I sometimes drop in at a tearoom in Hotel O that commands the sea and a park. I like to visit this tearoom because there I donﾕt have to worry about bothering others when I write my manuscript and stay quite long, and also can sit idle. Through the window I just gaze at twigs swaying slightly in the breeze or people walking across the park.
　Not many cowboy pictures are shown these days. In those movies I remember the scene where an old man was sitting in a chair on the porch of a solitary cottage in the middle of the field and just looking beyond the horizon. I think I saw the scenes like that several times. When I was in my teens and full of energy, I saw a man sitting in a chair doing nothing in a movie scene and said to myself, ﾓWhat a boring life! I donﾕt want an old age like that.ﾓ But as I entered my twenties, those words had to be taken back. I was fulfilled while breathing slowly and felt like gazing at monotonous scenery even for hours.
　A faint breath that may stop at any moment. I keep observing such a breath, till at last very fine elements of various things seem to meet my eyes. Of course my eyesight is not improving quickly. You usually see things roughly when you are obsessed with some thought. This is because you intent on one object and see the others carelessly. Once you lose this specific intention, things around you can be seen quite clearly. ﾔTo keep on concentrating (sati in Pali)ﾕ on breathing does you good, so Iﾕd like you to try it. You donﾕt have to sit in religious meditation, but have only to sit on the chair with your back straight and watch your breathing.

　→ In this hot and humid season, hydrangeas are feasts to our eyes. Their colors are said to vary depending on whether they grow on acid soil or on alkaline soil. They are like litmus paper and this reminds me that they sure are influenced by their environment.