Tag Archives: death of a child

Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 187

Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama,

187. Solely to Jiba (Jiba ni hitotsu ni)

Kunisaburo Moroi was so saddened by the passing of his three-year-old fourth daughter, Hide, that he returned to Jiba in June 1886. “I may have been mistaken about some things, so please let me know my shortcomings,” he said to Oyasama. Oyasama gave him these words:

“Sah, sah, concerning your child, three years was the life of the child. For the rest of your life, the heart of a three-year-old child. Unite your heart solely to Jiba. If you unite your heart solely to Jiba, then roots will spread to four sides. If the roots spread to four sides, even if one side decays, three sides will remain. If two sides decay, two sides will remain. Strong buds shall sprout.”

Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 147

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Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 184

Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama,

184. A Way of Perceiving (satori-kata)

On February 6, 1886, Shirobei Umetani, while at the Residence, received a message from home that his second daughter Michie, who had been sick for some time, had died. When he was granted an audience with Oyasama, in the course of the conversation he mentioned this. Oyasama responded:

“How fortunate.”

Umetani, thinking Oyasama had misunderstood, repeated once more, “My child is dead.” Oyasama only said:

“Fortunately, it was not the elder one.”

Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 145

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Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama 29

Blogging Anecdotes of Oyasama, , , , ,

29. Three Treasures

Once Oyasama said to Izo Iburi:

“Izo, open your hand.”

She had three unhulled grains of rice in Her hand, and when Izo opened his hand as requested, Oyasama said:

“This is early rising, this is honesty and this is work,”

and placed them one at a time in the palm of his hand. Then, She continued:

“Hold these three firmly in your hand. You must try not to lose them.”

Izo adhered to this teaching for the rest of his life.

Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 24

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The Life of the Honseki Izo Iburi, Part Five

Life of the Honseki, , ,

Joys and Sorrows Along the Path

For nearly 20 years, Izo made daily visits to Jiba and was directly instructed in the Tenrikyo teachings by Oyasama. If Izo was even a little late to show up at the usual time, Oyasama would ask Shuji or Kokan,

Do you see Izo-san coming yet?1

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  1. Shinpan Iburi Izo den, p. 41. ↩