Thursday, November 19, 2009

Come and Join Us at the 49th ISTS in Hawaii

   The 49th International Spiritual Training Seminar (ISTS) will be held at Seicho-No-Ie Hawaii Jisso Center from February 19 to 21, 2010. The ISTS is hosted by International Spiritual Training Center (ISTC) located in New York, and all programs of the seminar will be conducted by Ordained and Assistant Ministers including Rev. Yoshiko Teshigawara, Bishop of the United States Missionary Headquarters. Please DON'T miss this priceless opportunity to come together with people from the mainland and other countries as well as other Hawaiian islands!

   All the programs will be conducted in English and all ceremonies are arranged so that average American people can feel comfortable learning the essence of the SNI teachings. That is why it is the perfect occasion for you to invite your friends and others who are not familiar with SNI. Especially those who have any troubles will no doubt be able to find solutions by participating in this seminar.

   When you elevate what you learn from "knowledge" to "beliefs" and put those things into practice in your life, you can have a so-called "miraculous" improvement in your life. For example, Cindy Murakami, a Holy Mission Fellowship member who lives in Hawaii Kai, attended an ISTS two years ago not knowing that the ISTS is conducted in English. She was bewildered at first; however, as the programs went on, she awoke to the fact that she is a real child of God. At that time, she had been on very bad terms with her husband for a long time and they were about to get divorced. However, after her awareness as a child of God deepened and she started to practice Shinsokan meditation and Holy Sutra reading in gratitude to her ancestors and to speak gentle and kind words to her husband after she returned home, their marital relationship miraculously improved. She is still leading a very happy life with her husband and her business is going very well despite the declining economic situation. Every STS is guided by God and all attendees are protected and embraced by God's love and life; therefore, every single attendee is able to be reborn as a child of God and start a completely new life.

   Rev. Seicho Taniguchi, former President of SNI, led many, many people to a true faith and real healing by conducting STSs, including the first STS held at Tobitakyu (Tokyo) in 1948. Rev. Taniguchi taught us how meaningful it is to attend an STS in his book, "Inochi wo Hikidasu Renseikai," or "A Spiritual Training Seminar That Draws Out Life" as follows:

   In terms of training in human life, there is nothing more important than to find and follow a good mentor. Some people claim that they are truly enlightened without any mentor. If it is true, they must have a special talent in religion. However, in many cases, they are apt to fall into a self-conceited faith. I believe all of you are very fortunate to find a good mentor and lead a life based upon a religious faith. However, a religious activity at home or in a community is prone to be "lonely" and "self-satisfied." That is why we have to learn the teachings and train ourselves diligently at Spiritual Training Centers at least once or twice a year and master the true faith and proper attitude toward the teachings. (Seicho Taniguchi, "Inochi wo Hikidasu Renseikai," or "A Spiritual Training Seminar That Draws Out Life," p. 82)

   In deepening our faith and leading a life of "Child of God man," to grasp the essence of the SNI teachings and to practice it are far more important than to understand it intellectually. The reason why there are so many people who waver in theif beliefs despite reading "Truth of Life" volumes and knowing the significance of being grateful to and reconciled with the whole universe seems to be that they are not practicing the teachings beyond "intellectual comprehension." In this case, the programs in STS perfectly help us deepen our faith and lead us to a real faith. The programs consist of practicing visualization of the True Image, reading the words of Truth, and practicing deeds of love, and all of them should be conducted thoroughly. (Ibid, p. 104)

   For people to change their long-held custom or way of thinking, it is necessary to do good things over and over again. "Attending an STS" per se is a good thing. When you attend an STS repeatedly, even if you do not concentrate on the programs, your soul does. I want you to know that your soul learns something important through religious vibrations and what you hear during the seminar.
   A sermon is usually provided by "words." However ceremony is also "words," and statue, temple, church, and Spiritual Training Center, which are the manifestation of the truth, are also "words." That is why you can listen to the "words" in Main Temple and Missionary Center which are filled with religious vibrations. (Seicho Taniguchi, "Riso Sekai," or "Ideal World," Dec. 1997)


   I hope you come and join us at this ISTS. I am looking forward very much to seeing you at Jisso Center. Thank you very much.


 

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Reading Circle for Just Two of Us

  My wife and I started Reading Circle for just two of us at home from about three weeks ago. We are doing this after our daughter goes to bed. We are now using "Truth of Life" vol. 34 (Japanese) as a text book. I read all the 40 volumes of "Truth of Life" books (Japanese) 6 times for each book so far. Each time I read those volumes, I feel my faith is refreshed and I am impressed by the parts which did not impress me that much when I read in the past.

  Our Reading Circle is about half an hour including reading and discussion. When we are very busy, we make it short such as for 10 or 15 minutes. Even if a page or two, we are trying to do that as much as we can regardless of the situations.

  The reason we started this is because we have been talking about this Reading Circle for quite a long time and we want to have marital conversations based upon the Seicho-No-Ie teachings.

  After we started this, I was very surprised to find that it is more than we expected. I am not only moved by the teachings on the book but also I realized that there are many things of each other that we have not known so far through discussions. I also remembered my state of mind when I started to learn and convey the teachings in my early twenties. At that time, I was constantly hearing the tapes of our founder Masaharu Taniguchi's lectures and I used almost every night for SNI propagation activities such as attending a Readers' Meeting, studying class, seminar, and door-to-door visitations. I also studied hard trying to answer my questions from within like "what is human being?" "what it means that evil does not exist or mind does not exist," and others. I want to keep my mind so pure and fresh as much as I can.

  Does anyone who is doing like this?

Tetsuya Abe

Monday, November 02, 2009

2009 November Message

In Boundless Gratitude to Holy Master Masaharu Taniguchi
Tetsuya Abe, Acting Chief, SNI Hawaii Missionary Area

  I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of you who attended the Public Lecture held at Ala Moana Hotel on September 20th. I believe you savored the wonderful truth of Seicho-No-Ie taught by Rev. Hiei Ando, National Ordained Minister, and Rev. Yoshiko Teshigawara, Bishop of the United States Missionary Headquarters. I also appreciate those who planned, publicized, promoted and implemented the Public Lecture as committee members. Please see page 3 for an article about this event.

  November is the month in which the founder of Seicho-No-Ie, Masaharu Taniguchi, was born. He was born on November 22nd in 1893. November 22nd is considered a "good couple day" in Japan due to a good combination of sounds when read in Japanese. I would like to introduce how the founder and Mrs. Taniguchi were a good couple who fully understood and took care of each other by referring to Mrs. Taniguchi's book, "Shi to Aogi, Otto to Aogite," or "Looking up as Mentor, Looking up as Husband."

  A few years after they founded Seicho-No-Ie, Mrs. Taniguchi read in a newspaper article that a mother who tried to save her drowning child died with her child in the ocean. She thought that if she had been taught how to swim when she had been a child, she could take her daughter Emiko, 8 years old at that time, to the ocean and river without any concern, and told her husband about it. Then, the founder Taniguchi kindly made a suggestion, saying, "It's not too late. Take a swimming lesson."

  Mrs. Taniguchi found a group that gave swimming lessons from 5 a.m. in the morning at the seashore nearby. However, she was hesitant to do so because if she were to take those lessons early in the morning, she would inconvenience her husband and daughter since she could not prepare breakfast for them. Nevertheless, Founder Taniguchi allowed her to do so by saying, "Don't worry about us and take that training seriously. I will prepare our breakfast." Mrs. Taniguchi appreciated his kindness and took the training for two weeks and became an adequate swimmer.

  The founder Taniguchi prepared their breakfast just as he said he would and waited for his wife to come back home every morning. After breakfast, he rushed to change his clothes and went to work. Mrs. Taniguchi reflected on that time and wrote as follows:

  .... After he finished his work, my husband came back home in the evening and did writing for Seicho-No-Ie magazine until late night. Dawn came before he got enough sleep and he prepared our breakfast instead of his wife from early morning. I practiced with all my might every morning to respond to his loving thought. (Teruko Taniguchi, "Shi to Aogi, Otto to Aogite," or "Looking up as Mentor, Looking up as Husband" p. 46)

  In this way, the founder Taniguchi's love for his wife was always brimming over. On the other hand, Mrs. Taniguchi looked up to her husband as mentor as well as loving him as her husband. She wrote how she respected him in the March 1937 issue of "Shirohato" or "White Dove" as follows:

  Once I entered a training center, I am not his wife. He who is on the podium is not my husband but my mentor. I knew God who dwells within me. I, who knew indwelling God, no longer need to seek God without. However, my soul sincerely seeks to brighten my mind and manifest indwelling God. My soul also asks for the infinite growth by doing so. I visited the training center by following my mentor even on very windy and snowy days. (Ibid. p. 60)

  I believe you understand that loving thoughts by husband and respectful thoughts by wife are foremost to a harmonious life for a couple. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the founder and Mrs. Masaharu Taniguchi who showed us this teaching by being role models, and I will pledge to practice the teachings and promote our movement with a cheerful and bright mind. Thank you very much.