Paper short abstract:

More than adherence to Tenrikyo dogma, presence and participation were prioritized as to what to immediately strive for in this religious context. This outside-in approach and the purported connection between the sensing, acting body and the spiritual self will be discussed and explored.

Paper long abstract:

“Tenrikyo is not something one understands through the mind, but little bit by little bit through experience and by doing.” This statement, made to me by a key research participant charged with guiding me in the Tenrikyo faith was one I occasionally heard echoed by others throughout the span of my research at the main European center of the Japanese new religion of Tenrikyo, situated in a Parisian suburb. This quotation highlights the outside-in approach to religious transformation and engagement at this religious center and in this religious tradition in which emphasis was often placed on what one does, rather than what one believes. Notably, participating in the choreographed dance ritual of the “Service” was positioned as a key point of importance, largely secondary to questions of religious conviction or belief. Likewise, participation in other religiously-linked activities was also highly encouraged and sought after, again largely eclipsing the question of belief. More than adherence to a set of religious teachings or a particular cosmological model, presence and participation were prioritized as what to immediately strive for. This is reflective of a view that while one’s embodied self is affected by one’s inner heart, one’s inner heart can, in turn, be affected by one’s embodied actions. By cultivating one’s outer, embodied self, one was also cultivating one’s inner heart and one’s spiritual growth. In this paper, this outside-in approach to spiritual engagement and the purported connection between the sensing, acting body and the spiritual self will be explored.