Sources of Inspiration
I was looking for inspiration as I researched for this month’s Guiding Light dharma talk. I turned to several sources, Rev. Kenryu Takashi Tsuji, Terry Watada, Ruth Tabra, Ken Adachi and the group of authors of “Japanese Canadian Redress, the Toronto story.”
By the way, all of these books that I will reference are available upstairs on the second floor in our lending library. It is on an honour system, just sign out the books when you borrow them and sign them back in when you return them.
Rev Tsuji was the first and probably the most influential minister that TBC ever had. He helped establish TBC and served from 1945 to 1958.
From ‘ Gassho to Amida” by Rev. Tsuji, here are the first two paragraphs :
“ Namu Amida Butsu
I recite Amida’s Name
With deep joy and gratitude
I gassho to Amida.
Trees and grasses and flowers
All grow in his Compassion
His Light shines throughout the world
I gassho to Amida.”
How beautiful, how poetic does Tsuji Sensei capture the wondrous feelings that we experience in “Shinjin”.
From Shonin Ichiryu, one of the letters written by Rennyo Shonin. our eighth Lord Abbott of Hongwnji we are taught that in Shinjin, “the entrusting heart is essential. For when we abandon various practices and take refuge in Amida with singleness of heart, our birth in the Pure Land is settled by the Buddha through the inconceivable Vow-Power.’
Hear again Tsuji Sensei’s words in the first two paragraphs.
“ Namu Amida Butsu
I recite Amida’s Name
With deep joy and gratitude
I gassho to Amida.
Trees and grasses and flowers
All grow in his Compassion
His Light shines throughout the world
I gassho to Amida.”
Terry Watada is a Sansei professor at Seneca College. At one time TBC had over 250 Dharma school students and Terry was one of them.
From “Bukkyo Tozen”, the history of Jodo Shinshu in Canada, written by Terry Watada, we read of the humble beginnings of TBC from 134 Huron to 918 Bathurst and today, 1011 Sheppard Ave. West. Each building represented the hopes and aspirations of that generation to grow Jodo Shinshu Buddhism here in the eastern provinces of Canada.
We at TBC have experienced many changes and weathered many difficulties through the resilience and strength of our congregation, our Sangha and our Jodo Shinshu community. We will do so again.
I believe that Tsuji Sensei captured this in his 6th and 7th stanza as follows:
“When I’m lonely I recite
Namu Amida Butsu
Then I feel Him take my hand
I gassho to Amida.
Nembutsu in work and play
Everday with Amida
Every moment filled with light
I gassho to Amida.”
How beautiful, when we are lonely as a congregation, when we worry as a congregation about what is going to happen in the near future,
“Then I feel Him take my hand
I gassho to Amida.”
We mustn’t worry about the future, we as a congregation will be strong and resilient, as we have been in the past, as we will be in the future.
“We gassho to Amida.”
From The “Monk Who Dared” by Ruth Tabra, I took the following thoughts.
Struggle and suffering is part and parcel of our everyday life. It was true for our founder Shinran Shonin when he was exiled to Echigo. There he was an outcast, shunned by the local inhabitants, considered by the authorities to be an outlaw with no status. And yet, and yet, from this unpromising beginning grew Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.
From “ The Enemy Who Never Was” by Ken Adachi, I took the following.
Our Japanese Canadian community struggled and suffered during WW Two. We were treated as ‘enemy aliens” by our own country. And yet, and yet, from this struggle came Redress in 1988, when our Canadian Government apologized to our Nikkei community and offered individual compensation. This material I took from “Japanese Canadian Redress, the Toronto Story”.
When our founder Shinran Shonin was sent into exile, he reflected, he grew in his understanding of the Nembutsu and “Shinjin”. When he was pardoned, he spread the Jodo Shinshu Dharma throughout Japan.
Japanese Canadians not only survived the internment, relocation to the sugar beet farms of Alberta, the relocation to the far off metropolises of Toronto and Montreal, the forced repatriation to Japan, we not only survived, but we also prospered and so did our Jodo Shinshu community.
Again, from “Gassho to Amida”, I read the final two stanzas:
“In the clear bright morning sun,
In the fading light of day,
In the darkness of the night,
I gassho to Amida.
I live in His Compassion
His great power guides my life.
I gassho to Amida.”
How beautiful, how insightful these words of Tsuji Sensei are. “ In the clear bright morning sun, in the fading light of day, “ reminds us that even when things look to be difficult or dark, tomorrow it will once again be bright. Morning always comes even after the darkest of nights.
Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu
Dennis Madokoro,
TBC Minister Assistant