Karma, Energy, and Sustainability: Ethical and Religious Aspects of Green Politics in the Japanese New Religion of Seicho-no Ie

The article analyses relations between the religious ethics of the new Japanese religion Seichō-no Ie and contemporary principles of the Green Agenda, including the concept of sustainable development. The study is based on a comparison of key doctrinal statements of Seichō-no Ie with the normative framework of Japan’s environmental policy, in particular the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Green Transformation (GX) strategy, and a number of national greening and decarbonization initiatives. It is shown that the Seichō-no Ie movement offers an original form of environmental ethics, embedding sustainability in the structure of religious thinking and the concept of karma, and, therefore, not only resonates with the official “green agenda,” but also deepens its spiritual and moral content.

Particular attention is paid to the criticism of industrial lifestyles, fossil energy, and nuclear power plants, which, in the teachings of Seichō-no Ie, are seen as a form of bad individual and collective karma. These views are underpinned by a notion linking the pollution of nature to spiritual degradation. It is based on a divine revelation by the founder of the religion, Taniguchi Masaharu, entitled “Divine Messages on the Lighter of the Seven Golden Candlesticks.” There, one can find the phrase “Be grateful to everything in the Universe!,” which has become the doctrinal rationale for supporting the environmental cause.

The article elaborates on spiritual practices, architectural initiatives (“Office in the Forest”), and the promotion of vegetarianism as an ethical and environmental norm, which contribute to the formation of a specific environmental religiosity. It is emphasized that the concept of intergenerational justice in the teachings of Taniguchi Masanobu is given a special religious depth by the doctrine of rebirths, according to which a person who harms the environment potentially condemns themselves to suffering in a future life.

On the basis of field research and texts of the doctrine, it is shown that Seichō‑no Ie can be interpreted as a form of deep environmentalism, in regards with E. Dobson’s green theory, in which the value of nature and the need to protect it have not utilitarian but ontological and ethical grounds. The article contributes to the understanding of the role of religion in expanding the horizons of environmental thought.

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