This article won’t come out until the March issue of the Busshin (the newsletter of the Buddhist Church of Oakland), but my blog readers get a sneak preview!

Sometime early this year – within the first couple of weeks I believe – I made a New Year’s Resolution. I talked about it at a couple of services, but here is the way I stated it on Twitter: “…if I get into a difficult situation, to try and see things from at least one more perspective.”

Have I been successful? Well, actually I have been fortunate that I haven’t been placed in any particularly difficult situations so far this year. But I have seen other people having difficulties and it affirmed for me that the ability to see things from multiple perspectives can be helpful. In fact, only being able to see things from one’s own perspective could have something to do with a situation being difficult.

We need to be careful, however. Of course, it would be great if we could see every situation from multiple perspectives – it might help us make better decisions and have less suffering. But it is almost impossible to do! Notice that I said “multiple perspectives,” not just “two perspectives.” Because the reality is that there are many different angles from which we can look at anything. And sometimes, those multiple perspectives may be irreconcilable, as in the film “Rashomon” by Akira Kurosawa (based on short stories written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and themselves worth reading).

Also, if the ability to see situations from multiple perspectives was a requirement, then those who couldn’t do so would be excluded, and that is not how Jodo Shinshu Buddhism works. Amida Buddha made the Vow and established the Name – Namo Amida Butsu – precisely for foolish beings; i.e., people who can’t see things from multiple perspectives.

And yet, realizing that my personal viewpoint is limited can help remind me that I am a foolish being. And trying to do this in my daily life can help me incorporate Buddhism outside of the temple. Church services, whether just a regular Dharma Family Service, a Shotsuki Memorial Service, or a special service like Spring Ohigan which we are observing on March 18, allow us to listen to the Dharma so that it can permeate our lives wherever we are.

I wrote this capsule summary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life for a newsletter article, but ended up going in a completely different direction and scrapped it. But I thought I would share it here:

The historical Buddha was born a prince, and spent his early life sheltered in the palace. But at the age of 29 he embarked on a spiritual quest, renouncing his kingdom and setting off in search of something different than a worldly life of pleasure. Early attempts at meditation were swiftly mastered, so he shifted to difficult ascetic practices. After six years, he was exhausted and no closer to his goal. So at age 35, he quit the ascetic practices for good and sat under a tree. Reinvestigating the meditation he had experimented with earlier, he penetrated to the true nature of reality and attained awakening. Recognizing that others could benefit from what he had learned, he stood up and embarked on a forty-five year teaching career. At the age of 80 he became ill, passing away surrounded by disciples, and leaving behind a tradition that grew and transformed into the various forms we have today.

Thought I would also include this incredible statue of Shakyamuni from around the time that he quit the ascetic practices and attained awakening. Often people think the Buddha was obese (actually those images are one of the lucky gods, Hotei) but actually he must have been emaciated after five years of fasting.

Whenever December rolls around, I can’t help but think about Christmas. I have ambiguous feelings about it – my family celebrated it when I was a kid in Massachusetts, but when I was 11 we moved to Tokyo and it was never the same – I think my dad even had to go to work! Even after we moved back to the US, we never really celebrated Christmas anymore, especially not like we used to.

It seems that there are several possible Buddhist reactions to Christmas. The most common one that I see is to just do it unproblematically. In this case it’s not the Christian version of Christmas that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, it is what we might call either the Pagan or secular version with Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, and of course PRESENTS!

Another response I have seen is to try and integrate it somehow with Buddhism, for instance, having a “Bodhi Tree” instead of a Christmas Tree, using a Dharma Wheel or other Buddhist symbols as ornaments, or conflating Santa Claus with Hotei, the smiling monk with a cloth sack who entertains children.

The third possible response is to reject Christmas. I have heard stories that this was much more common in BCA temples before I got involved in the 1990s. It does still exist here and there – sometimes we put Christmas lights on the Bodhi Tree in the office, and I have heard one or two people say “We don’t celebrate Christmas” with the implication that we shouldn’t have the lights.

Which option do you choose? I have taken all three at different points in my life. When I was a student I used to contemplate integrating it (that’s when I came up with the Hotei idea) – in the years since, I just kind of accept the secular version. But I also appreciate the attitude of rejecting it. I remember having Jewish friends when I was a kid that didn’t celebrate it at all – I found out that they would often go to Chinese restaurants because those were the only ones that were open. If I am truly Buddhist, why would I need Christmas? The United States of America is supposed to be a land of freedom and diversity – I embrace the difference that I embody as a multiracial person and as a follower of a minority religion, and I shouldn’t have to celebrate Christmas.

But I also get that one of the most important aspects of Christmas for many of our members is FAMILY. Maybe we can appropriate Christmas as part of the Gratitude Season that I have written about before – spend it with the people you love, and express that love and appreciation, allowing it to energize us through the winter so that we can face the New Year with the renewed hope and inspiration given to us by the Wisdom and Compassion of the Buddha.

(Reprinted from Buddhist Church of Oakland Busshin Newsletter, Dec. 2017)

What do you think of when you think about Hanamatsuri? Shakyamuni Buddha’s birthday? Lumbini’s Garden? Kambutsu (bathing the Baby Buddha)? How about a six-tusked elephant?

Right now, I’m wondering if maybe there’s a Baby Buddha ready to be born within each of us. Maybe each time I feel a twinge of caring when I see someone else suffering, each time I get an insight into myself or the world around me, maybe my “inner Buddha” is born. Can I then cultivate it, nourish it, so that someday I become a Buddha myself? There are theories in Buddhism where we each have this potential for awakening within us – this is one understanding of the term “Buddha Nature.”

But maybe it’s harder than it looks. Those insights I mentioned don’t happen for me that often. And even if I do have one, it’s so easy to start thinking more about myself than others again. Maybe my Baby Buddha waits patiently for the next time I have a selfless thought to help someone else, or realize something else about the true nature of things.

If I don’t have this Baby Buddha inside of me, it’s ok. Shinran Shonin did not emphasize this potential for awakening. In fact, in looking at himself he felt that he had NO Buddha Nature inside him – that he was among “those who lack the seed of Buddhahood” (icchantika). And yet even someone like that – someone like me? – can still become Buddha. In fact, this type of person is precisely the object of Amida Buddha’s compassion. Becoming aware of this, one entrusts in the Buddha with great joy and gratitude.

I know that Hanamatsuri is a service that also brings us great joy, to get to bathe the Baby Buddha and listen to the Dharma. For Buddhist Church of Oakland’s 2017 Hanamatsuri Service on Sunday, April 9, our guest speaker is Sensei Blayne Higa, a student from the Institute of Buddhist Studies. If you have a Baby Buddha then bring it along, if not then come bathe ours at the Buddhist Church of Oakland – remember, Kambutsu begins at 9:30!

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.)

September 1 is a significant date, for all of us in the Buddhist Churches of America as well as for myself personally. On September 1, 1899, two ministers dispatched by Nishi Hongwanji arrived in San Francisco. According to a pamphlet issued in 1969 by the BCA “Sunday School Department,” this date was designated “BCA Founding Day.” This 100 year plus history has seen many struggles and difficulties. And yet, the existence of our temples and communities has allowed the teachings of Shinran Shonin and the Buddha to nurture and console those in need.

September 1 was a significant date twice in my life. On September 1, 1996, having decided that I wanted to study Buddhism and become a minister, I moved from Boston to Berkeley to attend the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Ten years after that, on September 1, 2006, I was assigned to the Buddhist Church of Lodi, marking the official beginning of my ministerial career. These dates are extra special this year because it means that I moved out to California to embark on my path to ministry twenty years ago! And as of this year I have now been a BCA minister for ten years.

So where am I at? I have enjoyed the past ten years, getting to know the members at the temples I have served (first Lodi, then Oakland starting in January 2009). I have continued to address the balance between my ministry and music – for a while they were more closely aligned, but recently I have been keeping them more separate. I continue to try and address the challenge of opening the temple to more than just the traditional family-based membership – to be honest though, I don’t feel that I have been that successful. A lot of it really is about balance – the Middle Way continues to be one of my favorite Buddhist teachings – and I hope to manage to balance out the various aspects of ministry and my life as the Dharma School year is set to open soon!

 

I am half-Japanese, half-white (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, to be more exact and more vague at the same time). I was very fortunate to go to junior high and high school at the American School in Japan, an international school in Tokyo. Not only was I able to experience Japanese culture first-hand, but I also was around many more half-Japanese people than I would have had we stayed in our small town in Massachusetts.

I went to high school with someone named Ko Umezaki. He was a couple of years ahead of me, played guitar in bands, had a beautiful girlfriend – I definitely looked up to him. I was good at picking stuff off of records but stuff that I couldn’t get he showed me (like the bass solo in Rush’s “La Villa Strangiato”). Somehow I played bass in his band his senior year (my sophomore) – it was a great gig except for the fact that we ended up wearing shorts for the Battle of the Bands.

This video features Ko on shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute. Not only does it feature his music, but it also connects music, Buddhism, and the caves of Dunhuang. My mom loved the NHK series “The Silk Road” and the music by Kitaro – I remember watching it but it was only after discovering Buddhism in college and going to graduate school to study Buddhism and become a minister that I realized that the Silk Road was deeply Buddhist. There were also many mixed-race Buddhists in Central Asia at the time – monks such as Kumarajiva (344-413) are like role models to me now, much as Ko was when I was in high school. Kind of weird maybe to find a role model in someone who lived almost 2000 years ago, but I’ll take them where I can get them!

A huge part of my becoming Buddhist in my 20s was discovering used book stores. I read books up until that point, but used book stores a) made books more affordable, and b) opened up a treasure hunt for unusual, rare and out of print books. It became a quest, almost a thirst, for knowledge and understanding. I think the first stores I found were in Harvard Square, but I quickly found other ones, as far away as Amherst, Massachusetts – Raven Books was one of my favorites.

I don’t buy nearly as many books anymore – I have too many, they take up too much space, etc. But scanning and the ability to read PDFs on my computer or iPad means that I can still read without having more physical books to clutter up my house. Also, you can mark them in Adobe Reader and not feel like you are defacing the precious pages.

Some books are essential but very hard to find – one such book is Allen A. Andrews’s The Teachings Essential for Rebirth: A Study of Genshin’s Ojoyoshu (sorry, I’m leaving out the diacriticals on that one). Every temple library I go into, I look for it, but I haven’t found one yet. The Institute of Buddhist Studies copy was stolen a long time ago. I had almost given up hope, but finally came across one!

Genshin is one of the Seven Masters of Jodo Shinshu, selected by Shinran Shonin. He quotes passages from this work in his Kyogyoshinsho, and composed wasans (“hymns”) about him as well. Though he doesn’t appear to have as much doctrinal impact on Shinran as some of the other masters (such as Vasubandhu, T’an-luan, and Shan-tao), Shinran does offer this nice paraphrase of a section of the Ojoyoshu in both his “Shoshinge” and Koso Wasan, so I will finish with this:

The evil person just has to say the Buddha’s Name.
Although I too am within Amida’s grasp,
The kleshas obstruct my eyes and I cannot see this;
Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always.

September 1 is an important date for me for a few reasons. Maybe most significant for me is that it is the date that I arrived in Berkeley back in 1996, having quit my band and left on a quest to study Buddhism at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. I later found out that this date is also significant for the Buddhist Churches of America, which at some point declared September 1, 1899 as “BCA Founding Day” as seen in this explanation in a pamphlet dedicated to Buddhist holidays:

Later on, I began my ministerial career at the Buddhist Church of Lodi on September 1, 2006, which means that I have been a BCA minister for 9 years as of today! Seems like a good time to look at my life, see where I’ve been and think about what I want to do in this coming year leading up to year ten. There’s some interesting stuff coming up on the horizon – stay tuned!

Namo Amida Butsu