Turning the Heart Toward Tomekichi Taike — Entering His World —

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6. The Joy of Thinking of Tomekichi Taike

Why is it such a joy to think of an ordinary old man?

If it were one's beloved lover, perhaps that would be easy to understand. But as I have said before, Tomekichi Taike and I are not related by blood, nor have we had any physical connection in this lifetime. He held seminars, and I eagerly attended them. As far as I knew, that was the only connection between us.

Or so I thought.

But apparently, that was not all.

As I listened to the many things Tomekichi Taike spoke about in those seminars, I gradually came to understand that in this lifetime as well, I had ties to places connected to him. For example, the place where I was born and raised was somewhere he often stopped by for work. The high school I attended and the school from which he graduated stood on the east and west sides of a certain station. The place where I had once planned to buy a condominium with a mortgage, before I began attending the seminars, was very near the place where Tomekichi Taike had been born and raised. That plan eventually fell through, of course.

And because that plan failed, I was finally able to begin attending the seminars, which has led me to where I am now.

If, according to my own plan, my new life had begun in that place back then, I would probably be suffering in mortgage debt now, and this lifetime too would have been nothing more than a life centered entirely on the physical world.

One could say that, at the moment when my life could have turned either right or left, places connected to Tomekichi Taike were also involved in my path.

And the area where I live now is, once again, a place he often visited because of his work. More than that, the building where I now live stands on the site of a school where he had once been invited to teach.

When I reflect on all these things, it is difficult to say that we had no ties at all.

I do not think of it as some mysterious coincidence, but I do feel in it the working of the world of consciousness.

Even if my physical self knows nothing of it, I believe that my world of consciousness has, in this lifetime, been seeking the world of Tomekichi Taike.

No, this did not begin only in this lifetime.

It is only that through my present physical life, I have at last begun to feel it. As I will go on to write, we have in fact been connected since a very, very distant past.

Even so, it is admittedly difficult to think of an ordinary old man in such a way.

No one would seriously believe that such an old man could give them dreams and hope. And in a sense, that is correct. An old man is just an old man. From his appearance alone, it is hard to say that he would give you dreams and hope.

Because people have lived by taking form as their standard, they are attracted to what seems special. When faced with someone who looks completely ordinary, commonplace, and unremarkable, a brake is immediately applied.

Even if they find themselves agreeing with what he says or feeling drawn to it, that brake is stronger than they realize.

After all, the life right in front of them is what they take to be their reality. Most people are skillful enough to divide things neatly: a talk is a talk, and life is life. They return to their daily routine thinking only that they heard something good.

Even if they are able to apply some of those teachings to everyday life, it is still difficult for them to become deeply committed to the point of feeling that this learning is life itself, that coming to know the world of Tomekichi Taike is to come to know their own life, to come to know themselves.

Of course, those who have studied for years cannot be said to be one hundred percent absorbed in physical life. Surely that is not so. Yet even if it is not one hundred percent, I think the percentage is still high. However one may put it, the physical self remains dominant. It is very hard to remove that wall of physical consciousness unless something extraordinary happens.

Still, through the various events that happen around them and through contact with different people, I believe they do feel, "Yes, after all, this is the learning." Yet from there comes the familiar "however…"—that stubborn wall built on the standard of the physical self. That is the heart of reliance on external power.

Each of us, facing that hard and stubborn wall, must often find ourselves sighing.

Even so, those who have truly encountered this learning, who have tried to look at their hearts and have sincerely devoted themselves to it, cannot cast it aside from within themselves. They absolutely cannot. I believe that in the time ahead, each person will surely come to know this.

At the same time, we also begin to understand that no matter how many times the truth is told to us, no matter how often it is taught, nothing begins unless we realize it within our own hearts.

That is the world Tomekichi Taike is trying to convey.

In other words, each of us has prepared for ourselves the chance to awaken to it in the time ahead.

When you awaken on your own, you take a step on your own. No—you must take that first step yourself.

If you remain forever waiting for instructions, you will never break free from reliance on outside power.

And once you take one step yourself, the next step will naturally follow. The joy of taking the next step leads you onward again. In that way, a good cycle begins to form naturally within you.

Of course, taking that first step belongs to the world of consciousness, but it also affects the physical self. Once a transformation takes place in the world of consciousness, it will surely appear in visible form.

The first sign is that the rhythm of your daily life begins to fall into order.

Once you become truly serious about correcting your own world of consciousness, your daily rhythm will, without fail, become more orderly.

You will understand this if you actually practice this learning yourself.

To correct yourself, the first step is to look at your heart and to feel your own energy. And for that, you absolutely need a certain degree of physical vitality and mental strength.

More than having a sensitive heart, what is essential is a healthy body and a forward-looking attitude.

Every human being is originally sensitive. But if you are sensitive to darkness, correcting that course requires enormous time and effort. Rather than that, even if you are still strongly centered on the physical self, if you make up your mind—"Yes, I will look at myself. I will bring transformation to my world of consciousness"—and then earnestly keep looking at yourself, your naturally sensitive heart will begin to respond in the right direction. It absolutely will.

But this requires determination, sincerity, and single-hearted devotion. If even one of these is missing, it will not work.

During that process, even when you begin to feel dark energy, if your body is strong, your spirit is forward-looking, and your attachment to the physical self is still strong, you will not be overwhelmed by it.

Rather, being able to feel such energy gives you the sense that you are truly learning something, and even the physical self can feel happy and encouraged by that.

Instead of being overwhelmed by dark energy and feeling pain or fear, you will likely begin to feel filled with a sense of release and joy.

The colored, ever-shifting physical world to which you once clung begins to seem somewhat foolish. You begin to feel, "It doesn't matter that much." That does not mean you neglect your physical life or treat it carelessly, but your attachment begins to fade.

And as this continues, within the heart that has started responding in the right direction, you begin to feel—however faintly—gentleness and warmth.

It may begin with, "Perhaps I imagined it… No, I really did feel it."

Then, before long, the wonder and surprise of the world of consciousness fills your heart. You become more and more absorbed in this learning—or rather, more and more absorbed in one entirely ordinary old man, Tomekichi Taike. I think there is nothing more fascinating than that.

If you too practice looking at your heart according to the proper steps, then eventually your mouth will begin to move on its own. While meditating, your mouth will begin naturally to speak something.

Those are not phrases constructed by your mind. Your feelings are coming out directly, without passing through the head.

There is no use trying to think about what exactly is being said or what it means. Understand it simply as your energy taking the form of sound.

Because it is energy, of course, it can be positive or negative, in many different ways. Nor is it limited by the fact that you are Japanese and therefore must speak Japanese. No—more directly, more honestly than the language we use every day, your feelings, your energy, burst forth from within you as sound.

We call this igo—the language of vibrations.

And of course, Tomekichi Taike also speaks igo. This igo is very important. The joy lies in being able to speak it with one another. If you continue learning, you too will understand.

Igo is energy. Igo is vibration.

We use igo to express the joy of feeling and sharing the world of vibration.

I feel that igo is the rhythm of the universe.

Please keep practicing speaking more and more in igo. As you continue, if it is truly necessary, then at the necessary time it will emerge translated into your everyday language.

Each day, I continue meditating together with igo.

When I meditate and direct my thoughts toward Tomekichi Taike, a certain world is conveyed to my heart. It is a world of boundless gentleness and warmth.

I feel that vibrational world and respond to it in igo. That makes me deeply happy.

It is conveyed to my heart. Joy and gentleness are conveyed to me. And I also feel strength. It is a quiet, spacious time and space. To be within such a world is an indescribable happiness.

The world of Tomekichi Taike is a world to be felt with the heart.

It has no limit. It is a world that expands into infinity.

If you feel the joy of being together within it, then the answer to how you should live will naturally arise.

You will clearly understand that this present moment is precious.

To be able to make time for meditation is the greatest happiness.

On the other hand, even if one has money, health, and a life free from inconvenience, if one cannot feel in the heart why one was born, that must be the greatest unhappiness.

Let us make the fullest use of having been given a physical body and encounter our truly happy selves.

I hope that as many people as possible may come to taste, within their own hearts, the joy of being able to say from the heart, "Mother, thank you."

When you call "Mother" within your heart, does joy rise up unconditionally?

That world is truly wrapped in joy and warmth.

It is simply a world of happiness and gratitude.

 

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