On January 16, my family went to Sears to take our family pictures. We decided to take 6 poses, 2 poses for the family and 4 poses for Mai. One of Mai’s poses was a Gassho pose. By looking at the picture, you can see that she is putting her hands together in Gassho. Before taking the picture, we never thought that she was able to put her hands together in Gassho. However, when the camera brought her into focus, she began to put her hands together in Gassho. My wife and I were very much surprised.

Recently, Mai often put her hands together in Gassho. Yuka and I never taught her how to Gassho. Now, before meals, when I say "Itadakimas", she always put her hands together. When we have a family service before our family altar, she puts her hands together in Gassho. As you know, she has just observed her first year of life. We never expected Mai to put her hands in Gassho before our family altar, before meals, etc. We are very surprised and happy. She is really a Buddha’s child!

When do you put your hands together in Gassho? Is it when you come to the temple, express your gratitude, observe a service, recite the Nembutsu, before and after meals, etc? I am guessing that you put your hands together in Gassho many times in your daily life.

Gassho symbolizes harmony and oneness. This is why we are truly grateful for his compassionate activities. The left hand is the symbol of our blind passions and the right hand is the symbol of the world of Amida Buddha. When we do Gassho by putting our left and right hand together, we become aware that Amida Buddha and all of us are always together, and whenever, wherever, and whoever we are, Amida Buddha always embraces us and never abandons us.

Let us express our gratitude to the Buddha and His Teachings in our daily lives.

    "Such is the benevolence of Amida’s great compassion,

    That we must strive to return it, even to the breaking of our bodies;

    Such is the benevolence of the masters and true teachers,

    That we must endeavor to repay it, even to our bones becoming dust."

(The Collected Works of Shinran, P.412)

Namo-Amidabutsu