Friday, 6th December 2024
Thich Nhat Hanh's book
I attended a kindergarten run by a temple.
My eldest brother, who died when he was three, wanted to attend that kindergarten.
My parents converted to the sect of the temple that ran the kindergarten.
They then built a grave on the hill behind the kindergarten and buried my eldest brother.
For a while after his death, my mother went to his grave every day.
When my mother was praying in front of the grave, the previous head priest of the temple was chanting sutras behind her.
When my second brother entered that kindergarten, the previous kind priest passed away.
My second brother and another kindergarten pupil read the farewell address at the priest's funeral.
A large number of seat cushions with the shop name of the shop my parents ran must still be at the temple.
They were donated by the parents.
After they lost their first boy, they kept a lot of tropical fish.
Then they kept birds.
After a while, a second brother was born.
Because he was a boy, my father bought my mother a diamond ring.
My father probably wanted an heir to his business.
More months passed from there, and I was born when my parents were 42 years old.
My father told my second brother that if his third child was a girl, he would leave her at the maternity hospital.
In other words, he didn't want a girl.
My second brother was five years old at the time.
He would never have doubted my father's story.
But when I was born, my father doted on me.
I feel very sorry for my second brother.
My mother repeatedly told me about the episodes I have described.
I understood that I was truly not wanted.
Why am I writing this story?
Yes, I wanted to write about my connection to Buddhism.
Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist monk from Vietnam.
He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by the Rev Martin Luther King Jr.
Thich Nhat Hanh was prevented from returning home because of his anti-war protests in Washington DC.
He then went into exile in France.
I borrowed a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, Present Moment Wonderful moment, from the library.
It is a book that I have learnt a lot from.
I haven't finished it yet.
I usually tend to neglect myself.
I used to even forget to breathe.
The conflicts of the past and fears for the future swirled in my head.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes clearly about Buddha's doctrines.
In particular, he repeatedly tells us to concentrate on the breath.
Calm your body when you breathe in and smile when you breathe out.
He wrote to smile not only in the shape of the mouth, but also in the eyes.
There was a Buddhist story I was taught in kindergarten called Postomani.
The postomani was a rat.
When she saw humans living happily, she always wished to be a human.
One day, Postomani's wish came true and she became a human woman.
She was also a wealthy woman.
Postomani lived happily, feasting every day.
But one day, her parents and siblings from when she was a rat came and said to Postomani:
Give us something to eat.
Postomani replied:
I don't know you.
Go away, you rats.
At that moment, the world went dark.
Postomani was back to being a rat.
Although I am not an a devoted Buddhist, I used to read many of these stories in the monthly booklet.
And every month, we would go to the temple's main hall with my prayer beads and pray to Nono-sama.
Nono-sama probably means Buddha.
Present Moment, Wonderful Moment is a book of ghatās to chant in order to be compassionate in the present and not to be distracted by the past or the future.
The ghatā is like a short poem.
It contains ghatās for all aspects of life.
The one I learnt immediately after reading it was the ghatā to chant when getting dressed.
I thought I had remembered it, but now I've forgotten it.
It said: 'When I wear clothes, I thank the people who made them, I thank the material they are made of, no one will ever be in lack of clothes'.
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