Once Oyasama took a grain of unhulled rice in Her hand, and showed it to Izo Iburi, saying:
“The same is true with a human being. You sow a grain of sincerity, and it multiplies to two or three hundred grains in a year, ten thousand in the second year. Ten thousandfold, as we call it. It will be enough for sowing all over the province of Yamato in the third year.”
The following is a translation of an excerpt from the writings of Eitaro Imamura (1894–1969), who held several positions throughout his career as a Honbu-jun’in (senior official of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters), such as superintendent of Aomori, Akita, Iwate, and Wakayama dioceses, president of Doyusha, head of Publications Approval Office, and first head minister of Jibun Bunkyokai.
Our family moved into the Residence from Osaka about the year 1891. When my mother went to the kitchen the next morning, she found a bale of rice and a sack of charcoal. No one had the faintest idea about who had brought the items. Sato came by at about ten in the morning and asked, “Iye-san, did you find the rice and charcoal?”
The following is an excerpt from Omichi no joshiki [Tenrikyo Fundamentals] (pp. 121–122) by Koji Sato, professor at Tenri University and instructor at Tenri Seminary. Note: This translation is a provisional one at the moment and may require further revision.
Once, Oyasama asked Koiso Yamanaka:
“Do you wish to have merit that can be seen by the eye? Or do you wish to have merit that cannot be seen by the eye? Which do you wish to have?”
No matter how minor it may have seemed, the Honseki warned against using things carelessly. He often said to those around him: Continue reading Anecdotes of the Honseki Izo Iburi 41
In the 10th lunar month of 1865, Izo accompanied Oyasama to Harigabessho, where a former follower by the name of Sukezo began expounding a false teaching. He claimed that his residence in Harigabessho was the original dwelling of God and thus superior to the Jiba in Shoyashiki. Despite the fact Oyasama was nearly 70 years old, She boldly led the way up the treacherous mountain road to Harigabessho to correct Sukezo’s mistaken views.
Continue reading The Life of the Honseki Izo Iburi, Part Four