| Dharma Message |
November, 2006
CUTE CHIGO KIDS
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima
We celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego’s founding last month.
We invited the former ministers, their wives and many members to the Temple and had a splendid
service.
This service started out with the Chigo procession. I think that the Sangha was pleased to see
mothers and fathers who gave smiles and enthusiastic encouragement to their cute Chigos. I, who
had been feeling tense before the service, also smiled when I saw the toddler Chigo procession and
was able to start the service calmly. I believe that Chigo has a special power which makes all people
happy.
According to a Buddhist historical fact, the origin of the Chigo goes back 2,500 years. It was
during the time Shakyamuni Buddha and his followers would make a visitation to every villager’s
home. There were few people who welcomed them warmly. On the contrary, there were many
people who disliked the group’s poor appearance as they went about asking for alms.
One day, when Shakyamuni Buddha and his followers made the rounds as usual, many people
locked their doors to avoid meeting the group of bad-smelling beggars.
But compared to those of a suspicious adult, the pure eyes of a child are completely different.
Even though his looks were ragged, they knew by intuition that Shakyamuni Buddha was a very
gentle and noble person. They simply said, “He is a Buddha,” and went right up to him.
Unaffected by their parents’ prejudices, the children approached the followers and gave them
water, flowers, or nuts and so on, and offered the best service they could.
Observing their children, adults gradually removed their wariness towards Shakyamuni Buddha,
talked to each other, and then were able to hear the teaching of the Buddha. Through the example
of the children, many adults were led to the way of the Buddha and were saved. This is the origin of
Chigo.
There is a big difference between an adult judging a person and seeing only a figure and form,
and the view of a child with a pure mind. “A Child of Buddha” is like the Buddha himself—able to see
a person truthfully without being affected by his or her appearance. I can’t help thinking that what
many pure and gentle kids bring to the Temple is this truth.
It seems to me that little kids teach us that the Buddhist way is to see things without
preconceptions.
We adults always judge everything from our limited sense of values. Therefore, prejudice will
certainly cloud our minds. Compared with the clear mind of a child, our minds are always covered
with darkness.
Fortunately, like candlelight illumines the dark, the prejudice and doubt in our minds are only
taken away by Amida Buddha’s light of wisdom. But there is a big difference between normal light
and Buddha’s light of wisdom. Donran-Daishi, one of the Seven Pure Land Masters, explained,
“This light is wisdom and when the light illumines the whole world, nothing can disturb it. It gets rid of
the darkness of all living things. It is different from the normal light that brightens the room.”
Amida Buddha’s light is wisdom is in accordance with “the law of cause and conditions,” and
selfishness is not attached. In Buddhism, it is called Emptiness. Amida Buddha can illumine us with
the light of wisdom because Amida himself realized and accomplished Emptiness. Now that we
encounter the light of wisdom, we should live with the Nembutsu so that we can reflect upon our
foolishness which always judges everything by appearance.
To receive the Nembutsu is to face our darkness of doubt and selfishness. At the same time the
encounter is with Amida Buddha who knows the depth of darkness of our minds and shows us the
way of the truth that we should take.
I sincerely hope that we will try to get rid of our doubt and prejudice so that we can see each
thing in all its aspects with the right view. If we try this, we may have “Buddha’s eyes.”
Because of the wonderful 80th Anniversary celebration, we are taught something very important
by the cute Chigo kids.
In Gassho,