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June 2013
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
"ONE IN TASTE WITH THE OCEAN"
I took my family to the beach a couple of weeks ago. There are a lot of beautiful beaches in San Diego,
but we love Coronado the best. The scenery includes the Hotel Del Coronado with its trademark red roof
and the distant shoreline. Every year about this time, it is a blissful time for my family to pitch a tent in the
sand and just relax, gazing at the blue and clear sea and sky.
Summertime on the beaches in San Diego, there are so many people who enjoy surfing, riding bicycles
along the boardwalk or reading while sprawled out on the white sands, and so on. I am very impressed that
everyone finds a way to make the most of their leisure time.
Because Oji is still little, my wife relaxed in the tent with him, reading. Kurumi and I had fun running after
and away from the waves at the water’s edge and making a sand castle then a tunnel under that. We
really enjoyed ourselves.
Spending such a luxurious time, I became aware of something while building the sand castle and looking
idly around. It was the wide range of races and ethnicities enjoying the same communal space within a 20-
feet radius of us. It was amazing because such a scene is highly unlikely in Japan. It was a moment when I
realized again that America is a great melting pot.
In this small area, people of different skin, eye and hair color, ethnicity, culture, and religious belief each
enjoy the breeze under the scorching sun of early summer. No matter what our background, no matter
what beliefs we embrace, the sun shines on all of us equally without discrimination. This is why sunlight can
be compared to Amida Buddha’s light of compassion. How precious it is!
There are so many kinds of people around us distinguishable not only by race or ethnicity. For example,
there is the bright person and foolish person, the kind-hearted person and heartless person, the person with
the beautiful mind and person with the ugly mind, the rich person and poor person, the healthy person and
sickly person, and so on. And each lives loving, encouraging, sympathizing, and sometimes despising,
envying, hating, or taking something from each other. In Shin Buddhism, all those who live in such a world of
love and hatred are called “the ordinary man.”
In Buddhism, the opposite of the ordinary man is the sage who everyone regards as a bright and
compassionate person. And there are many such people in this world who are very wise and merciful.
But when I regard society, I know that war and dispute have broken out repeatedly all over the world.
Although it is a very sad reality, I am wondering who on earth starts these shameful wars. Do you think that
foolish people cause them? Or people lacking humanity?
When I think deeply about it, not only America but the leaders of many countries try to do their best for
the cause of ultimate justice, “the Happiness of All Humankind.” But war is a conflict between one party
that believes its version of justice against another party with its own idea of what is just. So I cannot help
but think that, if anything, wars are actually caused by such self-styled compassionate men or self-styled
sages. In Buddhism, a true sage is the superior one who can be compassionate of others equally without
discrimination and lead them to the way of the truth.
Therefore, when all leaders abandon their belief that they are sages–in other words, if they can only
awaken to the realization that they are just ordinary men and instead reflect deeply upon their arrogant
mind and accept each other’s faults and errors–I believe that war will disappear naturally from the world
forever.
There is an expression by Shinran Shonin in the Shoshin-Ge: When the ignorant and wise, even grave
offenders and slanderers of the Dharma, all alike turn and enter Shinjin, they are like waters that, on entering
the ocean, become one in taste with it.
To be more specific, regardless how ignorant or wise the grave offenders or slanderers of the Dharma are,
if we can open our hearts and minds to receiving the Buddha’s compassion, we will surely attain the same
enlightenment as Buddha. This is like when the water of countless rivers flow into the ocean, all become one
in taste with it.
Though we are quite ordinary, we always want to think of ourselves as wise and compassionate as the
sage. But when we can see ourselves as we truly are in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom, we deeply
realize that we are far from being extraordinary.
If a wicked person commits one of the five gravest offenses, it is not another person’s affair. I think that
many of you know what the five grave offenses are, but I would like to remind you of them. They are (1)
killing your father, (2) killing your mother, (3) killing one who seeks the Buddha Dharma, (4) causing the
Buddha’s body to bleed, and (5) causing disunity in the Buddhist order. In other words, these five grave
offenses disrupt or cause trouble for the Sangha which believes and rejoices in the Buddhist teachings. Any
one of these is considered a serious offense, but all five are considered the gravest offenses in all of
Buddhism. However, even if we are told about these grave offenses, we tend to think that none of them
really has any relevance to us.
To tell the truth, when I was a university student, I didn’t worry about the five grave offenses at all,
especially the offense of killing one’s mother and father. However, when I was serving at the Sao Paulo
Betsuin in Brazil, I was surprised to hear an older minister say, “We have lived while causing the lives of our
parents shorten,” in his Dharma Talk. Now his shocking words finally made me fully understand the real
meaning of “killing parents.”
Last month, my wife and I experienced a challenging time because our little kids took turns catching
terrible colds. Both of them got sick twice in a month, suffering a bad cough and high fever. Every time they
caught a cold, my wife took really good care of them for 24 hours straight. Because of her devotion, they
gradually got much better. But when they had completely recovered, my wife was worn out and looked as
if she had aged ten years from all the anxiety and lack of sleep.
Although I took over looking after our kids after getting home from the office, when I imagined my wife
being able to hold Oji suffering from a bad cough through the night for days, even at the risk of her own
health, I really sensed a mother’s deep affection, love and anxiety for her child.
When I look back over the past of forty years, I have caused my parents to endure, worry, and suffer from
a lot of stress due to my being sick or injured during childhood even more than my two little kids do to us.
What’s more, I can remember clearly raising my parents’ anger many times because I talked back to them
and gave them grief. So I have seriously caused my parents trouble physically and mentally for about forty
years.
Of course, I have never done anything like give poison to my parents! But through the light of wisdom, I
now wonder: since I was born, how much of my life has been spent making my parents feel as if their lives
have been shortened because of me? Then I cannot help but conclude that describing the grave
offenders is really a warning for me, too. That is a very important point that I only realized when I became a
father.
My parents would probably laugh my fears off, protesting, “No, that’s not so at all!” But from my
viewpoint as their child, I cannot help but realize that I have shortened my parents’ lives. And also through
deep reflection, I can fully understand my foolishness which, far from living up to the Buddha’s wish, has
instead made the Buddha feel as if his life has been shortened. This is also one of the five gravest offenses:
“the offense of injuring the Buddha’s body” itself.
Consider then, in Buddhism those who commit the “five gravest offenses” and who slander the Buddha
Dharma are the worst among ordinary men and that it is extremely hard to save such people. These may
be harsh words but I cannot help but think that we are also among these grave offenders.
There is a famous saying of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Dhammapada Sutra: If an ignorant person knows
that he is ignorant, he is wise. If an ignorant person misunderstands that he is a wise person, he is truly
ignorant.
Shakyamuni Buddha teaches us that if we wish to become wise, we should first realize our own stupidity.
It is necessary for all people to seriously reflect upon ourselves and become aware that we are ordinary and
ignorant beings just like Shinran Shonin who called himself gutoku (“foolish/stubble-haired”). I truly believe
that if all people regard themselves as merely ordinary and become aware of their foolishness, that is when
we will end all wars.
And regardless of the five grave offenders who cannot be saved, if the ignorant ordinary people or the
noble sages become aware of the workings of Amida Buddha’s great compassion, all of them will surely be
released from all discrimination and receive the same enlightenment as Buddha.
Like countless rivers merging into the great ocean, Amida Buddha’s great compassion accepts all sorts of
people. The great ocean of Amida Buddha accepts unconditionally the pure stream like the sage, the small
river like the ordinary man, and the muddy river like the five gravest offenders. No matter how pure or
muddy a stream may be, when it flows into the ocean, it becomes one with the ocean in taste. It doesn’t
become one flavor because of the pure stream, but because of the power of the great ocean.
Similarly, it is absolutely not the sullied stream of ordinary and ignorant person like us flowing into the
Buddha’s ocean that alone creates the taste of Amida’s enlightenment. We should never forget that it is
due entirely to the power of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow filled with his great compassion.
When we humbly accept that we are just ordinary beings full of blind passions, we will be able to open
the precious world where we cannot help but express our sincere appreciation to Amida Buddha, for he
stood up and established the Primal Vow for each one of us, promising, “I will surely make you attain
Buddhahood!”
I sincerely hope that all of us will try to do our best to live our lives to the fullest with the deepest feelings
of gratitude for the great guidance of Amida Buddha by reciting the Nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu!”
In Gassho,
but we love Coronado the best. The scenery includes the Hotel Del Coronado with its trademark red roof
and the distant shoreline. Every year about this time, it is a blissful time for my family to pitch a tent in the
sand and just relax, gazing at the blue and clear sea and sky.
Summertime on the beaches in San Diego, there are so many people who enjoy surfing, riding bicycles
along the boardwalk or reading while sprawled out on the white sands, and so on. I am very impressed that
everyone finds a way to make the most of their leisure time.
Because Oji is still little, my wife relaxed in the tent with him, reading. Kurumi and I had fun running after
and away from the waves at the water’s edge and making a sand castle then a tunnel under that. We
really enjoyed ourselves.
Spending such a luxurious time, I became aware of something while building the sand castle and looking
idly around. It was the wide range of races and ethnicities enjoying the same communal space within a 20-
feet radius of us. It was amazing because such a scene is highly unlikely in Japan. It was a moment when I
realized again that America is a great melting pot.
In this small area, people of different skin, eye and hair color, ethnicity, culture, and religious belief each
enjoy the breeze under the scorching sun of early summer. No matter what our background, no matter
what beliefs we embrace, the sun shines on all of us equally without discrimination. This is why sunlight can
be compared to Amida Buddha’s light of compassion. How precious it is!
There are so many kinds of people around us distinguishable not only by race or ethnicity. For example,
there is the bright person and foolish person, the kind-hearted person and heartless person, the person with
the beautiful mind and person with the ugly mind, the rich person and poor person, the healthy person and
sickly person, and so on. And each lives loving, encouraging, sympathizing, and sometimes despising,
envying, hating, or taking something from each other. In Shin Buddhism, all those who live in such a world of
love and hatred are called “the ordinary man.”
In Buddhism, the opposite of the ordinary man is the sage who everyone regards as a bright and
compassionate person. And there are many such people in this world who are very wise and merciful.
But when I regard society, I know that war and dispute have broken out repeatedly all over the world.
Although it is a very sad reality, I am wondering who on earth starts these shameful wars. Do you think that
foolish people cause them? Or people lacking humanity?
When I think deeply about it, not only America but the leaders of many countries try to do their best for
the cause of ultimate justice, “the Happiness of All Humankind.” But war is a conflict between one party
that believes its version of justice against another party with its own idea of what is just. So I cannot help
but think that, if anything, wars are actually caused by such self-styled compassionate men or self-styled
sages. In Buddhism, a true sage is the superior one who can be compassionate of others equally without
discrimination and lead them to the way of the truth.
Therefore, when all leaders abandon their belief that they are sages–in other words, if they can only
awaken to the realization that they are just ordinary men and instead reflect deeply upon their arrogant
mind and accept each other’s faults and errors–I believe that war will disappear naturally from the world
forever.
There is an expression by Shinran Shonin in the Shoshin-Ge: When the ignorant and wise, even grave
offenders and slanderers of the Dharma, all alike turn and enter Shinjin, they are like waters that, on entering
the ocean, become one in taste with it.
To be more specific, regardless how ignorant or wise the grave offenders or slanderers of the Dharma are,
if we can open our hearts and minds to receiving the Buddha’s compassion, we will surely attain the same
enlightenment as Buddha. This is like when the water of countless rivers flow into the ocean, all become one
in taste with it.
Though we are quite ordinary, we always want to think of ourselves as wise and compassionate as the
sage. But when we can see ourselves as we truly are in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom, we deeply
realize that we are far from being extraordinary.
If a wicked person commits one of the five gravest offenses, it is not another person’s affair. I think that
many of you know what the five grave offenses are, but I would like to remind you of them. They are (1)
killing your father, (2) killing your mother, (3) killing one who seeks the Buddha Dharma, (4) causing the
Buddha’s body to bleed, and (5) causing disunity in the Buddhist order. In other words, these five grave
offenses disrupt or cause trouble for the Sangha which believes and rejoices in the Buddhist teachings. Any
one of these is considered a serious offense, but all five are considered the gravest offenses in all of
Buddhism. However, even if we are told about these grave offenses, we tend to think that none of them
really has any relevance to us.
To tell the truth, when I was a university student, I didn’t worry about the five grave offenses at all,
especially the offense of killing one’s mother and father. However, when I was serving at the Sao Paulo
Betsuin in Brazil, I was surprised to hear an older minister say, “We have lived while causing the lives of our
parents shorten,” in his Dharma Talk. Now his shocking words finally made me fully understand the real
meaning of “killing parents.”
Last month, my wife and I experienced a challenging time because our little kids took turns catching
terrible colds. Both of them got sick twice in a month, suffering a bad cough and high fever. Every time they
caught a cold, my wife took really good care of them for 24 hours straight. Because of her devotion, they
gradually got much better. But when they had completely recovered, my wife was worn out and looked as
if she had aged ten years from all the anxiety and lack of sleep.
Although I took over looking after our kids after getting home from the office, when I imagined my wife
being able to hold Oji suffering from a bad cough through the night for days, even at the risk of her own
health, I really sensed a mother’s deep affection, love and anxiety for her child.
When I look back over the past of forty years, I have caused my parents to endure, worry, and suffer from
a lot of stress due to my being sick or injured during childhood even more than my two little kids do to us.
What’s more, I can remember clearly raising my parents’ anger many times because I talked back to them
and gave them grief. So I have seriously caused my parents trouble physically and mentally for about forty
years.
Of course, I have never done anything like give poison to my parents! But through the light of wisdom, I
now wonder: since I was born, how much of my life has been spent making my parents feel as if their lives
have been shortened because of me? Then I cannot help but conclude that describing the grave
offenders is really a warning for me, too. That is a very important point that I only realized when I became a
father.
My parents would probably laugh my fears off, protesting, “No, that’s not so at all!” But from my
viewpoint as their child, I cannot help but realize that I have shortened my parents’ lives. And also through
deep reflection, I can fully understand my foolishness which, far from living up to the Buddha’s wish, has
instead made the Buddha feel as if his life has been shortened. This is also one of the five gravest offenses:
“the offense of injuring the Buddha’s body” itself.
Consider then, in Buddhism those who commit the “five gravest offenses” and who slander the Buddha
Dharma are the worst among ordinary men and that it is extremely hard to save such people. These may
be harsh words but I cannot help but think that we are also among these grave offenders.
There is a famous saying of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Dhammapada Sutra: If an ignorant person knows
that he is ignorant, he is wise. If an ignorant person misunderstands that he is a wise person, he is truly
ignorant.
Shakyamuni Buddha teaches us that if we wish to become wise, we should first realize our own stupidity.
It is necessary for all people to seriously reflect upon ourselves and become aware that we are ordinary and
ignorant beings just like Shinran Shonin who called himself gutoku (“foolish/stubble-haired”). I truly believe
that if all people regard themselves as merely ordinary and become aware of their foolishness, that is when
we will end all wars.
And regardless of the five grave offenders who cannot be saved, if the ignorant ordinary people or the
noble sages become aware of the workings of Amida Buddha’s great compassion, all of them will surely be
released from all discrimination and receive the same enlightenment as Buddha.
Like countless rivers merging into the great ocean, Amida Buddha’s great compassion accepts all sorts of
people. The great ocean of Amida Buddha accepts unconditionally the pure stream like the sage, the small
river like the ordinary man, and the muddy river like the five gravest offenders. No matter how pure or
muddy a stream may be, when it flows into the ocean, it becomes one with the ocean in taste. It doesn’t
become one flavor because of the pure stream, but because of the power of the great ocean.
Similarly, it is absolutely not the sullied stream of ordinary and ignorant person like us flowing into the
Buddha’s ocean that alone creates the taste of Amida’s enlightenment. We should never forget that it is
due entirely to the power of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow filled with his great compassion.
When we humbly accept that we are just ordinary beings full of blind passions, we will be able to open
the precious world where we cannot help but express our sincere appreciation to Amida Buddha, for he
stood up and established the Primal Vow for each one of us, promising, “I will surely make you attain
Buddhahood!”
I sincerely hope that all of us will try to do our best to live our lives to the fullest with the deepest feelings
of gratitude for the great guidance of Amida Buddha by reciting the Nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu!”
In Gassho,
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