J.K. Hirano
Aa, Guzei no goen tasho, nimo moai gataku,
Shintatsu no Joshin okko nimo egatashi!
Tamatama Gyoshin o e ga,
Toku shukuen o yorokobe.
Ah, hard to encounter, even in many lifetimes is the cause of birth, Amida’s universal vow! Hard to realize, even in myriads of kalpas, is pure shinjin that is true and real! If you should come to realize this practice and shinjin, rejoice at the conditions from the distant past that have brought it about.
Collected works of Shinran: pg 4
In science and religious circles, there is a term called “magical thinking” or “magical ideation” and it is connected to a belief in God. Magical thinking is to believe something that has no basis in empirical truth. I hate to reveal my own political bias, but does that mean if you believe that the election was stolen from former president Trump, you believe in magic? I do not believe the election was stolen and I don’t believe in God. At least God in a traditional Judea/Christian form. However, I do believe in magic. I have found Magic in Christmas, Disneyland, family and many extraordinary coincidences without explanation and Love!
This passage I began with is from Shinran Shonin’s masterwork Kyogyoshinsho. It is one of the places where he expresses the joy he feels for having encountered the Nembutsu. I guess, since he is referencing our spatial world, the “real world”, when he refers to time and place. Yet when I think of how long one “kalpa” is or how many “myriad” refers to, I believe Shinran believed in magic. Why else would he follow a dream where the Bodhisattvha Kannon tells him how to find his teacher and even his wife!? I believe in the magical sound of these words I began with. I am not a native Japanese speaker so hearing and saying these words from the Kyogyoshinsho in Japanese makes little sense. Just saying this phrase in Japanese makes me feel like I am reciting magic words, like “wingardium leviosa” or as Hermione Grainger explains to Ron Weasley, it is “wingardium leviosaa!” Either way, it all sounds magical to me! Try it, “Ahh Gusei no goen tassho, nimo moai gataku….” Presto change…Namo Amida Butsu.
I have always felt that from Thanksgiving in November to our Nishi Hongwanji’s Hoonko in January, this is our Jodo Shinshu Holiday season. During this time of year, I can feel the magic of the season in the air. I know there are always Grinches and Bah Humbugs when it comes to Christmas, especially in our Buddhist Sanghas. However, if you were to ask my college educated daughters about Christmas magic, I think they would say, “We believe!” Carmela, a very educated physician, and ordained Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji priest along with myself would say, “We also believe!”
I know Kacie and Taylor believe, because I was there when they experienced their first brush with Holiday Magic. Kacie was seven and Taylor was four on the first Christmas after their mother and I separated, they asked Santa Claus for a new bedroom set at my house. Every year, they are with me for much of Christmas Eve. As I wrote about in the story, “Santa’s Golden Chain” my family has a lot of holiday traditions. Their Mom and I had agreed that even though we would divorce, our girls were our number one priority, so no matter how difficult, we would try to make their transition and life as smooth as possible. After eating dinner at Koyo Japanese restaurant and the family Christmas Eve party at my sister Joni’s home, I got the girls to their mom’s house around 11:00 or so. I’m sure their mom got them into their Christmas pajamas to be tucked into bed for visions of sugarplums to dance in their little heads. When their mom brought them back to my house at around 11:00 a.m. Christmas morning, they were amazed to see a completely transformed bedroom, with white French style poster beds and matching quilts. White bedside tables with pink reading lamps and the walls and ceiling color changed to sky blue with wispy white clouds floating towards the ceiling. As proof of Santa’s Christmas magic, they even found the little footprints the elves had accidently left on the windowsills of their room. A very tired, but grateful Dad received his Christmas gift, just from hearing their squeals of joy and “Thank you, Santa!”
I have been thinking about all the magic I have experienced in my life. From somehow having survived a number of possible life ending medical issues, finding a woman that supports me in all my hopes and dreams. I have discussed with Carmela how magical our meeting was. Two very different people that run in completely different social circles, born in separate countries, so very far apart; being raised in culturally extremely different circumstances and yet, finding each other and happiness late in life. I doubt that I have any magical abilities, but I believe Carmela is a magical creature and I think it was part of her magic that rubbed off on me. Before Carmela and I met, I was a no mumbo jumbo, no superstitious nonsense type of person. However, after we were married, I once asked her, “How can you believe in that New Age mumbo jumbo junk?” She simply smiled and said, “How do you think I found you?”
This holiday season many of us will get together with friends and family. Eating, playing, laughing, and sometimes fighting and arguing. In my opinion, when I see my family, it seems magical how we managed to get through the years and stay together as family. In my family, we often reminisce and laugh about many of our experiences growing up together. Our family didn’t have much money, but magically we never felt neglected or wanting. We often laugh about the Thanksgiving at my parents’ home. How the table we kids ate on was an old blue door, that my dad had attached four short legs on, and it barely fit in the small living room. Christmas was at Uncle Mas and Auntie Maxine’s and New Year’s at Bachan (grandma) and Jichan’s (grandpa). How did the twelve of us, have such a wonderful relationship that has lasted until our present lives? We cousins are still having holidays together as we stroll into old age. I had just heard that my nephew will be holding Christmas Eve at his house rather than my sister Joni’s. I hope that some of these traditions will continue. Is there a difference between magic and love? We can only hope and dream with a little Holiday magic thrown in. “Aa, Guzei no goen tasho, nimo moai gataku,Shintatsu no Joshin okko nimo egatashi! Tamatama Gyoshin o e ga, Toku shukuen o yorokobe.” Namo Amida Butsu! I will share a secret about holiday magic, it gets stronger when it is shared with family and friends, but it gets even stronger when shared with strangers. It is magical how strangers can become friends.
Some may think, “Hirano Sensei must be getting senile. He is just an old man, fading into his memories. Magic is not Nembutsu and Nembutsu is not Magic!” I believe that Jodo Shinshu is a religion of gratitude and appreciation. No matter how much I study, it does not really make me grateful. However, within my memories from the distant past, I rejoice. I may not always feel gratitude in this immediate empirical world. However, when I pause and reflect on my life, I cannot, despite myself, not feel the warmth of gratitude and Namo Amida Butsu burst forth.
I want to thank all our Sangha members for their support of myself and family and our temples. This year, I want to thank those that are coming out in person to join us for our services at the temple. I know there are some that cannot meet in person, and I am grateful for your support. Carmela, Kacie, Taylor, Miso, Koge, Musubi and I all thank you, wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hoonko, with a deep bow and Namo Amida Butsu. I hope to see you healthy and well in 2023!