Mind-blowing fact!
- カテゴリ：日記
- 2015/01/22 02:55:35
Today, my mother told me a story from her days as a student nurse in Japan. She said she was assigned to an old man with cancer who was close to dying. The wife of that old man was a Buddhist woman who was quite strange. ( on my mother's opinion) She talked to my mother , despite the little time she had left with her unconscious husband, and whenever they talked, she told my mothers of the teaching of buddhism, and my mother learned a great deal from her.
One of the things my mother learned was the meaning of the flowers on the family altar, and this story was quite mind-blowing for me as well. I always thought that the flowers that we put in front of the altar was for the gods and ancestors or just decoration. The woman, however, said that that was not the case. In the first place, if it was for the gods and ancestors, why isn't the flower facing them?
She said that the flower was for the living. A remainder for us to live a beautiful life since life will end one day. It can't also be a potted plant since it is a remainder to us to never forget our "roots" since we are living because our ancestors had lived before us. A flower that is cut off from its roots doesn't live long. It is the same for us. If we try to cut ourselves from our "roots" we will forget our identity.
I looked for the meaning of putting flowers by the altar in the Internet right after my mother's story, and though I could find that the flower represented how fleeting life is, I couldn't find that it was a reminder to respect our "roots". Perhaps, this is becoming a lost knowledge in Japan or perhaps it is wrong. I don't know what's right, but I quite agreed with that idea. I think many of us are losing respect towards our "roots " in this modern day, and I was clearly reminded of how important it is to never lose sight of our identities!
If she goes to enter school abroad, she is a year late by other students there.
When she told me that she was thinking about go oversea, I pointed it.
She said she didn't worry about it.
So, don't afraid of that!
I'm really sorry that I don't have any information on schools you are thinking about because I live in Kanto area not in Kansai.
If I can be your help, I'm really happy.....
Thank you for your consideration, Eri! Actually, I`m rather ashamed to say that I`m late by about a year or so compared to students my age in Japan. I should be already sending my documents and application by now, but I haven`t made a clear decision in which universities I want to target. (If I`m in Japan, I should be already accepted to a college and preparing for the entrance ceremony!)
So far, asides from AIU, I`m considering Kobe University of Foreign Language, Kwansei Gakuin University, and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. (But mostly AIU and Kobe Foreign Language, I guess)
The real problem is whether the schools will allow me to take the entrance exam and if I`ll be able to have enough skills in writing Japanese essays by then...
I'm happy if I can hear about those unique people who your mother met.
Which universities besides AIU are you thinking?
I don't have much information on universities (my students are mainly junior high school students, so I have a lot of information of high schools ), but if I have any students who go to the school which you are thinking, I'm willingly to ask them how the school is.
Of course, you don't hage to tell me the name of school :D
I haven`t had enough experience to comment much on the subject of death, but perhaps she really did feel that way. Asides from this story, she also taught my mother more about the Buddhist faith and my mother uses the knowledge she was shared in her clinic until now. My mother has a lot of strange and mysterious encounters now and then so I hope I`ll be able to meet more unique people as well!
Also, since you have mentioned about Akita International University, I reassessed the college again. I think I will try putting it into my choices as well since I might have more chances in AIU than in other public schools. (The tests for returnees were an Ｅnglish essay and a Japanese/English interview!)
You can find calmness and sadness in your heart then.
The woman may have had such feeling.
I guess she tried to make herself be calm and get ready to the last moment of her husband by talking to your mother.
I was touched by her story about flowers.
Many people thins flowers are for the dead, but they are for us....
I like her story.
Thank you for sharing this with us.