The True Way of Peace

by Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister

We observed Memorial Day in May. Each year, the Buddhist Temple of San Diego conducts a Memorial Day Service at six cemeteries. We encounter the Buddha Dharma while remembering beloved family members and friends who have passed away.

When I look back on history, humankind always wishes for peace, but not a day passes without war. There are many people who have lost their precious lives and there are countless people who have lost their parents and children and are grieved by war.

We can hardly imagine the heartrending cry of soldiers who broke their religious beliefs not to kill and had to fight in the frontlines in the name of one cause or another.

We must remind ourselves once again that our comfortable lives today are due to the ultimate sacrifice of many who died in past wars...and who are dying today on our behalf. In their memory, we should try for the realization of true peace. It is true that the current generation hardly knows the true terror of war and that we tend to take life for granted. For those who died in conflicts, I make a fresh determination that we should try to do our best reject the misery of war.

Then, what is true peace?

In the long history of the world, people through the centuries have committed many faults, and countless conflicts have taken a heavy toll of human lives. Yet war has never died out. What is the reason? I guess that individual understanding of the meaning of peace makes a great difference. For the country which wants to control the world, its definition of peace may be a world in which nobody disobeys them. Therefore, the notion that a country which disobeys must be destroyed occurs. It is very terrible.

In the beginning of The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, Shinran Shonin wrote about Devadatta. Devadatta was a cousin of Shakyamuni Buddha and also his disciple. However, Devadatta also was an arrogant man who felt he was superior to the other disciples.

In an attempt to take over the leadership of the Buddhist order, Devadatta incited Prince Ajatasatru to kill his own father, King Bimbisara, and usurp the king’s throne. The reason Devadatta egged Ajatasatru on is that he felt by getting rid of King Bimbisara, Shakyamuni Buddha would also be destroyed. King Bimbisara believed devoutly in Shakyamuni Buddha and was a protector of Buddhism.

Although Ajatasatru imprisoned his father, the king never tried to fight back against his son. Why didn’t the king fight back? It is because he embraced the Buddha’s teachings so deeply that he discarded his arrogant mind and never wished to fight. Even if faced with death, he would not fight because he had attained the level of an Arahat.

The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way explains that there were two grievous sins committed by Ajatasatru. The first was the sin of killing a king who was his father. The second was the sin of killing a king who was an Arhat—a person enlightened through the Hinayana Way.

Later, Ajatasatru seized power but was afraid and suffered the way of hell as retribution for his crimes. Devadatta, who was the most sinful, did not try to embrace the Nembutsu teaching and wished for the fight with his arrogant mind. Because of his grave offences, he fell into the hell of interminable pain.

But Devadatta is not the only one who is an ugly person. What this story teaches us is that we who are called foolish in Buddhism all have minds as ugly as Devadatta’s. We should realize that we are terrible human beings who always have an arrogant mind. To justify our actions, if things are unlikely to turn out as we wish, we eliminate others, and take others’ lives. There will always be war in the world because we cannot realize our foolishness.

Gensa, who was known as a superior Nembutsu person, said, “I have caused others to endure.” The spirit that says, I always endure shows an arrogant way of life that blames others and is quite capable of taking others’ lives. However, the spirit that says, I have caused others to endure, I am have forgiven by others shows the way of life without a reason to fight. This is the position of the Nembutsu person living for the true teaching. In this spirit, he does not justify his misdeeds nor does he blame others for them.

The first step towards the true way of peace is when we realize the foolishness of always blaming others, and instead reflect upon ourselves through the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom.

Shinran Shonin tells of his wish to pass on the teaching of Buddhism—World Peace, as a Nembutsu person—in the Record in Lament of Divergences. I believe that the only way to true peace is to always reflect upon ourselves, wish for the happiness of others, and live a fruitful life as a Shin Buddhist with the deepest gratitude for the Nembutsu.

Finally, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to all victims of war and to their families, and to all who have suffered in the world’s many conflicts.

In Gassho,