Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-1
| The Life of Oyasama |
|---|
| Preface |
| Chapter One |
| The Shrine of Tsukihi (1837–1838) |
| Chapter Two |
| The Early History of Oyasama (1798–1837) |
| Chapter Three |
| On the Way (1838–1852), (1853–1854), (1862–1864) |
| Chapter Four |
| The Place for the Service (1864), (1865–1866) |
| Chapter Five |
| The Salvation Service (1866–1882) |
| Chapter Six |
| The Identification of the Jiba (1869–1873), (Jan–Nov 1874), (Dec 1874), (1875), (1876–1877) |
| Chapter Seven |
| Buds Sprout from Knots (1878–1880), (1881) |
| Chapter Eight |
| Parental Love (pp. 121–124), (pp. 124–131), (pp. 132–137), (pp. 137–146), (pp. 146–157), (pp. 157–165), (pp. 165–168) |
| Chapter Nine |
| The Hardships of Oyasama (Jan–Sep 1882), (Oct–Dec 1882), (Jan–Jun 1883), (Jul–Dec 1883), (1884), (1885), (Jan–Apr 1886),(May–Dec 1886) |
| Chapter Ten |
| The Portals Opened (Jan 1–11, 1887), (Jan 12–13, 1887), (Jan 18–Feb 18, 1887) |
Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-1 presents a portion of the contents of Chapter Six of The Life of Oyasama as published by Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. The title of the chapter is "The Identification of the Jiba." The content below is equivalent to pages 77 to 82 of the print edition.
Note: The print edition of Chapter Six has been split into five sections on this wiki due to length of text. The chapter is split as follows:
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-1 (1869–1873)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-2 (January to November 1874)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-3 (December 1874)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-4 (1875)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 6-5 (1876–1877)
Contents
Text
1869
In compliance with the will of God the Parent, Oyasama took up Her writing brush in January 1869 and began to write down the truth of the parental love of God. These writings came to be called the Ofudesaki (The Tip of the Writing Brush). It begins with the following verses:
Looking all over the world and through all ages, I find no one who has understood My heart.
So should it be, for I have never taught it to you. It is natural that you know nothing.
At this time, I, God, reveal Myself and teach the truth of all things in detail.
God the Parent has pitied human beings, who have lived since the creation without knowing the Parent and the Origin. So at this time God, the true Parent of all humankind, appears in the world for the first time to begin the ultimate teachings for world salvation.
You are calling this place the Jiba, the Residence of God, in Yamato, but you may not know the origin.
When you learn of this origin in full, a great yearning will come over you, whoever you may be.
If you wish to know and will come to Me, I shall teach you the original cause of all things.
Ofudesaki 1:4–6
Here God the Parent reveals that the Jiba of Origin is the Parental Home of all human beings.
As God is revealed and teaches the truth of all things in detail, the minds of all in the world will become spirited.
As I am in haste to save all of you quickly, I set out to make all minds in the world spirited.
Ofudesaki 1:7–8
The minds of all people become spirited on hearing the voice of the true Parent. Because now is the time to hasten the single-hearted salvation of humankind, God will begin to make the minds of all people in the world spirited. Thus, God expresses the parental love which seeks to lead us to the Joyous Life.
Shuji's marriage
This time, I shall clean the Residence thoroughly. Watch, as I show you how.
Shuji, close to fifty years of age, had never been legally married. In this connection, God the Parent hastened to clean the Residence as a precondition to world salvation. Thus, God the Parent instructed Shuji to take Matsue of the Kohigashi family as his bride because of the causality of their souls, even though the marriage might be considered a mismatch from the standpoint of their ages.
This has always been the world of God, but it is the first time that I act as a go-between.
Oyasama went personally to the Kohigashi home in Byodoji Village. After gradually explaining about the causality of the souls of Shuji and Matsue, Oyasama received the consent of Matsue's family, and, in 1869, the marriage was happily arranged and Matsue became a member of the Residence. Taking this marriage as a basis, Oyasama taught the truth of husband and wife in part one of the Ofudesaki, which concludes with the following verse:
I bring you together according to the causality of your previous lives and protect you. This settles the matter for all time.
Thirty-eight day fast
From the end of April to the beginning of June of the same year, Oyasama fasted for thirty-eight days, during which She took only small quantities of sweet rice wine, abstaining from all cooked foods and cereals.
1870
In 1870, the Yoshida Administrative Office of Shinto was abolished as a result of the Meiji Restoration. The people at the Residence were struck with admiration, remembering that Oyasama foretold its fall from power, and said, "Sure enough, it has come true!" But on the other hand, the previous authorization of their faith by the same office became void.
This was a great sorrow for them, and they often attempted to file a petition with the new government. But each time they tried, Oyasama stopped them, sternly admonishing them:
Go if you think it necessary. But you will breathe your last before you arrive. Do not go to make such a petition.
Thus, the project was abandoned. Here Oyasama teaches the fundamental truth of the path of single-heartedness with God, reminding us that we can attain maturity only when we have borne up under trials, relying single-heartedly on God the Parent.
Between 1870 and 1872, instances of miraculous salvation occurred one after another and the teachings spread rapidly beyond the borders of Yamato Province to the neighboring provinces of Kawachi, Settsu, Yamashiro, and Iga.
In January of 1871, Eijiro Matsumura of Kawachi Province began to follow the path.
Seventy-five day fast
In 1872, Oyasama became seventy-five. Beginning in the early part of June, She fasted for seventy-five days. She abstained from all cooked foods and cereals, taking only a little rice wine and raw vegetables in addition to water. After more than thirty days had passed from the beginning of Her fast, She proceeded to Ichibei Matsuo's house in Wakai Village, walking the whole distance of about ten miles. Her steps were so light and quick that Her attendant found it difficult to keep up with Her. Even though She continued to fast while staying there for over ten days, She lost none of Her strength or energy. And when the long fast came to an end, She carried a fourteen-gallon cask filled with water with ease. <See also Anecdotes of Oyasama 25>
In September of that year, Oyasama said a separate fire and a separate pot should be used in preparing Her meals. This was due to Her parental concern to visually further the truth that She was in fact the Shrine of Tsukihi.
1872
On June 18, 1872, Oharu, the wife of Sojiro Kajimoto, passed away for rebirth at the age of forty-two.
That same year, the solar calendar was adopted in Japan. The third day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar was officially fixed as January 1, 1873.
1873
Model of the Kanrodai
During 1873, Oyasama ordered Izo Iburi to make a model of the Kanrodai. It consisted of a hexagonal pole and two hexagonal boards, one attached to the top of the pole and the other to the bottom. The pole was about six feet in height and about three inches in diameter. The boards were each about one foot and two inches between parallel sides and were about three inches thick. The completed model was kept for a while in a storehouse at the Residence. It was set up at the Jiba of Origin for the first time when a prayer service was offered for Kokan's recovery from an illness after the exact location of the Jiba was identified in 1875. It continued to stand there as the symbol for worship.
Also in 1873, Shuji assumed the office of the headman of Shoyashiki Village, and Rihachi Yamamoto and his son Risaburo, of Kawachi Province, began to follow the path. <See also Anecdotes of Oyasama 33>
