第43回 おたがい笑おう！
There is an English translation at the bottom of this article. It’s a little bit long, however, please read it when you have time.
明日は法話カフェという、少しいつもとは勝手の違う環境でお話をさせていただきます。
昔、「徹底的に外へ出て経験しろ。躊躇するな。」と教えていただいた、今日が月命日の亡きご僧侶とのエピソードを少し。
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
ある若い僧侶の結婚式が、◯国ホテルで行われた。
主賓であるこの僧侶のカバン持ち、兼、参列者として出席をしていた私。
いつもはお迎えに上がったり、前もって荷物が届いたりするのだが、その日は現地集合。
他に伝言も打ち合わせもなかったため、少し構えていたのだが、そんな思いは杞憂に終わり、和やかなまま式はお開きとなった。
上下関係を重んじつつ、譲りあう。
そんな我々の慣習上、「誰が最初に出口に向かうのか」
そんな空気が、1000人近い参列者を、スン、と静寂にした。
刹那、主賓の手が挙がる。
「おーい宮村くん。すまんがワシのかばんをクロークから持ってきてくれ」
会場全員が、私が宮村であることを認識した瞬間だ。
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
同時に、主賓のカバンが揃うまで、誰も外に出られないことも認識した。
（尚、新郎新婦、媒酌人、両家ご両親は、お見送りの為にすでに金屏風の前に並んでいる。）
宮村はダッシュした。
年間何十回もお持ちする主賓のカバン。
会場中に名の知れた宮村はただいつも通り、大事にかつ、素早くお持ちするだけで、重い時や軽い時、高級であったりカジュアルな時も稀にある。
基本的に一喜一憂しない。
ただ、なぜかこの日に限って、◯ヌーピーのカバンだった・・・
会場へ戻る。
新郎側は僧侶が多い。
新婦友人側の視線ばかりが、私。いや正確には手元に向けられた。
それはそうだろう。
確実に偉いであろう主賓が持ってこさせたカバンが、スヌー◯ーなのだから・・・
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
お見送りも終わり、クロークまで歩く途中、主賓は疲れてしまわれた。
「長いのうこの廊下は。もうここで着替えてしまうか」
帝◯ホテルの柱は太い。が、下着姿の人間を隠せるほどではない。さらに、そこは主賓。着替え中にまで挨拶の列が並ぶ。
何人かが挨拶を終えたとき、ふと主賓が着替えの手を止めこう言った。
「あぁ、そういえばこの前、代わりに法事に行ってもらったな」
そう言って、上はＵ首シャツ、下はパッチ姿でお札を握りしめ、
「裸ですまんな」
と私に渡して下さった。
【その裸はどっちにかかっているのでしょうか】
挨拶の波が止まった瞬間でもあった。
ついでにどなたか
【なぜ今日だけス◯ーピーでお出ましだったのですか？】
も聞いてほしい・・・
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
あの日の少し笑いながらのお声、お札と一緒に握ってくださった手の感触はまだ私のもの。
いつまでも消えてほしくない。
若い僧侶に、分け隔てなく接してくださる姿を周りに見せ、笑いを生み
（みんな後ろを向いていたから間違いない）
今となっては、感動として私の中に残っている。
日蓮聖人は
「。ゑ（笑）まれぬ事なりとも え（笑）ませ給へ。」
と残されています。
笑えなくても笑っておきなさい。つまり、笑うこと、笑いをうかべることは、人のためでもあり自分のためでもある。というもの。
誰かの大事な思い出が、笑顔とともによみがえる時間になるよう臨みます。
43rd session: Let’s laugh together!
Tomorrow, I will be speaking at a sermon cafe, a slightly different environment than usual.
A long time ago, I was told to “Go out and experience everything. Don’t hesitate.” I’ll share a little story about a late monk whose monthly death is today.
A wedding ceremony for a young monk was held at the XX Country Hotel.
I was attending as the monk’s bag carrier and attendee, who was the guest of honor.
Usually, I would go to pick him up or have his luggage delivered in advance, but on this day, we gathered at the venue.
There were no other messages or meetings, so I was a little nervous, but those worries turned out to be unfounded, and the ceremony ended peacefully.
We respect hierarchical relationships and give in to each other.
In our custom, “Who will head to the exit first?”
This atmosphere caused a deep silence among the nearly 1,000 attendees.
In an instant, the guest of honor raised his hand.
“Hey Miyamura-kun. Sorry, but can you bring my bag from the cloakroom?”
At that moment, everyone in the venue realized that I was Miyamura.
At the same time, we realized that no one could go outside until the bags of the guests of honor were ready.
(The bride and groom, the matchmaker, and the parents of both families were already lined up in front of the gold folding screen to see them off.)
Miyamura dashed off.
This is the bag of the guest of honor that he carries dozens of times a year.
Miyamura, who is well-known throughout the venue, simply carries it carefully and quickly as usual, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes high-class, sometimes casual.
He generally doesn’t get excited or upset.
However, for some reason, on this particular day, it was a Noopy bag…
I returned to the venue. There are many monks on the groom’s side, so maybe this is normal.
The bride’s friends’ eyes were on me, or more accurately, on my hands.
That’s probably true.
The bag that the guest of honor, who must be a high-ranking person, had brought was a Snoooooo…
After seeing everyone off, the guest of honor got tired on the way to the cloakroom.
“This corridor is so long. I guess I’ll just get changed here.”
The pillars of the Te◯ Hotel are thick. But they’re not thick enough to hide a person in their underwear. And the guest of honor is there. The line of greetings continues even while changing.
When several people have finished their greetings, the guest of honor suddenly stops changing and says,
“Oh, by the way, you went to a memorial service for me the other day.”
And with that, wearing a U-neck shirt and a patch on the bottom, he clutched a talisman and handed it to me, saying, “Sorry I’m naked.”
It was also the moment when the greeting rush stopped for a moment…
“Excuse me, which side is that nakedness on?”
“Why did you come out in S◯ooooo today?”
Without being able to ask such questions, we are now on the way to Mt. Reizan.
The voice with a slight laughter that day, and the feeling of your hand holding the talisman are still mine.
I don’t want them to disappear forever.
The young monk was treated equally by everyone around him, and he made everyone laugh (I’m sure it was because everyone was facing away).
It’s a touching memory that remains with me.
Nichiren Shonin said,
“Even if you can’t laugh, laugh anyway.”
Even if you can’t laugh, laugh anyway. In other words, laughing and making people laugh is for others and for yourself.
I hope this will be a time when someone’s precious memories are brought back to life with smiles.