What do you think?
Rate this book
¿Por qué vivimos?
¿Existe un propósito en la vida o no?
¿Cuál es, entonces, el sentido de la vida?
El ser humano se ha hecho estas preguntas desde tiempos antiguos y son, sin duda, cuestiones que exigen respuestas claras. Shinran explicó como nadie lo hizo el propósito de la vida e insistió para que lo realizáramos con la mayor urgencia. En 1995, una cadena japonesa de televisión presentó a Shinran como la figura histórica más estudiada, discutida y admirada en el siglo XX. Su filosofía ejerció una influencia significativa en la cultura japonesa de posguerra, pero pocos conocen su verdadero mensaje. Un concepto que expresa todo lo que Shinran enseñó es que el gran propósito de la vida se realiza aquí, en este momento.
¿Cuál es, entonces, el sentido de la vida?
El ser humano se ha hecho estas preguntas desde tiempos antiguos y son, sin duda, cuestiones que exigen respuestas claras. Shinran explicó como nadie lo hizo el propósito de la vida e insistió para que lo realizáramos con la mayor urgencia. En 1995, una cadena japonesa de televisión presentó a Shinran como la figura histórica más estudiada, discutida y admirada en el siglo XX. Su filosofía ejerció una influencia significativa en la cultura japonesa de posguerra, pero pocos conocen su verdadero mensaje. Un concepto que expresa todo lo que Shinran enseñó es que el gran propósito de la vida se realiza aquí, en este momento.
Paperback
About the author
Kentetsu Takamori
21 books32 followersI have dedicated my life to faithfully conveying the teachings of Shinran (1173-1263), the founder of True Pure Land Buddhism. I have lectured throughout Japan and worldwide on Buddhism for more than sixty years. I am the author of several bestselling titles in Japanese and the chair of the Buddhist organization Jodo Shinshu Shinrankai.
Excerpt from the “Introduction” of Unlocking Tannisho:
In spring of 1944, at the age of sixteen, I volunteered to join the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Service and was trained as a fighter pilot. Months before the end of the Pacific War, still a teenager, I watched as one after another of my comrades took off in an airplane loaded with explosives and just enough fuel for a one-way trip. Their orders were to crash their planes into allied warships and aircraft carriers in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to win an unwinnable war.
The treatment meted out to kamikaze pilots in training was cruel and brutal. We were constantly beaten, trained only to obey and die. We were brainwashed, told that to give up our lives was a great honor and that through our sacrifice we would not only save our sacred nation and serve the emperor but be granted immortality. Still too young to make the list, I knew it was only a matter of time before my turn came—yet deep down I prayed to live, as did my comrades. All of the doomed pilots tried to find meaning in that desperate situation. I well remember that as their only companion on that final flight, many chose to take along the book Tannisho and the message of Shinran.
After the war, my life fortunately spared, I turned my attention to that small book and its great teachings. My encounter with them transformed my life and filled me with renewed purpose. I still grow hot with anger when I think of how my friends and I were deceived, instilled with the idea that throwing away our lives was somehow beautiful. Yet I am grateful beyond words to have been granted the happiness of knowing the truth. I have dedicated my life to deepening my understanding of, and sharing with others, the same undying principles that were a ray of bright hope to those youths setting off on their dark and hopeless journeys.
Excerpt from the “Introduction” of Unlocking Tannisho:
In spring of 1944, at the age of sixteen, I volunteered to join the Japanese Imperial Naval Air Service and was trained as a fighter pilot. Months before the end of the Pacific War, still a teenager, I watched as one after another of my comrades took off in an airplane loaded with explosives and just enough fuel for a one-way trip. Their orders were to crash their planes into allied warships and aircraft carriers in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to win an unwinnable war.
The treatment meted out to kamikaze pilots in training was cruel and brutal. We were constantly beaten, trained only to obey and die. We were brainwashed, told that to give up our lives was a great honor and that through our sacrifice we would not only save our sacred nation and serve the emperor but be granted immortality. Still too young to make the list, I knew it was only a matter of time before my turn came—yet deep down I prayed to live, as did my comrades. All of the doomed pilots tried to find meaning in that desperate situation. I well remember that as their only companion on that final flight, many chose to take along the book Tannisho and the message of Shinran.
After the war, my life fortunately spared, I turned my attention to that small book and its great teachings. My encounter with them transformed my life and filled me with renewed purpose. I still grow hot with anger when I think of how my friends and I were deceived, instilled with the idea that throwing away our lives was somehow beautiful. Yet I am grateful beyond words to have been granted the happiness of knowing the truth. I have dedicated my life to deepening my understanding of, and sharing with others, the same undying principles that were a ray of bright hope to those youths setting off on their dark and hopeless journeys.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.