Tenrikyo /The Path of Joy

Posted on February 10, 2017 by heaventruth

Someone once said, it is not the person we despise of, but it is the thoughts and behavior of the person we disapprove of. How appropriate the saying is, because each person has a mind that is already filled with thoughts, and ideas that may be true or untrue. It is from this perspective of mind that actions or words are initiated from. In the Book of Prophecy (Ofudesaki), God tells us that to understand what occurs in the world, we must purify our minds of arrogance, greed, and self-love.

Lets start with the evil of arrogance, which I believe is the root of anger, retribution and wars. Arrogance by definition is the thought that one is superior to another due to having more intelligence, wealth, power, beauty, etc. It is also subjecting others to one’s religious beliefs by force. Arrogance is the cause of road rage, domestic and child abuse, religious wars, divorce, racial conflicts, political conflicts. How do we remove arrogance from our minds? We must first distinguish that our minds can be tainted with false information, which may cloud our decisions. We must also acknowledge that are bodies are borrowed from God, and any actions or behavior to harm the body, will be directed toward God. It appears that God is surrounding and protecting man’s free will, whether it is right or wrong.

How do we remove the evil in man’s mind, while protecting the body that is loaned to us by God? How do we accomplish this without hurting God? History tells us that we have unsuccessfully attempted to eliminate the body to get to the source of the evil. Instead of the body, we must direct our efforts in removing greed, arrogance and self-love from our minds first, and then the world’s mind.

In the Book of Prophecy, God tells us that the mind is what determines our future. Some may say yes, it is our efforts that determine what becomes of us. But God is not specifically referring to goals that man may have, like financial or career goals. God is talking about joy, and a feeling of being spirited. This is only brought upon a mind that is free of greed, arrogance, covetousness, miserliness, and self-love. This is a path that you want to share with others; and not on a path of evil where you are afraid of what fate awaits around the next corner. Please visit heaventruth.com for more information on this path of joy.

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Tenrikyo /Self Reflection

Posted on February 8, 2017 by heaventruth

Sometimes I wonder why people do not understand what you are saying. Some pretend to listen, but are only wasting your time. Others politely refuse to listen, and walk away. Still others confront you with rhetoric and bombastic utterances to silence you. What prevents people from seeing the world as it is?

In the Book of Prophecy (Fudesaki), God tells us that it is the impure mind that prevents us from understanding. What is the impure mind? It is a mind that is tinged with greed, arrogance, and self-love. Especially with a mind of arrogance, one is tainted with likely false and outdated collection from past experiences. It is the same with greed and self-love, where one’s selfishness masks the present situation. How do we remove these evils from our minds so we can see the world as it really is?

First we must acknowledge that we have thoughts of greed, arrogance, and self-love. Thinking of sinning is not a sin; some may disagree with this. Acting upon these evil thoughts is a sin. How do we calm the mind of arrogance, from unleashing its anger and retribution? This is a difficult task that many people fail at. How many times have you tried to convince yourself not to express your anger when you feel you have been wronged? Like me, more likely you have failed. In the Book of Prophecy when suffering or inconveniences occur, God tells us to calm our minds first, and then ponder.

How do we calm our minds when one is confronted with an attack of words, or a refusal to listen? Can God be telling us ignore the contents and actions of the attacker; but concentrate on what evil thoughts are in your mind first. When we realize that we have arrogance, we must suppress it and not take action. What we are doing is self-reflecting even though the aggression may appear to be from outside. It is this difficult process, that we must complete before we can ponder or understand what is happening at the moment. We can then address the inconvenience (aggressor) with a mind that will be able to see the truth. When this happens, anger and retribution will not usually occur.

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Where some of your thoughts come from

Posted on February 6, 2017 by heaventruth

Suppose I were to tell you that your child has thoughts that are already programed that will affect his or her future. These thoughts do not originate from his or her environment, but from the past. Past thoughts from previous lives influence our thoughts today. It is the ever-living soul that absorbs and transports these thoughts as negative energy; and it the soul that releases this energy as negative thoughts to the developing mind. As much as we all want to believe, all children may not be innocent; they may have a past.

I am talking about a very sensitive matter that may bother many people. When an innocent child dies or his harmed, it is difficult to understand why it has occurred. Why has God punished the child? Where is his or her sin in this short life? We cannot explain it, unless we uncover the soul; and acknowledge that our souls are everlasting. There is a reason why a child dies or suffers. This does not mean that the child is evil, and deserves the suffering or that we should not do everything we can to protect children from suffering. We must place the life of every individual with the same reverence and respect, regardless of age. It is the soul within each individual that either comes closer or grows further away from God that we must understand. How do we get closer to God so that children do not suffer, so we do not suffer?

We must remove greed, arrogance, and self-love that originate from our minds? We must be aware of the negative (greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness and self love) thoughts that are transferred from the soul and manufactured from our minds. We must be determined to not to act on these thoughts. This is the most difficult task to accomplish. Eventually these thoughts will not arise due to the pathway becoming blocked. Without the production of negative thoughts, the positive energy of the soul will be unhindered, providing blessing to the physical bodies that the soul may inhabit. It is with this hope of an unencumbered soul, that we pray (Joyous Service) daily asking God to help remove evil from all mankind.

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Tenrikyo /Time in a Bottle

Posted on February 3, 2017 by heaventruth

Why do people smoke (cause) when they know that it is unhealthy (effect). Could it be that the effect of the cause is prolonged. Because of the length between the cause and effect, teenagers do not recognize the danger. Lets look at hepatic C, the disease does not take its tow until years later; it is the same with alcoholism where the liver eventually fails in the future. When we cannot see the immediate effect, we cannot understand, or refuse/ignore the relationships, and continue the harmful habits. Could this be the reason why people refuse to accept the concepts of causality, karma, and innen? In the Osashizu, it is written “ We see both good and evil in this world, and we see joy and suffering; yet we cannot understand the relationship”. Why can we not accept that we have all sinned?

Why does nature or God prolong the effects of our actions? I believe, it is the pure heart of mankind that God wants us to discover by ourselves. If God were to punish us for every evil action immediately, our actions would be instigated out of fear of God, and not from our innermost heart. It is the same with dictators, where the actions or no actions of their people are done out of fear; free will is lost. Time is both good and bad. Time becomes an ally in masking God or nature’s response, but time also makes the relationship of cause and effect nebulous.

Causality tells us to understand whatever occurs, and ponder. Every action has a reaction. It is a mechanism that allows us to change our future. It allows us to remove our bad thoughts and become spirited in mind. Understanding the concept of causality opens the path to man’s pure heart, a mind without greed, arrogance, and self-love. It is also a mind that will unite you with God.

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Tenrikyo /Where Was I before I Was Born

Posted on February 1, 2017 by heaventruth

I use to wonder who I was before I was born. I know there are many who would say that we did not exist before; but it is hard to imagine not thinking. Was it not Descartes that said, “I think, therefore I am”. As I am reaching my “Golden years”, I wonder what will happen when I die. Will my good and bad thoughts just disappear with my physical body? Is it not our brains that make us think? Without the brain, do we exist? This is where religion takes over and the soul comes into play to complete the puzzle.

The soul is said to be an intangible positive energy force located somewhere in our bodies. Some call it the heart, as in the expression from the heart. But I believe it would probably locate itself near our brains, where it initiates our thought process in the developing fetus. The pure soul that was originally placed at the beginning of creation would only transport good thoughts to the mind. But throughout time, our positive souls have attracted the negative energies of our thoughts, and have become surrounded by these negative energies. How dangerous are these negative energies that surround our positive souls? They can be revert back to negative thoughts in our minds; but they can also cause illness if released in the body. Some say they can also be released out of the body, and be converted to physical force causing accidents and misfortune to the individual. What happens to the soul when it leaves the body at death?

Most religion says that the soul rises to heaven. But what would God do with the enormous amount of negative energy surrounding the soul? In the Book of Prophecy (Fudesaki), God describes this energy source as his anger and regret; and releases this energy in the form of illness, earthquakes, tidal waves, and natural catastrophes. I picture Zeus with a lightning rod hurling it at the earth.

What happens to the soul in heaven? I often wonder if the soul can operate independent of our brain? Maybe the soul is capable of thinking by itself; or perhaps the soul requires a physical brain to think? Perhaps the soul uses God’s pure mind to meditate in heaven? Some will say that the soul is an aggregate of our innate positive energy, and the negative energy collected from our thoughts. It is like a library of our negative thoughts. But where does this storage go after heaven if it does leave. Eastern religions will say that the soul comes back to earth and finds an environment and family appropriate to the negative energy it has collected. Imagine the myriad of possible placements with 7 billion people on this earth.

I have now suggested the possibilities of disease, natural disasters, accidents and misfortunes caused by negative energies surrounding our souls. The question arises how do we begin to remove the evils around our souls so that the positive energies of our souls can be expressed. In the Book of Prophecy God tells us it is the heart (soul) and the mouth (behavior and actions) that are the sands and filters. We must be aware of the negative (greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness and self love) thoughts that are manufactured by our minds. We must be determined to not to act on these thoughts that are initiated by external stimuli. Eventually these thoughts will not arise due to the pathway becoming blocked. Without the production of negative thoughts, the positive energy of the soul will be unhindered, providing blessing to the individual. It is with this hope that we pray (Joyous Service) daily asking God to help remove evil from mankind.

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Tenrikyo /I think therefore I am

Posted on January 31, 2017 by heaventruth

I use to wonder who I was before I was born. I know there are many who would say that we did not exist before; but it is hard to imagine not thinking. Was it not Descartes that said, “I think, therefore I am”. As I am reaching my golden years, I wonder what will happen when I die. Will my thoughts just disappear with my physical body? Is it not our physical brains that make us think? Without the brain, do we exist? This is where religion takes over. The soul is said to be an intangible energy force located somewhere in our bodies. Some call it the heart, as the expression from the heart. I often wonder if the soul can operate independent of our brain? It is this soul that many will say will exist after our physical demise. Maybe the soul is capable of thinking by itself; or maybe the soul requires a physical brain to think? Some will say that the soul is an aggregate of our thoughts converted to energy, either positive or negative. It is storage of our life (heaven) or lives (reincarnation).

What happens to the soul when it leaves the body? Some will say it goes to heaven or hell. Maybe the soul uses God’s mind to think? Eastern religions will say that the soul goes to heaven, and then eventually finds an environment and family appropriate to the energy (positive or negative) it has collected in the soul. Imagine the myriad of possible placements with 7 billion people on this earth. To be continued……….

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Tenrikyo /The Path of Joy

Posted on January 29, 2017 by heaventruth

In the Book of Prophecy (Ofudesaki), God tells us to remove evil from our hearts to have a “Joyous life”. These evils are greed, arrogance, miserliness, covetousness, and self love. These evils in our minds are what he refers to as dusts. But these dusts are not as easy to eliminate as it may appear. It would be easy to sweep away evil if life brought upon only positive events; but we all know that there are negative occurrences or temptations in our lives. Whether it is God testing us, or our causality or karma catching up to us, we are confronted with obstacles that challenge our resolve. How do we confront these obstacles or temptations without accumulating more dusts?

It is extremely difficult not to blame others who hurt us, especially those who have once been very close to us. We often accumulate anger or even hate from what we feel is unjustified behavior toward us. Sometimes we curl up in our own self-pity, thinking about why we have been wronged. This type of thinking often causes us to accumulate more evil in our minds, especially when both parties frequently see each other (family or coworkers). In the Book of Prophecy, God tells us that we should not blame others for their actions; karmic law or God is showing us what we have previously done in our previous lives. This concept of Karma or causality is a difficult concept for many of us to accept, especially for those who believe in an everlasting heaven. But this concept of the afterlife explains why bad things sometimes happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people. It is like reading a mystery book from the middle or at the end. We do not understand what is happening if we do not understand causality.

The concept of causality and reincarnation is not a frightening concept of man suffering. By understanding this concept, we can understand that God or natural law is showing us our temperament and disposition. God is showing us a mirror, which reflects where the problem originates. It is pointing back to us, more specifically our minds. This is why we must not become angry when inconveniences occur. We must not shoot the messenger; but we must seriously ponder the occurrence, and purify our minds. By this process of purification, we can have a joyous future. We will eventually eliminate the bad karma, and only the good karma will unfold. But this process is a difficult process since we continue to blame others for our problems. We will continue to be on the same path of suffering. Only when we look from within our minds, and purify our minds, will we begin to be on a path of joy. What path are you on?

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Punishment or Guidance from God?

Posted on December 5, 2016 by heaventruth

When I was a little boy, my mother would always tell me that if I did something wrong, that I would get a “Bachi” or a punishment from God. For a while, this thought prevented me from getting into trouble. Eventually I found out that bachi did not occur, as my friends sometimes acted inappropriately. My mother would counter that God’s punishments sometimes does not occur immediately after any indiscretions. I thought to myself, what is the purpose of delayed punishment? It is this concept of Causality (karma, innen) that I would like to discuss.

What if a physical act resulted in an immediate electrical shock? One would try to avoid the act at all cost. The avoidance would be due to fear. This is what BF Skinner learned in his experiment with rats on classical conditioning. If God were to punish us immediately after a sin or wrongdoing, we would be avoiding the act due to fear, and not from a perspective of right or wrong. It is like the despots that rule their kingdoms. They hinder the behaviors of their people. They limit their abilities to choose between what is right and wrong. They limit their spiritual maturity. This is what immediate punishment or immediate karma would result in, the delay of spiritual maturity.

It is this concept of causality as a learning tool and an enhancer of spiritual maturity that I would like to talk about. In one of the sacred books, God tells us that all our indiscretions and contributions are recorded; and will eventually develop into either sufferings or joy. When we look upon these suffering or joy from the perspective of our past actions, we can understand that we have sinned or have helped others. We have free will to act evil and suffer the consequences, or act good to plant the seeds of joy. It is not fear that prevents us from acting. It is this new concept of causality as guidance from a loving God that is important for us to understand. But most of us see and experience the joys and sufferings of life, but we do not understand their origin or cause.

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What is the most arrogant city?

Posted on December 4, 2016 by heaventruth

What is the most arrogant city in the country? Seems like a ridiculous question. Recently have been traveling and visiting different cities, and have been driving my car. Everyone knows how difficult it is to navigate through a new city. Due to my unfamiliarity of the road, I have been driving more slowly, and have noticed an increase of people honking at my direction. What is more annoying than someone honking at you when you are trying to be careful? If it is not to prevent and accident, what is the purpose of honking? Is it not the quality of arrogance that someone would purposely honk at another person?

What is arrogance? Some would say it is a sin that we must avoid at all cost. To have arrogance, one presumes to be correct, and the other person is wrong. The facts may often collaborate the presumption, but sometimes we do not have all the details. This is why having arrogance is so dangerous. Arrogance leads to the emotion of anger, and a feeling that we have been wronged. This often leads to a response to teach the other person a lesson. In driving, this could be a honk, a stern look when passing, or even an inappropriate finger. I have experienced once, a driver who purposely drove in front of my car to impede my progress because he thought I had cut him off.

What is more suitable than a vehicle for showing our arrogance? It usually hides our identities, where we are strangers and are not connected. It gives us the ability to leave the scene quickly without any repercussions. It has a window where we can show our emotions. It also has the horn to express our arrogance phonetically.

We have all types of surveys. We have surveys on what are the best cities to live or retire in. Why should we not have a survey on what cities have the most arrogant people? Would this not help us decide where to raise our families or where to retire? I believe that measuring the number of honks (honks metric) can help us find the cities with the most arrogant people. Just my silly thoughts.

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Tenrikyo /Why it is difficult to see the truth

Posted on November 29, 2016 by heaventruth

Why is it so difficult for people to see the truth? In politics, both parties refuse to see the flaws, corruptions, and indiscretions in their candidates. In business, the accumulation of money takes priority over the treatment of customers and workers. In religion, unnatural and nonsensical events are held to be true, and are used to counter opposing views. Even in difficult relationships, couples have a difficult time understanding each other because of their previous views and experiences. How do we begin to see the truth?

In the Book of Prophecy (Ofudesaki), God tells us not to be like a distorted mirror. A distorted mirror does not reflect the true image. It is like a mind that has been contaminated by thoughts of arrogance, greed, self-love, miserliness, and covetousness. This type of mind can distort the truth. God tells us to remove these evils from our minds, and then ponder the events and occurrences that are placed upon us daily. When this happens, our minds become like a perfect mirror, which reflects the true image. This is why God emphasizes the removal of greed, arrogance, and self-love from our minds. This will allow us to see the truths that appears before us daily; and will make appropriate responses that will please God.

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