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I would like to begin by first saying “Thank You” to everyone who has taken the time to comment on our temple’s bulletin board. It is nice to know that people do take the time to read what has been written. Putting out a bulletin board message is not necessarily an easy thing to do. First, there is the limitation of length and then there is the time consuming task of actually pushing all the letter pins onto the letter board to form the messages. I am very lucky that we have someone at the temple who is always so very eager to volunteer to do this very tedious task.
Recently, we have been writing very short messages. They are only one or two words long. Hopefully, people aren’t disappointed in how simple these “messages” have been recently. On our message board we have written (will write) “Welcome,” “Thank You,” “I’m Sorry,” and “Please.” The reason for this is because these are some of the easiest words to utter, but sometimes are also the most difficult words to say. Being able to utter these four different expressions are typically not that hard to do. They are such simple expressions that for the most part we take for granted our ability to utter them. We can say them anytime. It may be partially for this reason that we often neglect to say these words: we can say them anytime.
On the other hand, however, despite knowing how easy it is to speak these words we also understand the tremendous meaning they have. Sometimes the responsibility associated with these words may make it difficult for us to say, and because of this we find ourselves sometimes hesitating to say them. Unfortunately when we do, we sometimes find ourselves concluding, “It is now too late to say” and we lose our chance to speak them.
Like these expressions, the Nembutsu or Namo Amida Butsu is also very easy to utter. Like these expressions, the Nembutsu also has tremendous meaning. It has behind it the Vow of a Buddha to save all sentient beings. Hopefully, we do not find ourselves ignoring or hesitating to say expressions like “Welcome,” “Thank You,” “I’m Sorry,” and “Please.” Hopefully, too, we do not find ourselves ignoring or hesitating to say Namo Amida Butsu. This is because although sometimes the easiest things to say are the most difficult, they often are also the most meaningful as well.
Rev. John Iwohara
In our lives we experience many things. The things we experience we tend to label as pleasant, unpleasant, or neither pleasant nor unpleasant. We regard these experiences as being positive, negative or neutral. As human beings, however, we also look at our experiences and sometimes go beyond the simple label of positive, negative or neutral. We discover our experiences can also be meaningful. In finding meaning in our experiences we can be burdened by the experience or find inspiration in the experience. Religion helps us, I think, to figure out how to find meaning in the form of inspiration in all of our experiences regardless of whether we might label it as positive, negative or neutral.
The death of a loved one, for example, would tend to be labeled as unpleasant and negative. It is an experience that can become a burden to us as we try to carry the weight of our loss and misery. How does religion, or in this case Jodo Shinshu help us to find inspiration in something like this?
Not too long ago I participated in the funeral services for the late Reverend and Mrs. Shoki Mohri. It was, I’m sure, a difficult time for the Mohri family as Mrs. Mohri and Reverend Mohri left their human forms within a week of each other. Because of how close their deaths occurred, the family decided to have a combined funeral for Reverend and Mrs. Mohri. It was a very well attended service numbering in the thousands. It was a testament to the number of lives Reverend and Mrs. Mohri were able to touch and enrich in their lives. I count myself as one of those lucky enough to be counted in those numbers. I’m sure there were many, many more who could not attend the funeral service. Although the meaning and value of a life cannot and should not be equated to the number of people who attend a funeral service, the reason I bring this up is because the people who gathered came from decades of connections. Some people were originally brought together because of this couple and now decades later they were brought together again because of this couple.
Everyone knows that a funeral service is a sad event. And yet, when you are brought together again after decades of separation you can’t help but to rejoice and then to remember what helped to bring you together. I saw this happening over and over again at the funeral service. At first I was puzzled and perplexed. Then, after seeing it happen again and again, I began to slowly understand that the funeral service is actually a gift from the departed. It is a gift that tells us, “Don’t be burdened by our loss of human life. Be inspired by the gifts we have given you.”
At the funeral service we are reminded that we have been given the gift of life: we have been given the gift of friends and families. We have been given the gift of culture and customs: we learn about things like how to place the uchishiki on the obutsudan, how and when to hold memorial services, and are reminded to do all the “little things” like say “thank you.” Finally, we discover the greatest gift of all. We discover that we have always been and always will share the Nembutsu. Through the funeral service we discover that the burden of loss becomes the inspiration to share in life, or the immeasurable life and the inconceivable light that is Namo Amida Butsu.
Rev. John Iwohara
In a letter that Shinran Shonin wrote he states:
Those who feel uncertain of birth should say the nembutsu aspiring first for their own birth. Those who feel that their own birth is completely settled should, mindful of the Buddha’s benevolence, hold the nembutsu in their heart and say it to respond in gratitude to that benevolence, with the wish, “May there be peace in the world, and may the Buddha’s teaching spread!” (Collected Works of Shinran, p. 560).
Sometimes, in our struggles, we wonder “Why me?” “What is my place?” To help us from reaching the wrong conclusion Amida Buddha constantly calls to us saying, “My Enlightenment is meaningless without yours.” When we hear this in the name Namo Amida Butsu, we discover that our lives are completely affirmed. We are reminded that my life has meaning. From this discovery the desire to live a meaningful life is born. How do we do this? In the passage quoted above Shinran Shonin suggests that a meaningful life is one that promotes peace in the world. It is a life that wants to share the peace that comes from knowing my life has meaning and value. When, through the Buddha’s benevolence, we understand that my life has meaning, we discover that it has always been a part of the immeasurable life we hear as Namo Amida Butsu. At the same time, we discover that my life also has meaning and value because of all the lives that have become a part of it, like the lives of my parents, my grandparents, and all those who have helped me to have this very special day we call today. We discover that it is not just my life that has meaning and value, but that all life has meaning and value. We discover the immeasurability of life.
In living our lives, however, we can create a world filled with hate and violence. We can create a world that negates and can destroy all life in an instant through things like an atomic bomb. Or, we can learn to appreciate this very special day we call today as a continuous moment filled with immeasurable life. We can live in the light of Namo Amida Butsu and discover a world that affirms and nurtures all life. The desire to share this appreciation of life is why Shinran Shonin wrote his letter over 750 years ago, it is the reason why the Hongwanji in Kyoto was built over 400 years ago. It is also the reason why we celebrate our meeting with the Nembutsu whenever we put our hands together in Gassho, and repeat Namo Amida Butsu. Through all these things we learn to receive and share, and with the confidence of being completely affirmed in the life of the Nembutsu have the courage to declare, “May there be peace in the world, and may the Buddha’s teaching spread!”
Rev. John Iwohara
Every year in the month of November, the Venice Hongwanji holds its annual Eitaikyo service. This service is also often called the Muen Hoyo (無縁法要). Although the first phrase “Muen” can be translated to mean “without condition” or “without connection,” it is used to refer to those people who no longer have living relatives. The second phrase “Hoyo” literally means “essence of the Dharma” and refers to the ritual service. It is the “essence” because the Dharma is not meant to be just something one studies but something that one “lives” and something that is shared. Because of this the Eitaikyo Hoyo (service) is also something the temple conducts for all those people who have gone before us but who no longer have any living relative.
Eitaikyo, on the other hand, is often translated as “perpetual memorial service.” It is the service held by the temple to remember all the lives of its past. This is done to help us to appreciate what is being received in the present because of the past and as a way to guide those of us in the present to help pass on the gift of the Dharma to all the future generations.
The mission statement of the Venice Hongwanji is: “To promote a greater understanding and appreciation of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and to continue to live the Nembutsu as a warm and friendly family centered temple.” In seeing the two meanings for the service as both the Eitaikyo Hoyo and as the Muen Hoyo, and in reviewing the Mission Statement of the Venice Hongwanji we see that the meaning of Muen is a little mis-leading because through the Namo Amida Butsu we see how we are all part of the same family of Nembutsu.
Rev. John Iwohara
Recently there has been a growing discussion and increased distinction between spirituality and religiosity. The distinction is being made because more and more people it seems have a growing mistrust or apprehension towards the organization that flies under the banner of religion. Although I am obviously biased on this issue because I am a member of the clergy of just such an organization, because I choose to stay within the confines of the institution, I also must admit that I find personal meaning in the relationship and less the distinction between spirituality and religiosity.
In having this discussion between the relationship or distinction between spirituality and religiosity, we need to first understand what is “religion.” In looking for the source of the term, its etymology, many connect it with the word “religare” which means “to bind fast.” Part of the reason this is believed to be the source term is also because of the origins to the word “rely” which also is related to “religare.” When the concept was introduced to Japan, the term that was created as a translation for the term was 宗教 (“shuukyou”) which can literally be translated as “essential teaching.”
Of course, because “religion” is itself a construct it is not necessarily critically important to determine what it “is” especially if this dialogue takes us away from the more critical issue of living life, living it well, and living it fully which is what I think is at the core of “spirituality.”
Although it may seem that I have just made an argument in favor of spirituality over religiosity, I think that religion also asks us what is the point of being “tied” or “fastened” or of learning an “essential teaching”? I would answer that it is to help us live a life of meaning or the life fully lived. Life is not just a personal “thing” it is also something that needs and wants to be shared. We discover how religion can bind or keep a community together and how a teaching can become the essence of what it means to share a tradition, a community and life with each other.
Rev. John Iwohara
References:
“religion.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 13 Oct. 2011. .
“rely.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 13 Oct. 2011. .
「宗教」Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10 October 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
The Tohoku Disaster Volunteer Center is located at the Sendai Betsuin. Volunteer activities begin with a brief orientation at 5:00p.m. which includes a tour of the facilities. Classrooms for the now unused pre-school serve as the sleeping quarters. Because the Volunteer Center is a converted pre-school, all the furniture and accommodations are too small. There is an innocence that can be found at the Center which helps to ease some of the tension that the first time volunteer is sure to bring. Some of the worry, however, is also dissipated by the condition of the city of Sendai.
Sendai is a modern city. Just driving through you would not know that anything untoward happened. People are just going through their daily lives. But all you have to do is drive a couple of miles away and you discover much of the damage that was broadcast world wide during the actual disaster. Driving through the tsunami-destroyed town gives you an eerie feeling. It is a ghost town as far as the eye can see. It doesn’t seem real and because of this you find yourself wanting to convince yourself that this is just a movie set; but, it is not. Relief work is ongoing and, as part of the results of that work, piles of rubble have been created around the town almost rivaling the mountains that nature probably took centuries to make. If you focus on the mountain landscape and ignore the destruction and rubble around you, it is hard to believe that in such a peaceful and tranquil place such a terrible thing can happen. But, the devastation is clear. On the other hand, so is the determination of the volunteers and the locals who keep coming back working little by little to start over again. When you focus on the devastation you can’t help but be filled with a deep sadness. When you see the determination you are filled with hope, but there is still much work to be done.
Below is a synopsis of the daily volunteer schedule found at the Volunteer Center.
The Volunteer Center day begins with a 7:00 a.m. morning service (optional). After the service, teams are made based on the previous night’s sign-ups. Team captains are introduced to their respective teams and the teams are shuttled to their respective volunteer sites from about 9:00 a.m. Volunteer activities go until about 3:00 p.m. Depending upon the traffic, you return to the Center by about 4:30 p.m. After cleaning up a bit, the nightly 6:00 p.m. meeting is held. The meeting begins with Gassho and is followed by volunteers who have just arrived introducing themselves to the larger group. Following introductions, team leaders report about the volunteer activities their team participated in. Volunteers are also encouraged to report on their experiences. Following these reports, the staff reminds everyone about the safety precautions everyone should be mindful of at the volunteer sites because of the continued possibility of aftershocks and even more tsunami. Following these reports volunteers who are finishing their activities at the Center are given time to say their farewells as well as express their impressions of their experience. One such volunteer, who was probably about 18 years old, expressed how he was the one that gained from the experience. The meeting ends with everyone being asked to sign up for the next day’s volunteer activities which may include things such as debris clean up, disbursement of basic supplies, and recovered photo clean up and distribution.
Rev. John Iwohara
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