(Summary)
I would like to talk about the day of origin of my family faith and about our family causality.
I am the 5th generation of my family faith. My great-great-grandfather, Rev. Kikutaro Shimamura, the 1st person to start our family faith, entered the faith in 1888. My great-great-grandfather was originally form Kochi Prefecture but he was running a business in Osaka at that time. He was suffering from severe hemorrhoids. The record indicates that he had bloody pus, and as such, it appears that it was anal fistula rather than just simple hemorrhoids.
While he was suffering from the illness, he hears about the faith from someone, who was also from Kochi. He told my great-great-grandfather, “This God is the God of Origin who created everything in the world and human beings. This God is also the God in Truth who not only lends us the body but also provides with divine providence everyday.” Upon hearing the talk, my great-great-grandfather thought, “If this God provides us with the divine providence since the human creation and also for forever in the future, I am very certain that this God can cure any illnesses. If I cannot be helped by this God, there should not be any other way for salvation. I’m now determined to rely on this God at all cost.” He, then, pledged to his heart to follow the teachings. And after returning to Jiba three times, he received a complete cure. However, the guidance by God the Parent continues.
As he continues to run his business, he suffers from a lung disease, which was an inflammation of the membrane covering the lungs. This lung disease would not become severe by itself and in most cases, its development is triggered by illnesses such as cancer, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. Around this time, the record indicates that my great-great-grandfather spat up blood, so he might have had tuberculosis. I hear that the anal fistula can develop from tuberculosis as well. Therefore, it is highly likely that he had tuberculosis, which was a fatal disease at that time. It is easy to imagine how serious his condition was.
The symptom began with pain in his right lung and he had high fever from time to time. The condition eventually worsened to a point where he had bloodstained sputum and he became completely bedridden.
At that point, there was a missionary who visited my great-great-grandfather. He talked about the divine intention contained within my great-great-grandfather’s illness. He said: “Pondering from the pain in the right lung, I presume you are hurting the feeling of your mother, your wife, or someone working for you.”
In fact, my great-great-grandfather got married in Kochi shortly before he suffered from the lung disease. However, he told his wife, “Even if I take you to Osaka with me, there is no place where the two of us can live. I will be back in a month or so to come pick you up. So please wait for me,” and he left for Osaka by himself, leaving his wife all alone. He realized what he had done. He sincerely apologized to God the Parent and wrote apology letters to his wife and his parents.
Then, his condition began to improve. Out of his indebtedness of gratitude from getting better, he made a spiritual resolution to “help 1,000 people be saved and to take them back to Jiba,” and he returned to Kochi and diligently engaged in missionary and salvation work. He eventually received the blessing of a cure from the lung disease.
This is the day of origin of my family faith. If an elderly person five generations ago did not receive the blessings of cure from God and did not engage in missionary and salvation work to repay the blessings he received, I would not be here today. Considering that point, I should never forget the origin of my existence.
I would like to talk about one more instance of realizing my own causality. There is a situation in my family that has been continuing in which, every other generation is unable to have children and has been adopting. My great-great-grandfather was unable to have children and my great-grandfather entered the Shimamura family through adoption. My grandfather was born and he is the 3rd, but my grandparents didn’t have any children and my father was adopted by marriage. Then, I was born and I am the 5th generation in the faith.
So, if we are talking about patterns, I fit the pattern of not having children. One might think, “How absurd to think about patterns,” but it has always stuck in my mind and something that I have always considered it to be my causality.
Presently, we are in an era in which diversity is important to us, and there are people who have made the choice not to have children. That should be respected. On the other hand, there are those who wish to have children but are having a difficult time. I, myself, was born because my father came to the church as an adoptee. When we think about it in that sense, blessings come in varying forms. This is something that happened to our Shimamura family over the generations and I hope you will understand that I relayed this story only to share with you that I came to the realization that this was my causality.
When my wife and I got married, I thought that maybe there was actually no such causality and that God might bless us with a child right away. However, things were not that easy. A year passed, two years passed and we still could not conceive. Three, four, five, six years; the years went by. I thought maybe we could not have children in this lifetime after all. I was passing the days with such thoughts when, seven years ago, we were blessed with a baby boy. It was in our 8th year of marriage. After so many years, we received a blessing.
In thinking about our present situation, I am grateful for the accumulation of faith over the generations. Oyasama said,
. . . virtue is more deeply planted in the second generation than in the first one, and deeper still in the third than in the second. By becoming ever deeper, it will become virtue which lasts forever. It depends on the mind of a man whether it lasts for one generation only, or for two or three generations, or forever. By the continuation of this virtue even a bad innen becomes a good one.
(Anecdotes of Oyasama, 90: Deeper in the Second Generation Than in the First)
As the generations in the faith deepen, one’s causality becomes better. These words of Oyasama really resonate with me. Because my ancestors worked diligently in the faith and passed the faith on from the first generation to the fourth, cancelling out their causality a little bit at a time, I think we are so blessed today.
Some people may think, “Whether the child follows the faith or not can be left up to the child. The child can think for themselves.” However, I feel that real blessings can not be shown like that. Of course, passing on the faith is not an easy thing. First of all, I feel that it is important for parents to have strong faith and not give up their wish to have their child carry on the faith no matter what.v
Something else that I am reminded of after having been blessed with a child is the importance of being connected with the Jiba.
I served a position for the Young Men’s Association Headquarters for several years. When I first started working there, I was told several times by a worker who was senior to me, “If you work diligently in Jiba, you will be able to conceive.” In fact, three months after my duty in Jiba was over, we found out that my wife was pregnant. We were really grateful.
Oyasama said:
Unite your heart solely to Jiba. If you unite your heart solely to Jiba, then roots will spread to four sides. If the roots spread to four sides, even if one side decays, three sides will remain. If two sides decay, two sides will remain. Strong buds shall sprout.
(Anecdotes of Oyasama, 187: Solely to Jiba)
By connecting one’s heart solely to the Jiba, strong roots will spread. No matter what kind of knot may come, one will be able to keep from falling and persevere. Eventually, a strong bud, a large blessing can be received. How grateful I am for these wonderful words!
Even if it is hard to return to Jiba directly, going to a nearby church and connecting one’s heart to the Jiba while engaging in various faith practices can count as connecting to Jiba.
Setting Jiba as the focal point, connecting one’s heart to the Jiba and sowing seeds are very important things to do in the vertical mission.
One must diligently and patiently relay to their children the origin of the family’s faith, causality of the family, and the teachings of Tenrikyo, regardless of whether they understand it or not. The parents must also continue on with the faith that has been passed on through generations with a strong conviction that doesn’t give up. Furthermore, it is important to connect their heart solely to Jiba.v
In the Divine Directions, we find,
In this path, faith must be reflected in the minds of children while they are still young.
(Osashizu, Nov. 16, 1900).
Boys and Girls Association activities are not something that reap results overnight, but they are activities that are continued with a long-term perspective. If asked whether blessings will be seen right away, that may not be so. However, when the children grow up and they face a turning point in their life, I want them to be able to think, “I have Tenrikyo. I’m going to go to a Tenrikyo church.” And, I want them to receive wonderful blessings. We are enjoying planting one seed at a time as we look forward to future buds. Such are the activities of the Boys and Girls Association.
I would like to ask for your assistance and support in vertical mission, Boys and Girls Association activities, and especially this year’s Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba so that the children’s lives will be firmly connected to this path and be a bright one.
Thank you for your kind attention.
(Edited by Honjima Tsushin Editorial Staff)