title tenen
The March sutra copying session was successfully completed.
The Shokoji Temple copying sutra session is not a calligraphy session, so the goal is not to write characters well.
The purpose is to reflect on ourselves and reaffirm the "essence of things" necessary to make our daily lives peaceful and rich. Furthermore, by chanting the Nembutsu, we hope that at the end, we will be welcomed into the Pure Land like our beloved ancestors.
Last time, we all reaffirmed the importance of "avoiding evil and reforming good."
Recognizing the difficulty of living life to the fullest according to our own goodness as imperfect human beings, in other words ordinary people, I set a goal to spend a month simply trying to "do my best within my capabilities!"
I hope that you will all be able to keep this in mind, even just a little, over the next month.
Well, this month I talked about the "goodness of miscellaneous poisons."
After Honen Shonin showed us the teachings of Nembutsu, chanting the name of Buddha spread rapidly throughout the world. However, people who misunderstood the teachings began to cause problems.
"If chanting the Nembutsu is enough to get you to the Pure Land, then surely it doesn't matter what bad things I do!"
Buddhism is based on the principle of "avoiding evil and cultivating good," and it is premised on being aware of one's own foolishness and living one's life by chanting the Nembutsu with all one's might, so this way of thinking goes against the true spirit of the religion.
"Zatsudoku no Zen" (Goodness of the Poisonous) is a very important way of thinking to prevent this kind of behavior. This means that even if you do good things or appear good on the surface, deep down you are thinking the exact opposite.
For example, I have been speaking based on the purpose of the sutra copying session that I mentioned at the beginning, but what would happen if you forgot that and your goal became to be recognized or to be thought of as a wonderful monk?
I'm sure you will look up difficult words that you can't understand right away and show them off because you want people to think, "Wow, it's amazing that you know such difficult things." But that won't accomplish the original purpose of the Shokoji Sutra Shaking Club.
On the surface, they may appear to be speaking in accordance with the principles of the Shokoji Sutra Calligraphy Club, but deep down they are acting with the desire to be appreciated, which is truly a state of "goodness amongst poisons."
I am trying my best to stay true to my purpose, but I am tormented every day by being unable to let go of evil thoughts such as wanting to be appreciated.
I would appreciate it if you would not be distracted by my own shortcomings or by outside stimuli, but would simply face yourself and do your best to approach things with a sincere heart as much as possible.
At this month's sutra copying meeting, we reaffirmed the importance and difficulty of being careful as imperfect people (ordinary people) to avoid becoming "poisonous good," and we all prayed together that all participants would be able to live peaceful lives until the next sutra copying meeting, and we were able to complete the meeting without any problems, chanting the Nembutsu.
Joining hands in prayer
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