Tenrikyo Dynamic Mission COMPARE AND CONTRAST

In worldly common terms it is easy for us to assume that "those in high places" refers to authorities and big shots. On the other hand, in terms of poetic metaphors it refers to all of us. God's point of view is the deep point of view that exists and shines forth from the deep core of our mind. We are hastened to add depth to our pondering and also to sweep away the dust and debris that is coving our innermost heart. Though our imagination is like pure water (original consciousness) that rises up in a pond in the high mountains (our body) as it gushes out it is mixed with mud (self-preservation, selfishness and greed). The poetry of Moonsun employs metaphors indicating the free and unlimited workings of  the deep original truth that exists at the very core (original consciousness) of our existence and makes a comparison with our everyday worldly common, shallow, self centered thinking.  In order for us to make the comparison of our shallow self-centered worldly common thoughts with the mind of God it is necessary for us to first identify both of  them and then clearly make the distinction between them.

Identifying our self-centered imagination is simple enough. It is our ordinary day to day thought process and the self-images that are accumulated as who we imagine our self to be from moment to waking moment. Just taking a moment to identify and settle that stream of thought and mental dialogue can be something of a revelation and is, I think, worth doing even if one is not interested in fully knowing and understanding the complete truth of self as it is revealed when the core of the mind, the truth of origin is exposed, known and understood. 

The identification of  the mind of God, the truth of origin, as it exists at the core of the human mind is also simple enough but it is a much trickier bit of work to complete. In order to reveal the mind of God it is necessary to expose the core of our mind. That perhaps sounds scary but in fact not only is it not harmful it is in fact the best thing that we can do for ourselves. Think of having your house, or car, or computer, or wardrobe completely refurbished or replaced at no cost to you except for your sincere desire to have it done.  The true sincerity required to get the job done involves finding a way to briefly turn off or make totally quiet the previously identified self-centered imagination. Computer users will recognize this as the very useful "cold start". If a program is acting up it is usually easiest to turn the computer off and then turn it back on again. If it is a total mess then a "clean reinstallation" is called for. Turning the self-centered imagination off and exposing the core of the mind is called settling into single-heartedness with the truth of our origin, single-heartedness with God or returning to the "Jiba" the place where our self-centered imagination and thus our humanity was and is made.

So having done the easy work of identifying our self-centered imaginings let's say that we then want to know how to turn those imaginings off.  Again, it is not that much a big deal but it is tricky. Our self-centered imaginings turn themselves off every time we go into deep sleep. Deep sleep is of course necessary for maintaining our good health so again it is a good thing. Though all of the work of turning off our self-centered imagination is going to take place in our mind many people find it useful to look for aids to focus their attention outside of themself. The trick part of the work is that it is very easy to get lost in the external aids and mistake them for the actual truth and loose touch with the intended goal of single heartedness with the mind of God as it exists at the core of every human mind and indeed at the core of all that exists. 

Once single heartedness is settled either by unintentional means - The story of Miki Nakayama's awakening is an example of unintentional awakening. She actually had something entirely different in mind - or by intentional means - The model path of Oyasama is an example of the creation of various intentional means for hastening single heartedness - we are then in a position to constantly compare the creations of our self centered imaginations with the one truth of origin.  That is to say that we will then be able to tell the difference between original truth and imagined self centered worldly common truths of the world.

The Tenrikyo Dynamic is both a teaching and a path, both of which have a single intention and both of which are freely available to be quickly completed and realized by any sincere human mind regardless of time or place.

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