Express Blessings That You Have Received

The following article was introduced in the October 2010 newsletter.

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On October 10, 2010, we observed the second year memorial service for Rev. Seicho Taniguchi since his transition to the angelic world. Seicho-No-Ie was started by the founder, Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi, and Rev. Seicho Taniguchi became the second President of Seicho-No-Ie. Now, Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi is the President of Seicho-No-Ie. Rev. Msaharu Taniguchi, Rev. Seicho Taniguchi and Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi taught us the same truth that we are all children of God and were born in this phenomenal world to express the kingdom of God. We have learned that our lives are eternal, so when our physical bodies die, we still continuously express our divinity in the spiritual world in accordance with the level of our souls. In order to express the divinity we have to arouse God's love within our minds and hearts. It is also important to be grateful to everyone and everything in heaven and earth. In order to do this, first of all we need to recognize the blessings which are given by God. It is explained in the 365 Golden Keys To The Summit Of Fulfillment on page 3 as follows:

"Blessings of Heaven and Earth

Just stop for a few moments and think of the many blessings nature gives us that are essential to our life. Think of how much all that is living provides us without which our existence cannot be sustained. Have we not heretofore been too insensitive to the innumerable gifts accorded us in various forms, both visible and invisible? Indeed, we have taken too little notice of all those blessings. Because we have taken them for granted, we have neglected to be grateful out of ignorance.

Even though they are actually there, nothing comes into existence, so long as you do not recognize them. For example, even if there were a one-million-dollar check in your pocket, unless you are aware of it, it is as if it were not there. So it is with everything. Be it a blessing of nature, love of people, love of parents, or love of country, unless you yourself are perceptive enough to sense and acknowledge it, it is as if it did not exist. To be thus ignorant and unaware of what is actually there is the same as being blind. No matter what, we must never allow ourselves to become blind. It is indeed only when we perceive and recognize all the blessings and gifts provided that they are ours." (end of quote) (p. 3)

As stated in the Words of Wisdom in this book, Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi asked us to think of how many blessings and how much love we have been provided. He also emphasized that we should be awakened to and be grateful to the blessings of nature, to the kindness of others, to the love of parents, and the benefits from your society and country. He said that unless you are perceptive enough to sense and acknowledge them, it is the same as if they did not exist.

Let us recognize our blessings and love that sustain us first even though it's not easily recognized in our daily lives. Then, be grateful to them. Being grateful is not a passive but active action. If you feel gratitude toward something, you should express it. Unless it is expressed, it is the same as if it did not exist. Likewise, we see nature as the expression of God's love, we are grateful to it, and so we should try to protect them as our expression of gratitude.

Seicho-No-Ie United States Missionary Headquarters and the Southern California Missionary Area currently work hard to obtain a certificate of ISO14001. ISO means International Organization for Standardization and 14001 is the Environmental Management System. In other words, it is a global environmental standard. Everything needs a standard. If a product has no standard, it will have trouble. If people don't produce a product by following the standard, a problem will arise. For a very recent example, billions of eggs were recalled because of the threat of salmonella poisoning. So, by receiving an ISO14001 certificate we will be able to prove that SNI USMH and SNI SCMA are approved as organizations that care and protect our environment. The Seicho-No-Ie teachings are to be grateful to our nature and earth as expressions of God's life, and we have to express our gratitude as Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi said. Therefore, Seicho-No-Ie is now trying to express our gratitude through our performance in accordance with ISO14001.

Then, do you know what we are actually doing? We educate members and the public to preserve our nature. We recycle and reuse things as the life of God. To reuse means to reduce our waste; so we weigh our waste every week. We implemented the solar power panels to reduce electric energy consumption which was created by fossil fuel. There are many things that we are trying right now. I would like to explain in detailed information about this in the future again. I ask for your cooperation in order to receive this certificate. We need your cooperation, especially in separating waste in the designated bins. Last time when I checked a recycle paper bin, someone dumped his bento box with a remainder of rice and other food. These papers were not able to be recycled because of the residues from the food and soy source. So, I ask you again for your cooperation.

Although each one's effort may be small, practicing is important. Because in a small thing is indeed where God's love exists. Thus, you have to be careful about a tiny thing, like telling a tiny lie, committing a small evil, and squandering small change, etc. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi taught us that to neglect a tiny thing in one's life is to go against the purpose of one's life. For example, it is of course good to read an entire book, but if you read a line or a paragraph using a short time in a day and continue reading, it sometimes becomes a great inspiration. If every time you go to the bathroom and read the same book, you will finish it before you know it. If you practice a foreign language everyday for ten minutes, you will be able to practice 300 minutes in a a month. Therefore, you would have studied for 5 hours. In a year you would complete 60 hours of study and it will increase your knowledge. Everyone can find 10 minutes in a day. Rev. Seicho Taniguchi said that if someone says, "I don't have time to read such a thick book," it means that the person confesses that he or she does not want to read it. If you separate waste properly and reuse it again, we can preserve our resources.

From April of this year we started a monthly Ancestral Memorial Service in order to memorialize our ancestors as well as our predecessors who devoted themselves to the Humanity Enlightenment Movement in the Southern California Missionary Area. It is impossible for our church to exist without our predecessors' hard work and devotion. Although each donation by one person might be small, the accumulation made it possible to establish this church.

It is the same of our happiness in this phenomenal world. For example, we cannot see the spiritual love and protection from our ancestors, but they are surely there. First we need to recognize them and then be grateful to them. How wonderful it is if everyone can be grateful to their ancestors everyday using 20 minutes or so at home. This is a small effort but the entire family will surely become happy if one continues it. At this present time we have to be considerate to take care of not only our own family's happiness but also nature on earth as our family. It is important to care for every material existence by worshiping the life of God within.

Rev. Seicho Taniguchi taught us as follows:

"In order to efficiently use the resources on earth sooner or later we by no means will end up on cul-de-sacs if we continue using a thing once and then throw it away and increase futile waste. Furthermore, it will cause destruction of the environment by burning resources and realize the phenomenon of a declining birth rate." (Daidowo Ayumu Tameni [means to walk on the broad way], p. 71)

"A camera, a jewel, a watch or a personal computer, etc. is not often recycled. Few people will dump them, but the most precious, detailed machine is a physical body which we are accustomed to use. This physical body is not a real man but a mere tool for our souls. To express greatness as a Child of God Man on the earth by using this tool can be said the purpose of a human life in this world. Therefore, we must use this physical body with great care, never harm or discard it and have to achieve our life's goal." (end of quote)(Ibid., p. 74)

Please take great care of your physical body to express your child of God nature. In order to do this, we have to take care of small details of our daily meals and exercise. Furthermore, expression of the gratitude toward our ancestors or nature using a short time in a day seems to be a small effort, but by continuing and accumulating these small but important efforts, we will become happy. Thank you very much.

Gratitude is the key to happiness 3

In order to be grateful, we have to have time to reflect ourselves everyday. We are taught how to do this. This is Shinsokan (meditation to vizualize God). We also have place to practice our gratitude. That is our spiritual training seminars (STS). I just participated in the 50th International Spiritual Training Seminar in Seattle between August 13 and 15, 2010. The following week we had the 156th Japanese STS in Southern California.

There are different ceremonies and parctices during the seminar. When I presided the Shinsokan for Mutual Prayer at the September 2006 seminar in San Jose, one of the members, Keiko, wanted to receive divine blessings and requested divine healing. She was in a very bad accident and fractured her neck 7 months earlier of this seminar. That was February 2006. When I visited her in the hospital in February, she said she was very grateful that she had not needed to amputate anything nor had she suffered damage to her internal organs. While hearing her words of gratitude, I really thought she would be healed soon. It was because she realized how lucky she was consdering how serious the accident itself had been. To heal her neck, the doctors put in two iron rings around her head and neck which circled her head. These iron rings were connected with 4 vertical metal rods. The top iron rign also had 4 metal rods extended horizontally into her skull. In th beginning, I didn't realize that this equipment was attached directly to her skull. These precautions ensured that she couldn't move her neck. Any neck movement could cause her fractured spinal cord to touch her sensitive nerves and result in paralysis of her arms and legs. This was a serious injury. However, her positive attitude helped improve her situation, and in three months she was able to remove these iron rings and rods.

However, when Keiko came to the STS on Saturday, her face was tired and wan because she still felt pain and was not able to move her neck freely. In addition, she seemed frustrated about her job situation. She had returned to work afer spending several months home recuperating, but it was very difficult for her to catch up with her work, plus her physical condition had not returned to its state before her accident situation. Therefore, she requested divine healing during Shinsokan for Mutual Prayer. She also requested for grand harmony in her job. Before starting the prayer, Keiko spoke up again and said, "Forget about my request for divine healing of my neck injury and harmony of my workplace. Instead, I really want you to pray for my co-worker'shusband. He recently was in a hit-and-run accident. His spinal cord was fractured, an he is still in the hospital. Please pray for his healing." I was moved by her thoughts for her co-worker and her husband. When we finished prayer and finished for the day, Keiko, other members and I moved into the prayer room. While I prayed for Keiko again, other members softly massaged her neck and shoulder. The next morning, Keiko's face was more cheerful.

At noon on Sunday we closed our seminar, and everybody joined hands and sang the Holy Missioner's March. Suddenly at the end of the song, Keiko screamed and ran over to other participants. Then, the people surrounding them began to jump up and down and were crying. I immediately approached them to find out what had happened. Keiko exclaimed to everyone, "I can move my neck, and it doesn't hurt!" When she had first arrived on Saturday, she couldn't move her neck, and instead she had to move her entire body to look in other directions. If she didn't move her shoulder and chest when she moved her head, she felt extreme pain. However, without thinking she had joined her hands together with everyone and sang the song loudly while looking at everyone and smiling to the people on her righ and left. Her overwhelming joy for two days during the seminar healed her. Actually, in the world of her mind she had already been healed the night before when she declared that she only wanted to be granted the healing for her co-worker's husband. In other words, she could have positive attitude in the midst of the negative situation.

Then, why did her healing take time to appear? It was because granting healing in her mind is only the cause. She needed the chance to manifest that cause into this phenomenal world. For example, when the negative cause is combined with negative chance, misfortune, sickness, and disasters appear. However, sickness can be eliminated by eliminating either the cause or chance. In the same vein, even if we create a good cause in the world of the mind, we still need the chance to make it appear in this world. And the best chances to make the cause appear to this world are positive thoughts such as gratitude and joy. Keiko's extreme joy and gratitude made her healing manifest right away. The Divine Message of Grand Harmony states: "Be grateful to the blessings from your country. Be grateful to your parents. Be grateful to your husband or wife. Be grateful to your children. Be grateful to those who serve you. Be grateful to all people. Be grateful to everything in the universe. Within those toughts of gratitude you will find me (God) and receive my salvation." Let us be grateful unconditionally. Thank you very much.

Gratitude is the key to happiness 2

In 2004, I invited my mother from Japan because of my family emergency. I told her, "You don't have to worry about anything. Grab your handbag and come." When I picked her up at the San Francisco Airport, I was surprised because she literally accepted my words and came with only a small bag. I believe she was brave woman and kind mother to her children because she didn't know how to write an immigration document and costom declaration form. She didn't understand English, so the officers in immigration and customs who faced her gave up ordering her to fill out forms and started helping her.

While she stayed with my family, my mother taught us a lot of things. Sometimes some of them were not comfortable to hear, but they were valuable suggestions. My family was very happy with her. On the contrary, the longer my mother stayed, the less comfortable she felt. One of the reasons was that she had to often stay at home alone. My mother started saying that she would suffer dementia if she continued the same life style here. However, we could not help. She came here to help our family. Day by day she gradually lost her appetite.

Six weeks later my brother visited me from Japan, and we planned to go to Las Vegas and Grand Canyon with my mother. However, the day we planned to leave, her physical condition suddenly turned very bad. We changed our flights, and I made an appointment for the doctor for her. When I asked my mother to change her clothes to visit the doctor, her condition became worse, and she could not move. I called 911 for the very first time in my life. We all cancelled our trip, and my mother ended up at the hospital for her trip. Her kidney was infected.

In the hospital my mother wanted so much to go back to Japan. I arranged a ticket for her to go back to Japan with my brother. She stayed at the hospital overnight. Then, in two days she went back to Japan. After my brther and my mother left, many debts remained to me such as the cancellation of our trip fees and ambulace and hospital fees. My mother's insurance in Japan doesn't much cover these expenses in America. Although there were some negative happenings, my family was able to learn very valuable and important lessons from my mother. The best thing I learned from her was the spirit and attitude of taking great care of things and matters in my daily life. For example, my mother didn't waste anything. When I finished eating and wiped my mouth with a paper napkin and threw it, she scolded me saying, "Don't waste it! You can still use it." I didn't know how she could use it, but she used it to clean her dishes before washing. She used it to blow her nose as well. Not only napkins but also plastic wrap after using the microwave she kept it and used it in a different way.

This reminded me of a story. When my father passed away, my mother received a very small widow's pension every three months. It was too small to live on; therefore, she asked her children to send some money for help. I send 50,000 yen (about $500) over 5 years. After 5 or 6 years later when we had started sending money, she suddenly told us that we didn't hanve to send money anymore. She said she decided to build a new house. I asked her how she could pay. She said that she had already paid. That was a real surprise for us and her 7 children were so delighted. But, how could she save? She had a small vegetable yard and grew some for hersef. She was grateful to everything what she had and took great care of them. That was the real answer.

My wife and I knew the way of not wasting things in our daily life and followed the way we knew. However, compared with my mother's life, we didn't achieve less than one fifth or one tenth of what my mother did. We were able to learn wholeheartedly from my mother how she could take great care of things and not waste even a napkin or plastic wrap.

I also learned how important it is to communicate with medical staff and firefighters when I called 911 and when in the hospital. My mother, my wife and my brother didn't speak English; therefore, medical staff and firefighters watched to find what they should do. So, they asked my mother to walk. I called the ambulance because she couldn't move. No one helped her; so my wife tried to put mom's shoes on her foot. Still my mother couldn't move. My brother got upset and tried to put her on his back. However, she was too heavy to move, and he stumbled. Suddenly the laughter bubbled up from 911 people who surrounded my mother and brother. That was not so appropriate. I heard this story both from my brother and my wife. I was in the next room to explain to one of the medcal staff to my mother's medical history. I understood that they could not communicate with my wife or brother; therefore, they had to wait until they found how my mother should be treated. At the same time, I sincerely appreciated them because they came to my home within a few minutes. They helped a person who doesn't speak English or who was just a traveler and even doesn't pay tax in the United States.

I don't have to list everything of what I have learned from these experiences; however, because of these incidents which do not have to always have positive aspects give my family members great lessons to turn our minds to the spritual side and to improve ourselves. I am sincerely greateful to these incidents. And I tell you that when my mother arrived at the Narita Airport in Japan, her condition was dramatically improved. Now, she is perfectly alright. I also tell you that the total cost of my mother's expenses was enormous. I had no idea how I or my mother could pay that amount. Fortunately, I discussed this cost with a social worker at the hospital where my mother hospitalized and finally I could settle to pay much less amount of the original cost. I am very grateful to the result that everything turned out best for me and my family. Therefore, whatever happens, gratitude surly leads us to happiness. (to be continued tomorrow)

Gratitude is the key to happiness 1

One of the most important things in our lives is gratitude. In Seicho-No-Ie (SNI) we are grateful to everyone and everything in the universe. The Divine Message of Grand Harmony states, "Those who are grateful to God but cannot be grateful to their parents are against the Divine Will. To be reconciled means to be grateful to everything in the universe." So, gratitude is the key to happiness because we need harmony and peace in order to become happy.

There are many levels of gratitude. Being grateful under happy circumstances is easy, but being grateful during challenging life circumstances is difficult. However, always being grateful to everyone and everything in the universe is the secret to happiness and fulfillment. Then, do we have to be gateful to something or someone when our lives feel so bleak that we believe that we cannot muster even an ounce of gratitude? Well, I would say, "We have to find gratitude even in the midst of suffering, misfrtune, sickness or poverty." We tend to complain about negative things around us, rather than being grateful to things that we have been already blessed with in our daily lives. Our words which include our thoughts, spoken words,atttudes and expressions crate our daily lives. Therefore, if we always concentrate our minds on only positive and good things around us and try to be grateful, we will be able to create only good futures.

In order to be always grateful, we should be grateful to every blessing we have received from our parents, friends, society and nature. Then, we will be gradually able to find something that we can be grateful to even when we experience what we percive to be a negative situation. The Seicho-No-Ie Founder, Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi wrote:

"Just stop for a few moments and think of the many blessings nature gives us that are essential to our life. Think of how much all living things provide us, without which our existence cannot be sustained. Have we not heretofore been too insensitive to the innumerable gifts accorded us in various forms, both visible and invisible? Indeed, we have taken too little notice of all those blessings. Because we have taken them for granted, we have neglected to be grateful out of ignorance.

"Even though they are actually there, nothing comes into existence, so long as you do not recognize them. For example, even if there was a one-million-dollar check in your pocket, unless you are aware of it, it is as if it were not there. So it is with everything. Be it a blessing of nature, love of people, love of parents, or love of country, unless you yourself are perceptive enough to sense and acknowledge it, it is as if it did not exist...It is indeed only when we perceive and recognize all the blessings and gifts provided that they are ours." (from "365 Golden Keys To The Summit Of Fulfillment")

To appreciate gifts from nature is a way, and to express your gratitude to this country is also important. We, who currently live n the United States, receive many blessings from the country.
One day I went to one of the middle schools for a prent-teacher conference and waited in the classroom. On the wall of the room I saw a lot of beautiful words of wisdom. For example, "Stand up for what you think is right, even if you're standing alone." "Respect yourself. If you don't, nobody else will." "No one is a failure who keeps trying." These are true.

There are many similar words posted on the wall. Seeing these,I was moved and was grateful to the environment of my children's education. When I was a middle school student in Japan, no teacher taught this kind of truth. There were no words of wisdom on the wall of the classroom. Fortunatel, my parents were SNI members, and I learned these words of truth at SNI youth seminars. In this country, children are able to learn these words of truth naturally at the middle school. I thought I could see the source of the strength of this country at a glance. We have to be grateful to the country that gives our children such a wonderful education. (to be continued tomorrow)