197. Hands that Work (hataraku te wa)

Oyasama always taught us:

“If all the people of the world help one another, there will be no worry or danger for the future. There are families with plenty of work to be done but with no one to do the work, and there are families with plenty of people to do the work but with no work to be done.

When apprenticed, think of all the work as your own instead of as your master’s, and work faithfully whether being watched or not. For example, in the fall, if you notice that it is a cloudy day, take care of the straw mats and any other things as though they were your own and be sure to put them away.

Because you work faithfully and help others in various ways, in the fall people will make new kimono to give to you and do other good things for you. When it reaches this stage it will be advantageous for both. If you are going to do work, do it as faithfully as you would do your own, whether being watched or not. Then people will say, ‘That person is considerate, so I will hire him.’ When you become such a person, there will be plenty of work for you.

The people living in this Residence work as though all the work here were their own; therefore, night and day each of them is thinking, ‘What is there to be done? What can I do next?’ They do the work thinking that it is their own work; therefore, it becomes their own. If you work with the thought, ‘This is my work; this is my home,’ then it will become your home. If you work only when you are being watched and become idle when not being watched, then soon you will not be able to stay here as if it were your home.

This Residence needs as many hands as possible that work and none at all that do not work.”

Also, one time She taught us:

“Work (hataraku) makes those close to you comfortable; for that, it is called hataraku (hata: those nearby, raku: comfortable).”

Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 154–155

My take

This set of instructions regarding an ideal work ethic has portions that feel dated (i.e., the notion of apprenticeship itself and the descriptions of putting away straw mats when it rains or receiving a kimono as a sign of appreciation of hard work). Nevertheless, it is possible to cull sensible advice from Anecdotes 197 that would be applicable in any age (i.e., “If you are going to do work, do it as faithfully as you would do your own, whether being watched or not”).

Some of this advice reads as like a Neo-Confucian or Shingaku treatise, tempting me to possibly start a project I have long considered pursuing: a comparison of the tenets Oyasama taught with the various strains of these two traditions. It may be worthy to note that many of Oyasama’s adherents were active in Shingaku groups.

Nevertheless, some of these instructions do appear to have a distinctive “Tenrikyo” flavor to them. The notion that “If you work only when you are being watched and become idle when not being watched, then soon you will not be able to stay here as if it were your home” is consistent with some of Oyasama’s instructions found in Anecdotes 78.

Commentary from “Living words”

The publication Ikuri kotoba (Living words), which I have often turned to in previous posts in this series, provides five sets of commentary to selected statements from Anecdotes 197, which I present here in lieu of a conclusion:

“If all the people of the world help one another, there will be no worry or danger for the future.”

Some households may have many unfinished things to do but not enough people to do them. Other household may have many members but do not have enough things to do. By breaking the barriers of the “household” through mutual help, any concern about the future disappears. These words are applicable to households, groups, ethnicities, and entire nations alike (p. 153).

“Work faithfully whether being watched or not.”

Oyasama further said: “For example, in the fall, if you notice that it is a cloudy day, take care of the straw mats and any other things as though they were your own and be sure to put them away.” If one can stop distinguishing, “This is her responsibility; that is his responsibility” and instead consider everything as one’s business, one can carry out one’s tasks willingly and spiritedly (p. 173). 

“[The people living in this Residence] do the work thinking that it is their own work; therefore, it becomes their own.”

As long as we consider something as someone else’s business, it will remain something that we are not a part of. If we do something while regarding it as our own business, the fonder we become of it and the better it stirs our motivation. “When I think of it / As my snow, how light it is / On my bamboo hat” (Yosa Buson, 1716–1783). It would be ideal if we could consider social ordeals and global hardships as our own (p. 150).

“This Residence needs as many hands as possible that work and none at all that do not work.”

The Parent once expressed Her basic attitude as follows, “I cannot allow anyone who comes to My home to leave without being filled with joy” (The Life of Oyasama, Chapter Three). To assure that everyone who comes can leave satisfied, there can never be enough people to help on the receiving end. Acts of work or hataraku—efforts to make those close to you (hata) comfortable (raku)—must spread widely and endlessly (p. 43).

“Work (hataraku) makes those close to you comfortable; for that, it is called hataraku (hata: those nearby, raku: comfortable).”

Oyasama taught that human beings were born into this world to work. Work does not only refer to our efforts and labor devoted toward making a living. Work can refer to our efforts toward making the work of the people around us easier and creating a conducive work environment (p. 147).

Bibliography

Tenrikyō Dōyūsha, ed. 1995. Ikiru kotoba: Tenrikyō kyōso no oshie. Tenri: Tenrikyō Dōyūsha.

Further reading

Sato Koji’s Omichi no joshiki: Work

Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 29 37 111 120