I am delighted that we have duly concluded the performance of the Autumn Grand Service. Please allow me to express my heartfelt appreciation for the daily efforts you are devoting to the path.<\/p>\n
I wish to take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you and, therefore, may I ask for your attention for a while.<\/p>\n
The day of origin that marks the founding of the Teaching also marks the beginning of the path of Oyasama’s Divine Model. In addition, from our human point of view, it is the day of origin when we committed ourselves to implementing God the Parent’s intention despite the astonishment and confusion stemming from our first encounter with it.<\/p>\n
Surely I am not the only one who is feeling the tenseness in the air today by recalling what happened at the Residence and its vicinity on that day as well as how Oyasama’s husband, Zenbei, must have felt as he engaged in the crucial dialogue with God the Parent at the conjunction of the three causalities of person, place, and time.<\/p>\n
The significance of performing the Autumn Grand Service today in commemoration of the day of origin of the Teaching is to take to heart the intention in founding the Teaching, to bring ourselves into complete accord with God the Parent’s intention, and to commit ourselves to striving for the cause of the path of single-hearted salvation with Oyasama’s Divine Model as our goal.<\/p>\n
It goes without saying that the intention in founding the Teaching is to save all human beings throughout the world. In addition, Oyasama’s Divine Model is the path of the Divine Model for single-hearted salvation, which She demonstrated out of Her parental love for all humankind.<\/p>\n
(Continued on the next page<\/a>)<\/p>\n Part III of the Ofudesaki tells us how salvation promised by this teaching is not brought about by formulas of worship, or by exorcism, or other such common practices. Instead, the Ofudesaki says:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At this place, I shall teach everything. Be single-hearted with God, and from your innermost heart. . .<\/p>\n Ponder from your innermost heart to understand. Through saving others, you will be saved.<\/p>\n III:46-47<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n As indicated by these verses, God the Parent will teach us the truth of all things. What we are to do is to rely on God the Parent and live in full accord with the divine intention, thereby enabling us to be saved from the core of the mind: such is this path. God the Parent invites us to ponder deeply until a full understanding comes to us. Moreover, by telling us, “Through saving others, you will be saved,” God the Parent urges us to implement that understanding.<\/p>\n Thus, these Ofudesaki verses clearly indicate the nature of our faith, namely, that in this path we are saved by replacing our mind, as well as transforming our manner of living, on the basis of the truth of the teachings. We are further taught that, instead of stopping there, we ought to proceed to work for the salvation of others if we are to attain true salvation.<\/p>\n When we speak of world salvation, we are not talking about doing anything special. It all starts when we work with the people close at hand while trying to spread the teachings. We go on to work at alleviating whatever anxieties and sufferings they are experiencing. What is really important from the perspective of the divine intention, however, is that the relief they find should serve as an incentive to seek to understand the truth of the teachings and transform the way they use the mind and the way they live. Furthermore, only when we continue to guide them to the point where they take it upon themselves to strive for the salvation of others can we say that we are engaging in salvation work in the true sense of the word.<\/p>\n The reason for saying so is that the aim of this path is to save all humankind and thereby bring about the world of the Joyous Life, wherein all people help one another.<\/p>\n (Continued on the next page<\/a>)<\/p>\n On the occasion of the ceremony to open Tenri Seminary, the first Shinbashira stated in his address that this seminary was designed to train and educate Tenrikyo instructors who would be equipped with not only unshakable faith but also academic learning and moral integrity. Thus, the purpose for establishing Tenri Seminary was to train Tenrikyo instructors.<\/p>\n Among the followers in general at the time, however there was the deep-rooted feeling that the path had no need for academic learning. Yet, because Tenrikyo was seeking sectarian independence, the first Shinbashira was under pressure from the government’s religious affairs agency to systematize Tenrikyo’s teachings and to change the way it was conducting its activities. Under the circumstances, the anxieties that the first Shinbashira must have felt when making the decision to establish Tenri Seminary were surely beyond our imagination.<\/p>\n Another factor behind his decision to open this seminary, I believe, was his innate aspiration for academic learning. Yet another factor, I presume, was the need for academic learning that he must have felt strongly in the course of executing the heavy responsibilities that he had taken upon himself by becoming the head of the Nakayama household at the age of 17. Not only did he have to deal with the control by the police and complicated relations with neighbors and with the administrative authorities, but he also needed to lead the followers of the path.<\/p>\n Later, in 1908, because of the circumstances both within and outside Tenrikyo, Tenri Seminary was reorganized in such a way that the secondary-education part of the seminary was transferred to Tenri Middle School and that the Special Course\u2014known as Bekka, the forerunner of Shuyoka, the Spiritual Development Course\u2014was established within the seminary. Over the subsequent 30-plus years until March 1941, the Special Course was to train and nurture a great many Yoboku who contributed to the growth of the path.<\/p>\n I will not go into the rest of the history of Tenri Seminary, but I would suggest that we take this opportunity to reflect on the day of origin of the seminary and thereby take a fresh look at the issue of training and educating human resources required for constructing the Joyous Life World.<\/p>\n (Continued on the next page<\/a>)<\/p>\n Oyasama took especially great pains to train the Service performers. Besides drawing forth the Service performers and teaching them the hand movements and musical instruments for the Service, She taught them the significance of the Service, trained them in the basic stance of the mind appropriate for the Service, and urged them to perform the Service in a unity of mind. These expressions of Her parental heart are found throughout the Ofudesaki, from beginning to end.<\/p>\n The Anecdotes of Oyasama<\/em> depicts Oyasama as personally showing the followers how to sing the songs for the Service and how to perform the dance movements for the Service. We also find that Oyasama personally taught young girls how to play the musical instruments for the Service. Moreover, we sense the great affection with which She gave encouragement to these performers by telling them: “Play it with all your heart” for “God will accept the harmony of the hearts of the performers.”<\/p>\n Let me get back to the year 1900. By that time, more than ten years had passed following Oyasama’s withdrawal from physical life, and the number of followers who had never personally met Oyasama was increasing each year. In addition, the number of second-generation followers began to increase around that time.<\/p>\n Surely the reason the first Shinbashira authorized the Book of the Besseki in 1898 and in the same year wrote his Biography of Oyasama<\/em>, which was later to serve as the basis for the present Life of Oyasama<\/em>, was that he wished to ensure that Oyasama’s direct teachings and Her Divine Model would be accurately transmitted to later generations.<\/p>\n Further, although the authorities were in fact pressuring Tenrikyo to systematize its teachings and to improve its organizational structure, it seems likely that the remarkable growth Tenrikyo was making at the time\u2014when the number of followers was estimated to be as many as three million\u2014made it necessary for Tenrikyo to train religious instructors under systematic guidelines.<\/p>\n During those days when various institutions such as Tenri Seminary were thus taking shape, the first Shinbashira made a point of setting an example by taking the time to work personally with the staff and students at Tenri Seminary despite his busy schedule in handling church affairs. He thereby devoted a great deal of energy to training and educating them.<\/p>\n As this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the seminary, I want all of us to take this opportunity to recall that not only the seminary but also all our training and educational institutions such as the Spiritual Development Course, the Head Minister Qualification Course, as well as the school system ranging from elementary school through university are all based upon the first Shinbashira’s desire and personal efforts to train Tenrikyo instructors who would be equipped with not only unshakable faith but also academic learning and moral integrity. Besides recalling his personal efforts to accomplish that, I want us to use the example he set as a guiding principle for helping us ponder how each of us is to proceed from now.<\/p>\n We may say without exaggeration that the first Shinbashira laid the foundation not only for the seminary but also for the entire organizational structure of Tenrikyo.<\/p>\n Indeed, Tenrikyo’s present organizational structure was put together and developed on the basis of that foundation.<\/p>\n
\nThe Eight Verses of the Yorozuyo, derived from the beginning of Part I of the Ofudesaki, tell us that God the Parent will reveal the causality of origin and teach the foundation of any and everything to human beings, who have no understanding of the divine intention. Thus to deliver salvation by teaching the origin is the essence of the ultimate teaching, and that is why God of Origin is God of Origin.<\/p>\n
\nIncidentally, this year marks the one hundredth year following the establishment of Tenri Seminary. The seminary, which came into existence in the year 1900, is not only the forerunner of the present Tenri Seminary but can also be seen as the source that gave birth to all our later educational and training institutions, such as Tenri Middle School, established in 1908, and other Tenrikyo schools, which were subsequently founded one after another.<\/p>\n
\nI believe we may say that Oyasama’s Divine Model of single-hearted salvation is also a model that demonstrates how to nurture and train people. As I mentioned earlier, Oyasama’s parental heart that desires to save us goes beyond merely relieving people of their pains and sufferings. Oyasama’s real aim was to train people so that they would be able to understand God the Parent’s intention and set out to save others. All through the Anecdotes of Oyasama<\/em>, the Foundress ofTenrikyo<\/em>, we find examples of Oyasama working with people who had come to the Residence asking to be saved or wishing to express gratitude for the blessings they had received. We find Oyasama teaching them the basic stance of the mind\u2014in ways appropriate for each person\u2014and urging them to save others.<\/p>\n