Hinokishin

Gratitude to God the Parent

Hinokishin is to do things that please God the Parent. Everything we do in joy and in high spirits is hinokishin. By doing hinokishin day in, day out, our minds will become purified. So we have to be sure to do it each day.

133 (1970): Children's Pilgrimage to Jiba

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Hinokishin does not refer to any particular actions. We understand every action to be hinokishin if it is done with an awareness of the realm of single-heartedness with God, with a burning desire to respond to God's love out of gratitude, and with joy arising from single-hearted salvation. Our gratitude to God the Parent and our awareness of God the Parent's intention must serve as the basic principles of hinokishin. We are to hold fast to this spirit of hinokishin throughout our lives. By so doing, we shall be able to reconstruct the world into the world of the Joyous Life we so desire.

133 (1970): Youth Convention in Tokyo

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We carry out the activities of hinokishin by using our bodies. The point of hinokishin, I believe, is to do it with gratitude to God the Parent. Fresh inquiry into what gives rise to this gratitude reveals the importance of settling deep within ourselves the truth that God the Parent enables us to live.

137 (1974): Saitama Diocese Joyous Festival for Parents and Children

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Activities that are motivated by a desire to make people happy or to do something good for society can be done without necessarily having faith in Oyasama's teachings. We must always remember, however, that the essential point of hinokishin is to do things with the mind of gratitude that is intent on bringing joy to God the Parent and responding to God's love.

143 (1980): Staff gathering held the day after Children's Pilgrimage to Jiba

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We are taught to help people not because we have extra strength nor because it is good for people and the world. True, it will result in something good for people and the world. Yet, it is not for these results that we are taught to do hinokishin. I am sure that if we ponder--step by step according to the teachings--over the reason why God the Parent enables us to live, an irresistible urge to do hinokishin will surge in ourselves. This is the spirit of hinokishin, as taught by Oyasama.

144 (1981): 14th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers

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To offer help to someone can surely be hinokishin. To clean places can also be hinokishin. To do something good for the world and people can be hinokishin as well. There is a difference, however, between the activities done by people who do not know Oyasama's teachings and the activities of hinokishin we are taught to do. First, we must become clearly aware that God the Parent enables us to carry out these activities, or even to live and move about for that matter. Then, based on this awareness, we must think about how to live each day in a way intended for a human being. I think it boils down to living in a manner that measures up to God the Parent's intention. I am sure that to live in such a way amounts to the practice of hinokishin.

151 (1988): Osaka Diocese Boys and Girls hinokishin Corps 10th Anniversary

Action to Be Taken by Followers

To some people, the path followed by a person who lives thoroughly in the spirit of hinokishin may appear to be a path which is beset by numbers of hardships and is totally alien in this day and age. There is no other path, however, that we can follow with conviction. If we wish to follow a path that touches the hearts of all people regardless of time, generation, or ideas and values, and enables us to carve out a way to the world of the Joyous Life we are aiming for, then we have no choice but to practice the teachings exactly as taught, which is to go through the path in the manner we are taught.

145 (1982): Tenri University Graduation Ceremony

Toward the Joyous World

It is hinokishin when we forget about greed and spontaneously act to express our genuine feelings of joy. While we are at it, therefore, the expression on our face will bear no trace of pain or suffering but the radiance of joyousness emanating in all directions of its own accord. This will serve to sprinkle the fragrance of the teachings and, consequently, joyousness will pervade the world to bring about the Joyous Life.

132 (1969): Yoboku Association Convention

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I am sure that when the spirit of hinokishin, or the attitude of hinokishin, springs up in all parts of the world, our steps toward the Joyous Life will spontaneously be accelerated. Then, simply by performing hinokishin, we shall be able to resolve any problem in every facet of society.

132 (1969): Shimagahara Grand Church 80th Anniversary

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I believe it is no exaggeration to say that hinokishin is the only path to move toward the Joyous Life and that only by performing hinokishin can we construct the world of the Joyous Life.

133 (1970): Tottori Diocese Hinokishin Pep Rally

The Path of the Divine Model and Hinokishin

It would not be too much to say that if only we follow the path of Oyasama's Divine Model, we can live our lives practicing hinokishin at all times.

143 (1980): Honmichi Branch Church

Fertilizer for Eternity

It is not that we do hinokishin because we want God's blessings. Rather, we do hinokishin without the slightest consideration of any reward. The blessings we receive in this way will become the fertilizer which does not perish for eternity.

154 (1991): Furusato Branch Church Spring Grand Service