Monday, December 29, 2008

Lecture on Grand Purification Ceremony

The following is my lecture draft on Grand Purification Ceremony conducted at SNI Hawaii Matlock Center on December 28, 2008.

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   This Grand Purification Ceremony is the last event for SNI Hawaii this year. Thank you very much for coming at the busy end of the year. The Grand Purification Ceremony is originally a Japanese Shinto ritual. From ancient times, we have had the ceremony of Oharai or purification in English. However, the original meaning of Oharai is to clear away or brush away. I mean, if you have a dust on your clothing, what do you do? You should brush it away.

   In Shintoism, sin is considered to be a state of being wrapped or covered. It is originally non-existence, therefore, it will disappear when cleaned up or brushed away. Among the Oharai, the most biggest one is Ooharai, or Grand Purification. This way of thinking is in accordance with what Founder Taniguchi taught us, therefore, in Seicho-No-Ie, we conduct this ceremony as an SNI ceremony.

   Listening to this explanation, you may be surprised to see that sin is considered to be something light or not serious that can be brushed away in Shintoism. Because in the context of Christianity, sin is deemed to be more heavy or serious. According to Britannica Concise Encyclopedia sin is described as follows:

   Christian theologians divide sin into actual and original sin. Actual sin, consisting of evil acts, words, and deeds, is in turn divided into mortal sin, in which the perpetrator deliberately turns away from God, and venial sin, a less serious transgression committed without full awareness of wrong doing.

   Regarding original sin, because I think you know about it well, I won't mention it now. To put it simply, Adam, the progenitor of human beings, disobeyed God's order, and his guilt was transmitted to his descendants. This is commonly taught in Christianity and Judaism.

   Founder Taniguchi studied the holy Bible very well and he totally understood the heaviness and seriousness of sin in the Christian context. After all things were considered, Founder Taniguchi bravely declared, "There is no sin in the world created by God."

   Among all the 33 divine messages, do you know which divine message appeared first? It is the Divine Message of Seicho-No-Ie meals. Do you think it was because Founder Taniguchi was very hungry and he wanted to eat a meal as soon as possible? No that isn't true. I don't know the reason actually, however, there is a very important message in it.

   The message is that "taking a meal is really the most solemn ceremony." If we have the most solemn ceremonies too much, we may have lots of weight. Putting aside a joke, this divine message touches upon an issue of sin. There is a reason for that Founder Taniguchi was agonized and suffered with a sense of guilt before he got enlightened. He felt guilt for we cannot live without sacrificing other creatures. At that time, he didn't eat animal meat, however, he sincerely felt sorry for the fact that when he drank water, he had to kill some germs which were in the water. When he ate rice, he thought he killed the life of the rice because it is a living being. When he walked, he thought he killed microorganisms. He even thought to kill himself, however, that would also mean he killed an important life that is given by God. So he couldn't. It may sound funny but he worried about that very seriously.

   He hated the fact that we cannot live without any sacrifice and prayed to God seeking for a world without any sacrifice and a world of coexistence. After his sincere and desperate prayer and contemplation, he finally received a revelation from God that "Matter does not exist." "Our physical body does not exist." "Our mind also does not exist," and he found a world without any sacrifice. Before the revelation, for Founder Taniguchi, to eat a meal was a cause of guilt. However, after he found the True Image world, to eat a meal became the most solemn ceremony that we offer to God who dwells within us. As you know, plants and fruits can pass on their life to the next generation only by being eaten by human beings and other animals. Therefore, if a grain of wheat or rice seems to die, it is not a real death. In the bible, According to John, Jesus taught that "unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." In this case, a grain of wheat does not really die but lives eternally by giving its life. However, things are different between plants and animals. Because animals have a sense of pain, they do not want to be killed. When they get caught they try running away. Therefore, to eat plants and to eat animals are very different from a religious perspective. Founder Taniguchi awakened the fact that when you eat plants, it enlivens the life of those plants in the end.

   In this way, our Founder Taniguchi not only studied Christian theology but also pondered over sin and meals and agonized over a sense of guilt. He even once denied God, saying that He does not deserve to be called God. However, in the end, he arrived at the truth that "There is no sin in the True Image world." Therefore, the declaration that "there is no sin" should be the greatest achievement in the world of religion. It is too great and too wonderful, so a few people can understand and savor this profound truth so far.

   At today's ceremony, we purify our sins, delusions, and impurities. However, what we should pay attention to when we conduct this ceremony is not that there are sins, delusions, and impurities to bother our True Image, but that they are only wrapping and covering the True Image and they will disappear when illuminated by God's light. Furthermore, we need to be aware that "matter does not exist" because when you believe "matter exists," sins and delusions appear. Founder Taniguchi taught as follows:

   To purify and eradicate all delusions and to manifest the perfect and harmonious world of the True Image is the Grand Purification Ceremony. This is the practice to purify and eradicate completely from our thought that this world is a world of matter and to become enlightened to the fundamental truths that "Matter does not originally exist." This indeed is the significance of the Grand Purification Ceremony.

   What Founder Taniguchi taught here is not only a matter for the individual, but a matter for all human beings. In other words, the purpose of the ceremony is to remove the materialistic viewpoint that claims "Matter exists." As you already know, the materialistic viewpoint is the cause of all unhappiness. To think that happiness comes from matter or excessive attachment to matter are grounds for sickness, domestic problems, even wars and environmental problems.

   Therefore, today's Grand Purification Ceremony will not only purify our individual sins or delusions but will purify all human beings' sins and delusions. Lastly, let me read a part of "Recitation of the Truth," "Prayer to become aware of my indestructible true body."

Prayer to Become Aware of My Indestructible True Body

   God is the one and only reality. God is the one and only Creator. He is good. Since evil cannot possibly from that which is good, everything created by God is good. Since everything is good, there is no evil. Since disease is evil, it does not exist. Since sin is evil, it does not exist. If it seems that evil causes and evil effects exist, they are no more than dreams. If disease, senility, poverty, misfortune and the like appear to exist, they are no more than illusions. Dreamers, awaken! Illusions, begone. The light of Truth is already illuminating your mind. When you awaken from your dream and your illusions have vanished, what remains is only the truly perfect and good ultimate realities created by God.

   God is the only reality. God is the only Creator. All existence comes from God. That which maintains all existence is God's wisdom which lies behind every manifestation. It is through God's wisdom that every existence was designed, ordered, put in its proper place, brought into harmony with everything else, and maintained. There cannot be any imperfection, inadequacy, or contradiction in God's wisdom. There is only perfect harmony between everyone and everything in this world created by God. There is no conflict between countries. All races of the world are in harmony with each other. They do not discriminate against one another because of skin color but see only the True Image of each other as children of God and thus have nothing but respect and love for each other. Furthermore, there is harmony within the family, and there is absolutely no Jealousy, hatred, or anger among family members.

   As we now visualize the True Image of existence, we see that the life of all living things, even to the smallest microorganism, is an outpouring of God's life. As long as they have life, all forms of life are expressions of God. Thus, no virus, bacteria, fungus, or protozoa can ever invade man and cause him to fall ill. The belief that man comes under attack by microorganisms and falls ill is nothing but an illusion. Wake up from such a dream! Cast off such illusion. Wake up and become aware of the Truth that, as a child of God, you possess an eternally indestructible true body that is forever healthy and ageless. As a child of God, man is not matter, a physical body, or a frail existence destined to age and self-destruct. Man is an eternal indestructible, spiritual, ageless, deathless body. Man cannot become senile, fall ill, or die.

   We express our heartfelt appreciation to God for imparting this Truth to us. Here and now, we resolve: In order to impress this Truth deeply in our subconscious, we shall practice Shinsokan every day. We are deeply grateful.


(From "Shinri No Ginsho," or "Recitations of the Truth," pp. 283-287)

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

2008 December Message

Cherishing the Memory of the Late Rev. Seicho Taniguchi

Rev. Tetsuya Abe
Acting Chief, Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Missionary Area

  I respectfully report to you that Rev. Seicho Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, peacefully made a transition to a high spiritual world on October 28 at 10:21 (JST). He was 89 years old. At Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii, we are going to hold a memorial service on Sunday, December 7 at 10 a.m. following the Sunday Service. Please come to memorialize him with your Holy Sutra.

  In 1945, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi joined Seicho-No-Ie Headquarters as translator for the Western literature and documents translation project conceived by Founder Masaharu Taniguchi for the postwar Humanity Enlightenment Movement. Since then, he has dedicated himself throughout his life for the propagation of the Seicho-No-Ie teachings, focusing on Public Lectures and writings for 63 years, which is quite a long time. He conducted 2,221 Public Lectures, surpassing the number by Founder Taniguchi since he started giving guidance in 1948 when he was 28. He wrote a total of 227 books after publishing his first book in 1952 at age 33. He came to Hawaii to disseminate the teachings in 1956 and 1977.

  After Founder Masaharu Taniguchi passed away in June 1985, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi assumed the post of Seicho-No-Ie President in November of the same year, and expounded the significance of "Succession to the Presidency" at the Succession Ceremony. Since then, he has led the Humanity Enlightenment Movement for 23 years.

  I am very fond of his articles because they are filled with vivid stories of SNI members whose lives were completely changed by practicing the teachings. As a result, I can learn how to put the teachings into practice in my daily life. When Rev. Seicho wrote a book for the first time, Founder Masaharu Taniguchi praised his book as follows:

  One of my recent greatest joys is that my son, Seicho, published his first book, "To Realize Love and Prayer." Seicho is very humble and unpretentious, and I am proud of the addition of his book to the world of religion. I am a prolific writer, but Seicho writes articles so fast that I cannot match him. His inspiration comes one after another and so fast to the extent his hand seems unable to keep up. I cannot help but admire him because he writes in an environment with his two children noisily running around the room and his baby crying loudly. Furthermore, as far as his articles are concerned, he had countless number of interviews with those who had life-changing experiences by practicing the teachings and relating them to the SNI doctrines. As a result, all his articles are vivid religious stories imbued with people's souls, so I believe there has never been a writer to match him. Before Seicho started writing such inspiring articles, I was the only person to do so. That's a weight off my mind because I can completely hand over this field of work to him. (Masaharu Taniguchi, "Seicho-No-Ie," May 1952)

  Furthermore, his lectures, full of humor, inspired me a lot because he preached the profound Truth in a way that we can easily understand it. When he gave a lecture, it was as if he was talking to his own children. I am so sorry to say that I felt very sleepy when I listened to his talk for the first time in 1987, however, as I practiced Shinsokan Meditation everyday and deepened my understanding of the Truth, I came to understand the value of his lectures, and consequently, I was all ears listening to him.

  I remember an incident that took place during his guidance. It was when I worked for the Youth and Young Adult Association (YYAA) Department at Seicho-No-Ie International Headquarters as a staff giving guidance to middle and high school students. I attended a biannual YYAA Central Committee Meeting, the highest decision-making body of the YYAA. There were about 20 attendees at the meeting where we directly received guidance from Rev. Seicho. At that time, I was very young, 25 years old, and the youngest attendee, therefore I was very nervous during the meeting.

  At the end of the meeting, Rev. Seicho gave his concluding remarks. We were supposed to record his message by writing in the minutes so that we could share it with other YYAA leaders. For that purpose, four members were assigned to write down his speech, and later we were supposed to check with each other and wrap up the minutes.

  At the Central Committee Meeting in January 1994, Rev. Seicho earnestly gave us inspiring guidance on Shinsokan Meditation as follows: "Please give guidance to leaders in the Missionary Area to have even elementary school children practice Shinsokan Meditation. Even if they are very young, it is not enough for them to do only prayers at Spiritual Training Seminars, etc. For example, when learning to play the piano, they use a real piano, don't they? They cannot improve their skill by playing on a toy piano. In this way, to practice Shinsokan is necessary...." He wholeheartedly taught us the importance of Shinsokan for about twenty minutes or so. I felt it was just what a soul-stirring guidance should be. Although 15 years have passed since then, I can clearly remember that day.

  This incident took place just after the meeting. When the four attendees assigned to write down Rev. Seicho's message checked their writings with each other, one of them wrote almost nothing. According to him, Rev. Takashi Koseki, he was so impressed with Rev. Seicho's message that he completely forgot his assignment and unconsciously concentrated on listening by placing his hands together in prayer. This example shows how much the attendees were moved by the message.

  Moreover, Rev. Seicho contributed to the Seicho-No-Ie movement from the perspective of art. Let me introduce a comment on this matter by Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, Vice President of Seicho-No-Ie.

In addition to his writings, lectures and organizational management, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi contributed greatly to the growth and development of the Seicho-No-Ie Movement. That is through the lyrics and music he wrote and composed. Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi wrote the lyrics to many wonderful Seicho-No-Ie hymns; however he did not compose music. Rev. Seicho played the violin, piano, and organ, and also composed music. About a third of the Seicho-No-Ie hymns today are Rev. Seicho's compositions. More specifically, of the 68 hymns that are included in the "New Edition, Seicho-No-Ie Hymn Lyrics" published in 2003, 20 are pieces with lyrics by Rev. Seicho, and of those 20, 15 were hymns that he also composed. Rev. Seicho's compositions were not caught up in form, but were filled with religious originality that deeply moved those who sang them. I feel this can be said not only about his lyrics but also about the musical composition themselves. (Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi's blog, Let Me Tell You, posted on October 29, 2008)

  I hope from the bottom of my heart some of those lyrics will be transated into English and sung in the English-speaking countries.

  Again, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to all of the guidance recieved from Rev. Seicho Taniguchi and resolve to promote God's Humanity Enlightenment Movement - International Peace by Faith Movement enthusiastically under the guidance of Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi who has succeeded Rev. Seicho.