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2019-02-11

頼りになりますお念仏 If You Were to Find 1 Million Yen...

八十過ぎのおばあちゃん、車が運転できないので、町まで出かけるのも大変です。タクシーという手もありますが、出費がかさみます。
 かといって、働きに出ている息子やお嫁さんに頼むのも、よほどのことでもないかぎり気がねします。
 幸い今のところ足が達者で、時折、JRを利用して町まで出かけます。もっとも、外出といえば病院にでかけるぐらいのことで、この日も、おばあちゃんは腰の痛み止めの薬をもらいに町にやってきました。

おばあちゃん: 先生、この腰の痛みなんとかならんやろか?
先生 : ほおゆうても年やでね~。
おばあちゃん: ほんなこといわんと、何か腰の傷みがスカッととれる薬はないんにゃろか?
先生 : ほんな特効薬があったらこっちが教えてほしいくらいや。まあ、ばあちゃんの歳で自分で病院にこれるだけでもよろこびなさらんと ...。とにかく、せっかく来なさったんやで、いつもの薬だしときましょう。

 八十にもなると、とかく病院では何でも年のせいにされてしまいます。でも、しょうがないですよね。歳には勝てませんから。
 しばらくたったある日のこと。おばあちゃんは畳の縁につまづいて足首を捻挫してしまいました。なんとか歩くことはできたので、念のためくだんの先生のところに出かけました。
 レントゲン写真をながめた先生が言いました。「おばあちゃんね、この程度の捻挫なら湿布でもして、ほっとけば直りますよ。わざわざ、病院まで来ならんでも。もっと、ひどかったらしかたないけどね ...。」
 これを聞いたおばあちゃん、思わず声を荒げてしまいました。「先生、そんなこというて、ひどい捻挫やったら病院にこれませんがね!」カッとなるのも無理ありません。「自分で病院にこれるだけでも幸せ」って、先生言ってましたものね。
 正直と言えば正直、でも、ちょっと頼りないような。まあ、そんな先生でも頼るしかありません。

 世の中、情報過多。複雑になりすぎて素人にはわからんことだらけ。自己責任といわれても、自信が持てません。だから健康、病気、美容、教育、投資、保険、終活など、テレビ番組大流行。そして必ず登場するのが専門家。日本は国民あげての専門家依存症。それじゃ専門家の言うことを聞いていれば幸せになれるかというと、そうでもない。なぜか不安はますばかり。

 こんな時代だからこそお忘れなく。古よりご先祖が頼りにしてきたのが、阿弥陀仏。おまかせのお念仏。頼りきってのお念仏、おかげさまのお念仏。称えれば、きっと心が安らぎます。

合掌

Relying upon the Nembutsu[prayer for mercy]

 A grandmother of 80-plus years could not drive, so it was difficult to get around town. There is always the taxi, but it costs a lot. Also, she hesitates to ask her son or his wife for a ride unless it's a really big matter, because both of them are busy earning a living.
 Fortunately for now her legs work fine, and occasionally she goes to town using JR. But then, going out for her these days just means a medical appointment. On this day she went out to the hospital to get some medicine for her back pain.

 Grandma: Doctor, this back pain not going away, right?
 Doctor: Well, you are getting older, you know.
 Grandma: Don’t you have any medicine that can make the pain go away all at once, just like that?
 Doctor: If there were anything like that, I do wish you’d tell me about it. Well, you should be happy just being able to come to the hospital on your own... Anyway, you came all this way, so let me get your usual medicine for you.

 At 80 years old, everything can be blamed on getting old. But there’s nothing to do about it, because you do get older, whether you like it or not.
 Something happened a few days later. The grandma stumbled on the edge of the tatami and sprained her ankle. Somehow she was able to walk, so she got herself to the doctor’s just in case.
 The doctor looked at the X-ray and said. "Grandma, when you have a sprain like this, just wrapping it tightly, it will get better; no need to come to the hospital, unless it had been a worse case ...."
 The grandmother heard this and her voice broke unexpectedly. "Doctor, if the sprain were a worse case, then I could not get to the hospital, no matter how bad it is!" No wonder she got upset. The doctor said before, "you should be happy just being able to come to the hospital on your own."
 Well, you could say the doctor was too honest, but you can’t be sure. In the end, though, you’d have to trust him.

 In the world nowadays, there is too much information. It makes life too complicated so that ordinary people get overwhelmed. We’re told to be responsible for ourselves, but we don’t feel confident dealing with everything. On TV shows we are flooded with information about healthcare, illness, beauty, education, investment, insurance, end of life, and so on. And for each topic we get an expert. Japan has an expert syndrome.
 And then if we listen to the experts we should be happy, right; not really. Why is it that our anxiety grows bigger?
 The way things are in the world these days, let’s remember that since ancient times it was the Amida Buddha that our ancestors relied on. Leaving matters in the hands of the Buddha. They totally relied on this. Gratitude for the Nembutsu prayers. It takes away your cares and will surely put your heart at rest.
Gashyo

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