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Last month, when I returned to Ojiba, there were many families that were there filling the seats at the services. It gave me a stronger desire to fill this church with more people the way that I saw those filling the seats in Ojiba. When I talk about adding more members to the church, the intent is not to just have more people warm the seats. I want to have more people who are sp i r i tua l in the i r hear t and understands the intentions of God the Parent. I would like members who have a sincere and spirited desire to carry out actions that help others. No matter how large of an increase of members we get, it is pointless without the members truly believing in the teachings. If the members do not live through the teachings with a spiritual heart, how do we expect our world to get closer to the joyous life we strive for? Living a joyous life is not about just looking out for our own interests. If we hope to attain a world where we all can live joyously, we must look beyond our own

desires and towards God the Parent’s desires for this to happen. When we look around us, everything we hear, everything we see, the people we are in a relationship with, the people we encounter and must interact with are all a reflection of our own causalities. These are the budding fruit from seeds planted much, much earlier that we are all witnessing. These are all the choices that we’ve made or those our predecessors have made before us. Some may look at this as an obvious observation. But to truly understand this, we must understand that everything we see is a mirror reflection of our true inner selves. The stains that bother us on others are the stains that are within us. They could be passed down from generations or those we’ve developed on our own. God the Parent is not a human being with a mouth like ours or hands like ours. The way God the Parent puts a mirror in front of us to show us how we are doing is through the people we interact with.

z Rev. Aiko Hasegawa zJuly Speech

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Tenrikyo Northern California Church

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Through those around us, we see the things about ourselves we would not have noticed otherwise. When we do see things that we do not like about others, that is our opportunity to ponder and reflect on our own actions. Then decide to make better choices that will change the course of the path that could be ahead of us. As some of you may already know, these shrines of God the Parent, Oyasama, and our ancestors erected here before us have a round mirror right in the middle for that exact reason. It is God’s desire for us to truly see ourselves so that we can work on the areas we need improvement on. Without a mirror, it is easy for us to fool ourselves into thinking we are just fine. However, if we really desire to seek the truth, we must face the truth of ourselves first. Spiritual enlightenment is not just about feeling good and happy. It is about seeing ourselves with every blemish and unpleasant thing that we are presenting to the world and realizing that our own image needs to change if we expect the image of the world to change. I know this is hard work but life is hard work from beginning to end. We are not born into this world to enjoy great foods, be constantly entertained, and never have to feel a sense of struggle. Joyous living is an attitude in our hearts. We’ve talked about Mrs. Takeuchi many times lately and her strong will to show her sincerity

to God no matter what her physical condition is at her advanced age of close to 90. She has made me see how her sheer determination and heart keeps her alive. Her body may seem ready but her heart keeps her from passing on. I feel I am learning so much about the strength of will over our own physical struggles through her. At this point in her life, just about everyone around her has expected her to pass away. She is not even able to walk on her own anymore yet, even yesterday, she still insisted she come to church to give her prayers to God. She displays an attitude of physical strength that even the most healthy of us do not. We read and listen to so much about God’s teachings but when we witness it through others, we truly understand the meaning. We are told that our bodies will only be able to stand through the strength that is in our souls. In order for our souls to be strong, we must use the foundation of the teachings. We must stand on the teachings and use them to rise above our own self-centered thoughts. When we rise above our own self-centered thoughts, we can clearly see God the Parent’s intentions. We will go through many struggles in our lives. However, when we have risen above our self-centered thinking, we can walk through it with the ability to reflect on what God the Parent is trying to tell us or show us. Then we can spiritedly use the tools we have to change the course of the path we work so hard to strive for.

“ Human minds are so deeply doubtful”“The innermost hearts of all in the world, Are reflected to Me as in a mirror.”

“You make prayers thoughtlessly. The ways of My response are also a thousand.”“However eagerly you may believe, Never entertain wrong thoughts!”

“After all, you must continue to believe. If you are to entertain wrong thoughts, you are to start anew.” -Song Six of Mikagura-Uta

“Any and everything is reflected in the world. All is reflected in the world. The world is a mirror.” - Osashizu, February 4, 1889

“You do not understand innen. The whole world is a mirror; however many times all mankind has been born and reborn, each way you have used your mind is reflected in yourself. So

understand this well. Hardship of hardships, suffering of sufferings...It is innen.”Osashizu, February 15. 1888

Mental dustWe get caught up in our individual gains and losses, pains and pleasures, imagining ourselves to be isolated

centers of thinking and action, engaged in pursuing selfish interests. Self-centeredness, however, causes trouble for others and for society and gives rise to suffering. In fact, we are meant to live our lives while

helping one another as brothers and sisters and ought to take care not to use the mind in self-centered ways. Tenrikyo warns us against such ways, likening them to dust.

Essentially, particles of dust are so light and minute that they can be blown away by a single puff of breath. If the cleaning is done promptly, dust can be cleared away easily. But dust accumulates quickly and, if we

are negligent, the dust will in time pile up so high that the cleaning will be very difficult no matter how hard we attempt to sweep or wipe it away.

Our use of the mind works in much the same way. The dust of the mind can accumulate and become habits of thought and conditioning even before we know it. To prevent this from happening, it is important to pay close attention to our use of the mind and watch for selfish mind states as we proceed through each day.

As a means to help us reflect on the dust of the mind, God the Parent cited eight kinds of dust: miserliness, covetousness, hatred, self-love, grudge-bearing, anger, greed, and arrogance. In addition, God warns us

against falsehood and flattery.Miserliness

This dust is to begrudge giving one’s services in mind or body, to begrudge lending things to others, to begrudge paying an imposed charge, to begrudge the effort to help others–all these ways of begrudging

money or effort are dust.Covetousness

This dust is to desire more and more without appreciating that one is already given sufficient, to desire what others have, and to seek rewards without doing the necessary work.

HatredThis is a mind state that hates others because of sheer selfishness. This dust indicates, for instance, disliking others just because one doesn’t like them and despising others because some discourtesy or mistake on their

part has injured one’s pride.Self-love

This refers to partiality and to caring only about oneself, forgetting about others. It is a self-centered mind that shows kindness only to certain people and thinks only about oneself, one’s own children, one’s own

family, etc.Grudge-bearing

This dust is to bear a grudge against others, thinking that they have gotten in the way or that they have been unkind; to bear a grudge against others without reflecting on one’s own lack of effort; and to envy others

their happiness.Anger

This means to get angry just because someone has said something one doesn’t like or to get angry even over tiny things because one is in a bad mood. This dust indicates short-temperedness, in which there is neither

tolerance nor forgiveness.Greed

This refers to a self-centered use of mind that wants to have everything. It is a use of mind that desires more and more although one has sufficient already. This use of mind, for instance, wants to take as much as

possible, even by cheating others, and wants to make profits beyond what would be considered fair.Arrogance

This indicates the use of mind where one pretends to know something one doesn’t know, flatters oneself that one is superior to others, never listens to others’ opinions though willing to do anything to push one’s own

opinions through, and finds fault with others.In addition to these eight kinds of dust, we are encouraged to watch for “falsehood and flattery.”

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theTENRIKYO NC church2840 Davis RoadWest Sacramento, CA 95691(916) 371-9419

Please join us on Sunday, August 12th, at 10am!Unite your minds and construct a path of hope. You must reflect it to the world so the world will be convinced that it is the true path to follow.

Osashizu, September 6, 1902

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