Tenrikyo /God Is Not Well

Posted on October 4, 2017 by heaventruth

The heinous killings and the senseless massacres in the world remind me of a warning in one of our sacred books, the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush).

Step by step whatever happens, this world is God’s body.

Ponder, and realize it. 3-40

All human bodies are things lent by God.

What thoughts are you using them? 3-41

The verse above states that we are part of God’s body? We are like the millions of individual parts or cells that comprise God’s body. When we kill or hurt others, we are hurting God. By looking at the evil in the world today, one may even be able to conclude that God is not well (spirited). In the Ofudesaki, God tells us to be spirited so that God will be spirited. How do we become spirited? We can become spirited by removing evil (greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness, and self love) from our minds. When the world becomes spirited, God will become whole and spirited. In the Ofudesaki, God guarantees paradise when this occurs.

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Tenrikyo /To Become Spirited

Posted on September 26, 2017 by heaventruth

What is it that people seek in life? It is the feeling of joy and being spirited, as opposed to a feeling of sadness and being depressed. How can we find this happiness? Some look to drugs and alcohol, while others seek power and material wealth. These remedies may temporarily bring upon joy, but will gradually become less effective with time; causing one to seek more and more to regain the feeling of joy. Look at the opioid epidemic in our country and its devastation on families.

In the Tip of the Writing Brush (Ofudesaki), God tells us that all we need to do is remove evil from our minds to gain joy or become spirited. These evils are the thoughts of greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness, and self-love. But like the dust imbued in a mirror, these evils are sometimes difficult to remove from our minds. It is not as easy as saying I am going to remove these evils from my mind; it requires a commitment and a calming of the mind, especially when unexpected events or inconveniences occur.

In the Tip of the Writing Brush, God tells us that removing evils from our minds is a difficult task:

Over steep mountains, through tangles of thorns, along narrow ledges and

through brandished swords, if you come1-47

Yet a head a sea of flames, and a deep

you will arrive at a narrow path 1-48

After following the narrow path step by step, you will come to a path.

This is the trustworthy main path (path of joy). 1-49

God is telling us that when inconveniences or sufferings occur in our lives, we must calm our minds, and not take actions upon our evil thoughts. When we do not act on our evil thoughts, gradually these evil thoughts will not emerge from our minds. For some of us, this process of purification of the mind may take some time due to the amount of dust (negative thoughts) in our minds. We may experience many thorns, or sea of flames before our minds become pure. These inconveniences are ironically God’s blessings or guidance. God helps us to purify our minds. That illness (tangles of thorn) may be God guiding you. That co-worker, who angers you, may be God’s blessing. One only needs to calm one’s mind and not act upon one’s evil thoughts.

In this path of purification of the mind, there will progressions and regressions. Sometimes we fail to calm our minds, and accumulate more dusts by acting on our evil thoughts; but if we are determined and lean on God, we will eventually purify our minds. When this happen, we will become spirited and full of joy. When we become spirited, there will be everlasting joy.

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Tenrikyo /God Bless You!

Posted on September 15, 2017 by heaventruth

Where is God? Some may wonder if God is out there. Some days I feel spirited, and other times a little depressed. I sometimes crave for coffee because I know it makes me a little spirited; but eventually that goes away. Work sometimes makes me spirited; but I am retired now. Wonder why we cannot always feel spirited? I know there are people out there that are spirited whatever happens in their lives. Yes they do have sorrow, which I believe is different than depression. These spirited people always overcome their sorrow to be happy again. Is there a gene in their DNA that makes them spirited?

Does our environment cause us to be spirited or depressed? Some people say that clouds add to our depression, and the sun adds to our spirits; maybe there will be a study on the effects of light? Hopeful these studies will not be conducted by our over spending government, that will probable conclude that global warming causes our depression!

As I said before, I have been drinking my elixir (coffee) to make my mind spirited. Others try alcohol or drugs, whether it is prescribed or illicit. Look at the drug epidemic in our country; people are looking to be spirited. Some believe that they can find happiness by power, or monetary possessions. But these appear to be only temporary fixes.

In the Heaven’s Truth Religion (Tenrikyo), God teaches us how to become spirited. He tells us to remove evil (greed, arrogance, and self-love) from our minds. How do we remove these evils or dusts that sometimes are imbued in our minds? It is not as easy as wishing them away. Like dust ingrained in mirrors, they are difficult to remove. We must make an effort on our part and also ask God to help us.

Sometimes whether it is karma or God’s test on us, we continue to suffer or have events that bring upon our evil thoughts. These events are forks in the road. We can act on our negative thoughts, or we can calm our minds, and not act on them negatively.   When we act positively, these negative thoughts gradually do not emerge from our minds. For some, this process may take some time and require more karma, or God’s test to purify the mind. There also will be some lapses and regression in this process; as sometimes we temporarily lose our commitment. But with faith in God and our commitment to remove these dusts, this path will bring upon joy.

God is said to help us sweep these evils from our minds. How does he do this? That illness may be God guiding you to remove evil from your mind. God tells us to calm our minds and ponder when illness comes upon the body. This may be God’s reminder to remove the evil that emerges in our minds.

Where is God? Look at the illness that comes upon your bodies; they may be God’s blessings to help you become spirited. Temporary illnesses as a path to eternal joy are God’s blessing to the world. In the past when some one had said, “God bless you”, I was suspicious of the persons motive; but today I am always reminded of God’s blessings of illness to help us to become spirited. May God bless everyone!

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Tenrikyo /Spreading God’s Truths

Posted on September 14, 2017 by heaventruth

How does one spread God’s truth? How does one get one foot into the building, before it is slammed closed? What are the secret words that will lend you someone’s ears? It has to be something that is beneficial, and provides hope. A cure for cancer and a miraculous healing may be subjects, which may open the doors? Christianity began with Jesus healing the hopeless; opening the door to preach his doctrines to the masses. In the Heaven’s Truth Religion (Tenrikyo), God tells us the opposite; he tells us that he will begin to place illness on our bodies!   You may be wondering how this helps us? God tells us that he places illness on our bodies to help us remove sin/evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) from our minds. This is called God’s guidance. If we ponder, and remove these evils from our minds, our illness will be healed, and our minds will become more pure and spirited.

The following is my guideline in spreading God’s truth to the world.

HINOKISHIN (Spreading God’s Truth)

God tells us in Chapter 14 in the Ofudesaki to tell people that he is going to work. We must tell people (plant the seeds) that God may place illness to guide them to sweep evil from their minds. We must tell them now; how do we expect them to understand if they do not know the meaning of each occurrence?  This is called hinokishin. Tell people, the following:

  1. God has descended from Heaven to save all mankind.
  2. That illness or suffering may be God’s guidance to remove evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) or sins from your mind. This suffering is not punishment but God’s guidance.
  3. If you make an effort to remove evil from your mind, that illness may go away. We also have a prayer (Osazuke) if you want us to perform that will also help in the process to heal and help you remove your evils.
  4. If you remove evil from your mind, you will become spirited and happy: You won’t need drugs or alcohol to make you happy; and your depression will go away. This is an immediate benefit; one does not have to wait until the next life or Heaven to benefit from purifying your mind.
  5. When your mind is pure, the future will only be Joyous (On earth/reincarnation or heaven/afterlife).
  6. Sometimes removing evil from you mind is difficult, because some of us have so much. The evil in our minds may be compared to the dust that is ingrained in a mirror. It is hard to remove immediately.
  7. If you do not act on your evil thoughts, you can eventually eliminate them from your mind, and you can become spirited. Due to negative karma (suffering), or God’s test (more suffering) on us, we sometimes regress and continue to accumulate dust. Don’t be disappointed if this is a slow process. This is the difficult part of purifying our minds. We continue to need God’s help in accomplishing this.
  8. Shared joy is true joy. We need to spread God’s truth when our minds become pure. God has given us a special prayer (Joyous Service) to do this. This will further be explained at our churches.
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Tenrikyo /Does God Cause Natural Disasters?

Posted on September 12, 2017 by heaventruth

I was recently writing on a Facebook page for Tenrikyo followers. After writing a few articles, I was told to stop writing negative articles, which reflected my interpretation of the teachings. Let me tell you my side of the story, In the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush), there are a few verses (chapter 6 and 8) that says that natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes are the result of God’s anger and regret. These verses have always bothered me when reading this sacred book. Are these people the hurricanes effect being punished by God? Being both a scientific and religious person, I proposed that the negative thoughts of the world built up as energy that God releases as natural disasters that effect our climate. I was not blaming the people that were affected by the storms!

I do not know why God causes these natural disasters. But history is full of stories where weather has affected the lives of many people. I do not remember exactly if this is a true story; but there was a country that was saved because an armada of ships was destroyed because of the weather at sea. Let me humor you on one of my thoughts. Could have millions of people have been saved by these severe hurricanes that affected the United States? If the cost and labor of rebuilding from the damages of the storms were not so enormous, would our country have taken military action toward North Korea? Possibly this is another weather event that has saved many people?

I do notice that these people that claim that they are serving God, pick verses from different scriptures that suit their own agenda. They ignore or do not understand the verses that are visibly written in their holy books. There is a saying that “if you are a hammer, you only look for nails”. In our holy book, God tells us to purify our minds to understand God’s teachings. In one of the verses, God tells us not to have a mind like a distorted mirror, because it does not reflect the true image.

I also notice that there are religious leaders that only try to only pick verses from scripture that brings upon a positive reaction to their audience. They make the audience feel good about themselves, but it does not bring upon change in their lives. It is like drugs and alcohol, which only brings temporary satisfaction. We all like to hear good things about ourselves, but sometimes it is the negative comments that help us become a better person. We must realize that there are verses in our sacred books that we may not like to hear; but if we truly believe that they are from God, we must not ignore them.

To the people that manage the Tenrikyo Resource on Facebook, read your most sacred book, the Ofudesaki with a pure mind. May God bless you.

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Tenrikyo /The Difficult Path to Salvation

Posted on September 11, 2017 by heaventruth

The path to purifying our minds is not an easy path. The following is from the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush).

Over steep mountains, through tangles of thorns, along narrow ledges and

through brandished swords, if you come. 1-47

Yet a head a sea of flames, and a deep abyss,

you will arrive at a narrow path 1-48

We can not just promise God that we have purified our minds of greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness and self love to receive God’s blessings. Suffering and illness continue to bombard us. Some will say that these inconveniences are from karma from previous lives; others will say that they are God’s test to determine our resolve.

These challenges or sufferings also brings upon negative thoughts, which we can act or not act upon. If we continue to act on them, these negative thoughts continue to emerge from our minds; but if we calm our minds and not act on them, our negative thoughts eventually subside. This is God or nature’s process of purification of our minds.

When our minds become pure, we become spirited and we are ready for the next stage of the narrow path. The following is from the Ofudesaki:

After following the narrow path step by step, you will come to a path.

This is the trustworthy main path (path of joy).

The narrow path is the stage where one begins to share God’s truth with others. God tells us that true joy is shared joy. God gives us a prayer in this stage that will help mankind sweep evil from his or her mind. This is the path that brings people to our places of worship. God tells us that the path to salvation is difficult; but God promises that if we follow this path, there will be eternal joy.

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Tenrikyo /Global Warming

Posted on September 6, 2017 by heaventruth

Politics continues to fabricate statements concerning the recent hurricanes that have affected the United States. The far left continue to suggest that human pollution has caused global warming creating these devastating hurricanes. One person jokingly explained hurricane Harvey as an immediate karma for the people in Texas voting Republican. But what are the causes of these natural disasters? Does pollution have anything to do with it? In the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush) is the following:

In this world, landslides, thunder, earthquakes,

And great winds are all from the anger of God. 6-91

If one were to interpret the verse literally, one may conclude that God is punishing the people of these regions. We all know that the moon and sun affect the weather patterns and geological movements of the earth. * Most of us would agree that God has control of the moon and sun, as well as the entire universe. One can therefore conclude that God causes these climatic and geological events. But if God causes these events, who are these disaster directed toward?

In the Ofudesaki, God tells us that the anger and regret of God comes from the evils (greed, arrogance, and self love) of the mind. Our evil thoughts and actions cause the anger of God. If you can imagine our thoughts comprised of energy. If we can go back to our science courses, we know that energy is transferable from one source to another. God also tells us that the Universe is the body of God. Since we are part of the Universe, we are part of God. What does God do with all this negative energy that we are producing by our negative thoughts. Could it be that God releases this enormous amount of energy in the form of these natural disasters? It is ironic that it may not be human pollution that causes global warming; but it may be the accumulation and release of our evil thoughts that is causing these abnormal weather patterns that we are experiencing.

* for the Tenrikyo followers, is it coincidence that God calls himself Moon/Sun for the first time in chapter    6?

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Tenrikyo /Where are God’s Promises

Posted on August 24, 2017 by heaventruth

In most religions, God promises that there will be an occurrence in the future, whether it is the destruction of evil or the salvation of believers. We continue to wait for this great event. Some of us wonder if it will ever occur.

In the Heaven’s Truth Religion (Tenrikyo), God promises that he will begin to work to save the world. God promises to sweep evil from the hearts of all mankind. But we see evil throughout the world, whether it is in our local communities or in a far away land in the Middle East. One has to wonder why we have not begun to see his promises.

In our sacred book, God tells us that we must go out and tell people what God is going to do. We call this hinokishin. They will not understand what will happen to them, unless we tell them. Maybe this is why God has not shown his workings? We need to spread God’s truth to the world. God is waiting for us to spread our truth to our neighbors. When the truth of God’s workings is disseminated, then God will begin to provide his blessings that he has promised!

Please visit heaventruth.com for further information.

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Tenrikyo /Farming and Religion

Posted on August 22, 2017 by heaventruth

Imagine God descending from Heaven to a small farming community in Fresno California in the 19th century. What would be the most efficient way to convey God’s truths to as many people as possible? I would imagine God using words and terminology that were familiar to the people in the region. For example, they would be familiar with words like acquiring a field, planting the field (sowing the seeds), pure water, weeding, and fertilizing. These are all the ingredients in harvesting a large crop. Do these ingredients also bring in new members to our churches? God compares harvesting a large crop with the bringing of new members to our churches. This is called an analogy, using metaphors and comparisons in teaching.

What are the best ways to spread God’s truths? In the 19th century, it is recorded that God descended from Heaven upon a small farming community in Tenri Japan. God gifted us the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush) through Oyasama, which gives us the ingredients to live a joyous life (gives us the purpose of life); but more important God gives us the ingredients to share this truth with others.   God through this important sacred document gives us the instructions to spread God’s truth to the world. This is the formula:

Harvest of crops = field + planting the seeds + water + weeding + fertilizer

Any farmer will immediately agree with this formula in acquiring a good crop; but does this formula also work for spreading God’s truths?

God tells us to acquire a field. In agriculture, this determines how much crops one expects to harvest. In religion, one can build a large church expecting many new members, or one can be temporally satisfied with a fellowship, expecting only a small amount of new members.

After building a church, God tells us to sow the seeds or plant the seeds. This is done by hinokishin, or spreading God’s truth. Hinoki is translated as a fine polished timber, and shin is translated as the original pure mind. God asks us to tell the world (seeds) that God will begin to work. The following is from verse 14- 66

There will be no understanding about anything

unless you tell them. Tell them everything, all in detail. 14-66

These people (seeds) who we have spread the truth to, will eventually come to our places of worship.

God uses the terms clear or muddy waters in describing our minds. God requires us to have a pure mind, without greed, arrogance, and self-love. These evils are what makes our minds muddy, and hinders our harvesting of new members.

Weeding refers to illness given to us as guidance from a loving God. God helps us remove greed, arrogance, and self-love from our minds. This is required (pure mind like water) for our harvesting of new members.

The last ingredient is the most important. God has given us a prayer called the Joyous Service. God calls it his fertilizer. In the Ofudesaki is the following:

Truly let the mind be spirited and ponder.

Lean on God and perform the Joyous Service. 4-49

Do not wonder what this talk is about.

It is solely about the matter of the fertilizer. 4-50

The Joyous Service is a prayer asking God to bring people to our churches and places of worship. It does not work unless all the ingredients are present.

In summary, we as a religion have a prayer that will save the world. God has given us the ingredients in the Ofudesaki (Tip of the Writing Brush). Whether we are in Fresno or Ojiba, God guarantees that it will work!

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Tenrikyo /Reincarnation in Understanding the World

Posted on August 19, 2017 by heaventruth

Hello, I am trying to introduce a concept that will change the world; but you will need to open your minds to something that you may be opposed to. This idea is the concept of reincarnation. This is an idea that we have a soul (heart) that lives for eternity, and continues to return to a physical form (body).

Some will say that the soul is comprised of an inner core of positive energy of good, which often is surrounded by the negative energies, which are produced by our negative thoughts and actions. These negative energies surrounding the soul determine our fate, often described as karma, or cause and effect. It is this soul with these negative energies that continue to seek an environment and time appropriate for the release of the baggage (negative energy) it carries. This negative energy unfortunately leads to suffering and pain we see in the world today. Some will say that this is how God or nature attempts to purify our souls.

This concept is a difficult concept because we must accept suffering and misfortune as our own cause. Yet because we do not understand reincarnation and causality, we blame others for our misfortunes. Because of this, we continue to add more negative energy to our soul, which continues our path of suffering. This is what is happening with the protests concerning the Confederate statues. One race blames the other; but the soul has no color, or no predisposition for any race. We create our own fate with our actions and thoughts of today.

This concept of reincarnation and causality may sound depressing because of the suffering and misfortunes that appears in the world. But there is hope of everlasting joy if the soul is able to remove the negative energies that many of us carry. We cannot sometimes change the fate that the soul releases, but we can change our thinking and actions upon these sufferings. When our thoughts and actions become positive, the pure soul becomes more prominent, bringing upon joy. This is why even the most evil person can eventually become good. This is why there is no one who is evil. It is only our thoughts and beliefs that are evil.

Why do good people suffer, and why do bad people have joy? I believe we have all sinned, and our soul often waits for appropriate time a place to release its energy. Remember, we are not evil because we suffer; we are not good because we do not suffer. We must remember that we all have a pure soul (heart) which will bring upon joy.  It is only because of the negative energies that temporarily surround our hearts (souls) that prevent us from having joy.

What this all this mean? Whatever happens, place no blame on others. Ponder and reflect on any occurrences. Remove evil (greed, arrogance, and self love) from your minds. This by the principle of causality will bring upon joy. If only the world understands these concepts of reincarnation and Causality!

heaventruth.com   in understanding God’s truth (Fudesaki)

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