I do a meditation to express gratitude, not necessarily to a specific person, but rather to the region, the city where I currently live.

First, to myself. Then, to someone I care about, such as my wife or mother, or someone who has helped me. I express gratitude to those people.

This feeling of gratitude triggers an increase in energy.

A basic method for meditation is to sit, focus on the space between your eyebrows, and chant "Om" or a personal mantra. However, instead of that, you can think of something or, even without thinking of something specific, be aware of your heart and say "thank you" to express gratitude.

You can choose the words that resonate with you, such as "I am grateful," "thank you," or "I appreciate it." It's best to use the words that naturally come to mind.

However, according to what my guide suggested, if your emotions are not yet fully purified, using such general words of gratitude can sometimes link the trauma with those general words in your mind. While this doesn't always happen, if that connection is made, hearing general words of gratitude may trigger the memory of the trauma. Therefore, for those who are new to meditation, it may be better to use "Om" or a personal mantra that you have been taught, rather than general words of gratitude.

However, even so, in Japan, it is common to express feelings of gratitude in daily life and business. Simply living such a life can produce effects similar to those of meditation.

The culture of Japan originally has an incredible effect. Simply living in the Japanese cultural sphere and engaging in business or commerce within the Japanese commercial culture can purify the mind and bring one closer to enlightenment.

In meditation, you sit cross-legged, close your eyes, and instead of chanting a mantra, you think of words of gratitude in your mind. Even chanting a mantra can cause energy to surge throughout your body, but when you chant words of gratitude, you can feel even more energy filling your body.

As mentioned above, there is a risk that general words of gratitude may be linked to trauma. However, for most people who do not have significant trauma, it may be sufficient to simply express feelings of gratitude directly.

If that is the case, the story that one can attain enlightenment through the general morality taught by the so-called "kenkyo" (revealed teachings) is not entirely wrong, and there may even be a way to attain enlightenment simply by expressing gratitude.

Personally, I think that not only that, but also esoteric teachings and other paths (such as Vedanta, Dzogchen, Theosophy, and spirituality) are also useful. However, there are many paths, and I think there are many people who attain enlightenment through a moral life and gratitude.

As an example from my own experience, even without specific practices, a wife who is fulfilled and lives each day with a feeling of gratitude will eventually attain enlightenment. For women, they are often fulfilled by being loved by a man, and their Swadhisthana chakra is activated through repeated intimate experiences, eventually awakening their Manipura chakra with "love," and through the "gratitude" of daily life, they reach the Anahata chakra, approaching enlightenment.

I feel this way when I observe the people who live with me in a community in the spirit world. There is a community made up of people from my past lives, such as my wife, close friends, or neighbors. My past life wife, who was initially a fairly ordinary and cute woman, gradually became filled with aura and seemed to have attained something, living in the spirit world with a blissful and pleasant expression (although she doesn't move much).

Another woman, who was also my wife in a different life, was already fulfilled and happy while she was alive, but in the community in the spirit world, everyone lives happily and with smiles, and she is satisfied and happy with that, and gradually seems to be approaching enlightenment.

Furthermore, the women who became friends during the era of arranged marriages among nobles (perhaps the Heian period) were originally very cheerful and fulfilled, knowing nothing but contentment, without jealousy or sarcasm, and everything was positive, with a smile like "ohohoho," completely enveloped in bliss. In that way, I think it is possible to attain enlightenment simply by being fulfilled, even without specific practices.

On the one hand, there are women who seem to be inherently enlightened and blissful, while on the other hand, there are also fairly recent, energetic women in the community. There are both women from peaceful times in the past and energetic women from recent times, and recently, everyone is having fun and laughing together, which is very heartwarming. In such a community, even without specific practices, it seems that more and more people are gradually approaching enlightenment simply by living with smiles.

That being said, there is also the idea of a path of practice. However, practice is often associated with men, while for women, it seems that they can often attain enlightenment simply by living a morally normal life in Japan, expressing "gratitude" without necessarily engaging in rigorous practice.

Of course, there is also a path of enlightenment through gratitude for men, and fundamentally, it seems to be the same for both men and women. However, the ease of pursuing such a path may vary depending on the individual and their environment.