OFUDESAKI-GOD'S TEACHINGS

Genesis

Posted on July 30, 2022 by heaventruth

These working of, earth and heaven

representing, wife and husband created and brought forth.

This is the beginning of the world.

Where does this verse come from? It comes from the 2nd part of the Joyous Service. This has a significant meaning. I was taught that man represented heaven and woman represented the earth. For example the woman represents the earthly qualities of nourishment, and care giving, while the man represents the heavenly qualities of protection. But I believe that this interpretation is incorrect. God is telling us that our bodies were created from the earth, specifically the sea creatures in the ancient muddy oceans. God started to make human bodies by finding a fish and sea serpent, and added the good qualities of the other sea creatures to each of the first parents. Then from heaven was added the pure mind of God into the first parents. The word shinjitsu is often found in the Ofudesaki. This is the pure original mind given to the first parents. This is the mind that God wants us to return to. In summary God created human beings from the living instruments found on earth, and from the pure mind of God from heaven.

This second part of the Joyous Service is important to understand because God created human beings to live the Joyous life. From the earth, all the qualities to fabricate a perfect body was utilized. From heaven, the pure mind of God was added. From this combination, God has given us the ability to live the Joyous life. But unfortunately dusts or evil thoughts have permeated our minds. This is why there is suffering and illness in this world. How do we attain the Joyous life? We must obtain the Original mind that was given to the first parents of human beings. When this occurs, only joy will occur, as intented by God when God initiated the creation of human beings.

From God, the Original mind thinking to attach,

How the world, to begin to create. Ofudesaki 6-81

Nonexistent in the world, to begin to start was difficult.

What instruments to find, to prepare. 6-82

Looking carefully within, I found loaches, a fish and a serpent,

other creatures also was seen to play a role. 6-83

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OFUDESAKI 11-47

Posted on July 30, 2022 by heaventruth

Interpretation:

These teachings are unique to the world. God wants to save all of the people in the world.

Posted in causality, God, Heaven’s Truth Church, karma, Ofudesaki, prayer, reincarnation, Understanding the heart to understand why we suffer, We reap what we have sowed | Tagged causality, God, heaven's truth church, karma, Ofudesaki, reincarnation | Leave a comment

OFUDESAKI 11-46

Posted on July 29, 2022 by heaventruth

In the Ofudesaki, God is telling us what will happen in the future. What will happen to Shoji and Kokan; but most important God is telling us that eventually everyone in the world will be saved. Everyone will live the Joyous life. But until that time, God is telling us how to avoid being remorseful.

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OFUDESAKI 11-45

Posted on July 28, 2022 by heaventruth

Interpretation:

God is telling us what we do today, will affect us in the future. What we sow, we will reap. Most of the world does not know what path they are on. Are they on the path of suffering or on a path of joy?

Posted in causality, God, Heaven’s Truth Church, karma, reincarnation, Scripture From Heaven, Tenrikyo, The five sins to avoid, The origin of suffering is from the mind, Understanding the heart to understand why we suffer, We reap what we have sowed | Tagged causality, God, heaven's truth church, karma, Ofudesaki, reincarnation, TENRIKYO | Leave a comment

OFUDESAKI 11-44

Posted on July 27, 2022 by heaventruth

Interpretation:

God sees our future path, but we are not aware of what is going to happen in the future. We reap what we have sowed.

Posted in causality, fate, God, Heaven’s Truth Church, karma, prayer, reincarnation, Tenrikyo, The origin of suffering is from the mind, Understand Your Soul, Understanding the heart to understand why we suffer, We reap what we have sowed | Tagged causality, God, heaven's truth church, karma, Ofudesaki, reincarnation, TENRIKYO | Leave a comment

Who Are We Praying For

Posted on July 26, 2022 by heaventruth

When I talk to Tenrikyo church members, they believe that the Joyous Service helps them sweep evil thoughts or dusts from their mind. They say that God helps them do this. I find this puzzling, since in the Ofudesaki, God gives us the ingredients to sweep evil from our own minds. God tells us that any illness or obstacle that appear in our lives, we must calm our minds and ponder our own dusts. This is how we purify our own minds. This process is difficult, since we have a tendency to blame others for what appears in our lives. God also tells us that we have control of our own minds, and I would presume that it is up to us to change our way of thinking.

Then who is the prayer directed toward? The following is from the Ofudesaki:

The Service, where do they come from, you think.

Those in high places, they will come spirited. 2-4

We pray to save others. We are asking God to help sweep dusts from others, especially to the people we have spread God’s truth to.

But just by performing the Joyous Service, God will not help us save people. First we need to purify our own minds by the directions given in the Ofudesaki. When our minds are purified, then the Joyous Service becomes effective. The following from the Ofudesaki confims this.

TheJoyous Service to obtain, what makes it effective do not wonder.

The mind’s truth, the Original mind makes it effective. 4-51

This is telling us that we must have a pure mind, like the Original mind given to the first parents of human beings before our prayers are accepted by God.This is why throughout the Ofudesaki, God is telling us God is hastening and preparing the early followers for the performance of the Service. The preparation is not the physical aspects of the Service, like the hand movements and words, but it is the mental prepartion that God is hastening. God is waiting for us to obtain the Original pure mind. Then and only if we perform the Joyous Service, God will begin to help us save others; bringing the world to our places of worship.

Evil sweeping, save THEM please, Tenri-O-mo-Mikoto

All this information is in the Ofudesaki. The most updated translation in the Ofudesaki is at heaventruth.com, and also can be seen daily on Facebook Tenrikyo Ofudesaki Study Group.

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OFUDESAKI 11-43

Posted on July 26, 2022 by heaventruth

Interpretation:

Everyone has dusts in their minds, thinking of only oneself.

Posted in God, heaven's truth church, karma, Ofudesaki, reincarnation, Scripture From Heaven, Tenrikyo, The origin of suffering is from the mind, Uncategorized, Understanding the heart to understand why we suffer, We reap what we have sowed | Tagged causality, God, heaven's truth church, karma, Ofudesaki, reincarnation, TENRIKYO | Leave a comment

CAN ONE REMOVE ONE’S FATE

Posted on July 25, 2022 by heaventruth

We reap what we have sowed is a verse in the bible. If we believe in reincarnation, we believe that we would be rewarded or punished by our actions, resulting in what many call fate or innen. We can definitely improve our future, by understanding the concept of karma; but are we stuck to face the consequences of what we have done in the past? This may sound discouraging for many of us who now understand the concept of reincarnation and karma; knowing that they have no control of what they have sowed in the past. Are we destined to suffer for what we have done in the past?

We cannot go back in time to correct our malfeasance, to eliminate what we have sowed. But in the Ofudesaki, God tells us by eliminating the dusts in our minds; we can live the “Joyous life”, erasing our fates. We can even do this within one night. The dusts in our minds are disappointment (oshii), desire (hoshii), self-love (kawai), greed (yoku) and arrogance (kouman).

How would the elimination of these evil thoughts, erase our fates? Let me propose a theory, which is indirectly implied in the Ofudesaki. This theory will presume that our fates and the thoughts associated with the evil action with continue on to our next lives. Some will say this is unjust because we cannot remember our past lives. But remember, we reap what we have sowed. We must take responsibility for our actions. Just because we attain a new body in our next incarnation, we do not also deserve to attain a clean slate, to start over with.

So now we have established that our bodies contain our fates. We also have the evil thoughts associated with them in our minds. By acting on these thoughts, we created these fates. As we had mentioned before, we have no way of going back in time to cancel our actions. But suppose we can eliminate the thoughts that caused us to act inappropriately. These thoughts that existed then and today are the source of the fate. If we can remove these thoughts now, can the associated fate also be removed? This is like going back in time to eliminate the action that caused the creation of the fate.

How do we eliminate evil thoughts from our minds? For many, it will be a difficult task to accomplish. These evil thoughts are like dusts on a mirror. When accumulated, they are difficult to sweep away. In one night, it will be difficult to remove.

God tells us when negative fate appears in lives, one must ponder our own minds, to see what dust initiated the fate. Instead of blaming others, we must ponder our own minds. If we do not act negatively toward these obstacles, we can continue to purify our minds. When our minds are purified, one can cancel or lessen any fate; and our own hearts will bring upon joy only!