Urashiro Nobeoka, a Progressive City in Japan - English Classes: Tel: 0982-34-5666 - Howard Ahner

Aspiration for the Buddha Land
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Zaikouji Youchein, Hyuga January 22, 2009
"Earthly desires are enlightenment; the sufferings of birth and death are nirvana."
August 2008 Videos
Takoyaki Stand in Kadogawa Town has been closed down.
Double Decker Gasoline Stand in Japan Still Exist in Nobeoka
You can gamble on the horses in Kadogawa at a Keirin place in Kadogawa Cho.
Nobeoka Salmon is Delicious!
How does one process one's rice in Japan?
A Typical Bus Stop in Totoro Town, Nobeoka, Japan
Nobeoka Strawberries
The Kadogawa Homewide used to be on this location. Now there is a Lawson Convenience Store
A Good Friend
Kobato in February, 2008
We went shopping at Point Peg in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki
We seldom go to this Joyfull Restaurant in Idekita, Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Ken
Here's a walk-over bridge in Nobeoka City, Japan
Here's the Joyfull Restaurant near the road to Takachiho in Nobeoka.
Let's study at Sazanpia, Nobeoka.
There's an Okonomiyaki restaurant over there that I like very much. It's in Nobeoka.
This used to be the "Anne's House" of Nobeoka. Do you know the one on Beach Blvd in Buena Park, CA?
Here's the only Surfer's Shop in Nobeoka.
This Nishi No Maru Pachinko Parlor in Nobeoka is still closed.
And, yes, they even have a Colonel Sander's in Nobeoka.
This is perhaps the bussiest Pachinko Parlor in Nobeoka City.
Gasoline is going down in price. It's now 93 yen a liter. A liter is about a quart, I believe.
Some of you old timers may remember the motorcycle hanging from that yard arm over there.
I am still living easy in the city of Nobeoka, Japan.
The old Chalon Restaurant has been turned into a "rotary sushi bar".
At this Pachinko Parlor, the steel balls now cost 1 yen each. They used to cost 3 yen each.
And, we do have a Mr. Donut here in Nobeoka. We are not barbarians, you know.
In Nobeoka, we even have a Baskin Robin's - 31 Flavors ice cream parlor.
Moss Burger is the closest thing to a good hamburger joint one can find in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki
Old Ahner Family Pictures
Mondays at 5:30 pm at the Ahner House in Tsurugaoka, Nobeoka for English Classes
Urashiro Excursion on February 20, 2008 (My Birthday!)
Old Nobeoka
Granite City, Illinois
Hitting Home Runs
The Embankments of Faith
A Father Takes Faith
A Sage Perceives the Three Existences of Life
A Ship to Cross the Sea of Suffering
A Warning against Begrudging One's Fief
An Outline of the Zokurui and Other Chapters
Aspiration for the Buddha Land
Banishment to Sado
Beneficial Medicine for All Ills
Bestowal of the Mandala of the Mystic Law
Bodhisattva Hachiman
Clear Sake Gosho
Urashiro Link
A & A Hotel has been replaced by Urban Hotel in Nobeoka

Aspiration for the Buddha Land

It is now the last ten-day period of the eleventh month. While I was living in Kamakura in Sagami Province, I thought that the changing of the four seasons was the same in all provinces, but in the two months that have passed since I arrived in this northern province of Sado, the icy winds have been blowing without pause, and although there are times when the frost and snow stop falling, one never sees the sunlight. I feel the eight cold hells in my present body. The hearts of the people here are like those of birds and beasts; they recognize neither sovereign, teacher nor parent. Even less do they distinguish between truth and error in Buddhism, or between good and evil teachers. But I will say no more of this.

When I sent back from Teradomari the lay priest whom you had dispatched on the tenth day of the tenth month to accompany me, I wrote and entrusted to him certain teachings for you. As you have probably surmised from these, the advent of the Great Law is already before our very eyes. In the two thousand two hundred years and more since the Buddha's passing, in all of India, China, Japan and the entire world, [as the Great Teacher T'ien-t'ai states:] "Vasubandhu and Nagarjuna clearly perceived the truth in their hearts, but they did not teach it. Instead, they preached the provisional Mahayana teachings, which were suited to their times." T'ien-t'ai and Dengyo gave a general indication of it but left its propagation for the future. Now this secret Law, the one great reason for which all Buddhas make their advent, will be spread for the first time in this country. And is not Nichiren the very person who propagates it?

The portents of its rise have already appeared. The great earthquake of the past Shoka era was a major omen of a kind never before witnessed in previous ages, one totally unprecedented in the twelve generations of divine rule, the ninety reigns of human emperors, and the two thousand two hundred years and more since the Buddha's passing. The Jinriki chapter [of the Lotus Sutra] states, "Because [there will be those who] faithfully uphold this sutra after the Buddha's passing, all the Buddhas rejoice and display their limitless mystic powers." It also refers to "all the laws of the Buddha." Once this great Law spreads, the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings as well as the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra will no longer provide even the slightest benefit. The Great Teacher Dengyo states, "When the sun rises, the stars go into hiding." And the preface written by the priest Tsun-shih reads, "At the beginning of the Latter Day of the Law, [Buddhism rises in the east and] illuminates the west." This great Law has already appeared. The signs heralding its advent far surpass those of previous ages. In pondering the significance of this, I realize it is because the time [for propagation] has arrived. The sutra states: "[Among these bodhisattvas] were four who led the entire multitude. The first was called Jogyo..." It also reads, "One who is able to uphold this sutra in the evil age of the Latter Day of the Law...," and "To seize Mount Sumeru and fling it far off..."

I would like you to gather and keep together in one place the five notebooks I mentioned to you, which contain essential passages from the various sutras and from the Daichido Ron. Please make sure that the essential passages from the treatises and commentaries as well do not become scattered and lost. Tell the young priests not to neglect their studies. You must not lament too bitterly over my exile. The Kanji and Fukyo chapters clearly state [that the votary of the Lotus Sutra will meet persecution]. Life is limited, and we must not begrudge it. What we should aspire to, after all, is the Buddha land.

Nichiren

The twenty-third day of the eleventh month in the eighth year of Bun'ei (1271)
I am sending back some of the young priests [who accompanied me here to Sado]. You can ask them what this province is like and about the circumstances under which I live. It is impossible to describe these matters in writing.

  

I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

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...we made it to Shima No Ura, Nobeoka...

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...in fact, I did hit a grand slam while playing for the Giants in Little Leage, Santa Ana, CA...

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Come and study English with us! Tel: 0982-34-5666 in Nobeoka...

I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo