Message from Sachi Adachi

PAEAN TO BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS


Suddenly the question occured to me ...Why is the Hotoke of
Buddhism always represented in human shape? The Buddhist
scriptures say that a Buddha,a Hotoke in Japanese ,is the truth of
the universe, the Law of the cosmos,but I could hardly get the
vaguest idea of its form from that.
What does this mean? This question caused me to bigin wandering
the universe in quest of the truth.With today's advanced scientific
knowledge, anyone can experience space travel in their imagination.

Over a distance of billions of light years however,I could neither
reach the end of the unverse nor find the Hotoke. It's marvelous
that the human brain is so evolved as to take me into the depths
of this immensity,but after all I became lost and cofused in this
fathomless immensity,attacked by feelings of extreme fear and
emptiness. I then hurriedly fled back to Earth,the only planet where
the life forms are gently breathing.

Safely at peace,I came to see how small I was,how conceited I had
been to atempt to challenge space with my limited knowledge of science.
I felt then that I should just leave myself on the bosom of
the universe rather than try to gain a complete conceptualization
of it.It was just then the universe which is etern
and boundless may be actual existence ,but it requires me,a humann
being,to feel,think about,and recognize it. Without me to recognize it,
the uneverse and all phenomenon are nothing.That is to
say , the macrocosm can only exist when dwelling in the microcosm,
the soul of a humann being.If that were so then the Hotoke,
the Truth of the Universe that I had been longing and searching
for ,exsists in the very heart of every human being, in my own self.

I stepped out into my garden,embracing the splended discovey of
myself.Innumerable stars filled the whole sky. The name of my
hometown is Biseicho, meaning the town of beautiful stars,where
the stars and moon can be seen with the same clarity and brilliance
they had in the ancient past.There is no need to look up at the
stars because we can feel their light showering down on us.With
the Earth under my feet soft and moist and the stars above twinkling
and pulsing,I felt the outer cosmos which contains me and
the inner cosmos which feels and reflects the outer begin melting
into one.My individual soul joined the World-soul.In this bliss I
was sure I had attained an enlightenment that the inner cosmos has
the unlimited possibility of expanding to the limits of the outer
cdosmos ,if we keep our minds free and clear.

Our souls,our minds....what wonderful and mysterious creations! All
forms of life on earth are equally mystical but only humankind is
born with the peculiar aptitude for asking and searching for the answers to the
purpose of life and what our particular part is as one of many life forms.

The creative power of the human mind has brought about today's
prosperous,scientifically augmented society which is at the same
time destroying our “Mother Earth”.This surely cannot be the meaning
of humann existence.The creativity should mainly be comprised of
imagination and this imagination must extend to the consideration
of others,to compassion,for this is the true characteristic of
humanity,blessed with a Soul,which despite individual birth
and death has been continuously inherent in the spirit of Man,
biirthless,deathless and changeless.
That is to say, I believe that this is the very truth of the universe
I was seeking,i.e.the Hotoke.It therefore is human's duties
to be merciful,not only to each other but to animals and
plants as well as that existence,most precious of all being our Earth.
This means nothing else than Man's becoming,each and every one of
us, a Hotoke.

In actual life the question arises of how and how far can one go in attaining
the state of the Hotoke.
We have the historical Buddha,Shakamuni as the ultimate idal figure of human
possibility.His teaching should promise to draw the Hotoke out of our souls.
I myself as an artist express the image of the Buddha,the incarnation of love
and compassion,with adoration and respect for the Buddha..I now feel confident
in depicting the Hotoke of the human heart and compassion expressed in the form
of human being.Sometimes ,though,it is the serpent and demon inhaiting within myself.

I have been a demon of persistence while pursuing the Hotoke　idealistically and fervently.
Now that I am awake to the existence of the Hotoke within my soul,the scene reflected in
my inner-cosmos is full of Spring sunshine,the smell of young leaves,the twittering
of little birds,and the love of people around me,overflowing with brilliance and
the warmth of life,i.e.full of the Hotoke which my mind had once locked out.