Orange County Buddhist Church

A Way Of Seeing (Year-end, 2005)

    In writing formal haiku, that is, according to the rules, one is supposed to use a seasonal word or phrase (kigo), like spring, winter, or rain, snow, or maples turning red to depict autumn.  If you live in the Southeast, you might use hurricane, although the hurricane season is quite long and getting longer as the climate changes.  Here in Southern California, it is not so easy to pinpoint a season by means of a kigo.  As this is being written, in late November, there has been a string of days in the 80s, almost like early summer or late spring, so seasonal words do not work very well here.  What few haiku I write rarely, if ever, have kigo anyway, so you might consider the above words somewhat superfluous.  The only reason I wrote them is that I was thinking of writing one, but I drew a blank.  LOL!  Maybe before this is over I’ll think of one.

    November is the month we Americans designate as the time for thanksgiving, but many people of Japanese ancestry express their thanks during December, since it is the last month of the year and we express our thanks for all the support we received during the whole year past.  Our thanks may be oral or written, or material or even non-material, as in doing something for whomever as an expression of gratitude.

            Thanks for all you’ve done,
            Buddha Immeasurable.
            Namomitabha.

    I am told there is a way of getting diacritical marks in MS Word, but I do not know how at present.  (Maybe someone can teach me.)  I mention that simply because the last word in the above haiku (yes, I know that is a feeble attempt at one) needs at least two.  I used the Sanskrit instead of the Japanese, Namo Amida Bu, simply because it has the requisite five syllables versus the six of the Japanese, although strictly speaking the Sanskrit has at least seven because of the lengthening of two syllables.  (This is getting to be a language lesson.)

    As much as I receive from all of you, that which affects, even effects, my life most is what Amida, the Immeasurable, does for/to me, the constant, unending, and, of course, immeasurable working to awaken me to the content of Bodhi, enlightenment, so that I might live my life not only with less suffering, but with more compassion.

    We talk of dependent origination, but the correct words are interdependent co-origination.  We and all other things are dependent not in a one-way situation, as in “I depend on you,” but in a two-way (at least) situation, as in “you and I are dependent on each other, i.e., we are interdependent.”  Therefore, enlightenment demands not only that I live with less suffering, but that I make it possible in whatever way I can to enable those around me to live with less suffering.  This is compassion based in the wisdom of interdependence.  As with so many things, this is easier said than done, which is not a reason/excuse for not trying.

    In the end, the question remains, “Is this the way in which I wish to live my life?”  Of course, if we realize that interdependence is the reality of the world, including ourselves, then we must choose to live in that way.  Assuming we want to live authentic lives.

Gassho,
Rev. John Doami

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