A fourth grader in Japan wrote a poem titled “Undoujou” (“Sports Ground”) that was published in a Japanese magazine. The poem can be &translated into English as follows:
“Everyone is playing on the sports ground,
While saying repeatedly how small it is.
When everyone gathers early at school for the morning chores
And are told to pick up rocks on the tracks
The students do as they are told,
While saying repeatedly how big the sports ground is.”
This is a very well written poem. When the children are playing or doing their chores on the sports ground, there is essentially no difference in the size of the sports ground. However, how we feel at that specific moment allows us to perceive that same place very differently.
This poem also conveys the selfishness of human beings as well. When something horrible happens to us, we tend to blame our misfortune on others. However, when something good happens, we are quickly focused on the happiness that we feel at the moment and only think about ourselves. We forget to think about the other individuals that helped us achieve this happiness.
The same can be said about many people and their view on religion. Many people only start becoming devout or pious when they have a wish that they hope will be granted. Yet, when they do not have these goals or wishes, they do not even consider the importance of religion and suddenly become less devout or completely forget about the existence of religion. We must learn to re-evaluate our tendencies to have different views of religion depending on different situations. In doing so, we can learn to evaluate ourselves and continue to maintain and develop our own religious faith.
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi
September/October 2021