|
|
|
| Whitey Ahner was once a puppy. |
Reply to Lady Onichi-nyo
I had already received the three hundred coins that you sent by the hand of Ben-bo [Nissho], and now you have again sent
me two hundred coins.
The Buddha, being truly worthy of respect, never judges by the size of one’s offerings.
In the past, Tokusho Doji offered a mudpie to the Buddha, and was reborn as King Ashoka and ruled over all of Jambudvipa.
A poor woman cut off her hair and sold it to buy oil [for the Buddha], and not even the winds sweeping down from Mount Sumeru
could extinguish the flame of the lamp fed by this oil. Accordingly, your offerings of two and three strings of coins are
far greater even than those made by one who, ruling over the country of Japan, offers the entire nation and a pagoda he has
constructed that is adorned with the seven kinds of treasures and that towers as high as the Trayastrimsha heaven.
A single character of the Lotus Sutra is like the great earth, which gives rise to all things .
A single character is like the great ocean, which contains the
water from all rivers. A single character is like the sun and moon, which illuminate the four quarters.
This single character changes and becomes the moon. The moon changes and becomes a Buddha? Rice plants change and become
seedlings. Seedlings change and become stalks. Stalks change and become rice. Rice changes and becomes a person. And a person
changes and becomes a Buddha. A woman changes and becomes the single character myo. The character myo changes and becomes Shakyamuni Buddha seated on a lotus pedestal. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
With my deep respect,
Nichiren
To Lady Onichi
|
|
| I actually struck out here. I guess I can't pitch to myself very well. |
I swung and I missed, actually, a couple of times! I wasn't the great performer on this day.
Not that it would have mattered anyway.
|
|
| Do you happen to remember me driving this car? |
The Ford that we had, got dented up quite a bit during its 7 years of service. I really should
have kept her. Maybe it's not such a good idea to go shopping for a car with one's wife.
|
|
| Taken when I was over 140 kilograms. |
This little number is located in Kawashima Machi, Nobeoka. It's just a five minute drive up the mountain.
There's a shrine at the top where green tea can be had for free. There's a certain sound that can only come from deep
in the mountains.
|
|
| Chopping block of long ago in Nobeoka. |
That flat stone there is where many a head has been severed. It's the old execution grounds of Nobeoka.
Not a lot of people are proud of the place.
|
| It's out of my bedroom window, taken by a telescopic camera. |
When are you going to learn that you are best on your own?
|
