May 2024

May there be peace in the world, and may the Buddha’s teaching spread!

- A Collection of Letters, Letter 2 (CWS, p. 560)

May is the birth month of our founder Shinran Shonin. Shinran Shonin was born in Kyoto, but he lived in other places such as Niigata prefecture and Ibaraki prefecture, and he spent many years propagating the nembutsu teaching in Kanto region (including Ibaraki prefecture). But, when he was about 62-63 years old, he went back to Kyoto. So, Shinran Shonin had correspondence with the followers of the nembutsu path in Kanto region through letters, and the word I shared at the beginning is from a letter of Shinran Shonin.

The word translated as “peace” in the original word is “安穏 an-non” and it can be translated as “peaceful and tranquil.” Then, what is the peaceful and tranquil state like and how can we achieve it?

Now, there are conflicts in the world everywhere. It is not only about the conflicts between nations, but within countries, and even within small communities... and maybe at home. As Shakyamuni Buddha taught us, the cause of conflict (suffering) is the mind of self-attachment. Valuing what “I” think as valuable/useful and criticize what “I” don’t think is valuable/useful. Based on this mind of self-attachment, we say and act and confront with people who have different opinions. As long as we continue to attach to the self-centered values, conflicts in the world never cease.

I might have shared these words by Bodhisattva Asanga before, but in his Mahayanasamgraha (A Compendium of the Mahayana), he said “one’s peace is other’s peace.” These words are expressing that “peace” of the world does not begin with changing someone else’s idea, but by changing our own idea. One’s peace becomes other’s peace.

Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, a brother of Asanga, wrote a commentary on A Compendium of the Mahayana and said something like this - “Others will be at peace because one does not yell at others.” Because of the mind of anger, we yell at people, we might bang the door, or kick the chair or something... but, that action, based on the anger, leads others to reside in non-peace. Anger spreads like fire, and someone’s anger becomes the cause of someone else’s anger. But, if anyone in the world acted in accord with peace, the world becomes peaceful and tranquil. There is no wave if there is no wind.

In Buddhism, “peace” is a very important idea. One of the grave offenses in Buddhism is to “break the harmony of the Sangha.” So, keeping the harmony and peace is really important.

But if we don’t know what the light is, we don’t know that we are in the darkness. We realize for the  first time; we were in the darkness when we encounter the light. Likewise, we realize that we were in the darkness of selfishness when we encounter the light of the wisdom of Amida Buddha for the first time. Through the light of Amida Buddha, we are made to realize that the cause of conflict was my self-centeredness... in other words, each of us encountering the light of the wisdom of Amida Buddha, leads us to live in peace and this is really important to enriching our mind.

Gassho,

Rev. Yuki