6th Oceania Seminar

On 24th & 25th September, the “6th Oceania Seminar” was lively held at the Oceania Centre. This seminar has been conducted twice a year since two years ago 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 10 men and 4 women, assembled mainly from Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and shared a very significant and fruitful time together by earnestly learning the basic teachings, spiritedly practicing the musical instruments and the hand dance for the service, and positively exchanging their thoughts in the discussion sessions.

In the opening ceremony starting from 1:30 p.m. on 24th, immediately after worshipping God the Parent and Oyasama, Rev. Tony Cheng made his opening remarks. In the introduction session which followed, the participants easily opened up to each other because all of them already knew each other. In Lecture One, Rev. Cheng delivered the lecture on “Divine Guidance” based on Chapter Six of the Doctrine of Tenrikyo as a textbook. Citing his own experiences, Rev. Cheng explained in an easy manner “Divine Guidance” which is shown to us in the form of illness and trouble, which got a favourable reception from the participants.

From 4 o’clock, Discussion Session One was held. The participants first watched a video of “Tenrikyo Hawaii Convention 2011” which was held in Hawaii last May. Then three participants who had attended the Convention respectively gave their impressions about it. Divided into two groups, they exchanged their feelings about the Convention as well as Tenrikyo international events.

After the evening service and dinner, the practice session of the musical instruments for the service was instructed by Rev. Adachi. First, everyone revised the “Seated Service”, “Yorozuyo” and up to “Song Eight”, and then newly learned “Song Nine” and “Song Ten” together. The same as previously, since all of them were able to play the instruments to some degree, the participants challenged any instruments that they were not good at in a positive manner.

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 on the Mikagura-uta by Rev. Adachi. They learnt the meaning of the songs and the hand movements in Song Two in Part V as well as the Construction, the theme of this Song, which attracted the participants’ attention. Then the hand dance practice was instructed by Rev. Adachi. The participants first reviewed the basic hand movements as well as the hand movements from the “Seated Service” to “Song Six” together, and learned “Song VII” this time.

After lunch with curry and rice, Discussion Session Two was held from one o’clock. The participants first watched a video of the “Singable and Danceable Mikagura-uta (SDM)” demonstrated at the Hawaii Convention, which was an important theme of the seminar this time. Then divided into two groups, they exchanged their impressions and opinions about the SDM as well as how they could get involved with the SDM project in the future as followers living in Oceania. Then finally the representative of each group reported the opinions formed within the group. Most of them seemed very interested in the SDM.

Then followed the Overall Practice Service which was one of the highlights in this Seminar. All of the 14 participants sincerely performed from the Seated Service to Song three, Song Four to Song Six, and Song Seven to Song Ten 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. Cheng 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 sense of fulfilment and expectation for their spiritual growth.

Having successfully completed the “6th 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 25th to 26th February next year.