Motohisa Yamakage

That is why the importance of chinkon in Shinto has been emphasized repeatedly since ancient times. Chinkon is different from simple mental concentration or the quieting of the mind. Through the practice of chinkon one can actually break through the wall of other dimensions existing in their mind. When this happens, the other world will appear, and they will become aware of the worlds of spirit and Kami. Without this, people cannot approach Kami filled with reverence and awe, nor can they experience true faith with gratitude in their hearts and minds. However, the faith I am talking about here is not something that can simply be taught at college.

Shinto sees everything in existence as generated by and transformed from the ultimate origin of life; this is expressed in the idea that all forms of life are a child-spirit of the original Kami.

Each Kami has its own characteristics, but they are not fixed. Furthermore, the Kami can spread out simultaneously into various places and various existences. This concept can actually be applied to human beings also. In the section on “one spirit, four souls” (Chapter 6), we shall see that the human being is the assembled body of many souls. This assembled body of souls can sometimes be divided. That is why a well-trained spiritual person can send off his own separated soul to a distant location or a different time period to perform long distance healing, precognition, or clairvoyance.

as it recognizes and celebrates the diversity of nature. For beneath that diversity there is an underlying unity — the union of humanity, earth, and heaven.

Now if you find yourself lost in the spiritual aspect, what will you do? A sage once told me, "Go back to your origin." And what is our "origin"? Nature, ultimately, if we trace back our roots.