Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Special Sunday Zoom Service Was Held: Day 24


            It is now June and soon the year will be half over. This year Covid-19 has become a worldwide problem. Since mid-March the United States has been advised to shelter in place because of Covid-19 and many businesses have been shut down. People cannot go to work, and unemployment has surged. New York State became the epicenter of Covid-19 infections with the highest number of deaths in the United States. Everyone has become frustrated and worried about their health and lives. Bad things seem to be happening one after another. 
           On May 25, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a policeman, murdered George Floyd, an African-American man, in Minneapolis. This incident triggered many people’s already fragile emotions. Many people gathered peacefully to protest for equality and justice in many cities across the United States. Unfortunately the news has been mostly about the violent protesters who have been demonstrating for a week. The scenes of destruction of businesses and cities and clashes between police and the violent protesters has crushed people’s hearts.
            Human beings are children of God. Every person’s life matters. Lives must not be wasted. In the world of God there are no misfortunes, disasters, murders, or robberies. But in the phenomenal world we see many unfortunate events. Why? It is because human beings do not properly see God's perfect world, the True-Image World. We see the world through frosted and tinted glass. 
            Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, President of Seicho-No-Ie, wrote in the Prayer to Purify Your Thoughts and Meet With God: “The phenomena before me are no more than simply parts of God’s creation that gave the impression of being imperfect when seen through frosted glass for a brief moment. They are crude, are lacking, vague, monotonous in design, and collapse as time goes by. The images on the frosted glass are not reality. ‘Beyond them’ lies the indestructible reality which holds infinite beauty. That is God’s creation.” (Daily Prayers, pp. 31-32)
            Although problems, such as plague, poverty, hunger, inequality, discrimination, and bullying, etc., do not originally exist in the world of God, many people grab on to and attach to them in their minds and believe they truly exist. This upsets their emotions and creates rage and hate as if these phenomena exist. We all need to practice faith and realize that all human beings should not fight and destroy each other because of the differences in their skin color and/or ideology. Every person is born in this world to express their innate nature and every person is filled with God's love, wisdom, vitality, abundance, joy and harmony. It is time to practice the belief that we are born to express joy and great harmony.
            We can do our part by striving to discard materialism and anthropocentrism. Let us pray for harmony between nature and humanity and avoid excessive convenience. Many people live in big cities because jobs are more readily available in big cities. They live in small apartments and work very long hours. They do not cook, but buy processed foods or take-out or eat at restaurants for convenience. They hire people to do the things they do not want to do. The conveniences of this lifestyle actually can cause unhappiness. They produce a lot of garbage, create high energy consumption, waste, and pollution. They experience the disparity between the rich and poor and are exposed to many diseases. Climate change and global warming is the negative heritage we are leaving for future generations. 
            Let us do our part to help change that. Let us practice the prayers we are taught at Seicho-No-Ie to visualize the True Image and promote the movement and the realization of the great harmony between God, nature and human beings.
            At the end of this message, I will present you the “Words to Pray for Peace” from founder Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi. Please practice Shinsokan Meditation, read the Daily Prayers, and deeds of love. Please read these prayerful words along with the “Prayer for World Peace.”

I am one with God. Not I alone, but all humanity is one with God. Therefore, in God’s world all humanity is already at peace with one another, devoid of conflict and fighting. To humanity God is the one Father who sheds protection over all peoples of the world alike and keeps them in peace. As God is such, it would be illogical to think that one nation cannot gain happiness unless she invades the territory of another. The realization of this truth is the basic cornerstone to bring about peace to the world. I therefore broadcast this truth to the entire world. The whole of mankind is now catching this broadcast vibration and being enlightened about the truth. God’s love descends and sheds light upon the minds of all, and the peace of God’s world prevails on earth. Now God’s will is realized on earth as it is in Heaven. From this moment on, mankind knows no fighting or sorrow, but they look up to God in sublime exaltation. (365 Golden Keys to the Summit of Fulfillment, pp. 192-193)

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