You will Live out your natural life span by taking good care of yourself
It is the know fact that if you were young and full of energy and born with strong body, you will be dead earlier for not taking good care of yourself. This is not the misfortune but you yourself is the party responsible. We won't say it that this person has lived out the natural life span.
The healthy people usually won't pay attention to their health for being healthy since their birth and often leave this world earlier than the people who were born rather weak.
It is an irony that the people who were born weak, eating less, getting sick often and seemed to have less energy does live longer. Its reason is that they abstain from desire to protect own health. Those things seem to suggest that one's life span does not depend on the strength of one's body, but it depends upon if you would control your desire.
An ancient poet of China, Bo Juyi Po said, "Happiness and misfortune is of your discretion and indiscretion" and I agree with this notation.
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How can you be so thoughtful. Don't you think? Being young and energetic means you have full of fortune. And you have to realize that everyone of us can't be a king. King needs the guard, cook, sweeper and lots of other people to take care of him. What the world could be if there were kings of all kinds and no mere normal person around? Then there's no meaning you being the king, right? Well, I'm afraid that I may not be able to sleep for this problem tonight. . . .
It is not easy to learn the art of long life span
There are so many things that a human being is expect to accomplish and we call it the art to accomplish them. Every art has its specific way of learning. It would be difficult to accomplish if you do not know how you do it.
You won't be able to make living by singing unless you learn how to sing. Although it is not that difficult to produce a toothpick, you cannot make them a lot without learning how.
We are a part of the three that composes of this world along with the heaven and the earth. Then we are more so to keep our life with constant caring of our own body. We have to have the art. How could we survive without learning the art of living?
We seek mentor to learn such small matter as singing and cooking and learn the art of it. The reason is that we cannot make living without learning it. As the human being is the utmost existence by itself and as it is the utmost importance to keep our own body in good shape, how it would be possible at all to live without knowing the art of living. How would we be able to complete our life span given by heaven without the mentor, the guidance and the learning of it, namely without knowing the art of pursuing life span but living as you desire. Those are the reason why we must grab the art of living our life span if we wish to live and complete the life span given.
The art of living is the great tactics and is not the cheap tricks. It should be very tough to acquire its core knowledge unless you make yourself ready for it. If you were able to learn it directly from the person, it worth a trillion.
Despite the fact that your body is given by your parents, heaven and the earth as well, it is of utmost foolish if you loose your life earlier by the diseases caused by your poor behavior like taking alcohol, too much eating and the likes. It is of treating your parents as well as the heaven and the earth disrespectfully.
You would not be able to taste your life unless you live long with healthy body. It would not worth a penny if you accumulate wealth and live only a part of your given life span.
Mr. Ekken further states the origin of your life as;
The origin of human power arises from the power of all nature. This is the very fundamental of the human being. Without the power of nature, we should not have been on this globe. We are in existence with the help of such outside power as foods, clothing and houses. The nature arises foods, clothing and houses as well. All of those matters, including your existence are the favor of the all nature and your parents.
You should not live on taking granted for such helps. The very thought of your inner power should enhance it and complete your given life while living in healthy anti-aging life.
On the other hand, if you live on matters of your outside, your inner power would lose its energy and consequently you would give out to the diseases. You would die of disease as your get serious and as you consume of all of your inner power. You would experience the serious aging power on tis way.
Here is an example of the plants. Too much water and fertilizer would arise them death. It could be concluded that the human being should stop living on their outer help. As you start living on them, you would start losing your inner power faster.
Yes, Mr. Ekken was not the believer of God. It is of rare example for a person living in 17th century. But then he was exceptional person to start writing this book "Yojokun" at his age of 70. "Yojokun", by the way, means "How to take care of yourself", the first ever "how-to" publication in Japan.
You define your life span
The heaven does not define your life span but you yourself do. It is true that you are given your life from the heaven but it lasts longer if you take good care of it, and it ends earlier if you do not.
It all depends upon your intention either having longer life or shorter life span. If you were born healthier and stronger than other people, living with your desire would shorten your life.
If you were born weak, living following guidance of this book would lengthen your life. The whole thing depends upon your intention, and then the life span cannot be defined by the heaven.
If you were born to die earlier, longing for the longer life and follow the guidance, it is possible to realize your wish. Here is an example. Let us suppose the fire on thick branches. If you bury the ignited branches in the ash of your fireplace, the fire will be there for long. If you put it on the ground where the strong wind blows, it will be dead quite soon. If you keep oranges on the counter top, they will shrivel soon. But if you keep them in the dark storage space, they may stay fresh till next spring.
The Yojokun tells you that your will, mindset, thought is the utmost importance to live. There are so many people who commit suicide. They wished death. They have not wished to see tomorrow. How would their spouses feel? How would their parents feel? All of the sentiment turns inwards. What if you look out to the world a bit? There is always the new and excitements happening, it is sad and wasteful.
up on 2009/11/30