The Ofudesaki, The Tip of the Writing Brush, is the Scripture in Tenrikyo that is invested with primary importance. All of Miki's teachings are vividly revealed in this one book. This Scripture was written by Miki Nakayama from 1869 to 1882 and consists of 1,711 verses divided in seventeen parts. To compose this text Miki used a traditional poetic style known as waka, a thirty-one syllable poem transcribed into two lines with a particular way of reading it. Noteworthy is the style of writing She employed in the Ofudesaki which uses a minimum of difficult Chinese characters and a vast amount of Japanese phonetic syllabary. Throughout the entire 1,711 verses, only forty-nine different Chinese characters are used. This style was supposedly used so that people without literary knowledge of the language could easily understand the verses.

It took Oyasama many years to complete the Ofudesaki. She expounded the truth of the teachings in this text by referring mostly to what was going on around Her. That is, the Ofudesaki is rooted in a specific historical context and reveals the truth of Her teachings, taking into account maturity, place, and time. The people, consisting mostly of peasants, craftsmen, housewives, and the like, lived in an environment where various traditional religious and cultural ideas were woven into their everyday life. Despite being couched in such a context, however, it is of utmost importance to note that the Ofudesaki contains universal truths applicable to everyone throughout the world since the content of the book concerns the salvation of humankind. In the Ofudesaki, Oyasama uses many concrete symbols and metaphors that convey the perspective of God the Parent to humankind. In the first part of the Ofudesaki, we read about the nature of the text itself:

This is a world constructed on reason.
So I shall press upon you everything with the reason in verse.

I shall press, though not by force or word of mouth.
I shall press by the tip of My writing brush.

It is all very well if you err in nothing.
But should you err, I shall inform you by verse.

Ofudesaki I:21-23

One of the predominant themes running throughout the Ofudesaki is Oyasama's urgings for the completion of the Service. Miki taught that when the minds of the world become spirited, God, too, will become spirited. It is through the performance of the Service that God, humankind, and the world become spirited--such is the magnitude of performing the Service.

In order for this important ritual to acquire meaning in the minds of the followers as a tangible expression of joy, however, there are certain requisites being specified by the author. The most important requisite is to grasp the will of the Parent. Since understanding the truth cannot take place when it is based on human thinking, the words of the Ofudesaki solicit the reader time and time again to replace the mind that is based on human thinking and cleanly sweep it away. The verses in the Ofudesaki also describe how important it is to quiet the mind and to listen carefully to the words of God. In this way, the mind will naturally become spirited. Yet this is not enough. Oyasama further instructs us to ponder with that spirited mind--which will enable us to resolve the mind to rely totally on the workings of God--and complete the performance of the Service. It is striking, once again, that Her textual strategy in urging this process consisted basically of revealing the intention of God through metaphors.

Miki, for example, uses water as a metaphor for the mind. When Miki says that the mind is turbid like muddy waters, She is describing the mind that cannot perceive the will of the Parent for it is enclosed in its own self-centered imagination. Contrarily, the mind like clear water is the mind of true sincerity where "our minds will become as clear as springwater and all truths will be mirrored in them" (TCH 1993, 7). The purified mind--the mind like clear water--is the goal of all people of the world. This is the state of the Joyous Life and through the performance of the Service with such a mind, then, God, too, will become spirited.

Just as we saw with the examples shown in "falling into poverty," commencing the Grant of Safe Childbirth, and openly engaging in missionary work, the words contained in the Ofudesaki urge us to free ourselves from worries and fears and lean wholeheartedly on God. By sweeping our worries and fears and relying on God, then, salvation will surely be realized.

The Tenrikyo faithful consider the entire fifty-year period of Oyasama, from the time She became the Shrine of God to when She withdrew from physical life, as the Divine Model and it is precisely this example that humankind ought to perceive as the standard for their own life. The Divine Model, which comprises Her written and spoken word, as well as Her everyday actions, can be sought after in its entirety in the poetic form of the Ofudesaki. Thus, not only is the Ofudesaki considered a scriptural reference for humankind's own spiritual awakening, it also describes the parental heart to save all humankind. The Ofudesaki allows the reader to compare his or her own way of life with the Divine Model, enabling spiritual growth to occur, and eventually, salvation to take place.