132. To Be Eaten Deliciously (oishii to iute)
Nakata, Yamamoto, Takai and other people who worked at the Residence went to catch small fish in a nearby brook from time to time. There they often caught loaches, chub, shrimps, and other brook fishes. When they cooked them in soy sauce with vegetables and showed them to Oyasama, She picked up the biggest one and said, as if She were talking to a child:
“Allow yourself to be eaten deliciously by everyone, and come back the next time, advanced.”
Then She told the people present there:
“Thus, when you persuade the largest one to consent in this way, it is natural that afterward all will consent.”
She further taught:
“Everyone, when you eat them, please say, ‘delicious, delicious,’ to them. If you eat them with delight, due to the principle of giving joy, the next time they will be advanced. Each time they are reborn, they will progress closer to man.”
Oyasama gave these same instructions whenever there were rabbits, pheasants, mountain fowls and other game given as offerings by various fraternities.
Anecdotes of Oyasama, pp. 108-109