Editor's Note - This is an excerpt from the October 2004 issue of the Buddhist Wheel

Hajimemashite! I am writing for The Buddhist Wheel for the first time, as Bishop Yosemori has assigned me Associate Minister at Hilo Betsuin. While writing this, I am still in Japan where I have been living for the past three months since receiving Kyoshi ordination. As I prepare to leave Japan to return to Hawai’i., I am sad about leaving; I will miss much about Japan. I have found during my stay in Japan that my connection to fellow Nembutsu followers has resulted in having so many wonderful experiences. My entrusting in the power of the Primal Vow has deepened it as I have shared the Dharma with others.

One of the most memorable events of my life in Japan was a brief trip that I took to Hiroshima, where so many people came from to settle in Hawai’i, bringing their deep commitment to the Nembutsu path with them. I was on my way to Hiroshima Betsuin, and the streetcar passed the Genbaku Domu and Peace Park. I had intended to stop there on my way back from Hiroshima Betsuin, but I saw the shattered structure of the dome and hurried off the streetcar. The Genbaku Domu is as sad testament to the bonno and evil nature that lies in each human being, reminding us of the need for peace. It made a profound impact on my life I will never forget, as I remembered the words from Tannisho, chapter 13:

“…you should realize that if we could always act as we wished, then when I told you to kill a thousand people in order to attain birth, you should have immediately done so. But since you lack the karmic cause inducing you to kill even a single person, you do not kill. It is not that you do not kill because your heart is good. In the same way, a person may wish not to harm anyone and yet end up killing a hundred or a thousand people.” Thus he spoke of how we believe that if our hearts are good, then it is good for birth, and if our hearts are evil, it is bad for birth, failing to realize that it is by the inconceivable working of the Vow that we are saved.” CWS, p.671.

It was closing time when I got to the Hiroshima Betsuin, but the minister I met there gladly welcomed me to the Hondo and talked to me. When I told him that I am from Hawai'i Kyodan, he went to find the Rimban. They told me that they know Rimban Muneto and Reverend Hironaka, who are from Hiroshima. When I told them that I am a Hongwanji minister, and that I had just been assigned to Hilo Betsuin, they shared my happiness. Rimban gave me copies of their Betsuin newsletter for April and May, one featuring Hawai’i Kyodan, the other, Hilo Betsuin. Through the inconceivable working of the Nembutsu, I realized myself as related to these people that I had just met so far away from home in Hawai’i. As I stood in front of the Go-honzon, I said the nembutsu in pure gratitude for the awareness of being at home wherever I hear Shinran Shonin’s teachings and people saying nembutsu in gratitude for the Wisdom and Compassion that we receive through Amida Buddha.

Impermanence is a mark of all existence. As I am sad at leaving Japan, I am excited that I will begin to work at Hilo Betsuin. I look forward to getting to know each of you, to listening, to sharing the Buddha-dharma that each of you realize in your own life.

Hajimemashite--but we know each other already in the fellowship of the nembutsu. I will be at home in Hilo Betsuin, as I have learned that I am at home wherever in the world I am when people share the teachings of Shinran Shonin, put their hands together in gassho, and gratefully say, “Namo Amida Butsu.”

Visit our downloads section to get the complete issue.