Tenri University's Oyasato Institute for the Study of Religion held the seventh and final lecture in its 2004 Public Lecture Series at Doyusha Hall on November 25, with 121 people attending. Drawing on Oyasama's sayings in Anecdotes of Oyasama, the Foundress of Tenrikyo, this year's lectures explored ways in which we followers of the path could engage with current social problems. Researchers from the institute took turns giving these lectures, whose overall theme was "Faith and Society: Learning from Anecdotes of Oyasama." The institute held the lectures on the 25th of every month (except July) beginning in April.

Wrapping up this series, Institute Director Akio Inoue gave a lecture entitled "Faith and the Path," using "The Roads to the Summit Are Many" (Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 108) as the selected anecdote.

First, Director Inoue said: "There are two sides to knowledge: quantity and quality. 'Knowing' indicates the quantity of knowledge while 'understanding' implies the quality of knowledge, or what we might call 'realization.'"

"Objective knowledge alone will not allow you to reach the level of true 'understanding,'" he said. "In order to 'understand' all the truth taught by God, you cannot just look at 'Roads to the Summit,' which is to say that it is not enough to merely know Oyasama's Divine Model which shows that 'through saving others, you will be saved' (Ofudesaki III:47). Unless you take the initiative to choose one of those many roads and work at opening that road, you will not be able to reach the summit of the world of 'understanding.'"

Then he commented that the phrase "The Roads to the Summit Are Many" explains the states of life and of faith in the metaphor of climbing Mt. Fuji. He then said: "Informing others about the 'road' is similar to simply handing out road maps to others. On the other hand, to help others 'realize' and 'understand' is the same as basing yourself on your own mountain climbing experience to help others decide on actually climbing a mountain to reach the summit. It can be said that the former corresponds to sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings while the latter corresponds to salvation work."

He concluded his lecture by saying, "This particular anecdote shows the importance of setting your sights on the spiritual world in which the parental love is truly 'understood' and individually choosing new spiritual roads so as to reach that state of mind."