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July 2012
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
The Mind That Doesn't Discriminate Between Love and Hate
Wherever the Buddha travels, be it country, province, town, or village, there is no place which does not
benefit from his virtue. Peace and harmony reign throughout the land. The sun and the moon shine
brightly, the wind and rain are timely, and no disaster or disease ever occurs. The land is prosperous and
the people live in peace, so there is no need to use soldiers and weapons.
~A passage from the Larger Sutra
We observed Memorial Day in May. Each year, the Buddhist Temple of San Diego conducts a Memorial
Day Service at six cemeteries where we pay our respects to loved ones who have died in battle or in the
service of this country. One of these, the Community Memorial Day Service at Mt. Hope, is presented by the
Temple, two Japanese American Christian churches, the Asian Pacific VFW Post 4851, the Japanese
American Historical Society of S.D., S.D. Japanese American Citizens League and Japanese Coordinating
Council. Many people come to remember their beloved veterans on this day.
The Community Memorial Day Service is a very important observance in which those gathered can hear
each minister share his thoughts about the honor and sacrifice of those family members and friends whom
we have lost in past conflicts. But each year on that last Monday in May, I cannot help but wish with all my
heart that we could avoid those conflicts and wars that our brave soldiers are sent to fight.
The Larger Sutra says that wherever the Buddha travels, war will never occur because of the working of
the Buddha’s teaching. This means we will never injure others if each of us is led by the Buddha Dharma.
“The land is prosperous and the people live in peace, so there is no need to use soldiers and weapons.”
How did Shakyamuni Buddha view the existence of lives and what does he teach us about the lives of all
sentient beings? A saying in the Hymns of the Pure Land, written by our founder, Shinran Shonin, is the key
here: When a person realizes the mind of non-discrimination, / That attainment is the state of regarding
each being as one’s only child; / That is none other than Buddha-nature; / We will awaken to it on reaching
the land of peace. Another translation of this passage is, “The state of gaining the true mind of non-
discrimination is the loving gaze directed at all sentient beings, like that of a parent who truly loves his or her
only child. The mind which loves all living beings as a parent loves an only child—that is Buddha-nature. We
will awaken to it on reaching the Pure Land.”
Shinran Shonin makes clear that the Buddha embraces all of us equally as if we are his only child—a
precious one, meaning irreplaceable. The mind of Shakyamuni Buddha is revealed in this passage.
So, what is the mind of non-discrimination? It does not discriminate between love and hate. That is, the
Buddha’s mind is beyond love and hatred.
Because such a state is difficult to comprehend, we foolish beings can hardly imagine it. But it is indeed
the state of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Therefore, the Buddha is a superior being who opens the world of
non-discrimination between love and hatred.
We always say things like, “Everyone is equal,” without thinking. It is a really important idea and is quite
right, but do we really understand its meaning? Namely, have we practiced a way of life that regards all
those whom we love or hate as equals in our daily lives?
We usually see the world from two aspects: enemy or friend, useful or useless, good or bad. We tend to see
the world in this black-and-white way. Without realizing it, we look at each person and judge him as either a
useful or useless person, and so on. And we will treasure a useful person but couldn’t care less about a
useless one. To go a bit deeper, a useless person can be regarded in two ways also: as a person of no
consequence or as a nuisance. So to be more precise, we have three ways of seeing things.
So when we look around us, we might conclude that we see good people, bad people, and people of no
consequence. A good person refers to one who is useful to us and a bad person means one who is an
obstruction. And a person of no consequence is one in whom we have no interest at all, so even if they cry
or shout, we won’t show the slightest interest.
To carry thus further, we feel upset or sad when we lose a person who was meaningful to us, but if a
person of no importance to us passes away, we don’t even care! As for a bad person, we just wish he would
die soon. It is really cold, but we don’t necessarily feel sorrow just because someone has died. Although in
the end, death is the same for anyone, we often think of death as a good or a bad result, depending on
how we felt about the person who has passed away.
I love someone who is important to me. I hate the person who is a nuisance. Of course, what is at the very
center of this view is “I” and “me.”
Feelings of love, hatred, and coldness seem to surge around us as we sit in judgment at the center. It is as
if we believe that the earth rotates around us. It is our selfish way of living.
When we truly listen to the Buddha’s teachings, we want to try to escape the self-centered way of
thinking so we can rid ourselves of our delusional mind. But it is extremely difficult. Whenever I say in my
Dharma Talk, “It is really bad to have a selfish mind,” all of you nod your heads. But no matter how much we
understand intellectually, it is the most difficult effort to escape a selfish way of living. Why? Because we
always love ourselves the best.
For example, when you look at a group picture, who do you look for first? Your parents or friends? Of
course not. We look for ourselves first. Without realizing it, we always look for our own face first to see how it
appears in the picture. Only then will we take a long look at our friends or the setting.
We continually make judgments using “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” or “it.” It is because we look at others only
after first setting ourselves at the center. This selfish way of thinking is set in our minds at birth.
Only a mind which doesn’t discriminate between hate and love—the state of enlightenment—can
defeat the selfish way of thinking. With this mind, we will fully realize that a good person who is convenient
for us, a bad person who is inconvenient for us, or a person of no consequence, are all people we’ve
created in our delusion. It is not at all that a hateful person stands before us, but rather we, who hate that
person, stands here.
When we realize that our feelings of love and hatred are nothing but products of our delusional mind, the
world of seeing all people as irreplaceable will be open in our mind. Such a world is the world of non-
discrimination between love and hatred. In other words, the state of enlightenment.
Unfortunately, we are foolish beings who cannot throw away this mind of love and hatred until we die.
However, in listening to the Buddha Dharma, we touch the true world. Then we truly appreciate that each
of us only has the precious life which we were born with as wished by Amida Buddha. Amida Buddha makes
a vow that he will surely save all living beings without discrimination, as he would his own child. The working
which brings this realization is the Nembutsu, Namo Amida Butsu.
Shinran Shonin said, “The life that cannot see the true value of all lives is a life lived in vain.” Amida
Buddha always leads us to the way of the truth. We should accept his light of wisdom so that our life will not
be lived in vain.
The Nembutsu is also the calling voice of Amida Buddha. His calling voice makes us realize that the lives of
all living beings are embraced with his warm compassion and illumined with his light of wisdom. When we
begin to realize this truth, we will understand that all lives are precious and equal to our own. This is how we
can create a world which is beyond love and hatred, where we acknowledge one another by placing our
hands together in Gassho, respecting one another openly. This is the world of enlightenment where nobody
can take or waste lives, and where all life shines together equally.
In his Letters of Shinran, Shinran Shonin’s wish as a Nembutsu person is, “May peace and tranquility prevail
in the world, and may the Buddha's teaching spread!” I believe that the only way to true peace is to reflect
upon our selfish way of living as we listen to the Nembutsu teaching. Then we must accept the existence of
another as the child of Buddha, led by Shinran’s profound wish that there will no longer be a need for
soldiers and weapons.
In closing, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to both the victors and victims of war, to their
families, and to all who continue to give their lives daily in the world’s many conflicts.
In Gassho.
benefit from his virtue. Peace and harmony reign throughout the land. The sun and the moon shine
brightly, the wind and rain are timely, and no disaster or disease ever occurs. The land is prosperous and
the people live in peace, so there is no need to use soldiers and weapons.
~A passage from the Larger Sutra
We observed Memorial Day in May. Each year, the Buddhist Temple of San Diego conducts a Memorial
Day Service at six cemeteries where we pay our respects to loved ones who have died in battle or in the
service of this country. One of these, the Community Memorial Day Service at Mt. Hope, is presented by the
Temple, two Japanese American Christian churches, the Asian Pacific VFW Post 4851, the Japanese
American Historical Society of S.D., S.D. Japanese American Citizens League and Japanese Coordinating
Council. Many people come to remember their beloved veterans on this day.
The Community Memorial Day Service is a very important observance in which those gathered can hear
each minister share his thoughts about the honor and sacrifice of those family members and friends whom
we have lost in past conflicts. But each year on that last Monday in May, I cannot help but wish with all my
heart that we could avoid those conflicts and wars that our brave soldiers are sent to fight.
The Larger Sutra says that wherever the Buddha travels, war will never occur because of the working of
the Buddha’s teaching. This means we will never injure others if each of us is led by the Buddha Dharma.
“The land is prosperous and the people live in peace, so there is no need to use soldiers and weapons.”
How did Shakyamuni Buddha view the existence of lives and what does he teach us about the lives of all
sentient beings? A saying in the Hymns of the Pure Land, written by our founder, Shinran Shonin, is the key
here: When a person realizes the mind of non-discrimination, / That attainment is the state of regarding
each being as one’s only child; / That is none other than Buddha-nature; / We will awaken to it on reaching
the land of peace. Another translation of this passage is, “The state of gaining the true mind of non-
discrimination is the loving gaze directed at all sentient beings, like that of a parent who truly loves his or her
only child. The mind which loves all living beings as a parent loves an only child—that is Buddha-nature. We
will awaken to it on reaching the Pure Land.”
Shinran Shonin makes clear that the Buddha embraces all of us equally as if we are his only child—a
precious one, meaning irreplaceable. The mind of Shakyamuni Buddha is revealed in this passage.
So, what is the mind of non-discrimination? It does not discriminate between love and hate. That is, the
Buddha’s mind is beyond love and hatred.
Because such a state is difficult to comprehend, we foolish beings can hardly imagine it. But it is indeed
the state of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Therefore, the Buddha is a superior being who opens the world of
non-discrimination between love and hatred.
We always say things like, “Everyone is equal,” without thinking. It is a really important idea and is quite
right, but do we really understand its meaning? Namely, have we practiced a way of life that regards all
those whom we love or hate as equals in our daily lives?
We usually see the world from two aspects: enemy or friend, useful or useless, good or bad. We tend to see
the world in this black-and-white way. Without realizing it, we look at each person and judge him as either a
useful or useless person, and so on. And we will treasure a useful person but couldn’t care less about a
useless one. To go a bit deeper, a useless person can be regarded in two ways also: as a person of no
consequence or as a nuisance. So to be more precise, we have three ways of seeing things.
So when we look around us, we might conclude that we see good people, bad people, and people of no
consequence. A good person refers to one who is useful to us and a bad person means one who is an
obstruction. And a person of no consequence is one in whom we have no interest at all, so even if they cry
or shout, we won’t show the slightest interest.
To carry thus further, we feel upset or sad when we lose a person who was meaningful to us, but if a
person of no importance to us passes away, we don’t even care! As for a bad person, we just wish he would
die soon. It is really cold, but we don’t necessarily feel sorrow just because someone has died. Although in
the end, death is the same for anyone, we often think of death as a good or a bad result, depending on
how we felt about the person who has passed away.
I love someone who is important to me. I hate the person who is a nuisance. Of course, what is at the very
center of this view is “I” and “me.”
Feelings of love, hatred, and coldness seem to surge around us as we sit in judgment at the center. It is as
if we believe that the earth rotates around us. It is our selfish way of living.
When we truly listen to the Buddha’s teachings, we want to try to escape the self-centered way of
thinking so we can rid ourselves of our delusional mind. But it is extremely difficult. Whenever I say in my
Dharma Talk, “It is really bad to have a selfish mind,” all of you nod your heads. But no matter how much we
understand intellectually, it is the most difficult effort to escape a selfish way of living. Why? Because we
always love ourselves the best.
For example, when you look at a group picture, who do you look for first? Your parents or friends? Of
course not. We look for ourselves first. Without realizing it, we always look for our own face first to see how it
appears in the picture. Only then will we take a long look at our friends or the setting.
We continually make judgments using “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” or “it.” It is because we look at others only
after first setting ourselves at the center. This selfish way of thinking is set in our minds at birth.
Only a mind which doesn’t discriminate between hate and love—the state of enlightenment—can
defeat the selfish way of thinking. With this mind, we will fully realize that a good person who is convenient
for us, a bad person who is inconvenient for us, or a person of no consequence, are all people we’ve
created in our delusion. It is not at all that a hateful person stands before us, but rather we, who hate that
person, stands here.
When we realize that our feelings of love and hatred are nothing but products of our delusional mind, the
world of seeing all people as irreplaceable will be open in our mind. Such a world is the world of non-
discrimination between love and hatred. In other words, the state of enlightenment.
Unfortunately, we are foolish beings who cannot throw away this mind of love and hatred until we die.
However, in listening to the Buddha Dharma, we touch the true world. Then we truly appreciate that each
of us only has the precious life which we were born with as wished by Amida Buddha. Amida Buddha makes
a vow that he will surely save all living beings without discrimination, as he would his own child. The working
which brings this realization is the Nembutsu, Namo Amida Butsu.
Shinran Shonin said, “The life that cannot see the true value of all lives is a life lived in vain.” Amida
Buddha always leads us to the way of the truth. We should accept his light of wisdom so that our life will not
be lived in vain.
The Nembutsu is also the calling voice of Amida Buddha. His calling voice makes us realize that the lives of
all living beings are embraced with his warm compassion and illumined with his light of wisdom. When we
begin to realize this truth, we will understand that all lives are precious and equal to our own. This is how we
can create a world which is beyond love and hatred, where we acknowledge one another by placing our
hands together in Gassho, respecting one another openly. This is the world of enlightenment where nobody
can take or waste lives, and where all life shines together equally.
In his Letters of Shinran, Shinran Shonin’s wish as a Nembutsu person is, “May peace and tranquility prevail
in the world, and may the Buddha's teaching spread!” I believe that the only way to true peace is to reflect
upon our selfish way of living as we listen to the Nembutsu teaching. Then we must accept the existence of
another as the child of Buddha, led by Shinran’s profound wish that there will no longer be a need for
soldiers and weapons.
In closing, I would like to offer my deepest sympathy to both the victors and victims of war, to their
families, and to all who continue to give their lives daily in the world’s many conflicts.
In Gassho.