“Faith, then, is a quality of human living. At its best it has taken the form of serenity and courage and loyalty and service: a quiet confidence and joy which enable one to feel at home in the universe, and to find meaning in the world and in one’s own life, and meaning that is profound and ultimate, and is stable no matter what may happen to oneself at the level of immediate event. Men and women of this kind of faith face catastrophe and confusion, affluence and sorrow, unperturbed; face opportunity with conviction and drive, and face others with cheerful charity.”
The meaning and end of religion Wilfred Cantwell Smith
Carmela found this quote by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, who was the director of Harvard’s Center for the study of World Religions. She used it in one of her talks. When I read this expression of what he believed “faith” to be, I felt it was very compatible with what I believed as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist. Wilfred Cantwell Smith was not Buddhist. He was an Islamic scholar and a Presbyterian minister. Cantwell Smith did not like the word “religion” and preferred faith. He explained he did not like the word “religion” as a thing, a noun. But preferred it as an adjective, expressing something we do, how we live. He had explained that the word “Religion” was a relatively new western idea.
I had also learned this from my teachers in Japan. They said although the Japanese word “Shukyo” was used for the Japanese word for religion. This word was created to compare Japanese beliefs to those of the western world’s word religion. It was so that there could be a discussion of beliefs between Christianity and Japanese religious beliefs, but it really wasn’t a perfect word for this type of discussion. The word “Religion” comes from the Latin “Religare” which means: “binding or connecting to God. Shukyo had the characters for “Essential and Teaching”, not really the same. I don’t want this article to be a discussion about what religion is. I think we all have a basic understanding when we talk about religion. However, for some reason this quote brought back memories concerning how I chose Jodo Shinshu as my religion, my faith. I believe it is because of the honesty I have found in Shinran Shonin.
First of all, I remember the moment I discovered that my religion and the world I lived in were intimately related. This revelation brought me from a childhood idea of religion as Sunday and temple activities with friends, to something that could directly tie to my living in this world. I’m not sure of the exact date, but this memory must have been about 1967 or 68. My Father never bought new cars and I remember our family car at the time was a light blue 1963 Buick Special station wagon. It was the car I learned to drive in. Therefore the time frame had to be between 1965 to 1974 when I turned 16. I’m thinking I was about 11 or 12. I remember my dad waiting outside the temple for my sister Joni and I to come out from Sunday School. I couldn’t wait to tell him what I learned that Sunday. Because I had learned the answer to every question in the World! As I jumped into the front seat of the car, before he could say anything I said, “Dad, ask me any question! Anything, because I know the answer!”
“Okay, Jerry. Why do you seem so excited?”
“Cause and Effect!”
“What do you mean cause and effect?” said Dad.
“Today I learned that everything in the world is the result of cause and effect. This is a Buddhist term called “Karma”!” I said, bursting with pride at my discovery. “Ask me any question and the answer is Karma!”
From that moment, I began to realize that religion was interesting, and my religion was important in finding the answers to why I was alive. As I entered High School, I would see my neighborhood friends start to get ready to go on their missions for Church. Their church was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) also known as the Mormon Church. At the time, all members of good standing, at the age of 18 would go on a church mission. You have probably seen them, dressed in their white shirts and tie, with a name tag that says “Brother _______”. All of them going on missions, really made me wonder about religion and why it was so important to put off college and life for two years and go wherever the authorities of the Mormon Church told you to go. And your family paid for it all! I really think this experience of all of my friends suddenly “Finding Religion” made me wonder of my own belief.
I remember when my Dad gave me a copy of the red seiten that Tri State Buddhist Temples had published. It was one of the first books in English on Jodo Shinshu that I had every read. I started off with trying to read the sutras. I was so disappointed. The sutras had all of these fantastical stories, not really that different from when I tried to read the Bible or Book of Mormon. I then came upon Tannisho (A Record in Lament of Differences). For those that do not know, Tannisho was a very short 18 chapters written in the late 13th century, thought to have been written by Yuien a student of Shinran Shonin. Within this book I found a number of passages where Shinran spoke about his true feelings, which was so different than what I found in other religions. Shinran also refers to himself as “Foolish” and honestly states that he doesn’t have all the answers. In chapter 2 he states, “Such in the end, is how this foolish person entrusts himself to the Vow. Beyond this, whether you take up and accept the nembutsu or whether you abandon it is for each of you to determine.” This honestly made me want to find out more.
The basic teachings of Buddhism, such as the eightfold path or four noble truths are pretty self-evident in what they are expressing. However, many of the details of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life and the historical development of Jodo Shinshu are clouded in myth. In the Kalama Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha emphasizes how we should question the teachings and not just accept what a teacher or elder has told us. The more I studied, the more I found that the great Buddhist teachers especially in our Jodo Shinshu teaching emphasized our questioning. Shinran Shonin was the greatest example of this.
In a few weeks, we will be getting back to our Obon dance and services after two years without. Obon is a time of stories and myths. It could be misunderstood as a very superstitious time. There is a movie that I love called “Coco” it is a movie about the Mexican tradition of Dios del la Muerte (Day of the dead). It is an animated movie about the land of the living and the dead. I think it is so close to the myth of our Obon. I had a discussion with a friend of mine Reiko Iwanaga, who is the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin’s Obon dance instructor, about how I love the movie and the song “Remember me” and how I wish someone would choreograph and Obon dance about this. To my surprise, she did. And we will be adding this dance to our Obon in Salt Lake and Ogden. Obon and Dios dela Muerte are both religious holidays about how we respond to the death of a loved one. This is not about truth or non-truth. These stories are about methods and teachings that cannot be quantifiable by machines or science. They are stories about how we deal with very real issues in our life, such as birth, sickness, old age and death. In some cases, it seems contradictory to accept these stories and search for truth. I believe, this is where I have had to trust my teacher. Shinran has never disappointed me.
As Shinran states, “whether you abandon it is for each of you to determine.” It is my hope in trying to teach, that you will find the Truth in the Jodo Shinshu teachings in your life and will join us for Obon.
In closing I would like to use a quote from the postscript to Tannisho which is attributed to Shinran.
“When I consider deeply the Vow of Amida, which arose from five kalpas of profound thought, I realize that it was entirely fir the sake of myself alone! Then how I am filled with gratitude for the Primal Vow, in which Amida resolved to save me, though I am burdened with such heavy karma”
Namo Amida Butsu.
Rev. J.K. Hirano