180. A Reluctant Offering of Rice Cakes (oshimi no mochi)

Once a family quarreled about the rice cake offering. “Let’s give six pounds.” “No, let’s give nine pounds.” “It is too much but let’s make the offering anyway.” When the offering was made, Oyasama tried to eat one of the cakes with chopsticks. But the chopsticks flew up violently. She could not eat it no matter how many times She tried.

Anecdotes of Oyasama, p. 142

My take

Anecdotes 180 covers similar thematic territory with Anecdotes 7 in how Oyasama could only fully appreciate an offering of rice cakes that embodied a follower’s sincerity. There are also elements here that remind me of Anecdotes 89. The phenomenon of airborne chopsticks is also described in Anecdotes 25.

The gist of what this story might be seeking to instill is the importance for a family or a small congregation to be on the same page when making an offering. Even the slightest expression of discontent by any member may undermine any such gesture so that it cannot be accepted by God, no matter how much God may desire to accept it.