A Divine Direction teaches us:

If you say, "There is nothing I can do since the arising, or the non-arising, of things and events depends on my causality," it leads you nowhere.

Osashizu, December 22, 1903

We live each day striving for the fulfillment of our hopes and dreams. There are times, however, when things turn out in a way we do not want them to, no matter how much we try to make them happen in a different way. According to our teachings, this is all the consequence of our causality. And the Divine Direction quoted above carefully cautions us not to bemoan our fate by thinking that there is nothing we can do because things and events occur in accordance with our causality.

Oyasama gave us the teaching of causality not in order to make us submit to the causal relationship behind things and events arising. Rather, She desired to help us see things and events with nothing imagined and, in so doing, gradually trace our own causality to its deeper level so we will be able to have it canceled completely.

The first step, therefore, is the self-awareness of our causality. This involves becoming clearly aware of the way in which we have been using our minds and of our true nature, which in turn will give rise to the act of repentance and service to God. This is how we can get out of the maze-like world of suffering.

When we really perceive our causality through various occurrences, we will be delighted with and grateful for having been given the chance to change the course of our lives, especially if our causality is such that it could have led to more dust and more suffering. As we become more aware of how much dust we have accumulated, and as we realize how deeply rooted our causality is, we will see that what is shown to us through our causality is, in fact, not quite the exact effect of our causality because God has always been guiding us by reducing a great misfortune to a small misfortune and a small misfortune to no misfortune at all. Consequently, gratitude will naturally well up within us.

The self-awareness of our causality does not make us sink into a state of utter dejection. It brings about a joyous perception of reality that makes our life exuberant.

(The above is a translation--first published in the September 1995 issue of TENRIKYO--of an article excerpted from Omichi-no-kotoba by Yoshikazu Fukaya, published by Doyusha Publishing Company.)