Master
Ono Karori
The moon when the monk's teacher travels east and west
"Shihasu"
I started copying sutras on February 2nd of this year.
Spend about 15 minutes each day tracing one line and its meaning
You can't learn a lot in a short amount of time,
I now start each day knowing that this is the limited and precious time that I have been given.
Thanks to this, Buddhism has become much more accessible to me.
The more I learn, the more the world seems to expand; it's difficult, but that's what makes it so interesting.
When we look up words we encounter and use in our daily lives in a dictionary, we find that they are "from Buddhist terms ... "
Until now, I had overlooked the fact that this phrase is often written in the annotations.
In the first place, the "shaku" in "shutsu" (explanation) refers to the "shaku" of Buddha, and means "to explain the meaning of words."
Without realizing it, we use words derived from Buddhist terms.
Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 5th century.
I am amazed that this belief has taken root even among us living in 2023 , a year when religious views are said to be few.
The other day, my 5- year-old son was eating some sweets while holding a bag in one hand.
My siblings kept asking me to give it to them.
“No ! I’ll lose all my sweets ! ”
And then, all of a sudden, he would get angry and sulky.
I think the concepts of "my" and "disappearing" are what make me feel bad.
"Ao-chan (second son), those sweets in front of you may be there now, but one day they will definitely be gone.
Ao-chan just happened to be holding that candy in her hand.
It's not yours."
And he said, in the style of the Heart Sutra, "Ao-chan, Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form," and my eldest son laughed.
"Yeah, it's all gone."
And he joined the conversation.
"If it's going to disappear someday, we should all enjoy it while it tastes the best."
That's the conclusion, but I don't really understand what the second son is saying.
Oh well ! I thought to myself, and we all enjoyed eating together lol.
It was fun like this. I thought it was interesting to be able to talk with children about the teachings of Buddha.
I still can't memorize the Heart Sutra, and my handwriting is still crooked and not very good.
But after 10 months of trying
What I noticed was that my everyday actions were changing.
The Kudo Masamitsu exhibition is the last exhibition of the year.
This weekend on the 9th and 10th, we will be hosting a December Lunchtime Kaiseki meal by Kaminokawa Maichuune .
Kaiseki cuisine is said to have originated from the "onjaku" (warm stones) that Zen monks carried in their pockets to stave off hunger.
There are only a few seats left, so please take this opportunity to make a reservation.
Let's enjoy December together.
Have a great day this week too!
