Good morning. This is Yukihiro Shima, from Oubaitori.com.
I woke early today. Around three in the morning. Not from worry — from gladness. I stretched. I swung my arms. Then I sat down and chanted.
▲ This morning’s record. Spoken in Japanese.
Awake at three, because I was glad
As the daimoku rose, one thought came to me. How far is this going to open up? Not “will it open,” but “how far.” That was the feeling in the room this morning.
I am sixty-nine. To feel that at this hour of my life — for that alone, I am glad I have kept chanting.
A door opens. A road appears. You walk. Another door.
Possibility does not widen on its own. There is a road to walk first. How far can I move along it today? That is what I wrestle with each morning.
When I chant, the order is always the same. A door opens. Then the road becomes clear. I walk it. And further on, the next door comes into view.
I am never shown the whole thing at once. Only the next door. But the next door always comes. That is what I have seen so far.
Seen with the eyes of faith, the same world looks different
The world outside is still a hard landscape. I do not pretend otherwise.
But when I look at it with the eyes of faith, the view changes. A road of hope is there, already open, waiting. The scenery has not moved. What I can see has.
“The benefits … are great indeed”
Nichiren Daishonin writes:
“The benefits to be gained by reciting the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo are great indeed.”
— “On Reciting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sutra,” WND-2, p. 229 (Japanese: Gosho, new ed. p. 19 / p. 13)
Great indeed. Not “some.” Not “a little.”
Waking at three because I was glad. A door opening, then another. The same hard world looking different by morning. I take these as a small part of what that word covers.
So I chant again today. Not one daimoku is wasted. After sixty-nine years, that is the thing I am most sure of.
Thank you. Let us chant again today.
🙏 From Yukihiro Shima — Oubaitori.com
Bloom your own way, at your very best.
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