Newpath Tenrikyo - Tenrikyo's Dynamic Mission - CHOOSING A MEANS -

Whether one is born into a family following a path intended to quickly lead to single heartedness with God or whether one enters such a path at a later time in life a choice must still be made. The choice I am speaking of is concerned with priority, direction and guidance. The Tenrikyo's dynamic mission speaks of a single truth to be found at the end of a path that is intended to reveal the one truth that exists at the core of every human mind and is the true original cause of all things in detail. It is intended that the path of single heartedness with the truth of origin, the mind of God be followed in such a manner that the one truth existing at the core of the mind be quickly revealed. Revealing that one original truth is a proof as opposed to being one of the elements of a common system of beliefs.

The path of single heartedness with God is the way of turning one's attention inward, identifying our imagination and settling it so that the our purified mind awakens from the dreams of our self images and becomes one with the original truth of its origin. The entire process takes place within an individuals own mind. One then either chooses to quickly walk that path as one's first priority or one chooses not to, clinging instead to one's self centered dreams and the worldly common truths of the world. To the outturned mind the truths of the world are numerous and are not so easy to let go of, even for a moment. It is an unfortunate fact that the worldly common truths of the world that we are so fond of cannot pass through the path that quickly leads to single-heartedness with the truth of origin. It is a cold fact that all such worldly common truths must be either quickly or gradually settled or swept away in order to reveal their origin. That one true original consciousness is the place from which and within all thoughts ideas and concepts rise up. It is because that one original truth exists at the core of our mind that everything is known and because of which everything exists. No one has ever known or experienced anything without that original consciousness.

 Recall the process that one passes through when receiving the truth of the "Sazuke" (the power of the origin). We prepare our mind for the "Sazuke" by calming and settling it and then in that most vital moment we let go and clear all of the common worldly thoughts and expectations from our mind. If however we are not careful and fail to ponder the truth that was revealed to that totally settled mind like clear water we are still free to put it all back in and be back where we started from. This I think is the significance of the "Kakesage", the final "Besseki" lecture and is the reason why we are encouraged to read it over daily and ponder the ramifications of what remained of the self-centered imagination in that moment of original truth.  

The Tenrikyo path that is spoken of is the path that provides a number of means (services, ways to work at purifying our mind) for purifying our mind and awakening to single-heartedness with the truth of origin. The quick and direct path is characterized as the single-hearted interpretation of the teaching. The inability to make that path one's first priority and remain attached to the truths of the world is called the interpretation of a child. The willingness to engage with the child's interpretation and gradually mature it to the single-hearted interpretation is called the interpretation of a parent. The entire effort can be captured by the metaphor of water to show the condition of a human mind. The truth of a human mind is to be understood by the metaphors "clear" or "muddy".

The really tricky part, I think, involves the efforts of the parent of origin to enter into the muddy water to make it clear. As a follower of this path I imagine that it is essential that I make the effort to distinguish between the mind like clear water and the efforts of the Parent of origin working within the muddy water to try and make it clear. The Tenrikyo teaching shows a model of reasoning from the point of view of the mind like clear water and also the point of view of the conversation and efforts within the muddy water.

I've included the above photo of three Timbers, "Yoboku" who are also Tenrikyo Ministers so that I can bring up some points concerning Tenrikyo's Dynamic Mission that I think can be illustrated by it. That is me in the middle by the way. Obviously I have chosen to accept the guidance of the Tenrikyo Religious Corporation which, functioning with the guidance of the "Shinbashira" at its core, makes available the collective experience, resources and means to guide and support the efforts of "Timbers" in the task of refining each other's minds and in so doing hastening the spread of single-heartedness with God by exposing the core of the human mind to all of the minds of the world who would like to hear and learn of it.

If my attire looks out of place it is because I am dressed for engaging in the performance of a model means of calming and settling the mind that has been determined to be appropriate for a particular time, place and level of maturity. From my point of view that works for me just fine however I leave those clothes in Japan and make no effort to act or appear to be a Japanese villager while I am at home in my own village where that kind of appearance would perhaps be inappropriate. That means however that I have to sincerely work to find the means appropriate to the time, place and the level of maturity of the people around me that would like to hear of the original cause of all things in detail and to develop means that can be used to help people to calm their mind and expose its core even in this place, here and now.

Though in the span of three or more generations or even in a single generation there is a single intended goal shared by all "Yoboku"( timbers to be used in recreating the world as the world of joyous life for all equally). Each of the three people pictured above have their own way of working toward realizing that single intended goal. I for instance know what my approach is but I don't know what approach the people on either side of me use. That we appear together in this picture is a reflection of our intention to realize the goal of melting back into the original parental heart and of working together to find ways to help anyone else in the world who wishes to do so also realize the goal of single heartedness with the truth of origin as the foundation for a new way of thinking and reasoning. Or at least that is what I imagine and would like to be true. Though in reality we all share the same Heart (consciousness) there is no way of knowing exactly what is going on in another person's mind as no two human minds are exactly the same. It is for that reason, I imagine, that communication between "Yoboku" can be said to be from within the Heart.

FROM THE BEGINNING

On October 24rd. 1838 Miki Nakayama's mind settled back into its origin and from that point of view She began a tireless effort to open just a narrow path that was intended to quickly teach the original cause of all things to anyone who wanted know it and was willing to follow Her instructions and in so doing provide a foundation for a new state of mind that could be used by all human beings equally in the recreation of a new world of joyous life.

To accomplish the task of effecting fundamental change on a global level She set about teaching the members of Her immediate family with the intention of gradually spreading the path of quickly awakening to the knowledge and understanding of the original cause of all things to all people of the world who would like to hear and test the truth of it. It is intended that the way to quickly awaken be passed from person to person or through the formation of various mutual interest and mutual aid organizations based on the task of helping each other to quickly reveal the truth of origin the original parental heart that exists equally at the core of every human mind. This equal affinity is very important when considering reaching out to all of the minds of the world. No one is a stranger to the truth of origin. The mind of our Parent of origin is the most intimate reality existing at the core of every human mind. Guided in such a way people can help each other to refine their minds by simply talking and reasoning with one another until eventually everyone in the world who wants to hear and test the truth of the teaching has had the opportunity to expose their original consciousness at the core of their mind and awaken to the one truth of their origin.

The task at hand immediately becomes complicated. It would be relatively easy to teach the way to the tested proof of the truth of origin to minds that were a blank slate, this is particularly important to keep in mind when educating our children. For most minds in the world that is not however the case as over time our minds become occupied with all sorts of baggage, that is truths which in many cases are competing with each other for dominance both within our own mind and in the world.  Common metaphors for this condition of mind are those of an accumulation of dust, or mud at the bottom of a river, or debris mixed in with the pure water as it rises up in spring in the high mountains. Since no two human minds are exactly the same anyone who has ever been involved in trying to implement a major change of view be it in a club, a culture, a family, a business, a religion or a nation, knows that resistance to change is inevitable. In fact many of us have a difficult time in even effecting a change in ourselves, even when we want it, let alone imagining how fundamental change on a global scale can be realized simply by passing the truth of origin person to person. Not surprisingly, resistance to a new path of quickly awakening to a new foundation for our thinking was swift and it began at home, gradually spreading to Her extended family, the village and ultimately to religious and civil authorities. That a housewife living in a small village was perceived as threatening the established consensus reality tells us something about the difficulty of opening even just a narrow path. It can be said as a generality that resistance came in two forms, outright rejection and doubtful acceptance.