Howa for 2023 BCA Ministerial Association’s Fuken, the
Symposium of Propagation

     The second of the seven masters, Vasubandu Bodsav, provides the following important counsel to those who live with Buddha Dharma in one “commentary”:
    True enlightenment is to "read the true meaning of the scriptures in your own words."
    To "read the true meaning in one's own words" does not mean that the scriptures are enlightenment itself, but means it is just a hypothesis expressed in words of the period.
    “Dharmadharmatā-vibhāga” 「法法性分別論」弥勒著世親註
    I have recently been in failing health, and although I have not officially announced it, at the age of 70, I would like to retire from the position of BCA minister.  This will probably be the last time I will see you all at the Kaikyōshi meetings and Summer Fuken. Thank you very much for your encouragement and support.
    Before this Fuken started, I remembered the first time I attended Summer Fukenni more than 30 years ago. I was one of the youngest of the more than 50 senior missionaries I met, and I remember that I was quite elated, and I engaged in a lot of impudent discussions.
    I vividly recall one of the elder ministers saying to me, "Why is it that you express so many opinions, but I never hear the voice of the O-Nenbutsu?”  It was kind advice from an elder minister, but at the time I honestly thought, "Isn't this the Fuken (the symposium for the propagation)?  So, dialogue is what matters the most. What does that empty-nenbutsu add up to?”  I was frustrated.  I was thinking about the current situation of the BCA, which is so different from that of Japan’s tradition, and about the future of the Fresno Betsuin at that time, etc.  My mind and heart were occupied with these thoughts.
    However, now 30 years later, I am about to tell the young people the same thing as my predecessor minister.
    Also, I remember a similar experience from my college days. The professor was an excellent researcher and an even more respected Buddhist practitioner, but he would often address us young students in class and say, "The more you recite the Nenbutsu, the more your whole body will be filled with the compassion of the Buddha.  If you do not first try to chant the Nenbutsu with your mouth and body, the Nenbutsu will never touch your heart for the rest of your life.”  He said this with a serious look in his eyes.
    Frankly speaking, I thought about him, "Why do you keep repeating something that makes no sense academically every time? Is it a typical aging phenomenon?"
    Today, an old man would like to share that old professor's thoughts with you.
    By the way, why do we have to say the Nenbutsu?  To be honest, this is a normal question we all have.  Although I was born and raised in a temple family, I honestly thought that way until I grew up, but through the years, guided by people I had a chance to meet, I now feel that I have come to enjoy the Nenbutsu.
    In the first place, the golden statue of the Buddha in the Hondo is a representation of the Buddha's wish that all living beings should lead a peaceful and joyful life and fulfill their lives toward Buddhahood.  Buddha’s "thought" or "Amitābha, immeasurable wisdom and kindness of the Buddha," is the Buddha's appearance in words called “O-Myōgō” that can be easily understood by anyone. 
    Please remember that the Buddha statues in our temple represent "words.”  That characteristic hand sign can be read in the ancient Indian hand language as ‘Namu’ for the right-hand sign and ‘Amitābha’ for the left hand sign.
    We Jodo Shinshū followers recite the voice of the Buddha "Namu Amitābha," as Shinran Shonin's tone says, "Na-mo-a-mi-da-buh.”
    That is to say, Nenbutsu is a testimony to the fact that "Buddha became a word" thanks to Shakyamuni Buddha's practice.
    In this case then, we don't need to seek where the Buddha is. The Buddha always tells us, "Whenever you want to see me, you must recite the Nenbutsu.  It is a totally unexpected gift from the Buddha that comes out of our mouths as six syllables, "Na m a mi ta ba."
    There it is, the fact of "Nenbutsu Dharma" delivered anytime, anywhere, to anyone, unconditionally.  This is the true intent of the Śākyamuni Buddha himself.  That is why Shinshū means the Truth Buddhism.”
    What do you think?  The Nenbutsu we think we are reciting of our own volition is not the true Nenbutsu.  The Nenbutsu that comes out of our mouths is the fruit of the Buddha's wish.
    The Nenbutsu is Shakyamuni Buddha's wish from the bottom of his heart to liberate sentient beings who recite the Nenbutsu and to perfect their life-flow.

Let us make sure of this.
    As far as the Nenbutsu, we think we are chanting by ourselves which won't liberate any sentient beings.
    In Jodo Shinshū, the "practice" is nothing but "Cho-mon.”  The word is made up of two Chinese characters, “listen” and “hear.” Simply, "listening to the Dharma" misses the point: Cho-mon means to listen after hearing or more precisely: “After hearing the Nenbutsu come from within oneself, listen to it deeply--why does it come?”
    It is the act of "hearing to the Buddha's natural voice through the Myōgō that appears through one's own mouth.” That is the Nenbutsu, and then deeply listen to the true nature of the arising of the Buddha's intent.
    If you do not realize that the Nenbutsu, resonating from within you, is the Buddha's call from the truth of the universe at the bottom of your life-being, you will not be able to listen to the deep meaning of Dharma.
    One day the well-known Myōkōnin, the pure Nenbutsu practitioner, Asahara Saichi, was asked by one visitor, "Where is the Buddha?"  Saichi replied sullenly, “Is not at home.”  But after a while, “Nann-mann-da-buh (Namo Amidabuh)” voiced through his mouth, just then he said, “Oh, is coming here.”

     During a blind passion’s (Bon-nō) rule, the Nenbutsu doesn't come alive.  Saichi wanted to show such a meaning through his expression, "I'm currently working full of greed, so Buddha is absent.”
    I am deeply in agreement with the tanka poem of Reverend Zuiken Inagaki, who can be called a modern Myōkōnin:  "I am ashamed of myself to say that I have been looking at Buddha from far off away when I've met 'Nann mann dabu' everyday."
    I think that I experienced for myself what Shaku Zuiken had gone through.

    We should remember Shinran Shōnin’s words always, my dear Dharma-friends:
    "True and real Shinjin is unfailingly accompanied by Nenbutsu recitation.  Nenbutsu recitation, however, is not necessarily accompanied by Shinjin, that is the act of Buddha’s wish-for-the-world." (from the “Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, Chapter Shin, 50 passage”)
 

That is: Nenbutsu recitation, with no Shinjin, is an empty Nenbutsu
             Shinjin, with no Nenbutsu recitation, is an empty Shinjin
 

Please recite the Nenbutsu while sensing by yourself that the Buddha's original vow is being realized.  This is the Jodo Shinshū Hongwanji, the mainstream of Mahayana Buddhism, which accompanies and lives with the great way of life of the Buddha.

                     Namoamitabha, Namoamitabha, Namoamitabha