Ofudesaki
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| Beliefs |
| Tenri-O-no-Mikoto Ofudesaki |
| Practices |
| Yoki yusan |
| People |
| Oyasama (Miki Nakayama) |
| Places |
| Tenri, Japan |
The Ofudesaki ("Tip of the Writing Brush") is the most important body of scripture in Tenrikyo. It is a collection of poems in seventeen books. All seventeen books have been translated into English and many other languages.
The poems are intended to provide model instructions for quickly returning the human mind to its original pristine condition, also known as "returning to the origin","single-hearted salvation", the "mind of a three year old child" or the "mind like clear water". The model involves using whatever means are necessary to provide the step by step instructions for "single-hearted salvation" in ways that are appropriate for the time, the place and the spiritual maturity of all human beings. That is why superficially, "The Reason of Heaven" appears to be a Japanese religion. The model as demonstrated was made to be appropriate for 19th century villagers living in Yamato. Each person being taught according to their need and level of understanding. The model also provides for the training of "Intermediaries" or "Timbers" (material for the reconstruction of a world of joyous life). It is the task of those "Timbers" to interpret and carry the step by step instructions for quickly awakening to the knowledge and understanding of the truth of origin to everyone in the world in ways appropriate for time, place and level of spiritual maturity.
The truth of origin is said to be native to all human beings equally and for that reason, though it is a rather simple truth to access we often have a hard time understanding how to do it. In this regard true sincerity is considered to be the true art.
The Ofudeseki has only recently been available in the Western World. During the hypernationalist years of the twentieth century the poems were all collected and suppressed by order of the then Japanese government and Tenrikyo, "The Reason of Heaven" was, by order of the government, made into a Shinto Sect. Since the mid-twentieth century "The Reason of Heaven" has been actively restoring the path of "Single-Hearted Salvation and is active globally, recruiting "Timbers" to be instructed in the ways of opening new paths of single-hearted savation for all human beings equally. It is of course a huge task but the Ofudesaki clearly provides the model for its completion.
