This is lamium amplexicaule or more commonly henbit deadnettle (or common henbit or greater henbit), one of my favorite flowers! So tiny (about 1 cm) and pretty isn't it!
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| Lamium amplexicaule 仏の座 |
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| Commonly henbit deadnettle, common henbit, or greater henbit ホトケノザ |
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| Tiny but hardy ちっちゃいけどたくましい！ |
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| A very tiny seat for Buddha 仏様が座るにしてはちっちゃい！ |
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| Another tiny white flower これもちっちゃい |
This plant is called "Lotus seat for Buddha" in Japanese, which nicely describes this tiny plant, and its another Japanese name, "Three realms plant" reminded me of a famous proverb in Japan, "Women have no home in three realms,” which my father often said to me....
This proverb is believed to mean that women have no place to rest in the “three realms,” i.e., the past, present, and future, or that a woman should follow what her parents say before marriage, what her husband says during marriage, and what her children say after getting older. Sadly, you can hear similar remarks, such as the following, still these days:
- A former prime minister Yoshiro Mori made a sexism remark about women, “Women have a strong sense of rivalry. If one (female) member raises her hand to speak, all the others feel the need to speak too. Everyone ends up saying something.”
- The secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Toshihiro Nikai proposed letting female lawmakers attend some of the party’s executive meetings AS LONG AS THEY KEEP QUIET.
But I've found something very interesting, that is, this proverb is misunderstood. According to Seiki Miyashita, a Buddhist studies professor at Otani university, the three realms referred to here mean the "Desire Realm," the "Form Realm," and the "Formless Realm," and the real meaning of "Women have no home in three realms” is that everyone, regardless of age and gender, has no place to rest in the three realms, so they should find a place to rest beyond these three realms. In Buddhism, the Desire Realm is where people are obsessed with desires while the Form Realm is where people get caught up with beautiful forms, and the Formless Realm where people still stray even after leaving these two realms. I googled why and how the proverb has come to be misunderstood, but found nothing about it.
But small things can make a big difference! So, I will tell this finding first to my dad to correct his misconception about the proverb and WOMEN at the next Zoom meeting😁.
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仏の座。一番好きな花の一つです。こんなにちっちゃいのにちゃんと台座に見えます。
別名は三界草。そこで思い出しました。昔父によく言われたんです。「女三界に家なし」と。父の意味するところは「女は三界（過去、現在、未来）に家などない」とか「女は幼い時は親に従い，嫁に行っては夫に従い，老いては子に従わなう」という非常に封建的なものでした。なんか、森元総理や「女性はオブザーバーなら参加していい」という二階幹事長の発想と似てませんか？
ところかびっくり😲 大谷大学の宮下晴輝仏教学教授によると、三界とは「欲界」、「色界」、「無色界」のことで、このことわざの本当の意味は「老いも若きも、男であれ女であれ、みな本当に安らぐことのできる場所は、三界を超えたところにこそ求めよ」という意味らしいんです（詳しくはこちら）。
ホトケノザもちっちゃいですが、社会を変えるのもちっちゃいことから。先ずは「女三界に家なし」の誤解について今度父に話さなくっちゃ！
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