Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
In my sermons before, I have mentioned a man that I had seen during my days in Berkeley studying at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. This was a most unusual man who would wave to the cars as they passed by on his street. When I first drove on that street from Oakland to Berkeley on my daily commute, my initial reaction was, “What a strange guy. Doesn’t he have anything better to do than wave at the cars?” At that time, there were many strange characters in Berkeley, such that the waving man was nothing unusual in a city of what I considered weirdos.
However, in time, I found myself changing my attitude about this unusual man. I found myself looking forward to seeing the waving man on the street at his usual spot. I began to wave back in return. It was nice to be greeted every morning by a smiling face.
What made this man even more unusual was that he would wear bright orange gloves, so that people could see him waving to them.
One day as I drove by, I didn’t see the man in front of his house. I wondered if he was okay or if something had happened to him. When I looked closer at the house, however, there he was waving from a second floor window. Maybe he had a cold that day, and was waving from indoors.
This man made such an impression on me, that I have talked about him in some of my sermons. To me, he was a living example of non-material giving.
In the six paramitas, or the six practices of a Bodhisattva in Buddhism, the first practice is dana, or giving. There are two kinds of dana. The first is material dana, which are things like making a monetary donation or giving a gift to someone. The second kind of dana is non-material giving. Non-material giving means things like extending kind eyes or a smiling face to others.
After learning about this second kind of non-material giving, I immediately thought of the waving man in Berkeley. If ever there was someone who extended a smiling face to others, it was this man.
Recently, I learned that this waving man of Berkeley passed away at the age of 91. Rev. Yamaoka of the Oakland temple was kind enough to send me his obituary from the newspaper in the Bay area.
His name was Joseph Charles. All these years I never even knew his name. According to the article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Joseph Charles was a legend in Berkeley, and had received national notoriety.
For thirty years, Joseph Charles stood on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, and waved to the people in the cars passing by. He would often shout out, “Keep smiling!” or, “Have a good day!”
I did not know this until I read his obituary, but it seems that Joseph Charles was honored by the city, having a tennis court named after him, and received official proclamations in his honor. He was featured in People magazine, and was on national television with Walter Cronkite and Charles Kuralt.
I had no idea who the waving man was, or the extent of his daily waving. I just learned through his obituary that he did this for thirty years. He retired from his waving in 1992.
I can’t imagine waving to people on a daily basis for thirty years. I also can’t imagine the countless people like myself, who had their days brightened by this wonderful man, Joseph Charles.
Recently in his lectures on the Larger Sutra, Dr. Nobuo Haneda talked about the difference between the Pure Land Path and the Path of Sages that Shinran Shonin refers to. The Path of Sages is usually referred to as the Self Power path, or the Jiriki path. The Path of the Pure Land is referred to as the Other Power path, or the path of tariki.
While both the Path of Sages and the Pure Land Path follow the practices of the Six Paramitas leading to Buddhahood, the orientation or view of the practices are quite different.
In the Path of Sages, or the self power path, the paramitas are practices one should do, or must do to attain enlightenment.
In the Pure Land Path, rather than practices that one should do, they become practices that one wants to do. One becomes inspired to follow the Buddhist path. The source for the motivation to follow this path is not something one creates through their own efforts, or jiriki, but the inspiration comes from outside of oneself, as in the case of being inspired by a teacher or master. That is why the Pure Land path is referred to as the Other Power path, or tariki. Without the inspiration, the paramitas are practices one should do. With the inspiration coming from beyond oneself, the practices are something that one wants to do, naturally in one’s life.
If I tried to do what Joseph Charles did, I wouldn’t last two days. But for Joseph Charles, it was something that he wanted to do. For Joseph Charles, it was not a practice to get something. It was an expression of his life itself. It was very natural.
I always find it awkward when I am asked by someone how much they should donate to the church for a wedding, funeral, or memorial service. Of course in many cases they are asking because they are not familiar with temple customs and they want to donate a proper amount. However, they ask how much they should donate. Another member, however, because of their feeling or appreciation of the Dharma and temple wants to donate.
In the Path of Sages, one thinks, “How much should I practice? How much do I have to practice? How long should I meditate? How many times should I say Nembutsu?
In the Pure Land Path one naturally wants to live on the path of the Dharma. One wants to give, either materially or non-materially. One wants to listen to the Dharma, one wants to meditate, one wants to say the Nembutsu.
Joseph Charles to me practiced the paramita of non-material giving for thirty years of his life. He did it not for fame or notoriety, or to earn merits to attain nirvana or entrance into God’s Kingdom of Heaven. He did it because he wanted to. He did it because of the joy it brought to others and himself. What an amazing man he was, and what a wonderful life he lived – a life of true giving.
Namuamidabutsu,
Rev. Marvin Harada
