Life of Tara
Restration of Tara has finished the first stage
15/12/2015
（ 風雨にされられ腐食した正面ログは、大きくアルミサッシ窓の下と玄関ドア下の二ヶ所に分けられますが、なんとか窓下の腐食ログの補修が終了しました。詳しい作業の経過は、タラの芽庵修復奮闘記をご覧ください。）
I have managed to complete repairing damaged logs under the aluminum sash window. The window was re-formed newly because old one had been broken by typhoon last year. My friends and I bought materials of aluminum sash window and managed to build a new window with these materials. However, logs under the window were damaged very much by suffering rain and wind. Therefore, as the first stage for restoration of Tara, we had to begin to repair damaged logs under the window.
My friends have been busy in these days. So, I have no choice but to work alone for repairing. At first, I checked all logs under the window. I found that some logs were damaged a lot and some logs were not so damaged. So, I set two new logs into a space where I cleared heavy damaged logs. It was a hard task for me but I managed to complete it with a chain saw and a kakeya (wooden maul). Next, I cut damaged part of some logs with a chain saw and chisels. And I glued new preservative-treated timbers there. Thus, I repaired all damaged logs under the window. But in order to strengthen these logs as a whole, I had to bolt these logs each other. I set two vertical logs on both side of the window. After that, I bolted these horizontal logs and two vertical logs up. In this way, I managed to succeed at clenching logs which have been repaired. A series of these works was quite hard for me but I gained confidence about maintaining Tara by myself.
I have been able to complete repairing damaged logs under the aluminum sash window within this year on schedule. However, somehow, a certain power or something has helped me when I was not able to advance these works. It was a mystery for me.
Finally, I have entered the next stage for repairing damaged logs around the front door. It will be more difficult than that of the aluminum sash window. But through various difficulties and 'trial and error', I have been able to get knowhow to repair damaged logs. So, I am going to repair by the same way from now on.
Restration of Tara started in earnest
07/10/2015
（ 今年に入って、せっかく内部には、トイレ、シャワー、キッチン等を取り揃えたのに、外部のログ（丸太）は、もうボロボロです。そこで風雨にされられ腐食した正面ログの補修作業が本格的に始まりました。）
I improved comfortable environment such as bathroom and kitchen inside Tara by this spring. However, as you can see, as for outside Tara, a lot of front logs are rotting due to suffering rain and wind damage. So, I had to restore outside of Tara in earnest. First of all, I piled a lot of sand-bags so as not to collapse a base of Tara by this summer. After that, I finished resetting support posts which sustains front logs. And finally, I have planned how to restore damaged logs. I have to restore them almost alone. I don't have enough money to buy a lot of new logs and don't have enough labor supply to restore them all at once. Therefore I have no choice but to restore them spending small money and a lot of time.
A few days ago, I completed resetting a new support for combined logs of the left edge. Next, I am going to repair rotting logs under a front window. The front window has just been exchanged because the old one was collapsed by Typhoon a year ago. It is made of aluminum and is expensive. So, at any cost, I have to prevent it from collapsing due to sinking logs under it. I bought a lot of preservative-treated timbers which is cheaper than ordinary logs. I am going to repair damaged logs by using these timbers. Well, well, how far can I make it? At any rate, I am going to do what I can do by myself no matter how much I take time.
By the way, I visited an eye hospital this morning. A doctor advised me to have an operation for cataract. So the operation is to be carried out next January. In the vicinity of operation, I must not work hard. Therefore, by that time, I am going to advance repairing Tara to some extent. I took an electric book of 'America' written by Kafka to the hospital because I thought that I had to wait for a long time to see a doctor. In that novel, a main character, Carl Rosman, is assaulted by a house keeper in the bed. At that time, he felt a strange feeling of oneness. But when he became alone after that, he was easier in his mind. That is a magic of human being's world. A human being has no choice but to seek an opposite sex for wanting feeling of oneness with the other. However, a true oneness exist in his own mind.
Kujukurihama
01/08/2015
（ 九十九里浜の押し寄せては引く波を見つめていると、私たちの生を支えている様々な神秘に思いを馳せます。しかし、他方で、波のざわめく音は、そんなの、言葉の組み立てによる人間という存在の慰みにすぎないんだよと諭してるかのようにも聞き取れます。）
Kujukurihama is a long beach situated at Kanto district in Japan. This beach was named after kujuuku-ri (99 ri). Ri is a unit of length in ancient Japan and is equal to about 3.9 km. Hama means a beach. About 800 years ago, Minamoto Yoritomo who was a famous ruler of Samurai society at that time ordered erecting an arrow per ri (3.9 km) on the beach. As a result, 99 arrows were stood. So the beach was named 99 ri beach (Kujukurihama). However, this story is a legend. Real length of this beach is no more than 66 km. Even so, this beach looks long and spacious.
I stand at Kujukurihama after a long interval. The wave is a little rough. I can see nobody far afield. Usually, a lot of people are playing here. Old men are fishing. Children are playing with sand. Lovers are walking close together. But nobody except me exists here now. Only the sound of wave echoes in the expanse of Kujukurihama.
Shinobu Orikuchi, a speculative and rare folklorist whom Japan has ever given birth to, said that a long time ago people had thrown away a dead person into the sea in a careless way. In a sense, this is a rational thought because a dead body is nothing but a material object without soul. Then, where has the soul gone? People in old days thought that human being's soul never ceased to exist and was drifting somewhere over the great ocean. Furthermore, they thought that the soul became one with a new flesh and came to this world from the ocean.
In old days, people at Kumano district etc. in Japan believed that Hudaraku Jodo or the Pure land existed over the ocean. Some ascetic monks tried to drift to the ocean alone in a small ship in order to reach Hudaraku Jodo. They might have died of starvation or might have become small garbage of deep sea due to the storm. Nevertheless, they believed that the soul as an individual became Buddha somewhere.
What am I? Is it nothing but a collective entity of material objects or a collective entity of mere events? What does remain after my death? Do all things about me just vanish away?
However, the soul or mind of me tries to find something significant for my life as long as I live. What does a mystery of encounter or intentionality of consciousness mean? What is the meaning of the phenomena that occur to me and become entwined with other people as if it would have been fated? My interest draws the phenomena that occur to me. I belong to the world through my interest. Or, I create the world through my interest or intention.
I have thought such a thing so far, for instance, awareness of synchronicity, occurrence of a seemingly-meaningful coincidence and the relationship with such a occurrence and the real world. Furthermore, I have considered the meaning that I met a person who destined me. I think that thinking about such meanings will become helpful for human being's future.
However, when I saw the horizon over Kujukurihama, such a thought seems to be ostentatious as if mere words created by a human being were dancing arbitrarily. All human being's thoughts seem to become small garbage of deep sea.
My mother died four years ago. My father died one and a half months ago. Like they died, I will die in a matter-of fact way soon. What kind of special meanings does each person's death have? We have no choice but to disappear before we know it. And nothing is left.
Nevertheless, I am wishing to find something unknown as ever. I have no choice but to think this fact is that I am alive. Even if it is a small light, I would like to confront this great ocean and the sky by such a light.
I always think so while I am working at Tara.
Aiming at Tara's future
29/04/2015
（ 昨年の暮れから始まったタラのリニューアルはこの４月でようやく完成しました。完成といっても室内にトイレ、シャワー室、キッチンなどが整ったというだけで、２１年間の風雪で痛んだログの本格的な修復はこれからです。しかしそれはタラの未来を見据えての修復です。）
A log house, 'Taranomeann', began to be constructed by 12 members 27 years ago. It took almost 5 years to complete it. And 21 years has passed since we started to act various works at Tara. Therefore, Tara has had a lot of places for repair. So, at first, we planned to install equipments such as bathroom and kitchen inside Tara in order to work comfortably. And, we were able to complete such installation. Therefore, from now, we have to repair places such as damaged logs in earnest.
However, we never think it good only to advance smooth repairing physically. At the same time, we ourselves have to advance toward human being's future mentally. That is because Tara's future is determined by each idea of each of us. That is, Tara's future is determined by each way to live in the future. We have already been disgusted by a part of developed country's culture, such as mass communication ( based on entrepreneur, politician and celebrity ). We should aim at a simple and modest life as much as possible. Tara should be a symbol for such a life, that is , a symbol of human being's future life.
We are going to visit Tara often more than before. We think it better to communicate with residents in this dairy farm and to improve environmental situation there. First of all, we have to improve environment around Tara. And we want to see our friends working with fun and sweat inside and outside of Tara from now on. Young and old, man and woman, who are interested in our idea, please come to Tara and work up a good sweat together toward the human being's future.
By the way, I watched a documentary about the gap between rich and poor on TV two months ago. In this documentary, a poor lady in Bangladesh said, " We know richness of spirit under circumstances of poverty. But, you, developed countries' people, never know such richness ". As she said, almost people in developed countries don't try to know the richness of spirit under circumstances of poverty. We have already got used to live an affluent life. So, we might have been losing the richness of spirit. Therefore, I think that each person in developed countries should rethink the current life style fundamentally.
Consciousness of human beings
23/02/2015
（ タラから眺める冬の空に、ぽっかりと涅槃像のような雲が流れていました。現在タラの室内は地元の大工さんたちの作業でふさがっています。そこでタラの周辺の余分な木々の伐採や枯れ木の処分を進めています。ずいぶんすっきりしました。春になると、タラでの新たな生活が始まります。）
In general, consciousness is thought the phenomenon of each individual mind. But an individual consciousness is involved in a collective consciousness of contemporary people. Furthermore, I think consciousness is related to the past and future of human beings. A person lives an active life through such a consciousness and he ceases to exist someday in the future.
Of course, consciousness exists so that a person can lead a normal life effectively. In addition, it gives intentionality to his desire. Or we might say that his desire is originally organized by intentionality of consciousness. One of the strongest desires is that for a person of the opposite sex. We encounter various people of the opposite sex and get married with one of them. Or we encounter a very person whom we never forget through our lives. But we don't know why we encounter such a person of the opposite sex. Something lead us to such a direction. That is related to intentionality of consciousness which determines the road of our lives, I think.
For example, when we review our present life, we will realize that it never existed without encounter with a particular person of the opposite sex. Why did I encounter such a person at that time and get married with her or him? Or why was I not able to live with her or him though I had a fateful encounter with such a person at that time? Such a thought happens to anyone. That is, when we had a fateful encounter with her or him, some feeling occurred to us at that time and such a feeling or consciousness lead a new phase to us. Such a phenomenon seems to happen to us regardless of our will, probably because our consciousness does not stay in our brains but expands beyond our brains. I am going to think about such a mystery of consciousness from now on.
Recently, human consciousness has been researched in the realm of quantum mechanics. Indeed, we might find a new discovery about human consciousness in the realm of between physics and psychology. But we should not tell about consciousness only with assumption. We should about it based on our exact experiences.
One of things that I found in my experiences is as follows. That is, the strong desire to someone or something attracts things related to that. I think this fact does not only show that we concentrate our will on the phenomenon in which we are most interested. It might be that affairs related each other gather somewhere through the intentionality of our consciousness. Therefore, synchronicity might occur, to us suddenly. I don't know if it is right or not, as the truth as of now. But I can think what kind of meaning such a phenomenon has for my life. So, I am going to think about the mystery of consciousness in this way from now on.
I found a cloud such as the Buddha's lying figure, named Nehan, flowing in the winter sky, through a window of Tara. Now, the room of Tara is occupied by work of local carpenters. Therefore I advanced cutting the extra trees around Tara and disposing of the dead tree. So, the surround of Tara became clean very much. When spring comes, the new life in Tara will begin.
Poor people
16/01/2015
（ 貧しさとは何か。それは他の生活の選択がないということです。私のインドの友人がある画像を紹介してくれました。
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=730214620360641
＜現在、この画像は期限切れです。14/Frb/2017 ＞
人間は選択のない辛さの中でも生きぬいています。一方で、無数の選択がありすぎ て、結局虚しさの中で生きている先進民主主義諸国の人々もいます。この問題を我々の日常生活の中でどう位置付けたら良いのか。リニューアルすることになる新たなタラの環境の中でそうした問題も考えていきたいと思います。）
Good and evil have always coexisted in human being's world. Therefore, violence, military attack, sexual abuse and infringement of human right etc. never cease to exist in this world. Furthermore, the gap between rich and poor spurs such a situation. So, we have to make an effort to eliminate poverty in this world as much as possible. At the same time, we have to understand the poor people's severe situation and have to learn a lot of things from them.
One of my Indian friends released the footage made by "Amazing India groop" on Facebook. It was composed with photos and simple comments, about poverty. The photos are full of poor children. For example, they have no choice but to lead a life by poor meals, and but to study gathering under a poor lantern. In addition, we can see a bare boned man, who lost his one leg, working hard for road construction,there. Creators of this footage add comment as follows. That is, if you ever think of giving up, think of him! If you think you are unhappy, what would you say about them (such poor people)?
They show us these photos not ostentatiously but simply. And at the end, we can see the photo where a boy and a girl of India smile. We are relieved to see it because it seems to show human bright future.
We have to make an effort so as to root out the poverty in this world as much as possible and to learn a lot of things from people who are struggling for overcoming poverty. Human beings have grown strong mentally by overcoming poverty so far. We should not forget present poverty all over the world and should remember people who learn various significant things from severe life more than we who live freely in rich countries.
By the way, a front window of Tara was broken by Typhoon No.18 last October. My friends and I were able to renew the front window last November. And now, I have been able to sign up with contractors about the installation of a bathroom and a simple kitchen inside Tara. So, we will be able to spend comfortable time at Tara more than before. But it should be a reasonable comfortable life enough to understand severe poverty in the world. Furthermore, we will sweat for environmental arrangement around Tara more than ever. As a result, we will be able to advance toward the destination at which a late president of this dairy farm had aimed with us. That is, we are going to aim at cultural communication with people around the world through simple and agricultural life.
How should we renew Tara?
09/11/2014
（地元の人々や友人たちと話し合った結果、タラは次の世代でも維持管理できるように、あらたな整備を行っていくことになりました。そこで整備に伴う工事の打ち合わせを地元業者と行いましたが、まだ契約には至っていません。その背景には、まだデフレから脱却していない日本経済と、その間隙をぬって薄利多売のために業者を囲い込む大型ホームセンターやインターネット販売の存在があります。）
Recently, I have talked with people in the dairy farm about the future of Tara. Furthermore, I discussed about how we should renew Tara for future generation, with my friends who had endeavored for the construction of Tara until now. As a result, we determined that we should install toilet, shower and a simple kitchen in the room of Tara. Then, I asked a local business operator to estimate these installations in sets. However, the estimation was very higher than we expected. Why?
Local business operators like him tend to demand payment as responsible task to customers. Therefore, their estimate is naturally high. That estimate was reasonable till mega DIY shops and Internet shops had penetrated all over districts in Japan. But now, we can get various household instruments at a bargain price there. Furthermore, we can know how to set up these instruments by Internet easily.
Economic situation in Japan has slowed down more and more. So a lot of people tend to use mega DIY shops or Internet in order to install household instruments in spite of spending much time and labor. How we should think of this tendency? First of all, we should think about inevitable result of penetration of big companies which rule local business operators as much as possible. If local business operators reject contact with a big company, they have to get less jobs than before. If they accept a big company's proposal, they get jobs like before though they can get less benefit than before. A construction business operator with whom I contracted 20 years ago, became bankrupt because he had rejected to become a member of a big company. A few years ago, I called him for repairing my house. But I heard only his groan because he was in bad situation. Thus, a local earnest constructor like him cannot but be excluded from the local business field. That is a cold fact.
Indeed, we can get household instruments cheaper than before at a mega DIY shop or on Internet. However, sometimes we are severely made to realize a bad response of mega DIY shops and Internet shops. Few years ago, I bought a bicycle at a mega DIY shop. But after one year, that bicycle was out of order because a pin of axle unit was broken. Guarantee period has already been over. So, I went to a specialized store of bicycle and bought a new bicycle there though it was more expensive than that of the mega DIY shop. A shop owner of the specialized store said to me as follows. Bicycles of mega DIY shops are almost constructed by bad parts made in China. After all, I was severely made to experience the following proverb, that is, 'Penny wise and pound foolish.'
Recently, roofs of carport were broken by Typhoon. So, I checked Internet and contracted about repair of the roof with a company which seemed to be reliable for me through the content of its website. But the company was too slow to estimate repair of my carport. It may be because the company is situated far from my house. At last, a clerk visited my house and estimated. I contracted repair though the cost was very high. But I have not yet got information about when construction will begin, from a contractor, for a long time. That is, the company wants to construct it efficiently at the time only when demands concentrate a certain district because he costs on advertising by Internet.
Thus, the broad-based correspondence between demand and supply of household instruments became spread out all over Japan. As a result, a face-to-face human contact between local business operator and customer has been lost everywhere. In old days, we used to chat with a local business operator about various ordinary affairs and to exchange various presents following a progress of construction. But now, such a reliable relationship has been lost. And a lot of local business operators have lost their jobs due to the spread of mega stores and Internet shops.
In this way, the local economy in Japan has deteriorated rapidly. And the fact like that is advancing all over the world. I think such a phenomenon is connected to the series of 'Democracy and Capitalist economy' which I described earlier on this ' Life of Tara'.
I will question how we should renew Tara, again. We have endeavored to construct Tara for a long time. Almost works for constructing Tara were formed by our creative effort and handwork. That is a spirit of Tara. So, we are going to renew Tara using such a spirit and to search for a local contractor who can understand our intention as much as possible.