Editor's Note - This is an excerpt from the June 2008 issue of the Buddhist Wheel

Reverently we come before our altar to offer our humble homage and thanks to Amida Buddha for His boundless Love and Compassion. We offer him our devotion and gratitude for enabling us to learn of His Teachings so that we may walk the path of meaningful living and peace.
Namo Amida Butsu

Good morning.  Thank you for inviting me here for your Gotan-e Service at Hilo Betsuin. I am honored to be here. At Gotan-e, Shinran Shonin’s birthday, we take time to honor and appreciate our founder of Jodo Shinshu. We take time to express our thankfulness for the opportunity to have these wonderful teachings in our lives. It is maybe a time to reflect on our lives and raise some questions perhaps, and in the busyness of everyday life, we may raise some interesting and introspective questions.

Perhaps the question for ourselves may come up and we may ask, “Why do I come to temple?

In the book Everyday Suchness by Rev. Gyomay Kubose, he tells a story about a devout churchgoer who lived in Japan. He was a very conscientious religious man whose son who had graduated from the university and knew about modern science. To this young son, going to church was nonsense. He was always against his father going to church and constantly asked why he went to church, especially when the minister did not seem to practice what he preached. The young son practically insisted that his father not go to church. The father said, “Son, you don’t understand what spiritual life is,” But he could not convince his son, so he came up with a new idea—that of an agreement.  He said, “I will quit going to church if you will promise to do these things for me: For the next two weeks, I want you to keep a diary of all the things you have said, all the things you have thought, and all the things you have done. At the end of the two weeks, please show me the diary. If you can write these things very honestly and sincerely for two weeks, and I can see the diary, I will quit going to church.”

“Oh, Dad, that’s easy enough, I will do exactly as you ask.” The son kept the diary honestly and sincerely, and put down all the things his father had mentioned. But after one week when he read his own diary, he immediately realized that he was ashamed to show it to other people. Everything of his private life was in the diary. Because of his shame, he came to his father and said, “Dad, I am going to quit keeping the diary. I cannot do it anymore. All the things that I had put down I am ashamed to show to others---even to you. You know, I thought I was good, that I was doing everything fine, but when I became frankly honest with myself—writing down all the things I have done privately, have said privately, and have thought to myself—I found that I just could not show it to you or anyone else.”

The father then said, “Son, we all think we are good, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of, but if we strip ourselves and look into our own ego self, we are very selfish and we do a lot of things we do not want other people to know about. That is the very reason I go to church. I go in order to look into myself for that true inner peace that comes from introspection, and, as for myself, for the first time I am able to forgive or understand other people’s faults and shortcomings. It is so easy to accuse others, blame others, but when we inspect ourselves, we are the same---we are not angels, either.”

When we look externally and criticize others or imitate others without knowing our own limitations, we always have trouble. There is no inner peace in ourselves. I think that is the purpose of going to church. Going to church is not just learning what Buddha said necessarily, or what is said in books, but it is being able to see what we are, and living our own life according to its own limitations. These limitations, of course, include and mean that we are able to live our lives potentially to the fullest capacity.

We go to church to listen to lectures—what for?  Not to gain knowledge, but to deepen our introspection  and  widen  our  scope of understanding. If we understand ourselves, we  have no right to blame others---we  come  to  understand them. Only through understanding do we have peace and harmony. That kind of approach is what Buddha taught. It eliminates mental agony, anger, stubbornness, and greediness. All these can be eliminated or transcended by understanding ourselves.

his father was quite skillful in getting a message across to his son, wouldn’t you say?

Our self-centered view, as shown here, is the focus in the story. This self-centered view is one of the difficulties that Shinran Shonin talks about. We tend to see things from our own standpoint. Rare indeed is it when one is able to see beyond the self, seeing a true picture of what is.

In Buddhism, listening or hearing is indeed difficult to practice. When one is entrenched in one’s own self-centered realm of orientation, it is difficult to even see a mere glimpse of something true and real. Listening to the teaching has been central to the Buddhist path. The act of hearing is also said to implant seeds which will ultimately bear rich fruit. In The Collected Works of Shinran, we hear that in Shin Buddhism, however, hearing is not just the beginning; it is the alpha and omega of religious life, for it is the experience of shinjin. (true entrusting). This is to say, “hearing” is “awakening” to (1) Amida’s Primal Vow as the highest expression of compassion in regards to (2) the deep crisis in one’s existential plight. Thus, “hearing” is “awakening,” experienced simultaneously or together; hearing is to hear the call of true and real life--- to return to the home of homes, and to respond with one’s whole being to that call, following it until one has arrived home. This is called Namu Amida Butsu.

In Tai Unno’s Shin Buddhism, we hear that this calling of nembutsu wakens us to a liberating power that sanctifies all life because it comes from beyond the small-minded self that is always engaged in calculating life only in terms of gain and loss, winning or losing. Sooner or later we will respond to this call, if we are ever to know a sense of security and well-being. Unno says that if he were to translate nembutsu into English, it would be the “Name-that-calls,” for it calls us to awaken us to our fullest potential to becoming true, real and sincere human beings.

To apply these teachings, however, in everyday life, the simple yet so difficult process of hearing and awakening is beyond me or so difficult to logically comprehend.

I had an experience that might relate here. My wife had brought home some persimmons, a variety that required ripening before being eaten. They looked really good to eat, so I couldn’t wait. After a few days, I cut one up and took a bite. Wow, was it bitter! I mean really bitter. So much so that I had to spit it out. Kinda disgusting taste I would say.  I waited then for several more days and then tried the persimmons. Wow! The taste had completely changed. It was truly sweet and delicious! Real ono you know! Then I thought to myself what a contrast this was. Here something can become the complete opposite of what it was before. Isn’t this amazing, I thought. And then I began to relate this to this difficult process of hearing…..hearing true and real life. Maybe when it happens, there is something like a transformation taking place. But intellectually, or when you think about it, it’s hard to imagine. The experience of eating the persimmons maybe touched on it.

Last Sunday at our Dharma School class, I noticed that one of the students wrote on the picture that she drew the words: “I never gave up on drawing this picture.” I thought this was interesting that this student would write this. I’m not too sure where she came up with these words. Perhaps it was Mommy’s influence. Wherever it came from, it sounded like a mantra for her. I was quite impressed with it.

Later on during the week, I thought about her words. As I reflected on the practice of listening and just how difficult it is to hear true and real life, I thought about this student’s words…..I never gave up. I never gave up. Wow, here is a young kindergartener striving to work at her life.

I thought perhaps that could be my mantra. I never gave up. I never gave up….. on hearing the teachings!  Namu Amida Butsu is always there working. Never giving up.  How nice to know also that Amida Buddha never gives up on us. Boundless compassion is always there.

So in conclusion, at this special time when we honor Shinran Shonin’s birthday, when we take the opportunity to be enriched by these teachings, we have  highlighted an important practice in Buddhism….listening, listening to hear beyond ourselves. How difficult, and yet how profound can that experience be. Maybe it is summed up for me with the idea that in listening, or deep hearing, we hear Amida’s call of great compassion and understanding that can touch our everyday lives in a very meaningful way. How wonderful are these teachings. How grateful are we for having them in our lives.

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