|
This term refers to physical or mental suffering. It is frequently said that life can never be free from all causes of suffering. Such causes could be countless and may include problems in the workplace, tensions between ideals and realities, awkward interpersonal relationships, financial worries, political oppression, and environmental degradation. One of the most immediate and familiar causes of suffering in the view of many people might be the pain of illness, and we may note in passing that the term "suffering" as used in Tenrikyo's Scriptures often refers to a health disorder or the pain that people feel as a result of a health disorder. According to these Scriptures (e.g., Ofudesaki IV:108-110), there is a root cause to which all suffering can be attributed. We read:Whatever pains, sufferings, tumors, fevers, or looseness of the bowels: all are from dust. Ofudesaki IV:110 The Ofudesaki says that all health disorders and pains come from an accumulation of dust clouding the mind and that the key to tackling such disorders is to sweep out the dust and purify the mind. Similarly, a Divine Direction says:You speak of bodily suffering. Yet it is not the body that suffers. It is the principle called the mind that suffers. God never causes any bodily suffering. You all experience suffering through your own mind. Osashizu, January 27, 1901 Thus our suffering of the body is caused by our own mind. Incidentally, health disorders are not something God causes in order to make us suffer but should be seen as guidance designed to alert us to our dust of the mind and help us sweep it out. The same may be said of psychological suffering that does not involve illness--the kind of suffering people might experience, for instance, when unable to find solutions to situations they consider undesirable or when worried about something that may or may not happen in the future. Although people may attribute their suffering to various concrete causes, which may have varying degrees of significance in their lives, Tenrikyo identifies the root cause of all suffering as a clouded mind or a mistaken use of the mind--which does not accord with God's mind--as well as an unwholesome causality arising from actions that are based on such a mind or use of the mind. In other words, suffering comes ultimately from the mind's dust and causality. Tenrikyo teaches that, through God's blessing, our dust and causality manifest themselves as health disorders or other happenings, which should urge us to notice our mind's condition and to start addressing it appropriately. It is important to ponder over this point if a genuine solution to suffering is to be found. The Ofudesaki says:Day by day, disorders will come to your bodies. Ponder over it! God is informing you of your mistaken minds. Each of you, after pondering over the body, resolve the mind and lean on God. IV:42-43 Indicating no one in the world in particular, I say to you: dust in the mind causes disorders of the body. Ponder over your sufferings of the body and then ponder the mind that leans on God. V:9-10 The Ofudesaki also contains what appear to be references to the suffering of specific people. For example, we read:What Tsukihi has once said will never become false through all time. Unaware of this, even all of you close to Me think My words to be worldly common. From your suffering at this time, be convinced, you and all the others. Ofudesaki XI:11-13 What the Ofudesaki implies is that examining and inquiring into illness (and this includes giving careful thought to symptoms and surrounding circumstances) will reveal how to sweep away the dust of the mind and how to work off one's causality. In addition to addressing the mind's dust and causality, the Ofudesaki stresses the need to come into accord with God's intention. The purpose of human existence is to live the Joyous Life as intended by God, and the raison d'tre of society and culture is to ensure that this purpose is achieved. Pondering from this perspective should make clear not only how to heal illness but also how to put an end to all suffering.Step by step, I have informed you by My writing brush. Quickly awaken your mind to it! If you only come to understand this quickly, your sufferings of the body will be cleared away. Ofudesaki IV:72-73 We can allow God's blessing to end any suffering or anxiety and to fill our lives with joy, if we fully understand God's teachings and awaken to the divine intention embodied in them; feel grateful for everything, for whatever is happening is a manifestation of God's parental love; rely totally on God's mind rather than human thinking; and live spiritedly while being thorough in practicing serene, joyous acceptance. It goes without saying that where suffering results from flaws in economic, political, and social systems or from the negative impact of science and technology, we humans must address these issues and correct what need be corrected. Since culture is something we create through God's blessings--and we are encouraged to use culture to help us live abundantly--it may seem possible for us to prevent the sort of suffering that is produced by culture. Ultimately, however, human knowledge and power alone will not be enough to put an end to all suffering or to establish the Joyous Life in which suffering is utterly absent. There are limits to human abilities, and no perfect solution to suffering will be possible without the blessings of God. Besides making maximum efforts, we need to receive God's blessings to overcome suffering. Incidentally, related to the term "suffering" in the context of the Ofudesaki is "agony," which appears in the following set of verses:Make your minds truly firm, all My children! The mind of God only hastens. Day after day, God hastens in agony. Please, quickly make preparations for salvation. Ofudesaki IV:67-68 Although God is free of agony, our agony is reflected in God. By the same token, our dust of the mind is also reflected in God, who is, in fact, free of it (Ofudesaki XIII:21-25).Day by day and step by step, the dust piles up and fills the heart of God. Ofudesaki XIII:21 Such wording is intended to express outpourings of God's parental love that desires to quickly save all humankind, God's children. (This article was first published in the September 2006 issue of TENRIKYO.) |
|
|