Study Group April 2025 Session

On April 13 a few of us gathered on Zoom for the fourth session of “Warera: Shinran and Solidarity.” At many temples it was Hanamatsuri so people with responsibilities for services and clean up were not able to attend.

 

We continued in “Notes on ‘Essentials of Faith Alone’” (CWS pages 455-456) from where Shinran quotes from the Fulfillment Passage (first section of Part Two) of the Larger Sutra. Here I pointed out that translations done by Nishi Honganji have “they then attain birth,” using the word “then” for soku 即. I said that in the Heart Sutra, the Zen people have no problem translating soku as an equals sign (“Form is emptiness, emptiness is form”). There aren’t any Zen translations saying “then,” as if form will be equal to emptiness later on, like after you die.

 

I received emails from Wayne Yokoyama while he was part of the committee working on the Larger Sutra for the Shin Buddhist Translation Series. The new translation (blue paperback published in 2009) was meant to supersede the one by Hisao Inagaki published in the Numata series (the green hardcover), but Prof. Inagaki was the head of the committee and nixed almost all suggested changes to the translation he did. Among the long list of items that Wayne and the other English speaker in the group wanted to change was having soku translated as “immediately.” That didn’t happen (see the SBTS “The Three Pure Land Sutras Volume II” page 52).

 

However in the “Notes” text, Shinran goes on to say “when a person realizes shinjin, he or she is born immediately.” And he names the stages of nonretrogression, the truly settled and equal to (Maitreya’s) perfect enlightenment – taking a process that occurs over time and squishing it into one present moment. For me this is Shinran talking about birth in the Pure Land in this life, not the next. As I often harp about – after the Ikko Ikki peasant rebellions, the authorities repressed this notion of a present life Pure Land by having Jodo Shinshu priests preach about the afterlife, lulling the peasants into submission by promising them equality, liberation and solidarity in the next world. With modern teachers such as Kiyozawa, Higashi Honganji scholars have returned to the focus on the present life Pure Land while Nishi Honganji for the most part insists on an afterlife Pure Land.

 

In the Japanese dictionary I saw that the pictograph that became the character for soku was of a person taking a bowl of food into their hands to illustrate the notion of arriving in the moment of satisfying their hunger. We were fortunate at this session to have Rev. Chiemi Bly from the Twin Cities Sangha to elaborate on that definition as a Japanese speaker. She said when you are really hungry, in that first moment when the food enters your mouth the hunger disappears. It is at that moment and not after the food has to be chewed, swallowed and traveling through your digestive system to bring nutrients to the body. The experience of nourishment happens with that first bite.

 

Shinran experienced that “first bite” of being born in the Pure Land when he heard the message of Namu Amida Butsu conveyed by Honen. His hunger for spiritual liberation was met in the encounter with the Power Beyond Self that poked into and cracked the hard shell of ego. If we understand ourselves as having a similar encounter, then we know what “nonretrogression” and “truly settled” can mean even though we feel like we’re backsliding off the path to awakening most of the time.

 

Since that encounter is so crucial, we have to appreciate the Seventeenth Vow – the fulfillment of the wish for people over centuries, far and wide to convey the nembutsu so that it reached to our place and time. Because we heard someone saying the Name, we have the “true cause of birth” that the universe decided as working best for us.

 

At our next meeting, tentatively scheduled for May 11, we will get into the Tz’u-min passage of “bits of rubble change into gold” (CWS 456).

 

The vision inspired by present life Pure Land has motivated several 20^th century activists in Japan (see Melissa Curley’s book Pure Land, Real World) and it continues to encourage us currently. With this vision we can work with organizers from various religious and secular backgrounds. Since my last three blog posts featured men, I wanted to highlight a woman involved in social justice and while I was thinking about it, I got a text message from my friend Prof. Shabana Mir about meeting up for coffee.

 

She is a great example of someone active in bringing equality and solidarity to our world. I first met her when I contacted the American Islamic College nearby to request a Muslim speaker for the temple’s Interfaith Sunday. After Prof. Shabana brought her family and gave a lively talk at the temple, I got to know her through her blog and social media posts – particularly as I was going through breast cancer and I learned about her journey with the disease. As a professor, she is inspiring many young people from all over the world, especially giving moral support to Muslim women, but she also does the important work of shaking Muslim men out of their patriarchal conditioning (https://aicusa.edu/academics/faculty/shabana-mir). In these too many months of Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza and in the West Bank, Prof. Shabana and her family have often been out on the streets of Chicago to protest.

 

When we met for coffee and a two-hour long conversation, I asked her what can we do in this current situation of increasing worldwide authoritarianism supporting destructive activities such as the genocide in Palestine and the poisoning of our environment. She said we can keep communicating to people, talking and writing, about justice and care for our fellow human beings. Even if the politicians won’t listen, each of us in our ways can educate others so more and more people can resist the fascist narratives and advocate for change.

 

Maybe Shinran himself felt it was too dangerous for people to mount a revolution but by his conveying the nembutsu teachings, the common folk became aware of how far their world was from the Pure Land of freedom and equality. The revolution was already started in the hearts/minds of the people when they encountered the Buddhist teachings of interconnected oneness. Let’s do what we can to spread that “uppity” feeling and resist those who are trying to crush the lives of others.

 

Study Group March 2025 session

On March 16 we gathered on Zoom for the third session of “Warera: Shinran and Solidarity.” We came to the part in “Notes on ‘Essentials of Faith Alone’” (CWS p. 453) where Shinran explains the fourth line of the Fa-chao verse: “Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta come of themselves to welcome them.”

Rather than say “Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta,” it’s easier for me to say (and type) the Japanese names Kannon and Seishi. The two bodhisattvas’ names indicate compassion (perceiving cries 観音) and wisdom (strength arriving勢至). In Buddhist art, the two flank Amida to form a triad. I think the reason for representing Amida that way is to express the dual-names of “Amida”: Amitayus, unlimited life and Amitabha, unbounded light. (Most of you know that’s how Shoshinge starts out – calling both names “Muryō-jū” and “Fukashigi-kō”). “Life” representing compassion through the dimension of time and “Light” representing wisdom through the dimension of space.

Shinran goes further to give the alternate names of the bodhisattvas as mentioned in a sutra quoted by Daochuo in his Anraku-shu. The translations in the CWS don’t fully capture these names – Kannon is the Treasure of the Responding Voice and Seishi is the Treasure of Good Fortune. The translation having “Happiness” is misleading. I said at any given time, it would be hard for me to claim that I’m happy but I’m aware that overall, I am very fortunate in many ways such as not having to struggle for food, shelter and clothing. It is wisdom touching us to remind us of how fortunate we are (we hardly did anything to deserve it) and to know many, many other people are not as fortunate (through no fault of their own).

Next Shinran tackles explaining ji 自 – first it means “by one’s self,” that is, the bodhisattvas come “in person.” We are not meant to literally see two entities like caped super-heroes protecting us from disasters, but we experience lives and events that bring us the wisdom and compassion to support our spiritual awareness, our shinjin.

The second meaning of ji is “of itself” and here Shinran goes into the concept of jinen 自然 (often translated as “naturalness”) which he discusses in other works. “To be made to become so” is to have all our karma - no matter how destructive our thoughts, words and deeds were, are and will be - be transformed into a great ocean of virtue, that is, constructive, healing, nurturing consequences. I said it is hard for us to comprehend this because we are so conditioned to be moralistic – what’s bad is bad and what’s good can’t come out of bad. Shinran is shaking us out of that calculative thinking to open us up to the larger perspective of reality itself – to pour our rivers of guilt, shame and fear out into the vast ocean of hongan, the innermost aspiration that embraces all.

As we’ve heard many ministers say, going to the Pure Land is actually returning to our true state, so Shinran says the “come” in the verse, means our “return to the city of dharma-nature.” This word miyako which is translated as “city,” I like to translate it as “community” as in the Honen verses in Shoshinge – for us to get out of the stifling little hut of self-centeredness and enter into community. Awakening to reality is what is called “enlightenment” and “Pure Land” is more of a metaphor for the skillful means to bring us to enlightenment. The end goal of Buddhism is not to plop down on a comfy couch in some nirvana living room, but to be in the world of suffering, participating in the path to liberate all beings.

In our discussion, we talked about how hard it is for many Jodo Shinshu temple members to see their interconnection with people outside of the temple. There’s so much in Buddhism but especially in Shinran’s teachings guiding us to get past our “in-group” thinking so we can have concern for and respond to other people. I commented that ministers focus too much on inward looking concepts like personal gratitude and fail to bring out the real gems of Shinran’s teachings.

  

[graphic from “Visualizing Palestine” on Instagram]

I would hope by the time you are reading this that Mahmoud Khalil has been released from the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention center in Louisiana. On March 8 he was handcuffed and taken away by car even though his wife showed the agents that her husband had a green card (proof of being a documented U.S. resident). He was targeted for deportation by critics of his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University. For us, it’s the Martin Niemöller poem brought to life, “First they came for the…” Too many people were unconcerned about the detention of undocumented immigrants (which started years ago, especially ramped up during the Obama administration) and I’ve heard it said that those who come into our country “the wrong way” deserve to be captured and sent away. But with Khalil’s detention, immigration status doesn’t matter if you’re perceived to be a “terrorist” threat. All the people who knew him at Columbia say he was a kind and thoughtful person and even the administrators that he negotiated with on behalf of the protestors spoke of his respectful demeanor. It has been reported that while in detention, he has been helping the other detainees with their paperwork and sharing food with them.

That part reminded me of Francisco, someone who started attending the temple and helped out when he could. It shocked me when I received a letter from him, sent from an ICE detention center in Wisconsin, saying that the acceptance of his asylum request was reversed and he was taken into custody. He spoke English fluently so I would not have guessed he was a recent immigrant. While in detention because of his language skills, he helped with translation and interpretation for Spanish-speaking detainees. After several months working with the Organized Communities Against Deportations that the activists in Nikkei Uprising connected me to, Francisco was released and returned to Chicago. He wanted to return to the temple to help out but unfortunately it was during the Covid lockdown. I’ve tried to contact him since then but have not heard from him. I’m grateful that his situation made me aware of the horrors of our system detaining and deporting people who come to our country as refugees. As I learned at the Tsuru For Solidarity action in Tacoma last year: Chinga La Migra!

 

Study Group February 2025 Session

 On February 16 I had a bad cold and thought I could power through the second session of our series “Warera: Shinran and Solidarity” but I could barely get through a half hour. My apologies to everyone who attended on Zoom.

 

The following is what I intended to talk about and probably only touched on. Starting at the top of CWS p. 452, “sacred” is the word I wanted to quibble about. It’s the translation for son, tootoi 尊. In the history of English translations of Shinshu texts, words like “sacred,” “holy,” “divine” etc. come from Christian vocabulary and the Japanese-speakers who used them felt they perfectly fit the religious value they wanted to convey. But I think those words create a sense of “high in the sky” holiness like rays of blessed sunlight coming down through the high windows of a medieval cathedral. Rather than “sacred,” the Name, namu amida butsu, comes into our lives as a great noble power, bringing dignity and respect rather than demanding them to be given. It is too bad the CWS translation doesn’t echo the sound of fukashō, fukasetsu, fukashigi, by repeating “not-possibly” before each verb: “described, explained, conceptualized,” instead of the bland “surpasses measure …” The Japanese readers could appreciate the zingyness of Shinran’s wording that the CWS denies to us.

 

“[I]t is the Name of the Vow” of great love and great compassion – why does CWS have to insert “embodying”? Causing all beings to enter supreme nirvana doesn’t need any “embodying.” Again CWS adds in extra wording – it is enough to say what the text already said about the vow making all beings enter the highest awakening. But somehow CWS wants to remind us that the Vow is “to save all beings.”

 

In the next section, mid-page, there’s more extraneous wording. Shinran elucidates the passage “exceedingly distinct and clear” to show how each being is uniquely distinguished from each other, yet are all included in the heart of compassion. Shinran does not have to spell out whose heart is directed towards us. But CWS has to insert that he must be talking about Amida Buddha who has a mission that “guides each to salvation.” In both cases of the wording inserted by the translators, the tricky terms “save” and “salvation” are used, while Shinran feels being made to enter the highest level of awakening does not need to dressed up as “salvation.”

 

I didn’t have the capacity to get into the jinen “come of themselves” section but I appreciate in the brief discussion we had, that it is something for us to contemplate on whether “only those who say the Name” can be born in the Pure Land (top of page 453). I would like to think it means we are not really in the Pure Land as long as we think we have to do something to make us deserving of it and saying the Name is an expression of completely letting go of our self-power effort (I referred to the scene in “Put Your Lips to the Dust” in Dr. Haneda’s book Dharma Breeze). How do we see others being born in the Pure Land when they are doing very different things than the single-hearted nembutsu?

 

 

Translating between languages and cultures is full of pitfalls as we are seeing in this study – the CWS translators not having the same level of trust for their audience as Shinran had for his. For this month, I’d like to highlight the book Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine edited by Refaat Alareer . The book was originally published in 2014 but last year a memorial edition was published to honor the murdered teacher Dr. Alareer. He felt it was important for his students to become fluent in writing English so their people’s stories can be heard by the world. It is unfortunate that in the U.S. we understand so little about life in other countries because a lot of literature is not skillfully translated and it must be especially hard to depend on English-speakers to translate from Arabic, when many Arabic learners are current and future U.S. government agents.

 

Besides bringing us inside the minds of the people suffering in Gaza, the young writers are also showing us the spirit of resistance that we will need to foster in ourselves and each other as authoritarian forces try to take over aspects of our lives. In these past days of February, the Japanese American community has been focused on the Day of Remembrance, commemorating Executive Order 9066 which took people out of the West Coast and into camps in the interior. This year because of the ramped up ICE raids, there are cries to stop detaining and deporting the refugees – “Never again!” Yet I’ve been bothered by the lack of intersectionality in these protests – Japanese Americans are concerned for people immigrating to the U.S. but not for those who like the Latin American refugees are also victims of global imperialist policies. I’m moved by the social media accounts of Palestinian commentators showing concern not only for their own people but also for Blacks and Native Americans in the U.S. Yet it seems difficult for the wartime camp survivors and their descendants to see any rationale for tearing down all prisons, not just the ICE centers, and for calling out all oppressors including those who are funding Day of Remembrance activities.

 

Study Group January 2025 Session

 On January 12, seven people met with me on Zoom to start our series “Warera: Shinran and Solidarity.”

Before going into the reading of Yuishinshō mon’i (“Notes on ‘Essentials of Faith Alone’”), I spoke about the use of language as class barrier in Japan. The Buddhist scriptures came from China and Korea written in Chinese characters which only the aristocrats in Japan had the resources to learn. But in Shinran’s time there was a push to bring Buddhism to the masses by works written in vernacular Japanese, such as Dogen’s Genjōkōan. Shinran wrote his wasan verses to explain the sutras and commentaries to the common people, then in his 80s, he wrote the three commentaries, to carefully explain key passages in the Pure Land tradition in simple Japanese. However, sometimes in the English translations, not-so-simple words are used to make the text sound more dignified.

We are starting with Yuishinshō mon’i, Shinran’s commentary (mon’i) on the work by Honen’s disciple Seikaku. We covered CWS page 451 and the first part of page 452. Shinran starts out explaining the title of Seikaku’s text. For yui 唯 he says it means “this one thing only.” Then the translation says “a rejection of two things standing together” which sounds somewhat intellectual compared to what Shinran writes: Futatsu narabu koto o kirau koto ba nari. “It means to hate lining up things side-by-side in pairs [to compare them].” Maybe it was just me sounding emotional but kirau, meaning “I hate, despise, can’t stand etc.” somehow has more punch than “rejection.”

Next is the tricky word shin 信. A lot has been written about the inadequacy of the translation “faith” since it carries the connotation of blindly believing something unprovable. When I studied with Dr. Haneda, I thought “entrusting” sounded better than “faith,” but current scholars such as Kenneth Tanaka are leaning towards “awakening” and “awareness.” Shinran points out that this awareness means being open-minded in our encounter with what is true (principle) and real (actuality) and not be awash in unfulfilling notions or fixed judgments. Yui-shin then means to be free of basing our life on self-attachment and instead, we can rely on the whole cloth of life that is moving (aspiring) to support and carry us forward together with all lives.

The last part shō 鈔 refers to a collection of excerpts so I wonder how they got the translation “essentials.” The translation says “significant passages” but in the Japanese Shinran uses sugure-taru which sounds like he is saying, “Gathering the far surpassing ones – not the vague, confusing, complicated ones.” In this commentary Shinran does not refer much to what Seikaku wrote, maybe because it’s in vernacular Japanese which his audience can read for themselves. Shinran mainly wants to explain the passages in Chinese that Seikaku quotes.

The first passage Seikaku quotes is from the Go-e hōjisan by Fa-chao and we only began covering Shinran’s explanation of the first line by reading the top couple lines on page 452. I commented that for us English speakers, we don’t feel a meaning coming from a word like “Tathagata.” But the Chinese readers can see nyorai, a description of someone who comes (rai) as suchness, just-as-it-is (nyo). For Shinran’s Japanese readers, he explains this nyorai is the unhindered Light, literally giving the translation of the Sanskrit Amitabha (no-boundary-light). I concluded the lecture saying that the one who truly comes just as they are have a brightness that isn’t dimmed by the worries we often have (“is my hair in place?” “is there spinach stuck in my teeth?” “do these pants make my butt look big?” etc.) in social situations. But for all of us, as Akegarasu Haya says in his explanation of Kōgen gigi, our faces brighten when we feel relaxed facing people that make us feel totally comfortable. He says that is why Shakyamuni’s face is shining in the Larger Sutra – he looks out and sees everyone is his enlightened BFF.

After my talk, people shared their thoughts. The two people from the Nishi Honganji denomination commented that so much of what they’ve heard is, “Shinran says we’re all bonbu so we are incapable of doing any good.” So I said we need to look at what Shinran did – active all through his life in wanting to make the Dharma accessible to people so they experienced a freedom and equality that the authoritarian society denied them. We could all use more of Shinran’s humility but we should be inspired to be active with helping people like he was.

Keeping with the theme of solidarity, I’d like to feature some contemporary people who exemplify the support for marginalized peoples. This month we note the passing of José “Cha Cha” Jiménez. His family came from Puerto Rico and settled in Chicago where he got involved in a street gang called the Young Lords. While in jail for a drug crime, he was inspired by reading Thomas Merton and decided to dedicate his life to social justice. He changed the Young Lords into a community organization modeled after the Black Panthers – providing food, health services and political power building. With Fred Hampton, he joined with the working class white members of the Young Patriots and formed the Rainbow Coalition. Unfortunately as many of you know, that solidarity of diverse groups was broken up by forces such as police violence, drug warfare and gentrification. Although health issues plagued him later in his life, Jiménez was recognized by the US Palestinian Community Network for his continuing support for the human rights of Palestinians and other oppressed peoples.

Starting a Study Group in 2025

Starting in January 2025, I would like to host a study group on Zoom to read and discuss Shinran’s writings with me. The theme is “Warera: Shinran and Solidarity.” The pronoun “warera” is what Shinran used for “we” in his Yuishinsho mon’i. He wrote what are called “commentaries” to explain in vernacular Japanese the Buddhist texts written in Chinese. The non-elites of his day were not completely illiterate – many could read kana, the simple notations indicating syllables, but as Shinran notes, they did not read the complex ideographs known as kanji, the Han writing from China.

 
I would like to take the time to read through the commentaries, starting with Yuishinsho mon’i. So the first half hour of the session will be reading the passages and the second half hour will be for discussion. We will use the English translation in the Collected Works of Shinran but we will look at the original Japanese and consider alternative ways to translate the text.

This group is for people who want to seriously study Shinran’s teachings but in the context of how we participate in our communities to promote liberation and resist authoritarianism. It would not be appropriate for someone to join the group if they do not fit that description.

I have not set a date and time yet, but will ask those who are interested what days and times work for them. I hope to start the group around mid-January 2025. If you are interested, please email or message me.
 

Intra-Buddhist Encounters

Sometimes it seems hard for Shin Buddhists to dialogue with other traditions because their practices and doctrines seem so far away from Shinran’s teachings. At the 2015 Buddhist Catholic dialogue in Rome, the three Shin ministers and I agreed that we seemed to have more in common with the Catholics than the mostly monastic representatives of the various Buddhist sects.

Yet I feel the need to keep in contact with Buddhists of other traditions, especially in working together for liberatory causes, such a the freeing of Palestine from the current genocidal attacks. It helps to remember that Shinran drew on a wide variety of Buddhist traditions in his clarification of the Pure Land teachings in Kyogyoshinsho. He and his teacher Honen would not feel out of place in discussions of Buddhism with followers of other traditions. The problem was too many elitists in the other traditions felt threatened by the Pure Land teachings’ embrace of the poor, working class and women, so they advocated for the persecution of the nembutsu followers.

 

What led to the suppression of the nembutsu groups in medieval Japan is not a factor in the West where almost all Buddhist groups try to uphold the principles of racial and gender equality. The main difference between Jodo Shinshu and other lineages practiced in the West is what they consider the agent that brings awakening. For most western Buddhists, the individual is the agent, while for Shin Buddhists, it is Amida because we believe each of us is incapable of attaining awakening by individual effort. But I think we can bridge that gap even if the other Buddhists find it hard to understand our centering of Amida.

 

I would like to give examples of how we can bridge that gap. I participated in some of the sessions of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s recent series of Refuge Circles, the online gathering for contemplation and action during this time of genocides in Palestine and other locations.

 

 [From Instagram: Refuge Circles announcement]

 

In one session, Rev. Mushim Ikeda, a Japanese American ordained in Korean Zen, read a series of Bodhisattva vows. I don’t feel I can make any promises to do the Bodhisattva tasks of eliminating suffering, providing comfort, conquering delusions etc. But as I wrote to Mushim-sensei in the chat, I can hear these vows coming from Amida, the ultimate bodhisattva working in this world. As someone who’s worked with Jodo Shinshu ministers in the Bay Area, she replied, “Namu Amida Butsu.”

 

At the final session of this year’s Refuge Circles, the leader was BPF co-director Kate Johnson, filling in because the scheduled speaker couldn’t make it. This was the Thursday after the elections, so she spoke of seeing the good in people, even though the political scene seems full of people saying and doing things harmful to other beings and our environment.

 

As a Jodo Shinshu minister, I avoid talking about the “basic goodness” of all people. As Shinran sees so clearly in himself, our beings are filled with the poisons of greed, anger and delusion so I really can’t talk of my or anyone else’s “inherent good.” In Tannisho, Shinran is quoted saying, “I know nothing of good and evil. For if I could know thoroughly, as Amida Tathagata knows, that an act was good, then I would know good…” (CWS 679)

 

With that in mind, I listened to Kate’s words as describing the goodness (thought/word/deed karma to nurture lives) of Amida which is manifested through the people in our lives. Even though I have no stock of pure goodness in me, I can appreciate how Amida’s compassion is conveyed through the kind thoughts, words and actions of people. And through the nurturing and support I receive from others, such as my Dharma friends in BPF, I may be able to participate in bringing Amida’s healing compassion to those in suffering.

 

I say “participate” because the work ahead of us will require group effort, not the illusion of a heroic individual swooping in as a savior. Although there are thousands of people who identify as Jodo Shinshu followers in the West (North and South America, Europe etc.), it seems only a handful here and there are activists and organizers against the destructive forces of genocides, prisons and poverty. So I believe we need to be able to join with other Buddhists, as well as those of other religions, particularly the followers of Islam who’ve been so vilified in the media. We are not out to convert the “spiritual not religious” crowd to Jodo Shinshu, but we open our hearts to the spiritual oneness their activism is expressing.

 

Keeping in mind how easily I can fall into ego-enhancing delusions, I look to “only the nembutsu is true” as I navigate how to contribute to organizing, mutual aid and resistance in the days ahead.

Uncountable Lives (Mu-ryō-jū)

Part One: Right View

 

When I first started attending the Buddhist Temple of Chicago, I heard Rev. Gyomay Kubose translating hongan as “the will to live.” He gave the example of a plant that grows from a crack in the city sidewalk as manifesting the strength of that will to live. Reading Shout of Buddha (trans. Saito and Sweany, Orchid Press, 1977), I thought Akegarasu was also explaining hongan, the Original Vow, as not only the will to live but my will to live. In the piece “To Live,” I identified with Miss T who proclaims, “I just want to live” despite all her sufferings, such as the loss of family members.

 

After Rev. Gyoko Saito left the Chicago temple to take a post in Los Angeles, I went through a phase of disillusionment with Buddhism and the teachings of Akegarasu, in particular. What good was having a strong will to live when my life was continual sufferings? All my intense listening to Rev. Kubose in Sunday services, the meditation sessions and in personal consultations wasn’t helping to relieve my sufferings and I decided I would quit the temple after it hosted the Eastern Buddhist League conference.

 

But it was at that EBL conference that I was led to Dr. Nobuo Haneda by Rev. Saito and his wife. In Dr. Haneda’s weekly class at BTC I came to learn why he and Rev. Saito translated hongan as “innermost aspiration.” It is not my simple will to live, but it is a desire gushing up from a deep, ancient consciousness shared with all beings, not confined by the constricting walls of my ego.

 

During that time I studied under Dr. Haneda, I realized I was reading Akegarasu wrong and that realization was made more clear when I read him in Japanese during my studies in Japan and later studying with Rev. Saito in Los Angeles.

 

In the piece “To Live,” the person I should identify with is Akegarasu, the one who clearly hears Miss T and respects her vibrant expression of being alive. I found this was exemplified by Rev. Saito – in his talks and in his writings, he was always the listener, the learner, the one who bows down to the lives he encounters. I saw in him the embodiment of Namu Amida Butsu.

 

So I can state that I was misled by Rev. Kubose saying hongan was “the will to live.” Hongan is not about destructively busting through the concrete as an urban dandelion. Hongan is the aspiration to recognize the organic life of the minerals in the concrete and to embrace their life as being as dignified as the flower. To hear and say Namu Amida Butsu is to recognize my connection to all lives, how much they have helped me, along with how much I’ve harmed them in my selfish pursuit of personal peace.

 

Part Two: Right Action

 

Here I also want to explain my recent break with Dr. Haneda, who I will always consider my important teacher. From him I learned Amitayus means all lives uncountable (mu-ryō) of past, present and future. But for me it is important to encounter some of these many lives, not just in Buddhism study groups and at Japanese American temples, but in the world that includes the ill and injured, the financially struggling, the demonized folks all around us and far away in all directions.

 

In Q & A sessions, whenever Dr. Haneda is asked about social justice activity, he answers that it is all “small compassion,” an individual’s efforts to feel good about oneself. It is a response I’ve heard often from Japanese scholars and an attitude some Buddhist Churches of America ministers also subscribe to. But for me, I need concrete experience of my interconnection with other lives.

 

Becoming involved in affordable housing campaigns has introduced me to people I would not encounter otherwise – men and women who lost their housing because of a sudden job layoff, divorce, serious accident or illness, and not because they are “too lazy to work.”

 

[Calligraphy of the beginning of Shoshinge displayed at the Kiyozawa Manshi Memorial Museum in Hekinan, Japan]

 

Now as I am involved in supporting efforts to end the genocide in Palestine, I’m learning how connected I am to people who are on the other side of the world from me. When we chant at the beginning of Shoshinge, Kimyō muryōjū nyorai, I know the Tathagata (“thus-come”) includes the uncountable lives being massacred in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. How can we not honor them as well as our teachers and relatives of the past?

 

The second line of Shoshinge is paying respect to the inconceivable lights (wisdoms) of the universe – those wisdoms include indigenous wisdoms as well as the insights expressed in Islam, Judaism and Christianity. It is the height of sectarian arrogance to think Amitabha (unbounded lights) only refers to Sino-Japanese Buddhism.

 

I am grateful that when the genocidal attacks on Gaza started, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship has offered Refuge Circles on Zoom, four days a week to give us a moment of calm to process our grief and outrage. In September they asked me to conduct two sessions. In the first session I explained a lot about Pure Land Buddhism (which not many BPF members are aware of) but in the second session as our shared contemplation, I read from the second chapter of Kyogyoshinsho, the series of verses where Shinran praises hongan. (Collected Works of Shinran, pages 66-67).

 

The Vow of Compassion is like vast space, for all its excellent virtues are broad and boundless. …

It is like the great earth, for it sustains the birth of all beings.

It is like the great waters, for it washes away the scum of blind passions [the selfish greed of oneself and others that causes sufferings].

It is like the great fire, for it burns the firewood of all [one-sided] views.

It is like the great wind, for it goes everywhere in the world and is without hindrances.

 

That is just a bit of Shinran’s description of hongan, the innermost aspiration to move us into caring and into action as part of this interconnected reality of all lives.