臨済宗方広寺派 祥光寺住職向令孝(こっさん)が、"いまここ道場"スタッフと共に、禅の心をお伝えしています。
坐禅会、接心、オンライン接心、行事・イベントのお知らせ。                      

Mt. Fuji

2020年3月2日 at 09:52

   【Calendar photo of Roky Tanaka】



     Coming out
        From Tago’s nestled cove,
     I gaze:
     white, pure white
     the snow has fallen
         on Fuji’s lofty peak.

               translated by Ian Hideo Levy

This is a superb poem on viewing Mount Fuji by Yamabe Akahito.
Thankfully, on a clear winter morning, I can watch the sun rising over the bank of Tenryu River,
and in the little north side, snowcapped Mt. Fuji glistening in light rose pink by sunshine can be seen.

However, the foot of Mt. Fuji cannot be seen from my temple.
I think the beauty of Mt. Fuji is in the extensive spread of symmetrical foot.

There is a Chinese proverb about the noted Mt. Taishan.
“Mt. Taishan gained its admiration because he had accepted even a tiny lump of earth.”

For me, Mt. Fuji is a symbol of Tolerance accepting everything as it is.

The flowing river never stops

2020年2月7日 at 13:53

                                      
 
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.


What a wonderful world!

2020年1月30日 at 22:21


“amanomini kumono namitachi tsukino fune hoshino hayashini kogikakuru miyu”


On the sea of heaven
the waves of clouds rise
and I can see
the moon ship disappearing
as it is rowed into the forest of stars


―Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, translated by Ian Hideo Levy

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a Japanese Waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asukka period (538-710). He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Manyoshu, the oldest Waka anthology.

Luckily, last September I was able to see the forest of stars on the sea of heaven from a canoe in the Lake Akan National Park just like what Hitomaro described in his poem.


【Starry sky canoe taken by Nao-cyan】

Immanuel Kant said
“Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily we reflect upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”

I think we can come back to the free existence as we are, which should be the base of the moral law, by encountering not only the starry heavens but also every beautiful nature surrounding us, a flower by the wayside, a passing white cloud, the setting sun and the golden red sky. These are ordinary but full of wonder and energy of Cosmic Life.  
What a wonderful world!

KENSHIN “Devotion”

2020年1月9日 at 22:15


I wrote KENSHIN in calligraphy for the first time in the New Year. Devoting an entire mind and body to the Cosmic Life is to realize a true and happy life. The life of KENSHIN leads you to forget yourself and be free from ego. Many of conflict, distress, uneasiness occur from the attachment of ego. Ego, the sense of self, is not reality but an illusion on the surface of the consciousness, and so when you live with the attachment of ego, you will miss the land of love and creation. The Cosmic Life is not an abstract concept but the reality you are just living. The desk, flowers in the vase in your room, trees, children in the garden, all surroundings here and now are the Cosmic Life. The surroundings you can see is limited but real surroundings are not limited, unbounded. The physical eyes cannot see the boundless surroundings, but inner eyes can see it. Continuous daily practice of Zazen and chanting “Namu Amida-Butsu” and other mantras will open your inner eyes with each passing day, and you will realize that you are already living in the Cosmic Life of love and creation, beyond the limited surface of surroundings. Therefore, trust in the Cosmic Life here and now, and devote whole your mind and body to it.
This spirit is Zen.

Shin Gen

2019年6月20日 at 12:15


“Shin Gen”

We are already living the boundless life including the universe.

We call the Life “Zen Shin: Zen life, or “Shin Gen: the source of life”.

My master Oi Saidan Roshi said many times, “Become the universal life of Mu!” at his Dokusan room.
Of course, Mu is not emptiness but the boundless life including the universe.

Ku Kai, Kobo Daishi , who was the founder of the Shingon School of Japanese Buddhism, said ,

“When the straggling thoughts stop, Shin Gen becomes calm and all the virtues already existing deep inside can be realized as splendid activities of love, wisdom, courage, foreseeing, etc.

Zen is the way to reach the root of it and enjoy the spring of spiritual energy welling up from the bottom of the Life.