The Light of Buddhism for a Mother Sick in Bed
I had Shinrankai hold my mother’s funeral. My mother passed away within a month after being diagnosed with cancer. Though I have been told that all things are impermanent, it was too short a time for me to accept her death.
While my mother was alive, she often told me about the hardships she had gone through in her childhood, in her married life, and relations with her coworkers. If she had not met Buddhism, she would have lived only to experience hardships. After she was informed of the disease, the only light in her life was the purpose of life.
Without Buddhism, she would have only waited for death while enduring pain, and I would have been at a loss as to what to say to her. Thanks to Takamori-sensei’s books, audio books and lectures on the animated movies, my mother was able to listen to Buddhism even in her sickbed.
I realized that when we come face-to-face with death, only Buddhism is meaningful; all else is meaningless. I will head for the light and do all I can to convey “why we live” to my brother and sister so that we will be able to meet with them again in the Pure Land.
Tatsuya Nakazawa, Tokyo
Source: The Buddhist Village Times #58, The Light of Buddhism for a Mother Sick in Bed
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