 Retreat participants pose for group pic; at lower right (from right to left) are Tomoko Haneda, Rev. Saito (in black suit), Dr. Haneda (with white shirt and tie) and Rev. Patti Nakai (with blue shirt and black vest) |
The 2000 Maida Center Summer Retreat was held at UC Berkeley, July 28-30. The retreat featured three outstanding speakers: Rev. Gyoko Saito (Rinban of the Higashi Hongwanji Honolulu Betsuin), Rev. Patti Nakai (Buddhist Church of Chicago) and Dr. Nobuo Haneda (Director of the Maida Center). The subject of this year’s retreat was "The Life and Thought of Shuichi Maida."
Friday night, Dr. Haneda began by welcoming everyone to the Bay Area. He explained that this event was purposely titled a retreat and not a seminar. A retreat is where you can get away from the secular world in order to contemplate Buddhist thought while a seminar is a scholarly or academic exercise. A retreat is an intuitive process, while a seminar is an intellectual one.
Dr. Haneda then began the first lecture discussing the need for a teacher in Buddhism. "The teacher-student relationship is Buddhism," he said. In this relationship, the student must bow his head to the teacher. Only in this way does the student learn. He clarified that this relationship is expressed by the phrase, "Namu Amida Butsu," where "Namu" refers to the humble student aspect and "Amida Butsu" is the teacher or Dharma. Dr. Haneda used two analogies to illustrate this point. The first analogy concerned the flow of water across an ice tray elevated at one end. The water represents the Dharma flowing from the Teacher--the elevated end of the ice tray--to the Student, the other end of the ice tray. The second analogy concerned a school of small fish that were swimming in a pond. While traveling together in one direction, a much larger and very powerful fish swam by in the opposite direction. The small fish were sucked into the wake of the large and powerful fish and their direction was completely turned around. The small fish represent the student while the large and powerful fish represents the teacher.
This power of the teacher to "turn us around" represents the personal experience Dr. Haneda had when, as a college student, he encountered the writings of his teacher, Shuichi Maida. The same powerful feeling and turnaround occurred when Maida himself had previously met his teacher Rev. Akegarasu, and when Rev. Akegarasu had met his teacher Rev. Kiyozawa. The course of their lives was dramatically and forever altered by a power that was beyond themselves. This "power beyond self" is the power of the Dharma.
The second lecture began on Saturday morning. Dr. Haneda identified five distinct stages of Maida's life. Then, for comparison, he discussed Dharmakara, the focus of the Sukhavativyuha Sutra, one of the main sutras in the Shin Buddhist tradition. Interestingly, in the sutra, Dr. Haneda pointed out that Dharmakara's life consisted of the same five stages. These five stages are:
1) Meeting with a Teacher
2) In Search of the Goal
3) Goal Determined
4) Realization of the Goal
5) Completion of the Goal.
These five stages can serve as a guide for our own practice when we understand that they represent the universal path of the student in Buddhism.
Saturday afternoon began with the third lecture, which was given by Rev. Saito. He discussed the essay The Eternal Now by Maida. He described how a baby must have not only a father and a mother, but also a "desire to be born into this world." In the same way, a Buddhist must have a deep awareness of self (Namu), a deep awareness of the Dharma (Amida Buddha) and a deep desire to be awakened (Hongan). This is called "ki no jinshin" (Namu) and "ho no jinshin" (Amida). As an example, Rev. Saito pointed to Ryojin Soga, another great Buddhist thinker, who had made the leap from Father/Mother/Baby to Namu/Amida/Seeker.
After dinner, Peter Hata (acoustic guitar) and Steve Kaufman (harmonica) treated us to a wonderful half-hour concert.
Next, Rev. Patti Nakai gave the fourth lecture, which concerned the essay entitled, "The One-Truth Ocean: Nembutsu, Zen, and Jesus" by Maida. She explained that Maida believed that if Nembutsu (Jodo Shinshu Buddhism) is really the "Religion of Truth" then it should be able to encompass all of the world’s religions. Maida discussed four great religious leaders: Shinran (Shin), Dogen (Zen), Lin Chi (Zen), and Jesus (Christianity). For her lecture, Rev. Nakai focused primarily on Lin Chi and Jesus.
She explained that Lin Chi believed in something called "actional intuition." Essentially, this is living moment-to-moment without judgements. Life then becomes perceiving and acting using the intuitive mind without need of the calculating mind. There is no longer a distinction made between good and evil. Rev. Nakai pointed out that people who are living in this way are truly free. This is the life of Nembutsu.
Rev. Nakai then read the famous story from the Gospel of John, about Jesus refusing to condemn a woman who had sinned by committing adultery. The women was about to be stoned to death by the townspeople. Being stoned to death was the traditional punishment of the period. The woman was brought before Jesus as a "test" by some of those around him. They wanted to test his purity and see if he would associate with the "impure." Jesus challenged the crowd by asking for anyone who had personally not sinned to throw the first stone at the woman. Instead, all walked away leaving Jesus alone with the woman. He told her to go on her way and that all was forgiven. Rev. Nakai said that this story reveals Jesus' deep understanding of and merging with all of Life. Again, she pointed out that this is the Nembutsu.
On Sunday morning Dr. Haneda gave the fifth and final lecture. The topic was the Realization of and Completion of the Goal, which represent the final stages of the lives of Shuichi Maida and Dharmakara. He concentrated on the concept of "Pari nirvana," the complete combustion of life at the moment of the last breath. If a person has lived life to the fullest and, like Maida and Dharmakara, has discovered the deepest meaning of life, then, at the moment of death, the person is in no need of another life. Nothing is left to do. On the other hand, if a person has not lived to the fullest, this leads to a desire to "fight death." This desire and attachment to life is known in Buddhism as samsara. Nothing is worse than being attached to your life while lying on your deathbed. Dr. Haneda encouraged us to follow in the footsteps of Maida and Dharmakara and become true students and seekers ourselves. The attitude of the student, of Namu, leads us the fullest and most meaningful life.
After the retreat was concluded, we all met at the Maida Center, which is a few blocks away from UC Berkeley, for a farewell barbecue hosted by Dr. Haneda's wife, Tomoko. Mrs. Haneda contribution to the Maida Center is invaluable. Without her, there might not be a Maida Center. At the Maida Center, we saw Dr. Haneda's personal collection of photographs of Kiyozawa, Akegarasu and Maida. These photos helped to remind us that these were real people. We were also able to talk with the speakers and the other guests. We all had some of Dr. Haneda delicious homemade plum wine from a tree in his backyard. In conclusion, the camaraderie among the members of this retreat was quite unique. It made us realize that something very special is occurring all across America. We cannot wait to return next year for the fourth annual Maida Center Retreat.