Leaders' Seminar in SNI Hawaii Missionary Area

　　On Saturday, September 19, 2009, blessed with fine weather, the 17th Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Leaders' Seminar was held at Jisso Center with 29 attendees, including David and Frances Hamada of Kauai and Gordon and Shari Ann Ogi of Kona. Rev. Yoshiko Teshigawara, Bishop of the United States Missionary Headquarters, Rev. Hiei Ando, Seicho-No-Ie National Ordained Minister, and Rev. Tetsuya Abe, Acting Chief of Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Missionary Area conducted the seminar, and Ms. Pat Wada interpreted Rev. Teshigawara's lectures.

　　Rev. Teshigawara gave two lectures titled, "The Role of Leaders Who Carry out the Deeds of Holy Missioners" and "Seicho-No-Ie's Mission to Bring About World Peace."

　　In the beginning of her first lecture, she shared her impressions of her visits to neighbor island centers in Hawaii as follows: When I paid visits to Kona, Kauai, Hilo, and Maui centers, I was overwhelmed to see that the trees planted by the Founder of Seicho-No-Ie, Masaharu Taniguchi, have grown up so big. I gained an appreciation of the tremendous efforts and deeds of love done by senior leaders and members that made SNI Hawaii what it is today.

　　Then she praised all of the seminar's attendees for their daily efforts and encouraged them by saying, "You are the master of our movement." Then, she taught that the Special Conference for World Peace is an event that follows the will of the Founder of Seicho-No-Ie, Masaharu Taniguchi, who had started the Special Conference for Japanese leaders in 1962, and that the concept of this Special Conference, "Nature and Man Living Together and Coexisting," is a realization of the principle of the "Divine Message of Grand Harmony."

　　She talked about what SNI leaders who carry out our movement should keep in mind: that they should never lose radiance in their minds and should express their minds' radiance in their daily life generously. She also introduced an inspiring article titled "You Are the Master of Your Destiny" written by Rev. Seicho Taniguchi.

　　In addition, she showed that Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, has constantly been seeking what we SNI followers and leaders should do as individuals and as an organization based upon the "Divine Message of Grand Harmony" and Truth of Life volumes. She continued that the "sundial way of life" and the "life of not taking from others" are what SNI leaders and members should seek in life, and that we need to practice a "life of giving" by making best use of our expressions, words, and minds. Rev. Teshigawara stated that all of these prescriptions are the guidance of President Taniguchi.

　　She concluded her first lecture by encouraging leaders to pass on the "flame of life," since one and all others are one in God. We who learn the truth and know the joy of practicing the truth are the people who have the motivation to convey the joy of faith to others.

　　In her second lecture, she talked about the significance of Seicho-No-Ie's movement to preserve the global environment because of the following reasons: In this day and age when the planet is warming, a movement to revere nature as the Creation of God is imperative; Global environmental problems are the manifestation of Kanzeon Bosatsu (Bodhisattva or Goddess of Mercy) who dwells behind nature. Development of human beings alone is not enough; to promote this movement is a motive power to realize true world peace.

　　Rev. Ando gave two lectures titled, "What We Can Learn from a Natural World View of the Native Americans and Major Traditional World Religions" and "The Significance of Propagation through Publications in Seicho-No-Ie." In his first lecture, he summarized in only 35 minutes what worldwide leaders learned at the Special Conference for World Peace in Brazil in August, and did so in a very understandable manner. He also gave us wonderful guidance about propagating the teachings through publications, including his own testimony.

　　I was in charge of two lecturers, "What is the Carbon Zero Movement?" and "How We Can Use the Internet in Our Movement." I explained how we can realize "Carbon Zero Movement" as an organization, and talked about the characteristics of the age of the Internet and the importance of the role of Holy Missioners in releasing bright and cheerful information to the world.

　　In addition to lectures, the seminar included testimony by Irene Revilla, who shared with emotion her experiences at the 2009 Brazil Special Conference, a question and answer session, and resolutions by Gary Tashiro, President of SNI Hawaii and Shari Ann Ogi, representative of neighbor island centers.
　
Tetsuya Abe


　

Restaurant HALE

　　I found a restaurant named "HALE," about 5-minute drive from my workplace, in other words, very close to Ala Moana Shopping Center. The restaurant is for a vegan, who does not eat meat, fish, eggs, milk and other foods which contains animal products.

　　I myself do not eat red meat, therefore, I think myself a moderate vegetarian, however, to tell the truth, I haven't favored vegan foods until I tried at this restaurant. I ate foods similar to sower pork and vegetables, in which soy was used instead of pork, with blown rice and miso soup. The taste was much better than I expected, and of course, it is very good for health because all the ingredients are organic. You can enjoy those foods by takeouts.

　　I feel those "good foods" expel something bad in my physical body, therefore, I sometimes go to the restaurant when my health condition is not good or I feel pressured with important events are upcoming.

　　According to their brochure, the name of the restaurant "HALE" comes from "home" or "castle" in Hawaiian language, "sunny" in Japanese, and "healthy" in old English. The owner is a Japanese, but I saw two English speaking waitresses, both of them are beautiful. Incidentally, there was signature and message from a Madonna's dietician on the bulletin board. Madonna is well-known as a vegetarian.

Tetsuya Abe
　


　

2009 September Message

The 2009 Brazil Special Conference for World Peace
Tetsuya Abe, Acting Chief, Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Missionary Area

　　I attended "2009 Brazil Special Conference for World Peace with Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi" held in Sao Paulo with 26 participants from the United States including Irene Revilla, a leader of Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii. The theme of the Conference was "The Nature and Man Living Together and Coexisting." The syllabus, which was distributed to all the attendees, explained the meaning of the Special Conference as follows:

　　Today, at the start of the 21st century, amid the increasingly more serious climatic change from global warming, humankind is being driven toward the development of sustainable societies. Nevertheless, the world's population continues to increase and in such newly developing countries as China, India and Brazil, warming advances unchanged because their economic growth follows the same course as the advanced countries. Humankind now stands at the turning point of civilization and it needs the philosophy, thinking and faith that will draw it toward the proper course. Yet the spirituality to support the new age is not entirely new at all but can probably be found within the wisdom that is already in the possession of humankind. Why? Humankind has a long history of coexistence with nature. During our Special Conference for World Peace we will we look through history, reexamine the wisdom and thinking of living together with nature, which was hidden in the shadows of the material development from modernization and find ways to apply them to the new age. While basing our examination upon the study at the previous Special Conferences, this year's Seicho-No-Ie Special Conference for World Peace will be held on the theme of the Nature and Man Living Together and Coexisting.

　　We can say that it is a magnificent project which has been realizing the ideals shown by the Founder of Seicho-No-Ie, Masaharu Taniguchi, that we illuminate the path of all mankind. As you already know, our Founder Masaharu Taniguchi started the Seicho-No-Ie movement to light the direction in which human beings should go, and wholeheartedly led our God's Humanity Enlightenment Movement to brighten and correct all people's minds until he passed away in 1985. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi carried out Founder Taniguchi's will as it was and dedicated himself to this movement until he passed away last October.

　　Under the guidance of Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, current President of Seicho-No-Ie, we are now trying to show the "philosophy, thinking, and faith" that are necessary for the current people in the world and to demonstrate that we can lead a life based upon them. However, we have learned at the Special Conference that this philosophy, thinking, and faith are not what Seicho-No-Ie discovered for the first time but they are part of the wisdom of Native Americans and major traditional world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

　　One of the things that impressed me most about Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi's guidance was that the religious viewpoint that a human being is a part of nature is common among the major world religions and we can agree that that viewpoint is a central part of the religious truths with many religions. It is very significant that we have been taught that our movement which emphasizes the commonality among religions can be promoted by disseminating the following ideas: Nature is a unique figure of God; Nature is a manifestation of the infinite benevolence of Buddha; and Nature is what provides us with a place to express a child-of-God nature. As a whole, I thought I was given a priceless opportunity to think deeply about how we should put into practice the teachings such as "God's creation is perfect and absolute goodness" and "a phenomenal world is a manifestation of our mind" in our lives and how we, as an organization, can contribute to our current society by making the best use of the teachings.

　　President Taniguchi spent all of the time allocated to Lecture One answering all the questions that had been submitted to him in advance. One of the questions was from Irene Revilla of Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii. Her question was as follows: "As a parent of two young adults, this generation of youth has a sense of doom surrounding them as the world is full of economic problems and natural changes. Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, as the President of SNI, do you believe that our movement can progress realistically to create more positively in this 21st century and why do you feel this way? Thank you very much."

　　The answer Rev. Taniguchi gave to the question was "YES." The outline of his full answer will appear in a couple of months in the SNI-ONLINE electronic newspaper published by International Headquarters for leaders living outside of Japan.

　　All of President Taniguchi's lectures were so profound and covered so much that my note-taking could not keep up. I was seated with leaders from Europe and Canada as well as the United States. I was very moved when I looked over at them during the President's lectures because all the participants from the United Kingdom, all Brazilians, were taking notes with their whole hearts.

　　Mrs. Junko Taniguchi, President of SNI White Dove Association, disclosed the significance of practicing the "Sundial Way of Life" in modern times in her lecture and generated religious exultation among all the attendees. More than that, she spoke as if she were talking to every participant individually, and applause followed almost every word she spoke.

　　Regarding the leaders in Brazil, I was overwhelmed by their passionate, bright and cheerful, and sincere personalities. Whenever Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi entered the hall, and before and after their lectures and remarks, all the participants showed their appreciation with big applause. They were like supporters cheering for their country in a soccer stadium. They clapped and said with their hands stretched high, "Eooooo, eoooooo, eoo eoo eoo Sosai!" Sosai means President in Japanese.

　　After the Conference, a welcome party for Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi sponsored by SNI Brazil Headquarters was held at its annex. There seemed to be about 400 people present. After President Taniguchi made opening remarks, everyone toasted. We enjoyed dinner, then all participants stood in line, shook hands and talked with Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi in turn. You can easily imagine how their generosity pleased all the attendees. Seeing Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi blessing them, I thought how wonderful it is to be a SNI member.

　　Incidentally, Rev. and Mrs. Taniguchi left Sao Paulo early the next morning for Belem, a city in northern Brazil whose port lies in the vast Amazon River delta. There, they conducted a public lecture at which about 1,000 people gathered. Then they flew back to Sao Paulo where they also conducted the National Convention, which about 6,200 attended.

　　In the SNI Hawaii Missionary Area, we would like to move forward the "Movement That Grows with Nature" in accordance with the guidance we received from President Masanobu Taniguchi.