Editor's Note - This is an excerpt from the January 2010 issue of the Buddhist Wheel

“Immeasurable Light and Life.”

At the beginning of the year, I would like to send you my greetings from Hongwanji in Kyoto.

While awaiting the Seven hundred fiftieth Memorial for Shinran Shonin which will commence next year here at Hongwanji, we are in our final year of preparations. The restoration of the Founder’s Hall was completed last year and many other facilities in the Hongwanji precinct have also been newly built or restored.

Shinran Shonin’s Memorial was observed in the South America District in 2007 and in the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii in 2009, and will be conducted in the Buddhist Churches of America this coming spring. If you were to think of Shinran Shonin merely as someone who lived seven hundred fifty years ago in a distant, faraway country on the other side of the ocean, it may be difficult to feel close to him. However, if you look up to him as the person who shows us the way to truly live our lives here and now, the difference of time and space does not matter.

As economics continues to develop and scientific technology advances in today’s world, we human beings are likely to think that we are progressing in the same accord. However, since humans all possess the so-called “three poisons”—greed, anger, and ignorance—we are no different than the people of the past. Moreover, as the world and society change, the influence of our three poisons has become even greater. Globalization of economics has widened the gap in the standard of living between rich and poor, and concentrated affluence and power to a limited number of people, while on the other hand it has caused poverty issues that threaten the lives of people. Each of us must come to see clearly our own true selves and work toward building a moderate way of living and society as it should be. In order to realize mutual support and cooperation among ourselves, we need to listen to other people’s opinions as well as reflect upon our own lives. This must be done on the awareness that each one of us, including myself, is a foolish, ordinary being who is embraced and supported by the compassion of Amida Tathagata.

Let us say the Nembutsu and cherish every single day, reflecting on importance of each moment.

January 1, 2010

OHTANI Koshin
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha

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