Rev. Kakue Miyaji was not a scholar of religion, but he was a religious scholar. There is an important difference between a scholar of religion and a religious scholar. The scholar of religion reads texts and studies religion to have an academic understanding. The religious scholar studies religion deeply and intensely, not for academic understanding, but for religious understanding. The purpose for the religious scholar is to find the heart of the teachings, to find its deepest meaning in the very marrow of one’s bones. Rev. Kakue Miyaji was that kind of scholar.

    I didn’t have the opportunity to listen extensively to Rev. Kakue Miyaji, but the sermons and lectures that I did hear were always tremendous. I would like to share one particular message that he gave.

    On one occasion in his sermon, I remember Rev. Miyaji to state the following, if I can be allowed to put it into my own words. He said in his message, "To really understand Jodo Shinshu means to be able to say that I can die at any time." In Japanese, the expression is, Itsu shinde mo ii. (I can die at any time.) His statement was so striking, that I will never forget it.

    To really understand Buddhism, to really understand Jodo Shinshu, means to be able to say, "I can die at any time." What is the meaning of this statement?

    For most of us, if the doctor told you at your annual check-up that you have a rare disease and that you might not live until tomorrow, I am sure that most of us would be devastated. What? Not even a year or two more? Not even six months? I might not live till tomorrow? You’ve got to be kidding. This has to be some kind of bad dream, even a nightmare. I can’t die today. No way. I have too many things I have to do yet. I’ve never been to Europe. I’ve never even been to New York. Besides, what about my wife and kids? What will they do? Who will take my place at work?

    Besides the untold things that we would want to still do, the loved ones we would want to be with, there would also be that great fear of the unknown, of death itself that would make it hard, if not impossible to say in response to the doctor, "It’s okay. I can die at any time."

    How then, can someone like Rev. Kakue Miyaji, say that it can be done? Even if you do come to some kind of deep and profound understanding of Buddhism, how does that enable you to say in the face of death, "It’s okay. I can die at any time."

    I think that a person who comes to really understand Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu stands beyond time, therefore they are able to make the statement, "I can die at any time."

    To stand beyond time does not mean that you have no desire to live. Of course if the doctor said you had one year, one month, even one week more, the follower of the Nembutsu would be overjoyed to have that. But even if that were not possible, they would be able to say, "It’s okay. I can die at any time."

    To be able to say, "I can die at any time", means that one’s life is fulfilled, each and every day of one’s life. It means that there is nothing left unsaid, undone in one’s life. This is because the fulfillment of one’s life is not something external to you. It is something internal.

    Our life is normally fulfilled externally. We might say jokingly after a wonderful Caribbean cruise, "Well, I can die any day now after that wonderful trip. There will never be a trip that will top that one."

    We might also make that statement after seeing an amazing sporting event, like a Super Bowl that went into double overtime. "I can die now. There will never be a Super Bowl that will be better that that one."

    Regardless, they are all things external to oneself.

    The follower of the Nembutsu finds their life fulfilled internally, spiritually. Having touched upon a truth that goes beyond time, their life is fulfilled, no matter how short or how long their life is. Having touched upon a truth that goes beyond the ego self their life is fulfilled each and every day.

    While we normally try to fulfill ourselves externally, the Nembutsu follower finds an unfathomable depth of fulfillment internally, spiritually. Such a life has no limits. It has no boundaries. Not even death can hinder, or limit the fulfillment of a life that stands beyond time.

    It is that kind of spirituality that allows someone like the late Rev. Kakue Miyaji to say, Itsu shinde mo ii, "It’s okay. I can die at any time."

    For someone who can die at any time, their heart and mind is one with Shakyamuni Buddha who lived 2500 years ago. Their heart and mind is one with Bodhisattva Dharmakara, who practiced for eons of time ago, as told in the Larger Sutra. Their heart and mind is one with Shinran Shonin, who lived over 700 years ago. Their heart and mind is one with Nembutsu followers in our present day, who find that their lives are given meaning and depth through the teachings. Their heart and mind is one with sentient beings far off into the future, who haven’t even been born yet.

    May Rev. Kakue Miyaji’s message be a teaching that is the impetus for all of us to awaken to the timeless truth of Namuamidabutsu, and may we someday be able to say, "It’s okay. I can die at any time."

Namuamidabutsu,

Rev. Marvin Harada