Happy New Year!

I trust all of you are rejoicing with the beginning of a glorious and wonderful New Year.

It is my hope that this year will be a year of peace filled with God’s infinite blessings for you and your family, and all people of the world.

This year as well, I would like to ask for your support as the United States Missionary Headquarters staff continues to work with sincerity while praying for the realization of God’s will.

President Rev. Masanobu Taniguchi, presented to our worldwide members his New Year's Message entitled “Having Nature on Our Side.” He showed us the changes in society due to the COVID-19 pandemic that had lasted three years and our Seicho-No-Ie Movement that we worked on during that time, and how to be prepared to welcome the year 2024 through the deep connection with nature experienced then. Under the guidance of the Missionary Area Chiefs and Vice-Chiefs, please thoroughly study the contents of the President’s New Year Message and start the new movement year brightly and with joy.

Founder Rev. Masaharu Taniguchi provided guidance on how to realize peace in his publications as follows.

Jesus first thanked God that his prayers were always answered, and with that conviction he declared the realization of his wishes through the power of the word. This is how Jesus brought Lazarus back to life.

The number of in-person activities have been steadily increasing as COVID-19 pandemic has started to come to an end last year. As a result, we have received some good news of people who have come to know Seicho-No-Ie through the continued use of Zoom, have also started to participate in ourin-person events. You also devoted yourselves to warmly care for those who do not have Internet access. I would like to express my deepest and most sincere gratitude to you all.

Many people have continued to cooperate in our support activities for people around the world who are facing various difficulties and experiencing deep sadness and anxiety.  I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you. It has become clear that the most serious problem in the world is poverty. We have been promoting the “One Bowl of Soup and One Bowl of Rice” as a religious practice to “expand oneself into a super dimension through deeds of love.” This year as well, let us promote various support activities that contribute to society through P4U activities.

At Seicho-No-Ie, we consider, not only human beings, but the entire “life on the earth,” including all living things and minerals on the earth as an irreplaceable cooperative system.

Let us review the “Basic Awareness” of Seicho-No-Ie’s Environmental Policy.

     “What we human beings need today is a religious mindset that feels gratitude for the blessings of nature, and worships mountains, rivers, grass, trees, minerals, and energy as all manifestations of the life of God and the life of Buddha, with a humble attitude that we are allowed to live together with them. The practice of a life based on this religious mindset is the key to solving global environmental problems.” 

This year as well, with the hopes that the number of "ethical citizens" based on faith that "God, Nature and human beings are essentially one" will rapidly increase, let us strive to deepen the awareness as a child of God by practicing the Shinsokan Meditation every day, even if only for a short time. 

It is said that the mind chisels one's physical appearances. It means what is engraved in the mind appears in form. 

In the New Year as well, it is my hope that you will hold a noble mind and always live your daily lives with a pure and grateful mind.

Thank you very much. 

2024_J_Bishop_NewYearsMessage_FINAL.pdf

2024_E_Bishop_NewYearsMessage_FINAL.pdf