“Whatever you do, whether it’s washing dishes, scrubbing floors, or working at a job, throw yourself into it with all your energy.” I have learned that when I do a half-hearted job, I get a half-hearted experience.
by David Suzuki
This quote is from:
Conversational truth tells you that you can make mistakes.
Transcendental truth tells you that you cannot ultimately make the wrong decision.
Intuition is not about certainty. It is about Trust and Faith.
Faith is the courage to treat everything that happens as exactly what you need for your highest good and learning.
Sometimes you are guided directly onto a difficult path to test you, temper you and teach you to deal with difficulties and evolve in the process.
Life won’t always give you what you want, but consistently give you what you need.
It won’t always tell you what you want to hear, but it will tell you where to go, what you need to do and whom you can trust.
This Faith awakens intuition, an expanded way of knowing, seeing, and doing in the world.
by Dan Millman
My conflict arises a question: whether I want to simply to help or encourage people or I want to have a better job or reputation. The old sayings from Japanese forefathers show me the way to go forward:
One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace.
Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train
by Morihei Ueshima “The Art of Peace” (translated by John Stevens)
Who says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
When you know that my poems are not poems,
Then we can discuss poetry!
by Ryokan “Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems” (translated by John Stevens)
When I feel that “the grass is greener on the other side,” I recite this poem;
If someone asks
My abode
I reply:
“The east edge of The Milky Way”
Like a drifting cloud,
Bound by nothing:
I just let go
Giving myself up
To the whim of the wind.
by Ryokan “Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems” (translated by John Stevens)
Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969): Japanese greatest martial artist – Aikido
Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk. He wrote poetry which includes a lot of wisdoms of life and the essence of Zen life.
I wonder if you have had the experience of having a dream as if it is real. If so, how wonderful it is if one meets someone in the dream whom one is longing to see again.
I had such a dream last night.
In the dream, I am about eight or nine years old. I am playing with my brother who is three or four. We are playing with toys and singing together. While we are playing together, we find giant pants. Finally, we find out that these pants are our mom’s. We are surprised how big they are!
When we burst into laughter, the dream ended. Then, I woke up. I was not sure where I was, because the dream was so real. My brain was still in the dream, however, what I saw was a simple room where I live at present. I felt like I’d had a trip back to the past.
I thought: “How cute my brother was in the dream!” I felt strong nostalgia and my eyes got red.
It was a wonderful dream. I met my brother who was three… Of course, he is an adult now, happily living in Japan. Thus, I am not able to see my little brother any more, but except in my dream.
I found other four Ryokan’s beautiful poems.
In the empty doorway many petals are scattered;
As they fall they blend with the song of the birds.
Slowly, the bright spring sun appears in the window
And a thin line of smoke drifts from the incense burner
Today’s begging is finished;
at the crossroads I wonder by the side of Hachiman Shrine
Talking with some children.
Last year, a foolish monk;
This year, no change!
Standing alone beneath a solitary pine;
Quickly the time passes.
Overhead the endless sky-
Who can I call to join me on this pass?
Spring – late at night
I go for a walk.
A trace of snow lingers on the pines and cedars.
The bright moon hangs over the mountains.
I think of you, many rivers and mountains away;
Countless thoughts, but the brush does not move
translated by John Stevens (2006). One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan . Weatherhill
Ryokan (1758-1831) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk. He wrote poetry which includes a lot of wisdoms of life and the essence of Zen life. I would like to introduce his poems.
If there is beauty, there must be ugliness;
If there is right, there must be wrong,
Wisdom and ignorance are complementary,
This is an old truth, don’t think it was discovered recently
“I want this, I want that”
Is nothing but foolishness
I’ll tell you a secret
“All things are impermanent!”
The rain has stopped,
the clouds drifted away, and the weather is clear again.
If you heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon the fleeting world, abandon yours,
Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way
Ryokan liked play with kids, he also left the following poem.
We throw a little woolen ball back and forth
I don’t want to boast of my skill, but
If someone asks me the secret of my art, I tell him,
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven
translated by John Stevens (2006). One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan . Weatherhill
Dear my mom:
It was a great time with you during the Christmas holiday. We had not seen since you had a surgery of your heart last January. I had been worried about you until I saw your face at the airport on the arrival day in Japan. You said that you lost weight because the medicine you were taking for your heart made it difficult for you to eat as much as you had eaten before. I did not say anything about it, but I saw your becaming smaller and weaker. It made me so sad as I had believed that you were stronger than me, but now, it seems that I am stronger than you. It makes me realize that time changes everything. How difficult it is to accept this fact. However, at the same time, I also learn from you that being old is beautiful. I see your kindness and love getting stronger. You might not know how sad it was to say again, “See you next year!” when I left Japan after the Christmas holiday. I hope that we will see each other next year, will go to our favorite Udon (Japanese needle) restaurant together, and will make a Japanese traditional New Year’s meal for my dad. I am deeply grateful for having you as my mother and my best friend.
Your daughter (January 17, 2009)
When I was watching the program of CNN Heroes 2008, I was thinking who my hero was.
My hero’s name is Chiune Sugihara who saved more than 6000 Jewish people during WWII. He is well-known as “the Japanese Schindler.” His contribution taught me how important it is to help people beyond different cultures and languages.
Chiune Sugihara was the first Japanese consul general in Lithuania in the early 1900’s. While he was there, the Second World War became a fierce conflict. In Germany, Hitler directed the army to kill many Jewish people. Jewish refugees tried to flee the war. The Jewish people in Lithuania tried to find a way to escape as well.
One day, Chiune noticed that there were a lot of Jewish people in front of the Japanese Embassy. They were asking to be given visas for transit to Japan. However, the Japanese government did not allow him to issue visas to the Jewish people.
Chiune thought how important it was for humans to save people’s lives and not to follow the Japanese government’s order. Against the Japanese government’s order, he decided to issue more than 6000 visas without taking a rest. It was in July through August, 1940.
One day, Chiune received the final order from the Japanese government to return to Japan. For this reason, he was forced to stop issuing visas to them.
After he returned to Japan, he was fired and lost his job as a Japanese diplomat. The Japanese government kept in secret what he did during WWII for a long time. However, the Jewish people who were saved by Chuine did not forget him and gave him a prize for humanity.
What Chuine Sugihara did for the people was impressive for me and taught me what is most important for humans. Similarly, he taught me that one person has a small power, but each one can help others if we are brave.
CNN Heroes 2008: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/cnn.heroes/index.html
Chune Sugihara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiune_Sugihara
I am trying to recall my initial reason why I decided to study in the United States. it started with the moment that I was diagnosed with sterility because of severe stress from overwork and family concerns about ten years ago. As I was told by the doctor that I needed to take a rest, I had to quit my favorite job. Similarly, I faced having to give up my dream of getting married with someone and building my family as there is still a traditional custom in Japan that women should have babies as long as they are married.
I knew that that it would be easy to feel sorry for myself and to think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. However, I tried to think as to what I could do in my life and to be grateful for what I had at the present.
A few months later after I left my previous job, I got a new job. Less responsibility, l usually left work at 5:00 p.m., and my health condition got better.
One day, my boss suggested that I go to an English evening school. Then my new life started. However, it had been still hard for me to give up not having a baby. Around then, I came across a poster on the bulletin board of the English school. The poster came from a NGO which was looking for sponsors who would send money to children in the Philippines who could not go to school because of their poverty. The decision was not easy because I had to send about 40 dollars every month because my income was so small. However, I saved the money and joined this sponsorship program. Now, I have a girl in the Philippines. I began sending aid to her in 2000. At that time she was in the first grade of the elementary school and will become a junior high school student this year. I receive a card from her every Christmas and a record of her progress (such as her grades or her health condition with her picture). As I don’t have any income now, I wonder how long I will be able to keep supporting her, however, I hope that I will find a way to keep sending her the aid and that she will receive good education because she wants to be a nurse.
Through English learning, I meet many people and learn that there are a lot of people who are suffering from poverty, who cannot go to school, and so forth. By becoming an English teacher, I want to teach the joy of learning about the world in order to create a global network enabling people to help each other beyond different cultures, races, and religions. After graduating from school, I want to teach English as a second language to learners from different nationalities. That is the reason why I am studying TESOL in the United States. I might be too arrogant to want to help people, however, if possible, I want to achieve this goal.
Even though I will not have my own babies, I have my Filipino child. English learning allows me to communicate with her smoothly. Through meeting her, I have learned that languages and education might play an important role to build a bridge between different cultures and people. I hope that my Filipino child will realize that the world is one some day.
The information about the NGO (Childfund Japan): http://www.childfund.or.jp/english.html
I am inspired by a Junkyo Oishi, who was a writer, geisha, artist, and Buddhist nun in
early twentieth-century Japan. She was born in 1888 in Osaka. She used to be a geisha
and an actress of kabuki theater until her arms were cut off by her foster father in 1905.
After this tragedy occured when she was seventeen, her life was a series of ups and
downs.
As she did not go to schools, she could not read and write. When asking many schools
and places to teach the characters, her request was rejected because she had no arms.
Then, she asked elementary school students to teach on the streets. After that, she met
a Buddhist monk who understood her desire for learning and became her tutor.
Through the experience of meeting the monk, she came to want to become a Buddhist
nun, however, the monk recommended that she get married with someone in order to
understand humanities as a woman, a mother, and a wife.
According to this advice from the monk, Junkyo got married with an artist and had two
sons, however, her marriage was not successful. After getting divorced when she was
thirty nine, she published her autobiography entitled, “Horie Story.” The story
produced a silent movie in 1931.
In 1933, she became a nun and started activities to help impaired people.
She also established an institute for impaired people in Bukkoin Temple located in
Kyoto. This is the first school to educate such people. In 1949, when she was sixty-one,
she re-edited her autobiography and re-published entitled “Mute no Shiawase”.
Beside these activities, she drew pictures, gave lectures around the Japan, and visited
other countries such as China and Germany.
More information: http://www.yy007.com/ohishi/
Jynkyo Oishi
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