This Month’s Shoshinge
The Assurance of Shojoju
Hon gan myō gō shō jō gō
Shi shin shin gyō gan ni in
Jō tō gaku shō dai ne han
His-shi metsu do gan jō ju
【English Translation】
The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true settlement,
The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth;
We realize the equality of enlightenment and supreme nirvana
Through the fulfillment of the Vow of attaining nirvana without fail.
As we look ahead to September, we are beginning to feel the first signs of autumn here in Toronto. As the days go by, the temperature will gradually begin to drop, especially in the mornings and evenings. It is the time of year when the lively atmosphere of summer slowly gives way to the quieter season of fall.
A little while ago, at the end of July, Rev. Sugiura and I were kindly invited by the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto to have dinner at the official residence of ConsulGeneral Matsunaga. During the evening, we had the opportunity to exchange thoughts from a variety of perspectives about the Japanese Canadian and Japanese community, which will increasingly face the realities of an aging population in the years ahead. It was a very meaningful opportunity for us.
For more than eighty years, our temple has walked together with the community through Sunday Services, memorial services, funerals, and many other activities. Of course, it remains important for us to continue preserving what has been carefully passed down over the generations. At the same time, as society and our community continue to change, I feel we also need to find new ways to be present in people’s lives and to support the wider community alongside with those around us.
This dinner gave me a valuable opportunity to reflect once again on the role our temple may be called to play in the years ahead. In connection with this, I hope that we can begin a new project as we look toward the 85th anniversary of our temple in 2030. I hope you will look forward to an announcement in the near future.
In my previous article, I introduced the section of the Shoshinge that refers to the twelve kinds of light of Amida Buddha taught in the Larger Sutra. These lights express the working of Amida Buddha’s wisdom and compassion—the working that illuminates us, guides us, embraces us, and never abandons us.
At the end of that article, I wrote that this working reaches us here and now as the Name, Namo Amida Butsu. This month’s passage of the Shoshinge teaches us about the working of that Name and about those who receive the Entrusting heart (Shinjin) entering Shojoju, the stage of the truly settled.
When we hear the words “birth in the Pure Land,” we may naturally think about what happens after death. Shinran Shonin, however, teaches that our birth in the Pure Land and our attainment of Buddhahood become settled not at the moment of death, but during this present life. Put simply, Shojoju refers to the company of those whose birth in the Pure Land and attainment of Buddhahood are assured.
However, entering the stage of the truly settled does not mean that all confusion and anxiety disappear from our lives. Every day we worry about our families, our health, our work, our relationships, and our future.
“Did I really make the right decision?” “What is going to happen from here?”
As soon as one worry disappears, another seems to take its place. When we think about it, our own minds are rarely very “settled.”
I spend most of my daily life around North York, where the temple is located, so I do not go downtown Toronto very often. When I do go downtown, perhaps to watch a Blue Jays game or to have dinner with friends, a map app is essential for me. When I am walking through an unfamiliar area, I find myself checking it again and again.
“Am I really going the right way?” “Did I already pass the street where I was supposed to turn?” Even when we know our destination, we can still become confused or uncertain along the way.
Our lives are similar in some ways. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, and there are times when we cannot be sure whether the choices we make are the right ones.
So, what does it mean to be established in Shojoju?
It does not mean that our minds will never again become confused or uncertain. Rather, it means that even though I continue to live with confusion, my ultimate destination has already been settled through Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow.
This is not because we have become particularly good people. It is not because we have acquired profound wisdom or completed some special spiritual practice. On the contrary, Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow was established precisely for people like us – people who live with greed, anger, and ignorance, and who continue to struggle through a life that does not always unfold according to our wishes.
The fulfillment of that Vow reaches us as the Name, Namo Amida Butsu. Namo Amida Butsu is not something we accumulate through our own effort in order to earn birth in the Pure Land. Rather, it is Amida Buddha’s compassionate call reaching us: “I will never abandon you.”
Even when we hear that call of the Primal Vow and receive the Entrusting heart (Shinjin), we still worry. We still become angry. We still become anxious. We still find ourselves caught in self-centred thoughts. Yet there is one very important difference. Even though our minds are unsettled, Amida Buddha’s working is never unsettled.
Our birth in the Pure Land does not depend upon the condition of our minds. Today we may feel peaceful and secure, and tomorrow we may once again be filled with anxiety. That is simply who we are. If our birth depended upon the strength or certainty of our own minds, we could never find true assurance.
Instead, Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow has already been fulfilled, and its working reaches us as Namo Amida Butsu. This is why we are established in Shojoju here and now.
The assurance of Shojoju does not mean that we know everything that will happen in the future. Rather, it is the assurance that even as I live a life in which I do not know what tomorrow may bring, I am never abandoned and have already been placed on the path that leads to Buddhahood.
There is, however, an important distinction we must keep in mind. Being established in Shojoju does not mean that we attain Buddhahood here and now in this present life.
Receiving the Entrusting heart (Shinjin) does not cause our blind passions to disappear. We do not suddenly become people who are never shaken by anything, nor do we become free from anger, desire, or ignorance. Until the end of this life, we continue to live as ordinary beings filled with blind passions and confusion.
We remain ordinary beings to the very end. Yet there is the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, which never abandons such beings as ourselves, but continues to work with the promise to bring us unfailingly to Buddhahood.
What changes is not that we suddenly become people without confusion. Rather, in the midst of our confusion, it becomes clear what sustains us and where our lives are ultimately headed. As we continue through this uncertain life, our hearts and minds will surely continue to waver. Yet the working of Amida Buddha that embraces us never wavers.
Last month, we reflected on the light of Amida Buddha. This month, we hear how that same compassionate working reaches us as the Name, Namo Amida Butsu. As we hear this compassionate call, may we appreciate together, as we look ahead to September, that even as ordinary beings filled with confusion, we have already been settled on the path that leads to Buddhahood.
Namo Amida Butsu
Rev. Kensho Hashimoto
Resident Minister
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