There was a particular seinen (young male attendant) who would fall asleep and miss making the rounds while on night duty. This became a hot topic of conversation and the Honseki walked in when a few seinens were in the middle of discussing it. He then asked them:
“Who do you think is at fault? The person who fell asleep or the person who is awake?”
Once when a construction was being planned at Church Headquarters, the ministers of a certain branch church expressed their wish to be allowed to undertake and complete the construction solely on their own. They also promised to supply the lumber for the project. In response, the Honseki warned:
“To undertake a construction on your own is against the spirit of the path. It is to be done by everyone coming together.”
Once, when Shobei Masuno was heard saying, “I’m so busy; so very busy,” the Honseki called for him from a nearby room.
He said: “Masuno-san, it is wonderful that you are busy. How would you feel if you had so much spare time that you were busy with finding something to do?”
(From Ten no jogi p. 142)
*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.
I know there is the maxim that says there’s no rest for the wicked, but I’m more partisan to the Honseki’s outlook that it is a blessing to be busy.
The Honseki sometimes revealed a strict side. He would scold people working for Church Headquarters without hesitation if he saw them being unkind to followers.
No matter how minor it may have seemed, the Honseki warned against using things carelessly. He often said to those around him: Continue reading Anecdotes of the Honseki Izo Iburi 41
The following story is from the April 1947 issue of Michi no tomo by Keitaro Nakayama (1884–1964), the grandson of Masa Nakayama and great-grandson of Oyasama:
“The Honseki always walked from his home and worshiped at the Kanrodai each day. He would usually do so around three or four o’clock in the afternoon. He would stop by at the Church Headquarters dormitory for a rest and then proceed to the Kanrodai, the Foundress’ Sanctuary, and the Memorial. He would then always return to the dormitory for some tea.
The Honseki would not even let the smallest thing go to waste. When the Honseki began practicing calligraphy in 1891 when he was 60 years old, at first he thought it was wasteful to actually write on paper. So he practiced on a glass plate and wiped the ink off each time.
There are countless stories about how the Honseki lived frugally and never used things in a wasteful manner.
Even after he became the Honseki, Izo always began speaking with the phrase, “Oyasama said….”
In other words, whenever the Honseki spoke, he never spoke his own words or his own thoughts. In fact, it was almost impossible to hear him talking about himself.
The Honseki had the teaching of tanno (true satisfaction/joyous acceptance) firmly settled in his heart. He never expressed dissatisfaction.
He always cautioned against waste, saying: “All that we have today we have because of Oyasama. In winter there were times when She spent the night without any firewood. On one particularly cold night at the end of the year when I looked for firewood at the Residence, I found nothing. I collected a handful of fallen leaves and pine needles and built a fire in a brazier. Because a fire made from pine needles doesn’t last long, Oyasama, Shuji, and Kokan slept rubbing their hands on the brazier after it went out.”
When he went to worship at the old Foundress’ Sanctuary, the Honseki cautioned about letting fire in a brazier burn in a wasteful manner to those around him by recollecting such hardships that Oyasama and Her family endured. The Honseki always made it a point to remember the path of hardship Oyasama went through.
(Adapted from Shinpan Izo Iburi den pp. 128–129)
*Note: This post has been revised since its original publication.
The old Foundress’ Sanctuary refers to the building known as Oyasama’s Resting House (Gokyusoku-sho). The Resting House was made into Oyasama’s sanctuary after She withdrew from physical life. The present Foundress’ Sanctuary was built during the “Showa Construction” in the early 1930s.