Interpretation:
How does God help people realize what our own hearts do? These were the thoughts of God. These illness as guidance, comes from the thoughts of God. God is only trying to help save
Exemption from Covid-19 Vaccine
I know that there are many concerns about the efficacy and safety of the Covid vaccines. For those people who are trying to receive exemption from the government mandates, for religious or personal beliefs, the Ofudesaki, the most sacred scripture in the Tenrikyo religion will give this option. There are many sacred scriptures in the world, but there are only a few that will give support to not taking a vaccine or any other pharmaceutical medicine. In the teachings, from the Mikagura-uta is the following:
Though illness is so trying,
There is no one who knows the origin.
Until this time, everyone,
the origin of illness you did not know.
This time it has been revealed.
The origin of illness is from your mind.
This means that one may contract the virus, or microbe, but the illness or the symptoms should not occur if one’s mind is pure. Of course, the purification of the mind is a difficult process, and one will need to understand the contents of the Ofudesaki and the Mikagura-uta. Again I am not advocating for or against the taking of the vaccine, but I am giving you a resource, to make a decision.
OFUDESAKI 8-9
Interpretation:
God is reminding the early followers that everything said by Oyasama or written in the Ofudesaki are from God. God is preparing the early followers to perform the Joyous Service.
The heart is the secret of life
Both the Ofudesaki and the Mikagura-uta use metaphors and analogies. God compares a tree to a person that does not know God’s teaching, or a potential convert. Like a tree to find for its fine timber, we want to find a person who we can help save. This is the problem we face today. How can we save the world? God tells us that this depends on our own hearts. What is the heart, and what does it do?
It is interesting that God tells us in the first verse of both the Ofudesaki and the Yorozuyo, that we do not understand the heart. No, it is not God’s heart, but it is our own hearts that we do not understand.
The translation of Song 8:8 in the Mikagura-uta differs completely from Tenrikyo Headquarters’ translation. Again they incorrectly translate mune as God’s heart. The following is headquarters’ translation:
Whether to cut down this tree or to take that stone;
It entirely depends upon the heart of God.
The accurate translation is:
This tree to cut, that rock to pick,
Mainly is dependent on your heart.
Definitions:
kono: this
ki: tree
ano: that
ishi: rock
omoedo kami: mainly
shidai: dependent
mune: heart, chest, soul, spirit
God is telling us that whether we are successful in gathering members to our places of worship is dependent on our own hearts. What is the heart and what does it do? All these answers are in both the Ofudesaki and Mikagura-uta.
OFUDESAKI 8-8
Interpretation:
The intent to bless (God’s assistance to help people understand the heart) people does not come from a human mind. This comes from the pure mind of God. God only wants everyone to have eternal joy!
God Wants us to Understand the Heart
In our religion most people place emphasis on our Service. This may be appropriate, but the Ofudesaki and Mikagura-uta tell us that understanding our own hearts is most important. The following is from the Ofudesaki:
Kono michi o shinjitsu omou koto naraba
Mune no uchi yori yorozu shiyan se 2-15
This path, if you truly think about it.
From what comes from the innermost heart, all (of it) ponder.
Kono michi ga choto miekaketa koto naraba sekai no kokoro mina isami deru 2-17
When this path (path of the heart) can be easily seen. When this happens,
the world’s mind will all become spirited.
So one may ask how does this happen, where everyone understands the heart, and what it does? We know that it is very difficult to inform others about a new idea or concept, especially in western countries where reincarnation and karma are not an accepted belief. This is where our Joyous Service comes into play. The Joyous Service is a prayer asking God to help others understand the heart. We pray for others.
Ashiki o haroute tasuke tamae
Tenri-O-no-Mikoto
Evil sweeping, save them please,
Tenri-O-no-Mikoto (God).
With our prayer, whom do we want saved? The following is from the Ofudesaki.
Kono Tsutome doko kara kuru to omou kana
Kami taru tokoro isami kuru zo ya 2-4
This Service, where do they come from, you think.
From the high places they will come spirited.
God is telling us that the Joyous Service is intended to save others (high mountains).
In conclusion, the Joyous Service is important, but without us understanding the heart, our prayers will not be accepted by God. Why is understanding the heart so important? From verse 2-17, God tells us that people will become spirited when one understands the heart. How does understanding the heart make us spirited? The answer is in the Ofudesaki, the most sacred scripture in the world!
OFUDESAKI 8-7
Interpretation:
Te or hands refer to teaching the hand service, or the Teodori. God is reminding us that this Service was created by God. This Service is to save human beings.
OFUDESAKI 8-6
Interpretation:
God is disappointed because the Joyous Service cannot be performed. This Service was granted to the early followers to save the world. This salvation was interupted due to the prohibition of the Service, and the confiscation of the stones of the Kanrodai.
THE SOUL AS ENERGY
Some of you may think that my idea of the heart (soul), as energy that contains information about our essence, is ludicrous. But hear me out on an analogy of our hearts (souls) to our smartphones. If I were to pass away right now, any stranger, by looking at my smartphone can get a good idea of what kind of person I was. It has tons of information and pictures about myself. The smartphone by itself has physical properties that we can touch and see, unlike the heart or soul. But like the proposed soul, it uses energy in storing information, images and pictures. We have a plethora of pictures stored in our smartphone, some that we can definitely remember, like memory stored in our conscious mind, and some we cannot even remember taking, like the memories stored in our unconscious minds. This is similar with our text messages and phone messages. Some of you may now understand the analogy between the heart and smartphone, on how energy can be utilized to store information; but you may not be able to understand how energy of our hearts can bring upon changes to our physical environment including our own bodies. How can energy (heart) bring upon physical suffering, like car accidents, illnesses, and obstacles?
Again I will give you an analogy. The smartphone has capabilities to control our security cameras. It can lock or unlock our doors. It can turn on our lights. It also can control our thermometers, regulating our air and heating. These all involve energies that are converted from one form to another, eventually producing energy to affect physical objects.
In the Ofudesaki, the most sacred scripture in the world, God tells us that we do not understand the heart (soul). From the information gleaned from both the Ofudesaki, and the Mikagura-uta, I have attempted to explain what the heart is, and why God wants us to understand it. The heart like the smartphone collects information on our actions. Like the smartphone, the heart also is capable of physical manipulation of our environment due to the properties of energy.
For those of still doubt the existence of the soul (heart), you only need to understand what are smartphones is capable of. If humans are able to create such a magnificent devise, imagine the complexity involved in creating the heart (soul) by the almighty God. Both use the properties of energy in bringing upon the desired effects. But unlike our smartphones, our hearts primary function is to bring upon only joy to the individual. But unfortunately, our hearts have been contaminated by our evil actions. In the Ofudesaki, God tells us how we can use the hearts to purify our minds.
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OFUDESAKI 8-5
Interpretation:
That place is where the Kanrodai is located in Ojiba. In Tenrikyo history, the temporary Kanrodai was confiscated and destroyed by authorities, preventing people from performing the Joyous Service.
OFUDESAKI-GOD'S TEACHINGS 