Irreplaceability and interrelatedness

All inochi beings are on the one hand irreplaceable, and on the other hand interrelated. Expressions such as ‘the period between birth and death’ and ‘the most essential part of an object’ are corollaries of, or ideas related to, ‘irreplaceability’. Expressions such as ’mysterious power or energy’ and ‘eternal life’ are corollaries of, or ideas related to, ‘interrelatedness’. Also recall the properties of inochi found in the books issued by the Ministry of Education. They expressly state the ‘irreplaceability’ of inochi. The properties of ‘beyond the power of humans’ and ‘personality’ are also directly related to this idea, and ‘living together in mutual support expresses interrelatedness (53).

To regard an inochi being from the viewpoints of irreplaceability and interrelatedness is to consider it always against the background of the universe. This leads us to a metaphysical or religious view of inochi, because it makes us realize the position inochi possesses in the universe.

The inochi of the flower is irreplaceable in that it lives and dies only once in this universe. Its inochi is interrelated in that it cannot exist without its ancestors, and it cannot live without an environment full of water, air, light, and other inochi beings such as microbes; and in that even after its death its inochi allows other inochi beings, [106/107] such as animals or microbes, to live. A flower appears and disappears only at a particular place in the universe. And it can only exist by being interwoven in the infinite web of inochi that spreads throughout the universe.

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The Concept of Inochi, Part 2
(1991)
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