Shinran Shonin understood the essence of Sakyamuni Buddha’s teaching as the Nembutsu, “Namu Amida Butsu,” and he has passed down the teaching of Nembutsu to us here today. We, the followers of Shinran Shonin’s teaching, single-mindedly listen to the teaching of the Nembutsu on the occasion of the Ohigan Service. What is the Nembutsu teaching?
The Nembutsu teaches us the importance of being humble, of awakening to the sense of humility. And the ultimate form of humility is the heart of reverence. Every religion begins with the heart of reverence, but especially in Buddhism, the heart of reverence is very important. I’d like to quote from the Kyogyoshinsho, Shinran Shonin’s major work:
Taking refuge includes the bowing reverently in salutation. But the bowing is just the gesture of reverence and not necessarily the taking refuge, though the latter includes the bowing. (The Kyogyoshinsho, D.T.Suzuki, Shinshu Otani-ha)
It is a very short passage but is very important. Simply put, “bowing” means “lowering your head,” while “taking refuge” means “your head bows down naturally.” The two look similar, but they have totally different meanings. The gesture of bowing includes the heart of reverence, but does not necessarily mean that your head bows down without effort. Your head bowing down naturally always means taking refuge and includes bowing reverently in salutation. This is what the quote means.
The first line of the Shoshinge is Kimyo muryoju nyorai. In English, it means “I take refuge in Amida Buddha.” In other words, we bow our heads in reverence before Amida Buddha. In this case, we don’t bow our heads; rather our heads bow down naturally. In truth though, we humans can bow our heads, but find it impossible to have our heads bow down naturally. That is because of our attachment to our ego-self. The human being who is attached to the ego-self can have his or her head lowered down only through the working of the Buddha which happens when we listen to the teaching. We are given the heart of taking refuge by listening to the Buddha’s teaching. Taking refuge has the same meaning as Namu has.
In order to clarify what I mean, let me talk about Life. My life has been given to me by my parents and has been supported by the lives of many kinds of beings. Our life is something we cannot privatize. Even so, we do think of our lives as belonging to us and try to control how we live. This is the source of our anxieties and suffering. We cannot get rid of the suffering in our life by listening to the Buddha’s teaching, but we are made to realize the meaning of suffering by the teaching. By being made to realize the meaning of suffering, we are given the courage to accept those challenges and to live our lives to the fullest.
Humility is the source of our will and our energy to live. And it is also the source of our consideration toward others. One of the problems we have in this modern age is that we lose sight of humbleness.
I sincerely hope that we live our lives being able to say, “I was born as a human being solely with the purpose of listening to the Buddha’s teaching.” Listening to the Buddha’s teaching is not just a solitary activity. When listening to the Buddha’s teaching, we always listen to it together with our fellow followers and with people who are closely connected with us. There is a phrase, “Jishin Kyoninshin” in the teaching, which means, “To realize shinjin oneself and to guide others to shinjin" (The Collected Works of Shinran, Dennis Hirota, et al., Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha). Let us live our lives being able to say, “I live together in mutual dependence with everyone.” To put it more precisely, let us live our lives being awakened to the preciousness of relationships with others through listening to the Buddha’s teaching and reciting the Nembutsu. This is what the “buddhas” are always wishing for us.
Namu Amida Butsu.