From this month’s Zen words in Japanese site of Rinzai-Obaku Zen.
Majority is not always right. Sometimes you are alone in the place you think is right. However, if you are not solely wrong the light of truth always shines on you. You should be able to see it.
From this month’s Zen words in Japanese site of Rinzai-Obaku Zen.
Pandemic, extreme weather, struggling economy and even war. Endless gloomy news stories just keep coming. Even though, Zen teaches us that every day is a good day. Really?
It is about opening your eyes to the ultimate truth of life. There is no such a day when the way to the ultimate truth of life is closed. Thus you cannot blame anything but yourself about your uncertainty.
Hei tā te kōrero o te marama i te wāhanga Hapani o te Rinzai-Obaku Zen.
He mate urutā, he tauheke āhuarangi, he paheketanga ohaoha, he pakanga. Kai te haere tonu mai nga pūrākau rongokōrero pouri mutunga kore. Ahakoa rā, e whakaako ana te mātauranga Zen i a mātou he rā pai ia rā ia rā. Pēhea?
Kai te whakatuwhera i o whatu ki te whakaaro nui pono. Kaore he rā pērā e kore e taea te whakamārama. Na reira kaore e taea e koe te whakapae i tētahi mea engari ko koe anō mo to rangirua.
From this month’s Zen words in Japanese site of Rinzai-Obaku Zen.
The headline describes the extent of the breakthrough required to reach the enlightenment.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been so many occasions where common beliefs before the pandemic are overturned. Sometimes it could be hard to swallow for established researchers or reporters of refuted theories.
They might have so much vested interests of prolonged periods based on those theories. However, the “truth” a human believes and the true state of reality could have a huge distance.
From this month’s Zen words in Japanese site of Rinzai-Obaku Zen.
The subject describes how time flies. Zen’s purpose is to comprehend the universal truth of the world in just one grasp from the immediate and present reality.
Throughout the Covid 19 pandemic, the world has seen how delusions keep people from seeing their immediate and present dangers and make them falling into sufferings which could have been prevented. It is quite opposite from what Zen teaches.
This week (Monday 14 – Sunday 20 September) New Zealand celebrates the Māori Language Week. In the current national effort to stump out Covid-19 as the team of five thousand, I want to quote a Māori proverb.
Ko tēnei wiki (14-20 Mahuru 2020) te Wiki o te Reo Māori. Mō te whakanui o te kapa o ngā tāngata e rima miriona e whakakotahi ki te takapapa i te mate korona, māku te kī i tēnei whakataukī:
For the first month in almost 34 years, no crude oil was imported into New Zealand in July 2020, according to a news release from Stats NZ.
That means if we are to wean ourselves off from our reliance on fossil fuel we almost need to continue the life under lockdown without driving cars or flying planes forever.
To beat Covid-19 at the same time reducing our impact on the environment, every one of us would need to be more proactive in exploring alternatives to physically travelling to keep in touch.
Ehara tō tātou āhua noho i te āhua noho whīwhiwhi, engari he te āhua noho piripiri
Hei tā te pānui o te Tatauranga Aotearoa, i kore homai te hinu urutapu ki Aotearoa i Hōngoigoi 2020 i te marama tuatahi i muri i ngā tau e kainamu ki te 34.
Nā konei, mehemea ka whai tātou ki te hoatu te koranehe, ka noho tātou i te taui mā te wara kore mō ake tonu.
Nā tātou katoa te auaha i ngā whakakapi mō ngā hāereere ki te tūhono tāngata.
It is sad to see the world is going back to the starting point in controlling the Covid-19 outbreaks after significant sacrifices as the so-called second waves are posting new record numbers of cases around the world. As it turned out, it was really easier said than done to reopen the business while putting the spread of Covid-19 under control.
Including myself, I honestly admit, the human race is overconfident in balancing acts. I often try to do two things at the same time and most of the time I fail in either one and more often than not, both.
I think that the government around the world should immediately review the current monitoring measures of the spread of Covid-19 and the efficacy of prevention strategies. Clearly there have been the overconfidence effect in those measures.
Ko te ngeru tuarua o te Mate Korona e pahika i ngā tau tōmua o ngā tūroro i ngā motu e marea i te ao. Kua paupau ngā whakatutukitanga o te whakahere nui i aua motu. He pai te kōrero, engari, he rawakore te mahi.
Ka whaiwhai koe i ngā mea e rua, ka hopuhopu koe i kore. Te tuwhera kaipakihi rānei, te pēhitanga mate rānei.
Mō te whakatikatika o te whakawākanga whakakake, me arotake ngā mahi o nāianei i te aroturuki horahanga mate me te whakamaru pokenga.
The SARS-CoV-2 which is responsible for Covid-19 is a nasty virus. It picks up a small number of reckless people as its favourite carriers and let them spread itself to lots of people in a short time including vulnerable populations like rest home residents. Once spread it is very hard and takes very long time for a patient to recover from it and for a community to eradicate it.
The disease is causing a very big trouble for otherwise prosperous entrepreneurs as they are basically risk-takers and improvisers. Not only the social impact by the disease itself but also the governments’ prevention and control measures against Covid-19 would pose significant restrictions to their business practices which would be productive and innovative in normal circumstances.
Their appetite for risk-taking should be encouraged and rewarded once the full economic recovery comes into our views as the disease is under control. However the economies agreed to their requests too early are seeing failure in containment or in preventing relapsing of the pandemic.
What we can do to reward risk-taking (especially small) business owners right now would be sincerely listening to their concerns and faithfully discuss on possible alternatives for their previous business norms and supports shifting to a new normals based on both warm empathy and hard facts. It is actually a courageous act to speak up as lots of people would like to play save at the moment.
Me pēhea te whakatītina mō ngā waewae kai kapua i ngā tikanga hou
He whakaweriweri te mate korona. Ka kōhiti ia i ngā kotoiti tōtōa mō āna kaitītaritari ki te whakamate i ngā pio tūoi. Ka roa te wā e ora ai te tūroro. Ka roa te wā e haepapa ai te iwi i a ia.
Ka āwangawanga ngā waewae kai kapua i momoho i ā rātou mahi i mua i te mate korona. He nui ngā rāhui. He iti ngā hui. He nui ngā raruraru. He iti ngā hua.
Me wewete petapeta rātou kia tae mai te wā. Engari, kia tūpato kei wawe tātou ki te whara i te mate korona.
Me pēhea te whakatītina mō rātou anāianei? Āta whakarongo mai i rātou.
