I wasn’t raised Buddhist. So part of becoming a minister was getting to know the Buddhist holidays. I had to learn when they happened, what they meant, etc. Some are related to the historical Buddha’s life, others to Shinran’s life. Several are related to the calendar – New Year’s Eve & Day, and Ohigan in both the spring and fall. Ohigan is perhaps most often associated with the Six Perfections, or paramitas in Sanskrit. Mahayana Buddhists must be familiar with these, for they are the foundation of the Bodhisattva Path to Buddhahood. But once we get to know them, what do we do next?

I would like to suggest three possibilities. One is to study them deeply and try and put them into practice in our lives, in fact, to try and perfect them – hence the name. This is the approach of many Buddhist schools, but usually it is restricted to monastics – can a lay person really devote their life to wisdom and compassion in every moment of every day?

Another option is to ignore them. Or learn them, and yet not bother trying to incorporate them into everyday life. Usually, I think that we may listen to the talk, perhaps increase our knowledge a bit, but then as soon as we leave the temple, or leave the hondo – or maybe even as soon as we leave our seat! – we get caught up in everyday life and just trying to get by.

These two possibilities are extremes – devote your entire life to the Six Perfections, or ignore them. I would hope that many if not most of us end up somewhere in between. And yet, here is the question I would like to ask: Where do we draw the line? How much is good enough? When is it ok to ignore the Six Perfections? I wonder if this is the crux of Jodo Shinshu. Shinran found that he was incapable of performing selfless compassion or awakening perfect wisdom – he left the monastery searching for an answer, and encountered the Nembutsu teaching. The teaching that he left us allows foolish beings such as ourselves who are incapable of practice to encounter the Dharma and have our lives changed by the inconceivable compassion of Amida Buddha.

I wish I could write more and explain it better, but this is the hardest part of Jodo Shinshu – it is the Easy Practice and yet very subtle and difficult to express in words. That is part of the life of the Jodo Shinshu follower – to try and walk this path between perfecting Wisdom & Compassion and just ignoring them. The Buddhist Church of Oakland’s Spring Ohigan Service on Sunday March 19, 2017 is a perfect time to reflect on this conundrum!

(This Dharma Wheel is mounted in the entrance lobby to the Buddhist Church of Oakland. It is composed of gold origami cranes, and was made by the BCO Jr. YBA before I became the resident minister (so pre-2009). The Dharma Wheel can represent many things – often it is seen as a symbol for the Noble Eightfold Path, which is also a synonym for the Middle Way, and thus an appropriate symbol for Ohigan.)