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)