Japan Art: Despair and Sadness (Earthquakes and Buddhism)
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Early 2024 witnessed Japan being hit by a brutal earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture. Hence, the recent earthquake in Tibet in early 2025 brings back strong memories. These events – and similar earthquakes in other nations – bring despair, sadness, and a sense of utter shock at the drop of a hat.
Japan and Tibet were shaped by Buddhism many centuries ago. Accordingly, despite rampant secularism in modern Japan – and the Chinese communists taking control of Buddhist Tibet – Buddhism remains potent and in the heart of vast numbers.
Prince Ōtsu (663-686) – unlike the victims of earthquakes – knew his fate after being condemned to death. Hence, his death poem survives the distance of time.
He wrote:
Today, taking my last sight of the mallards
Crying on the pond of Iware,
Must I vanish into the clouds!
Nichiren (1222-1282) – a revered Buddhist monk – said, “The life of a human being is fleeting. The exhaled breath never waits for the inhaled one. Even dew before the wind is hardly a sufficient metaphor. It is the way of the world that whether one is wise or foolish, old or young, one never knows what will happen to one from one moment to the next. Therefore I should first of all learn about death, and then about other things.”
Nichiren also said, “To accept is easy; to continue is difficult. But Buddhahood lies in continuing faith.”
The Zen Buddhist monk Kozan Ichikyo (Ikkyo) wrote a lovely death poem before parting from this world in 1360. He wrote:
Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going —
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
It is hoped that the people of Tibet who have lost special people – similar to people hit by the earthquake in Japan last year in early 2024 – will find solace despite the difficulties of this life.
ARTISTS
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/exiled-buddhist-cleric-nichiren-in-the-snow-sawako-utsumi.html – Exiled Buddhist Cleric Nichiren in the Snow
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/jizo-in-contemplation-buddhism-sawako-utsumi.html Jizo in Contemplation
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/japanese-buddhist-holy-men-in-the-deep-winter-sawako-utsumi.html Japanese Buddhist Holy Men in the Deep Winter
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/buddhist-cleric-nichiren-in-exile-and-homage-to-yoshitoshi-sawako-utsumi.html Buddhist Cleric Nichiren in Exile and Homage to Yoshitoshi
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/buddhist-cleric-nichiren-and-bleak-winter-in-exile-sawako-utsumi.html Buddhist Cleric Nichiren and Bleak Winter in Exile
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/mirage-of-sekka-sawako-utsumi.html Buddhist Monk in the Snow (Mirage of Sekka)
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