Shinji
Why is a person (human beings) born into a family and deepens ties to others as their life ends?
This is the natural condition of a person (human beings) who is guided and protected by their unmei in Kami’s hands.
However, there are many (human beings) who suffer, unable to have the right relationships and to protect their family.
To the Shinja
Do not seek to attain what is natural from knowledge found in society.
Learn the teachings and gain the awareness to look once again in the state of society.
The more a person (human beings) deepens their learning of the teachings, their awareness grows and they are able to have the right involvement with others.
The home is a needed environment to hone and elevate a person’s (human beings) kokoro (unmei-jittai) and to live out a life of no regrets.
When the teachings are learned together with family members, the kokoro of a person (human beings) is fostered in a home where the principles exist.
When each family member understands their place and position in the relationship to one another, a person (human beings) lives a life that is one with their unmei.
Be the person (family) who lives by the teachings and knows the worth of a home.

 

In 2021, the Shinji will continue to be revealed on the 1st, 15th, 23rd and the 29th, but the content will be different from what it has been in the past years. Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Michi Benkyōkai will be revealed on the 1st and the 15th only. The Shinji for the 23rd every month will be for Shinja Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai that teaches us about the important foundations of life through the themes of family, health, and work. And lastly, 29th will remain the same as the Shinji for Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai that is focused on tips on problem solving.  
However, these Shinji are not isolated from one another, but very much related to each other and to the theme for the month. Therefore, we recommend that you learn the Shinji as a whole, where the Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Michi (1st and 15th) will be the two pillars that will help us see the direction in which the society is heading at the moment. And the Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai (23rd) and Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai (29th) will help us keep our focus on how to create a family, or how to bring our kokoro back to the right direction in the midst of time where there are so many confusion and uncertainties.

Shinja Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai is especially focused on how to hone our unmei and how to correct our jittai. Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai is solely focused and is dedicated to three important foundations that support life—family, health and work. And these are the important basis to live life without regrets. We will be looking at these basis—family, health and work—and learn how to establish these foundations to be elevated and stronger to help support and lead our life to happiness.
This month is focused on family.

Why is a person (human beings) born into a family and deepens ties to others as their life ends?
This is the natural condition of a person (human beings) who is guided and protected by their unmei in Kami’s hands.
However, there are many (human beings) who suffer, unable to have the right relationships and to protect their family.

A person is born into a family and deepens their ties with their parents, grandparents, and with many people. And eventually, a person ends their life, seen after and taken care of by their families. No matter how much you go out into the world, the root and the foundation of one’s life is the family, and everything that happens in your life revolves around the family. So therefore, it is important to understand that home/family is where you hone your life, and whether to make your life better or not depends on the family environment you have and create.

The trend of nuclear families has become common as urbanization progressed, which led to lesser communication and lesser interaction among family members. As a consequence, many parents don’t rely on their children in time of needs, or the children on the other hand, could care less about their parents but only worry about how much assets will be left for them after their parents’ passing.
But as mentioned earlier, life begins at home/family and ends at home/family.
There is an increase of people who would prefer not to have any funerary memorials after their passing, or people who don’t want any grave and ask that their cremated remains be scattered somewhere. But these ideas are inappropriate seen from the perspectives of the principles. In addition, there are people who cannot wait to leave their home and be independent, or hold hard feelings of despise to have born into his/her family. Again, these feelings will waver the foundation of your happiness and you have to understand that you are seeing and wanting the wrong things in life. Your awareness that the family members are the people whom you must deepen your ties with and walk together in your life journey is well needed.

Birth of life is all in Kami’s hands. It is not something human understanding can measure. We are given our lives where Kami has chosen the family we were born into, have given the unmei to be useful in society, and to be a person who is guided and protected by their unmei. No matter who you are, you are born as a child, who is the branch of a tree; under a father who is the root of the family, and a mother who is the trunk. And once you decide to have a family of your own, you become the root or the trunk of a brand-new tree. As seen here, life evolves from the home/family you belong to.

However, Kami says that the values of recent society have been blinded or created people who don’t know this truth. Therefore, unable to have the right relationships and there are many (human beings) who suffer from families falling apart. The effort to put your child through a good education, owning a big house, reserving for retirement may not be the only solution that protects the family.

To the Shinja
Do not seek to attain what is natural from knowledge found in society.
Learn the teachings and gain the awareness to look once again in the state of society.
The more a person (human beings) deepens their learning of the teachings, their awareness grows and they are able to have the right involvement with others.

To protect the family most appropriately, it is important not to rely so much on knowledge found in society. What they say on television or the trend may not necessarily be correct, as well as something that fits you or your situation. It is important not to think that the knowledge is natural and assume that it is the only way to go.
Then how must we live in a society like this, where there is an abundance of information? The answer was given in the Shinji where it says; Learn the teachings and gain the awareness to look once again in the state of society. Perhaps you will start to understand that the issues you are experiencing today are the consequence in lack of conversation. And therefore, more “serious, real talks” are needed among the family. Or realize and understand that criticism does not bring solution, but coming together and cooperating together is what brings solution. Kami teaches us that the more a person (human beings) deepens their learning of the teachings, their awareness grows and they are able to have the right involvement with others.

 

The home is a needed environment to hone and elevate a person’s (human beings) kokoro (unmei-jittai) and to live out a life of no regrets.
When the teachings are learned together with family members, the kokoro of a person (human beings) is fostered in a home where the principles exist.
When each family member understands their place and position in the relationship to one another, a person (human beings) lives a life that is one with their unmei.
Be the person (family) who lives by the teachings and knows the worth of a home.

Family/home is a needed environment to hone and elevate a person’s (human beings) kokoro. This is a principle that is true for every human being. This is the reason why your efforts to keep the harmony in the family and to maintain a calm and peaceful environment at home is truly necessary. Learn the teachings together with family members and practice them in your daily family life.

Kami said that the kokoro of a person (human beings) is fostered in a home where the principles exist. A person’s kokoro (views and thoughts) become rich and pleasant when it is fostered in a home where it is always calm and heart-warming. This is exactly the process of your jittai being corrected and elevated.  The basis of child rearing exists at home, not in school education.
Depending on where you stand in the family—whether the root, the trunk, the branches, or the soil—your role varies. Understand your place and position in the relationship to one another and take actions of what you need to do and what is expected of you in your role. If you are the father which is the root of the family, you need to be there to support the kokoro of each family members. If you are the mother which is the trunk, what you must do to fulfil your role is to connect the kokoro of the family together. If you are the child which is the branch of the tree, your job is to always talk to your parents. And lastly, if you are the grandparents which are the soil, what you must do is to oversee every family member’s kokoro and be there for everyone as emotional support. This is to have the right involvement and the way family should be.

If each family member learns the teachings, their views and their way of involvement will be elevated. And if each person can be involved with people in the right way, each person (human beings) lives a life that is one with their unmei. That is why the education of life attained in the family environment where the root, the trunk, the branches and the soil make the effort to interact correctly is so relevant. And as time progresses and the role and position changes, the strong ties will always be there and a strong message of important values will be passed on from the parents to a child, a child to their grandchildren, and so forth—this is the family where the vertical kokoro no michi is connected with a firm foundation. So we recommend that you pass on the good things, and correct what needs to be corrected.

Lastly, Kami closed the Shinji by showing us the true way of how things ought to be; Be the person (family) who lives by the teachings and knows the worth of a home. As mentioned earlier, we live in a society overwhelmed with information and knowledge. Which also means that we live in a world where our values are challenged, moved from left to right with immense information. As said in the Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Michi Benkyōkai, now is the time to really put our focus and our attention to strengthen the foundation of our life so that we don’t get consumed in the power of times. Every person’s happiness begins from a warm family environment.