Ichigo Ichie literally means “one opportunity, one encounter”．The terms is often translated as “for this time only,” “never again,” or “one chance in a life time.”
Its better translation may be “Treasure every encounter, for it will never recur.”
The term is derived from Zen Buddhism and concepts of transience, and it is particularly associated with the Japanese tea ceremony and it is often brushed onto scrolls which are hung in the tea room. In the context of tea ceremony, ichigo ichie reminds participants that each single tea meeting is unique that will never recur in one’s lifetime, therefore, each moment should be treated with the utmost sincerity.
It can be applied to one’s daily life, “all we have is today, so let’s live it to the fullest.”
Can you pass the today’s opportunity to shine yourself if you know that it will not come back to you again?
How many people do you think you can meet in your life time? When will be the next time you can meet again these people that you talked with today?
If you think about it for a moment, don’t you think you rather grab the opportunity right away and talk to every people with the best intentions?
Consider every meeting and encounter is the first and the last. You must teasure every encounter as it can be the last time in your life. Enjoy every encounter because it may not come to you again.
There is no more opportunity but only this time.
Even though a person you meet several times, you cannot have the same time with this person again. Today’s coffee talk, today’s date, today’s dinner…
It is so valuable to share the time with the person because it only happens once in your life time. Today’s coffee talk, today’s date, and today’s dinner never comes back again.
Try to spend the moment that you can think like… “Oh it was a great time.” “it was a wonderful meeting.” after the meeting with people. So, you can start having enriched moments of your life everyday and every moment.
Zen For Life 