Zen Dialogues

Reflections from Japan's Buddhist Traditions

Is it this hard to live with bereavement regrets?

While nursing at home at the beginning of April this year, my grandmother aspirated lunch, suffocated, and passed away the next day. I had promised to go see the cherry blossoms that day... but it happened all of a sudden. I was a grandmother's child, so after I lost my grandmother, I...

4 responses

The meaning of things that don't come true no matter how much you wish or effort

Excuse me for the long post. My grandmother passed away in August. I was 92 years old. I had a sudden stroke in February, had pneumonia, and was unconscious for about 1 month. From there, I regained consciousness and moved to a sanatorium hospital, recovered smoothly from my stroke, and I was on...

4 responses

faces

All of my relatives have well-shaped faces. However, I'm the only one who doesn't look like anyone else, and I stuck clothespins between my nose, saying to my grandmother that she looks like a girl since she was a kid, and that her face would be popular in the Edo period. I've been told many...

4 responses

masturbating

When I masturbate for a long time, my butt gets hot... Something will definitely happen, such as whether something breaks or breaks, whether someone around you will have a tight lower back, someone around you will have a knee pain, someone around you will vomit or fall down, or get injured,...

4 responses

Why are religious groups silent?

I'm always indebted to you. The other day, I'm not a believer, but when I posted a post against war on a religious site, I was told that it wasn't a place to discuss such things, and it was immediately removed. I was shocked. I think Japanese religions are silent on social issues, human rights,...

4 responses

Is there an afterlife

Until a while ago, I thought heaven and paradise would exist after death, but after the death of a relative, I didn't think so. If you die, they'll become bones and go back to the soil and that's it. The world of heaven and pure paradise is common to all religions, and in ancient Egypt, there...

4 responses

What is the best friend

I don't have many friends, but I do have a few dear ones. They've been good friends for years, and we still play from time to time. However, there are times when I suddenly think about it. I'm an important friend for me, but for them, I'm probably just one of my friends. You probably don't...

4 responses

My adult daughter went on to college

My daughter (23) said she would like to go to a vocational school next spring. My daughter didn't match the vocational school she went to when she was 18 and dropped out of school after half a year. After that, I lost my confidence, became unwell and had a mood disorder, and I was hospitalized...

4 responses

My current situation

I'm currently depressed, and I was working, but I quit. When I think about the economy, I'll have to work again soon, but I plan to relax until I get unemployment insurance. However, when I do housework, I don't have anything else to do, and I often fall asleep, watch TV, and get lazy, so I...

4 responses

Intellectually and mentally disabled people and Buddhism

I was writing a question about physically weak people and becoming a monk the other day, and I suddenly thought, What is the position of people with severe intellectual disabilities in Buddhism? I can understand that people with severe mental or intellectual disabilities cannot be employed as...

4 responses

Will I go to hell when I die?

I have depression, and I'm a person who doesn't know when to do it because I want to die. But I feel like I want to be alive, but I don't want to live. There are things I quickly wonder about in my everyday life. It was said, “If you commit suicide, you'll go to hell.” If that's really the...

4 responses

Criticism of “funeral Buddhism”

Hello. This is a question about criticism of “funeral Buddhism.” Sometimes on the internet, etc., “Buddha denied having a funeral or making a tomb. So Japanese Buddhism is far from the original Buddhism.” I see comments such as, but did the Buddha really deny making funerals and graves? I...

4 responses

I'm not good at remembering faces

I'm not good at remembering people's faces and names. My name didn't come up all of a sudden during this time either, and I was very worried later that it was disrespectful to the other person. There are times when I made mistakes due to assumptions. I desperately apologized. I don't...

4 responses

I was told that my father didn't attain Buddhism

The other day, I was examined by a Chinese medicine doctor due to an unwell condition. Then, I was told that you possessed something, and when I told them that my father had passed away three months ago, I was told that my father was obsessed with you and wouldn't leave. Then, the Chinese...

6 responses

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

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