2009 New Year Message

This is a draft of my New Year Message delivered at SNI Hawaii Jisso Center on January 1, 2009. I hope you will find it interesting.

Rev. Tetsuya Abe

---------------------------------------------------------------
　　　A happy New Year! Thank you very much. I wish all of you will have a meaningful and blessed 2009 to realize the will of God as much as possible. First of all, I will introduce you to an article by Rev. Seicho Taniguchi that is perfect for a new year. That comes from "Messages of Wisdom and Love."

　　A new sun has risen. This is the start of a new day. But that sun is old. What is new about this? Man's mind has been renewed. When man's mind recognizes something as new, all things become new. When man's mind thinks that something is old, all things become old.

　　Man's mind is the creator of all things. In addition, both hope and despair have been created by man's mind.

　　Then let us create hope, freshness and joy. Now, just as you are, with your mind, with your face, with your body you can always create hope and joy -- that is, only if you wish to.

　　What is it that moves your mind? It is your own resolve and not that of another. Your mind becomes your freedom. Why? Your mind is your possession.

　　Therefore resolve now to be happy for whatever the circumstances you can always be happy. Resolve to be grateful. Then you will be able to be grateful to all people, things and circumstances in the universe. (Partial Omission)

　　You are always the master. You are the ruler of your destiny. You are not the slave of another. So you must not think that your unhappiness is the responsibility of another. You are solely responsible for your happiness and unhappiness.

　　If you desire to rejoice and if you desire to become grateful, you will soon become happy. A small happiness calls forth a medium-size happiness. A medium-size happiness calls forth an even larger happiness. An even larger happiness infinitely summons up greater and greater happiness for us.
　　　　　　　　　（Messages of Wisdom and Love, pp. 68-69）

　　　The book "Messages of Wisdom and Love" is a wonderful book. It was published in 1993 in Japanese and the English translation was published in 1995. Whenever I go to our neighbor island centers to attend their Sunday Services or seminars, I am supposed to bring some SNI books. When I went to Hilo 2 years ago, I gave them some copies of this book. Then, when I went to Hilo again in the end of last year, Ms. Joan Yoshioka told me that "This book is marvelous. What is written is perfect in this day and age." If you haven't tried, please read it. You can purchase this book at Matlock Center.

　　　Well, today, I want to talk about Shinsokan. I believe Shinsokan is one of the greatest inventions in the world that Dr. Taniguchi made. Because if you never fail to practice Shinsokan every day, I can guarantee that everything will go well with you. Everything means without exception. What Rev. Seicho Taniguchi kept on telling us was to practice Shinsokan every day. It is very easy to say but may be difficult when it comes to putting it into practice. But unless Shinsokan is practiced Shinsokan by as many members as possible, we cannot forward our movement. There are very few "Musts" we should do. Seicho-No-Ie respects freedom very much, therefore, we don't say, you must do or you must that. However, Shinsokan is exceptional. In the "Seicho-No-Ie Article of Faith," item 8 said, "Practice Shinsokan Meditation as least once a day to enlighten yourself. Incidentally, a title of Rev. Seicho's first article was "Shinsokan as a source of culture."

　　　I wrote an article about Rev. Seicho Taniguchi in the December issue of Newsletter. In the article I shared my experience when I attended a central committee meeting of Youth and Young Adult Association. Let me quote from the article

---------- (Quatation from SNI Hawaii Dec. Newsletter)-------
　　　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.
---------------------------------------------------------------

　　　Based upon Rev. Seicho's guidance, when I conducted an STS for elementary school students I tried to practice Shinsokan with them. Before the seminar, all the leaders in the Missionary Area were hesitant to practice Shinsokan with elementary school children because when they had tried in the previous seminars they had failed. After that they didn't try and they only did a brief prayer instead. Things were same at all other Missionary Areas in Japan.

　　　At a staff meeting of the STS, I told them that Rev. Seicho guided us in the central committee meeting to teach elementary school children Shinsokan and I would conduct Shinsokan with them. At my lecture, I explained Shisokan as easily as possible, although it was painstaking, and then started to practice. After Invocation, I told them to join me reciting, "God's sea of infinite wisdom, God's sea of infinite wisdom, God's sea of Infinite love......" Every attendee sincerely joined me reciting those difficult words to them. After that, I took time to meditate on these thoughts even if for a short time. To my surprise, every single attendee sat well and concentrated on Shinsokan pretty well. Not only myself, but all the staff members were very impressed to see the scene. And we all were also moved that what Rev. Seicho taught us was really true.

　　　Those words, "God's sea of infinite wisdom, love, life, abundance, joy, and harmony," may be difficult for school children to understand, however, those kids can grasp the truth intuitively. Even my daughter once remembered those words when she was three years old. As Jesus Christ and Founder Taniguchi indicated, "a mind of a little child" is important when it comes to true faith. Incidentally, Jesus taught in Gospel According to Luke chapter 18 as follows: "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

　　　There is a book titled, ”Ai to Inori wo Jitsugen Suruniwa" or "To realize Love and Prayer" written by Rev. Seicho Taniguchi. You can see so many examples of how a prayer is wonderful and works in the book. Let me introduce a piece of them:

　　　There was a young man named "I" in Hokkaido, northern part of Japan. His uncle had an affair with a widow and in no time she carried a child. Then the uncle conspired with the woman by having the young man become close to the woman. She tempted him and they finally had a physical relationship. Then, the woman intimidated him by telling him that "I carried your child. How should you do?"

　　　The young man was working at a farm of his uncle. He agonized so much, but he heard from someone that the baby the woman carried is not his but his uncle's. In other words, he knew that he was deceived by his uncle. He hated and even detested his uncle to the extent he wanted to kill him.

　　　At that moment, Mr. K, a leader of SNI Youth and Young Adult Association in Hokkaido, led him to worship the divinity of his uncle and the woman. Mr. K's explanation followed: There is no single evil person in the world. Everyone is a child of God. He/She must be a manifestation of Goddess of Mercy that corrects your mistakes in your mind. Therefore pray for and bless them thoroughly.

　　　The young man "I" was extremely frustrated but followed his advice and practiced Shinsokan every day and prayed for and blessed them during Shinsokan. He also prayed for the happiness and prosperity of all human beings.

　　　In a little while, she gave birth to a baby. However, half of the baby's face was covered by a black birthmark. The baby passed away several days after she was born as if she finished her earthly duties. The uncle and the woman reflected upon themselves and deeply repented.

　　　Since the young man "I" was completely able to forgive his uncle and the woman, he felt refreshed and worked sincerely at his uncle's farm. Seeing how hard he is working, the really wanted to do whatever he could for him. The uncle gave him a large land and a lot of healthy livestock.

　　　After a while, the young man "I" got married to a beautiful and wonderful woman. Even thought the woman knew that young man "I" had a relationship with a widow, but she believed in him. By practicing Shinsokan he was able to enter the True Image world and practiced love and forgiveness. As a result of that, he was given a wonderful spouse and children, a large land, and a lot of livestock. Then he was giving love by propagating the teachings.

　　　After Rev. Seicho introduced this story, he taught as follows:

　　　You can say that he is a person of a real practitioner of God's love and prayed for people to the end. He didn't prayed for those who favored him. He even prayed for those who persecuted him by a plot. By so doing, for the first time, his environment changed entirely, a mask of apparent evil people was taken off, and an earthly paradise came into being. Love turns hatred into delight. Love is not just an emotion. Love is correctly guided by will. Don't think of biological instinct as true love. That does not show the sublimity of a human being. True human love should be heavenly that goes beyond people's like and dislike. There is value of love where you transcend the world of five senses.　

　　　The power of prayer is so great and Shinsokan is inevitable to deeply understand and savor the truth that "Man is a child of God." Founder Taniguchi taught that Shinsokan is as essential a nourishment for your mind as rice and bread is vital for our physical body. Therefore, I hope you make a resolution that you practice Shinsokan at least once a every single day this year, savor the profound teachings as much as possible, and share the joy of happiness that bubbles from the bottom of your heart. This is the basic of our propagation activities.

　　　This concludes my New Year remarks. Thank you very much for your kind attention.