(Out of The Tokyo Bay, The Sagami Bay and The Pacific Ocean)The Changeable Might Become Unchanging
It is fine this morning as if promised by the good taste of wine in the eve.
Importantly for Buddhists, it is a Japanese public holiday tomorrow, as it is the Spring Equinox Day.
SECTION I: Another American Poem
Pastoral
William Carlos Williams
When I was younger
it was plain to me
I must make something of myself.
Older now
I walk back streets
admiring the houses
of the very poor:
....
No one
will believe this
of vast import to the nation.
* * *
Note: They say it shows sympathy to the poor who have nothing to do with any matter of national importance, though rich men in any country need poor men who serve them for salary.
SECTION II: BUDDHA
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My disciples, my end is approaching, our parting is near, but do not lament. Life is ever changing; none can escape the dissolution of the body. This I am now to show by my own death, my body falling apart like a dilapidated cart.
Do not vainly lament, but realize that nothing is permanent and learn from it the emptiness of human life. Do not cherish the unworthy desire that the changeable might become unchanging.
The demon of worldly desires is always seeking chances to deceiver the mind. If a viper lives in your room and you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must first chase it out.
You must break the bonds of worldly passions and drive them away as you would a viper. You must positively protect your own mind.
My disciples, my last moment has come, but do not forget that death is only the end of the physical body. The body was born from parents and was nourished by food; just as inevitable are sickness and death.
But the true Buddha is not a human body: -- it is Enlightenment. A human body must die, but the Wisdom of Enlightenment will exist forever in the truth of the Dharma, and in the practice of the Dharma. He who sees merely my body does not truly see me. Only he who accepts my teaching truly sees me.
After my death, the Dharma shall be your teacher. Follow the Dharma and you will be true to me.
During the last forty-five years of my life, I have withheld nothing from my teachings. There is no secret teaching, no hidden meaning; everything has been taught openly and clearly. My dear disciples, this is the end.
In a moment, I shall be passing into Nirvana. This is my instruction.
http://www.amidabuddha.org/lastteaching.html
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Thus Buddha died 500 years before the age of Christ.
It is unbelievable that one man who lived and acted in ancient India just as a monk only relying on the power of his understanding human minds and the nature still stands as the most intellectual and smart person in the history.
It is so since only Judaists, Christians, and Muslims who never learnt the teaching of Buddha say that it is not a religion at all, since it has nothing to do with death and Heaven...
(Do not say 'kekko' [wonderful] till you have seen Nikko. So do not say 'kekko'[wonderful] till you have heard Kegon chanting. Même un ange peut jouer de la musique.
http://www.hpmix.com/home/kitano/images/sc4_9_1.mid)
Source: http://www.hpmix.com/home/kitano/C4_3.htm#9