Dharma Talks

Good morning, everyone! Happy Father's Day!

Today, we have just held the Father's Day service. I am afraid that some of you lost your father. When we celebrate the Father's Day, you may feel sad. However, you have another father. He is the Buddha. He said in the Lotus Sutra, that I am the father of the worlds.

Anyway, let me share an old story with you today. A long time ago, there was a man named Kihachi. He always spoke ill of others and was not kind and considerate. He had never appreciated others since he was born and called even his parents names in some cases. He didn't care how many people he harmed

One night, the Buddha appeared in his dream and said, “Kihachi, Kihachi! You are truly unwise and a man possessed of an ugly mind. Last evening, you made fun of the looks of the girl next door. You don't understand how deeply she was hurt. She was No. 9,999 of the people you have injured. If you hurt one more person, the total number of people you harmed would be 10,000 and you will be killed because of your misdeeds. However, you are also my child. You will be given this one chance to make things right. Go outside in the morning. You will see a stake with 9,999 nails. This is the number of people you have injured. Whenever you injured someone, the number of nails was increased by one. However, if you are appreciated or give pleasure to others, the nails will be decreased one by one. Do not create any more nails until all of them are gone.” Next morning, he woke up and saw a stake with many nails in front of his house just as the Buddha had said. He was so surprised to see so many nails. So, he stopped speaking ill of others at once since he didn't want to die. From that moment on, he tried to do good things motivated by self-preservation. People around him doubted the sincerity of his behavior in the beginning. However, they were gradually convinced and began to appreciate his efforts. Kihachi reflected, “This is what to be appreciated. I don't know why, but it makes me warm at the bottom of my heart.” Since then, he never spoke ill of others and tried to do his best for others everyday. The people were happy about his change of heart and sometimes gave him some rice and vegetables. Kihachi act with more genuine consideration for others, but he was also feeling good about the appreciation they showed him for the things he did. Before he knew it, all of many nails on the stake vanished. Suddenly, the Buddha appeared before him again and said, “Kihachi, Kihachi! You did a good job. All nails are already gone.” Kihachi was so surprised to see the Buddha again. He went out to see the stake and all the nails were gone as the Buddha said. He had stopped worrying about the nails for some time and this was the first time he noticed that they were gone. He could not stop his tears. The Buddha continued, “You have been totally transformed and have eliminated all of your offences. However, look at the stake carefeully again. There are no nails, but there are many holes there. It is easy to pull a nail out, but it is very hard to fill in holes. Kihachi, you should try to do so with your whole life.” Then, the Buddha and the stake both disappeared. What the Buddha had told made him realize again how serious his misdeeds were. He deeply regreted what he had done and again cried very hard. Although the stake and the nails were gone, he spent all of his days not to forget the effects of his former offences and to make amends for them.

What do you think of this story? This story contains many teachings. For example, our mind is invisible. However, our mind is deeply injured and its scars remain for a long time. It is unfortunate that we sometimes don't pay attention to other's feeling. We don't realize the injuries we cause and the scars that remain. We have to be very careful. We all know that it is important to express what we think. It is also important to listen to other's thinking and try to understand them. Trying to understand others is called consideration. Kihachi didn't have any consideration at first. He never tried to understand others. As the result, he left deep scars on many people's minds. Injury may be cured someday. Scars are hardly ever fully healed. It often remains for life. To cause scars is a very grievous thing. If each of us has more consideration and makes an effort to understand others a little more, we all know that our world will be much better. We also know that it is very difficult for all of us to do this at once. I know that all of you here have enough consideration already. However, if you have it just a little more and tell others to do so, our society will be changed starting right here and now.

In addtion to that, I want you to understand one more thing from the story of Kihachi. The Buddha said, “Kihachi, you will be killed because of your misdeeds.” The meaning of this is very important. The Buddha didn't say, “I will kill you because of your misdeeds.” The Buddha didn't say, “I will give you punishment because of your misdeeds,” either. What the Buddha said was that he would be killed because of his misdeeds. Who is going to kill Kihachi? The Buddha? No! The Buddha never kills anybody. The Buddha never gives us even a single penalty. What would kill Kihachi were his own misdeeds. He was killing himself. Although he might not notice it, he was killing himself by his own actions. When I was a child and did mischief, my parents scolded me and often said that I would get some penalties. I thought that the Buddha would give me a penalty. I was very afraid of the Buddha at that time. However, that was not true. What we have to be afraid of most is what we think, say, and do. Our actions always come back to us. That is the Buddha's teaching. We call it the teaching of karma or causality. Karma means the law of cause and effect. Causality means that all phenomena are produced by causes and conditons, especially the causes that are our own actions. Kihachi was almost killed beacause he did bad things. He was so pleased because he was appreciated for what he did. He had to receive many results depending on his behavior. This is the law of cause and effect. This is the one of the most important teaching of the Buddha. It also said that what the Buddha awakened to was causality.

Today, we are holding the Father's Day Service. I want you to think how deeply the Buddha is thinking of us. I pray for you to be happier with the teachings of another father, the Buddha. Thank you very much.