Those who can Have Consideration for What is Invisible are Spiritually Virtuous

If you’ve been able to hold memorial services for your ancestors for more than one year, even with a few breaks, I recommend you to set a household shinto altar at your house to enshrine Kamifuda（神札）, a kind of amulet provided by a shinto shrine, in. That you can continue doing it means you have consideration for invisible beings, which is rare and valuable.

• break　休止
• recommend　勧める
• enshrine　祭る
• consideration　思いやり
• invisible　見えない

For example, when you share something with someone in neighborhood, you’re expecting at heart that the person will give you something in return in the future. But when you hold a memorial service or pray to God, you can’t see the object.  Therefore,

●　You can’t be sure if you could make yourself understood.

●　You can’t be sure if your deed is effective or not.

●　You may think what you’re doing is selfish or uselss.

• share　分かち合う
• in return　お返しに
• object　対象
• effective　効果的な

Sometimes you may worry about these. But this is the very reason why your deed is very valuable and admirable. In fact, it’s easy to do something for visible reactions. Anyone can do it. This is nothing but an expedient action for you to receive something in return. You may be able to hold memorial services for a short period of time as an experiment, even with concern about the possibility of their being meaningless, but you couldn’t keep on doing it long without your mercy or kindness. Many of you aren’t aware of your virtue. Some might think you’re able to continue holding memorial services because of your greed. But this is not true. Being able to hold memorial services for your ancestors shows that you’re a righteous person. The continuation is the proof. No one can deny the fact that you hold memorial services continuously.

• admirable　立派な
• expedient　功利的な
• mercy　慈悲心
• virtue　美徳
• greed　欲
• righteous　正しい

Those who only believe in something recognizable or perceivable may think that memorial services for ancestors are nothing but superstition and worthless. Such people are likely to take only expedient actions for themselves in everyday lives. They try to avoid worthless things .

• recognizable　認識できる
• perveivable　知覚できる
• superstition　迷信

More often than not, however, you are not aware that you’re taken care of by someone without knowing it nor that you’re annoying someone. Those who can’t care about what they’re not aware of will miss the chance to be happy or, even if their dreams come true, they will lose something important in exchange. This is a law of the universe.

• more often than not　しばしば
• annoy　悩ませる
• in exchange　交換に

Those who can take care of what is invisible and hiding are spiritually virtuous. They can’t see nor understand God. They can’t be sure of how effective their memorial services for ancestral spirits are, but still they hold memorial services and express their gratitude to God just because they are grateful for having been kept alive. What matters is this kind of attitude. Those who can practice holding memorial services for their ancestors are those who can be considerate of others in the real world, too. They are kind at heart.

• virtuous　徳のある
• graitude　感謝の気持ち
• grateful 　感謝して
• attitude　考え方
• considerate　思いやりのある

Many self-claimed professionals assert that since ancestral spirits have no power, worshipping gods is the most important. The true God would avoid such people who abandon the weak, their ancestral spirits, and try to make approaches to God, saying “God, please,” for they believe in the logic of the strong like animals. Their attitude is the proof that they’re not connected with the true God. God will approach on its own those who try to help the weak.

• assert　主張する
• the logic of the strong　強者の論理
• connect　繋げる

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

Memorial Services for Ancestors can be the Practice of Being Considerate to Others

In offering the third incense stick to ancestral spirits during a memorial service,  some people worry about how they should call to their ancestors. But, in fact, on remembering your ancestors during the service, you can console them immediately. It doesn’t matter how you call to them. In the spirit world, no sooner do you remember the face of your ancestor than you can get your consideration across to him/her.

• call to A  Aに呼びかける
• console　慰める
• consideration　思いやり

I myself sometimes remember a face of the deceased whose name I’ve forgotten. But just remembering his face or figure will make him rest in peace for sure. Around the anniversary of his death, I sometimes remember him with a smile on his face. Names in this world are no longer important for spiritual beings in the other dimensions. Posthumous Buddhist names don’t have any meaning, either. To adhere to forms could cause your memorial services to be superficial and ineffective like the ones held by conventional religions that have already lost their practical spiritual power.

• the deceased　故人
• anniversary of one’s death　命日
• posthumous　死後の
• ineffective　効果のない
• conventional　従来の

Even if you tried to say all of the names of spirits related to you when you offer the third incense stick, the names you can remember would be very few in number. Can you recognize all the spirits affecting you? Someone may have grudge against you and his/her living spirit may be coming near you without knowing it. Or some relatives you don’t know may be trying to depend on you.

• related　関係した
• recognize　わかる
• grudge　恨み

If you call out to particular dead people, your memorial services will tell on a part of them and you cannot console the other important spirits. As a result, you won’t be freed from negative spiritual magnetism affecting you in this world. As long as you hold such memorial services that don’t cover the whole spirits, you won’t get peace of mind. They are lacking in practical power like the ones held by conventional religions.

• particular　特定の
• magnetism　磁気
• practical　実践的な

In holding memorial services, it’s important to do it with compassion and mercy for others, whether they are alive or dead. What matters is your merciful heart and consideration for others. Though how far you can be merciful varies from person to person, by holding memorial services for your ancestors, you can practice showing mercy to others and develop your merciful heart.

• compassion　憐れみ
• mercy　慈悲
• alive　生きている
• vary　異なる
• from person to person　人によって

As you keep on doing this, you’ll be more and more merciful and come to understand what the selfless, great mercy and love of God are like. Understanding part of God means that you’ve come one step closer to God. And you’ll have your Inner God appear on the surface and come to lead your life like God, which is called Kannagara（カンナガラ）, being with God.

• selfless　無償の
• come close to A　Aに近く
• on the surface　表面に

If you’re afraid to offer the third incense stick during a memorial service, thinking you might conjure up unnecessary spirits, you can stop doing it because this failure shows the level of your present spirituality. Don’t push yourself too hard.

• conjure up A  Aを呼び出す
• spirituality　霊性
• push oneself too hard　無理をする

I’ve been receiving various thought energy every day from a huge number of readers of this blog since I started writing this blog about two years ago. Most of the energy is the energy of gratitude but some is that of aggression. But I’m totally fine, for I console other various spirits as well as my ancestors by offering the third incense stick.

• a huge number of A　莫大な数の
• gratitude　感謝の気持ち
• aggression　攻撃
• as well as A　 Aだけでなく

When I give healing to spirits out of mercy without the object being specified, aggressive thought energy coming to me is sent back to the sender. It can also be said that Yorishiro, a short strip of paper where spirits can stay at temporarily, receives the negative energy for me.

• object　対象
• specify　特定する
• sender　送り手

Aggressive thought energy is especially weak against healing energy. Even in the case that the aggressive thought energy is so strong that it takes on a concrete figure, it, touching my mercy, would make an apology and go back to the sender. When the grudge against others is returned to the sender, the impact would be huge beyond the sender’s cognitive capacity.

• concrete　具体的な
• apology　謝罪
• cognitive　認知の

So, if you hold memorial services with gratitude for your ancestors and other spirits related to you as a whole every day, someone who has grudge against you might go arse over tit somewhere before you knew it, haha. Anger can never defeat mercy and gratitude.

• go arse over tit　こける
• defeat　打ち負かす

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

Correct Memorial Services for Ancestors are to Return them Where they Belonged

I’m going to explain more about how to hold a memorial service for ancestors. At the end of the service, you say “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami” twice with your hands together. You can do it several times until you get peace of mind. It’s better to do it with the image of all the spirits going back to the primordial mother’s love. After this, you can also say “I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma SU,” several times. If it doesn’t feel right to say “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami,” it’s no problem, for the most important is offering your gratitude to your ancestral spirits in your own way.

• primordial　根源の
• feel right　しっくりくる
• ancestral　先祖の

You might think it wrong or strange to say “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami”, the Sun God in Shintoism, when you hold a memorial service for your ancestors. The truth is Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami is not a deity of a religion but the parent of all creatures, the origin of our lives. The figure of Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami is really that of the sun. In upper dimensions, it is the sun with no individuality. As the dimension where it appears becomes a lower level, it takes on a variety of  human figures.

• religion　宗教
• creature　生物
• figure　姿
• dimension　次元
• individuality　個性

Some say Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami has the figure of a male, not a female. They’re just seeing a figure by tuning in to a lower dimension. In lower dimensions, it can take the figure of both a male and a female. The truth is you can only see a figure of God according to the dimension you can tune in to. The true identity of God in the highest dimension looks as if it were the sun. When people die, they go back to the sun, the origin of their lives, which makes them truly rest in peace and the right thing to do. In terms of Buddhism, the sun equals Amida-nyorai（阿弥陀如来）.

• tune in to A　Aに同調する
• as if S+V　あたかもSがVするかのように
• rest　休む

Saying “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami” twice means Futo-norito, the secret of the oharae-no-kotoba（大祓詞） of Shintoism.

“fu” means “two.”

“to” means “ten”, or the ten words of A-ma-te-ra-su-o-ho-mi-ka-mi.

That is, Futo-norito is to repeat the ten words twice. You can do it many times as you like. Even numbers are divisible, meaning “multiply and thrive.”

• that is　つまり
• as you like　好きなように
• even number　偶数
• divisible　割り切れいる
• multiply　増殖する
• thrive　栄える

In religions and religious sects all over the world, there are a lot of names representing the origin of life or the Sun God. But the pronunciation of “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami” is the best sound for creatures that breathe. That is, the pronunciation is beyond languages and religions and it’s the sound of breath of living things, too. I perceive that the sound resounds around the universe. If you live in a foreign country, it’s better to say slowly “Amaterasu-o-ho-mi-kami” in the morning sun with the image of your ancestral spirits getting peace of mind.

• religious sect　宗派
• represent　象徴する
• pronunciation　発音
• breathe　呼吸する
• resound　鳴り響く

The correct memorial service is to return your ancestral spirits where they belonged. Only if a descendant hold a memorial service can it be effective. In Ise Grand Shrine, there is a secret ritual to return the ancestral spirits of the Imperial Family to the Sun God. Similarly, you can practice it so that your ancestral spirits and the Sun can become one. In the past history, people in general were prohibited from seeing the secret ritual because of its strong effectiveness and the ritual was sealed up. It’s also a shinto ritual concerning Shin-no-mi-hashira（心の御柱）, the Center Pillar. In this way, there was a period when general people couldn’t visit Ise Grand Shrine. With the passage of time, Shinto shrines and ancestor worship have been divided.

• descendant　子孫
• effective　効果がある
• ritual　市議き
• the Imperial Family　皇室
• seal up A　Aを封印する
• concern　関係する
• ancestor worship　先祖崇拝

False psychics may say “I can do it for you if you pay me,” but memorial services held by others don’t have any effect on your ancestors. Memorial services can only be effective if held with gratitude by the same family members or people related to them. The spiritual truth is that memorial services don’t have meaning until you’re connected to your ancestral spirits by the spiritual line between you and them. Therefore, it’s important that you practice it with a pure heart and the consideration for your ancestors. You don’t need to be particular about small things. Memorial services are also to thank your physical body you’ve borrowed from your ancestors. They rejuvenate you both mentally and physically and enable you to enjoy the present.

• false　偽の
• related　関係した
• consideration　思いやり
• particular　細かい
• rejuvenate　若返らせる
• the present　今

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

Deep Taste of Soup Stock Made from Shinsen

After I had Dai-dai-kagura（大々神楽）performed at Geku（外宮） of Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）, I was presented with Shinsen（神饌）, dried kelp, dried cuttlefish, dried bonito shavings, dried abalone etc. , which are all made at the beach belonging to Ise Grand Shrine.

• kelp　昆布
• cuttlefish　イカ
• bonito　鰹
• abalone　アワビ

These days I’ve been looking forward to boiling dried Udon noodle and eating it with ready-made soup for lunch. And I use the Shinsen as its ingredients. Since Shinsen is vacuum-packed, it is delicious on its own. I put concentrated noodle soup into a large bowl, chop dried kelp, dried cuttlefish and dried abalone and put them in it. Then I pour boiling water there. When the Udon noodle is boiled, I put some more hot water and the Udon noodle in the bowl. By the time I eat it, the ingredients have become soft and their extracts have been blended into the soup.

• boil　茹でる
• ingredient　具材
• by the time S+V　SがVする時までには
• extract　エキス
• blend　溶け込ませる

Normally, ingredients are removed from the soup once they have been used as soup stock, but I eat them because I love their firmness and the delicious soup. I soon finished all the Shinsen I had been presented with at Ise Grand Shrine. Not forgetting the taste, I often buy dried bonito and dried cuttlefish at a supermarket, put them into soup with a lot of stocked dried kelp and eat them without dried abalone, of course.

• remove　取り除く
• once S+V　一旦SがVしたら
• soup stock　出汁
• firmness　歯ごたえ

My wife has been cooking white rice with thirty-percent refined brown rice or with the five main cereals recently. Thirty-percent refined brown rice seems as good for the action of my bowels as normal brown rice. As soon as I eat white rice even for a day, I get constipated. I haven’t felt a major change in my body since I began to eat brown rice, but I think my body has become a little bit slimmer. I’ve got an image of the ingredients of brown rice scratching extra fat on the wall of my blood vessels.

• refined　精製された
• bowel　腸
• constipated　便秘の
• extra　余分な
• fat　脂肪

It’s important that you take care of your health physically and mentally. On top of it, a new development in consciousness begins. As long as I live, I’ll do all I can physically and mentally, yes in everything I do.

• consciousness　意識
• as long as S+V　SがVする限り

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

It’s very Dangerous to Take away Small Stones Put in the Precincts of Shrines

There are some people who take away small stones put in the precincts of shrines. If shrines are eminent ones, there must be more who do such a thing. Why do they so? They must be thinking that small stones in shrines are special ones and hoping that keeping them causes something lucky to happen to them.

• precinct　境内
• eminent　高名な
• lucky　幸運な

If a holy spirit were present, it would feel sad about such people’s mean mind. The fact itself of a small stone being taken away doesn’t matter. For example, if you happen to have a small stone gotten between grooves of your shoe sole and take it home accidentally, you don’t deserve any divine punishment. It is the mean mind to try to steal something good even from gods that is sinful. If the stone is a really good thing, you should be such a person who feel like leaving it as it is.

• present　その場にいる
• mean　卑しい
• groove　溝
• deserve　値する
• punishment　罰
• as it is　そのままに

In contrast, there are others who take away trash from shrines. This is because they want to keep holy precincts clean for the deities. This deed is to remove bad things from the precincts and present a good space for the deity.

• in contrast　対照的に
• trash　ゴミ
• remove　取り除く

There are various old tales all over the world that suggest the beautiful small stones you’ve taken from the holy precincts turn into dirt, while the trash you’ve taken from it turn into treasure. This is spiritually true. But you need not take the trouble to visit a shrine to collect trash for the purpose of getting treasure, which is also forbidden in many old tales.

• old tale　昔話
• suggest　示唆する
• treasure　宝
• take the trouble to~　わざわざ〜する
• forbid　禁止する

Given bad consequences Kenzokushin（眷属神） guarding the precincts gives you,  it is very dangerous to take away small stones put in the precincts of shrines. If you were a child, you could develop high fever so that you can notice the seriousness of your sin like an advance warning. Adults covered with the dirt of greed, lacking in sensitivity, would be likely to keep such small stones at hand and end up receiving some divine punishment. If you should possess such stones, you should return them to where they were, if possible. If it’s not easy for you to go back there, you should put them in a nearby mountain or river.

• consequence　結果
• advance　事前の
• greed　強欲
• sensitivity　感受性
• possess　所有する

In Shintoism, the holy spirit is thought of as ubiquitous in all natural things. Just as I feel the short approach to the main building of Izougu（伊雑宮） to be several hundred meters long when my spiritual body visits there, small stones in the precincts of shrines could be huge stones in the dimension of gods. You had better not think lightly of small stones in the holy precincts.

• ubiquitous　偏在した
• natural　自然の
• approach　参道
• huge   巨大な
• dimension　次元

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma SU

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

Shinto Manner of “Two Bows, Two Claps and One Bow” Set as the Standard by God’s Will

In Shintoism, it has been thought of as the standard manner and disseminated as such all over the country since Meiji era to bow two times, clap your hands two times and bow once in front of the main building of a shrine. As regards the number of the clapping by Shinto priests, however, there are various theories according to ancient traditions.

• era　時代
• disseminate　普及する
• bow　お辞儀する
• as regards A　Aに関して
• ancient　古来の

For example, in Kunitsu-kami（国津神） shrines belonging to Izumo（出雲） line, it is thought of as the official manner to clap your hands four times, while in Ise Grand Shrine（伊勢神宮）, to clap your hands four times and do as many times again, which is called Yahirade（八開手）, is the offical manner the Shinto priests do. According to my inspiration, I feel that this manner seems to conjure up and worship the Four Haraedo Spirits（祓戸四神） led by Susanoo（スサノオ）.

• official　公式の
• inspiration　霊感
• conjure up A　Aを呼び出す

Counting the four-time clapping as one-time, the eight-time clapping can be said to be the prototype of the present two-time clapping. Also, the number 8 has been regarded as a lucky number in Shintoism since ancient times.

• prototype　原型
• present　現在の
• ancient times　古代

Humans clap their hands when they are happy or moved, which is a kind of instinct common to all human beings in the world. Babies also clap their hands when happy and so did people in ancient times. Ancient people seem to have clap their hands naturally to express their gratitude, awe or excitement of joy toward the holy spirit. Yes. They could see God.

• moved　感動した
• instinct　本能
• gratitude　感謝の気持ち
• awe　畏怖の気持ち

They sometimes saw the energy of the holy spirit spiraling up Iwakura（磐座）, a huge stone on which the energy body of God comes down. The energy was often perceived as a shining dragon or huge serpent. Impressed by the energy, ancient people clapped their hands to praise God. The number of clapping didn’t matter for them in those days.

• spiral up　螺旋状に登る
• perceive　知覚する
• serpent　蛇
• praise　賞賛する

I feel that the present manner of ” two bows, two claps and one bow,” has been established by God’s will after many twists and turns. My spiritual interpretation of it is as follows:

●　two bows: In shitoism, Izanagi （イザナギ）and Izanami （イザナミ）make a couple and they are the origin of other gods. Therefore, to bow two times is to bow these original gods.

●　two claps: To clap two times is to praise the two gods.

●　one bow: To bow once in the end is to unit the two gods as one and to express your gratitude for your having been entrusted with it as your Inner God.

• establish　確立する
• interpretation　解釈
• entrust A with B　 AにBを任せる

Though there are details about the manner, the most important manner is to dedicate your smiles to God. Please use this attitude as your reference.

• detail　詳細
• dedicate　奉納する
• attitude　考え方
• reference　参考

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.

To Visit a Shrine on the First Day of the Month is to Brace up Yourself

At Shirayama-hime shrine（白山比咩神社）, Otuitachi-mairi（お一日参り）, to visit a shrine on the first day of the month, is especially important. On the day, a special shinto ritual is started at four in the morning. I’m not sure about its meaning and history, but I feel it’s good from a spiritual point of view, too. Just as it’s important to finish your day by emitting the magnetism of gratitude, which I explained before, Otsuitachi-mairi means to finish a month by emitting the magnetism of gratitude at the very shrine that the holy spirit Kukuri-hime（ククリ秘め） resides at.

• ritual　儀式
• meaning　意味
• emit　放出する
• reside　宿る

What you have to remember is that it’s important to visit a shrine not passively but positively with the attitude of trying to purify the dirt of your past sins, reconsider your lazy mind and brace up your spiritual body. To offer only your gratitude to Kukuri-hime with such an attitude would brace up your mind and DNA greatly.

• attitude　態度
• purify　純化する
• reconsider　反省する
• brace A up　Aを引き締める

Behind Kukuri-hime are Amenominakanushi-no-kami（天之御中主神）and Four Haraedo（祓戸 deities led by Susanoo（スサノオ）. To make a round trip between Ise（伊勢） and Hakusan（白山）, your physical body and spiritual body would be restructured at Hakusan and your mind be satisfied at Ise.

• round trip　往復
• restructure　再構築する
• satisfy　満足させる

By visiting a shrine on the first day of the month, you can remove your dirt of sins you committed in the previous month and start a renewed month. At least once a month, you should visit the most eminent shrine or the nearest one in your neighborhood to offer the magnetism of gratitude.

• remove　取り除く
• previous　前の
• renewed　刷新された
• eminent　高名な

On New Year’s Day in Japan, Kagami-mochi（鏡餅）, a round rice cake, is offered to a deity at a festival held at a shrine. I often describe it as “the rice cake of life energy “or “the rice cake of heart,” but I’m not playing with words. Whenever you visit a shrine, you’re offering a rice cake of heart to the deity as a report on your daily lives. As human beings are intrinsically lazy, so without a special day like the first day of the month, we would cease to visit a shrine. In case you cannot pay a visit on the first day of the month, you can do it before or after the day.

• round　丸い
• rice cake　餅
• intrinsically　本質的に
• cease to~　〜しなくなる

Holding memorial services for your ancestors at home is important, so is visiting a shrine in your neighborhood, together with enshrining Ofuda（お札）, a kind of amulet provided by shrines, into your household shinto altar to adore Amaterasu-oho-mi-kami. Shinto shrines are like the solid materializations of great nature. Human beings are living and being kept alive in mother nature even if you’re in a city, for, wherever you are, you are on this blue earth.

• ancestor　先祖
• enshrine　祀る
• altar　祭壇
• adore　崇拝する
• materialization　具現化

生かして頂いて　ありがとう御座位ます

I Ka Shi Te I Ta Da I Te  A Ri Ga To U Go Za I Ma Su

Thank you so much for keeping me/us alive.