Orange County Buddhist Church

Memories of Japan & Shigaraki-Sensei

    This month I will be leading our Jr. YBA group and advisors on a religious and cultural trip to Kyoto, Japan, to visit our mother temple, the Nishi Hongwanji, and to experience Japan.  It will be a nostalgic trip for me, to return to where I spent five of the best years of my life, studying in Kyoto.  Just thinking about the trip brings back so many memories of my experiences there. 

    Initially, as you can imagine, the biggest shock and hurdle was trying to learn how to speak Japanese.  Not only did I lack conversational skills, but I couldn’t read or write very well either.  It was like being a first grader in a college.  In my first year of school at Chu-butsu, which is a Hongwanji run school to train ministers, the teachers called on the students to read aloud in class from the textbooks.  When other students read, they read so fast I couldn’t even follow where we were in the book.  My classmate that sat next to me (poor guy, it was an assigned seat) was so kind and helpful.  He knew I was lost, and when they went to the next page, he would inconspicuously reach over and turn the page of my book for me, so that I would at least be on the right page.  When it was my turn to read, everyone went to sleep.  It took me forever to read one paragraph.  The teacher had to tell me how to read practically every Chinese character, or kanji.  It really was like having an elementary student read aloud in a college level class.  I can’t believe they all tolerated me, when I think about it. 

    Strangely enough, one of the best times of the day for me in school was the morning service.  Although I couldn’t speak, read, or write very well, my IBS training had really prepared me for sutra chanting.  I came to realize that Rev. Kusada at IBS was one of the best chanting instructors in all of Jodo Shinshu.  Having done the Shoshinge every morning at IBS, I was very comfortable chanting in the services.  During the service I felt no language barrier, and felt like I was a part of the whole Sangha, or student body.  I didn’t feel like a foreigner during the service.  The other students thought it was quite strange.  They couldn’t understand how a person could chant this ancient stuff and yet not be able to speak conversational Japanese.  It would be like meeting a foreigner over here who could recite passages of Shakespeare fluently, but not be able to speak any English.

    But despite the fact that there were obstacles in terms of language and study, overall, it was a most wonderful experience to live and study in Japan.  What stands out in your mind after these many years, are the wonderful people who did so much for me during my stay there.  Fellow students who had to practically hold my hand to help me get through school, wonderful teachers of varying personalities and qualities, all who taught me something at one point or another.

    I will never forget this one teacher who taught us how to read classical Chinese.  This class was even hard for the native Japanese.   For me, I was completely lost.  I couldn’t understand the lecture, I couldn’t read the textbook, it was one of the most frustrating classes.  One day, I was feeling really bummed out about school during this class.  I felt like screaming, I was so frustrated.  I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere in my studies. 

    Just when I felt that I was at my lowest, this teacher, who was a real stern, emotionless type of Japanese man, walked by my desk, and must’ve sensed or seen the frustration in me.  He gently put his hand on my shoulder and said, “It’s pretty rough, isn’t it?”  Somehow, that little bit of understanding felt like a great embrace of compassion.  My frustration was dissipated, and I even felt bad for feeling that way.  I was encouraged to go on and do my best.  I received the best and really kindest encouragement from the last teacher that I thought I would receive it from. 

    The teacher that I am most indebted to during my stay in Japan, was my teacher at Ryukoku University, Professor Shigaraki.  Shigaraki-Sensei was the head of the Jodo Shinshu Studies department, and was an exceptionally busy man.  In addition to his heavy teaching load, he had many administrative duties, similar to being a Dean at a college over here.  Despite the fact that he was so busy, he took time out of his schedule to have a study class just with a few of us foreign students.  His lectures were always dynamic and powerful.  Even many lay people audited his courses just to hear his lectures.

    The most important thing that I learned from Shigaraki-Sensei is the importance of reciting the Nembutsu.  Sensei was severely criticized by other scholars and ministers for his view of the Nembutsu, and his emphasis on recitation of the Nembutsu.  Some said that he was teaching, jiriki, or a self-power way to enlightenment.  Sensei would always respond, “I’m not teaching self power. I’m just encouraging the recitation of the Nembutsu.  Reciting the Nembutsu makes you confront the question of, “What am I saying?  What is the meaning of Namuamidabutsu?”  In questioning the meaning, we are led along the path, seeking, reflecting, and listening to the Dharma.  Through that process we can eventually receive the Nembutsu deep within our hearts and minds.  We become Namuamidabutsu.

    In his own life, Shigaraki Sensei came to meet the truth of Namuamidabutsu through his own life experience, one that took many years for it to bear fruit.         When Sensei was a young boy, his mother died of tuberculosis.  On her deathbed, his mother did not open her eyes and say good-bye to him.  He wanted so desperately for his mother to say good-bye and to call his name one last time.  But she died reciting the Nembutsu.  This left him with a burning religious question in his heart.  What is it about Namuamidabutsu that my mother would choose to say that even in her dying moments?  What does it mean? 

    This would become the great impetus for him to seek and study the Jodo Shinshu teachings.  Eventually, he came to receive the Nembutsu in his heart, and looked back at his dying mother as having left him with the greatest of gifts, the truth of Namuamidabutsu.

    As I fondly recall my years of study and living in Japan, I find that I continue to be taught, guided and nurtured by what I have learned from Shigaraki Sensei.  I will be forever indebted for what I have learned from him. 

Namuamidabutsu,
Rev. Marvin Harada

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