4th Oceania Seminar

On 25th & 26th September, the “4th Oceania Seminar” was lively held at the Oceania Centre. This seminar has been conducted twice a year since last year for the purpose of nurturing a “real Yoboku” who can perform the service and engage in sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings and salvation work toward the next milestone. This time, 14 followers of the path including 9 men and 5 women, assembled mainly from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and shared a very significant and fruitful time together by earnestly listening to the lectures, spiritedly practicing the musical instruments and the hand dance for the service, and positively exchanging their thoughts in the discussion sessions. It was also a great joy to hold the seminar inviting Rev. Takaharu Ichise, chief of North America & Oceania Section, as a guest lecturer from Jiba, along with Rev Tony Cheng, head of the Brisbane Hoyo Fellowship and Rev Adachi, head of the Oceania Centre.

In the opening ceremony starting from 1:30 p.m. on 25th, immediately after worshipping God the Parent and Oyasama, Rev. Adachi made his opening remarks, saying, “Let us learn and share many things together to deepen our faith!” In the introduction session, the participants tried to sell themselves, forming a big circle, which made them open up to each other thanks to Rev. Cheng who led the session skillfully. In Lecture One, Rev. Cheng delivered the lecture on “Tenri-O-no-Mikoto” based on Chapter Four of the Doctrine of Tenrikyo as a textbook. Using his handmade big chart, Rev. Cheng explained the ten aspects of the complete providence of God the Parent in an easy manner, which got a favourable reception from the participants. Then the practice session of the musical instruments for the service followed. Rev.Adachi politely explained how to deal with and how to play the men’s instruments one by one, and afterwards everyone played the “Seated Service”, “Yorozuyo”, “Song Five” and “Song Six” together. It was very impressive to see the satisfied looks of a beginner and an old couple after they earnestly and happily practiced the wooden clappers or cymbals and became good at playing these instruments.

After the evening service and dinner, Discussion Session One was held. The participants first watched a video entitled “Grateful Genjiro”. Divided into three small groups, they enjoyed talking to each other about their own feelings about the faith of Genjiro who entirely relied on God without any doubt, and then renewed their own faith.

Day Two started with clean-up hinokishin in the fresh early morning air. After morning service and breakfast, the participants listened attentively to a lecture by Rev. Ichise about the Mikatura-uta. They were supposed to learn Song One, but listened to the detailed explanation about how the ten aspects of the complete providence of God the Parent relates to the Service. After attending the Yohaishiki Service for the September Monthly Service performed at the Jiba, the participants practiced the hand dance. This time they learned the meanings and the hand movements of Song Five.

In Discussion Session Two, after lunch with curry and rice, the participants exchanged their thoughts and opinions divided into three groups under the themes of “What did you learn from the two lectures?” and the representative of each group reported the opinions formed within the group. Then followed the Overall Practice Service which was one of the highlights in this Seminar. All of the 14 participants sincerely performed the Seated Service, Yorozuyo, Song Five and Song Six by playing the musical instruments or hand-dancing by rotation, which provided them with a valuable opportunity to feel how wonderful the Service is and to know how important “unity of mind” is. In the closing ceremony, each participant was presented with a certificate of attendance signed by Rev. Ichise and Rev. Adachi. In this way, the two-day and one-night Seminar this time was successfully completed with joy, and all the participants expressed on their faces a feeling of satisfaction and expectation for their spiritual growth.

Having completed the “4th Oceania Seminar” without mishap, we become more confident that we have made a further step forward to nurture Yoboku for the future path in the Oceania region. At the same time, we feel the need to create an environment in which as many Yoboku and followers in the diocese, especially from such distant cities as Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland can participate in this seminar. We ask for your support and cooperation.

The next seminar is scheduled to be held on 5th to 6th February next year.