我が家には涅槃図の掛け軸があります。これはお釈迦様が亡くなられた時の様子を描いたもので、３５歳で悟りを開いて４５年間インド各地を行脚して仏法を説かれたお釈迦様は故郷に向かう途中、食中毒で体調を崩され、クシナガラの跋提河（ぼつだいが）のほとりの娑羅双樹のもとで８０歳でお亡くなりになりました。それが２月１５日で満月だったようです。釈迦の死を知って天上からは生母の摩耶夫人が天女の付き添いで降りてこられます。
お釈迦さまが横になっている宝台のまわりには多くの人物や説法を聞くために集まってきた動物たちが皆釈迦の死を知って嘆き悲しんでいます。
「涅槃」というのは元は「消滅する」の意味で、すべての煩悩が消滅して悟りを完成させた境地を指し、釈迦の死を「涅槃にはいる」ともいうそうです。涅槃に入られたお釈迦様は金色に輝いています。
こうした涅槃図が普通の家にあるのは珍しいとうちに来られたお客様の一人がおっしゃっていたことがあります。多分その理由は祖父が一人娘の祖母のところに婿養子に来たのですが、生まれ育ったところが守山のお寺でその御縁からではないかと私は思っています。
涅槃図が家にあることは子供の頃から知っていましたが、いつ床間にかけてあったか覚えていず、学芸員の井上ひろみ先生に伺ったところ、釈迦の入滅が２月１５日なのでその頃が良いと教えていただき、以来その時期がくると取り出して掛けています。
構図は同じですが、お寺などに立派に描かれた様々な涅槃図を見ることがあります。こうした仏画を床の間に掛けると仏教徒もそうでない人も落ち着いた静かな気持ちになるものですね。
There is a scroll of Nehanzu (painting of Nirvana) in my house. After getting enlightenment when he was 35 years old, he traveled on foot to teach Buddhism for forty five years and in the middle of going back to his hometown, he got sick from food poisoning and died under Sal trees at the age of eighty. It was February 15 and the day of the full moon. Around the sacred Buddha's bed, there are many Buddha's disciples and animals are sad.
Nirvana in Sanskrit means "blowing out" and refers to the extinguishing of the fires of desire and suffering, signifying a state of perfect peace and liberation. It is said that the death of Buddha is called to enter Nirvana.
Buddha who entered Nirvana is shining gold.
One of the customers said to me before that it was rare that painting of Nirvana was kept in an ordinary house.
I don't know the right reason but I guess it is because of my grandfather. I didn't see him because he had already passed away when I was born. He came to my grandmother to get married with her. He was the second son raised in a Buddhist temple and probably brought the scroll to my house.
I knew about the scroll in my house, but when I came back to my hometown and started the cafe, I didn't know when I should hang the scroll. Then I asked Ms. Hiromi Inoue, who is a curator in Shiga. She told me it was an appropriate time this season because Budda died Feb.15th.
There are many beautiful paintings of Nirvana in many Japanese temples in which the composition of the picture is the same as the one in my house. They make people's minds calm and peaceful even if he/she is not Buddhist.
