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Birth by Aspiration: Why We Are Born |
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Also, during his stay in Brazil, Rev. Sakai asked Rev. Takayuki
Nagashima, the minister of the Brazil Dharma Center, to find my father’s
grave. I had heard that it was deep in the jungle and overgrown with
vegetation. However, I soon had news that this was totally untrue.
Surprisingly, my father’s grave was found in the southern town of Tomé-Açu in Belém. Rev. Nagashima visited the grave and held a memorial
service there on behalf of my brother, my sister, and me. The area is right
on the equator, and it took Rev. Nagashima three hours by plane, plus six
hours by boat and car, to get there from São Paulo. Thank you, Rev.
Nagashima, for showing us the way to our father’s grave. He also gave me
news of our uncle, Hiroshi Muroi, who is our mother’s cousin. Rev.
Nagashima had asked after him. Mr. Muroi had tended our father’s grave
for nearly forty years. The ministers of both the Chichibu and Brazil
Dharma Centers then fully understood that I wanted to visit my father’s
grave and meet Mr. Muroi to thank him. My wish to visit Brazil came true On September 6 of that year, I flew out of Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, bound for Brazil. At the Brazil Dharma Center in São Paulo, Rev. Yoshikazu Mori and Rev. Nagashima, the former and current ministers, as well as many sangha members, gave me a warm welcome, adding greatly to my joy. Ten people, including Rev. and Mrs. Sakai, went with me to visit my father’s grave. We traveled nearly 3,000 kilometers to the far north from São Paulo to Tomé-Açu, and I was surprised to hear that it was only fifteen years earlier that electric power had become available in Tomé-Açu. When we arrived in the town and met Mr. Muroi, who had tended my father’s grave, he apologized over and over, saying, “I brought your parents to Brazil, and if I had not brought them here, they would still be alive. I’m terribly sorry for that.” He had acted as a go-between for my parents’ marriage and suggested that they go to Brazil. He also had laid my father to rest, and had been carefully looking after his grave, which I had thought had been abandoned. I felt Mr. Muroi’s anguish and remorse, which was beyond anything we had imagined. It breaks my heart when I think of his feelings and try to understand them. I was barely able to tell him, “Please don’t blame yourself anymore. I came here to thank you for tending my father’s grave for 40 years.” The grave is in a quiet spot on a small hill. It is very big and impressive. When I stood in front of it, my powerful yearning for my father vanished, and my mind went totally blank. Right after that, I whispered, “Dad, I was finally able to see you again.” Tears began to run down my cheeks and would hardly stop. I’d never imagined I would be able to stand with my Dharma friends in the land where my parents had struggled to build a new life. I was overwhelmed by a flood of emotions. We then chanted the Lotus Sutra with Rev. Sakai leading us, and my fellow sangha members prayed with deep devotion. This chanting had finally come to pass after about 40 years, and by a curious coincidence, the date was the same as that of my mother’s death. Thus it was all the more appropriate for us to chant the sutra for both of my parents in front of my father’s grave. In Tomé-Açu the sun is very hot. Moreover, it was the dry season, and we were parched with thirst after our sutra chanting. As I stood in the unbearable heat, my heart went out to my parents, who had faced the burdens and challenges of working in such an extreme climate. I felt a surge of gratitude for the Buddha’s having arranged to bring about that moment. |
