title: Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace
author:  Hiroyuki Itsuki 
description: Hiroyuki Itsuki, a novelist by trade, turned to Buddhism to make sense of his life, a life that has known both extreme deprivation and outstanding success. He notes that Buddhism begins with negativity, and instead of glossing over it and moving on to the brighter side, he dwells on it, calling the Buddha the ultimate negative thinker. This is what is known as True Pure Land Buddhism, a sect that subscribes to a belief in the unredeemable depravity of people and the need for divine intervention. But along with chanting "Amida" and hoping for the best, Itsuki offers a lyrical reevaluation of True Pure Land, showing it to be "a philosophy of radical spiritual activity, of personal, existential revolution." <i>Tariki</i> is the "other power," that second wind you get near the end of an ordeal or the unexpected blessing in the midst of general malaise. Itsuki examines this sect's patriarchs, Honen, Shinran, and Rennyo, finding that their lives and their work still speak to us today. Many of us feel powerless against the overwhelming forces of life. <i>Tariki</i> is about acceptance, about "having the wisdom to know what reality is, and the strength to react properly to that reality." And then, despite the harshness, we can enjoy the <i>tariki</i> wind when it blows. <i>--Brian Bruya</i>
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  # ![NISEMONOGATARI 2](../image/p001.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  ## ![FINAL CHAPTER TSUKIHI PHOENIX](../image/p005.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  ### 001
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
    
  
  
  By revealing the true nature of Tsukihi Araragi, I will at last reach a full
  stop in our tale. As aggravating as she is clever, the story of my littler
  little sister will mark an end to this episode about me and the friends I’ve
  grown so close to. Not that our lives end with this story, or that the world
  ends with us. When all is said and done, our lives will be spared─besides,
  whether life, or the world, having an end promises any salvation is something
  we’d all do well to think upon more often. To long for an end that never
  comes, to wish to stop and to be unable. Don’t people experience and endure
  such a hell on an ordinary or extraordinary basis al