The following story is an excerpt taken from a book which I have read in the past but unable to recall which book it was.
As the story goes, a group of fishermen were out fishing, when they suddenly realized that it was nightfall. In all the confusion, the currents had changed, and the fishermen lost their sense of direction. To make matters worse, the moon wasn't out that night, so they frantically built their own light, trying to find their way back to land. Soon, a witty fisherman said, “Put out the light!” Following his orders, the light was quickly put out, and everything became pitch dark. However, as their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they were soon able to see a light from the shoreline, making their way back safely to land.
In this and many other stories, we are often reminded that we become bewildered with what we see directly in front of us that we forget what is important. Are we being too optimistic, desiring only what is enjoyable? If life can always be enjoyable by being optimistic all the time, then there really is no problem. However, being too optimistic all of the time might make life somewhat empty and meaningless.
Recently, I have been having opportunities to talk to students, and I give following example to them. For example, a photograph is developed by various lighting textures filtered through the lens of a camera. If there are bright hues, there are dark hues as well. It is the balance of these lighting textures that creates a photo. It is in the bright hue that the dark hue is visible and adds depth and texture to the photograph. I feel that life is quite similar to the principles of a photograph. When life is "bright," in other words, filled only with enjoyment, it has no depth. Life gains meaning and depth when we are aware of the "shadows." The "shadows" in life is simply referring to the term "limits."
Amida, who has eternal and infinite life, teaches us that there are limits of life. It is when we become one with Amida, that we become aware of life's three limits.
The first limit is "Life's limits." Although we wake up every morning as though it's just another day, waking up is something special in itself. We are living a life in which not waking up from a night's sleep one morning is something unimaginable. "Day after day, we are receiving life." When we realize this, the day becomes precious.
The second limit in life is "The limits of living." What do you think is the foundation on which our life is based on? It is "kill", I think. In order to live, we must eat. By eating, we are taking the life of other living things in order to support and maintain our own. I cannot think of any living things that should have its life taken away. Every living thing receives the aspiration of Amida. However, unfortunately, we must take the life of other living things in order to live. This is what it means to be a human being. We often forget, and further, refuse even to acknowledge that we live (exist) due to the help of other living things, allowing our vanity and conceitedness to make us think that live because of our own will. We must always remember that we are enabled to live because of the support of so many other living things. We must endeavor to appreciate the lives of all other living things that are enabling us to maintain our own life. Realizing that we are given the opportunity to live is showing that we are realizing the limits in what we call life itself.
The third limit in life is "The limit of one's heart." There is a poem written by Shohaku Asada which goes…
I treasure myself.
It was only with this, that I was living.
When that feeling turned into a deep feeling of sadness,
A different world
Opened up to me.
It is said that once the author realized his own egotistical self, a different world had opened up to him. I don't believe that I need to add any further explanation. Even though we may not realize our limits, we can continue to live. However, since I have been given this "life," I, therefore, would like to live a truly meaningful life.
Namo Amida Butsu
Tatsuya Aoki
