Summary of the Shinji (March 29, 2020) from Kyōshu Seishisha Tomomarukō Sensei

There are mainly three reasons why people worry. Those reasons are, ‘personality,’ ‘excessive greed or desire,’ and ‘a sense of loss.’ And they all reside in your jittai*. When you learn the teachings of Kami, your strengths will surface, your excessive greed and desire beyond your parameters will be suppressed, and allow the energy to ‘self-heal’ from a deep sense of loss. This is what it means for your jittai to be raised—which defines not only the peace and calmness in your feelings, but experiencing a greater sense of balance within the inner self.
This Shinji tells us how to spend the month of April. Foreseeing the flow of the world, Kami shows us some of the reasons why people can be consumed, hence creating worries and anxieties in the upcoming days. However, this Shinji is also filled with measures that suggests a way of life that can be lived without being consumed.

 

Be conscious to live life abiding by the teachings.
“Be conscious” in other words, is where Kami is telling you to raise your ability to feel things; When you see something, hear something, or have interest in something, look into it with the principles in mind. For instance, there are many situations where you would find yourself having a great sense of repulsion for the other person.  In such cases, it is better not to react emotionally, but to have a moment to stop and feel without judgment; why did they act the way they did? What were their intensions? …etc.  Once you can take this moment to feel the other person, then the following will happen.

You will not be swept away by people’s words or the changes that occur in society.  You can live each day with peace and calmness.
This means that you will not get into dialogues with people that would lead to many regrets. Also, even if the society be thrown into confusion, you will not feel impatient, or become depressed, but live each day keeping the calmness and taking things in stride.
But the reality of today is as follows.
As Kami sees, people are not making enough effort to live by the principles.  This is the reason why people create worries, suffering, and confusion.
As Kami says, due to the lack of seriousness to practice the teachings, people are creating worries, sufferings, and confusion by themselves.  A lot of it is because people are involving themselves too much in things they don’t need to, saying things to others that they don’t necessarily have to say, creating problems on their own and feeling anxious. On top of that, people are not asking Kami for the right things in their kigan, which is resulting in overflowing of bad emotions that leads to strong words and repulsive attitude towards others.
The reason why Kami says the above is because due to the endless, hopeless fight against the invisible enemy (COVID-19) we are fighting, there is going to be more people who will lose their patience and go into rage in the upcoming days. Therefore, it is a warning from Kami that we keep our calm, and not be consumed.
Then, how can we live peacefully in a situation like this? There are three things that Kami teaches us to practice.
These are the things to realize and to be practiced now.
Know the theme of this year and decide how it should be lived.
“The theme of this year” is to ‘learn the teachings as a family, and practice it at home.’ And as Kami followed by telling us to “decide how it should be lived,” to raise our awareness to remember the theme at all times, and practice it with a strong will.  For instance, if your family helped you with something, simply return the thought of appreciation.  This is to practice Hotoke no Michi in your daily life.  Which then leads to the second practice.
Learn the basic principles of life and make the effort to stay on the right path.
Out of all the teachings, Kami points out the ‘basic principles of life.’  Which suggests, we deepen our understanding of the ‘Six Elements of Happiness,’ ‘the Role of the Family,’ ‘important kokoro to develop at certain life periods,’ and the ‘the Ten Basic Teachings’—which are the basic fundamental principles of the teachings.
Understand deeply that the place and to whom to practice your teachings is your family at home.  Initiate your involvement with your family with the teachings.
The first environment to practice the teachings is at home, to your family members.
These three practices will guide and protect the shinja’s kokoro to the right path.
And as a result.
People’s kokoro will be anchored and a life merged with your unmei can be walked.
The three practices mentioned in today’s Shinji are the ‘right path’ as human beings, and will lead your life merged with your given unmei without fail. You will feel calm and grounded, and never go beyond your parameters.  And when this happens, it means that the means of salvation called Kibō no Michi is at work. The more you make the effort to practice the teachings in your everyday life, your jittai will be raised, and this promises your life without regrets.

 

*Jittai: temperament and disposition handed down through the blood line. People are born to this world, given an ‘unmei (ability to contribute to society)’ from Kami, and handed down the ‘jittai’ from their parents and ancestors. Unmei is the strength to live life, while jittai has both strengths and weaknesses.