zen lecture To be one with things

"To be one with things" -Mr. Shibata exchanged water in a flower vase. 

It was the day in the middle of September last year. It was extremely hot in spite of higan, the autumn equinoctial week being closer and I annoyed by the radiant sunlight that had been shining since the early morning. I heard a car sound and looked out the window, then found a white Mercedes parked in front of the temple gate. I immediately realized it was Mr. Shibata. He usually comes to greet me at the entrance hall after visiting the grave. But, after 30 minutes of waiting, he still did not come to see me.  

So, I went to the cinerarium. I saw Mr. Shibata was washing a flower vase after bringing it from the central altar. He was cutting a chrysanthemum branch into about twenty centimeter pieces and washing the vase using a cleaner.

"I am sorry. Changing the water is my job. I am so lazy."

I said, and tried to pick up the garbage at his feet.

Then Mr. Shibata responded,

"No, no! This is my job. It is easy for me. Throwing away garbage is also a florist's job. So I'm pleased to do it."

 The inside of the vase was slimy and smelled foul. It is difficult to remove the smell from one’s hands without using soap. I felt sorry for him and heartily bowed my head for his virtue, practiced voluntarily. By the way, those chrysanthemums are grown in Jeju Island, Korea and brought by Mr. Shibata.

Now, we want to study about the title, "To be one with things". Heart or Things, which will come first? You will understand that things won't come first, according to Mr. Shibata's behavior. I believe that successful people have something different from others. It is certain that most people cannot keep the present prosperity, through the influence of his father, for an extended time. 

"Changing job from a fish dealer to a florist"

Mr. Shibata used to be a fish dealer twenty years ago. He changed his job to a florist, and his business is successful so far. He built his own office, Seika-Sangyo Inc., right next to Fukuoka Airport and currently imports and sells fresh flowers. In autumn of 2008, there was a serious financial disaster called the Subprime Lending Crisis. It still has an influence on the economy, not only in Western countries but also in Japan. At that time, I heard this story from Mr. Shibata. 

"I quit being a fish dealer and changed my job to a florist because small fish markets were deprived of their customers by big supermarkets. In other words, I lost the competition. Housewives started to buy sliced fish at a supermarket instead of buying whole fish at a fish market and cutting it by themselves. Therefore small fish markets could not keep their business. That’s the reason why I gave up on that job. 

But, I have another reason actually. If a fish dealer prepares fresh fish for their customers, their business will be in the red. It is quite expensive to purchase natural sea bream or natural yellowtail etc. We cannot make a profit unless we are selling older fish. That was against my policy as a fish dealer. Therefore, I gave up being a fish dealer and became a florist. 

Let me describe my flower shop. Thanks to a good relationship with many friends of mine, I contracted with some farmers in Singapore to cultivate flowers and transport them to Japan by air. I established a system by which the flowers harvested in the field in Singapore, then will be delivered to the reception desk of a hotel in Kyoto within 48 hours. Now I have a similar contract with flower farmers in Jeju Island, Korea and Colombia in South America.

 When I have time I sometimes walk around the marketplace in the Yanagibashi district of Fukuoka or look around the booths selling fish at a department store.One day at the beginning of October in 2008, around noon, I stopped by a fish market in Yanagibashi as usual. There were many kinds of fish that had not been sold that day, particularly some expensive cuts. 

Why have they not been sold yet? There must be some financial problem occurring. High-class restaurants usually purchase expensive fish early in the day, so I was concerned. I usually take flower orders for New Year’s at the beginning of November, following the method I used when I was a fish dealer. Otherwise I will be deprived of my customers by department stores in December. However in 2008, after seeing a fish market in Yanagibashi, I took orders for them at the beginning of October, and got almost same number of orders. 

After that, I immediately found the article about the Subprime Lending Crisis in the newspaper. The world was very unstable. Nothing was going well. If sales fall by five percent, it is very serious. If they fall by 20-30 percent, a company will go bankrupt. This is the unforgiving nature of reality. When the issue was reported in the paper, it is already too late. We have to take action before the event, not after. For that reason, we have to use our intuition. If someone asks me what we should do, I may have no answer. In this case, if my intuition gets dull, my business will get much worse."

 When we learn "Heart or Things, which will come first?” I believe that if heart and things become one it will create emotion. On the contrary, if they are separate things don’t go well. To bring them together as one we should make our own path and sweat like Mr. Shibata. Mr. Shibata said "thanks to a good relationship with many friends of mine" as mentioned previously. To cooperate with others and achieve something could be said to become one with things. Nobody can do anything alone.

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