I hope that you all had a wonderful New Year's.

It goes without saying that this year, the 166th year of the Teaching, is the first year for implementing the "three years, one thousand days" activities leading up to the 120th Anniversary of Oyasama. Having expressly set aside the next three years with a sense of resolve for making a special effort to grow spiritually, all of us followers are now, indeed, embarking on this three-year endeavor. I, for one, am feeling a bracing sense of what hard work lies ahead of me as I realize that I must at all costs spend these three years in a manner that will respond to the intention of the Shinbashira and bring joy to God the Parent and Oyasama. At the same time, I also feel a sense of buoyancy and high-spiritedness at the thought that the pre-anniversary activities are now really beginning!

Aspiring to Become Genuine Yoboku

For example, genuine doctors and nurses are those who practice medicine while maintaining their "beginner's mind"--the very frame of mind they had when they first aspired to pursue medicine. Some who are not sufficiently resolute, however, might end up pursuing financial rewards, social status, or personal fame. We would prefer, wouldn't we, to receive treatment from the sort of doctors who maintain their original goal while using the knowledge and skills they worked so hard to acquire out of a wish to save the sick and suffering and be of service to society.

What, then, is a genuine Yoboku? The phrase refers to those who have settled in their minds the teachings of God the Parent and the Divine Model of Oyasama and are actually implementing them. To aspire to become such a genuine Yoboku is, I believe, the very spirit of Instruction Two.

What is it, then, that Oyasama has taught us? What is it that we are to learn from Her Divine Model? There are two main pillars to this.

One is that we can find joy in any situation, depending solely on our state of mind. The other is the "mind of saving others," referring to an irrepressible desire to help all people in the world, without exception, be saved.

These two pillars are, in fact, not separate entities but two sides of the same coin--that is, there is a oneness in the two. Caring only about oneself and thinking only of oneself will increasingly erode one's sense of joy. On the contrary, wishing to help others be saved and actually doing something for them will allow unlimited joy to well up in one's mind. That is because such an action is rooted in an exuberant mind that feels gratitude for the gift of life from God the Parent--the gift that enables us to be alive.

I would like to suggest that each of us aspire to become such a genuine Yoboku. Moreover, I want to request that each of us make a sincere effort to help others become genuine Yoboku.