June, 2006
MOTHER
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima
Last month, as an expression of our gratitude to our mothers, the Temple held a Mother’s Day
breakfast sponsored by the Jr. YBA. The Annex Hall was very crowded with many mothers, and I
believe everyone really enjoyed the delicious breakfast that the kids and their fathers cooked.
Although we only observe Mother’s Day once a year, it is very important that we try to have respect
and gratitude for our mothers every day.
Six years have already passed since I left Japan as an overseas minister. It was a great honor for
me to have the opportunity to meet many ministers and Dharma friends here. It is the precious
treasure of my entire life’s experience to be able to learn and share with all of you. I am as happy as
can be.
However, when I think about Mother’s Day, I realize how seldom in the past six years I have been
able to meet my own mother. As the result, whenever I picture my mother’s smiling face, my feeling
of longing for her only grows.
I think that my wife and her parents especially must have felt lonely. I can hardly imagine the
loneliness of a daughter who has left her parents’ home and of her parents who had to send their
daughter to a foreign country. It is such an unbearable sadness that we can’t meet our loved ones
whenever we want to. Let me take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for the
understanding of my wife and her parents.
Then, for this month, I would like to present to you a Japanese story which I heard when I was a
little child.
A long time ago in Japan, there was a mountain where villagers used to carry and abandon their
aged mothers. Why? Because the village was so poor it had established a law that old people had
to be abandoned on the mountain so the young villagers could at least have enough food to live.
What a sad story!
One day, an order came from the village to a man, ordering him to abandon his old mother on the
mountain.
He couldn’t refuse. If he refused, he would be banished from the village and lose his home and
everything he owned. The man suffered very much over his situation, but he was not able to
disobey their order. When the time came, he steeled his heart, lifted his beloved mother on his back,
and started to carry her up the mountain late in the afternoon.
Gradually, it became dark and the man could hardly see his feet. He didn’t stop, but kept on
walking. Then behind him he heard a pattering noise, “pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat.”
The man wondered what this noise was and turned around. His mother was scattering grains of
rice along the wayside. When he saw it, he said, “Mother, you cannot go back to the village. I know
how very painful this is for you. But it cannot be helped. So, please forgive me…”
His mother answered, “I am just concerned about you. I worry that after you leave me, you’ll get
lost on the way home. I am scattering the rice so you can get home safely by following its trail.
Please return home safely and don’t get lost.”
When the man heard that, he couldn’t move one step further up the mountain. On hearing her
words, his heart melted. He felt his mother’s deep affection, and his tears wouldn’t stop. After a little
time of silence had passed, he persuaded himself not to leave his mother on the mountain and
decided to take her home no matter what the consequences.
But his mother refused to return to the village because she worried about her son. Finally, as his
mother said goodbye to her son at the top of the mountain, she smiled at him gently. The man
followed the trail of rice down the mountain, crying all the way home.
Even as a child hearing this story, I cried over the mother’s selfless love for her son. You know,
mothers always worry about their children more than they do about themselves. A mother is only
concerned for her child’s welfare and happiness, and this is very reassuring and precious.
Just like a mother’s love, Amida Buddha is embracing us with his compassion. Amida Buddha
always leads us to the way of the truth, without allowing us to get lost. Amida Buddha has given us a
guidepost so that we are never lost. That is the Nembutsu, Namo Amida Butsu.
Like the son guided by his mother’s love, I am aware that my life is guided by Buddha’s
immeasurable compassion. Human love isn’t nearly as powerful as Amida Buddha’s compassion.
However, I am now following the guidepost called Nembutsu. I always imagine a parent’s love for a
child is like Amida Buddha’s deep compassion for us.
On this Mother’s Day, I would like once again to express my gratitude to the precious existence of
all of mothers.
In Gassho,
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