2020年2月

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　
This morning, I tried to write my blog, but any ideas didn’t occur to me.
Then, I went out and took a walk to the Tenryu River. It was a little cloudy and cold. Watching the flowing river, the famous opening passage of Hojyoki written above came to my mind. It is a universal truth as his following saying,”So it is with man and all his dwelling places here on earth.”

H?j?ki ( literally “square-j? record”) is an important and popular short work of the early Kamakura period (1185?1333) in Japan by Kamo no Ch?mei. Written in 1212, the work depicts the Buddhist concept of impermanence (muj?) through the description of various disasters such as earthquake, famine, whirlwind and conflagration that befall the people of the capital city Kyoto. The author Ch?mei, who in his early career worked as court poet and was also an accomplished player of the biwa and koto, became a Buddhist monk in his fifties and moved farther and farther into the mountains, eventually living in a 10-foot square hut located at Mt. Hino. Ch?mei based his small hut, and much of his philosophical outlook, on the accounts of the Indian sage Vimalak?rti from the Vimalak?rti S?tra.　　
―From Wikipedia　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Recently here in Hamamatsu City, many houses were pulled down and the ground became a vacant space or parking lots.
I, becoming an old monk, sometimes remember the deceased with fondness. In the past few years, my master Oi Saidan Roshi, dharma brother Ryo-san, and my mother passed away.
The representatives of supporters group of Syoko-ji and old monks of neighboring temples, who had helped me from the beginning of my walks as Syoko-ji Osyo also all went to their rest.
Knowing the impermanence of the world and the fragility of human life, every morning, I appreciate the present of the day and renew my will to live mindfully and joyfully.
Therefore, I got started a simple morning habit of writing down the schedule and theme of the day. After a little stretching, qigong, and zazen, I think about one day schedule and theme in front of a piece of　white Japanese paper and write it down with a writing brush.
This habit is becoming a morning ritual for me to live every day directly connecting with the cosmic life.

「ゆく川の流れは絶えずして」

ブログのテーマがなかなか思いつかず
気分転換に近くの天竜川のほとりまで歩きました。

ゆったりと流れる川面をながめていて
ふと思い浮かんだのが、方丈記の有名な冒頭の一文です。

鴨長明の時代も、AI時代といわれる現代も
方丈記の根底にある「諸行無常」の真理に変わりはありません。

『世の中にある人とすみかと、またかくのごとし』とあるように

ここ浜松市内も、あちらこちらでいつの間にか建物が壊され空き地になっています。
この頃は、私自身が老僧となってきたせいか
亡くなった人のことを思い起こすことが多くなりました。
近年、師匠の大井際断老師と弟弟子の良さん、そして母親が他界しました。
30年ほど前、祥光寺に移ってきた頃にお世話になった総代さんや近隣の老僧も
ほとんどお亡くなりになりました。

世の無常、人の命の無常を思うにつれ
今日一日生かされて「在る」ことが有り難く感じられ
一日一日を愛おしみ大事に生きようとの思いを深くしています。

そこで始めたことが、一日の予定と課題を明記することです。
朝起きれば、まずストレッチや簡単な気功で身体をほぐしてから坐禅をし
今日一日の命をどう使うか白紙にむかって考え、墨筆で一日の予定と課題を明記しています。
おかげで 一瞬一瞬 一日一日を、心源の神仏と直結して、あるがままの命を充実して暮らすことが出来ているように思います。