Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
To realize shinjin oneself and to guide others to shinjin
Is among difficult things yet even more difficult.
To awaken beings everywhere to great compassion
Is truly to respond in gratitude to the Buddha’s benevolence.
Kyōgyōshinshō, Chapter on Shinjin, Section 94
Continue reading “Dharma Discussion: Dāna (July 12, 2020)”The three types of Dana:
1. The gift of material goods (財施 zai-se): To share of one’s wealth and property for the benefit of the community and those in need.
2. The gift of Dharma (法施 hō-se): To share one’s appreciation of the Buddha’s teachings.
3. The gift of freedom from fear (無畏施 mui-se): To share the courage of true wisdom, so that the difficulties of life can be met with a calm and peaceful heart.
Seven gifts that do not require any possessions and yet bring great results:
1. The gift of kind eyes (眼施 gen-se): To see goodness and beauty in all people and not look down on others.
2. The gift of peaceful and joyful facial expressions (和顏悦色施 wagen-etsujiki-se): To refrain from frowning and making angry faces even in times of difficulty.
3. The gift of kind words (言辭施 gonji-se): To speak gently to others, refraining from coarse and rude speech.
4. The gift of a kind and helpful body (身施 shin-se): To reach out with a helping hand for those in need. To show attentive and respectful body language to all people.
5. The gift of a generous heart (心施 shin-se): To be able to see things from another person’s perspective, sharing in their joys and empathizing with their struggles.
6. The gift of a comfortable seat (床座施 shōza-se): To offer the most safe and comfortable seat to a guest, even it means giving up one’s own favored seat.
7. The gift of welcoming hospitality: 房舍施 (bōsha-se): To warmly welcome all guests, making them feel at home in one’s company.
『大智度論』(Taisho Tripitaka 1509, vol.25, p.162, b, ll.20-25)
浄土宗大辞典 無財の七施
西本願寺 読むお坊さんのお話 和顔(わげん)『にこやかな表情』 -日々の生活の中で実践を- 藤井 邦麿
“The Seven Kinds of Liberality” are described in The Storehouse of Sundry Valuables, Chapter VI, Parable 76, available in English translation on page 157 of the BDK Translation Series edition:
One month ago, as I sat down to write my newsletter article for April, we were just beginning our life of staying at home under the Shelter in Place Order. My mind was filled with uncertainty about what the coming weeks would bring. I did not imagine the extent to which this coronavirus would affect the lives of so many people across the globe. As I sit down to write this article for May, I see the following headline in today’s edition of the Washington Post, “Covid-19 is rapidly becoming America’s leading cause of death.” It has been deeply saddening and distressing to hear of so many people near and far falling ill with Covid-19. The loss of life is heartbreaking. In the midst of my anxiety and fear, I find myself turning to the words of Shinran Shonin for comfort and guidance.
In my reading this past month, I came across a letter that Shinran wrote at a time when famine and epidemic disease had devastated communities all over Japan. To me, Shinran’s words shine the light of wisdom on the challenges we face today. Shinran writes:
Continue reading “Hearing one another, hearing the Buddha”It is saddening that so many people, both young and old, men and women, have died this year and last. But the Tathagata taught the truth of life’s impermanence for us fully, so you must not be distressed by it.
(Collected Works of Shinran, p. 531)
I hope this message finds you well, and that you are receiving comfort and clarity from the boundless wisdom and compassion of Amida Buddha in these stressful times. As my good friend Rev. Harry Gyokyo Bridge of the Buddhist Church of Oakland reminded me in a recent e-mail, “Don’t forget to say the Nembutsu.” Even if our minds drift from Amida Buddha, Amida Buddha never forgets us.
Continue reading “The Sangha Treasure”In a recent address to the Sangha, our temple President began his remarks with the words, “I would like to offer my condolences to Reverend Adams. . .” Wondering what loss I should be grieving, I momentarily searched my memories of the preceding weeks. Then he finished his sentence with the words, “. . . for the inhospitable treatment your Minnesota Vikings received from the San Francisco 49ers yesterday afternoon.” I grew up in Minnesota and the previous day those two professional football teams had faced off for the Division Title. Having suffered defeat at the hands of the 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings lost their chance to play in the Super Bowl on February 2. For many families, Super Bowl Sunday is a major social event that rivals the traditional winter holidays as an occasion for gathering friends and loved ones for elaborate feasting and celebration—or drowning your sorrows in bean dip and hot wings if your team happens to be losing.
Continue reading “True Victory”2020-01-26 Genzas Foolish WisdomDownload
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Earlier this week, I was dozing off in my office at the temple while attempting to read a challenging passage from Shinran’s writings in Japanese when the chime for the outside doorbell woke me with a start. As I sprang to my feet to answer the intercom, my glasses slipped off my face and fell to the ground. The hinge that holds the right temple in place broke apart as it hit the floor, rendering my glasses unwearable. Ideal vision is traditionally described as being able to see clearly at a distance of 20 feet the same object that a normal person can see at 20 feet, often expressed as the fraction 20/20. The largest letter at the top of a standard eye chart that you find at an optometrist’s office often corresponds to 20/200 vision, which is the eyesight of a person who needs to be 20 feet away to see an object that a normal person can see from a distance of 200 feet. Without my glasses, I have a hard time seeing that big letter E at the top of the chart.
I searched through my drawers and found an old pair of glasses I had purchased when I was living in Kyoto. The first time I bought a pair of glasses in Japan, I remember complaining to the optician, “You got my prescription wrong. Every time I have gotten new glasses in the past, I could see more clearly. With these glasses, I can see less clearly than with my old glasses.” When I suggested that they switch out the lenses to give me my old prescription back, the optician calmly explained to me, “From our perspective, your previous prescription was too strong. Your left eye is stronger than the right, so you favor your left eye. By slightly reducing the strength of your prescription in the left eye, we are creating a balance so that you will use both eyes equally. This will reduce fatigue.” I was skeptical, but the optician was adamant, so I decided to give the new prescription a try. Prior to moving to Japan my prescription would increase slightly every couple of years. During the six years I spent living in Japan, my prescription didn’t change at all, so in time I became a believer in the approach my optometrist in Kyoto was advocating.
When I went to update my glasses here in California for the first time after moving back from Kyoto, my new optometrist made the comment, “The prescription for your right eye remains the same, but we’ll need to increase the prescription in your left eye.” When I explained the rationale for the prescription I had from Kyoto, my optometrist was dismissive. “You want to be able to see as clearly as possible. I am not aware of any research that supports deliberately under-correcting in one eye.” I was not about to argue the science of optometry with a doctor, so got my new glasses and enjoyed being able to read distant signs on the freeway in time to change lanes and avoid missing my exit.
Wearing my old glasses from Kyoto these past few days as I wait for my current glasses to get repaired, I find that indeed my eyes do not get fatigued as much when I am reading. That first optometrist I saw here in California was most intent on bringing the object of sight into crystal clear optical focus. To him, the best prescription was determined by how clearly I could see an object across the room from where I sat. For the optometrist I saw in Kyoto, the best vision was determined by taking into account both the subject who saw and the object that was seen. Rather than focusing on the external object of sight as the sole criteria for determining the prescription, my doctor in Kyoto also took into account my experience of seeing through the lenses all day long. In our conversation, I was encouraged to consider not just “What can I see?” but also “How do I see?”
A plaque hangings in the Buddha Hall of the San Mateo Buddhist Temple that reads “見真 kenshin” which means “see truth.” Kenshin Daishi is the honorific title bestowed upon Shinran Shonin by the Meiji Emperor of Japan. These words capture the spirit of our life in the Nembutsu, in which we endeavor to see the truth that is illuminated by the wisdom of Amida Buddha. In reflecting on his own experience of seeing, Shinran composed the following verse in his Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu:
The person burdened with extreme evil should simply say the Name:
Although I too am within Amida’s grasp,
Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him;
Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always.
The clear sight that I receive in the Nembutsu arises from seeing my life illuminated by the light of the Buddha’s wisdom, which helps me see how my perceptions are clouded by the greed, anger, and ignorance that arise moment to moment in my mind. As I welcome the New Year 2020, I am grateful for the light of Amida Buddha that guides me to clearly see the truth of wisdom and compassion each day.
Namo Amida Butsu
This past month the San Mateo Buddhist Temple had the honor of hosting a tour group from the San Francisco Foundation that was visiting sites in North Central San Mateo to learn more about the history of our neighborhood, how it is changing, and the current challenges faced by its residents. The tour organizers were eager to include SMBT on the tour to highlight the important role that the Japanese-American Buddhist community has played in our neighborhood over the past 120 years.
During the visit, our guests heard from four SMBT Sangha members and longtime residents of North Central about their memories of life in the neighborhood and their hopes for the future. Each shared a moving story of how their family had overcome challenges to establish meaningful lives here in San Mateo. I’d like to share one of those stories, as I find it particularly relevant as we prepare to observe our Bodhi Day service on Sunday, December 1, 2020, at 9:30 a.m., in celebration of Sakyamuni Buddha’s realization of enlightenment seated beneath the Bodhi Tree:
The most significant event that happened as a child was the U.S. evacuation order in Feb. 1942. I was 6 years old then and vividly remember the black-out drills the city had where all lights in the homes and streets had to be turned off until the all-clear sirens would go off and curfews were set at 8:00 PM.
I always leave one high-efficiency LED light on in the hallway and open the door just a crack when I go to bed. At some point in middle school, I stopped sleeping with my Snoopy nightlight, and for many years, I tried to make my room as dark as possible before going to bed. Even a little bit of light in the room would make it hard for me to get to sleep. That habit changed suddenly for me one night almost ten years ago, shortly after my wife and I moved to Oxnard, California, where I had received my first assignment as a minister in the Buddhist Churches of America. We were settling into life in California and getting used to living in a spacious single-family home after having spent a couple of years in a tiny downtown Kyoto apartment. Our entire Kyoto apartment would have fit inside the kitchen of our Oxnard house.
Continue reading “The Lantern of Wisdom”At the San Mateo Buddhist Temple on Sunday, July 7, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. we will observe our annual memorial for the past Bishops of the Buddhist Churches of America. Throughout the history of the Buddhist Churches of America and its predecessor, the Buddhist Mission of North America, our bishops have responded to the challenges of their times, showing courageous leadership and empowering the Sangha to work tirelessly to share the joy of the Nembutsu in this land. One of the greatest challenges faced by the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist community in North America was the mass incarceration of persons of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War. Following the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, organizations like the Buddhist Mission of North America that had close ties to Japan and were led by immigrants from Japan were subject to severe suspicion and hostility.
Following the mass relocation and incarceration of the Japanese American community on the West Coast in makeshift camps in desolate inland areas of the United States, an emergency Buddhist National Conference was convened in 1943 in Salt Lake City, Utah. At that time, the decision was made to file articles of incorporation with the State of California for a new organization called the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) that would succeed the Buddhist Mission of North America. In American Sutra, Duncan Ryuken Williams’ recently published history of Buddhism in the Japanese-American community centering on the World War II incarceration, Dr. Williams describes how a group of 47 American-born nisei leaders were chosen to sit on the board of directors that would run the BCA (p. 146). With the support of Bishop Ryotai Matsukage, the American-born Rev. Kenryo Kumata was chosen to head the board of directors.
Under the leadership of Bishop Matsukage, Rev. Kumata had been charged with actively ministering to the younger generation of English-speaking Japanese-Americans. He also served as the English-language spokesman for the Buddhist Mission of North America during the critical time-period at the outbreak of the war. Bulletins and Dharma messages written by Rev. Kumata were widely distributed across the various incarceration camps, bringing comfort and guidance to those who took refuge in the Nembutsu in the midst of tremendous adversity.
I recently came across the following message written by Rev. Kumata that was circulating in October 1943 and recorded in the Denson YBA Bulletin, a publication of the Young Buddhist Association at the incarceration camp in Jerome, Arkansas:
DENSON YBA BULLETIN, Vol. I, No. 2, Oct. 3, 1943
Hidden Qualities
Many of us can find agreement in saying that “tempura” is indeed a tasty dish. Once in a while, the enjoyment lies in guessing what is covered by the “koromo”* and in the anticipation of finding your guess come true. But the “koromo” itself does not constitute the whole of the meal; the essence lies in what is underneath. Just so, no matter how glittering and beautiful a trinket may look, it is still a trinket, a bauble, and may not be classed as a jewel unless the innards are of the same quality as the surface. In other words, it must be “solid”, or “sterling”. Superficial education, sophistication and all may pass for the “real McCoy” once in a while, but cannot compare with true wisdom and humility; qualities which are endowed upon those with Faith in the spiritual guidance of the Buddha. —Rev. Kenryo Kumata
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/jarda/ucb/text/cubanc_35_1_00261330ta.txt
*koromo: a batter coating; koromo may also refer to robes and clothing, often used to refer to the robes worn by Buddhist priests.
Reading Rev. Kumata’s words over 75 years later, I am in awe of his ability to provide a profound and impactful Dharma message with striking economy of language. Writing messages for wide distribution at a time when paper and printing would have been precious resources for his community, he was able to make every word count. He manages to evoke the comfort and fond recollection of delicious food and family gatherings for readers who were likely subsisting on cafeteria-style meals that lacked the flavors of Japanese home-cooking and the intimacy of the family dinner table. Writing in the vernacular of the youth of his day, incorporating everyday examples and slang expressions like the “real McCoy,” Rev. Kumata’s message conveys the penetrating depth of Buddhist faith, or shinjin, which is the essence of Shinran Shonin’s Nembutsu teaching.
The tireless efforts of wise and dedicated leaders like Bishop Matsukage and Rev. Kumata created the circumstances for me to hear the Nembutsu here in the United States. Thanks to their leadership, we enjoy a thriving BCA Sangha and the San Mateo Buddhist Temple continues to be a place where we gather to encounter the Buddha’s heart of great compassion in our daily lives. Reflecting on their legacy, I can only join my palms in gassho, bow my head in gratitude, and say “Namo Amida Butsu.”