Tenrikyo's Dynamic Mission - SAMPLER

intro Today, the time has come.
I must tell you the truth of all matters.

This universe is the body of God.
Ponder this in all matters.

As instructed and in all matters these pages will attempt to stay aligned with the intention expressed in the poems shown above and will try to show a correspondence between both the Model Story of Miki Nakayama and the Model Path of Single-hearted Salvation. A path which She showed with the sole intention that the truth of origin be revealed through the human mind for the benefit all human beings equally.

The ponderings and the reflections on that Model and Path having been brought to my mind I will, to the best of my ability, share them with anyone who might be interested in knowing and understanding the true origin of their mind and the truth of self as a human being. In every case my intention is to advance the path of single heartedness with the one truth of origin. For me this has been a labor of love and hopefully someone may gain some benefit from these ponderings and reflections in the same way that I have gained in recalling, pondering and writing them down; though admittedly I consider myself to be a pretty poor writer and ask the readers pardon in this matter. Keeping in mind that the path of single-heartedness with the truth of our origin is both a path and a truth for everybody equally and that  God the Parent is no less my parent of origin than anyone else's, I venture to put my sincere two cents into the discussion.

The Tenrikyo Dynamic Mission can be viewed as having three elements, each of which is focused on a single intention that flows from the knowledge and understanding of a single truth.

Ponder over this talk, all of you in the world.
There in no mind the same as another.

Even between parent and child, husband and wife, and
brothers and sister: their minds all differ from one another.

In its ongoing efforts to reason with and convince all of the numerous other truths that occupy the human mind to take a moment and assume the original pristine condition of being totally "quiet" or "settled" "like clear water", the Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo works to stay focused on and employ the power, knowledge and understanding of that one truth of origin as a precious gift to all human beings equally. The intention of the Dynamic Tenrikyo Mission is then to help each person who voluntarily wishes to do so, bring their mind into a state that is totally quiet, clear or settled. That pristine state need only last just long enough to "reveal" or "expose" the one truth of origin that permanently exists at the "root", "core" or "heart" of every human mind.

Intentionally "exposing"  the one truth of origin reveals it to be the one truth that all of our other truths "rise up" both in and from and it is that one truth that remains when all of our other truths are quiet. When reasonably pondered that one truth of origin is known and understood to be the one truth that all of the other truths owe their existence to. Sometimes it is said that a mind that has voluntarily returned to its original pristine condition is in the state of being "single hearted", "one with the truth of origin" or that it has returned to its place of manufacture, the place where it was made (Jiba).

It is intended that the effort to stay focused on and employ the knowledge and understanding that flows from revealing and pondering the one truth of origin will result in a precious gift to all humankind and through the elimination of the cause of suffering and dissatisfaction, a better life for all human beings equally. The following clearly expresses the mechanism that creates our dissatisfaction and suffering as well as the corrective intention of this teaching.State of Mind Reflected

The state of mind of man gives birth to the state of the world. The state of man, the truth of the mind of man, becomes the state of the world. You cannot find joy in this state. Therefore I teach.
Osashizu July 7, 1890

In order for the Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo to satisfy and reasonably address the truths and expectations of different human minds rising up at different times and different places throughout the world and while working to open all human minds to the way of reasoning that flows from the one truth of origin, it is recognized that all means will have to be employed toward reasonably accomplishing that end. Opening a human mind or all human minds to reason, particularly the reasoning that leads to exposing, knowing and understanding the one truth of our origin is not a trivial task.  For that reason specific models for both calming and quieting the numerous truths that inhabit the human imagination have been shown.

The Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo then is concerned on the one hand with maintaining a steady focus on the one truth of origin. And  also with the maintenance of the Model Stories and the Narrow Model Path that were the basis of  teachings given in a particular time and place. That is to say, delivering teachings that were appropriate for the levels of maturity and openness of mind of those who said that they wanted to hear, know and understand the one truth of origin, the original cause of all things. Interestingly enough the root cause of dissatisfaction and suffering at any given time or place in human history thus far has been the same. In general we, as a species, are unable to distinguish between the truths that we have created using the power of our imaginations and the truth of things as they are and as they appear in the light of the knowledge and understanding of the truth of their origin. That such is our natural condition implies the need for an entirely new and evolved foundation for our thinking. Anything less is just a flavor or continuation of the state of our mind that has led to dissatisfaction and the lack of joy in our experience of the world.

On the other hand The Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo is concerned with cultivating and the hastening the maturity of those people who say that they want to be instrumental in the use of "all means" to open new paths for all human minds to awaken to the reasoning that flows from the knowledge and understanding of the one truth of origin.  Whether referred to as "Instruments", Intermediaries", "Timbers", "Carpenters", "Pathfinders", "Pioneers" or some other name, to be effective the basis for a teaching must always stay focused on the knowledge and understanding that flows from awakening to the one truth of origin, the original parental heart and on the sincere effort to help each other to awaken from our purely self centered dreams and indeed to stay awake.

 In this regard there is "an order to the path". From the point of view of the Tenrikyo's Dynamic Mission the order of the Path is crucial. If the path of awakening to the one truth of origin is taken out of order it ceases to be a path to be followed and will simply become just another system of imagined, static worldly common truths and beliefs. In the order of the path, calming, quieting, sweeping, filtering, purifying, settling (you get the idea) the mind and exposing its origin, core, heart comes first. Next in order comes reasonably pondering what remained of the mind when the origin, heart or core of the mind was exposed. Finally, through pondering the heart, the one truth of origin, comes the promised knowledge and understanding of the original cause of all things, the truth of any and everything and the free point of view of joy, paradise, freedom from illness, weakening and death.

These pages intend to explore the existing tools of the Model Path and to show their deep connection and intention with the task of calming the mind and exposing the one truth of origin. They are also intended to explore and probe for opportunities for new paths to address the needs and concerns of people who say that they would like to hear and enjoy fruits of awakening to  the one truth of origin. And finally they serve to keep me oriented on the knowledge and understanding of the truth of origin, since I am not a professional writer, academic, philosopher or student of theology I have to struggle to find and imagine worldly common words that describe the indescribable and unimaginable that is the state of mind that we call the truth of origin. For me the Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo has delivered what is promised and I can honestly say that the path that exposes the one truth and returns the mind to its original pristine condition is indeed a remarkable path.

The Dynamic Mission of Tenrikyo is then to provide help to anyone who wants to hear and is willing to listen to the teaching that shows the way to quickly awaken to the one truth of origin. When we speak of providing help it makes sense that those of us who would like to be instruments in the recreation of world of joyous life may also find ourselves holding out the promise of help to people who feel that they need help. Turning to Miki Nakayama's "Model Story" we find that there is a disconnect between the intentions and expectations of those who would like help and the kind of help that our Parent of Origin is offering. It is crucial then that we try to approach the Model Story from God the Parent's point of view as that is what is actually being modeled as the path to be followed.

* The content of these pages is drawn from standard English Language dictionaries, Tenrikyo sources that are published in English and on the reasoning that is based on the implications of my own knowledge  and understanding of the truth of origin as it is known and understood by pondering from a point of view that has as its foundation the recollection of the totally settled mind like clear water.

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