Once in a lecture by Professor Takamaro Shigaraki, my teacher at Ryukoku University, I heard a touching personal story that I would like to share with you in my message for this month.

Shigaraki-Sensei was once riding in a taxi cab in Kyoto, and had struck up a conversation with the cab driver. They were talking about the weather and the recent rains. The cab driver seemed like a typical working class fellow, but to Sensei’s amazement, he learned a wonderful lesson from this particular cab driver.

Professor Shigaraki commented on how the rain cleans the air of the pollution and smog and makes it so nice the day after. The cab driver he was riding with then gave a very unforgettable response. He said, "You know, we humans are the same way."

"How is that?" Professor Shigaraki asked.

The cab driver said, "Unless we shed tears occasionally, to cleanse our eyes, we cannot see life very clearly."

Professor Shigaraki was struck by how true those words were by this cab driver, and he shared this story in one of his lectures. The tears we shed in life from our joys and sorrows, are the cleansing rain that enables us to see and live life fresh and clear.

I will never forget this story from Sensei. It is one of the many examples he used in his lectures to illustrate a point, or to make a Buddhist teaching or concept relevant to our lives.

Normally in life, we have no problem with tears that are shed in joy. When your son or daughter gets married, when your child graduates from high school or college, when your parents celebrate their Golden Anniversary, or any such event in life, we shed tears of joy.

I can remember when our first child Riki was born in Kyoto, Japan. I was at the hospital for the delivery. After his birth I went into the waiting room to tell Gail’s mother that our son had been born. Both of us were in tears as we felt the joy of a new life coming into our family. Along with that joy, those tears gave me a new sense of responsibility, and I saw now for the first time, the view of life that my parents have had for all these years.

Such tears of joy are both touching and memorable, and they can also give us a different view of life.

It is the tears that are shed in sorrow, however, that are more difficult to accept and bear.

Like the poem by Shushi Terayama, how can you not help but shed an ocean of tears when faced with deep sorrow or grief? To lose a child, a parent, a husband or wife, is to open the floodgates of our tears. To face failure in business or in marriage, to struggle with a family problem, is to shed many tears that seem to add up to a small ocean.

I know of one woman, who has lost her husband and all four of her children over the span of many years. She is now alone, in terms of immediate family. How she must’ve shed an ocean of tears in her lifetime. Just to lose one loved one is almost unbearable, but to lose all of your children and husband too, it is almost unfathomable the deep sorrow that she has experienced.

Our tears of sadness, sorrow, or failure, are not tears in vain. They are not meaningless tears. Those tears of sorrow, of sadness, of failure, are the tears that cleanse our eyes, that open our eyes to life and to truth that we have perhaps not seen before. Hard as it is to shed tears of sorrow, they are the tears that give us the opportunity to reflect on our life at its most deepest level.

The reality of our life is that our life could be taken away from us at any moment, on any day. This is the fragile nature of life itself, and of the lives of our loved ones.

When our eye is cleansed by the tears of sorrow, we can see our families, our friends, our work, even life itself, in a different light, from a different perspective. How precious and dear to us do those things become when our eyes have been cleansed by the tears of sorrow and sadness.

Shakyamuni Buddha must’ve shed an ocean of tears himself in his lifetime. To become a Buddha doesn’t mean that you no longer have any emotions. On the contrary, to one who is awakened, his tears of sorrow over the suffering of all of humanity must’ve caused him to shed an ocean of tears. For the Buddha, the tears he sheds are not simply the tears of his own life and suffering. They are the tears and sorrow that he feels for all of mankind, for all sentient beings.

Shinran Shonin must’ve shed an ocean of tears in his lifetime as well. To be orphaned at a young age, to spend twenty long years in arduous practice on Mt. Hiei must’ve caused him to shed many tears in lonely meditation and practice. Later in life, when he was exiled and separated from his beloved teacher, Honen, how Shinran must’ve shed tears of sadness.

Before our first child, Riki, was born in Japan, my wife became pregnant with what we hoped would be our first child. Unfortunately, due to a miscarriage, we lost that child part way through the pregnancy. When we were in the hospital at that time, we were alone in the hospital room. As my wife lay on the bed, the tears began to flow from her eyes. We embraced, and together shed our tears of sorrow. Looking back, those tears truly cleansed our eyes, enabling us to see the true gifts that were to later come to us, our two children.

When I left Japan, I felt deeply saddened, not just because we were leaving behind wonderful friends that we had made during our time there, but for me, I was saddened to say goodbye to a wonderful teacher, Shigaraki-Sensei. Words could not describe the deep gratitude that I felt to Sensei for what he had taught me during my years of study in Japan. Part of me wanted to hang on to Sensei, to cling to his trousers and not leave Japan. Another part of me knew that to truly follow his teaching meant that I must now move forward, and continue to seek and share the Nembutsu as I had learned from him.

I was so touched that Sensei and his wife came all the way to the Osaka airport to see us off. He was a tremendously busy man, soon to become the President of Ryukoku University. He had many, many students, all of them brighter and more deserving of his time than me. But yet he came to the airport to say goodbye.

As we were about to board the plane, tears welled in my eyes, unstoppable. No words would come from my mouth, I was so emotionally choked up. I could only bow, in deep reverence to a wonderful man and teacher.

Looking back, those were truly cleansing tears that have enabled me to see a lot over the years. They were tears of sadness, on one hand, but were also tears of profound gratitude. They were tears of humility, of deep reverence. They were tears of inspiration and encouragement. They were tears of truth, tears of the Nembutsu.

Whatever you face in life, do not fear the tears that we must sometimes shed, in sorrow, in pain, in failure. Those tears are the tears that cleanse our eyes, our hearts and minds. May your tears enable you to see true gratitude, true humility, true life, and the truth of Namuamidabutsu.

    Namuamidabutsu.
    Rev. Marvin Harada