Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
Last month I wrote about the first four of the qualities of the Light of Amida Buddha. Those four qualities were: 1. Immeasurable 2. Unbounded 3. Un-obstructed 4. Incomparable.
This month I would like to discuss three more qualities.
1. Pure – (shojo – 清浄).
The light of Amida is a clear, pure light. How can light be pure or dirty? Light is light. It is we who are pure or dirty. This quality refers to the person of the Nembutsu. Someone who touches the light of Amida has their heart and mind purified in the truest sense. To have one’s heart and mind purified means that one is shown the dirtiest, ugliest part of one’s heart and mind.
Some might attempt to purify one’s heart and mind through practices or maybe even meditation. In the Golden Chain we recite, “I will think pure and beautiful thoughts, say pure and beautiful words, and do pure and beautiful deeds.” The Golden Chain is one of the simplest and easiest to remember of our readings in our services, but it is perhaps one of the hardest to truly practice.
Just to give one example, once a week I enjoy golfing with Rev. Miyaji and some of our temple members who golf. To make the game interesting, we have a little skins game. The stakes are quite small, but it makes the game competitive and exciting sometimes. The skins might pile up and you could be faced with a putt that would win you several skins. Sometimes it is someone else who is faced with a crucial putt. If they make the putt they win. If they miss the putt, maybe I am the big winner. If Rev. Miyaji has a putt to win several skins, do I think to myself, “I sure wish Rev. Miyaji makes this putt. It would make him so happy if he could be the big winner today!” That is not what I truly think deep down. What am I really thinking? “Miss! Miss!” That is what goes on in one’s mind in just a simple game of golf. What if it was a heated argument with your boss or co-worker? What if it was with a member of your family that you are in conflict with? What kind of thoughts go through our mind? Can we call them pure and beautiful thoughts?
In Rev. Kubose’s classic book, Everyday Suchness, he relates a wonderful story about a father and son. The father was very religious and attended church very often. The son had no interest in religion and thought going to church was nonsense. The father said to the son that the son did not understand what spiritual life is. He could not convince his son so he tried another idea. The father agreed that he would quit going to church if the son would write in a diary, all of his thoughts, words, and deeds for the next two weeks and then show it to him. The son thought this would be a simple task, but after two weeks he told his father, he could not do it. He was too ashamed to show his diary to anyone. The father then told the son, “That is why I go to church, to look into myself.”
The only way to purify our heart and mind is touch the light of the Dharma that shows us the side of our mind that is so hard to see.
2. Joy – (kangi – 歓喜).
Amida’s light is a light of joy. Light in itself is neither joyous nor sad. Light is light. Therefore this quality of light must be talking about the life of a person who touches such light. To touch the light is to experience great joy.
There are lots of joyous things that we experience in life. It is a joy to fall in love and to find the person to share your life with in marriage. It is a joy to be fortunate to have children and to see them grow. It is a joy when the Lakers win a championship, or when USC wins the Rose Bowl. It is a joy to hit a jackpot in Las Vegas, or to maybe win the Lotto. However, all of those kinds of joy do not compare to the joy of touching the light of Amida, the light of Namuamidabutsu. How can it be that joyous to touch the light? How can it be greater than winning the Rose Bowl? How can it be greater than getting married?
Why? Because you don’t win the Rose Bowl everyday, but the light of Amida will illuminate your heart and mind, win or lose. You don’t get married everyday, but the light of Amida will illuminate your life even if you must someday bury the love of your life, or part on the most painful terms of divorce with the person that you thought you would grow old with.
The joy of touching the light of Amida is the joy of finding one’s true self. This true self lives the most dynamic and fulfilling life, no matter what life presents it. That is why the Light of Amida is a light of great joy that gives to us the deepest sense of happiness and fulfillment.
3. Unceasing – (fudan – 不断).
The light of Amida is constant. It shines always, unceasingly. The light of the sun is constant, but eventually millions of years from now the light of the sun will burn out. Electric light is not constant. The huge blackout in the East last year was evidence of that. The light of Amida however, is unceasing, constant, never stopping. This means that a person who touches this light also receives constant illumination.
For those who touch the light of Amida, the Dharma is the one constant in their life. There is no graduation from Buddhism for the person who touches the light of Amida. The person who touches the light becomes a lifelong seeker of the Dharma. Listening to the teachings becomes the main focus of one’s life. To listen to the Dharma means to be bathed in this light of truth.
Over the years, having served at OCBC now for nearly 18 years, I have seen many people come and go at the temple. Some are avid listeners of the Dharma for a while. Some are very involved when their children are growing up, but once their children graduate from Dharma School, or Jr. YBA, or Scouts, then they too drop out. I often wonder about this. Why would one graduate from Buddhism, from listening to the teachings? It is a lifelong process, a lifelong undertaking.
There are some who have difficulty in facing retirement. Once they retire from their work, their meaning in life is gone. What is there to live for now? Just play gateball? Just walk the dog? Is that all there is to life?
For the person who touches the light of Amida, there is never the question, what am I living for, what is the purpose of my life? That question has been answered long ago. The person who touches the light has constant, unceasing meaning in life. Even stricken with illness, or on one’s deathbed, the person who touches the light receives constant, unceasing wisdom, compassion, meaning, and fulfillment of life.
I ask again the question, who is there that does not want to live such a way of life? To live with a pure heart and mind, to have an unending source of joy, to never lack meaning or fulfillment in life – that is what Shin Buddhism has to offer each and every one of us, if we open our hearts and minds to the light and truth that is Namuamidabutsu. ----- Rev. Marvin Harada
