you have never seen yourself. Your body, your hair, your forehead, you eyes, your nose, -your feet, and your toes are all your possessions. We can understand from these words that 'your' is grammatically a possessive case. Who on earth possess them? Isn't it you? Aren't 'you' and 'body' quite different? If so, what on earth will you be who possess them? I think you know all parts of your body are constructed of many kinds of amoebas. Can you say what part of your body you are now using you made? And also, how can you hold your head high and hold gods cheap and neglect them? Aren't you self conceited? You must know that such attitudes will bring some bitter trials upon you during your life. Though some of you may say that you do not make light of gods, and on the contrary, you worship and deify them, you are complete failures as human in respect to your conduct. Could Heavenly protection be given to such persons? Far from Heavenly protection, Heavenly punishment must be given to them. You can understand this by reading histories many times. I'm sure if you check up on the histories of Nipponese Emperors, you will find it clear that there are marked differences between the era when they neglected gods and gave them a wide berth and the era when they deified really great gods in their heart. We usually call 'beasts', cattles, horses, dogs, monkeys, pigs, foxes, raccoon-dogs, rats, cats, water-imps, and etc. If you are told "You beast, do it for me." or "You worm, drink it.", how on earth can you obey without any anger? Worshipping gods in the image of beasts such as cattles, horses, pigs, monkey, foxes, snakes, and other animals is the same as when you utter wild words to gods. "You beast, do it for me.", "You can not live without my support, can you?" or "It's I who provide you with offerings, so you must accede to my demand." There are no shameful and undependable gods who can not live on without human's support of offerings, as long as they do not fail in their duties and missions. In a Shintoh's Norito (ritual) of the past, I often met with the abusive expression "Please hear my prayer, and I will provide you with many kinds of offerings." People often have the impertinence to say and act in such a sinful way as this-to fob off gods with some offering like fishing. Many gods said laughing that they wondered how people made light of them and dared to make such a demand. There came only evil gods, beggar-gods, and animal souls who were not free to take smell vapor and water (moisture). None of the righteous gods is a beggar-god.

A certain person came before me, and said "If you Inari (god) hear my prayer, I'll come to worship you and bring your favorite food Aburage (fried bean curd)." In Nippon, Inaris are imagined as foxes, and Aburage is regarded as their favorite food, which is a mistake. Another said "If you Kannon-god hear my prayer, I'll come and worship you every day, and keep on praying to you for the fulfilment of my wishes.", and said "However, I haven't been favored by the gods and have had a long run of ill-luck. Can there really be a Inari-god or a Kannon-god?" I asked the former if Inari-gods like Aburages (fried bean curd) so much that they were dazzled by them, and told the latter that if you were a lover or a handsome man to the Kannon-god, the god might hear your prayer and impatiently wait for you, and asked how the god was related to him.

When I once looked into an inner shrine, I saw a figure of human's sexual organ worshipped there. Can you be sure that worshipping such a thing brings prosperity to that region? I also once saw some person there oiling model of sexual organ which they called 'O-shohden-sama (a god's name) ! I think you can easily imagine what a man of natural virtue looks like. If so, isn't it necessary for you to try to think what a figure of divine virtue is? Do figures of monsters with two or three heads, and ten or twenty arms and legs, or figures of Nioh, Yasha, and Fudohmyohoh (Ref. gloss-these are god's names) in great rage look like the gods of divine virtue to you? Aren't these the figures of bad gods? On the path along which Buddhism was brought, there are many models of men and women throwing themselves into each other's arms and legs. Some of people worship and deity them. The gods they believe in must be very lascivious. Some of people worship even a man-eating woman as their Guardian. Don't you think it quite strange that such an attitude toward gods grants people divine favor? If a man-eating woman could be a god, you would be unable to attain a rank of god without eating man. When people are made light of, they get angry. Still more, if you make light of gods, what do you think will happen? Could you find even one country really flourishing today among the countries where such wrong teachings have prevailed? In this country (Nippon) as well, when this kind of teachings was its heyday, didn't it result in social disorder and bitter trials, and ruin in the end? Nay, some of you may say that such women are gods' servants. If it were true, what would you be? Aren't you also gods' servants? To be human is to be gods' servants in the highest rank in the world of living things. Why were you born as human in this world? To this question, you may say that you were born by mere chance. If you really think so in your heart, in turn you ought to take all the things that happen to you as chance occurrences, and therefore, if you are in pain or trouble, you must submit your selves to the pain with resignation. If you refuse to do so, you must reform yourselves from now on and recall your mission (or duty) to your mind. I dare to say that gods delight in making a good paradise.

Who ranks higher, a god or a man? If the former does, we are sure that the former will not ask the latter to worship and deify him. Practically, some gods make people bring amulets from door to door, and ask people to worship and deify them as gods. Though some religion says that those who believe in and have faith in God can be saved (or blessed), can it ever be true that those persons can be saved only because of their belief and faith-without reforming themselves, their wrong conduct and bad traits? If the gods are really great and presiding over all the living things, I think man must turn and ask for amulets to worship gods. Can you give any orders of merit to those who are higher in rank than you? Will gods ever take any delight in accepting any rank from man? Foxes or raccoon-dogs who are lower than man may get great satisfaction. Whatever great Tsuhriki (personal power-power cultivated by oneself) foxes or raccoon-dogs have, unless Jim-tsuhriki (Heavenly power gifted from upper gods) have been given to them from upper gods, the foxes or raccoon-dogs are still foxes or raccoon-dogs, that is, they have only such wisdom as foxes or raccoon-dogs. You must not get any false ideas that foxes are Inari-gods (In Nippon many people have the false idea that foxes are Inari-gods, and worship idols of foxes.). This fallacy is very profane. Nipponese people sometimes call an Inari-god 'Shoh-ichi-i Inari Daimyoh-jin()'. However, speaking of Shoh-ichi-i (the first grade), it must have been the highest rank in the past human society, that is, a rank of human, while the ranks of Myohjin are higher than those of human, and the ranks are widely graded from upper to lower. Can it ever be certain that Myohjins would be pleased to be given the same rank as that of humans? Is not such a fallacy due to having been worshipping as gods only the souls who have never attained the rank of god?

In the past some people in Nippon made us abandon all the Chinju guardian deities whom Meiji Emperor introduced to us and led us to worship, that is, they forbad us to worship the gods whose origins were unknown, while they made us worship human souls (Hotokes) as gods in many shrines (Buddhisticalized Shintoism), so that most of Nipponese people avoided all the Chinju guardian deities who had protected them for long years, and worshipped human souls (Hotokes) and Uji-duities. 'Uji' means family name. Each Uji-deity protects the families whose names are the same as his own name. For instance, Fujiwara family-deity protects only Fujiwara families as history shows that families other than Fujiwara families were neglected or went into exile. I wish you to call to your mind the following facts: Nippon was behind other countries in civilization due to a policy of seclusion till 1868. However, people abandoned Buddhism, and came to believe in and worship Chinju guardian deities, so that they might be protected by these deities and at their discretion, Nippon began to advance in civilization, and was able to win the Russo-Nippon War (of 1904-1905) and the Sino-Nippon War (of 1894-1895). But, in 1910, people neglected and abandoned these Chinju guardian deities, and instead of these deities, they worshipped Uji-deities. In l912, Meiji Emperor died, and his first son, Taishoh Emperor died young, and the present Emperor was defeated in World War 2. The place where the atomic bombs were dropped were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima was the place where the Imperial Headquarters for the Russo-Nippon War and the Sino-Nippon War were put, while Nagasaki was the only trade port where Nippon came into contact with foreign civilization during its policy of seclusion, and also the place where arms and ammunition were stocked. Yokohama which was burnt out in a large scale air attack was the first place where foreign civilization was brought and advanced after the Meiji epoch. Weren't these the result of neglecting Chinju guardian deities? Think about Empress Jinkuh (170-269) who believed in really great gods and was obedient to them. She lived a very wonderful life. (It was 552 when Buddhism came into Nippon, and after this, there were many struggles among families (Uji) continually though there were no struggles among them before Buddhism came in.)

All the origins or histories of gods are invisible to humans - it must be quite impossible for humans to see and know them. All the amulets in the epoch when they were called (Chinju-amulets' wielded great power, and people who had many of them were prosperous. I, myself, learned of their greatness by experience. But the ones substituted after people were estranged from Chinju guardian deities lost their great power, and brought about a reverse effect, that is, the more amulets people have, the more unfortunate they become. Really terrible things emerged as a result of their having neglected Chinju guardian deities.

You must observe carefully that the more amulets people have from the shrines where humans have been worshipped as gods, and where animals or eccentric models have been worshipped as gods, the more disasters they meet with, and also that people are not prosperous who have been worshipping spirits in ranks of gods with Hotokes (Chapt. 23) in Butsudan (altar where Hotokes are worshipped in families), and who regard gods in the same light with Hotokes. (All these disasters also happen in odd terms.) You learn easily about this by seeing how the lower class behave when they are in the same place with the higher. Could it be that good fortune comes to you for embarrassing or distressing your ancestors? Should not you worship gods on the shelf for the gods, and Hotokes in the Butsudans? The extreme case is that Buddhists are determined to deny the gods and to deify Hotokes as the highest ranking spirits, and pray to the Hotokes day and night for great grief (I say this here, because there are many words with the meaning of bad luck in the Buddhistic prayers and others, though Buddhists and many other people are too careless to know about the meanings of these prayers. For instance, (' or ', which is the essential words of Buddhism, has the meaning of "Have great grief on me, Hotokes !" from that '' is one of the old auxiliary verbs, and is the only word that has the meaning of 'desire', and has been used to pray for something, and next, '' is 'big' or 'great', and '' is 'love' or 'cherish', and '' is 'sadness' or 'grief', and therefore, '' means 'to love grief' or 'to cherish grief', though our '' has the meaning of 'affection', 'kindness', 'love', and 'benevolence'). Each word has its own meaning. I think no one wants great grief. Therefore, you must be very careful in expressing your will with words, and even after their prayers are heard, they are inclined to get angry saying that there can be neither gods nor Hotokes. Why do they pray for such a thing if they get angry? Since they have learned 'i ro ha (abc)' in their childhood, they must be able to know the true meaning of the very letters used in praying to gods or Hotokes by trying to write them and look into their true meanings. Isn't it selfish of them to get angry saying that there can not be any gods and Hotokes? Shouldn't they, if human, rather have enough good manners to express small thanks at least because their prayers were heard?

Once there lived a tycoon in the Edo period (1600-1867) who sent out an official order to sit on ground in reverence before dogs. It was a hard epoch when your ancestors were put to the sword if they even turned away a dog. Who on earth do you think suggested such a false official notice? (It was the highest leader of Buddhism those days.) After the hard epoch, your ancestors in the Meiji epoch became conscious of some Amatsu-Kamis ( -Ref. gloss.) and Kunitsu-Kamis ( -Ref. gloss.) from their conversion to religion, and resuscitated the Jinjas (god's house) to worship them as Chinju guardian deities, and lived prosperous lives, but late in the Meiji epoch they were convinced by Buddhism (false idea that Hotokes belong to Buddhism) so thoroughly that they neglected the Chinju guardian deities and did not show their gratitude to them, but on the other hand, worshipped Hotokes as their Uji-deities. (Hotoke' is a general term for the souls who were once humans, and finished their duties, going back to the spirit world, but were not raised to the rank of god higher than that of human. Those who say their ancestors were Buddhists may have immigrated to this country (Nippon) from India or China. On the other hand, if they are the descendants of the ancestors who had lived in this country long ago, they must have believed in the gods they have been taught by successive Emperors since the first Emperor, Jinmu.

Also in Meiji epoch, this country (Nippon) where people believed in and clung to Chinju guardian deities flourished, and people were respected by their sons and daughters, and lived happy lives. Yet, in Taishoh epoch, people neglected their parents, and in Shohwa epoch, neglected their homes. These aspects, I think, must have been a result of the punishment from Chinju guardian deities because people neglected them. 'Chinju guardian deities' is a general term for a group of gods who have the duties of presiding over thoughts, technics, talents, fortunes, professions, life and death, and so on, and who have no prejudice against any of you whatever your names may be. On the other hand, Uji-deities are the gods who preside over the same Uji (second name) only. Therefore, it may be good for you to cling to the Uji-deities who preside over the same Uji as that of your own. For instance, each guardian deity whom the Fujiwaras, the Nakatomis, the Minamotos, and the Tairas worshipped , clung to, and were protected by is called (Uji-deity'. If you look over the aspects in these epochs, you can find that in Fujiwara's days, only those who had the second name of Tujiwara' had good a chance or oppotunity to be prosperous. So was it in the Taira's days, and others. Recall the various struggles among the Ujis (clans) in those days.

As there are no Jinjas (god's house) where the Uji-deities presiding over my Uji (second name) are worshipped in this world, I will not visit any shrines where the Uji-deities are worshipped because I do not want my virtue to be taken away. If there were the Jinjas where Chinju guardian deities are worshipped, I would visit and bring prosperity to them. I want you to know that some of the Chinju guardian deities preside over all the Ujis. Of late, many of the Shintoh (Ref. gloss.) priests worshipping Uji-deities have been stricken with paralysis. Why does a succession of misfortunes come upon those who worship Uji-deities? Some of the people brought prosperity to the shrine where gods were worshipped in the images of animals or diabolical forms, and some of you do so even now. Their families turn out prodigal sons and are ruined in the end. I wish you to observe this aspect with care. As for my teachings, you need temples to manage the grave-yards as well as the Jinjas (or churches) to worship Chinju guardian deities who protect all the districts. Many people will revise their opinions of my teachings some day and worship these great gods.

Your physical bodies are the important machines for production of food for souls, and so gods in high rank have sent eight Kohjins ( eight gods presiding over the premises where people are living. Chapt. 17), Suijins ( water gods. Chapt. 13), and any other innumerable souls possessed of Jin-tsuhriki (Heavenly power) such as Ryuh-Oh, Ryuhjin, Inari, Shohden, and others to rear and protect those machines, and at the same time to watch over your daily conduct whether or not you are aware of it. For all that, you do not feel any obligation to the gods who have been protecting you and your families since the beginning, while you often welcome the other gods and make much of them. What do you think the gods feel who have been protecting you and your families since the beginning? How do you feel and act when your kindness to a man is ignored by him, and moreover, he gives you a cold shoulder, and welcomes another person? So with eight Kohjins, Inaris, and other gods.

If you do not show your gratitude to the gods or if you are unaware of the gods' protection, your children will grow to be troublesome persons who waste all the money you get for your labors on many useless things. If you wish to worship and pray for protection to the other gods, shouldn't you believe in and thank the gods who first protected you?

Instead of being absorbed in selfish prayers to gods, don't you wish to pray to the great gods in the grand natural nature so that you can be destined to be gifted with great virtue and to make an earthly paradise from your domestic paradise by chanting Namu Chuh Koh Miyoh Hoh Ten' and correcting your ill traits such as obstinacy, stubbornness, selfishness, and egotism? I wonder what and where you will be in the world of afterdeath, and what and where you will be when you are allowed to come into existence again.