Learning from Shogun Ieyasu TokugawaーPrayers

 

When Ieyasu passed away, his last words were “Tenka wa Tenka no Tenka nari” (the nation is the nation’s (i.e. the people’s) nation. )

 

“This world belongs to nobody. It is for everybody.”

 

What led him to this conclusion was his faith toward Buddhism. The essence of understanding Buddhism is “abandon(reconcile)”. People suffer because people desire.

 

Buddha continued to seek his way after he abandoned his castle and family. The truth of Buddism is to let go of possessiveness.

 

In 1590, Shogun Ieyasu left all of his personal connections and went to Edo. He started his new life without any possessions because sengoku period was coming to an end. Back then, as Hideyoshi Toyotomi started to send troops to Korea, Ieyasu met Tenkai to learn the truth of Buddhism as he felt a new era was approaching.

 

Tenkai came close to the heart of Ieyasu and talked and guided, and together fostered the idea of an ideal country under the way of living with “reverence towards the heavens”.

 

Ieyasu came to grasp the essence of peace which is the “Reverence of the heavens” as he remained modest even though he accomplished to control the country.

 

As the essence of Edo period, there were prayers of Japan within festivals and tradition and also the idea of understanding reverence toward the heavens.

 

Translated from the book 『すなおじゃないけど、ひねくれてるわけでもなく』徳川家康に学ぶ-祈り written by 深田正義 Masayoshi Fukada