Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
A Way of Seeing (Obon 2006)
Around this time of year, Obon, we still sometimes hear sermons about those who have gone before us returning to our presence. Are the sermons to be taken literally? Do Buddhists believe in life after death? In fact, many do.
On the other hand, there is an early Pali sutra in which Śākyamuni, prevailed upon by a grieving mother, Kisa Gotami, to bring back her daughter from the dead, told her he would do so if she obtained a mustard seed from a household that had not known death. Of course, she was unable to do so, and finally understood what the Buddha was trying to have her realize, that death happens eventually to everyone.
However, there is the story related in the Ullambana Sutra (the Urabon-gyō), with which all of us are familiar, since it is the story of Obon. In it, one of the Buddha’s disciples is enabled to see his deceased mother suffering in the hell reserved for the greedy (she was there because she went to any means to give her son whatever she thought was best for him), is told by the Buddha what he must do in order to free her, does it, and, finally, dances with joy, together with the assembly of monks (hence, the Bon Dance) at the knowledge that she is free.
Why the difference in the views of death? Actually, if you read the Bon story carefully and contemplate its meaning, there need be no difference. There is an old Buddhist saying, “According to the illness, give medicine.” In the Buddha Dharma, all words are simply means, or expedients, whose primary, if not sole, purpose is to awaken us to true reality, the reality that is free from discrimination, bias, prejudice, prejudgment, choice and any other view. This is an easy thing to say, but to live in accordance with it is extremely difficult.
If we desire to free ourselves from suffering, it is necessary. Perhaps the Jodo Shinshu way is to live with our suffering, knowing that in the end we will be one with Amida.
Gassho,
Donkon Jaan
Rev. John Doami
