The first verse of both the Ofudesaki and Mikagura-uta, God tells us that we do not understand the heart. What is the heart? Tenrikyo Church Headquarter translates it as God’s mind. Yes, we may not understand God’s intentions; but is this the real meaning of this verse? In the Ofudesaki, mune is mentioned many times. Of course, mune is not our physical heart that keeps us physically alive. In the Ofudesaki, the following is attributed to the heart.
The Original mind, if you think about it.
The heart, what comes from it, all ponder. 2-15
The heart is the sand to purify the mind 3-11
Ponder what comes from the heart, 3-47
heart is settling 2-28
the innermost heart, God will distinguish 4-107
depending on your innermost heart, it will be done 4-108
the innermost heart to sweep, that is said. 5-27
the sweeping of the heart must be done, because the Original mind, the understanding is nonexistent. 5-28
For the Original mind, the heart to quickly settle 5-74
your hearts you are dependent on. 6-97
what comes from the heart, to attain the Original mind, quickly understand. 7-27
from what comes from your heart, hurry sweeping. 7-30
What comes from the heart, the Original mind, show it. 7-32
The heart is not understood. The regret of God. 7-44
What comes from the heart, all will sweep. 7-95
The hearts, piles of dust have accumulated. 8-61
What comes from the heart, one must clear it away, to prepare for what follows 8-67
To approach the Original mind, the heart if understood, God will be delighted 10-59
The high mountains cannot understand the heart. The regret of God 10-90-
The sweeping of the heart, you will be able do do by yourself 12-79
This Original mind what is it about. Ponder the heart, This is foremost 12-133
To attain the Original mind, the sweeping of the heart, by oneself can be done. 12-172
the heart if it is purified, there will be no danger. 13-83
The heart God is certainly looking at. 13-98
The heart to God’s mind is accepted, forever to occur, I certainly stand firm. 13-99
Everyone, all individuals are dependent on the heart. 13-117
For the Original mind, the heart’s sweeping, all will begin. 14-72
The world’s heart to sweep 15-47
The heart, God is watching 16-79
The sweeping of the heart, I say I desire. 17-50
the heart’s sweeping to do, think about! 17-62
From these verses, we can say that fates come from our hearts. God tells us to ponder what comes from our heart. Ponder the daily occurrences in our lives.
Like the sand in the water purification system, does the heart collect waste, in our case, it collect information on our actions, like demerits, and eventually release them as fate.
God is telling us that our hearts can be swept of these negative fates.
God is telling us to attain the Original pure mind, we must ponder what the heart bings forth as fate, and not take action on our evil thoughts. This is the way to purify our minds, and eliminate all negative fates.
From this I will conclude that the heart is an entity in each of our bodies which is eternal. This may be the soul, or contained within our souls. The heart collects our negative actions and stores them as fate, eventually releasing them when opportunity arises, many times in our next lives. We reap what we sow because of our hearts. This is why God wants us to understand the heart. By understanding the heart, we can return to the Original pure mind that was given to the first parents of human beings. When we attain this mind, only joy will come from our hearts. This is the Joyous life!
When our mind are pure, due to understanding what comes from our hearts, then our prayers will be accepted by God!
Heaven's Truths, in Healing the Body 