7. The Establishment of Kongo Zen Sohonzan Shorinji
In 1951 the law governing religious corporations was promulgated, and the group's name was changed from Ko Manji Kyodan (Group for the Teaching of the Yellow Manji) to Kongo Zen Sohonzan Shorinji. Since the beginning - from the night Dharuma inspired Kaiso in a dream to create the group - Shorinji Kempo had been a Zen discipline. This new name did not change that fact, but rather, took the occasion of the establishment as a new organization under the new religious corporation law to change the name to better signal the content of the group's teachings.
Historically, the name Kongo Zen comes from the Deva Kings, the two protective demi-gods whose statues have traditionally flanked the left and right sides of the gates to Buddhist temples. "Deva" is a word from India, but in Japan they are called Nio Son, or Kongo Shin. The name expresses the wish to be like the Nio Son and acquire a strong physique and the strength that can give backbone to justice. It is also based on Kaiso's thought that - just as the Nio Son achieve their effect precisely because they pair two bodies, one open and one closed, one yin and one yang - to achieve harmony while maintaining opposition is the very form of the Dharma, the True Law that unifies the entire universe.
Along with the new organization, a newsletter, "Shorinji Kempo," was inaugurated. In it, Kaiso taught that to learn Shorinji Kempo was not simply a matter of training in the physical, combative aspect, but that the core strength lay in honing spiritual capacity, and thus one would pursue the acquisition of techniques because one aimed to harmonize spirit and body. Thus, both Shorinji Kempo, a path to right the desolation of Japan, and Kongo Zen, a Buddhist philosophical core to provide a pillar of mental and spiritual support, were issued forth clearly.