# Reikai Monogatari

Reikai Monogatari (Japanese: 霊界物語, Tales of the Spirit World or Tales from the Spirit World) is an Oomoto religious text consisting of various tales. It was dictated by Onisaburo Deguchi (出口王仁三郎), the co-founder of the Japanese new religious organization Oomoto.

## Quotes
### Volume 1

    Volume 1 (original Japanese text). Reikai Monogatari Net, by Hiroaki Iizuka (Audio recording of Volume 1)
       English translation of Volume 1
* 自分が明治三十一年旧二月九日、神使に伴なはれ丹波穴太の霊山高熊山に、一週間の霊的修業を了へてより天眼通、天耳通、自他神通、天言通、宿命通の大要を心得し。
** On February 9 (by Japan's old lunisolar calendar), Meiji 31 (1898), I was taken by a divine messenger to sacred Mt. Takakuma in Anao, Tamba, where I completed a weeklong spiritual asceticism. Thereafter I fully understood and learned the outline of clairvoyance, divine hearing, awareness of the minds of myself and others, ability to utter or impart divine words, and knowledge of the previous lifetimes of myself and others.
*** 発端 (How it all started)
* 高熊山は上古は高御座山※と称し、のちに高座といひ、ついで高倉と書し、つひに転訛して高熊山となつたのである。丹波穴太の山奥にある高台で、上古には開化天皇を祭りたる延喜式内小幡神社の在つた所である。
** Mt. Takakuma ("High Bear") was originally named Mt. Takamikura ("Imperial Throne") in ancient times and later called Mt. Takakura ("High Throne") or Mt. Takakura ("High Storehouse") and finally corrupted to Mt. Takakuma ("High Bear"). It is a hill in the mountain recesses of Anao, a village in the Tamba region of Kyoto, and in olden days was the former site of Obata Shrine dedicated to Emperor Kaika with its status officially recognized in the Engi-shiki.
*** 第一章　霊山修業 (Chapter 1: Training on the sacred mountain) (Audio)
* これを思へばアゝ明治卅一年如月の九日※、富士浅間神社の祭神、木花咲耶姫命の天使、松岡芙蓉仙人に導かれて、当山に自分が一週間の修業を命ぜられたのも、決して偶然ではないとおもふ。
** Looking back, I never think it was a mere coincidence that on February 9, Meiji 31 (1898), I was led to this mountain and ordered to go through week-long asceticism by Matsuoka the Fuyo Sennin ("Immortal Mountain Wizard in Mt. Fuji"), a messenger of Konohanasakuya-hime no Mikoto enshrined at Fuji Sengen Shrine.
*** 第一章　霊山修業 (Chapter 1: Training on the sacred mountain)
* 神示のまにまに高熊山に出修したる自分の霊力発達の程度は、非常に迅速であつた。汽車よりも飛行機よりも電光石火よりも、すみやかに霊的研究は進歩したやうに思うた。たとへば幼稚園の生徒が大学を卒業して博士の地位に瞬間に進んだやうな進歩であつた。過去、現在、未来に透徹し、神界の秘奥を窺知し得るとともに、現界の出来事などは数百年数千年の後まで知悉し得られたのである。
** The speed at which I developed my spiritual power during the training on Mt. Takakuma at the mercy of the divine instructions was quite rapid. I thought that my spiritual research had progressed more quickly than trains, airplanes or lightning. It was like the progress in which, for example, a kindergarten pupil graduated from college and assumed the position of a doctor of philosophy instantaneously. I was able to become lucid about the past, present and future, and to perceive the secrets of the divine world to the point where I acquired complete knowledge of what would happen in the physical world in hundreds, nay, thousands of years.
*** 第一章　霊山修業 (Chapter 1: Training on the sacred mountain)
* 高熊山の修行は一時間神界の修行を命せられると、現界は二時間の比例で修行をさせられた。しかし二時間の現界の修行より、一時間の神界の修行の方が数十倍も苦かつた。現界の修行といつては寒天に襦袢一枚となつて、前後一週間水一杯飲まず、一食もせず、岩の上に静坐して無言でをつたことである。
** While on Mt. Takakuma for training, I was ordered to undergo one-hour training in the divine realm of the spirit world in portion to two-hour training in the physical realm. But I found the one-hour training in the divine realm dozens of times more grueling than the two-hour training in the physial realm. My training in the physical realm involved wearing only an underwear kimono in a bleak wintry sky and remaining quietly and silently seated on a rock without eating a single meal or drinking a single glass of water for a week.
*** 第三章　現界の苦行 (Chapter 3: Austerities in this world)
* 人はどうしても一人で世に立つことはできぬものだ。四恩といふことを忘れては人の道が立たぬ。人は持ちつ持たれつ相互に助け合うてゆくべきものである。人と名がつけば、たとへ其の心は鬼でも蛇でもかまはぬ。大切にしなくてはならぬ。それに人はすこしの感情や、利害の打算上から、たがひに憎み嫉み争ふとは、何たる矛盾であらう、不真面目であらう。人間は神様である。人間をおいて力になつてくれる神様がどこにあるであらうか。
** Under no circumstances can one live all by oneself. One will go against the Way of Man if one forgets the four debts of gratitude. Humans should be interdependent, mutually helping one another. If a creature is called a human, it does not matter whether he or she has the mind of a demon or snake. He or she needs to be cherished. What a contradiction it would be for humans to hate, envy or compete with one another out of subtle emotions or calculation of interests? Humans are living shrines of the Kami. Where could one find kamis who would stand by one without humans?
*** 第三章　現界の苦行 (Chapter 3: Austerities in this world)
* つぎに自分の第一に有難く感じたのは水である。一週間といふものは、水一滴口に入れることもできず、咽喉は時々刻々に渇きだし、何とも言へぬ苦痛であつた。たとへ泥水でもいい、水気のあるものが欲しい。木の葉でも噛んでみたら、少々くらゐ水は含んでをるであらうが、それも一週間は神界から飲食一切を禁止されてをるので、手近にある木の葉一枚さへも、口に入れるといふわけにはゆかない。その上時々刻々に空腹を感じ、気力は次第に衰へてくる。されど神の御許しがないので、お土の一片も口にすることはできぬ。
** Next what I felt primarily thankful for was water. During the week of the training, I was not allowed to put a single drop of water into my mouth. I got thirstier with each passing moment. It was indescribable pain and suffering. I yearned for something moist, and even for muddy water. I could have chewed some leaves to get a little moisture from them, but the no-eating/drinking order from the divine realm during the training prohibited me from putting even a single leaf nearby into my mouth. Moreover, I felt hungrier and became less energetic with each passing moment. But I could not taste even a morsel of the soil because the Kami did not allow me to.
*** 第四章　現実的苦行 (Chapter 4: Physical asceticism)
* 自分は芙蓉仙人の先導にて、霊界探険の途に上ることとなつた。勿論身は高熊山に端坐して、ただ霊魂のみが往つたのである。 行くこと数百千里、空中飛行船以上の大速力で、足も地につかず、ほとんど十分ばかり進行をつづけたと思ふと、たちまち芙蓉仙人は立留まつて自分を顧み、『いよいよ是からが霊界の関門である』といつて、大変な大きな河の辺に立つた。
** Guided by Matsuoka the Fuyo Sennin ("Immortal Mountain Wizard in Mt. Fuji"), I started out on an expedition to the Spirit World. Needless to say, only my soul went on the expedition with my physical body sitting upright on Mt. Takakuma. I continued to travel hundreds of thousands of ri at a greater speed than airships, without setting foot on anything, for almost 10 minutes, when the Fuyo Sennin stopped suddenly, looked back at me, and said, "Finally, here we are at the gateway to the Spirit World." We stood at the bank of an extremely large river.
*** 第5篇　御玉の争奪 (Chapter 5: Training in the spirit world)

## External links

* reikaimonogatari.net (full Japanese text and outlines online)
* onisaburo.net (partial English text and outlines online)