Tenrikyo Overseas Department has published a new volume, My Hopes for the Young: Excerpts from the Second Shinbashira’s Talks. The new book is a translation of Seinen ni nozomu, a collection of short passages excerpted from addresses that were delivered by Shozen Nakayama, the second Shinbashira, before audiences comprising young people on such occasions as the Young Men’s Association conventions, the path seekers’ seminars, and the Students Training Course. Seinen ni nozomu was compiled by the Young Men’s Association with the purpose of providing a resource for young people aspiring to seek the path and share the teachings with others.
As mentioned by Zensuke Nakata in his foreword to this volume, the second Shinbashira trained young people by telling them, “If someone asks you what kind of teaching Tenrikyo is, you should be able to say, ‘Look at me.'” Much of this volume is, fittingly, of a practical nature and devoted to providing young people with skills for finding joy in life–which is seen as the first step in anyone’s endeavor to contribute to the realization of the Joyous Life to be shared by all humanity. We read, for example: “[W]hatever is happening is teaching us something that comes straight from God the Parent’s intention. From the standpoint that whatever is happening is thus God’s way of guiding us, we can accept it in a manner that is conducive to our mind’s joy. . . . [D]epending solely on the state of your mind, you can perceive all things . . . as sources of your joy. I hope, therefore, that you will keep working to sweep your mind clean so as to attain that level of spiritual growth. . . . Things can look clouded to us if we try to press forward while being caught up in our judgmentalness. What we ought to do, instead, is sweep the heart clean by always bringing our mind into accord with God the Parent’s mind . . . so that simple openness may develop and enable us to receive God’s blessings.”
My Hopes for the Young is available from Translation Section (e-mail: en1@tenrikyo.or.jp).