Buddhist Year 2567
Western Calendar 2025
Year of the Wood Snake
J.K. Hirano
“Entrust yourself to me. I will liberate you just as you are.” This is the calling voice of Amida.
My blind passions are embraced in the Buddha’s awakening,
So the Buddha calls to me “I will liberate you just as you are.”
Gratefully responding to the Buddha’s call,
I find that I am already on the path that leads to the Pure Land.
And the Nembutsu flows freely from my thankful heart.
It is due to the guidance of Shinran Shonin
and successive spiritual leaders
who have transmitted the teaching to us today.
Living with the Dharma as my guide
Softens my rigid heart and mind.
Gratitude for the gift of life I have received
Frees me from becoming lost in greed and anger,
And allows me to share a warm smile and speak gentle words.
Sharing in the joy and sadness of others,
I shall strive to live each day to its fullest.
It is my hope that this new version of Ryogemon, an expression of appreciation for the teaching, will be recited by everyone during various gatherings to share it with a wide range of people as well as the next generation.
January 16, 2023
SHAKU SENNYO
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha
Happy New Year everyone! First, I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season. 2024 was a good year and 2025 will also be a good year. You may wonder how I can say that with such confidence, and I realize not everyone feels like this was a good year. I believe that there will be times when we think something is bad, like the death of someone we love. However, this sadness is impermanent or at least the depth of sadness will change with time. Just as when there are times when things are so good, you hope it never ends, but it will end. All of this is a part of being human. This is the truth of life, there will be difficulties i.e. “suffering”. That is why one of the four marks of existence in Buddhism is “all things are impermanent.”
Last year our Gomonshu Shaku Sennyo, Ohtani Kojun, wrote a new version of the “Ryogemon” (often translated as the Jodo Shinshu creed). In Japan, it caused a great deal of controversy. In fact, this is the most controversial topic I have ever heard of in my lifetime, concerning our Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji Ha tradition. The original Ryogemon was attributed to our second founder Rennyo Shonin. Therefore, it is over 500 years old. Isn’t it interesting how even within our religious organization, change is so difficult.
The fact of the matter is that in choosing to say, “I am a Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji Ha Buddhist” I am accepting the teachings handed down to me by as it says in Ryogemon, “successive spiritual leaders”. Jodo Shinshu does not say, “This is the only way”. However, my saying I am Jodo Shinshu is saying, “This is the way for me.” I can always leave Jodo Shinshu and find a path that feels more suited to me. However, I don’t, because everything concerning my personal spiritual journey from this tradition feels right for me. If it didn’t, even as a priest I would leave.
This past Christmas break, my daughter Taylor wanted to watch a movie called “Heretic”. It is about two LDS women missionaries. It is a very suspenseful movie. To be honest, as a movie, it was “just ok”. However, the point of the movie was intriguing, and I thought very insightful. The point the movie made was that from the very beginning of religion, the basis and reason was about control. The leaders of a church want to have the ability to control their members. I totally relate to this thinking. Especially growing up in this LDS dominated culture. As I have mentioned before, a professor at BYU explained to me that the bottom line of the Mormon religion was not whether the doctrine was scientifically or logically sound, it was about believing what the general authorities had told them to believe. I love the song “I believe” from the Broadway musical “Book of Mormon”. I think in many ways, other than the idiosyncratic points of belief in the song, to believe in the teachings, is true for most Judeo/Christian religious traditions. However, I don’t think this form of control is a part of Buddhist, Jodo Shinshu or our Buddhist Churches of America (BCA). In Christianity and Judaism, if you do not believe in their teachings and guidelines, you will not get to heaven. In fact, on a basic level, if you don’t believe, after death, you will probably go to hell.
Of course there are guidelines as to what we consider Jodo Shinshu Honganji Ha. For example, if I as a Jodo Shinshu priest were to tell you, “If you pray to Amida Buddha, all your hopes and dreams would come true.” That would be a ridiculous and false statement. Jodo Shinshu does not say that in any place. However, I believe that our purpose in life is to find our spiritual home on this plane of existence, whether it is Buddhism or another religion. If you are not Buddhist or don’t believe, after death, you will still be embraced in Amida Buddha’s compassion. Therefore, you should search for what you believe.
As the director of the BCA Center for Buddhist Education (CBE). I have been having a series of seminars on the topic of “Orthodoxy and Heresy”. It is not to say, “You must believe this” but to help you better decide whether Jodo Shinshu is right for you. On January 25 at the Orange County Buddhist Temple we will hold the Winter Pacific Seminar, and the topic will be “Heresy”. Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji, Mutsumi Wondra, Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara and Bishop Marvin Harada will be the speakers. They will bring up particular points as to what are teachings that Jodo Shinshu considers heretical or not orthodox in our tradition. Most of the seminars are hybrid, so you don’t have to be there and eventually they will be posted on our BCA CBE YouTube channel.
I hope that in the New Year we will all have a chance to see each other in person. And I would once again like to thank you for all the support you have given me throughout the years. Namo Amida Butsu.