TARIKI
(Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace)Hiroyuki Itsuki:
“In this terrible world of ours, all that counts is that you mentally clasp your hands in gratitude and say your thanks for being alive. Do this every day; do this to keep yourself aware and open whether you are in the grip of terrible suffering or are experiencing boundless joy.”

Around, the world, the earth, the sky: all is.
But is it? Only my perception can tell.
There is this world, this life, the blood that runs
through veins and warms the body to life’s spell.

Yet at the same time, nothing is. I am
the hollow vessel wherein life, a breath,
fills emptiness, brings silence into sound,
creates my world and life form out of death.

The movement of your hand, some falling leaves
distract with loveliness, enchant, delight.
Yet when the evenings approach, the darkness
is wrestling fiercely in the fight with light.

Night will arrive, as sun and moon will circle,
infallible the rise and fall of flesh!
And when my eyes are closed to earth and sky,
life will leap boundlessly again afresh.




Tariki

Tutt’attorno, il mondo, la terra, il firmamento: tutto esiste.
Ma esiste? Può dirlo solo la mia percezione.
C’è questo mondo, cìè questa vita, c'è il sangue
che scorrenelle vene e scalda il corpo nell’arco della vita.

Eppure allo stesso tempo, nulla esiste.
Sono io il vuoto vascello all’interno della vita,
un respirocolma il vuoto, consegna il silenzio al suono,
crea il mio mondo e la vita si genera dalla morte.

Il movimento della tua mano, alcune foglie cadenti
distraggono con leggiadria, incanto, delizia.
Eppure quando le sere si approssimano,
le tenebrecombattono ferocemente la lotta con la luce.

La notte arriverà, così come il sole e la luna ruoteranno,
infallibile sarà il levarsi e lo stramazzare della carne!
E quando i miei occhi saranno chiusi alla terra e al cielo,
la vita balzerà di nuovo ancora sconfinata.

translated by Pina Broccoli








TARIKIEmbracing Despair, Discovering PeaceHiroyuki Itsuki
“In this terrible world of ours, all that counts is that you mentally clasp your hands in gratitude and say your thanks for being alive. Do this every day; do this to keep yourself aware and open whether you are in the grip of terrible suffering or are experiencing boundless joy.”
--from TarikiDrawing upon his remarkable personal history, novelist and Buddhist scholar Hiroyuki Itsuki introduces us to Tariki, the Other Power that is the core belief of Pure Land Buddhism. The Other Power derives from the true and full acceptance of the reality that is within us and that surrounds us. It is not a philosophy of passivity and irresponsibility, but one of radical spiritual activity, of personal, existential revolution. Its essence is the spontaneous, wondrous force that gives us the will to act, to “do what man can do and then wait for heaven's will” Importantly, tariki is a power that flows from the fundamental realization that, in the lives we live, we are already enlightened. This enlightenment does not come easily. It is born of the unwelcome understanding that, despite our protestations, we are insignificant, imperfect beings, born to a hell of suffering that defines human existence. But in this hell, we sometimes encounter small joys, friendship, the kind acts of strangers, and the miracle of love. We experience moments when we are filled with courage, when the world sparkles with hopes and dreams. There are even times when we are deeply grateful to have been born. These moments are paradise. But paradise is not another realm; it is here, in the very midst of the hell of this world. Tariki, a power that transcends theological distinctions, avails us of these moments. In the endless uncertainties of contemporary life, tariki confers upon us a flexibility of spirit, an energy to feel joy, and the respite of peace.