Zen Dialogues

Reflections from Japan's Buddhist Traditions

Life plan with the guy who finished the temple ascetic training

I've asked this question before. Thank you very much for that section. Currently in his mid-twenties, he has been in a relationship since college and came out after 3 years of training. He was born in a temple and has been training for 3 years to qualify to work under his father. However, I...

4 responses

It's hard not knowing why they were born

I'm in my first year of high school, right? My mom got divorced and I'm a single mother, and my family is poor, so I can't put up with it or take on the challenge I want to do. I can't say that the study environment is good either. I want to go on to college, but the environment is such that even...

4 responses

are you happy?

Is the monk happy?

4 responses

Should I run for office?

I have a serious illness and I'm in a wheelchair. From the city councilor, whom I have always been close to, “Please run for office!” I've been invited. ▪ I don't pay the deposit, and the city council pays for it ▪ Since it's a by-election, other city councilors will support me in my place ▪...

4 responses

Where do I get my feelings for my grandmother

I don't really understand the feelings I have for my paternal grandmother who lives with me. When I was young, my house was a farmhouse, but my parents went out to work, so my grandmother took care of me when nursery school and school were closed. I remember that it was fun back then, such as...

4 responses

It makes life seem like a digestive game

I'm a 30 year old woman. There are no major inconveniences in particular, but there is no such fun either. I don't have many friends, and I've never had a boyfriend. I changed my job to a new job in February of this year, but this was a failure. I wish I hadn't quit. I've been able to work...

4 responses

About the circumstances that led to the idea of suicide

Hello. Continuing from the previous question, I would like to write about the circumstances that led to my suicide. I'm now an 18 year old high school student. When I looked back on my life for 18 years since I was born, nothing good happened. Always unhappy. When I was in elementary school,...

4 responses

What is the goal if we can deal with death

Since I was little, I have taken a negative view that life is finite, and I have become obsessed with living. I feel that following the teachings of Buddhism stabilizes this kind of mind. However, on the other hand, it also makes me think “it's futile to have no choice but to accept...

4 responses

Presence at work

I work as a part-time cook at a nursery school. I'm studying to get my chef's license. You are currently ineligible. It's so empty because of the nursery teacher's attitude towards me (it's as if I don't exist nearby, I can't help but say it to this person). I will go out of my way to communicate...

4 responses

I don't have the confidence to live...

I'm a second-year high school student attending a correspondence high school. There are so many social nonconformists that I don't want to live anymore. However, I have absolutely no intention of committing suicide. But I want to die, and I wish I could die. It always makes me...

4 responses

I want to become a monk, but I want to aim for another job

I am a person who has recently been blessed with a blessed law and is thinking about becoming a monk. Living in Buddhism is not only good for me, but I think spreading it to the world has great significance. Reading the teachings, I was deeply moved that this is a teaching that should be spread....

4 responses

Why do you think that?

I don't have a mother. So grandma is doing the housework for me. I know very well that doing housework is difficult. That's why I have to help them. But even if Grandma helps, she says “don't help me” and “don't do anything” when there's even the slightest thing she doesn't...

4 responses

How to deal with multiple denominations

This is my first time asking a question. It's about mantras and sutras from different denominations. My father's parents' house was of the Shingon sect, and my mother's parents' house was of the Yutsunenbutsu sect. My paternal grandfather, who cared about me when I was very weak when I was...

5 responses

I don't know how far I should tolerate my husband

It's been 2 years since I got married, and I think I promoted naturalization with my husband because of my age in order to have children. The reason I don't know how much I should tolerate my husband is because our feelings of being together are fluctuating. I was told about my debts before...

5 responses

sexually harassing old man

I was quickly sexually harassed at the company I worked for in my first year as a new graduate. I was invited to eat alone by someone in a superior position. I declined, but even so, they were scared and went away, and an approach ban was issued due to various things. It's been a job I've...

5 responses

I don't feel motivated

People will die one day. Everything, not limited to people, will come to an end someday. When I think about it, nothing lasts forever in this world, and it makes me think that there isn't much meaning in what a small being like me did. Probably because of that, no matter what I do, I don't...

5 responses

sense of emptiness

There are many things that I think will come true if I read this site carefully, and one more question has arisen, so I would like to ask you a question. Can monks suddenly find their daily work empty? It may be a bit of a complicated question, but if you ever feel like that, I'm curious about...

4 responses

In the midst of a difficult life.

Hello. I'm a junior high school graduate in my 20s and I'm unemployed with no qualifications. I live with my mother in public housing. My mother and I are mentally disabled and both receive disability pensions. My grandmother passed away 3 years ago. My grandmother has been bullied the...

4 responses

Religion and dangerous goods are similar. Where are you going, religion?

　I'm always indebted to you. The other day, here, “At the temple, to me I had a discussion about “The Scary Wife Who Just Says This and That.” The continuation of it It's going to be like this, but recently, I've been thinking about it. “Religion and dangerous goods are similar” Observing...

4 responses

I want you to tell me how to get to the Pure Land of Paradise.

I want you to tell me how to get to the Pure Land of Paradise. Please give me a specific method.

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