Dharma Talks

Good morning, everybody!
How are you today?
You are looking good.

As you may know, today is the Tanabata Day.
Some of you may not be familiar with Tanabata. Let me share a brief story of Tanabata with you.

One day, there was a beautiful young lady on the East side of the Milky Way. She was a daughter of the Heavenly King. She was very good at weaving and worked very hard. On the Western side of the Milky Way, there was a good young man who took care a herd of cows. The King allowed them to marry and became very happy. However, they were so happy with each other that they both neglected doing their job. They forgot what they had to do. The King was so upset that he separated away from each other on the both sides of the Milky Way. The King allowed them to see each other only once a year, on July the 7th. They were so disappointed at first, but soon committed themselves to working hard so that they could see each other again once a year.

Although many people don't realize this, Tanabata is a Buddhist event. The term, “Tanabata” comes from “Tana” and “Hata”. “Tana” means a platform for the spirits of the deceased. We use it for welcoming the spirits of our past family when they return to this world from the other world during the Obon period. “Hata” is a banner in praise of the Buddhas. The day that we prepare “Tana” and “Hata” is July 7th. This is the origin of the “Tanabata.” We decorate Tana with bamboo and tie Tanzaku on its leaves. Why do we use bamboo? It is because it is said that bamboos are where the spirits exist in this world. A tanzaku is a small note on which we write our wishes. They say that there was an event which women prayed to improve their skills of sawing in ancient China. This event was mixed into Tanabata. They prayed to the daughter of the Heavenly King, to improve their skills at Tanabata. This is the origin of using small notes. Those notes came from small banners for hungry spirits at the Buddhist Segaki Service. Although it seems that there is no relationship between Tanabata and Buddhism, they are actually deeply connected.

Anyway, when some of us discussed the story of the daughter of the Heavenly King and the young man, someone mentioned that he envied the young man because he had a beautiful wife, even if they could meet just once a year. Another person told that the young man was lucky because he had to meet his wife once a year. Another person said that they had to go to a divorce court if they were in the US. My impression is that this story is very Buddhist. It is because there is salvation. They must be apart from each other because they were not doing their jobs. It would sound natural if the story told us that they couldn't see each other anymore. However, they are given a chance. They are given hope. This hope is very important.

We are told that we will go to one of the ten worlds after death. The ten worlds from the top are: the world of Buddhas, and then, the world of Bodhisattva, the world of Cause Knowers, the world of Voice-Hearer, the world of heavenly beings, the world of human, the world of battles, the world of animals, the world of hungry spirits, and hell. We will go to one of them depending on what we do in this world. If someone commits many crimes, he would fall to hell and suffer there for a very long time. However, after repaying his sins, he would be given a chance to be reborn to the upper worlds. There is just a chance, no guarantee. Most of them stay there forever. Only a few of them are allowed to go to other worlds. This hope, or you can call it salvation, is a typical thing of Buddhism. In other words, you can find salvation anywhere anytime. That's why I deeply appreciate the teaching of the Buddha. There are many troubles and worries in our daily lives. We sometimes are bewildered that we don't know where to go or how to solve our problems. Some may resign themselves to thinking that suicide is the only answer to their problems. However, please remember that the Buddha teaches that there is hope or salvation even in hell. If so, there is always hope somewhere in our world. There is always salvation for us. That is the teaching of the Buddha.