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New Year's Service 01-Jan-2007

Minister's Message by Rev. Fujimoto

Good Morning! OHIOGOZAIMASU! Happy New Year! Today, we observe Shusho E, the New Years Day Service. We look to the New Year with fresh eyes, renewed hope and anticipation. Who knows what this year will bring. Today, as we did last night, we have a "back to basics" service format. You have noticed we had quiet meditation, The Three Treasures, Sutra Chanting, and this Dharma Message. These are the basic elements of a service. We had no separate chairman, and no music. Next week, we will go back to our usual format, with chairman, music, and gathas. The week after, we will be even more elaborate, with a festive family service for Hoonko. From basic to elaborate, we will bloom and emerge into the New Year together. In this service of basic elements, we can see what is basic to Buddhism. All schools of Buddhism share these basic elements. In this setting, we can ask ourselves what is basic. What is the value and the purpose of these teachings? What is the value and the purpose of this temple? What is the value and the purpose of my life?

Please listen to this poem by the Myokonin Saichi: How grateful! When I think of it, all is by Amida's grace. O Saichi, what do you mean by it? Ah yes, his grace is a real fact. This Saichi was made by his grace. The clothes I wear, The food I eat, The footgear I put on. Every other thing we have in this world is made By Amida's compassion. Including the bowl and the chopsticks. Even the workshop where I work making Wooden clogs. There is really nothing that is not the "Namu-amida-butsu." How happy I am for all this! (River of Fire, River of Water, Taitetsu Unno, p.106-7)

A Myokonin is considered to be a rare and good person. All Myokonin share the common denominator of living with a deep and profound sense of thankfulness. Although they are bound by the limiting karmic conditions of life, they live in awareness of all that is provided them by great compassion. Myokonin are so happy, so full, so grounded, unshakable vision of life. Even though Saichi eeks out a living making wooden clogs, he is appreciative of all he has. He is so happy that it is bubbling out! Do we live that way? Do we feel that way about our lives? If that is the result of the Buddhist teachings, it is very special, isn�t it?

Again, we are brought to the questions, "What is the value and the purpose of these teachings? What is the value and the purpose of this temple? What is the value and the purpose of my life?" To find meaning, depth, and purpose in our lives, we ask these questions, and we find the answers, and we live like Saichi. In Shin Buddhism, we are reminded to recite the Nembutsu and to live a life of gratitude. This is like asking us to live a life like Saichi without understanding why. How could this work? How does the life of Nembutsu help us? Some people need to understand things mentally, before they can trust and accept the truth. If we are one of these, all the sutras and the books and the writings are there and available. If we don�t want to read and study, or are illiterate like Saichi, we can live with Nembutsu and gratitude. Can it work so simply? How? If we live a life of gratitude, completely and fully, there is no room for selfishness. To be truly grateful, the ego is automatically smashed. We can�t fake it. "I" is dissolved into the ocean of interdependence and interconnectedness. We don't have to know a thing, but in our gratitude, we come to know everything. Knowledge is unnecessary, and wisdom emerges on its own. Even to eat a single piece of toast is to recognize and to become aware of a thousand people and a million conditions that had to occur for that piece of bread to sit on the plate before us. To live a life reciting the Nembutsu and being thankful is so simple and so difficult.

In the December newsletter of the San Jose Betsuin, Rev. Sakamoto wrote a Bodhi Day article. He wrote about Siddhartha's doubt and hesitancy to share his enlightenment.

From the article; Siddhartha thought to himself: "The Dhamma to which I have awakened is truly difficult to awaken to. It is quiescent and unexcelled and difficult to attain through ordinary reason. Deep and profound, only the wise man is able to know and attain it. How can the peoples of this world who are addicted to the pleasures of desire know such truths as that of, 'All things are born of conditions and according to conditions, they are extinguished' or that of the realm of Nibbana where all desires have been extinguished and where defilement have disappeared. Even if I expound this Teaching, they will not be able to attain Enlightenment. I will simply add to my weariness."

Finally, Siddhartha was convinced that there would be people who would understand. Moved by the mind of compassion toward all people, Enlightenment was shared. Quote, "Shakyamuni saw people of different abilities and capacities. He saw people who would be difficult to teach and others who would learn easily. There were evil people and virtuous people. People who were quick and others who were slow. Our world is filled with people of different characteristics and circumstances."

"Seeing the world with a mind of compassion changed Shakyamuni Buddha�s decision. Compassion is what moved Siddhartha from the seat of Enlightenment, perhaps the most important moment for all Buddhists." With this realization, Siddhartha began to share his Enlightenment. This is known as the turning of the Wheel of the Dharma. When we recite the Three Treasures, we begin with: Hard is it to be born into human life, Now we are living it. Difficult is it to hear the teaching of the Buddha , Now we hear it. With the mind of gratitude, when we hear these words, we recognize all the millions and billions of causes and conditions that had to take place in order for us to be born into this life. On top of the unbelievable odds of all that to happen, the Buddhist Teachings come into existence and become available to us. The teachings have traveled through all these conditions to become available to us, and we only need to take them two steps further to complete the journey. Still, we hesitate.

Nancy Okada of the New York Buddhist Church wrote an article entitled Buddhist Theory W/O Practice. From the article; I recently spoke with two people who had "deeply studied" Buddhism and Jodoshinshu on an academic level. They felt they knew Jodoshinshu in depth and felt they were now intimately part of the Jodoshinshu tradition, and thus "Buddhists." I listened to each one quote phrases from Shinran Shonin and Rennyo, and felt sad that they showed insights of knowledge but not the internalization of the practice.

One young woman would not move out of the way when an elderly person twice asked politely, "excuse me," as she tried to pass by while juggling three cups of hot tea. As she continued speaking, I had to gently direct her out of the way to let the elderly person pass. A young man saw someone drop a small plate of food next to him, but continued talking to me as I helped the person clean up.

Studying and knowing the works, words, and thoughts of the Buddha, Shinran, and Rennyo are great accomplishments. But Buddhism needs to be practiced to reward or benefit our lives.

If we look at the practice of the monks in the monasteries, we see that they live in strict discipline. They stabilize their lives. Through practice, they become in tune with the harmony of the universe. They eliminate the extremes caused by attachment and desire. They diligently live the 6 Paramitas. They live the middle path.

Ordinary people like ourselves chase the extremes, we chase the glitter and watch it fade when we catch it. We laugh, we cry, we buy a car, we wreck the car, we buy a house, it burns down. we get married, we get divorced, we have a baby, we lose a parent, we get in shape, we break a leg, we hit the green, we lose the ball, we win with a bluff, we lose with a boat. It goes on and on, like a roller coaster. Buddhism is telling us to stop chasing these empty illusions, we keep saying. "What?" The teacher is giving a lesson, and the whole classroom is throwing spitwads. The parent is saying, "Listen to me." And the 4 year old is doing everything but.

As I stated last night, our life experiences swing from difficult and painful to pleasant and enjoyable. As we swing from one to the other, we also always return to the middle. It is the highs and the lows that bring meaning to our lives. As each high and low subsides, we return to the middle. In the middle, we find stability. The Buddhist Teachings encourage us to walk the Middle Path. This means to recognize and to seek the stability of the middle. The Nembutsu is the middle. Namo Amida Butsu reminds us of the middle and returns us to the middle. It is with the stability of the middle that we can truly enjoy and appreciate the highs and to weather the lows. Beyond this, the middle path of the simple householder is the same as the middle path of the monk. It is with this perspective that the Shin Buddhist can say that "fortunate or unfortunate, either way, everything will be all right."

As we take our first steps into the New Year, I hope that each of us have the mind to ask the questions and to find the answers, to learn the Dharma and to share the Dharma, to make this temple and our lives shine with meaning, depth, and purpose.

........GASSHO..........RAIHAI

Rev. Dennis

New Year's Service 01-Jan-2007

Minister's Message by Rev. Fujimoto

Location

Sunday Service