It is the mind that is single, realized by the person who is grasped and protected by the compassionate light. It is great shinjin, rare and unsurpassed. It is the quick path difficult for people to accept. It is the true cause of attaining great nirvana. It is the white path by which all virtues are fulfilled instantly. It is the ocean of shinjin that is itself suchness or true reality.
-Kyogyoshinsho chapter on shinjin
This pandemic has given each of us so much to think about. I know that there has been a great deal of suffering and that does make me sad. But I believe that in many ways, the pandemic has forced me to really look at what I’m doing with my life. I really enjoyed my life before the pandemic. I traveled a lot and met a lot of different people. However, in retrospect I realize my life was so fast!
This past month, we held our BCA National Council and Minister’s meeting. It was a very interesting experiment to hold these over two weekends and zoom. The year before it was held near the epicenter of the Coronavirus epidemic near Seattle, Washington. It was the last trip I made before the shut down. In the past, I was so involved with Minister’s association, as I watched this meeting in a slow motion manner form the comfort of my own home. It really made me wonder why? Why was I so involved with the politics of the Buddhist Churches of America. All I can think is that my “EGO” was the culprit. To think that what one person like me does, will have any lasting effect, is a working of “EGO” in the worst and most insidious way. You would think that after talking about the problem of “EGO” my entire life as a minister, I would know better. At least I can laugh at it now and see how ridiculous I was. Kind of like looking at old pictures from High School. Remember how cool you thought that Puka shell necklace, platform shoes and bell bottoms made you? I liked to add a rayon open collared flower print shirt. “So cool…”
Last month in our temple’s newsletter, I wrote about what a deep thinker my daughter Taylor had always been. Here’s another short Taylor story. One day riding in the car when she was about 10 or 12, she said to me, “Dad, have you ever felt that life is just moving along too fast. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were something that could help us slow down and look closer at what we are doing with this life of ours? My life just seems to move so fast. It’s hard to remember what I did yesterday.”
Well, as I said, I learn so much from my daughters.
This pandemic and sitting at home have really allowed me to examine my life a little closer. Experiences like this BCA zoom meeting I watched, really make me wonder why? Things that I emphasized so strongly, such as ministers must be involved at all levels of this organization. At this meeting, the same things I said when I was involved are being said. However, in this meeting it was mentioned that this is a new concept to ask ministers to take their roles seriously. It makes you feel like, “What good was my eight years as chairperson, repeating this at every meeting? Why did I think I would make a difference?” That’s ego and foolishness for you. If I can’t get people to listen, at least I can show you with my own life how the Dharma is true.
Mark Twain said, “The two most important things in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why .”
This meeting and my personal revelation that maybe I accomplished nothing is part of my search to find out why I was born. When I was a student in Kyoto, Japan, the Higashi Hongwanji Mother temple (which is just a few blocks from our Nishi Honganji Mother Temple) always had a type of billboard on their front wall. One saying has always stuck in my mind, and this Mark Twain quote made me think of it again. “Our reason for being born is to find the meaning and significance of the life we have been given.”
This week I have been watching the PBS series “The Black Church.” It was a wonderful examination how the various Black churches gave the African American people the ability to keep going as the billboard said, to find a reason and significance to stay alive and continue. I see a lot of parallels in why we need our Jodo Shinshu temples here in America.
For the Black Church, rooted in the harsh reality of slavery and horrific oppression, gave its members the ability to survive and now thrive. This PBS program showed how their church rose up to meet that challenge and how their community thrives. But it asks the question, “What now?”
For the Buddhist Churches of America and the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temples in Canada and Hawaii, it was a similar difficulty. However, a big difference was that most of the Japanese wanted to come to either Hawaii, the mainland U.S. and Canada. In those ways, there is no comparing of the two. They voluntarily got on the boat to come here, to better their life. Not so for the original Africans who were assaulted, bound and put on the boats for a life of slavery. Very different causes, and however you look at it, suffering is suffering, discrimination is real. And the message of both churches was like what Mark Twain and the billboard said “To find the reason you were born.”
To find the reason for your birth is a lifelong process. Some of us were lucky enough to have parents that protected us and kept us safe. I have always believed that the first object of a church or a temple is to offer a place of safety. First and foremost is to create a space where those that attend are safe and feeling accepted, as they are.
For us as human beings, we need to know that we are each, no matter the circumstances of our birth and life, must feel that we are safe. The foundation of our Jodo Shinshu Temples is to teach the idea of Amida Buddha’s compassion. In our Jodo Shinshu terminology this is called shinjin . Some have translated this as faith, but if we use the word faith, we must understand this is not a faith that we earn or practice. This “Faith” is the idea of there being something outside, yet a part of each of us, that is there to comfort us and to assure us that everything will be alright.
The passage I began with is Shinran Shonin writing about his faith in his magnum opus “Kyogyoshinsho.”
However, the reading and study of Kyogyoshinsho is also a lifelong proposition. Maybe part of my reason for being born, was to discuss some of the things I have found. Since part of the reason for receiving a salary is to study and explain some of what I found in this difficult book. However, let me tell you, I do not believe that we Jodo Shinshu Buddhist have a patent on these truths. They are found in so many places, including as I have mentioned Mark Twain, who I really enjoy reading about. He often comes to mind when I think of wisdom. In my opinion, he would have been a very good Jodo Shinshu Buddhist.
I want to end today’s talk with two of his quotes.
First, on some advice of how we should live our lives:
Life is Short. Break the rules, forgive quickly. Kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never forget anything that makes you smile.
I might add this is easier said than done, but please try.
And the last quote actually has two parts:
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
And last:
Life asked Death “Why do people love me but hate you? Death responded, “Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth.”
Please join us for our upcoming study class “Siddhartha’s Legacy” will begin on March 10. Please email me if you need the zoom link.
~J.K. Hirano