Rev.Seicho Taniguchi Passes Away on October 28
Life-Long Dedication to the Promulgation of the Truth
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, passed away quietly at 10:21 p.m. on October 28 at his home in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, with his family at his side. He succeeded the Seicho-No-Ie Presidency from Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi, founder, and promulgated the Truth, always at the forefront of the Humanity Enlightenment Movement. He was 89 years old.
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi dedicated his entire life to the promulgation of the teachings. He provided guidance through publications and at Public Lecture Meetings over a long 63-year period since joining the Seicho-No-Ie Headquarters in 1945. In 1945 he was employed by the Headquarters after applying for a position to “translate Western scientific material and literary writings,” one of Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi’s plans for the Humanity Enlightenment Movement after the end of the War.
The articles which Rev. Taniguchi wrote monthly for magazines under the old system and the current two types of monthly magazines (those for the general readership and the other for members) were subsequently compiled for publication as books. The number of his books totals 227. They include Shobogenzo o Yomu (Reading Shobogenzo), Volumes 1-3; and Taniguchi Seicho Shinsho Bunshu (A Collection of Seicho Taniguchi’s New Books), total 10 volumes; Seicho-No-Ie no Shinko ni tsuite (The Faith of Seicho-No-Ie) etc., including co-authored books and reprinted publications.
As for the guidance at Public Lecture Meetings in Japan, he gave a total of 2,221 Public Lecture Meetings: his first one was at Nanbu-cho, Wakayama Prefecture in September 1948 and his last was at Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture on March 30, 1994. This exceeds the 1,874 times that Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi guided Public Lecture Meetings. The President’s overseas Public Lecture Tours total five times: he went to Hawaii, the mainland U.S.A. and Brazil in 1956; to Brazil in 1970; to Ghana in 1974; to Mexico, Brazil, the mainland U.S.A and Hawaii in 1977; and to Brazil in 1982.
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi was born on October 23, 1919 in Hiroshima City, as the oldest son of the Arachi Family. His father was a judge in the court.
In 1941, when World War II broke out, he graduated from the Tokyo Imperial University, Faculty of Literature, Psychology Department. The following year, he was drafted to the Japanese Army and joined the regiment in Hamada City, Shimane Prefecture. Shortly thereafter, he developed tuberculosis and was hospitalized in the Hamada Army Hospital. There he read the Seimei no Jisso (Truth of Life), which he borrowed from his roommate. This was the beginning of his long relationship with Seicho-No-Ie.
As he lay in bed, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi immersed himself in reading the Seimei no Jisso, was deeply moved and overcame his tuberculosis. He subsequently took on the task of “translating Western scientific material and literary writings,” which was announced in the November 1945 issue of Seicho-No-Ie magazine.
In 1946 Rev. Taniguchi married Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi’s oldest daughter, Emiko, the current President of the White Dove Association. He contributed the article, “Shinsokan as the Cultural Source” in the first issue of Seicho suru Seinen (Growing Youth) in 1947. With the establishment of the Seicho-No-Ie Youth and Young Adult Association in 1948, he became the first Chief of the Association. At the same time, he started to guide the Public Lecture Meetings independently. In 1949, he became the head of the religious organization, Seicho-No-Ie. In 1957, under the newly-implemented organizational reform, he became Vice President of the religious juridical person, “Seicho-No-Ie”.
When Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi passed away in June 1985, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi assumed the Presidency at the Seicho-No-Ie Presidency Succession Ceremony held at the Main Temple in November of the same year. In his message at the Ceremony he talked about the great significance of the Succession of “Seicho-No-Ie Presidency” (included in the new edition of Seikoroku [Record of Holy Light].
From April 1991 Rev. Seicho Taniguchi started guiding the Public Lecture Meetings together with Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, Vice President of Seicho-No-Ie. The joint guidance of the Public Lecture Meetings lasted for three years until March 1994. In April of the same year, the baton was handed over to Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi.
The President, however, took no break and started, in the same year, to guide the Group Visit/Worship Spiritual Training Seminars at the Main Temple and Special Spiritual Training Seminars at the Tobitakyu Spiritual Training Center. He continued to personally guide these events until February 2005, when he fell ill.
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi lectured with humor and taught the Seicho-No-Ie teachings in an easy-to-understand manner, sometimes gently, and other times sternly. During the Q&A periods he gave quick and witty answers. There are a countless people who were saved by his guidance.
Rev. Seicho Taniguchi also took deep interest in art. He took his camera and tripod when going to the Public Lecture Meetings and photographed near the lecture sites. Some of his pictures are used on the covers of his books. Also, he wrote and composed many Seicho-No-Ie songs, including “Anata o Tataeru Uta” (Song to Praise You). He loved music and even took electric organ lessons at one time.
He used to walk to work at the Headquarters and pick up empty cans and rubbish on his way. He set an example of actually living by the teachings in one’s daily life, which constitutes the main pillar of today’s environmental protection activity.