On January 25, Tenrikyo Young Men’s Association held its monthly meeting at Yoki Hall. The meeting was attended by chapter chairmen from directly supervised churches and dioceses as well as members of the steering committee.
This year, the association started to promote the new guideline “Purifying our minds each day.”
At the meeting, Association President Daisuke Nakayama took the podium to address the audience. Noting that the “three years, one thousand days” period leading up to the 140th Anniversary of Oyasama would start with the Spring Grand Service the next day, January 26, he went on to explain the association guideline “Purifying our minds each day.” He first quoted verses from the Ofudesaki: “Until now, in the minds of those within and those of the world, there has been no true understanding.” / “For Tsukihi, this is the greatest regret. If I could somehow make your minds clear. . .” (Ofudesaki XIII:15–16). He then explained that the new association guideline indicates that we should live every day trying to purify our minds—which entails trying to understand the intention of God, who desires to delight in seeing human beings help one another.
Next, President Nakayama asked the participants to relearn the teachings, explore ways to purify their minds through questions and dialogues, and spontaneously put those ways into practice. He then shared three examples of how he is working to purify his mind—examples related to “having dialogues based on the teachings,” “reducing the dusts of the mind and developing true sincerity,” and “performing the service.” He emphasized the importance of making it a rule to implement such ways of purifying our minds every day.
Lastly, quoting a verse from the Ofudesaki, “If only the mind is purified completely, there will be nothing but delight in everything” (Ofudesaki XIV:50), President Nakayama urged the association members to change their everyday actions and attitudes with the aim of becoming a person whose mind will be more purified in three years than it is now.
After that, Association Chairman Masazumi Yasui delivered a talk. He introduced a handout and a poster that explain the association guideline and described a special web page recently added to the Young Men’s Association’s website. He asked the listeners to make full use of the materials in their chapters.