(5th in a series of posts on Ron Yoshida’s pilgrimage)
“Kiyo sukete,” Ron, “Kiyo sukete”
Customs we’d like to make customary:
As breakfast ended with a last taste of another homemade umeboshi, our host placed our bill on the table with a small plate containing two go (five) yen coins, one for each of us. Ayoyama-san explained that the coins were symbolic of wishing that the guest would return one day.
Heat waves far off look real, but close up are nothing.
Heat waves look like running horses or a stream, but are nothing.
Fantasies arise from wrong thinking.
Beautiful men and women fill a fortress;
But it is wrong to think that men and women have essential being.
Sages and wise men are only assumed to be so.
The all-voidness of the five functions of body and mind is the real truth.
Kukai (Kobo Daishi)
Buddha: “I am the awakened one.”
