Tenrikyo-Ofudesaki - The Dust Metaphor -
in the high mountains as well as in the low valleys,
Know that by all means I shall sweep
the heart of each of you in the world.
What do you think of this sweeping, all of you?
No one knows the mind of God.
The metaphor of "dust" is one of the key metaphors employed in the Ofudesaki Poems and for that reason it is vitally important to understand its intended meaning.
To begin, let's look at some of the things that the word "dust" brings to mind.
- When we speak of dust we are generally referring
to very small particles of either earth or some other substance.
- Those small particles may be visible to the naked eye or they may be so small and subtle that they are either invisible, barely visible or so common as to be unnoticed. For instance since I host (have a causality) for a dust allergy I am acutely aware of the presence of unseen dust allergens (dust mite feces) although I cannot ordinarily see them.
- There are also some familiar uses of the word dust such as the reminder "remember thou art dust and to dust thou shall return" that is often recited at burials.
- Then there is the more recent recognition that human bodies and indeed everything else is made of "star dust", that is the dust given off by exploding stars.
- Concerning "dust", it is everybody's experience that if left alone it will accumulate.
- Dust that accumulates in humidity or water will settle as mud and be hard to shift and clean up.
- Some dust is good to have; gold dust for instance.
- Dust collected on a reflective surface will distort whatever is reflected on that surface.
- Dust that has collected on either a reflective surface or a transparent surface is difficult to see through and can harden into something that is difficult to remove.
We will look into the thematic use of the metaphor of dust in the Themes section but for now it is sufficient to note that the metaphor is always used in ways that hasten the sincere action of removing all of the "dust" that has accumulated as truths of self and common truths of our world; that sincere effort is hastened to made in order to expose the true origin of the mind, the original truth of self. The removal of that dust will not result in making us into zombies or idiots. Its purpose is entirely positive and for many of us may result in what might be our first instance of actually seeing clearly.
That positive and simple action differs with common wisdom and truths of the world that are concerned with avoidance, judgment and condemnation of various kinds of culturally determined behavioral truths as various kinds of "transgression" or "sins" that were taught to the self-centered imagination by God in earlier moral and ethical teachings. Those teachings were once appropriate for time, place and maturity of our species but over time those teaching have proven to be inadequate means for delivering the intended joy in life for all human beings equally. Those teachings taught during the infancy and childhood of our species naturally lack the means to self correct the mind and return it to the joy of life by quickly awakening to the truth of its origin as that truth can be known and understood by any human mind that removes the "dust" of thinking just long enough to reveal the origin of the human mind that is the original consciousness that our self-centered images appear reflected within and to.
The ways and means to quickly remove all of the "dust" that has accumulated in the human mind are intended to reveal the one truth concerning the origin of "dust" (dust is to be understood as human thoughts and truths of the world); so that the original foundation for a human mind can be identified and used as a sure and permanent foundation for a new human world of joyous life for all equally.
The metaphor of "dust" then is always used to hasten the identification of our own human thinking and also with the work of determining and revealing the origin or "place" (consciousness) where our human thoughts are created. The result of that sincere effort is a mind knows and understands the distinction between the permanent one truth of its origin (the mind of the Parent) and the temporary creations of our human self-centered imagination (the minds of the children); when identified and understood together it is the realization and understanding of the one mind of God, the mind of Moonsun.