Description:
Adherents are taught that Mahikari originated from divine revelations that Okada Yoshikazu received during a spontaneous episode of kamigakari in 1959, and academic studies generally present the view that it is a derivative of Sekai Kyūseikyō and Ōmoto. From the perspective of adherents, if not scholars, these two views are mutually exclusive. In practice, the origins of many religions in the Ōmoto lineage are not easy to clarify. Adherents tend to identify a founder's initial revelation or other mystical occurrence as the starting point of a religion, and consider this occurrence to be so momentous that the previous religious affiliations of the founder, if known, become largely irrelevant. The doctrines of these religions are typically based on divine revelations received by the founder through means such as kamigakari, chinkon kishin, and psychical investigation techniques.