Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-7
| 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 8-7 presents a portion of the contents of Chapter Eight from The Life of Oyasama as published by Tenrikyo Church Headquarters. The title of the chapter is "Parental Love."
Unlike earlier chapters, Chapter Eight offers little information on Oyasama's life. It mainly functions as a summary of the Ofudesaki.
The content below is equivalent to pages 165 to 169 of the print edition.
Note: The print edition of has been split into seven sections on this wiki due to length of text. The chapter is split as follows:
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-1 (pp. 121–124)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-2 (pp. 124–131)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-3 (pp. 132–137)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-4 (pp. 137–146)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-5 (pp. 146–157)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-6 (pp. 157–165)
- Life of Oyasama Chapter 8-7 (pp. 165–169)
Contents
Text
The Kanrodai
In part seventeen, from the outset:
Until now, no one has known what path this is. From this day on, you will understand the path.
What do you think this path is about? It is solely about the Kanrodai.
What do you think this Stand is? It is the prime treasure of Nihon.
What is the thinking among all of you about this? Perhaps no one knows its origin.
At this time, by all means, I truly wish to teach everything about this origin to the world.
Jiba
This origin is exactly the center of the bodies of Izanagi and Izanami.
There at the Jiba, I began all the human beings in this world.
The Jiba in Nihon is the native place of all people in the world.
As proof of My beginning of human beings, I shall put the Kanrodai into place.
If only this Stand comes to completion, there will be nothing that cannot be realized.
Until then, the heart of everyone throughout the world must be swept clean.
In this sweeping, there will be no discrimination. Know that Tsukihi is discerning you.
Wherever you may be, Tsukihi will accept all of you in accordance with your minds.
God the Parent, in all earnestness, hastens for the establishment of the Kanrodai. The Jiba for the Kanrodai is the place of human conception at the beginning of creation and is, therefore, the home of all humankind. Because such an affinity to the origin exists, God places the Kanrodai here as the proof of human creation. If only the Kanrodai is completed, God will answer any prayer whatever. Indeed it is because God desires the Kanrodai as soon as possible that God urged us first to cleanse our heart and replace our mind, and hastens the settling of our mind. If only the mind is replaced, vivid divine providence will be shown immediately. Thus, God clearly taught the truth concerning the Kanrodai, the center of the Service, recording, at the same time, the free and unlimited power of divine grace.
Until now, no one has known the Jiba of Origin, where I began the human beings of this world.
This time, by all means, I wish to teach this truth clearly to the entire world.
Therefore, I began to set up the Kanrodai. It is for the place of the true origin.
The reason I began such a thing is that I desire to save the whole world.
Because of God's single-hearted parental love, desiring nothing but the salvation of all humankind at any costs, God originates the Kanrodai to teach us clearly about the Jiba of Origin, the place of creation of human beings and the world, about which no one has ever known before.
The divine name bestowed on the Jiba
Further, from the deep forethought in the parental heart, the divine name, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, which was to have been bestowed on the Shrine of Tsukihi, was instead bestowed on the eternally unchanging Jiba of Origin, clearly giving us an everlasting, concrete symbol for our faith.
Furthermore, in teaching the divine truths, God uses many metaphors such as path, construction, timber, sweeping, and broom. Needless to say, this is from the parental forethought to help us understand but, at the same time, we can see, in their use, the intense desire in the parental heart to lead us from our present state of life to a life of joy yet a day earlier.
In the Ofudesaki, even the changes in the name of God the Parent are from the parental heart. These changes occurred progressively by parts, from Kami (God) to Tsukihi (Moon-Sun) to Oya (Parent), so that we might grasp the essence of Tsukihi, God the Parent, naturally, as our own spiritual growth progresses.
Oyasama, as the Shrine of Tsukihi, while teaching the will of God the Parent in such a way, was Herself the living proof of the will of God, showing to all humankind the Divine Model of the Joyous Life.
I speak of nothing difficult. I do not tell you to do anything difficult or to do something without a model to follow. There is the path of the Divine Model for everything. It will not do that you cannot follow the path of the Divine Model.
We perceive the bright, warm, and boundless parental heart contained in the Divine Model, whose sole concern is the salvation of all humankind. This parental heart is the very heart of Tsukihi.
Whatever is done, it is all by Tsukihi, truly from My single intent to save you.
