Tenrikyo Northern California Church

2840 Davis Road West Sacramento, CA

95691

Phone:

916-371-9419

Fax:

916-371-4418

E-mail:

joyouslifeline@gmail.com

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All suggestions are welcome! In This Issue March Speech Page 1-2Rev. Kenneth Hasegawa Page 3

! Just recently, we watched in horror as we heard about the tragic tsunami and earthquake that hit northern Japan. Iwate Prefecture was one of the areas that was badly hit and that is where my childhood home is. I was horribly concerned with my family there and couldnʼt reach my brother for some time. I worried until I finally got a hold of him the next night. I was fortunate to not have family members who were hurt by the earthquake but there are many who are now suffering, who have died or are still missing. Those who have been left behind are still going through a lot of human suffering and a lot of worries that are outside of their control. Those of us here that are safe and sound have much we need to think about. I believe that God the Parent watches us at these pivotal moments to see whether we will ponder our roles in this world and what choices we make for changing the course for the

lives of others and for our own lives. ! Japan has experienced earthquakes many times before but in this area, one that was as severe as this happened a thousand years ago. And 110 years ago, there was a magnitude 8.6 earthquake that took the lives of 20,000 people. In my own life, my experiences with tragedies always surrounded horrible fires. I lost my grandmother in a house fire when my daughter was still very little. Then I later learned that m y m o t h e r ʼ s f a m i l y h a d experienced a large fire before the one they just had. As this was coming into my knowledge, I was also having many dreams about putting out fires here at the church. It was disturbing because we actually did have several fires here at the church. We thankfully have a fire station down the street so all of our fires were attended to immediately. But this gives me pause when I think about how the same pattern of tragedies keep

z Rev. Aiko Hasegawa zMarch Speech

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happening to the same people. There is a natural tendency to ask why this would happen to this person or that place. All things happen because the seed has been sown there. There is a root underneath that will foster the incident to come up. Asking why someone or someplace would be the one to go through so much suffering does not change what already is rooted to happen.God the Parent created us to rely on the teachings, to change even a little bit within ourselves, creating a path towards a joyous life is what is desired from us. As you repeatedly are told, how you use your heart determines your destiny. Just praying with the faith in your heart for change will not change the course of your path. The only way to see the path for a new direction is to act upon the teachings you are given. If you will act upon your life with a changed attitude, only then, will you see your environment change. When your environment begins to change, your character changes. When your character changes, your life changes. I know I am always reiterating these things but I emphasize this because I feel we

cannot waste the teachings that have been afforded to us through great pains and effort of our predecessors before us. If we do not use the path towards our ultimate salvation, we will never change the roots of our sufferings. If you choose to resign yourself to the fate handed to you, you have chosen to throw away valuable nourishment for a better path. Fear should not be in being dealt a bad fate in life. Fear should be in not having faith and the attitude to change your fate. Fear should not be in the lack of blessings in your life but fear should be in not knowing how to accumulate the blessings waiting for you. For those of you who are able to hear these words, we do not know the fate of tomorrow in our lives but we can choose the actions of ourselves today. We cannot change the roots of our environment that has already occurred but we can change the roots of our attitudes to clear the path for a more desirable outcome. If you will just take the moments given to you in your life today and use them towards cultivating a better self for tomorrow, you slow the growth of pain and suffering and lengthen the path towards a more joyous life.

“If you say, ‘There is nothing I can do since the manner in which things and events unfold depends on my causality,’ it leads you nowhere. - Osashizu, December 22, 1903

Information about Tenrikyo's Japan Disaster Relief Fund

In addition to our prayers, Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America will be collecting donations for the disaster relief to support those impacted by the earthquake in Japan. Ultimately our donations will be forwarded to the “Tenrikyo

Disaster Relief Fund” and “Tenrikyo Fund to Support Affected Dioceses and Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps.”There will be a donation box at the Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America, located in Los Angeles. The donation will

be administered by the Tenrikyo Women’s Association (Fujinkai), Los Angeles chapter.Although cash is the preferred method of collection for this fund, PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH DONATIONS THROUGH THE

MAIL. If a check is the only method of payment available, checks should be either made payable through your local church or as following:

Payable to: Tenrikyo LA Fujinkai (please enter “Japan Relief Fund” as the memo to your check) The check can be sent to: Tenrikyo LA Fujinkai Japan Relief Fund c/o Tenrikyo Mission Headquarters in America 2727 East First Street Los Angeles, CA 90033

Information about activities by the Tenrikyo Church Headquarters in response to the disaster can be found at the Church Headquarters website: www.tenrikyo.or.jp The information above is published from the Tenrikyo Mission

Headquarters in America website: www. Tenrikyo.com.

Thank you all in advance for your prayers and any help we can offer.

! A s y o u k n o w, t h e r e a r e m a n y devastations occurring around the world. Along with the tragedies occurring in Japan, we are seeing so much turmoil in other parts of our world. Oyasama foretold many of this through the Ofudesaki*. In Chapter 6, it states:

At this time, because the regret of Tsukihi (God the Parent) has piled up so high, you shall hear all of it.Since the single-hearted salvation is being stopped at this place, I cannot bear but to give a return.In this return, I shall clear away the grand shrines and high mountains. Let all of you be aware!What are you thinking on hearing this talk? Flames of heaven, rains of fire, and tidal waves in the seas..... - VI: 113-116Everything in this universe is all by Tsukihi. All human bodies are things lent by Tsukihi.If this truth is known all over the world, no one will remain selfish or greedy.If only My mind is truly understood, there will be nothing fearful or dangerous.But you erased everything Tsukihi taught. What remains is only the human mind. - VI 120-123Be convinced when you see this, whoever you may be: My free and unlimited workings are according to your mind.Whatever I may work, I shall work all things according to your mind of sincerity. -VI:133-134

! When I couldnʼt sleep as I watched the news about the tragedies occurring in Japan, it was heartbreaking to watch couples being swept away and stranded in high trees in the freezing cold overnight but then to see them being rescued by the air military later really tugged at my sense of hope. Then when it was later forecasted that tsunamis would reach Hawaii and possibly California, people we knew were doing all that they could to protect shrines at churches in Hawaii. I remember watching with anxiety as boats capsized here in Crescent City but in the end we eventually

were able to make light of some of our own concerns over here. ! Some have asked, “Why them? Why us? Why there?”. ! God the Parent is asking us: “Such is the great anxiety in the mind of Tsukihi. What is the whole world thinking? Though I appeal to you in sorrow over and over, I shall save you if you become of a sincere mind. ! Whoever you are, you are all My children. Awaken to the anxiety in the mind of Tsukihi!” - Ofudesaki, VI: 117-119! There is much out in this world to be sorrowful over as we look back on all the events happening in Japan, in the arab world, or even in our own lives here but we must also realize that God the Parent is trying to awaken us to being the heart of a sincere mind. To having the heart of giving and selflessness. To realize we are here to help those less fortunate than ourselves. God the Parentʼs role is that of our Parent. As many parents understand, it is not with joy that lessons must be given in the most eye-opening of manners to learn what really should matter to us. Until we gain the spiritual intellect to understand what is required of us to live together joyously here on earth, God the Parent must awaken us to our inability to adhere to being of a sincere mind. It will be up to us to have the will to change these pains into a path of joy. !! *The Ofudesaki is literally translated as “tip of My writing brush”. Where in chapter one of the Ofudesaki, verse 22 she writes “I shall press, though not by force or word of mouth. I shall press by the tip of My writing brush.” (Noted that: In the Osashizu delivered on August 23, 1904, we are taught: “Until now, about everything, I have taught by word of mouth. But you forget. Because you forget, I have informed you with the tip of My writing brush. The tip of My brush may seem light, but it is weighty. You must not take it lightly. It is the basis of My teachings.” Concerned that we forget what we hear, Oyasama committed the teachings to paper, beginning at the age of seventy-two and ending at about eighty-five (1869-1882?). )

JOYOUS MIND REV. KENNETH HASEGAWA

JOYOUS LIFE

"Do not wonder where My free and unlimited workings are. In each of your minds, you will find them wherever sincerity abides.” - Osashizu, December 7, 1888

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theTENRIKYO NC church2840 Davis RoadWest Sacramento, CA 95691(916) 371-9419

Please join us on Sunday, April 10th, at 10am!Unite your minds and construct a path of hope. You must reflect it to the world so the world will be convinced that it is the true path to follow.

Osashizu, September 6, 1902

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