Editing Ryuho Okawa (section)

===Spiritual contacts===
Okawa claims to have been contacted with a divine spirit. His official story as described in later books is as follows. On 23 March 1981, before graduating from university and working at TOMEN Corporation, Okawa experienced a "Buddha Enlightenment", a contact with a divine spirit.<ref name=astley1995p345 /><ref name=fukui2004p65>{{Harvnb|Fukui|2004|p=65}}</ref> He claims this spirit was that of [[Nikkō Shōnin]], who was one of [[Nichiren]]'s disciples.<ref name=fukui2004p65/> On that day, he had a sudden feeling that a person was trying to communicate with him. He grabbed a pencil and a card. His hand started to [[Automatic writing|move on its own]], and wrote "良い知らせ、良い知らせ" (good news, good news). Asking who the person is, his hand signed "日興", the name of Nikkō. A week later, the spirit of Nichiren himself started contacting Okawa. They then communicated every day from March to July 1981, when he was still working at TOMEN. Okawa asked the spirit what mission he should pursue in life. The spirit replied "Love others, nurture others, and forgive others".<ref name=fukui2004p65 /> This message later became the basis of Okawa's teachings about love.<ref name=astley1995p346>{{Harvnb|Astley|1995|p=346}}</ref>

In June 1981, the religious leader [[Shinji Takahashi (religious leader)|Shinji Takahashi]]'s spirit told Okawa his destiny to found a new religion. His father Yoshikawa, upon hearing of this, went to Tokyo, later becoming one of his followers. The next month, the spirits spoke through Okawa, including those of [[Kūkai]], [[Shinran]], [[Confucius]], [[Jesus Christ]], [[Moses]], and [[Nostradamus]]. Yoshikawa and Tomiyama taped the communications.<ref name=astley1995p346 /><ref name=fukui2004p66 />{{efn|The identity of Okawa's father and older brother were hidden; they were initially described as Okawa's friends under the names {{Nihongo|Yoshikawa Saburō|善川 三朗|Yoshikawa Saburō}} and {{Nihongo|Tomiyama Makoto|富山 誠|Tomiyama Makoto}} respectively. Their true identities were revealed through investigation by Japanese sources in 1991.<ref name=astley1995p377 />}} The tapes were interviews between the interviewing Yoshikawa and the spirits. Okawa acted as a spiritual medium and answered Yoshikawa's questions.<ref name=winter2013p427>{{Harvnb|Winter|2013|p=427}}</ref> The tapes were transcribed and adapted into publishable formats by Yoshikawa.<ref name=astley1995p346 /><ref name=fukui2004p66 /> Yoshikawa's help allowed Okawa to continue working as a businessman at TOMEN Corporation. Without his help, Happy Science could possibly have started differently and at a later date, or even not have been founded at all.<ref name=fukui2004p66 /> The spiritual messages were given to the publisher {{Nihongo||[[:ja:潮文社]]|Chōbunsha}} because they specialized in spiritual works.<ref name=fukui2004p67>{{Harvnb|Fukui|2004|p=67}}</ref>

Okawa published a vast number of spiritual messages from various spirits in order to prove the existence of the Spirit World to the public.<ref name=fukui2004p67 /> His first thirteen books, published from 1985 to 1987, consisted of these spiritual messages;<ref name=fukui2004pp66-67>{{Harvnb|Fukui|2004|pp=66–67}}</ref> the first eight were published from 1985 to 1986<ref name=fukui2004p67 /> under Yoshikawa's pen name to avoid Okawa's authorship being found out by his employers.<ref name=astley1995p347>{{Harvnb|Astley|1995|p=347}}</ref><ref name=winter2013p425 /> The first book, {{Nihongo|''The Spiritual Messages of Nichiren''|日蓮の霊言|Nichiren no reigen}},{{efn|Originally {{Nihongo|''Nichiren Shōnin no reigen''|日蓮聖人の霊言|Nichiren Shōnin-no-reigen}}<ref name=hotaka2012p144>{{Harvnb|Hotaka|2012|p=144}}</ref>}} was published on 15 August 1985.<ref name=astley1995p347 /><ref name=fukui2004p67 /> The last two spiritual messages were published in early 1991: {{Nihongo|''The Great Warning of Allah''|アラーの大警|Arā no dai-keikoku}} (January 1991) and {{Nihongo|''The Terrifying Revelations of Nostradamus''|ノストラダムス戦慄の啓示|Nosutoradamusu senritsu no keiji}} (February 1991).<ref name=fukui2004p67 /><ref name=astley1995p350>{{Harvnb|Astley|1995|p=350}}</ref> Both became best-sellers in Japan in 1991. After 1991, almost all spiritual message books were discontinued aside from the messages of Buddha.<ref name=fukui2004p67 />

The books of spiritual messages were replaced with newer versions when Okawa started publishing under his own name after the foundation of Happy Science. The new books were akin to collected and revised versions of the originals. They are presented as religious tractates which are divided into chapters, rather than interviews between Yoshikawa and the spirits.<ref name=winter2013p427 />

Okawa told his readers to not let foreigners read the spiritual messages and not translate the messages into English, Chinese, or Korean. He says that foreigners should not know about the messages "until the time is ripe"<ref name=astley1995p377/> and that propagating them overseas would "only heighten the fear."<ref name=astley1995p377 /> Astley (1995) says the real reason Okawa discouraged readers from spreading the messages abroad may be because the messages seem to contain a large amount of plagiarism.<ref name=astley1995p377 />

Okawa not only claimed to be a reincarnation of [[Gautama Buddha]] but also the incarnation of a "Highest Spiritual Being" named “El Cantare”. Okawa claimed El Cantare was one of ten Highest Spiritual Beings.<ref name=fukui2004p65 /> According to Okawa, this was revealed to him by the consciousness of Gautama Buddha himself. This revelation convinced him that his mission was to spread truth on earth.{{efn|According to Happy Science's doctrine, a person has six souls. Each one is alternately reincarnated throughout time. Each soul's experience can be shared with the other five. For example, Gautama Buddha, Hermes, and Okawa are believed to be three different incarnations of the same person. Because of this, both Hermes and Gautama, who are past incarnations of Okawa, have different personalities and can individually talk to Okawa. Thus the Buddha can communicate with his reincarnation Okawa.<ref name=fukui2004p66 />}}<ref name=fukui2004p66 />