To Dance with my Dharma Friends
Rev. J.K. Hirano
This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie. The buddha replies: Don’t say that Ananada, admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, and comrades, he can be expected to develop and pursue the Noble eightfold path.”
Upaddha Sutta
I have read books, articles, blogs, etc., about the experience of Americans and Buddhism. How and why has this religion, founded by an Indian nobleman in a small Indian kingdom some 2,500 years ago moved throughout the world and now become firmly established as part of the spiritual tapestry of the United States of America? As most who are at least marginally familiar with the Buddhist teachings know, there are many colors and flavors to this religion called Buddhism, from the basic teachings of Theravada Buddhism up to the newer Soka Gakkai forms of expression in chanting “Na Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.” Within these books and articles, I have found many of these American believers or followers of Buddhism express why their particular choice of Buddhism has interested them and transformed their lives. As Americans, we have been blessed to live in a time and place never seen in the history of Buddhism, all the various traditions are now gathered and available here in America.
A friend of mine, Michael Zimmerman, who is a retired chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court and is now the head priest of the Two Arrows Zen Center in Salt Lake City, had told me when he heard a Zen teacher say that in Zen there was “No Hope,” meaning there is only the “now,” something in those words rang true and resonated within him. This statement moved him deeply, and then sitting in Zazen opened a worldview that changed his life, which had been in transition and chaos at the time.
In all my readings and study, I have heard the reason Tibetan Buddhists, Zen Buddhists, those who have studied Vipassana meditation or just loved to read books by Thich Nhat Hahn or the Dalai Lama, why they became Buddhist or at least considered Buddhism right for their life and lifestyle. As a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest, I know that I have seldom expressed exactly why I chose Jodo Shinshu Buddhism as right for me, over the myriad forms of Buddhism now available. Jodo Shinshu Buddhism was the first organized form of Buddhism to establish itself in the United States in 1899. It’s about time we Jodo Shinshu Buddhist shared these teachings with the larger American community and this is my answer to the question, “Why Jodo Shinshu?”
Within Buddhism we find one of the most non-judgmental, compassionate teachings in the history of mankind. The historical Buddha Shakyamuni has said, “There are 84,000 paths to enlightenment.” What he means by 84,000 paths is that there are an infinite number of ways to awaken to Truth. Each of us human beings are individuals; consisting of our own histories and various causes and conditions which make up our lives. We each have our own stories and truths that make us who we are. Buddhism recognizes that the teachings must be flexible to encompass so many different viewpoints. There cannot be only one true and real teaching. Just as there cannot be only one story or history to identify each and every one of us, yet why is Jodo Shinshu out of those 84,000 paths the right truth for my life.
Jodo Shinshu has enabled me to see myself as the “foolish being” I know I am. Just as the idea of “No Hope” resonated with my friend Michael Zimmerman, “foolish being” rang true for me. I know without a doubt that I am a foolish being, filled with greed, anger, ignorance; however, I recognize how my life has been blessed and I am alive because of the wondrous compassionate embrace of Amida Buddha, the essence of the relationships that surround me and allow me to exist. Jodo Shinshu has shown me my life is not about just me, the foolish being, but in the relationships the world has given me. The words, the terminology, the rituals, the traditions all resonate with who I am. This is why I am Jodo Shinshu Buddhist.
I wrote this first section about 10 years ago as the introduction to a booklet I was planning to redo and republish called “Why Jodo Shinshu”. In a logical way, doctrinally provable statement, the above statement is true. However, on a very personal level, I can say without hesitation, I am still Jodo Shinshu Buddhist because of my friends and their friendship. It isn’t particularly about my so called “religious practice”. Although a part of me likes the Jodo Shinshu forms and rituals, it is the friends in my life who are and aren’t Jodo Shinshu that have allowed me to continue as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest. I don’t particularly like the phrase “Dharma Friend” in Japanese this is called “Zenchishiki” and in Pali “Kalyana Mitta”. The reason is that it makes it sound as though, Dharma friends are the friends only associated with the temple or church, your Sangha. I believe true friendships are not only about Buddhists who are friends, but true friends, loyal and supportive in both good and bad times, throughout our life. True friendship is what changes an ordinary life into one that is holy. The holy life is created by our friendships.
I have been saying that life is not a straight line, it is more like a tornado. In my April article I quoted Brian Klaas:
“I began to wonder whether the history of humanity is just an endless, but futile, struggle to impose order, certainty, and rationality onto a world defined by disorder, chance, and chaos. But I also began to flirt with an alluring thought: that we could find new meaning in that chaos, learning to celebrate a messy, uncertain reality, by accepting that we, and everything around us, are all just flukes, spit out by a universe that can’t be tamed.
Fluke: chance, chaos, and why everything we do matters, Brian Klaas
Over the past few years, I have been involved with training Jodo Shinshu priests in America. I can almost predict who will be successful or will fail as a priest based on one thing. Whether or not the individual understands and truly accepts this idea expressed by Brian Klaas. Which is to be grateful for all things and become humble rather than arrogant. The way I see it, life is chaotic. It is not a straight line from birth to death. Our life is like a tornado, yet we try to impose order, certainty and rationality to a reality that is in essence chaos. The one’s that think they are the masters of their own ship and approach the world with arrogance will fail. If we understand this chaos, we can only approach and live in it with a deep sense of humility for this experience of life. The tornado cannot be known. Our teaching is not telling us, “This is the way.” It is saying, even if you do not know the way, you should be grateful for all of it, to embrace the tornado. When the infant Shakyamuni Buddha said, “I am the honored one”, he was not saying he is the only one or that he is better than anyone else in this world, it is a statement of gratitude. To be grateful to all aspects of our lives, this is spiritual freedom.”
I often imagine my spiritual thoughts with pictures in my head. When I say life is to “embrace the tornado” I imagine a large group of children of all races holding hands around a wildly spinning tornado. In fact, I see them as laughing and dancing as they hold hands around the tornado. Each child has their own view of the tornado, but they know they will be okay because they are holding the hand of their friends.
The two reasons I am thinking of friendship is because two of my best friends are retiring soon. Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto and Rev. Dennis Shinseki. I am jealous in some ways, but I know they are both my seniors and now in their 70s. We all met when we were young men, our 20s and 30s. Not long after I had become Kaikyoshi, Rev. Matsumoto, Hamada, Shinseki and I were asked to meet with Rev. Mas Kodani, Rev. Art Takemoto and two senior lay members of BCA, Mr. Hiroji Kariya and Mr. Sei Shohara both past BCA presidents and ardent supporters of ministerial education. All of these “sempai” (literally means upperclassman, however, it is sometimes used for a teacher or mentor) were people who exhibited the type of Nembutsu centered lifestyle, we admired and tried to emulate. They were smart, kind and humble. Humility is a very rare commodity in successful leaders. In the ministry, I can only think of a handful of truly humble ministers and in BCA leadership, maybe even less. However, these leaders who called us together were humble and smart. The purpose they called this group together, was to talk about the future of BCA. What can we do to make sure our temples, BCA and IBS continue. It was the Nisei generation speaking to us Sanseis about what needs to be done for Jodo Shinshu to survive into the future. This was probably in 1989. I know that IBS has been able to keep to the plan under the guidance of Rev. Matsumoto and I believe my temples and Rev. Shinseki’s temples will survive once we are gone. To be honest, I’m not sure about BCA. However, Mr. Kariya and Shohara are still alive and in their late 90s, Rev. Kodani retired, Rev. Takemoto died, Rev. Hamada died and now Rev. Shinseki and Matsumoto are retiring. It feels as though I’m basically the last man standing from this original group. I will be going to Rev. Matsumoto’s retirement mid-June, a bittersweet occasion. At the end of July, Rev. Shinseki will retire as a full time Kaikyoshi and will oversee only the Watsonville Buddhist temple. He will retire from Monterey and Salinas Buddhist Temples. I hope we will all stay in contact with one another; however, it is a huge change in my life as Kaikyoshi. I know there are some that hope I will retire soon, however, it’s sad to say, I plan to hang on a few more years. I will miss these dear friends at BCA events, however, I plan on having them as friends for life and after our deaths.
The image of the children dancing around the tornado could be a metaphor for our Obon dancing. These individuals dancing around my tornado of life are both the living and dead. To dance and embrace the tornado cannot be accomplished alone. It is a result of all our friends and family both living and dead. Obon is the time of year, we are allowed to properly thank them. We will begin our Obon practices in July and the Obon dances and services will be as follows; Salt Lake Buddhist Temple, July 12, Mt. View cemetery, July 13 Obon dance, July 14 Salt Lake Cemetery beginning at 10:00 and Hatsubon at 1:30. July 20th, Honeyville Buddhist Temple, Obon cemeteries and Hatsubon beginning at 9:00 am at Brigham City cemetery, following with the area cemeteries, the Hatsubon will be at 11:00 am at the temple. Ogden Buddhist Temple, July 20th Obon dance, with cemeteries and Hatsubon on the 21st. Idaho Oregon Buddhist Temple Obon and cemeteries will be listed in the temple newsletter.