The Higan festival is an event where people watch the sun set due west, turn their thoughts to the Pure Land, and chant prayers to the Buddha. Although it has become a cultural event in Japan, its roots are in Buddhism and it is based on the teachings of Nembutsu.
We are so busy with our daily lives that we forget what is important and what is essential, and we end up repeating trivial things. In order to refresh our own thoughts and actions, we need to participate in Buddhist ceremonies, introspect, reaffirm what is important, and make our daily lives brighter from today onwards, which will directly lead to a calm mind and body. When reaffirming what is important through introspection, it is most effective to do so while facing the Buddha and our ancestors. This is because there are many important things there that you can quickly absorb into yourself. There are many lessons from our ancestors that you could not understand when you heard them before, but now you can understand them. In fact, it is okay to make the same mistakes even after taking that into account. This will make you realize that the successes and failures of our ancestors, which at first glance seemed easy, were not easy at all. At that time, you will deeply understand their hardships, and you will feel respect and gratitude.
The Higan Festival provides us with such precious time. At the end of the ceremony, we always chant the Nembutsu. The Nembutsu is a ticket to the Pure Land. You need a ticket to go anywhere. The ticket to the Pure Land is the Nembutsu. That is why we chant the Nembutsu.
The next event is the Juyakai. See you again at the Shokoji temple main hall.
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