My favorite moment in The Rebirth of Buddha is where the TSI members open arrive at the hospital and open the door, and a great wave of light floods in before them and sweeps away the unhappy ghosts that haunt the place. Who wouldn’t want to be like that?

Lately I have been rereading Ryuho Okawa’s The Laws of Eternity. It is kind of refreshing to read, as it is quite objective, and makes no mention of Mr Okawa as God or Buddha, as he has become known among his followers of late. I find this worship of a living person very disconcerting, and more so since he seems to encourage it. But in this early book, there is no such disturbance, and this makes the book quite pleasant to return to.

In continuation of this, I came to remember my unfinished attempt at JulNoWriMo last year. Working full through the summer may have been one reason why I didn’t write 50 000 words that month, as I had originally planned. There were probably other reasons as well, I have forgotten. Oh wait – I moved that month, much to my surprise. That would explain it. Anyway, I dug out the manuscript now and read it through, and quite naturally began to add to it.

The story, so far only having the codename TSI July, is about an American member of the TSI (the equivalent of Happy Science in the world of the movie The Rebirth of Buddha). As usual for my TSI fanfic, I have taken the liberty of fleshing out with real-life Happy Science content. Master Sorano is an author of hundreds of books like his counterpart in this world. I should not take this too far, though.

Actually the movie gives the impression that TSI is a bit more secretive than Happy Science: The main character has not heard about them, which would probably be rare in today’s Japan. Also the Buddha Reborn, Sorano Tayou, looks like a halfblood Japanese / European. Sorano is actually an Italian name, so it may be more than the looks. And the name of the organization is TSI even in the Japanese movie, meaning that it is canon that the organization has an English name. One of the few named members is an Australian. There is a meeting depicted in the movie with somewhere in the range a thousand or a few thousand members, I think; at any rate far less than the huge crowds that regularly attend lectures by Mr Okawa in his homeland.

So I consider writing in a twist where Master Sorano starts his movement in Japan, but for some reason is rejected or in danger there and the movement goes abroad for the next phase, expanding in English-speaking countries (thus becoming known as the Taiyou Sorano Institute, TSI, which is its name in the movie). Sorano then returns to Japan in time for the great confrontation seen in the movie. That would neatly explain some of the loose threads in the movie. Of course, this is all fanfiction from my side. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I enjoy immersing myself in the happy world of the imaginary TSI members.

The story itself is told from the perspective of an American boy whose father becomes unemployed and is lost in drink, the parents are divorced, his mother shacks up with some guy for a while but eventually they are thrown out and end up on welfare in a trailer park in a dangerous neighborhood by the time he is 18. At the climax of his misery, he has an encounter with a TSI member and his life takes a sharp turn for the better. Happiness ensues.

I like it when my characters are happy, but it makes for poor literature, I have been told. I personally think some authors go overboard in torturing their characters, though. Anyway, since this is fanfiction, I can’t sell it anyway, so I don’t need to worry overmuch about the literature critics.

It is probably safest for all involved if I confine my exegesis of Happy Science to imaginary worlds, anyway. Happy imaginary worlds.