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Are all good people poor?

 For some reason, I just read Toyoko Yamazaki's "The White Tower" (a socially conscious novel about medicine) recently, and my wife, who apparently watched the TV drama the whole time, recalled a scene in which a lawyer who supports the underdog has to move out of his office because he can't even pay the rent. After laughing at his poverty, she suddenly asked, "Are all good people poor?" Come to think of it, all the "good" doctors and medical scientists in "The White Tower" are poor. A prime example is Assistant Professor Satomi, who lives in a cramped apartment complex despite being a doctor. In contrast, the doctors and professors who own luxurious mansions are all portrayed as vulgar, obsessed with money and fame. It seems like this is the natural outcome when written by socially conscious author Toyoko Yamazaki. She was a former newspaper reporter, so it must be true. "Good people are poor. Rich people are bad." This reminds...
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The teachings of Buddhism are the teachings of herbivores

 Investing takes over your heart. And your heart is no longer turned toward God (Buddha). That's what it comes down to in a nutshell. It turns out that money is humanity's greatest enemy, or rather, its trap. No wonder it's Iblis's (the devil's) signature move. Now, I'll leave the topic of investing here. I feel like talking about Shinran again, so I'll continue. When asked what to do if you were attacked violently, Shinran I think he would have said, "Just run away." In other words, "Run, run, run away." That's what I remember writing something like that before. Maybe it's Shinran's influence. If the enemy attacks you with force, just run away. "Of the 36 strategies, running away is the best." This is an excellent tactic. To begin with, Buddhism is absolutely pacifist. When you read the early Buddhist scriptures, you'll see that monks always look down when they walk. The reason for this is to avoid stepping on s...
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Investments are damaging to people's minds

 Investing eats away at people's minds. I've invested in stocks and foreign currency deposits. I can't help but be obsessed with the market. The first thing I do is check the market price when I wake up in the morning. I always check it on the train. I check it even while I'm at work. Of course I check it during my lunch break. Of course I check it first thing during my break. The first thing I check on the train home. I check the market price at dinner. I always check it before I go to bed. In other words, I check the market price all the time. My mind is completely controlled by money. I've just realized that this is similar to something, and yes, it's the same state of mind I had when I was addicted to online games. Back then, games occupied my mind all the time. And when I invested, money took over my mind. In other words, I'm addicted. To both. With stocks, I was day trading, so it's only natural that this would happen, but with foreign currency dep...
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D.T. Suzuki is a Shinran fan.

 Come to think of it, I was wondering what D.T. Suzuki would have to say in his classic book, "Japanese Spirituality," and it turns out he was completely committed to Shinran. A Zen monk, yet a "Shinran advocate"? As someone who claims to have been saved by Shinran, I'm very happy about that. I've forgotten why D.T. Suzuki was promoting Shinran. I think it was because he was the epitome of Japanese spirituality. But that's fine, isn't it? When you're as big a figure as D.T. Suzuki, you can say you love someone even if they're the founder of another sect. I'm sure that to him, the differences between sects within Buddhism were like the spectrum of light inside a prism. I think he could see the white light of mercy emanating from a single light source, the teachings of Buddha.
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All religions have one source of light

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If I continued like this, I'd never be able to go to Christianity, and then Islam and Ramakrishna, so I'll put off going through my journey step by step and first summarize my own faith. I started out with Buddhism, but I think I wrote that at a certain point, no matter where I read Buddhist scriptures, all I could read was, "I will save you," i.e., "Buddha will save all living beings." It was then that I saw a light of compassion, and this wasn't a visual one; it was a spiritual light. A white light. Then, the exact same thing happened when I read the Bible, the holy scripture of Christianity (the Old Testament is also the holy scripture of Judaism). At a certain point, no matter where I read the Bible, all I could read was, "I will save you," i.e., "God will save all people." It was then that I saw the light of love. A white light. A spiritual light. And that light was the same light I saw in the Buddhist scriptures. There was only ...
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God is Great

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 "God is Great" I tried singing it in a new language. Led by Love and Mercy
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God's grace is overwhelming

Last time, I said that there are many absurd things in this world, and that sometimes I wonder, "Does God exist?" I'm sure you all agree, but there's something I must say in God's honor. Even considering the absurdity of this world, God's grace far surpasses it. Looking at the big picture, God's grace is overwhelming. How much has the human population grown since the dawn of humanity? According to recent research, the modern human population was at its lowest at around 100,000. Now it's at 8.4 billion. Just how much has it grown? If I complained to God about the absurdity of the world, He would probably respond, "Do you realize how many people I've helped to increase?" If aliens from a distant galaxy were to look at Earth, they would surely describe it as "humankind's unprecedented prosperity." And not just humans. Since life first appeared 4 billion years ago, Earth has teemed with life. There have apparently been several p...
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