Posted October 31, 2009
Reflections for October

A famous haiku poem by the priest Ryokan reads:  "Autumn leaves fall, showing the front, showing the back."  This description of nature also contains a Buddhist truth about human beings--we are all sometimes good, showing the front side, and sometimes not, showing our back side.  Falling leaves naturally show both the front and the back, enabling the leaf to be  blown by the wind. Likewise, we human beings, blown by the winds of circumstance, are some times good and at other times not so good.  But no matter, we are embraced without being judged by the great compassion of Amida Buddha that enables us to be fully affirmed as we are.  Thus, we say in gratitude, "Namu-amida-butsu."

    With palms together,
     Ty Unno

Posted August 8th, 2009 

A famous Shin poem reads, "When I say Namu-amida-butsu, it is my beloved oya calling me, 'Come just as you are.' "  This is the ultimate affirmation of a person by our oya,  a term which means "parent",  but has the warmth connoted in referring to one's beloved father or mother who embraces us just as we are, including both our failures and successes.  Thus, when we say NAB, we have returned home to the bosom of our beloved father and mother, no matter where we are and what our situation might be. 
 
Namu-amida-butsu is a powerful affirmation of who we are as human beings at this very moment, regardless of age, gender, health, or worldly achievement.
 
With palms together,
Ty Unno

Posted July 5th, 2009

In July all Buddhist temples in Japan, regardless of sect, observe a Buddhist holiday called Bon or formally Obon.  It is the time to remember our loved ones, family members and friends who have passed away, cherishing their memories and grateful for their contributions to our own life.   The annual custom is to return to one's birthplace and join other family members; it is equivalent to Thanksgiving or Christmas in America--the only difference being that it is time to
affirm the connections with the past but also to ask ourselves the question regarding the purpose of our own life. Since it is an occasion to celebrate life, Buddhist temples observe this holiday with folk dancing that anyone can enjoy.   It is perhaps the most important Buddhist event for many Shin temples in America also.  Even if we don't have Buddhist dancing and celebration of Obon, we can remind ourselves of its religious  connotation for our own life.

With palms together,

Ty Unno

 

 

 

Posted June 6th, 2009


Saichi was a woodworker who made a living making geta (wooden sandals). He left countless spontaneous poems  written on wood chips in his workshop.  Among them is the following poem: "When I catch a cold, I cough;  when I recall Amida's compassion, I say Namu-amida-butsu."  For Saichi coughing and uttering  nembutsu were both expressions of his bodily life, contained in the compassionate embrace of Amida Buddha.

With palms together,
Ty Unno

 

Posted April 29th, 2009


I graduated from UC Berkeley as an English major, but I went to Japan in 1951 to study Buddhism, because I heard D.T. Suzuki give a lecture at the San Francisco  Buddhist Temple, and I became fascinated with his answer to my question, "What is karma?," during an informal discussion held after his talk.  I had just read some books on Buddhism and was trying to understand the meaning of karma which simply means "action" but also implies the consequences of our action.  Suzuki, who was 80 years old at that time, simply said,"The elbow does not bend outward."  I  said, "Thank you," without understanding what he meant.

Later I learned that the "elbow does not bend outward" is used in Zen training and given to students to resolve.   It means that we have use of our arm because the elbow bends inward; and not outward.  That it bends only  inward is its limitation, but at the same time it enables us to  freely use it  for our own purposes.  We may think that freedom implies that we can do whatever we want to, but real freedom  involves responsibility.  A good example is traffic regulations.  Because we observe all kinds of limitations due to traffic laws, we can drive safely and freely without any problem.  

In our Shin Buddhist tradition the saying of nembutsu has a similar function.  By acknowledging our karmic limitations, affirmed as Namu-amida-butsu, we also experience boundless freedom in its midst, expressed as Namu-amida-butsu.    The challenge is not in understanding this but in living it;  therefore, we speak of living  Namu-amida-butsu.   The chanting of Namu-amida-butsu is our training at home and at religious gatherings to live and manifest  the Shin Buddhist life, affirming both our limitation and our boundless potential.      
 

With palms together,
 Ty Unno  
        

 

Posted March 29th, 2009

 

            One of the important aspects of Buddhism is the abundance of references to nature.  The story of the Buddha's birth is a prime example.  The baby Buddha is born in the Garden of Lumbini, and today we re-enact this event by creating a Pavilion of Flowers (Hanamido), enclosing the statue of the baby Buddha. 

 

 

            The passing of the Buddha takes place amidst a grove of trees, surrounded by followers and animals of the forest.

 

 

            Important metaphors are also taken from nature, such as "ice of blind passion melts to become the water of enlightenment" or "the bitterness of a persimmon is transformed into its sweetness." 

 

 

            In human terms, Buddhism brings about a major change in consciousness when it rejects the caste system, and teaches the natural equality of all people. This is symbolized in the statue of the baby Buddha with his right arm raised high and a finger pointing to the sky, proclaimed on behalf of all human beings, regardless of caste:  "I alone am the World Honored One."

 

 

Gassho,

Ty Unno

 

 

Posted March 3rd , 2009

 

Many of you remember the book, COFFINMAN, by Shinmon Aoki.  It was recently made into a film with a new title, DEPARTURES.  In the 2009 Academy Award presentation, DEPARTURES received the Award as the best foreign film of the year.

 

Please re-read the book, if you can.  It's a solid Shin Buddhist view of extolling and affirming life, while dealing with the question of death and dying.   

            Gassho,

                        Ty Unno

 

 

Posted February 2nd, 2009


One of the most important of Shinran's countless religious poems is the one he wrote in the early dawn of the year 1259.  The poem sums up his religious aspiration, as follows:

   Entrust yourself to Amida's Primal Vow!

   Through the benefit of being grasped, 

    Never to be abandoned

   All who entrust themselves to the Primal Vow

   Attain the supreme enlightenment. 

 

Here we are reminded that the goal of Buddhist life is supreme enlightenment-- that is, how can each of us become truly human and manifest wisdom and compassion in our everyday life. 

1) Primal Vow is the life force in each of us to manifest our deepest, primal wish for such a fulfillment in life.  The Primal Vow of each seed, for example, is to produce a blossoming flower or a delicious fruit. 

2) In this aspiration we are aided by the compassion of the Buddha who "grasps us and never abandons us in our quest, no matter who it is and no matter what happens." 

3) This Primal Vow or wish deep within us is manifested in our saying of "Namu-amida-butsu."  This nembutsu is not just our calling on Amida Buddha, but it is also Amida calling each of us to awaken to the Primal Vow that moves within each of us, seeking to realize itself.

With Palms Together,

        Ty Unno

 

 

Posted December 23rd, 2008

The person who made Shin Buddhism the largest and most influential denomination in Japanese Buddhism is Rennyo (1415-1497), the eighth successor to the founder Shinran. He emphasized personal awareness and faith (shinjin) in the Shin teaching as crucial factors in the growth of the tradition. As a consequence of his encouragement, Shin Buddhism became the largest and most influential of Japanese Buddhist schools. Rennyo taught personal awareness as a crucial factor, as follows:

"The prosperity of a religion is not determined by the number of believers it gathers nor by the impressiveness of its religious rituals.
Even if only one person awakens to the compassion of Amida Buddha and experiences true entrusting (shinjin),
that determines the success of the teaching."

The Northampton Shin Buddhist Sangha may be small, but according to Rennyo, what is crucial is that each member deepens his or her commitment by deep hearing, open discussion, and applying the teaching to one's daily life.

Palms together,

Ty