Tenrikyo Dynamic Mission - Until Now

There are several different uses of  the phrase "Until Now" ("Imamade") and it is of some significance that the phrase is used in all seventeen books of the "Tip of the Writing Brush".  Getting a grasp on the concept and the use of the phrase can then be of great importance to anyone who desires to know and understand the sincere intention of the teaching that intends to reveal the quickest way to merge with the original true conscious parental heart and savor the joy, knowledge and understanding of  the truth of self that flows from that awakening.

We know that the "Waka" style poems collected as "The Tip of the Writing Brush" employ an intimate family dialogue between the free, unlimited, original mind and cause of everything in detail and the limited human self-centered imaginations of the Nakayama family as well as some of the families from their village and the surrounding countryside.

Indeed even after the passage of thirty years from the time of Her awakening as the "Shrine" or "Residence" of the original parental mind of all She was to write of Her regret at not being able to influence Her son Shuji to give up his depressed, ordinary worldly common ("sekainami") way of thinking and follow Her instructions to quickly sweep out the depressed truths cluttering his mind or "residence" and awaken to the truth of his innermost heart and the joy in all things that flows from single-heartedness with the original mind of God.

Though understandable but none the less unfortunate for Shuji, he was unable to understand what he took to be his mother's unbalanced intention and was not able or inclined to follow her instruction and sweep out his own mind.

Reading these two poems two questions immediately come to my mind. Let me take them in the reverse order. Why did Shuji think that his mother's teachings were false and so fail to recognize his mother as a Shrine or Residence of the mind of the original God of all creation? They lived in the same house and in very close proximity of each other. What was the problem? 

Apparently Shuji's inability to understand what he took to be his mother's teaching stemmed from the way in which he - up until then, a period of thirty or so years - fundamentally understood his mother's mental condition and Her awakening as a Shrine or Residence of the God of origin, his physical condition, his mental condition and indeed every detail of  his world. That is to say that he, like everybody else, fundamentally understood everything in an ordinary  "sekainami" way. One might ask; what other way is there?

Well, Shuji and myself by extension - this is after all a "model story" meant to be used not to understand Shuji and the Nakayama family and villagers but as a tool to be used to compare the present condition of my own mind with the model shown as the condition of Shuji's mind to see where my mind and the misunderstanding his mind are the same -  are being hastened to switch from an "ordinary" way of understanding the world to a way of understanding  the world that flows from my innermost heart.

That's nice but to make that change requires that I be able to be willing to take the time to identify my ordinary way of understanding the world as well as be able to identify my "innermost heart". "Innermost heart" two words that describe something that sounds appealing and possibly familiar but the reality of which is actually unknown.

 So it seems reasonable to start the identification process with the known, that is with the ordinary and  as I do so I can turn to the Life of Oyasama, Manuscript Edition and the poems that inform the Model Story "Hinagata" as they provide ample examples of  ordinary ways of understanding the world through portrayals of the some of the common uses of various human minds. Though the portrayals and examples are shown in a particular time and place when we think about it we find that there is one use of the human mind that is common in all times and places. That is we all view the world with our self at the center of our thoughts.

  In general the phrase refers to the regrettable ("zannen") condition and state of the human mind prior to being exposed to the work ("tsutome") that shows the way to quickly awaken to the understanding ("satori") of the true origin of the human mind and the original cause ("moto no innen") of all things in detail.  In the poems the before or until now, default state of the human mind is described as naturally knowing nothing about its true origin, the original causality of everything in detail and true creation of the world.

It is not surprising that we know nothing about our true origin because we wake up into the world clueless as newborn infants. It is common and normal for us to follow whatever our life path turns out to be without ever being taught or hearing anything about such things as  the true origin of the human mind or the work of testing, proving, knowing and understanding  the original cause of all things in detail.

  It is because of that common, normal and natural lack of knowledge concerning the true origin of our mind and the world, that in the passage of time and with the accumulation of experiences and truths of the world we may find our experience of life as being depressing, lacking in joy or even fearful. 

 Dissatisfied with the current state of our individual affairs and in our experience of the state of our world and in order to realize our expectations concerning our health and happiness, it is has often been the human habit to seek help from a higher power or powers with the hope that they might remove our sufferings and troubles and help us to realize our expectations concerning our health, wealth and relationships, thus fulfilling our natural desire for lasting satisfaction and happiness.

Having awakened and been taken and accepted as a "shrine" of the original One that resides at the true heart of all things, Miki Nakayama was in the unique position of being able to offer to anyone who wished to hear and to learn, know and understand the one original truth of origin, the true origin of the human mind, the (moto no innen) original cause of all things the way to quickly awaken to that one truth. She called that awakening single-heartedness and the way to quickly awaken the single-hearted salvation of all kinds.

• The second use refers to the causal steps necessary to intentionally settle and calm the human self-centered imagination. There is nothing wrong or evil about our self-centered imaginations however they are in the way of revealing their origin which exists at the core of our mind and as such have to be briefly turned off in order to reveal their origin. The causal steps or step by step work of turning off our self-centered imagination is the work or service that either quickly or gradually leads to the mind like "clear water".  It is through the mind like clear water that the truth of origin, the original cause of all things is revealed so that it can be pondered, known and understood.

• The third use refers to the new causes that flow from pondering, knowing and understanding the original cause of all things as revealed through the mind like clear water and the use of that knowledge and understanding as a new foundation for thinking in all matters. This is called replacing the depressed self-centered mind with a upgraded high spirited mind that knows and understands the original cause of all things and uses that knowledge and understanding to savor a joyous life in all matters. It is those new causes flowing freely from a new foundation that are intended to be the beginning of  a new world of joyous life for all human beings equally.

• The forth use refers to shallow, depressed (by comparison with the deeper truth of origin that exists at the core of our mind) worldly common knowledge and understandings of causes and effects that flow from our self-centered imaginings, ideas and concepts and which we use in our ordinary daily affairs.  Our self-centered imaginings are capable of producing and setting in motion marvelous causes and as a species we are very proud of the knowledge and understanding that flow from our self-centered imaginations. There is however another side to the causes set in motion by our self centered imaginations.  Because of their great power, they can create truths and we have become so identified with many of those truths that we cannot tell the difference between things as they actually originally are and things as we imagine them to be. In many cases we have become bound to created truths and are compelled to act out causes and reap effects that are based entirely on imagined truths. It is our bondage to imaginary truths that make our self-centered imaginings capable of producing suffering on both an individual and a mass scale. It is our dissatisfaction with both the experience and spread of that suffering  and our calls for help that have moved our parent of origin to step in and show the way to upgrade our self-centered imaginations with the revelation of their true origin, the original cause of all things. Currently the foundation of our causal thinking is from the point of view of a self-centered only base. It is from that limited point of view that we cling and hold onto conditioning and bonds that constrain and block the free and unlimited workings that flow from the truth of origin. That such is the case is regrettable and in fact is the cause of unnecessary suffering.  We are hastened and offered the opportunity to replace the changing and unstable foundation for our daily thoughts and actions with a stable and unchanging foundation that is  based on the knowledge and understanding of the original cause of all things as it is revealed to exist at the core of our mind and to enjoy the free and unlimited workings that flow from that replaced foundation.

It is worth pondering that all four of the above uses of causality have been taught by our parent of origin. There was never a time in the history of human kind and indeed of the history of the universe when the mind of God was not present as the sole cause and support of all that is, was or will be. Though always present, because of the great success of the free creations of the human self-centered imagination in adapting to their environment, molding and mastering the world, the original cause of all things has remained unknown and in the background.

In attempting to show the way, that is the way to set up the causality of returning the mind to it's original pristine condition so that the truth of origin, the original cause of all things could be revealed, our parent of origin found that Her intention and words were immediately converted into worldly common self-centered interpretations that matched existing worldly common truths that already existed in the imaginations of those who said that they wanted to hear and learn of the original cause of all things, the one truth of origin (we can get a clear picture of the kinds of causes that were causing misunderstanding by looking at the Model Life of Miki Nakayama prior to the replacement of  Her mind).  The result of that situation was that nobody understood what She was trying to teach them even though they wanted to and for most people that regrettable situation remained the case pretty much through Her entire forty-nine year effort.

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