情愛まこと豊かな教祖神
(The Divine Founder of Abundant True Affection)

平成19年10月号掲載(Published in the October 2007 issue)

　先年、1人の僧籍にある方が神道山においでになり、大教殿でしばし瞑想（めいそう）ののち「お風呂に入ったような心地にならせていただきました。有り難うございました」と言って帰られました。この一言は、かつて地元岡山のある大学の学長が「神道山は清々しくてしかも暖かい」と言って下さった言葉にも通じるもので、いわゆる傍目八目（おかめはちもく）というのでしょうか、第三者的な立場の人が感じたことだけに、教祖神の御心が神道山に満ちている証（あか）しのように思われ、私たちとしますと嬉（うれ）しく有り難くもあり、また一層の責任も感じたことでした。

Some years ago, a Buddhist priest visited Shintōzan. After a short meditation in Daikyōden 大教殿 (the Main Shrine), he said, “I felt as if I had taken a bath. Thank you very much,” and departed. His words echoed those once spoken by the president of a local university in Okayama, who said, “Shintōzan is refreshing, yet warm.”
It may be what is the clear-sightedness of an outsider. Precisely because these impressions came from people in a third-party position, they seemed to us proof that the heart of the Divine Founder fills Shintōzan. For us, it was a joy and a blessing, and at the same time it made us feel an even greater sense of responsibility.

　今日のわが国で最も大切にされなくてはならないのは、この心の温かさではないでしょうか。それは親はもとより学校の先生やお世話になった方々への敬愛の念であり、友人に対する友情、また弱い立場の人への温情、惻隠（そくいん）の情です。

What must be most cherished in our country today is surely this warmth of heart. It is the feeling of reverence and affection toward parents, teachers, and those who have cared for us; friendship toward companions; and compassion and sympathy toward those in weaker positions

　教祖神の他を思いやり、おもんぱかる御心は、生来のものといっても過言でないほどご幼少の頃から顕著なものがありました。孝心篤い、親孝行な方というのは今までも伝えられてきたことですが、その御心の底にはご両親へのまことに強い敬愛の念があったことを見落としてはなりません。

The Divine Founder’s heart of consideration and empathy for others was so innate that it was already remarkable from childhood. It has long been said that he was deeply filial, devoted to his parents, but we must not overlook that at the root of this was a truly strong sense of reverence and affection toward them.

　今の学校に当たる寺子屋のような所での勉強の時でも、最後の授業が終わりに近づくと落ち着きがなくなることがしばしばあったことなど、それは迎えに出て下さる御母上に少しでも早く帰って安心させたいという子供心にも熱い思いのなせることでした。御父上がお年のわりに老（ふ）けていらっしゃるという村の人の声を耳にして、水垢離（みずごり）を取って御父上のご健康を祈られる少年宗忠様など、思い浮かべるだけで胸が熱くなります。

Even during study at what was called a temple school, when the last lesson was nearing its end, he would often become restless. This was because, as a child, he longed to return quickly to reassure his mother who came to meet him. When young Munetada-sama heard villagers remark that his father looked aged beyond his years, he undertook mizugori 水垢離 (water austerity) to pray for his father’s health. Just recalling such scenes stirs the heart.

　ご両親の突然のしかも相次ぐご昇天から悲しみの底に沈み、その御墓の前で泣き伏しあまりの悲しみのために気絶までされたことなど、その情の深さに驚嘆します。これが原因で肺結核に倒れられ、それが本教立教の元となるのですから、天の配剤、ご神慮は一方で厳しいものといわざるをえませんが、後に「人情深くして人情に迷うな」と仰（おお）せのところは、その命を懸けたご体験が生んだ尊いご忠告であります。いくら情愛深く、強く細やかであろうとも、それにとらわれて道を誤ってはならぬということで、言葉を変えれば「信仰深くして信仰に迷うな」とのご警告とも伺うべきでありましょう。

After the sudden and successive passing of both parents, he sank into the depths of grief, weeping before their graves until he fainted from sorrow. The depth of his feeling is astonishing. This grief led to his collapse with pulmonary tuberculosis, which in turn became the origin of the founding of Kurozumikyō. Thus we must say that Heaven’s dispensation, the divine will, was at once severe.
Later he declared: “Be deeply humane, but do not be lost in human feelings.” This precious admonition was born of his life-risking experience. No matter how profound, strong, or delicate one’s affection may be, one must not be ensnared by it and stray from the Way. Put differently, it should be heard also as a warning: “Be deeply faithful, but do not be lost in faith.”

　とにかく、愛情豊かなしかも強い憐憫（れんびん）の情は、教祖として立つ方にふさわしいものがありました。

In any case, the rich affection and strong compassion were qualities befitting one who would stand as a founder of a religion.

　天命直授（てんめいじきじゅ）と後にいう、御日拝によって神人合一ご一体の神秘のときを得られた直後の「お取り次ぎ」は、その最たるものです。突然、お手伝いの娘さん、ミキさんが腹痛で七転八倒するのを目の当たりにして「おお、かわいそうに……」と、まるで苦しむわが子に対する親の心そのままにお取り次ぎなされたら、たちどころに苦しみが癒（い）えたことなど、まことに尊くも深い御逸話（ごいつわ）です。教祖神の「おお、かわいそうに……」の御心ひとすじに思わず手を当てて息吹（いぶき）をかけられた、ここが大切です。お取り次ぎといわれるこの祈りも、その形式、ご神徳をまさに取り次がせていただくとの厳粛な心もさることながら、この「おお、かわいそうに……」の深い情愛の心を忘れてはなりません。

The toritsugi 取り次ぎ (mediation) immediately after that moment of divine-human unity attained through daily sun worship—later called Tenmei Jikiju 天命直授 (Direct Bestawal of the Heaven’s Mandate)—is the supreme example. Suddenly, when the young maid Miki was writhing in agony from stomach pain, he exclaimed, “Oh, how pitiful…” and, with the heart of a parent toward a suffering child, performed the toritsugi. Instantly her pain was healed. This is a truly precious and profound anecdote.
What is essential here is that the Divine Founder, moved by the single thought “Oh, how pitiful…”, placed his hand upon her and breathed upon her. The prayer called toritsugi is not only solemn in its form and in its role of mediating divine grace, but we must never forget this deep heart of compassion expressed in “Oh, how pitiful…”.

　お道信仰を重ねて心を養い鍛え、いわゆる強い心を持つことも大切なことですが、だからといってこの情愛の念を失っては正しい信仰とはいえません。教祖神のご在世中、1人の青年が、その母親が亡くなってもお道信仰のおかげで涙を流すこともなかったとの言葉を耳にして、教祖神は慨嘆され「自分の信仰指導は誤っていたのではないか」と極めて強い反省の念を持たれたと伝えられています。

To deepen one’s faith, to cultivate and strengthen the heart, and to possess what is called a strong spirit is indeed important. Yet if in doing so one loses the sentiment of compassion, it cannot be called true faith.
It is told that during the lifetime of the Divine Founder, when he heard a young man say that even at the death of his mother he shed no tears thanks to his faith, the Divine Founder lamented and reflected deeply, saying, “Perhaps my guidance in faith has been mistaken.”

　ハンセン病の患者が、備前の中野（今の霊地大元）に行けば高徳の温情あふれる生き神様がおられるとの噂（うわさ）をたよりに訪ねて来たときも、まるで家出していた息子を迎える親のように迎え入れられ、彼の血膿（ちうみ）が教祖神のお顔につくのも忘れてお取り次ぎして全快に導かれたことなど、そのご一生には次々と情愛あふれる有り難い逸事があります。（日新社刊「教祖様の御逸話」参照）

When a patient with Hansen’s disease, relying on the hearsay that in Bizen’s Nakano (now the sacred site Ōmoto 大元) there lived a living god of great virtue and overflowing compassion, came to visit, the Divine Founder welcomed him as a parent would a son returning home after running away. Forgetting even that the man’s blood and pus touched his own face, he performed toritsugi and led him to complete recovery.
Throughout his life there were many such precious anecdotes overflowing with compassion. (See Anecdotes of the Divine Founder.)

　中でも、御令室いく様のご昇天のときの教祖神には、驚き、一層の尊祟の念が募ります。
　病の床にあられたいく様のご平安を御神前で祈られていた教祖神への「只今（ただいま）、奥様が…」との知らせに、「うっ」と言われて、一瞬、気を失われた教祖神でした。

　昨日（きぞ）の花きょうの夢とはききつれど今の嵐はうらめしきかな

Among all, the time of passing of his wife, Lady Iku, especially deepens our awe and reverence for the Divine Founder.
While praying before the divine presence for Lady Iku’s peace as she lay ill, the Divine Founder received the message: “Just now, your wife…” At that moment he uttered “Uhh…” and briefly lost consciousness.

“Yesterday’s blossoms are but today’s dream, so I have heard—yet this storm before me is bitterly to be blamed.”

　その直後の御歌です。およそ「うらめしき」などとの表現は、教祖神には似つかわしくないお言葉です。しかしそれほど深いお悲しみだったのです。
　しかし、
　また思い直して一首

　世の花は散らばや散れよ天つちにつきせぬ道の花を咲かせん

と、詠（よ）み残しておられます。教書に残るそのときの一連の御歌です。（御歌194号、195号）

Immediately after Lady Iku’s passing, the Divine Founder composed this poem. The expression “bitter indeed” (urameshiki うらめしき) may seem uncharacteristic of him, yet it reveals the depth of his sorrow. But then saying, “I thought again and here comes another verse:

Let the blossoms of this world scatter if they must; I shall cause the blossoms of the Way, unfailing in Heaven and Earth, to bloom.”

These consecutive poems, preserved in Kurozumikyō Kyōsho, the collection of the Divine Founder’s letters and poems (Outa Nos. 194 and 195), show both the profound grief of the Divine Founder and his unshakable conviction in the eternal blossoming of the Way.

　ご両親のご昇天に気絶してまで嘆き悲しまれ、御令室のご昇天に際しても悲しみのため同じように気を失われながらも、その「生き通し」を祈り確信される教祖神なのです。恐れ入るばかりです。

The Divine Founder grieved so deeply at the passing of his parents that he fainted, and likewise at the passing of his wife he lost consciousness from sorrow. Yet even in such grief he prayed for and held firm to the conviction of “eternal life (Ikidōshi 生き通し）.” Truly, one can only bow in reverence before him.