The Worthiness of a Single Day
Rev. Nichiko Niwano
President of Rissho Kosei-kai

Morning Is the Key to a Full Day

A single day is like a thumbnail sketch of your entire life, it is often said. In other words, we can know what kind of lives people lead by seeing how they conduct their everyday activities, because a single day in an individual’s life is representative of that person’s whole life.

Restated in other words, opening our eyes in the morning corresponds to our birth, our activities during the day to our life’s work, and our going to sleep at night to our death. Human life, from birth to death, is thus encapsulated in a single day.

In order to lead a full life acknowledging that one day corresponds to our whole life, we need to grasp the valuable key that is the flexible, open feeling of morning. We awake because we are given life, and the joy and gratitude we feel for this gift can offer us a fresh start on the day.

We then can value the encounters we have with others and give all of our energy to whatever we undertake. Life occasionally seems fraught with anxiety and a lack of meaning, but when we realize that we have been given the gift of life, then even suffering and hardship can be overcome by accepting them as trials.

Shakyamuni Buddha explained the worthiness of a single day in the following way: Do not pursue what is already gone. Do not dwell upon what has not yet taken place. The past is behind us. The future has not yet arrived. . . . Only be zealous about what you should accomplish today. For no one knows if tomorrow will bring one’s death.


Getting Rid of the Unnecessary

I read a newspaper article in which the Japanese cultural anthropologist Shinichi Tsuji, regarding modern civilization’s obsession with working, appealed for recognition of the importance of “the slow wisdom of those who stop and stay.” According to him, this “slow wisdom” is the ancient wisdom that comes from settling in one place and leisurely savoring the time needed for things to fully develop.

In Mr. Tsuji’s book Slow is Beautiful, he quotes a verse by the poet Hiroshi Osada: “Living slowly is the only way to live./ The sky says so. The trees say so. And the wind says so.” (Mainichi Newspaper, June 10, 2004)

We could say that Mr. Tsuji’s point is a warning to modern people who are apt to spend their day rushing about.

In order to make our day worthwhile, we must make simplify our life. Determining what is important in life, what is necessary for ourselves, we rid ourselves of what is unnecessary and wasteful.

This in turn causes us to reexamine the values of things. Then we can not only make use of them to the utmost, but free ourselves of materialistic desires and be at ease in our hearts. Even when our days are busy, we can also afford the time to savor life’s pleasure.

Whether a day is lived with gratitude or is spent complaining and feeling dissatisfied, it is still the same day. Let us advance spiritually appreciating that we are given the gift of life and thankful for becoming aware of the worthiness of even a single day.

Kosei 09/2004

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