Wednesday, March 11, 2015
True Courage, True Belief
Learning from Goi Sensei – 1 – final
True Courage True Belief
From May Peace Prevail On Earth by Masahisa Goi
Are the actions of humanity and each individual motivated by karma or by the divine will? If we only look at the physical, visible phenomena, the actions of each individual as well as humanity appear to be motivated by various desires including the greed for power. Perhaps this is how most people regard human beings; however, Goi Sensei did not share this view.
Goi Sensei clearly saw the divine will behind each of our actions – even those that appeared to be karmic. He declares that human beings are originally spirits branched out from God, not karmic existences. He explains that we are constantly protected by our Guardian Spirits and Guardian Deities, and that the rise and fall of nations as well as ethnic groups lie in the mind of God. Regardless how a nation or an ethnic group is flourishing at this time, it is doomed to collapse if it deviates from the law of total harmony, that is, the divine will. This universal law also applies to each individual.
When we derail from the universal law, our true mind intends to correct the derailment. Although this may manifest conditions that appear to be unhappy and unfortunate, it is an adjusting process implemented by our true selves and our Guardian Spirits and Guardian Deities. Even though we may have to endure this hard period for some time, once we as an ethnic group, a nation or an individual get on the right track, we will continue thriving thereafter.
Therefore, however difficult or affluent the present conditions are individually, ethnically or nationally, the thing for us to do first and foremost is to continue endeavoring to get on the track of the universal law. And in order for us to get on this track, we need to accumulate virtue, and at the same time, to deepen our belief in God. Goi Sensei recommended we offer the prayer for world peace as the best means to achieve this end.
Ethnic groups, nations, and humanity are all aggregations of individuals. Therefore, when each individual believes in God, accumulates good virtues, prays the prayer for world peace, and gets on board with the universal law, then over time ethnic groups and nations will accumulate good virtues and will also be able to board the universal law.
It is toward this endeavor that we pray for peace in each country of the world and perform the Symphony of Peace Prayers Ceremony every year, which jointly offers peace prayers from various religions and sects. We believe that this prayer for peace is most fundamental. Thus, regardless wherever we may be, we offer this prayer every day.
As the text of this series, I chose Goi Sensei’s book Prayer for World Peace that was published in May, 1981. On page 104, there is a chapter titled, Let us unite our hearts to praying for world peace. Goi Sensei wrote this upon hearing news of the successful launch of America’s space craft Apollo 8, amidst a great joy around the world. I suggest that from the descriptions, we once again learn what “belief, courage, harmony and endurance” mean, as I believe that these four elements are vital to the present-day Japanese, and humanity.
On pages 105 and 109, Goi Sensei writes as follows:
While blessing the success of Apollo 8, I deeply confirmed the necessity of promoting the world peace movement through the prayer even more strongly and expansively. If people around the world emulate the will and courage of the astronauts who endured the daily severe training in order to ensure the success of the flight, then the achievement of world peace will not be a dream.
Aside from the scientific technology that guided the flight to the success, I simply cannot help admiring the undaunted will, courage, and self-restraint of the astronauts – they are similar to high Buddhist priests who achieved the very depth of their beliefs. Their strong belief in science that keeps them fearless in whatever dangerous condition they encounter closely resembles the perfect belief in the divine love cherished by people with spiritual beliefs.
When people believe in their military power and confront enemies trying to destroy them, they do so in a sort of self-intoxication or desperation. Whereas, when astronauts are in the cosmic space, they calmly continue handling everything believing solely in the furnished mechanical devices. In fact, doing so requires a far greater will power than fighting with enemies.
This is the same with the true peace movement. There are many people who say, “The enemy has increased their military power, so we too must expand our military power,” or “We should give pre-emptive strikes before the enemy attacks us,” but these old-fashioned logics are totally irrelevant. We can hardly engage in a true world peace movement with such a mentality as identifying enemies and confronting them thinking, “We must destroy that country because it is an obstacle for creating peace.”
Just as the astronauts who fly in the cosmic space use their scientific power that represents the universal law, each individual, each nation, and all humanity needs to attune their minds to the universal law in order to accomplish their lives on this earth.
A true peace movement is a movement that lives in tune with the universal law, in other words, total harmony itself.
Peace is synonymous with harmony. Therefore, when a person speaks about peace, the person himself or herself must embody a harmonious mental state. Or at least, that person must be endeavoring to maintain his or her mental harmony.
When people identify enemies that oppose them, and try to confront with them, they become frantic with passion such as, “I’m going to rip them apart!” And when they are in this kind of passion, they manifest reckless power such as bravery in warfare and violent demonstrations.
However, true courage means believing in a law just like the astronauts, and doing one’s very best to accomplish the objective by following the path that embodies the universal law.
It means to accomplish these things calmly and steadily, while continuing to restrain one’s fear and disbelief. This kind of courage is an absolute requisite to fulfill the world peace movement – an extremely important movement that aspires for the simultaneous deliverance of each individual as well as all humanity.
A mere temporal passion or a shallow and flippant idea such as, “I‘ll do it because it’s cool!” is the last thing you should have.
A true spiritual belief signifies to believe in the cosmic law of great harmony and to believe in the expansive divine love. And to achieve this mental state, an incessant endeavor to keep one’s mental harmony is indispensable. Our daily and tireless effort and discipline are the essential factors to foster such an elevated mentality and character.
We believe in Goi Sensei and form a group called Byakko Shinko Kai – a movement that aims to rescue and uplift individuals and all humanity simultaneously. Therefore, in order to achieve the objective of this movement and our activity, we are required to maintain extraordinary and continuous will power, endurance, and courage. It is our unshakable belief in God and our prayers that single-heartedly yearn for God that give birth to these resources within us.
(From Hideo Takahashi’s personal periodical Study of Goi Sensei #129)
Learning from Goi Sensei – 2 - final
True Courage True Belief
From May Peace Prevail on Earth by Masahisa Goi
In this book, Goi Sensei writes the following on his resolve upon beginning the world peace movement through the prayer:
In the pursuit of humanity’s long-cherished desire to accomplish world peace, I offered my entire life and destiny to God. It was from this point forward that my world peace prayer movement began.
I have no adversary that I need to overthrow or that threatens to overthrow me. The only thought I have is the divine mind of total harmony which continues to work within me. If you identify an enemy and insist that peace cannot be accomplished without eliminating this enemy, it is no longer a peace movement. What ought to fall, falls of itself, and there is no necessity to bother ourselves to make it happen.
The things that pass in front of our eyes, or the things that inhibit world peace are all elements that are derailed from the universal law of great harmony. They are bound to naturally vanish away someday, and we should not artificially overthrow them with the use of force. Therefore, it is only necessary for us to have the power of perseverance or true courage; until all these various elements that hamper world peace pass before our eyes and completely disappear, we ought to single-heartedly continue offering the prayer of humanitarian love – the law of great harmony itself – without resenting anyone, fearing anything, or withdrawing by an inch, regardless what kind of humiliation we may experience or what kind of obstacles may surround us.
I made the descriptions bold since I find these messages extremely important for us. Goi Sensei says that our will to pray the prayer for world peace with perseverance creates true courage. In other words, it means to steadfastly continue to pray “May peace prevail on earth” by ignoring any karmic provocations and by persevering whatever hardships. As an example, Goi Sensei speaks about Mr. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido.
Mr. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido cannot be defeated by any opponent regardless of the skill or the weapon. This is because Mr. Ueshiba is united with the universal law of harmony, and his body is converted into a spiritual body, although it appears to be physical. In other words, his body is comprised of fine vibration that is beyond the control of the material power in this world. Mr. Ueshiba proves this principle through his small physical frame of about 150 cm tall.
Our prayer of humanitarian love, that is, the prayer for world peace, represents the same principle as that of Mr. Ueshiba’s Aikido. Through the vibration of the world peace prayer, our surroundings are enveloped in the divine light vibration, which creates a vibrational gap between the violent vibration that intends to harm and injure people. And due to this vibrational gap, any factors that appear to oppose and hamper us naturally disappear, opening up a peaceful and bright path.
Although there may be a number of difficulties to overcome before reaching this condition, it is essential that we continue praying the peace prayer thinking that these obstacles will all vanish away in the end. Unless we steadfastly adhere to this resolve, this earthly world will collapse someday in a major war or natural disaster.
Although we are unaware of it, our tireless prayer for world peace has surely been changing our dimensional level from that of material or third-dimension to that of high, divine spiritual dimension, or total harmony. Those of us who are enveloped in the great light vibration are immune to any violent and destructive vibration because nothing negative can harm us due to the dimensional gap.
Since all vibrations that appear to threaten us are bound to fade away, everything will improve eventually if we simply continue praying the world peace prayer. Those who continue praying the prayer for world peace, calling on Goi Sensei and uniting with him through continuous gratitude are the ones who emanate the vibration of light and harmony. They will only attract vibrations with similar wavelengths, because this world is a world of vibration. It is for this reason Goi Sensei writes as follows:
Rather than arguing whether we should have weapons or not, we need to elevate human mentality from that of destruction to that of great harmony. Acquiring endurance and true courage in this endeavor is the absolute necessity for human beings from now on.
While explaining his teachings of fading away together with prayer for world peace as the method that easily makes everyone ride the universal law and attune with the divine will of great harmony, Goi Sensei continues to write:
Our thoughts that acknowledge enemies, accuse social evils, as well as our thoughts that despise, fear and envy others, and blame and judge ourselves – we should identify all these thoughts as unharmonious vibrations in this world, and regard them to be fading away. Keeping this view in mind, we should continue immersing all such thoughts in our tireless and single-hearted prayer for world peace. It is vital that we continue living in this way.
You need only to live this way naturally just as you breathe from moment to moment; there is no necessity to specifically concentrate your consciousness or strain yourself. You need only to continue praying while single-heartedly asking for the protection of your Guardian Deities and Guardian Spirits and offering gratitude for their protection.
As for myself, I still feel a great inner urge to ask for protection of my Guardian Deity and Guardian Spirits. Since our Guardian Deities and Spirits are with us to help us, until we become independent and mature in terms of our souls, there is no necessity to feel ashamed to call on them and ask for their support, power, wisdom, and light. This is because the single wish of our Guardian Deities and Spirits is the growth and elevation of our souls. We can give the greatest joy to our Guardian Deities and Spirits by developing our true mind and divinity and by constantly offering gratitude to them.
(From Hideo Takahashi’s personal periodical Study of Goi Sensei#130)
SYMPHONY of PEACE PRAYERS
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Geelong Interfaith Network & Byakko Shinko Kai peace organisation
We're inviting you to join us for a ‘Symphony of Peace Prayers’
on Sunday 17th May 2015
at the Geelong West Town Hall Supper Room, 153 Pakington St, Geelong West
1.15pm – 3.30pm
The aim of Symphony of Peace Prayers
Symphony of Peace Prayers is a global event that aims to bring people from all walks of life and traditions, into a day of prayers for world peace and interfaith convergence. In celebration of the diversity of our cultural traditions and faiths, SOPP offers a space for the energy of love, peace and harmony, to gather in a grand Symphony of united prayers for peace and happiness of all humanity. Our prayers for peace, celebrating each nation, are a powerful invocation of light and love to the world, and are a unique part of the events. Symphony of Peace Prayers is part of the Shift to a spiritual consciousness that is building up on the planet.
Since 2007, the SOPP has been linked with the Global Peace Meditation and Prayer Day event (www.globalpeacemeditationprayerday.org)
www.fujideclaration.org (from mid March)
We look forward to sharing your presence & participation, along with as many of your family and friends as possible for this special afternoon.
Please feel free to network this event to all your friends of peace, spiritual groups and communities.
All are very welcome.
With Infinite peace Infinite love Infinite blessings,
Jenny (*0*)
Email: jennyfunston@gmail.com
Please visit: www.peacepossibilities.blogspot.com.au
RSVP: 11th May 2015 if possible, for organisational purposes
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About Me
Peace Flag Ceremony
Offering the universal prayer "May Peace Prevail On Earth" for each country of the world, symbolically using the flag of each nation.