On November 21, 1998, West Covina Buddhist Temple members enjoyed a relaxing and informative Family Dobo Retreat at the scenic Wilderness Park in the Arcadia Foothills. Besides the lush scenery, many participants also remarked about the private and secluded feeling at this park. Wilderness Park is very well-maintained and clean, and has immaculate facilities. There is a large covered picnic area and a fully equipped kitchen which even has an icemaker! In addition, the English lecture made use of a cozy hillside amphitheatre situated around a campfire.
Rinban Nori Ito ("Rinban" means "head minister") was on hand as English lecturer, with Bishop Imai as Japanese lecturer. Bishop Imai also gave a short welcome address. Rev. Yuki from the North American District was also present, as was WCBT's own Rev. Ken Kawawata.
Rinban Nori began his lecture by commenting on the retreat's theme of finding oneness in diversity: "This is a good theme for us to consider the teaching of Nembutsu," he said. "Of course, living in Los Angeles makes us face the need to live with others on a daily basis." However, Rinban pointed out that while "The teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of 'non-duality,' or emptiness, we Westerners always separate right from wrong. Buddhism says that these judgements of ours about right and wrong are only from our own perspective. Really, in Buddhism, right is wrong, good is evil," he said.
Rinban Nori mentioned the case of a Japanese-American aquaintance of his, through whom he learned of the discrimination that the Japanese perpetrated against the Okinawan people during WWII. This person's parents had experienced discrimination from the Japanese just because they were Okinawan, and Japanese soldiers had actually killed many Okinawans in WWII, apparently just because they couldn't understand the Okinawan dialect and so thought the Okinawans were Allied spies.
Speaking of Japan, Rinban commented that he found the recent and similar theme of the Honzan's 500th memorial convention, "Living Together in Diversity" to be somewhat curious since "they are 95% Japanese over there; there is no diversity...where did that topic come from?," he asked. The answer, he explained, is that it comes from Rennyo Shonin's teaching. "Rennyo struggled with the idea of living with diversity because in his time (feudal-era Japan) there was a great deal of social and economic diversity."
Rinban Nori participates weekly in a student discussion group at his alma mater, Occidental College. One thing Rinban realized from his experiences there is "I found I had a lot of stereotyped ideas about what other faiths believed." Also, as a member of the Nikkei Interfaith organization, he has been exposed to many faiths. "I learned that there is a great religious diversity and that we cannot separate ourself from other faiths and simply say 'I don't care.'" Occasionally on TV, typically after a report about a hate crime, we will see someone talking about the need for "tolerance." Rinban pointed out however, that "Tolerance isn't enough...we need to go way beyond tolerance."
The point is that these kinds of inter-personal difficulties generally occur because "we want people to be just like us," he said. Using more examples from Japan, he pointed to the case of American Sumo wrestlers who, in order to "break in" to the Sumo circuit in Japan, must compromise their American identity. "They are accepted in Japan only because they give up their culture and become Japanese." Another example is that Koreans who live in Japan are forced to give up Korean names and to take Japanese ones. "Japan is a good place to live, but it does have this tendency to try to make everyone assimilate," he said.
On the other hand, Rinban stated that "The world would be dull if absolutely everything was the same, if there was no struggle." As a humorous example, he described his 'dream' of someday playing the perfect golf game in the 'Pureland,' where every shot was perfect, the weather was always perfect, etc. "Therefore, when we think about it, we really don't want what we think we want," he said.
Rinban continued his lecture by pointing out that it was Shinran who dealt with the idea of the limitations of our ego in a very deep way. Shinran lived at a time when there was intense persecution of those who weren't the same. Despite that environment, Shinran's Sangha was like the Buddha's Sangha; the Buddha had accepted everyone into his Sangha. "But somewhere between India and Japan, Buddhism became something only for monks, or for the rich and powerful," he explained. But Shinran (and his teacher Honen) took revolutionary steps. They opened the temple to everyone; everyone from merchants to robbers and prostitures were welcome. "However," Rinban clarified, "we must realize Shinran didn't accept people's differences because he wanted to; he couldn't help but accept them."
It was Shinran of course, who made the famous comment, "I never once said Nembutsu for my parents..." While it sounds harsh at first, Rinban pointed out that "This statement comes from his deep feeling that 'all living things from the beginning of time have been my parents.' Shinran awakened to the interdependence of all life." But, as far as he himself is concerned, Rinban admitted that, "I personally have only a slight understanding of interdependence. I can understand it intellectually, but not with my total being."
Another example of someone who has awakened to the teaching of interdependence is contained in the famous story of the farmer Genza, who, Rinban explained, had given some sweet potatoes to his housekeeper. The housekeeper was very appreciative and thanked Genza. Genza then simply said, "Don't thank me, thank the sweet potatoes." Rinban also recalled that the Dalai Lama had once illustrated how unenlightened we humans are by pointing out that (unlike humans) "even the smallest insects are aware of interdependence and have an innate understanding of this interdependence."
"Buddhism," said Rinban Nori, "tries to get us to see the limits of our perception." To illustrate this, he told the story of "one water, four views." He began by saying, "To a heavenly being looking down upon the ocean, water is like a blue-green jewel, like lapis-lazuli. In fact, this is the same awe-inspiring view current-day astronauts experience. On the other hand, to an oni (a mythological Japanese monster), water is like fire because they are destroyed by water. To a fish, water is, of course, home. To us as human beings, water can be different depending on circumstances. To a person on a long hike in the wilderness, water is a precious resource; but to someone who can't swim, water is something to be feared. It all has to do with our perspective. Furthermore," Rinban continued, "we always tend to view things only from our perspective; but Buddhism encourages us to accept differences...and to appreciate and respect the differences. That is what can make life more harmonious."
"At the recent joint Board of Director's/Religious Committee retreat, Rev. Wada turned my thoughts around," Rinban said. Wada-sensei helped Rinban realize that there really is no way for us to attain the kind of "oneness" we think we want, where everyone is like us, without also becoming extremely arrogant as illustrated by the examples from Japan. "In my family, I know I unconsciously set the same kinds of 'standards' for my kids, rather than just 'letting them be,'" he said. "Furthermore, if we actually 'seek' happiness or oneness, it becomes selfish because I'm really only happy when things are going my way, when I'm with people I like, when it's sunny, etc." Rinban thus made the point of distinguishing between our self-centered seeking of oneness or happiness on the one hand and, on the other, the true oneness which is only achievable through Shinran's kind of humility, which is something our egos prevent us from attaining. "We explain Namu Amida Butsu as an experience of appreciation to parents and ancestors, as in the phrase, 'Okagesama-de,' which means 'I am thankful to all the support I receive from life.' But when we dissect our 'appreciation,' doesn't it often consist of a selfishness? For example, I'm 'thankful' I live in America, rather than in some poor third world country. But this thankfulness is not truly universal; it's more like 'relief' that we're not as bad off as some." In addition, we Americans in particular take a lot for granted, Rinban pointed out. "If every country consumed as many natural resources as America, we'd need three more planet Earths to support the consumption."
A particularly memorable example of this tendency of our perspectives to be narrow came when Rinban cited a recent Rafu Shimpo article (a well-known newspaper in the Japanese-American community) that was covering certain hate crimes against Japanese. "As a person of Japanese ancestry, I appreciate that there are 'watchdogs' out there...but on the other hand, I never see the Rafu print the racist remarks Japanese themselves have made against others...it has to go both ways." And yet, achieving such a awakened attitude is difficult, as Rinban pointed out, saying "It all comes down to Shuichi Maida's statement that "the conviction that all are equal can only from the realization that I myself am the most evil."
As a final and thought-provoking example, Rinban illustrated how it is not enough for us to simply see the limitations in other people's perceptions. "It is fairly common to hear members of our older generations use certain derogatory terms without thinking, like "kurochan," which means something like 'black boy.' This is a term that is demeaning to African-Americans and is in fact racist. Those of us who attended college during the civil rights era, of course think we know better. However, I ask myself, 'Am I really free of prejudice, or I have I just learned to be careful?' Maybe our older members are actually being more honest."
"The goal of 'Finding Oneness in Diversity' is a wonderful dream, but it is a very difficult one to attain," Rinban concluded. "As Maida-sensei has said, this can only happen if we have the deep conviction that everyone else is above us...and who of us truly has this conviction?," he asked. Rinban also asked us to remember a particular quote of Shinran, who said, "I know nothing at all about good or evil; maybe I would if I could know as a Buddha...but not as a blind being full of passions." Rinban explained that what Shinran is saying is, "I cannot pretend to know what good or evil is even for myself, because I don't have the wisdom that the Buddha has, that 'truth' has."
"Life would be much simpler for me without Shinran's teaching," Rinban said with a smile. "He's telling me that everything I base my life on is selfish." Furthermore, he added, "Buddhism really doesn't have the 'answers.' Instead, it asks the questions we need to struggle with and then we have to go out and seek the answers ourselves. What we realize in life is, no matter how much we try to maintain our health, our youth or our loved ones, in the context of this impermanent life, can we accept these conditions as challenges, or do we get beaten down? I hope we can accept the challenges and at least cope with the difficulties. And go on to find our share of peace, our share of happiness."
Lunch and Activities:
After, the morning lecture, participants took a break for lunch and craft activities. The lunch was "only" hotdogs, which might have been a problem for anyone expecting more extravagant fare. But, when you consider these were "roasted hotdogs" (that campfire came in handy), that there was a "chili-cheese option," that Kay Yamashita had contributed her famous Chinese Chicken salad, that there was homemade manju and many other goodies for dessert, the real problem was that there wasn't enough time or room in our stomachs to sample everything!
After lunch, we were fortunate to be under the direction of Religious Committe member Hisako Koga, who showed everyone how to make a delightful "nature stencil" using flowers, leaves or branches we found in the park. This was done by placing the items on a special photosensitive paper that is exposed with sunlight over a period of a few minutes.
Discussion Group:
During the discussion, some interesting questions and comments were heard. One interesting questions was "What do Buddhists believe concering an afterlife?" Rinban Ito answered, "If a person lives in the here-and-now and takes care of his or her karma, taking full responsibility for his or her acts, the future will take care of itself...But if there is a Buddhist concept of afterlife, it is that we will all return from whence we came, which is that collective life that began from the very beginning of time, which we are all a part of. The poet Miyazawa once described this 'life' as a kind of infinitely large tapestry or jigsaw puzzle, encompassing all past, present and future life. Our job is to live our lives as best we can and to put our piece into that jigsaw puzzle. And, while our one piece is insignificant, it is also irreplaceable."