michael lambe

Here’s “this month’s word” as posted in all the classrooms around my school:

善き友があり善き仲間と
ともにあることはこの聖なる
道のすべてある

yoki tomo ga ari yoki nakama to
tomoni aru koto ha kono seinaru
michi no subete aru
My co-teacher mumbled something about it probably being from some sutra or other, but he basically had no idea. It is obviously old though. Notice the old fashioned よき [...]

Very often these aphorisms from Buddhist scripture can seem like obvious common sense. Still, it’s good to remind yourself of these things and bear them in mind as you go about your day. This one is posted up in my school staffroom. 
あやまちを指摘する人は害のありかを知らせる人
ayamachi wo shiteki suru hito ha gai no arika wo shiraseru hito
あやまち ayamachi – [...]

This is a line from the Buddhist sutras I’ve seen posted up around my school recently.
滴の水でも果ては甕を満たす
shizuku no mizu demo hate ha kame wo mitasu
滴 shizuku – a drop, a drip
水 mizu – water
果て hate – the end
甕 kame – a jar, a jug
満たす mitasu – fill
Even dripping water, eventually fills a jar.
This follows on nicely [...]

This is the 今月のことば or word for the month at my school:
千里の行も足下に始まる。
千里 senri – a thousand ri (a ri is a measure of distance equivalent to 4km).
行 kou – as a verb this kanji means go, but here as a noun we can say journey
も mo – also, even
足下 ashimoto – feet but more probably here [...]

We haven’t had one of these for a while. Here’s this month’s meditation from Hozouji.

心の安穏こそ、身の極楽
Kokoro no annon koso, mi no gokuraku
心　kokoro – can mean heart, but also mind or soul
安穏 annon – peace, quiet, tranquility
こそ koso – used for emphasis
身 mi – body or self
極楽 gokuraku – (heavenly) bliss, the Buddhist Pure Land or Paradise.
身も心も [...]

Ted left me a bunch of books by Brad Warner before he left and I managed to polish off the first one, Hardcore Zen, pretty damn quick. It’s an easy read though (if you’ve read his blog you’ll be familiar with his light humorous style), and the content is pretty cool too. Basically he details [...]

人の生命は日々に今日や限りと
思い時々にただいまや終わりと
思うべし
[隆寛・一念多念分別事]
hito no seimei ha hibi ni kyou ya kagiri to
omoi tokidoki ni tadaima ya owari to
omou beshi
[by Ryukan founder of the tanengi or many recitation school of Jodo Shu]
This is another one of those Buddhist meditations that get posted up around the walls of my school. Let’s take it to pieces!
人 = person
生命 = life [...]

I don’t think I have mentioned it before but my old college buddy, Craig Meulen, is currently teaching and studying at a renowned Buddhist monastical institute in Himachal Pradesh, India. He has a blog about his experiences there and it is worth checking out.
The ‘real’ Dharamsala is not so high and is very Indian. The [...]

Just time for one last post before the end of the year methinks. There’s a fresh post up on Deep Kyoto of my favorite Irish pub in Kyoto: Gnome. Now for the last message of the year from Hozouji Temple:

It reads: 反省と感謝でおくる除夜の鐘
反省　- hansei = self-reflection
感謝 – kansha = thanks
おくる – okuru = send or give?
除夜 [...]

That’s it. My last class of the year is over and for the next couple of weeks at least I am more or less free. I still have the Saturday morning job at the clinic of course, but that’s far too much fun to be actually considered work. Anyway, now that my teaching year is [...]