As is evident from such common expressions as "my hand" or "my leg", we consider the human body to be our own.

If the body were our own, we should be able to use it freely. But it is common knowledge that we sometimes cannot. While we are sick, move even a hand or leg, which until then we considered to be our own.

It is taught that this body is a thing lent by God the Parent--a thing that seems to belong to us but that we are not free to use as we please in the true sense of the word; a thing which we can make free use of only when we are blessed with God's grace.

Now, with human beings: the body is a thing lent by God, a thing borrowed. The mind alone is yours.

Kakisage

As shown in the above, only the mind is truly ours, and according to our use of it God allows us to use the body, which is lent by God.

Although we suppose that we can use the body as we like, we sometimes fall ill despite our desire to keep in good health. Sometimes, one of our arms or legs does not work, even though we want it to. This is the way of the world. Thus we find that, although one is free to think in any way, for the mind is the truth of self, it depends entirely upon the intention of God the Parent whether things go as we desire. It will then become clear that only when we use the mind in accord with the intention of God the Parent are we allowed to use the body freely in the true sense of the word.

Since we, not understanding this reason well, try to use the mind selfishly, opposing the will of God the Parent, we are lessening the possibility of receiving the divine blessings. Then, various kinds of tragedies and misfortunes happen.

. . . there is only one of free and unlimited workings: the one truth. Do not wonder where the truth of free and unlimited workings is. It is in the truth of the heart alone.

Kakisage

Whether or not we are allowed free use of the body depends on our use of the mind. Only when we use the mind with an understanding of this principle are we in accord with the purpose for which God has allowed us freedom of the mind.

Hence we realize that man does not live by his own wisdom or power, but was created and is kept alive by God the Parent. Then our own attitude toward life undergoes a change.

The followers of Tenrikyo and other people are often different in their basic views on life and the world and, therefore, differ in their way of life as well. The followers of Tenrikyo make efforts to discard human thought, to conform with and to realize the intention of God the Parent.

If we suppose selfishly that we live by our own powers, we cannot help being anxious about the future, making undue haste, and struggling when things go against our will. But, if we realize clearly that we do not keep in good health by our own powers or acquire happiness by our own hands and that everything goes well under the providence of God the Parent only if we obediently do as we have been told, then we need not worry about the future or concern ourselves about illness. To carry this point to its extreme, we need not even try to cure ourselves when stricken with illness. It can be said that all we have to do is to try to conform with the heart of God the Parent.

The followers of this Path are, then, not to live by their own powers but to live in accord with the will of God the Parent. The followers of the Path find only peace of mind, free from undue haste and anxiety, because they are convinced that they are protected by the providence of God the Parent if only they are in accord with the divine will.

In the life of the Path, one assumes a humble attitude in which he commits everything to God the Parent, rather than to his own powers, skill, and knowledge, and thinks himself to be kept alive by God the Parent; this is the major distinction between the life on the Path and that in the general world.

(The above is an excerpt from Dust and Innen, first published in September 1982. Quotations from the Ofudesaki and the Kakisage have been replaced by the revised, current translations.)