A Brief Explanation of the Truth of Origin

Good morning. Next Sunday is Father’s Day so I wish all fathers a Happy Father’s Day if I don’t get to see you next week. I would like to thank all of you taking the time out to attend today’s monthly service at Tenrikyo Pearl Church. I am sure God the Parent and Oyasama is really, really, really happy to see you all here today. My wife and I are very, very, very happy to see all of you today.

A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE TRUTH OF ORIGIN

In the Shinbashira’s Instruction Two we read:
          No matter how advanced our civilization may become, there will always be people suffering from illness or troubled by other things. Their minds will not be saved by the advances of our civilization. That is because they will remain unknowing of the origin and of the ultimate goal of human existence.

               Now that I shall work salvation unknown until now,
               it is necessary to make the origin known.
Ofudesaki IX: 29

     As indicated by this verse, saving people through teaching the origin is the essence of salvation on this path.

In any endeavor, whether it is, going through college, going to the moon, becoming a doctor or whatever, there is a purpose or meaning, then a start and a process to that activity.

This is just hypothetical, but let’s say you’re working for a large company. It’s just a job. You don’t know who started the company, when , how, or why. The company doesn’t tell you so why should you care? It’s just a job. So because of this you don’t feel really involved with your work. You just do the minimum, punch in and punch out and go home. You don’t really care if you quit and/or they fire you. You would just find another job.

Now let’s say you’re working for another large company, but at this company, they really care about their employees. All new employees go through a formal training program. They learn about who started the company, how it started and why. They learn about the company’s vision statement and goals. Because of the training and knowledge of the company’s background, your work is more meaningful and you feel that you are part of the family. You look forward to going to work and feel motivated to do your best despite its many challenges and set backs. Needless to say you are very happy at this job.

It is the same as in the creation of human beings. To give us meaning and true salvation in our lives, God the Parent taught us about the origin and reason why God created human beings. So what is the origin and why did God create human beings?

Let us read the Truth of Origin

To try to understand Truth of Origin completely at one sitting is probably difficult for most people. But if we understand that God was trying to explain it to illiterate farmers of the 1800’s and as we read it over and over we come to understand it more and more.
One way is to look at the things that are easy to understand. For example in the first paragraph:

     In the beginning, the world was a muddy ocean. Tsukihi, God the Parent, finding this chaos unbearably tasteless, thought of creating human beings in order to see the Joyous Life and thus to share in that joy.

This part is probably the most important because it tells us that God created human beings and that God created us for a purpose and that is to live a Joyous Life and to share in that joy.

When you tell this to other people, you are making the origin known by teaching this aspect of the origin to other people so that they will eventually be saved. It may not register with them at first, because it depends on where there are on the spiritual level. But little by little, people will think, ‘Oh, yeah, now I understand, God created us to live a joyous life and we are to share in that joy.’ Next they may ask, ‘Oh, but how did God create human beings?’ Then you can explain to them more about the origin. What else can I explain about the origin?
I believe it’s important to remember that God the Parent used various instruments referred to as providence or workings of God in the creation of human beings. There are ten of them: the providences of water, fire, joining, support, rise and fall of moisture, wind, cutting, pulling forth (as in the growth of crops), model of man (the seed) and model of woman (the seed plot). By learning about each of the providences, we can come to appreciate each of the different workings and of the complete protection in God’s creation.

Next I believe it is important that the creation was a long step by step process taking 900,099,999 years.

In the Ofudesaki we read:

               In order to begin a world which did not exist,
I, Tsukihi, devoted Myself at every step.               VI: 85

Only through the exhaustive efforts of Tsukihi, made step
by step, have you become the humans you are.     VI: 88

So it was not a one time thing where God instantly made human beings, but rather a long step by step process. Again, here we can learn to appreciate God the Parent’s deep parental love.

Next it is helpful to note that many things in the Truth of Origin are being confirmed by science. For example a Dr. Chiaki Shiozawa of the University of Calgary gave a lecture at Dendocho a couple years ago. He said that the structure of the cell is very similar to the Kanrodai & the Kanrodai Service and that the basic structure of all living things is the cell. He also mentioned that the functions of the cells are very similar to the functions in the service.
In the Truth of Origin, it mentions a she-monkey. She gave birth to ten human beings. There is an anthropological discovery that all human beings came from a female monkey in Africa over 200,000 years ago through genetic analysis.
There are important changes to science over the years as science makes new discoveries that are related to the Truth of Origin:

1. Rebirth 8008 times, which is similar to the theory of evolution.
2. Human beings came to live on land, which coincides with present science that states that life forms began in the sea.
3.     The number 900,099,999 years ago. The Truth of Origin is the story of reproduction. Science estimates that sexual reproduction began about 1 billion years ago.

You can appreciate this even more when you realize that this was mentioned during a time when it was not common knowledge.

     By knowing and believing in the Truth of Origin, you will find greater meaning and purpose to your life and your true salvation.

     The word ‘origin’ appears 59 times in the Ofudesaki. Obviously, God is trying to emphasize the importance of the origin.

From the Ofudesaki:
          The reason Tsukihi began human beings
was the desire to see you lead a joyous life.               XIV: 25

If this origin is known in detail,
there should be no cause for illness.                              III: 93

          If I should make the origin of human beings known to
the whole world,                                                            XII: 129

Then I shall provide any salvation whatever.
With but a word, I shall save you all.                         XII: 130

Thank you for your kind attention.

Announcements
1.     Pauline Yamamoto just passed away for rebirth this morning at about 7am.
2.     Terry Chow is at Straub Hospital due his heart condition.
3.     I would like to thank those who came out to the Hawaii Women’s Association General Meeting and Mini-Bazaar on May 20th last month. We had a total of 14 people from Pearl Church attend this event, which is a record for Pearl Church.
4.     This afternoon we will be starting the one-month Hawaii Spiritual Development Course at Dendocho. We still have time’ if you can decide right here and now, we can take you Dendocho for the opening ceremony.
5.     This year as one of the activities of Oyasama’s 120th Anniversary, church headquarters will be conducting Tenri Forum 2006 from July 15-17 at Jiba. Everything will be done in English so I encourage all English speakers to take the opportunity to participate in the discussion which will broaden your understanding of the teachings and its application.
6.     The Shinbashira has allowed us to observe the 120th Anniversary of Oyasama throughout the year and I encourage all of you to participate by returning to Jiba in 2006. We hope to form a pilgrimage group for the children’s summer pilgrimage and hope that many of you can join us. However, you can return anytime during the year. The next scheduled Jiba Pilgrimage is this April. If anyone wishes to join us on this trip, please let me know.
7.     There is an essay contest sponsored by Dendocho with a 1,000 1st prize, $500 second and $300 third prize to encourage people to put their faith on paper.

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