Summary of the Shinji (January 29, 2021) from Kyōshu Seishisha Tomomarukō Sensei
Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai

Shinji
Strive to be the shinja whose life is lived supported by the teachings.
As Kami sees it, the kokoro of all (shinja) is filled with many doubts.
Their kokoro is consumed by the words of people and the surrounding changes, and there is no mainstay that supports their life.
Deepen your understanding as Kami teaches you what should be done now.
First, learn how the family should be and strive to make the corrections.
The kokoro of family members will become one when they truly know their place and position.
Secondly, strive to make the best of your encounters with others (people).
The more the principle of Hotoke no Michi is learned and practiced, the more encounters with others will come alive.
Thirdly, learn the teachings based on a broad standpoint and strive to be the person (human being) with a generous kokoro.
Know that true meaning and purpose will not be experienced by human beings who do not perceive the truth about the spiritual world despite how they present themselves.
The kokoro (life) of the shinja, enveloped in the hands of Kami, will live a life of purpose when they strive to practice these three things each day.

 

Every person can walk through a life within their parameters and achieve a life without any regrets. This is possible if we pay attention and follow the teachings shown through the monthly Shinji, making the effort to stay unconsumed from the changes in the world, and continue on to make the effort to raise our personality.

And that is why Kami reveals the various Shinji for all Benkyōkai—the Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Michi Benkyōkai to show us the state of our society today; the Shinji for Shinja Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai to help raise our personality; the Shinji for Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai to help us see the right path when in times of life challenges and confusions.
The Shinji for Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai (29th every month) is specifically shown to help keep our focus on abiding by Kami, Hotoke, and Hito no Michi (*1) which helps us manifest Kibō no Michi (*2).  

We are living in a time, where all of us in this world today are striving and looking for answers. Kami had been showing us for the past several years, that the world will go under a time of great changes. And in the meantime, some of us were feeling the changes here and there, but who would have imagined such enormous challenge placed upon us over the past year? And as we are finding our new normal, Kami revealed a Shinji that said; The world is now beginning to be aware of the existence (the truth) of an invisible power (unmei) (Shinji from Kigansai 2021).
How can we live life that is best for us—free from pain and worries, and without being consumed by the flow of time? The answer all lies in the teachings of Kami. In times like this where everything has changed, it is also a great chance to find out the right way to live and make each experience a positive step to move forward in life.

To begin the Shinji, Kami showed us what we need to do now considering the situation we have in our society today.
Strive to be the shinja whose life is lived supported by the teachings.
As Kami sees it, the kokoro of all (shinja) is filled with many doubts.
Their kokoro is consumed by the words of people and the surrounding changes, and there is no mainstay that supports their life.
When your kokoro goes through doubts or worries, it may be from something going off or sidetracking from the right path that human beings should abide by. So before blaming someone else for the problem, Kami tells us to reflect on ourselves based on the teachings, and strive to be the shinja whose life is lived supported by the teachings. To live life supported by the teachings is to utilize the ideas and apply them to our views, our way of thinking—essentially our way of life.
When the teachings become a part of us, it allows us to face the various things in life with calmness, with principles, and with a sense of respect. Therefore, we will not be in doubt and confusion. But in reality, Kami says that people’s kokoro are filled with many doubts. And the doubts are coming from a way of life that is not lived with respect and alongside with the path and therefore not allowing to use and extend their individual unmei in their everyday life.

This is happening because people are unintentionally and unknowingly consumed by all the knowledge, information, and experiences overflowing in society. To prove that, Kami points out that our kokoro is consumed by the words of people and the surrounding changes, and there is no mainstay that supports their life. When an issue comes up, we can immediately search on the internet, but how can we be certain that the search results are always legitimate answer? We may be manipulated by what we see, and moreover, the more we rely on other people’s opinions, doubts and confusions deepen.

We live in a world today where anyone’s voices can be heard fairly easily. However, we must remember that these voices could be one-sided, very opinionated, or could be without firm groundings. But we are not here to object because it is their opinion; we just need to be wise to see the right thing. So this is the reason why we need a mainstay that supports our life. However, it is true there are so many who do not have the strength to stand on their own will, and be swayed from left to right, reacting to every bit of information they perceive. The one thing we must place in our life is the teachings of Kami. And this is why we want to strive to be a person where the life is well supported by the teachings.

In the next part, Kami continued on to point out three things we should follow and try to practice now.
Deepen your understanding as Kami teaches you what should be done now.
First, learn how the family should be and strive to make the corrections.
The kokoro of family members will become one when they truly know their place and position.
Kami pointed out to deepen our understandings because we are shown what we must do now. This is not just to realize, but to deepen our understandings—which means to practice them. For example, in times like this, there might be a chance our income is lowered. Rainy days are sometimes unavoidable, but until the time comes when things get better, save up and not waste money. If we feel exhausted, the best is to slow down, rest and have some time to heal. This, in other words is to try to become a person who understands their own parameters.

To live such way, Kami gave us three important steps to follow. The first is to learn how the family should be and strive to make the corrections. Kami has repeatedly shown us how the family should be. It is always presented to us by imagining a family as a tree—where the father is the root, the mother is the trunk, the children are the branches, and the grand parents are the soil. What is important is to understand our own position inside the family and live by it. Remember, that each position has a different role to make the family as one. As Kami presented to us in the Shinji, the kokoro of family members will become one when they truly know their place and position. 

The role of each family member differs according to their positions inside the family. As the root, the father’s role is to support the family.  As the trunk, the mother’s role is to connect and bring the kokoro of the family members together.  The children are to take in all the nutrients from the root and the trunk, don’t be selfish and always talk to the parents. And lastly as the soil, the grandparents’ role is to oversee the family with warm feelings and make sure that the family is doing well. As we live life keeping in mind these different roles, and practice them in the family, the family will be free from troubles or disagreements.

If the kokoro of the family members are not coming together, or doubts are arising within the family, it usually comes from the lack of awareness about the roles and positions, where someone is going beyond their position and roles. We have to remember that the true form of a human being is the soul. And the soul finds peace and true calmness in a family/home where harmony exists. If the family members are not aware of and are not respectful about living their respective positions and roles, there will be no harmony, the kokoro will not find peace, and will be filled with complaints and eventually communication diminishes.

Having reflected on how the family should be, the second and third steps to follow are shown. It is important to follow these sequentially.
Secondly, strive to make the best of your encounters with others (people).
The more the principle of Hotoke no Michi is learned and practiced, the more encounters with others will come alive .
If one can understand and fulfill their roles and is able to establish a healthy relationship in the family, this helps make the relationship at work, in society, and with many encounters to be healthy and to be worth-while.  For that reason, the second step we must follow is to strive to make the best of our encounters with others (people). As we see the world around us, or even just the community surrounding us, there are so many people with different views and personalities. And at times, there are those encounters that go against our views and thoughts. But try to be a person who can make something out from all encounters—even the ones we don’t appreciate sometimes.
And the teaching that teaches us that kokoro is Hotoke no Michi.  Hotoke, which is often defined as the deceased, does not implicate only our ancestors and the deceased member of the family here. In the teachings, Kami teaches us that mostly every person we interact with in our everyday life can be identified as our Hotoke. No matter what age they are, whether they are an elderly or an infant, everyone who supports our life are precious beings. When we recognize them as important beings and not take them for granted, we can live to appreciate them and treat them with our great respect—which is to say that we are walking to abide by the right path. To refer to the Shinji, Kami revealed a part that said;   
The more the principle of Hotoke no Michi is learned and practiced, the more encounters with others will come alive.

Moving on to the third step.
Thirdly, learn the teachings based on a broad standpoint and strive to be the person (human being) with a generous kokoro.
Know that true meaning and purpose will not be experienced by human beings who do not perceive the truth about the spiritual world despite how they present themselves .
What we must do, is to continue ourselves to learn and deepen the teachings. As we can see, there are many Shinji shown to us starting with Shinja Kokoro no Michi Benkyōkai, Shinja Kokoro no Moto Benkyōkai, Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai. And also, Shinji Kyōkai provides other forms such as books; “Shinjitsu no Michi Shinji” which is the collection of just the Shinji, “Jinsei no Shinri” which uses the Shinji from Shinja Kokoro no Michi Benkyōkai, “Richi no Shinri” which talks about family, health and work, and “Kokoro no Seidō” that focuses on the Shinji from Kibō no Michi Benkyōkai, and more. So there are many options in which we can learn and deepen the teachings.

We must learn the teachings based on a broad standpoint and strive to be the person (human being) with a generous kokoro.  A person with a generous kokoro is someone who is always calm, accepting, nice, warm personality, compassionate and benevolent. This type of person is always optimistic, filled with endurance and strength. And will not be bothered by little things.

Kami had given us these three important things to follow, one step at a time. This is because, true meaning and purpose will not be experienced by human beings who do not perceive the truth about the spiritual world despite how they present themselves. There is no way we can truly enjoy life, receiving kindness and respect from our surroundings while we argue or if we are always in conflict with other people. The true meaning of life cannot be achieved by the way we dress and how we present ourselves, what kind of house we live in, what kind of education and degrees we have. It is about what kind of heart, what kind of values we have in our life. But the truth is, there are so many in this world who don’t realize how important it is to live with a generous kokoro but are living selfishly by hurting others.

Having the awareness about having a generous kokoro, living in the spiritual world—in other words, focus on the kokoro is most important.  Do not just look at the surface of things, but feel the kokoro behind everything. But what does this mean? To feel and treasure the kokoro is for instance, you were given flowers from someone as a gift. And say it truly meant something special for you.  We obviously know that flowers have its own life span and will soon die. But you may decide to keep the flowers by transforming it to pressed flowers and keep it as a memory. It is not the actual flower, but the meaning and kokoro behind the flowers is what we want to treasure.  
It is true that when we feel the other person’s kokoro, we give our best to help them. There is nothing better and fulfilling than to always live with a generous heart that cares about other people’s kokoro. And as we live this way, our good points will be surfaced—in other words, our unmei that is useful to the world will merge with our life. This is how we experience joy and happiness and find true meaning and purpose in life.

Lastly, Kami gave us the following conclusion to the Shinji today.
The kokoro (life) of the shinja, enveloped in the hands of Kami, will live a life of purpose when they strive to practice these three things each day.
Let us keep in mind and strive to practice these three things. Then, our life will be enveloped in the hands of Kami. What this means; our jittai will be corrected, our unmei will be drawn out, and we will experience salvation in various ways under the protection of Kami. And in that process, we will experience changes in our feelings, as well as miracles that can be seen clearly to our eyes. Moreover, the worries and troubles we may have today will disappear like it never happened.

And we can live a life of purpose. For example, ‘I want to show good examples to my children and my grandchildren,’ ‘I want to become a person with pleasant personality who is respected by many,’—these can be a great purpose in life that will give each one of us energy and with vibrance each day. Our ultimate purpose is to live through our life without regrets, and reach kaiun. As we practice the three things, we will not be consumed by the reality in front of us, and move forward in life with the right purpose.

 

(*1) Kami, Hotoke, and Hito no Michi: There are certain things we human beings have to abide by, living in a world where the three (Kami, Hotoke, and Hito) worlds coincide and coexist with each other. Kami, Hotoke, and Hito no Michi are the teachings that teach the righteousness and how human ought to be. It is also known as Misuji no Michi.

(*2) Kibō no Michi: This is the salvation shown by Ōyamanezunomikoto.  It is a salvation that leads each person to a life of fulfillment by correcting the jittai (temperament and disposition) that each person has been handed down from their parents and ancestors, and draw out the unmei given to each one of us at the time of birth.