Orange County Buddhist Church  

A Way Of Seeing (Buddha, Sakyamuni)

    This being April, the simplest thing to do would be to write about the birth of the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni, some 2500 years ago in what used to be India but what is now considered Nepal.  However, there is not much one can add to what has already been said.

    By the time many of you receive this, the Hanamatsuri service will have been over, and the time for the bazaar will be upon us.  Some memories of past bazaars floated through my mind and the following haiku came to mind:

              Shigurekeri
              hashiririkeri
              harenikeri
                        - Izen

             Down comes the shower;
             I rush indoors:
             The sky clears.
                       (tr. by the Japanese Classics Translation Committee)

    The reason this came to mind is that a few times in the last several years, it has rained during our Hanamatsuri bazaar.  Fortunately, as in the haiku, the rain did not last long enough to ruin the bazaar.

    Even more fortunately, when rain falls on us figuratively rather than literally, more often than not, it, too, does not last long enough to ruin our lives.  On the other hand, until it does let up, it can certainly make us suffer.  More properly speaking, because we cannot cope with the changes forced upon us, we suffer.  It is very easy to say that the Buddha taught that everything is impermanent, that is, that all things change.

    However, there are changes that we can take in stride and there are changes that we cannot take in stride, and when we are forced to try and cope with these latter, we hurt.  The simplest example would be when we lose someone we love dearly, like our parents or, maybe worse, our own children.  When we lose at love, not many of us would be able to say, along with Shakespeare, that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, at least, not right away.

    Simply knowing that all things are impermanent, that all things and situations change, does not make us impervious to suffering.  That is why there is Jodo Shinshu.  That is why there is Amida, infinite wisdom and compassion.

        Gassho,
        Donkon Jaan, Rev. John Doami

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