Right now, there are four bean plants growing very strongly in the Betsuin garden on the Hirakawa farm. Every morning I enjoy watching them and meditating on the life of these plants. The seeds of these bean plants survived a long journey of 3,300 years in an Egyptian tomb, and these offspring are unbelievably growing and shining with green leaves.
The seeds were originally found when English Egyptologist Howard Carter excavated the tomb of King Tut-Ankh-Amen in 1922. Among the many very rich objects in the tomb, he found the stored bean seeds, which had been asleep underground for 3,300 years. Because of his love and affection for the beans, he had them planted in the ground in rich soil, with sun, fertilizer and water. And the ancient seeds sprouted and grew into healthy plants.
After this was known, many people wanted offspring seeds of these plants. In 1956, Mr. Haruki Taki of Oita Prefecture, Kyushu, obtained some of them and set about growing the beans. After successfully harvesting them, he wanted to share his joy in growing then, so he announced in the newspaper that he would send some seeds to the first 100 people that asked (since the supply was limited). My wife’s sister-in-law obtained some and, like Mr. Taki, she wanted to share her joy with others. That is how my wife got some of the beans in California, where we lived at the time.
I had forgotten about this for a long time. But after moving from LA to Hawaii, I recalled that my wife still had four unplanted bean seeds. Hawaii is such a good place to grow any plants, any flowers. She planted the seeds, and now the little beans are about five inches tall and growing vigorously.
Observing these plants made me start to think of my own life. My life too has such a long history—more than 3300 years! It goes back to the beginningless beginning of life.
In order to be what I am, I had to have a father and mother, who each had their father and mother…and so on, going back endlessly without breaking the chain of life to the very beginning.
Zendo Daishi, the Chinese Pure Land teacher, once said, "It is very natural to think of my birth as the result of my having parents. But when I think deeply about my life, my parents are not the cause, but the conditions." The cause of my being as a human is "jino gosshiki," or in other words, my innermost wish to be born. The conditions are my parents. When cause and conditions meet, the human being will be born. It is very difficult to understand "jino gosshiki," but it becomes clear to me when I think of the Egyptian beans.
The bean seeds had slept for 3,300 years, but they held a strong wish to be born as plants. This inner strength is the cause. And the "conditions" of fatherly sun and tender loving motherly earth, with the "affection" of water and fertilizer, have made the seeds ripen into fine plants.
So it is the same with "jino gosshiki." My mother and father are the conditions, but the cause is my innermost wish to be born a human being.