Anecdotes of Oyasama 165
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Anecdotes of Oyasama 165 presents the contents of "Buy Dearly," a selection from Anecdotes of Oyasama, published by Tenrikyo Church Headquarters in 1976. The content below appears on page 132 of the print edition.
Text: English translation and original Japanese
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165. Buy Dearly Zenzo Miyata was so moved by a talk at the Shinmei-gumi Confraternity that he became a follower in the summer of 1885. Led by Seijiro Imagawa, he returned to Jiba soon thereafter and was received by Oyasama. Zenzo was then thirty-one years old, and running a hosiery shop at Shiomachi Street in Senba, Osaka. Oyasama taught him with painstaking care. However, in the beginning, since Zenzo was a newcomer who had not experienced a marvelous cure himself, he listened to the teachings very casually while smoking his pipe. Then, without realizing it, he had put down his pipe and had slid forward into a deep bow. Among the words being spoken at that moment, he retained only the following:
Zenzo could not understand its meaning at all. He thought, "If I should do business in such a manner, it would cost me my livelihood. She may be well informed on farming, but She knows little about business." So saying to himself, he went home. Later, when Zenzo entered his house after leaving Imagawa, his neighbor, he was struck with a sudden attack of vomiting and diarrhea. A doctor was sent for immediately but he was unable to remedy the situation. Umejiro Izutsu, head of the Shinmei-gumi Confraternity, was asked to come by Imagawa. Sitting by at Zenzo's bedside, Izutsu asked him, "Didn't you complain of something on your first return to Jiba?" Zenzo then replied that he could not agree with what Oyasama had told him. Then Izutsu explained, "What God means is that the ideal of business is to buy dearly in order to please wholesale dealers, sell cheaply in order to please customers, and to be satisfied with a small profit." Upon hearing this, Zenzo could fully understand the meaning of Oyasama's words. He deeply apologized for harboring dissatisfaction in his mind and soon was marvelously cured.
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一六五 高う買うて 明治十八年夏、真明組で、お話に感銘して入信した宮田善蔵は、その後いくばくもなく、今川聖次郎の案内でおぢばへ帰り、教祖にお目通りさせて頂いた。当時、善蔵は三十一才、大阪船場の塩町通で足袋商を営んでいた。 教祖は、結構なお言葉を諄々とお聞かせ下された。が、入信早々ではあり、身上にふしぎなたすけをお見せ頂いた、という訳でもない善蔵は、初めは、世間話でも聞くような調子で、キセルを手にして煙草を吸いながら聞いていたが、いつの間にやらキセルを置き、畳に手を滑らせ、気のついた時には平伏していた。が、この時賜わったお言葉の中で、
というお言葉だけが、耳に残った。善蔵には、その意味合いが、一寸も分からなかった。そして思った。「そんな事をしたら、飯の喰いはぐれやないか。百姓の事は御存知でも、商売のことは一向お分かりでない。」と思いながら、家路をたどった。 近所に住む今川とも分かれ、家の敷居を跨ぐや否や、激しい上げ下だしとなって来た。早速、医者を呼んで手当てをしたが、効能はない。そこで、今川の連絡で、真明組講元の井筒梅治郎に来てもらった。井筒は、宮田の枕もとへ行って、「おぢばへ初めて帰って、何か不足したのではないか。」と、問うた。それで、宮田は、教祖のお言葉の意味が、納得出来ない由を告げた。すると、井筒は、「神様の仰っしゃるのは、他よりも高う仕入れて問屋を喜ばせ、安う売って顧客を喜ばせ、自分は薄口銭に満足して通るのが商売の道や、と、諭されたのや。」と、説き諭した。善蔵は、これを聞いて初めて、成る程と得心した。と共に、たとい暫くの間でも心に不足したことを、深くお詫びした。そうするうちに、上げ下だしは、いつの間にやら止まってしまい、ふしぎなたすけを頂いた。 |
