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George Matsubayashi | Reverend Briones
BY RIMBAN GEORGE MATSUBAYASHI
JIHO JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2007
OUR GOSHOKI HOONKO SERVICE FOE THE VENERABLE MASTER SHINRAN
During the winter of the second year of the Kocho era, the Venerable Master (Shinran)
Became indisposed and took to sickbed. From that time on, his words never referred
To earthly matters – he spoke only of how grateful he was to the Buddha and recited the
Buddha’s Name. During the “hour of the horse” of the 28th day, he lay on his right side
With his head directed towards the north and his face towards the west. He passed away
Reciting the Buddha’s name…
The above is a passage from “Notes on the Honorable Life (of the Venerable Master Shinran)”
(Godensho), written by the Venerable Master’s great-grandson, Master Kakunyo. The second year of
Kocho is 1263 CE, and the “hour of the horse” is 11:00 pm. It is said that the Venerable Master passed away at Zenbo Temple where his younger brother Jin’nu was the resident monk.
The Venerable Master Shinran’s passing on the Pure Land caused much sorrow among his many followers. In his memory, those followers gathered on the 27th day of each month at a “place to practice the Way”
(dojo) closest to where they lived in order to express thanks for their indebtedness to the Dharma.
Ten years after the Venerable Master’s passing – during 1272 CE (Bun-ei 9) – his remains were moved to Higashityama and interred in Otani Mauseleum by the Venerable Master’s youngest daughter Kakushin-ni. It is said that from then on, the Venerable Master’s followers gathered in his name at the mausoleum on the 27th day of each month, and observed the memorial services in memory of Venerable Master Shinran.
During 1294 CE (Einin 2) – the 33rd year after the Venerable Master’s passing – Master Kakunyo, the 3rd Spiritual Leader of the Hongwanji, wrote a work titled “Ceremony to Express and Repay Our Indebtedness (Hoon-ko
Shiki)” as part of the ceremony honoring the Venerable Master. That is said to be the first time the term “Repaying our Indebtedness” (hoon), which is how we now refer to the ceremony that express our indebtedness to the Venerable Master, was used.
In “Ceremony to Express and Repay our Indebtedness,” Master Kakunyo wrote:
(The Venera ble Master Shinran) descarded the Path of Sages way of difficult practices and
began relying on the easy practice of he Pure Land Path. That is his virtue.
Accordingly, repay our indebtedness by reciting the Buddha’s Name…
What this points to is that the Venerable Master discarded “self-centered effort” (Jiriki) in striving to become Enlightened and accepted the Primal Vow based on “Buddha-centered power” (tariki) to receive
Shinjin. What we praise him for is that he spread the joy that he felt about the certainty of “Buddha-centered power” to all those with whom he came in contact. What is equally praiseworthy is that he also considered himself to be just one of the “fellow followers along the same (Pure Land) path” (ondobo ondogyo).
The way to repay that indebtedness is for each of us to realize shinjin based on the Primal Vow of “Buddha-centered power,” and live each day in gratitude for the Nembutsu.
At the conclusion of his “Ceremony to Express and Repay Our Indebtedness ,” Master Kakunyo wrote: “…however much time passes, we who follow the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching should make a prilgimage to this mausoleum, listens to his teaching while viewing his image, read his many writings, and benefit “the multitudes living in the ‘single region’ (Japan) by teaching them about the true gate of the ‘western direction’ (Pure Land)…” That is how Master Kakunyo urged every in Japan to individually become aware the true and real teaching, and honor the person who taught it.
We now refer to this as “first awaken to the truth and then transmit that joy and awareness to others” (Jishin Kyoninshin). This is also expressed as the “practice of repaying our indebtedness” (hoon no gyo) which should be the basis of our Nembutsu Life.
Master Kakunyo’s words were directed to the people of Japan at that time. But today, 745 years after the Venerable Master’s passing, repaying that indebtedness, recitation of the Nembutsu, is not limited in that way because the Venerable Master’s teaching has now spread throughout the world. In the United States the Nembutsu teaching has reverberated in the ten directions, and here at the Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple, it has cultivated our issei (first-generation Japanaese),
nisei, sansei, yonsei and now even our gosei (fifth
generation) members. That is how strongly the roots of the Nembutsu have been planted here.
Our Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple celebrated the 100th year existence during the year 2005. We constructed the Memorial Chapel of Immeasurable Light and Life, and the Wisteria Chapel as part of the celebration, and conducted services to express thanks for their completion.
Also as part of that activity, we had two Obutsudan Buddhist altars that our members revered for one hundred and also for eighty years, respectively,
beautifully refurbished and installed in our Memorial Chapel of Immeasurable Light and Life, and our Wisteria Chapel. They were installed during May to commemorate the birth of the founder of our Jodo-Shinshu teaching, the Venerable Master Shinran.
Three separate services were conducted during July, September, and November to install the remains of loved ones in our newly-completed
Nokotu-do, Memorial Chapel of Immeasurable Light and Life.
During October of last year, we completed integrating our temple, temple garden, and our parking lots into a single compound. The main stumbling block in accomplishing this work was getting the city of Los Angeles to cede Banning Street, the dead-end street to the north of our Multi-purpose Hall which divided our property, over to us. It took about a year to receive the permits, but during November we were finally able to integrate the parcels of our temple property that had formerly been divided into northern, western, eastern, and southern
parts, into one unified whole.
The purpose of all the above projects was to express our indebtedness to the Venerable Master Shinran and repay that indebtedness, i. e., to express our joy and gratitude for hoon. The fact that our Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple is a place to
practice the way of the Nembutsu in this great city of Los Angeles is solely due to the efforts of all of you.
While worshiping the physical changes to our temple that all of you have warmly contributed to, my heart is filled with thanks. What comes strongly to my mind at this time are words of the Venerable Master Shinran:
My life in this world has now been exhausted,
And I return to the Pure Land of Eternal Rest.
But like the waves of Wakano-Ura Bay
That return again and again to the beach,
I shall continue returning to this world….
Birth in the Pure Land through Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow based on “Buddha-centered power” does not mean going to the Pure Land and staying there eternally. Rather, as expressed in the above poem and in all of the Venerable Master’s writings, “going to the Pure Land (ojo) has two aspects – the “aspect of going” (oso) and the “aspect of returning” (genso). That is how we are
enabled to have immeasurable life.
Further, as the Venerable Master Shinran said:
When you rejoice alone
In the Sacred Tachings,
Know that there are two.
And when two rejoice,
Know that there are three.
And that other shall be Shinran.
Wherever we are, whenever it may be, the
Venerable Master Shinran grasps our hands sympathetically within the Nembutsu and
gently murmurs Amida Buddha’s sacred vow into our ears.
This is the 745th year since the Venerable Master Shinran’s passing, and the year we will be conducting the 746th service to commemorate that event –
Goshoki Hoon-ko Service. Four years from now, during the year 2011, a massive service to commemorate the 750th year since the Venerable Master’s passing on to the Pure Land will be held at our Hongwanji Headquarters Temple in Kyoto, Japan.
Back here at our Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple, we will conduct the 746th
Gosho-ki Hoonko Service on January 14 (Sunday), starting at 10:00 am with the service conducted in English, and another service in Japanese at 1:30 pm. The speaker at both services will be Rev.
Yushi Mukojima of the San Diego Buddhist Temple. I hope to see all of you at those services.
Gassho
New Year's Greeting
George T. Matsubayashi, Rimban
Los Angels Betsuin Buddhit Temple
My sincere hope is that all of you greet the New Year in good health, basking in the compassionate light of Amid Buddha.
Last year was absolutely wonderful year in which both we ministers and you, wonderful members of our temple, were blessed to grow materially and spiritually.
I am unable to sufficiently express gratitude for this.
As you are all aware, last year we took our first steps into the one-hundred-first year of our existence. As part of that
activity, we had two Obutsudan Buddhist altars that our members had revered for one
hundred and also for eighty years, respectively, beautifully refurbished and installed in our newly-constructed Memorial Chapel of Immeasurable Light and Life, and in our Wisteria Chapel. They were installed in May during our service to commemorate the birth of the founder of our Jodo-Shinshu teaching, the Venerable Master Shinran.
Three separate services were held during July, September, and November to enshrine the remains of loved ones in our new Memorial Chapel of
Immeasurable Light and Life. During October, we completed integrating our temple, temple garden, and our parking lot to create a single compound. The main stumbling block in accomplishing this work was getting the city of Los Angeles to cede Banning Street located to the north of our Multi-purpose Hall which had divided our property, over to us. It took about a year to receive the permits, but during November we were finally able to celebrate integrating the parcels of our temple property that had formerly been divided into northern, western, eastern, and southern parts, into one unified whole.
The fact that we were able to accomplish all of the above was solely due to the enthusiastic participation and assistance of all of you wonderful members. What a wonderful expression of thanks at being able to “hear the Dharma” (mompo)! As they say in Japanese,
“Okage sama de,” it is all due to your great efforts. I cannot begin to thank you sufficiently.
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According to a work titled “Heard and Recorded” (Kikigaki), Master Rennyo (1415-1499 CE), the Eighth Spiritual Leader of the Hongwanji, said the following to a man named
Dotoku on New Year’s Day:
“Dotoku, how old are you (this year)? Dotoku, recite the Nembutsu!” It may seem odd to non-Japanese that Master Rennyo would ask
Dotoku how old he was on New Year’s day, but the traditional way of counting ages then was to consider a person to be a year old at birth, and a year older on New Year’s Day. According to that way of counting, a person born on December 31, would be two years old the next day.
What is surprising for Japanese, however, is not that Master Rennyo asked Dotoku his age, but that he did not say anything regarding the New Year. Rather, Master Rennyo said what is most important in
Dotoku’s (and in our) life: “…recite the Nembutsu!”
In another part of “Heard and Recorded,” in response to a group who came to thank him for teaching them and to offer year-end greetings, Master Rennyo is quoted as saying: “What good are year-end greetings ? I wish you thank me by
receiving the shinjin instead!” In other words, Master Rennyo wished us to know that what is most important is receiving
shinjin and reciting the Nembutsu.
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Our lives become brighter because of the Nembutsu. How I wish all our lives begin and end with it! That’s how we live a life of “fellow followers along the same path” (ondobo ondogyo), and how we should begin this new and “marvelously mysterious” (fukashigi) year that is opening up for us. That’s the spirit with which I would like to offer my New Year’s Greeting all of you.
Akemashite Omedeto gozaimasu. Kotoshi mo, dozo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu. Thank you very much.
Gassho
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