【罪の意識を感じる時に思ふこと】#法話 #小池陽人の随想録 #仏教 #教え

[Things to think about when you feel guilty] "Having driven a heavy cart for a thousand miles, he will suddenly collapse from his walking stick; carrying a heavy burden for ten thousand miles, he will stumble up a hill and die" (Introduction to the Rishukyo Sutra). A heavy cart and a heavy burden represent the heavy things one carries in life. A walking stick and a hill represent the journey of life. To die and die represents death. After death, there is more suffering and fear in the life we are living now than in hell. Recently, NHK's "Buratamori" program featured Mount Koya for three weeks. The first episode featured the stone path that runs from Jison-in Temple at the foot of Mount Koya to the Konpon Daito Pagoda of Mount Koya. The Machiishi Road is the main approach to Mount Koya, where 180 stone pillars called machiishi, about 3 meters high and shaped like a five-ringed pagoda, are erected along the road, every cho (about 110 meters). During the program, Professor Kinoshita Hiroyoshi of Koyasan University said, "I think people in the past had a deep sense of guilt. (If you keep carrying your sins) you can't attain enlightenment. You can't go to the Pure Land. So by praying to each machiishi, they thought that their sins and impurities would be gradually reduced." People in the past walked the arduous path to Mount Koya in order to expiate their sins. The professor also said, "People in the past thought that living itself was a matter of accumulating various sins." Hearing this story, I thought that the biggest difference between the past and the present is this "sense of guilt about living." In order to live, we must take other lives. And when you think about it, we commit many sins every day, such as lying, speaking ill of others, and hurting people's feelings without realizing it. However, I think the degree to which we recognize our sins is clearly different between the past and now. Why? In the past, when people suffered from natural disasters, epidemics, and poverty, I think they would turn to gods and Buddhas. When they didn't know the cause and couldn't find a way to prevent it, they probably thought that the continued bad things were because of their own actions. In contrast, today, when a disaster occurs or we get sick, no one thinks it's their fault. Even when bad things happen one after another that we can't predict or prevent, it's because we believe that there is a cause that is not ourselves and that there is a result. Karma is a truth preached by Buddha, but if you focus only on the rationality that "everything has a cause and an effect," gods and Buddhas will seem far away and will not bring you peace of mind. But is that really the case? When faced with a painful reality, how can people accept that fact and be saved? There is a saying, "You'll get what you deserve." It means that if you do bad things, even when no one is watching, bad results will come back to haunt you eventually, but this saying doesn't make sense to people who can only believe in what they can see. I've actually heard that saying "You'll get what you deserve" is no longer being understood by children these days. I think one of the main reasons for this is that modern life in Japanese society has changed, community ties have weakened, and it has become difficult to pass on traditional culture such as festivals. Festivals are events dedicated to gods and Buddhas. Through these festivals, children have naturally acquired a sense of reverence for beings that transcend humans, such as gods, Buddhas, demons, and hell. For example, many of you may be familiar with "Namahage" and "Shishimai." In fact, in areas where such festivals still exist, children are genuinely afraid of "Namahage" and "Shishi". This fear leads to the feeling that "I won't do anything bad even if I don't get caught," rather than "It's okay as long as I don't get caught." It seems that even if you can fool people, you can't do the same with gods and Buddhas. I think that this feeling that is cultivated in childhood doesn't disappear even when you become an adult. It can be called faith. I think that the feeling that Buddha is watching is important not only for children, but for all people throughout life. As I said before, it may be that you stop doing bad things because you will be punished for them, but even if no one recognizes your good deeds, it also leads to the feeling that Buddha is watching over you, and the peace of mind that Buddha is always watching over you. "The compassionate eye of all living beings" Buddha really is watching over you. When you feel that you are being watched over, you will be able to accept the harsh reality and have the courage to overcome it. ************************************* ■You can also listen to this sermon on Spotify. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/sh... [What is Spotify?] Spotify is a streaming service that allows you to enjoy music an...