May I express my deep appreciation to all of you for returning to Jiba from various parts of the world to attend today’s Autumn Grand Service. May I also thank you most sincerely for the efforts you are devoting to the work of the path toward the upcoming anniversary of Oyasama. We have now duly performed the Service. May I take this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you.
On the occasion of the Autumn Grand Service two years ago, I announced Instruction Four in anticipation of the beginning of the “three years, one thousand days” period leading up to the 140th Anniversary of Oyasama. Last year marked the first year of the pre-anniversary period, and this year marks the second year, which is now coming close to the end. It may be a little too early to do this, but as I look back on what has happened this year, I realize that we were given extremely stern instruction through the major earthquakes that struck the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day.
In my New Year’s Address, I spoke as follows:
[T]he Ofudesaki says that natural disasters are expressions of God the Parent’s regret and anger. I believe that these expressions are intended to provide stern training and instruction for those of us who . . . follow [the] path but who are slow in growing spiritually. . . . I believe we should reflect upon and ponder over what God the Parent is trying to tell us from a variety of angles and make honest efforts to correct what needs to be corrected so as to move forward along the path.
We thus began to conduct this year’s activities.
For the current pre-anniversary activities, we decided to have directly supervised churches and their affiliated churches set their own goals to work toward as part of their efforts to make progress in spiritual growth. As far as I can remember, this is the first time we decided to conduct pre-anniversary activities in such a way at the level of the entire Tenrikyo community. As this year marks the halfway point of the “three years, one thousand days” period, we reviewed our progress in relation to our goals and made adjustments where necessary around the middle of the year so as to be able to make steady progress moving forward with a renewed awareness of our goals.
As we entered the second half of the pre-anniversary period, however, torrential rains wreaked havoc across the Noto Peninsula, which was the same region that had suffered major damage on New Year’s Day. Although earthquakes and heavy rains are two different phenomena, the fact remains that stern instruction was given twice through occurrences in the same region. I felt that the efforts we had been making toward the upcoming anniversary were not really sufficient in terms of responding to the intention of our Parent.
Toward the end of Instruction Four, I wrote as follows:
I hope that all of us followers, who have been drawn to the path, will regard the upcoming anniversary of Oyasama as a crucial opportunity to grow spiritually and take firm steps forward on the path of world salvation in unity of mind, thereby bringing joy and peace of mind to Oyasama, who is working by virtue of Her eternal life.
In order for us followers of the path to take firm steps forward in unity of mind, we will need to nurture more and more Yoboku in such a way that they will turn their thoughts to the anniversary and thereby engage in the activities toward the anniversary. Without such efforts, we will not be able to bring peace of mind to Oyasama.
It is particularly important to implement actions during the “three years, one thousand days” period. I would like to ask you all to earnestly engage in your activities during the remaining one third of the pre-anniversary period ever more spiritedly so that—whether you can return to Jiba for the anniversary or not—you will be able to have a sense of delight on that day.
With this request, I now conclude my remarks. Thank you very much for your kind attention.