Tenrikyo-Ofudesaki - from The Songs for the Service:
All humankind equally purified,
The Kanrodai.
The "Kanrodai", Stand to Receive Heavenly Dew" is an objectified metaphoric model of the state of a human mind that has settled down and has returned to its original pristine condition, been upgraded with the knowledge and understanding that is bestowed in the moment of that return, and has then returned back up and out to play freely in a newly experienced world of joyous life. When set up, the Stand marks the place where human beings were and are created. Setting up the "Kanrodai" or Stand to receive "heavenly dew" is a major metaphoric theme and we will return to it often.
Early followers were hastened to use first a wooden and then an intended "Stone Stand" as a focal point for their sincerity while chanting one of the names of God. Unfortunately, the original two stages of the intended stone model were confiscated by order of local authorities. No one knows where it originally stood in the Nakayama courtyard but the current wooden model provides followers with the same single-hearted devotional opportunity for sincerely awakening. The service of pondering of the meaning of the "Kanrodai" as it appears in the poems is not meant to interfere with that devotional service.
My purpose here is to draw attention to the hand gestures of the last line of the "Song for the Service".
Performers act out on their chest the return of the self-centered
imagination to the heart and core of the totally purified mind and then
bring that new and fresh self-centered imagination back up to play again in the new world of joyous life.
In my view the action of the hand gestures coupled with true sincerity
ultimately reveals the actual meaning of the "Kanrodai".
Be enlightened by the words "clear" and "muddy".
Truly, the hastening in the mind of God
is to put in the central pillar quickly.
Thought I desire to put in the pillar quickly,
I cannot find where to put it because of the muddy water.
Arrange to clear this water quickly.
Purify it by using a filter and sand.
Do not wonder where this filter can be found.
Your heart and mouth are the sand and filter.
If you quickly understand this talk,
I shall put in the central pillar at once.
If only the pillar is firmly established,
the whole world will truly settle.
This talk requires only you enlightenment.
With enlightenment will come tested proof.
The image above is an example of my deeply pondered interpretation of the equivalent meaning of the words, God, Moonsun, Parent, Kanrodai, Stand, Central Pillar, Mind Like Clear Water, Understanding, Enlightenment and Proof. There are more interconnected metaphors that will appear in the Poems when taken separately and also combined in the extended metaphoric themes.