The word danji-ai is often used in Tenrikyo to refer to discussions, whether these be discussions involving two or three people, or meetings attended by a great number of people.

In the Divine Directions, God the Parent tells us:

If you would all discuss things with one another, you could accomplish anything at all.

Osashizu, June 29, 1894

This direction taught, "If you would all discuss things thoroughly with one another and then proceed with your minds firmly bound together, you would be able to accomplish even things that seem impossible. The prospect for a bright future will thus unfold before you, putting an end to your present worries."

In this day and age, we are well aware of the democratic process involved in meetings and elections. And we have learned the value of being able to express our opinions in a democratic way. Yet, because the democratic process works by majority opinion, there are times when the majority oppresses the minority or ignores its opinion, even when it may have been more valid or appropriate.

The discussions desired by God the Parent are, therefore, quite different from those based on the democratic process. In danji-ai there is no question of repressing the minority opinion, or even of resorting to the face-saving device of noting the minority opinion for the record while continuing to push through the opinion of majority.

On the contrary, we are to discuss things with one another as a means to help us perceive the intention of God the Parent ever more deeply and, with that as a support upon which we all can rely, to settle our minds in unity, as one. This is the kind of discussion that God the Parent has in mind.

In a Divine Direction, God the Parent teaches: "Become one in mind, all of you! If you become one in mind, what strength you shall have! But as long as you are divided in mind, each insisting on his own opinion, you can accomplish nothing. The day when people look at you and praise the unity of your minds, that will be the day when you will be able to reflect anything and everything to the world." [paraphrase of Osashizu, Dec. 14, 1904]

We also read in the Divine Directions, "You give your opinions according to your individual positions, one saying this, another saying that. When these opinions come into conflict, you set up barriers and walls between you and break into factions. Yet the whole world is of one origin, created by God the Parent and guided by Oyasama. It is essential that you return to the intention of God the Parent and, with Oyasama's intention as your basis, align your minds as one. . . . Until now, you have all tried to get along with the selfish human mind alone. So you have become completely entangled in human thought and cannot get out of it. Though you hold meetings at night, even to the point of foregoing sleep, you get nowhere because you are not taking into account the one essential thing--the intention of God the Parent. Even the Sashizu that I had you record for your own benefit have been thrown aside. However many meetings you hold night after night, they will come to nothing if you continue to refrain from speaking up, worried about what others will think of you." [paraphrase of Osashizu, April 6, 1907; May 22, 1895]

(The above is a translation--first published in the July 1990 issue of TENRIKYO--of an article excerpted from Omichi-no-kotoba by Yoshikazu Fukaya, published by Doyusha Publishing Company.)