Explanation of the Shinsokan to Visualize the Four Immeasurable Minds

Thank you very much. Today I will explain Shinsokan to Visualize the Four Immeasurable Minds. The original version of this meditation was created by Founder Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi, who wrote this Shinsokan to embrace humankind with God’s love and the Buddha’s Four Immeasurable Minds. Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi revised this meditation to expand this love not only to humankind but also to all sentient and non-sentient beings, i.e., all minerals, water, wind, sunlight, and Mother Nature. The prayer is as follows:

My mind is one with God’s infinite love and the Four Immeasurable Minds of the Buddha, and it spreads throughout the skies, permeates the universe, and reaches out to all living beings, seeking to remove their suffering, lessen their pain, bring ease and comfort to their life, and give them joy. (Repeat)

All living beings have been relieved of their suffering, their pain has been lessened, ease and comfort have been brought to their life, and they have been blessed with joy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. (Repeat)

My mind is one with God's infinite love and the Four Immeasurable Minds of the Buddha, and it further spreads throughout the skies, permeates the universe, and reaches out to all lives and minerals on earth, seeking to remove their suffering, bring them ease and comfort, protect their diversity, and give them joy. (Repeat)

Already, all lives on earth have been relieved of their suffering, ease and comfort have been brought to their life, their diversity has been protected, and they have been blessed with joy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. (Repeat)

Founder Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi introduced this original Shinsokan to Visualize the Four Immeasurable Minds in Seiko Roku (Record of Holy Light). Most Japanese Seicho-No-Ie members have this book and practice the contents of it every day. Founder Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi explained this Shinsokan in this book as follows:

All living beings have been relieved of their suffering, their pain has been lessened, ease and comfort have been brought to their life, and they have been blessed with joy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Then visualize intently that all of mankind have been completely relieved from pain and suffering, and get the feeling that you are now leaving everything to God and become grateful. This is not a Shinsokan to seek blessings for your own self but a prayerful meditation to remove the pain and suffering of all of mankind. Therefore, it is not egotistical at all, as a result of which the benefits to you will be greater than in a self-centered meditation. (Seiko Roku, p. 119)

As Rev. Taniguchi wrote, this Shinsokan is not egotistical at all. We pray for all humankind. Remember that this Shinsokan was written 70 or 80 years ago. Considering the current world environment, it is not enough to think only about humankind. We must think about all living beings and the earth itself. As of August 22, 2019, there were 1,954 active wildfires (show the map) in the United States. And, there is a bigger problem because the Amazon rainforest has had continuous wildfires for many months. Since January 2019 there have been 72,843 wildfires in Brazil. The Amazon rainforest produces about 20% of the world’s oxygen, so the current Amazon rainforest wildfires may dramatically accelerate global warming and climate change. 

Why do these negative incidents happen so often? It is because human beings think only about human beings. We must expand God’s love and the Four Immeasurable Minds of the Buddha to all creatures and nature. But, the reality is that still many human beings only think about themselves. For example, according to CNN news, it reported that “Environmental organizations and researchers say the wildfires blazing in the Brazilian rainforest were set by cattle ranchers and loggers who want to clear and utilize the land, emboldened by the country’s pro-business president.” “And 99 percent of the fires result from human actions ‘either on purpose or by accident,’ Alberto Setzer, a senior scientist at INPE, said.” (August 22, 2019)

We need to change our thinking from focusing only on human beings to focusing on all creatures in nature. This is why Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi slightly revised the prayer.

What is the Four Immeasurable Minds? In Buddhist scripture, it is stated, “The Mind of the Buddha is, indeed, the four immeasurable minds of the Buddha,” and these four minds are benevolence, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Benevolence is the mind that feels sympathy and that wants to release people from their sufferings. Compassion is the mind that empathizes with someone’s sorrow and wants to change this sadness to joy. Joy is the state of mind where we can see someone else’s joy and rejoice as if it were our own joy.

It is important that we feel others’ joy as if it were our own joy. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi once talked about this in his grand seminar. He said, “When you find that your neighbor has bought a new car, be delighted and grateful as if you have bought a new car. If you can do this, a new car already belongs to you.” When I listened to this lecture, I wondered how the neighbor’s new car belongs to me. Of course, he did not mean that the neighbor’s car actually belongs to me. But, if I can be delighted with my neighbor’s happiness as if it were mine, then I already have joy in my mind. Since our minds create everything in our lives, a joyous mind will create joy in our lives. Being grateful and being delighted that you already have everything are basic but important ways to realize happiness.

All of you are Seicho-No-Ie leaders in the United States and Canada, so you clearly understand the teaching that the mind creates all. This universe is filled with energy or God’s life that gives life to all things. Although this energy cannot be seen with our naked eyes, we have this energy to use in our daily lives. Human beings have a mind which is a precious gift from God. When we have a thought in our mind, we have shaped this thought into a pattern, model, or mold similar to a mold to make chocolate. Once melted chocolate is filled into these molded shapes, eventually it becomes solid. The universe is filled with creative energy. When we shape thoughts in our mind those thoughts materialize. This creative energy changes and materializes into this world in accordance with our thoughts in the mind. 

The important thing here is the kind of thoughts you have in your mind. If you become attached to something, this means your thoughts are attached to something and you lose your freedom of thoughts.

In Buddhism, realizing the three virtues of benevolence, compassion and joy are important, but if we don’t discard the mind of attachments, we cannot live the life of a child of God. Discard attachments including these three virtues. You are leaders, so it is natural for you to have strong desires to want to save other people. We need to discard this attachment to save others, or our thoughts lose flexibility. If we are able to release our attachments, we will feel our true nature that is one with God’s love. This is true love. In the Bible it is called Charity. If we are bound by our own thoughts of charity, unlimited loving vitality and joy to help others won’t bubble up from within. Christianity and Buddhism teach you the same Truth, which is to love others and work for others, but this is accomplished only without attachment or with unconditional love. We must never forget that we must discard all attachment in order to accomplish our love for others.

Our Seicho-No-Ie President, Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi said that some of us practice God’s love and the Four Immeasurable Minds towards human beings and some animals like our pets. However, those people need to show the same love to monkeys, deer, rats, skunks, etc. In other words, it is not enough to show our love only to those we choose or like. That is not unconditional love but mere attachment. Human beings find it difficult to practice the last immeasurable mind, “equanimity,” because they create attachments to acquire certain things from nature such as rare resources, diamonds, uranium, and other rare minerals. Human beings destroy nature to acquire coal, oil and natural gas even though these underground resources contribute to global warming. People kill elephants, foxes, and mink to acquire tusks or to make a fur coat. People want to collect these expensive and beautiful things. In other words, they have not attained the last immeasurable mind “equanimity.”

It may take a long time for all human beings to attain God’s love and the Four Immeasurable Minds; however, we must not forget that we should practice “equanimity” during our lifetime because sooner or later all of us will die ultimately discarding our physical bodies. Practice “equanimity” so that we can attain God’s love and the Four Immeasurable Minds. When you experience “equanimity” your spiritual merits are beyond your imagination.

As Founder Rev. Taniguchi said, “This is not a Shinsokan to seek blessings for yourself but a prayerful meditation to remove the pain and suffering of all of mankind.” And this new version of Shinsokan is not only for humankind but also for all sentient and non-sentient beings. “Therefore, it is not egotistical at all, as a result of which the benefits to you will be greater than in a self-centered meditation.” To help all living beings and everything in nature, your mind needs to be able to be one with them. As our concerns regarding the environment and Mother Nature are growing, it is pertinent that we practice this Shinsokan Meditation daily. With this understanding, let us practice this Shinsokan Meditation. Thank you very much.