Tenrikyo - The Reason of Heaven

     

This universe is the body of God.

Ponder this in all matters.


 

III: 73 -80

On the eleventh, the nine will be gone and hardship forgotten.
I await the twenty-sixth of the first month.

By that time, the core will be settled and greed forgotten.
Let all performers assemble and prepare for the Service.

This is an interesting pair. I have seen several different translations of verse 73, all of which lead me to believe that it is difficult in the original. Recall that amongst the followers there was a reluctance to perform the Service. That reluctance, we have been shown, came from fear of the authorities, peer pressure, a misunderstanding of the purpose and intention of the Service, doubt and outright rejection of God's efforts to open a path of single-hearted salvation. That is to say God's efforts to open a path for returning the mind to its original condition and awakening to being one with God's mind and intention were slow in being realized. Ordinarily we think of the Service as the way to settle our hearts and become single-hearted God. In the verses above we can see that it was, and still is, necessary for God to hasten those who turn to God for aid and comfort to settle their hearts even enough for them to be able to step out on the path and perform the Service. This was and still is an urgent problem. A path that nobody walks on soon becomes over grown and isn't a path anymore.

There is another point that I wish to make and perhaps verse 73 provides a good place to introduce it. The difficulty with verse 73 both in the original and in translation is one of finding the right context or interpretation. There are three contexts or interpretations in every verse of the Ofudesaki.

The first context or interpretation is made up of our self-centered truths. From God's point of view these self-centered truths are an obstacle to knowing , understanding, becoming one with, God's true heart, the truth of origin. For that reason only, God hastens us to settle, sweep, calm, replace or clear our self centered truths so the truth of origin, the root truth of all truths can be revealed.

The second context or interpretation is the fulfillment of God's promise to enter into our mind "and clear it of mud, whatever kind it may be." We know that the poems of the Ofudesaki address our human misunderstanding. So this second context or interpretation represents God's tireless efforts within the mud of our minds. What kind of mud is it? It is "whatever kind it may be", however, in the Ofudesaki, God is addressing some of the issues that are characteristic of a particular time and a particular place and many differing levels of spiritual maturity.

The third is the context or interpretation of single-heartedness with God. To know this context and for that matter the truth of any and everything, we need only make our mind like clear water and test the truth of origin for ourselves.

I think that it is essential for a Yoboku to be able to distinguish between these three contexts or interpretations and to work at developing the skill necessary to follow the model path that is shown in the Ofudesaki.

Day after day, the mind of God hastens
to show you free and unlimited workings quickly.

From now on, the performers will assemble and do the Service.
This will truly settle Nihon.

God is in a hurry and the followers are not. Though they believed that God was God and they sincerely wanted to be saved they had other priorities to take care of. This situation is no different here and now. Nihon here of course refers to the truth of origin.

Since My aim is truly single-hearted salvation,
there is nothing at all for you to fear.

Unfortunately there is no understanding of single-heartedness in our everyday worldly common thinking. Fear was and is pretty well understood by the self-centered imagination.

If you dare to stop all works for single-hearted salvation,
the regret of god will appear as a disorder of the body.

Recall the interaction of interpretations. Though there is nothing to fear the self-centered imagination is afraid. Though there is nothing to fear the above verse has to strike fear into the self-centered imagination that is afraid. God is speaking the language of fear to those minds that are in the grip of fear.

Ponder well! Never think that these preparations
for universal salvation are human workings.

One solution to the problem for the followers was and is to work God's path of single-hearted salvation into something more familiar, something that would fit in better with the worldly common self-centered thinking. Our model story records many such efforts, all of which were rejected by God.

Until now, you have not been able to understand anything.
There was nothing but human thinking.

Unfortunately, worldly common human thinking only keeps us from the path of universal salvation. The human thinking referred to is the self-centered imagination, which is anchored to a body, with the thought that is understood as "this is my body". It is a core idea of the self-image, that is who we imagine our self to be, the pillar of "Kara" as opposed to the original and natural self that exists before ideas, the pillar of "Nihon", single-heartedness with the God.

I believe that the quotations below provide the keys for fully understanding the Ofudesaki and any of God's sermons and teachings. I would like to recall however that we think of advancing in grades year by year. God on the other hand is in a hurry and knows that it is possible to awaken even now in this time and this place. It all depends upon our sincerity in distinguishing the clear from the muddy.

Reading through the Ofudesaki, we have a tendency to think that it is repeatedly saying the same thing over and over; sometimes this way, sometimes that way; sometimes advancing, sometimes reconsidering. While it does teach repeatedly, I feel that, when we look at the verses in light of the events taking place, we shall understand that it is never repeating the "same thing." In whatever chapter we read, there seems to be and intention She is trying to teach, and it seems that She is trying to do so according to the people's stage of spiritual growth. Let me explain this by means of a simple example: It would be unreasonable to give a first grader study materials intended for a sixth grader. Instead we teach children gradually, according to their development, putting them in first grade, then the second grade, then the third grade and in this way we raise them to become adults, gradually teaching them more difficult things, things with more depth.

October, 28, 1987, The 3rd Shinbashira

 

When we seek an ideal for our own lives from the Divine Model of Oyasama, interpretations that we understand from it may differ depending on our individual situations: for instance, an interpretation from a child's point of view; and interpretation from a parent's point of view an interpretation of someone who is following the path of single-hearted salvation; and so on.

February 18, 1986 - The 3rd Shinbashira