This Month’s Shoshinge – Why Did Shakyamuni Buddha Appear in This World?
Nyo rai sho-i kō shus-se
Yui setsu mi da hon gan kai
Go joku aku ji gun jō kai
O shin nyo rai nyo jitsu gon
Shakyamuni Tathagata appeared in this world
Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida;
We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements,
Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth.
Before we turn to this month’s passage from the Shoshinge, I would like to briefly speak about the “Buddhist Spiritual Care Endowment Fund” that I introduced at Rally Sunday.
This is a project I proposed as we look ahead to TBC’s 85th anniversary in 2030.
I believe it is an important project for the future of our temple and for how TBC can make a new and deeper commitment to the wider Toronto community, especially the Nikkei community. Through this fund, I hope we can expand the role of our temple beyond our own walls and be present for people when they need spiritual care most—in hospitals, hospices, long-term care homes, and in their own homes.
Beginning in October, I hope to meet personally with approximately 200 of our temple members to share the vision behind this project and what we hope it can make possible in the years ahead. In an age when so much communication happens through social media and email, going out to meet people one by one may seem a little old-fashioned. But because this project is so important to the future of our temple, I want to speak with people face to face and share this vision in my own words.
The campaign will officially begin in January and continue toward our 85th anniversary in 2030. To make this vision possible, we will eventually need the support of more than our current membership—more than 400 people in total. I hope our members will also help us share this vision with brothers and sisters, cousins, relatives, friends, and others in the Nikkei and wider Toronto community who may feel a connection to TBC and to Buddhist spiritual care. I look forward to meeting and speaking personally with many of you in the months to come.
Now, let us turn to this month’s passage from Shoshinge.
These four lines of this month’s Shoshinge express an important idea in Jodo Shinshu called shusse hongai. In modern Japanese, shusse often means advancing in one’s career, but in Buddhist language it means for a Buddha to “appear in this world.” Hongai means one’s fundamental intention or true purpose. So shusse hongai asks a simple but very important question: Why did Shakyamuni Buddha appear in this world? Shinran Shonin answers that Shakyamuni appeared in order to teach the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life and, at its heart, to reveal the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. At this point, it is important to distinguish Shakyamuni Buddha from Amida Buddha. At Hanamatsuri, we celebrate the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha who was born in India more than 2,500 years ago, attained awakening, and spent his life teaching the Dharma. Amida Buddha is not another name for Shakyamuni Buddha. Rather, Shakyamuni is the one who teaches us about Amida Buddha and the Primal Vow. Through Shakyamuni’s words, we come to hear of Amida’s boundless wisdom and compassion.
Shinran Shonin describes the Primal Vow with a beautiful image. He calls it the “ocean-like Primal Vow.” I think this image is important because an ocean is something we cannot easily measure simply by standing on its shore. In the same way, Amida Buddha’s compassion is much greater than the boundaries we create in our own minds. And we create many boundaries. Without even noticing it, we often divide people into categories: people we like and people we do not like, people we trust and people we avoid, people we think are right and people we think are wrong. Sometimes it happens over something very small. Someone does not reply to our message. Someone says something that bothers us. A family member does not behave the way we hoped. Suddenly our mind begins to create a whole story about that person. But the Primal Vow does not work according to those boundaries. It is not directed only toward people who are wise, kind, religious, or especially good. It reaches beings precisely as they are.
Then Shinran Shonin uses the image of the ocean again. He speaks of “an ocean of beings.” So within these four lines, we find two oceans: the Ocean of the Primal Vow and the ocean of beings. One points to the immeasurable compassion of Amida Buddha. The other points to the countless beings living with confusion, attachment, anger, greed, anxiety, and suffering. And this is where I have to turn the teaching back toward myself. I, too, am one person within that ocean. For example, I may know that getting angry will not improve a situation, and yet I still become angry. I may tell myself not to compare my life with someone else’s, and then five minutes later I look at social media and begin comparing again. We often know what we should do, but knowing it and actually living that way are two different things. So I am not standing safely on the shore, looking at an ocean of foolish beings somewhere else. I am already in the water.
The teaching of shusse hongai tells us that Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in this world so that people like us could hear of Amida’s great compassion. The Dharma does not begin by asking whether I have finally become a perfect person or even a better person. It begins by showing me who I actually am. And that can sometimes be uncomfortable. Buddhism is not simply telling us, “Be a better person.” Most of us already know that anger causes problems. We already know that worrying does not solve everything. The difficult part is that even though we know these things, we continue to live this way. And yet, the teaching tells us that this very person is not abandoned.
Perhaps this teaching becomes closest to us in very ordinary moments. Maybe you are lying in bed at night, replaying a conversation from earlier in the day. Maybe someone said something that hurt you, and you keep thinking about what you should have said back. Maybe your plans for the future are not working out the way you expected. Or maybe nothing particularly bad has happened, but you still feel that you are not doing enough, not achieving enough, or not becoming the person you thought you would be. Those are the moments when the Dharma is not simply an old teaching in a book. It becomes something that speaks directly to our life. The Dharma does not tell us that we must first become someone different before Amida’s compassion can reach us. Rather, in the middle of this very imperfect life, we are invited to hear that the Primal Vow has already been directed toward us. That is what Shakyamuni Buddha wanted us to hear. And that is why, more than 2,500 years later, we continue to listen to the Dharma.
Namo Amida Butsu
Rev. Kensho Hashimoto
Resident Minister
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