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Seicho-No-Ie News

THREE NATIONAL CONVENTIONS HELD IN JAPAN WITH FOCUS ON THE SUNDIAL WAY OF LIFE AND READERS’ MEETINGS


Convention Plan Changed

The Number of Attendees Totals 8,544

In Japan, the National Conventions of the three Associations were held from May 1 to 3.

The Convention plan was changed this year to comply with the goal of the Zero Carbon Movement. On May 1, the Seicho-No-Ie White Dove Association National Convention commemorating the 73rd anniversary of its founding was held at the Omiya Sonic City Hall in Saitama City (main site) and the Uji Temple in Uji City, Kyoto (sub-site). The 2008 Seicho-No-Ie Brotherhood Association and Prosperity Society Joint National Convention and the 60th Seicho-No-Ie Youth and Young Adult Association National Convention were held at the Seicho-No-Ie Tobitakyu Spiritual Training Center on May 2 and May 3, respectively.

Eligible to attend the Conventions were leaders for the White Dove Association and the Brotherhood Association (branch heads/heads of Brotherhood Associations and above), branch officers and above for the Prosperity Society, and members for the Youth and Young Adult Association (an exception was made this year to allow non-members to attend also). The number of attendees totaled 8,544.

Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, Vice President of Seicho-No-Ie; and Mrs. Junko Taniguchi, Vice President of the White Dove Association, gave lectures at each Convention.

Rev. Taniguchi lectured for one hour at each Convention.

At the White Dove Association National Convention, Rev. Taniguchi stated that the sundial way of life taught by Seicho-No-Ie is not escapism, but rather, it is based on two fundamental teachings: the faith that only God is the true existence, i.e., there is only goodness in the true world; and the phenomenal world is a reflection of the mind, i.e., evil is manifested by the human mind so that it disappears when the human mind changes.

Touching upon the Readers’ Meetings utilizing the host’s technical and artistic talent, Rev. Taniguchi said that expression of beautiful and good things is a way to deter the trend to “darken humanity” by the negative news reporting and so forth and that to make the Readers’ Meeting a place to absorb and expand the techniques of artistic expressions is significant to the Humanity Enlightenment Movement.

Rev. Taniguchi next explained the function of the left-side brain, which places “priority on meaning” and the right-side brain of “priority on senses.” He encouraged the attendees to energize the right-side brain by engaging in artistic expressions at the Readers’ Meetings. He pointed out that there is a possibility that regardless of the method or the level of one’s skill, trying to express what is perceived helps develop objectivity and sharing it with others will lead to the expansion of the Movement.

As actual examples, Rev. Taniguchi showed photos and a moving picture of crow droppings and “pictures envelopes” with drawings made at different places he visited on his public lecture meetings.

Rev. Taniguchi concluded his lecture by introducing the crisis facing the earth from a book by an American environmentalist, Lester Brown: if the world’s food consumption reaches that of Americans, only 2.5 billion people can be fed. The Vice President stressed that it is necessary to reduce meat eating, become grateful for God’s blessings and express and spread our gratitude.

At the Brotherhood Association and Prosperity Society Joint National Convention, Rev. Taniguchi made clear that Seicho-No-Ie maintains that science and religion can co-exist. Introducing the concept of “qualia” (quantum mechanics directly gained through the physical perceptive senses), the term used by Kenichiro Mogi, a neuroscientist, Rev. Taniguchi explained that to gain a sense of oneness with nature through qualia makes artistic expressions possible. He stressed the importance of sensing the messages from the God-created world and express them through religious activities.

At the Youth and Young Adult Association National Convention, Rev. Taniguchi pointed out that God did not create man in such a way that man cannot commit evil in order to give man freedom. He said that the existence to do only good does not have freedom. He maintained that what is considered evil means that the process to realize goodness failed. He asked the attendees to spread to friends and acquaintances the teaching that man is a child of God and is already saved, and that evil is nonexistent.

Mrs. Junko Taniguchi lectured for thirty minutes at each Convention.

At the White Dove Association National Convention, Mrs. Taniguchi explained that the loving heart, good words and positive actions open up man’s Divinity and Buddhahood. By using the Sundial Diary and holding the new type of Readers’ Meetings it becomes possible to always perceive God’s blessings, practice the way of Buddhahood and live a child-of-God life.

Mrs. Taniguchi introduced an episode from her book, Chiisana Kiseki (Small Miracles): right after she decided not to judge young people by their behavior and attire with her own value judgment, two young strangers spoke to her. She stressed that if we open our minds, accept everything with our mental focus on perception rather than meaning and live each day trying to be helpful, we can have plenty of warm communications with other people and every day of our life will be filled with “small miracles.”

At the Brotherhood Association and Prosperity Society Joint National Convention, Mrs. Taniguchi explained that the sundial way of life is about having the faith that the world of only goodness exists and knowing that there are many expressions of the “God of only goodness” around us. She said that to find truth, goodness and beauty of God and express them through activities such as drawing, haiku poetry, cooking, and tree planting is to daily practice Shinsokan meditation and always see God’s blessings.

At the Youth and Young Adult Association National Convention, Mrs. Taniguchi made clear that our life is a process in which goodness manifests itself. Sometimes one meets with a sorrowful event which seems impossible to recover from, but even at those times, the faith in the depth of our heart that the truly existent world is one of only goodness will help us rise up and live a bright life. She stressed the importance of forsaking our preoccupation and judgmental standard that something has to be a certain way.

The breakdown of the attendees was 5,509 for the White Dove Association National Convention (2,432 for the main site and 3,077 for the sub-site); 1,515 for the Brotherhood Association and Prosperity Society Joint National Convention (1,200 for the Brotherhood Association and 444 for the Prosperity Society: attendees belonging to both Associations are counted twice); and 1,520 for the Youth and Young Adult Association National Convention (813 were members).