Frame from a Tenrikyo manga. The translation of the text is roughly, "Just being alive makes me happy! What a waste it would be not to show some initiative!"
Now, I cannot say I am perfectly versed in all of the religions of the world. I do approach religion in a somewhat intellectual way and one thing I have gotten used to on this program is a real world practice that is far different from a stated philosophy; Zen is by far the best example of this. But Tenrikyo seems to me unique among all the religions of the world in its unashamed love of life. Its theology is derived from Shinto, an animistic folk belief with no concept of sin. Shinto was corrupted by the Meiji Restoration, which turned it into a jingoistic cult of emperor worship that propped up the case for Pearl Harbor. (I suppose this demonstrates a major difficulty of having no system of ethics in your religion.) Tenrikyo was redefined as a sect of Shinto, but its teachings were never modified in this way.
Joyous acceptance has nothing to do with putting up with something one dislikes or resigning oneself to a situation one finds unpleasant. Rather, it refers to a mode of mind that clearly and directly perceives what is happening at the present moment and accepts it with simplicity, without judging it.
More concretely, the following may help our mind settle into joyous acceptance of the present moment.
1. Think of the hardships Oyasama underwent in demonstrating the Divine Model for us, and be thankful for Her parental love. Then, see if you can accept the present moment joyously.
2. Try to understand that the body is something borrowed, and be thankful that you are blessed with sufficiency in everything. Now see if you can accept the present moment joyously.
3. Compare your present state of good health with the times when you were suffering from illness, and be thankful for how you are now. See if you can accept the present moment joyously.
4. Difficulties you encounter today are opportunities for growing fuller.
There is some interesting conflict with Buddhism here. Buddhism claims that life is in essence an unsatisfactory state of constant burning for some thing or another, and all these fires must be put out to achieve happiness. In Tenrikyo, life is in essence a satisfactory state given to us as a gift. It is a very Japanese statement full of that spirit of thankfulness (arigatai) which is one of the primary motivations of Japanese religion. Perhaps you must live in Japan to fully appreciate how often you are grateful for something or another. When I look up in Kyoto and I see the green hills in front of me, or a little cafe, or a $5 beef bowl, I am very grateful. Buddhism alone does not seem appropriate to express this kind of joy.
We attended Tenrikyo services every morning this week. On Monday morning, having already seen the Wikipedia article, I arrived eager to see what was going to happen. The "church" was actually the second floor of someone's house, and the priests and congregation consisted mostly of his family. It was not the sort of raucuous Discordian festival that I would invent if I started a religion, but as far as established traditions go it was quite fun. They played traditional Japanese drums, gongs, and clappers which were very loud, and they sung repetitive hymns at the top of their lungs. Meanwhile, the "laity" were participating by moving their hands in the way that the lyrics suggested. Every song had a different hand dance (手踊り te-odori) to accompany it, and at the end the congregation stood up and did a formal walking dance. It occurred to me on Friday that Tenrikyo must be one of the only religions equally accessible to the blind and deaf. Actually, I think perhaps even deaf people might appreciate how loud they were banging the drums.
On the first day I noticed there was an evening service listed on the wall and asked the head priest in Japanese whether I might come. I was the only person from outside the family who showed up that evening and the kids clearly were not used to visitors. I began to understand that there were four generations in the house: a very old man who used to be priest, his middle-aged son and current priest (I suppose he was technically a grandfather!), his younger son with his wife, and a lot of extremely happy children. The young grandmother came in first, saying that they were going to Kyoto Station afterwards because the kids were demanding to see a concert, and congratulating me on having an eye for something higher than such worldly pursuits. A three-year-old who was not awake in the morning came up the stairs and ran around screaming. A severely autistic child was also placed on the side of the room so she could watch the service. A young girl put on the Tenrikyo clothes and started playing the sacred instruments and singing the hymn in a pitch that is too cute to imagine. After the same hymns and dances as the morning, the disabled child was brought to the middle of the room and a laying on of hands was performed. I was very moved by how everyone in the family, including the three-year-old, took this part of the service very seriously. Afterwards the grandmother gave me a huge pile of candy to take back to Koushouji with me!
I also attended the evening service alone on Tuesday and Thursday. Thursday evening the sixth-grade boy insisted that I come eat pizza with him. It turned out that the mother of the family was making pizza for dinner and she set up a place for me at the table. The kids all jumped on me and played "ride the horsey" and "read the English on biscuit tins" and "President Obama" and those sorts of ridiculous games that kids play. I used the full extent of my Japanese and everyone had a good time.
I didn't take any pictures except for a group photo that the grandfather insisted upon.
Bottom row, left to right: priestess of a neighboring temple, grandmother, daughter (Yuu-chan?), grandfather, Brian-sensei, Christal-sensei.
Second row, from the left: Taka-kun, Y.T., other students etc. etc.
Not pictured: the great-granddad (he may have been 80?), the mom and dad (the dad was taking the picture), and the two children mentioned above (definitely not awake)
Today all my classes ended. Tomorrow, the world!
