One cannot reach any other decision than that Scientology is a religion. It has more similarities to Japanese religions than Western religions, and for this reason it may be misunderstood in the West for not being similar to the other mainstream religions. But, nevertheless, it is an international religion. very similar to religions in Japan that have adherents numbering 20 million.

Making people better with the natural spiritual healing arts is not a lost practice in Japanese religions, as it is for some other religions. Religions such as Seicho-no-Ie, Sekai-Kyusei-kyo, Shinto-tenkokyo, Ananai-kyo and others are all interested in practices in Japan that bring out the state of Chin-kon-Kishin. The number of followers number 20 million. Though their techniques may be different, their purposes and goals have a direct similarity to the Scientology practice of auditing and having its members move up the Bridge to Total Freedom, grade by grade.

In other major world religions, too, such a state is not without description. In Islam, there is the term “Imam Zamam” which means a person so enlightened that he can fully perceive all the seven meanings of the Holy Koran.

In the Christian confessional one also has to confront one’s past. Again this is similar to Scientology, which also offers confessional procedure. A person has to look back into his past, confront another person with it—the auditor—and confess. The result is the same for both faiths—a betterment of the spirit and a resurgence in life.

This brings us full circle again to the prophecy of Buddha, who predicted that one day Metteya would liberate man from what is holding him back. In Japan, the Metteya prophecy is different from those of the Pali. Here the prophecy is not so much that a person will necessarily return, but rather that man could have a way of returning to the spiritual state as prophesied. Many religions in Japan have been waiting for such events to evolve, both Buddhist and Shinto. Scientology does have a means of raising man’s spiritual ability. Japan is a country where religions place an accent on the raising of one’s spiritual ability. From a Japanese point of view, Scientology is indeed a similar religion to others already here.