eligious Discourse by Seijun Nagamatsu, Head Priest of Myoshinji Temple in Yokohama, Japan
Translated by Akiko Ohtsuka
The innermost secret of human relations
When we meet a person, we should not think about what we could gain from him/her, but rather what we could give him/her. In other words, we should not expect anything from others. If we expect something from others when we first meet them, we will later encounter complaints about such acts.
The innermost secret of adult society (our social life)
If we attempt to get a positive at first, we will ultimately receive a negative. If we attempt to get a negative at first, we will ultimately be rewarded with a positive. It is quite natural for mere humans to be easily tempted to acquire money, status, honor, rights, and other interests at the very slightest opportunity that they come across. However, if we pursue these items, driven by a particular motive, we will end up losing rather than gaining.
Which is more important: friendship or confidence (trust in finding Dharma)?
Which should we take first: feelings as a human being or ‘true’ feelings (namely, respectful feelings about living for Buddha and the Dharma)?
We should recognize our losses and gains by what the respective results of them might be in the future instead of judging them by what they seem to be at present so that we won’t regret our present blindness (focusing on the gain) in the future (by foreseeing the possible loss). If we make the correct choice, we will surely gain the opportunity to enjoy an eternally positive life. We must adhere to:
The way of sowing life
The way of life that chooses a negative first
The way of life that enjoys endurance
The innermost family
Most things in our family vary from time to time: joys and sorrows, ups and downs, smiles and cries——even our health varies. It is obvious for us that there is a period of grace in which we spend our lives with gratitude. If we think this grace is eternal, we don’t feel the particular gratitude. Silence does not get us anywhere. Communication is indispensable. In the house, we seek an existence of being respected by everyone as grandparents whom our parents respect. It would be better if there were a family altar somewhere in our house.
Parents come to clearly realize that they are powerless when their child reaches a difficult age. It is a time when we know the effect of the Great Existence or Something Great up there. Regardless of how happy a family might be, it is like a blade of grass with no root or a castle built on sand if they don’t have the due faith toward the fine dharma.
When I was working, I was suddenly happy to notice that I was maturing in my thoughts. I’m sure I obtained it from the numerous ’Gohoumons’(御法門, religious discourses) I have learned and by the conduct of ’Gohouko’(御奉公, services to Dharma). I also noticed the innermost secret of a great personality was the same as ‘Gohoumon’ of Honmon Butsuryu Shu [HBS]. I was deeply moved by it, albeit belatedly.
It is wasteful if we don’t welcome Gohoumon into our life. It’s not just a story from a monk. This “innermost secret” can be obtained only by the person who adheres to a hard practice of asceticism. I’m sure HBS parishioners naturally learn this innermost secret while doing Gohouko.
An offering practice (Fusegyou, 布施行) does not simply mean making an offering to the temple; it is a training of giving away our possessions. The ‘seven offerings of the innocent,’ is known as ‘Waganse,’ preaches that a peaceful face and voice are important as an offering practice. The innermost secret of human relations is exactly the spiritual of the offering practice.
This is why Gohoumon says, “Meeting with a person is the start of giving.” I should look back and see what I have and what I can offer to my family, company, and friends. Usually we underestimate what we have received from others and overestimate what we have given to others. It’s important to look back what you have given others rather than complaining “I’m doing so much. No one understands me.” For example, we get wages for our labor. This concept of ‘take and give’ has been followed by many since the gain occurs even before the give. The opposite happens when we ‘give and take,’ which is the correct path to follow. Expression, speech, tone, look, etc.——all are important in offerings. Offering others a considerate mind and telling others of the Buddhist teachings are the most honorable offering practices ever. This practice is even one of the promises included in the ‘Buddhist Oath (Bosatsu no Chikai, or Oath of Bodhisattva).’
You might think offering training only shows one’s weakness in turbulent contemporary society. This is not so. Ultimately, these offerings to others will result in big profitable merits for you. This is the innermost secret of who succeeded in the first line of society. Offering training is the first step. A life of sowing can change suffering into enjoyment.
Recently the number of people who use stairs rather than using an escalator has increased. We are taught that even healthy people can easily lose their health if they focus on convenience.
There is a famous story of suffering first, only to be ultimately rewarded with the great benefit of health. Convenience depends on usage. Lazy attitudes (such as trying to gain without give) will ultimately result in a heavy loss, which is why we should stick to getting the negatives first so that we will undoubtedly get positives later. In contrast, if you want only to get positives and continue without giving to others, you will lose your balance, resulting in the string of your fate being cut. This might give birth to terrible occurrences in your future.
When we move on to the relationship between human and earth, we are aware that the blessings of nature keep us alive and give us a bountiful life. But in return we give only few things, completely losing the balance of nature. This summer the ozone hole near the South Pole increased to its maximum level, resulting in the biggest ice layer in the North Pole cracking and dissipating into the sea, breaking the precious ecological system.
The world of economic supremacy doesn’t share a sense of crisis or the consciousness of getting a negative. At the end of September, Russia announced the postponement of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, following the United States. The reason they gave was “We don’t need to hurry up because we are not losing economical, financial, or national interests of Russia.” The country and the person hesitate in the selection of the positive and the negative; in the end, they might choose a path that will lead them to lose. If we get something, we need to throw something away.
Gokyoku by Nissen Shonin says:
Throw away at first there are floating shallows on the world (sea) of the Lotus Sutra
Obsession, what we call Shujaku (執着), is such a heavy burden on our shoulders that it makes us feel as if we have drowned. The harder we try to live, the heavier this burden becomes. Kisha （喜捨）(to give away with gratefulness) is the way of life that uses our mind, time, and body for others or for the world with pleasure. It is necessary to rise up to the surface of my setback ship. ‘The sea of the Lotus Sutra’ teaches us that we should throw ourselves away to see the Buddhist law, which is the center of the cause-and-effect theory.
This Dharma or law that governs the universe is not a body of laws created by human beings in order to govern and manage the world. Rather, it is a law that has existed since the infinite past whose beginning we cannot know. It has controlled, and it shall continue to control, the cause and effect of all things in the universe. It is the Gohonzon or Odaimoku (sacred Mantra) transmitted by Jogyobosatsu (Visishtacharitra), which is the object of fundamental respect in true Buddhism.
We master the innermost secret of Gohou (Dharma) by doing Gohouko. The true law ‘Ooyake’ is beyond the capability of a country or a race. It I precisely the earth and the universe. Believe in HBS, provide service to HBS, as Bodhisattva practice is the innermost secret of ‘Genzeannon’ (現世安穏, peace in the current life) and ‘Shoganjouju’ (所願成就, realization of various wishes) for world peace.The innermost secret for a family to become happy is the only way to continue our belief of HBS. That’s why we believe that the innermost secret of life is in our belief of HBS. Bodhisattvas are people who devote themselves completely to expressing this. In other words, a bodhisattva is an expressionist who certainly transmits the message to others.
Chanting the Odaimoku, attending a temple, or participating in Oko and listening to Buddhist teachings (Gohoumon) are all based on the practice of the innermost secrets and training of bodhisattva: Aiming to live as an expressionist of Buddhism.
5.27.2010
4.17.2010
“Kah(Mom), help me.” written by Seijun Nagamatsu
―Religious discourse by SEIJUN NAGAMATSU, Head Priest of Myoshinji Temple, HBS (Honmon Butsuryu Shu）―translated by Yuki Maekawa
This is a voice that I can’t forget. The case of murder and abandonment of a dead body had been occurred in Yamagata Prefecture. A five-years-old boy whose name is Sho Kato had been killed by his mother. His dying words were“*Kah (Mom), help me.”
In Japan, two cinemas became great hits in past years(2004);Shouting Love at the Heart of the World and Winter Sonata which were what we call “the pure romance story”.. However, in contrast to the hits, ‘domestic problems’have increased and family relationship, which is basics in human life, has been becoming worse. Where does such a paradox come from? Many parents can’t love their own children and don’t know the way to communicate with them. There is no communication between the married couple, between parents and their children. Recently, the bad condition has been growing more and more all over the world. The most terrible child abuse I won’t forget following sentences.
The boy, Sho, lived with his mother in Akita Prefecture, northern part of Japan where it becomes very cold and snowy in winter. She was a single mother, they had lived in harmony; she had taken him to and from kindergarten. However, one day, she had acquainted with a man through encounter site. The mother was a young lady, so she might felt cut off and lonely, she had gotten intimated with him. Then, they had decided on living together. The man also had a child, so they made afresh start with four in a new family, May 2003.
Sho always wet his pants because he had a congenial kidney disease. Naoki Itagaki, his father-in-low, hated the boy’s act, so he had scolded him very hard. At first, his mother who had had maternal love after a manner pitied him. However, the man got angry;“Why aren’t you scolding?”When she scolded her child hard, he praised her. Therefore, her motherhood had gone out day by day, and she had lost normal sense as mother. She had gradually regarded her child as nothing with common. First stage, she hit her child. Second, she gave him only a meal a day, and then only water instead of a meal. She hit him on his head hard again and again. Third, she made him stand alone at the balcony for few hours, next for a day, at last for three days. Then Sho was hit by them with pipe chair, his chin was broken. She and her partner brought him into the bathroom, they poured boiling water on the boy, who was only skin and bones. Cut his skin by scissors, he was collapsed. He was killed by them.
At his last breath, Sho said “Kah (Mom), help me.”I couldn’t help dropping tears when I heard it. On his death, the boy said the words to his mother who treated him badly: with no meal, with boiling water, at last with cutting his skin.
You know what to say? I couldn’t stop crying when I thought about his mind.
After then, the mother went to a place where the man directed her to bury the body.
After that, she spent her life remitting the man, working at a sex-related business from shop to shop. It was not until when she met with her son’s body dug out on TV that she came to herself. (And then, she was arrested.) In jail, she told her defense that Sho had said “I want to marry with Kah (Mom)”“Kah(Mom), I love you.”when she and her son lived in Akita Prefecture.
On June 7, 2004, she received a sentence of an eleven-year prison. She scarcely heard this judge before she collapse into tears,“Please give me death penalty.”
We should feel as if it were our own affair. This madness story is not in fantasy. We all have awful and horrible mind in our heart of hearts. Maybe they appear with some triggers; sexual desire, a hunger for fame, money, jealousy, grudge, rage. We are liable to dismiss whether our minds are sane or insane. We can justify our foolish action, so human being is serious being. Without a mirror which is ore mind itself, many people would live. With having too much confidence in oneself and blaming other person, you are as like as monkey. Even if you can be in romance, monkey is better.
In Chiba, an analogous incident was occurred. As suspects of Baby-battering and killing, one mother and all grandparents and great-grandfather were arrested. A three –years-old boy killed by them was Sho.
Whenever I hear such cruel cases, I fully realize that we, living in wealthy country, need consider about what ourselves and our family should be like. And we need seek out “answer”for meaning of a human's existence which hardly function in a normal manner.
Many people will ask nothing of Buddhism. They think that there should be concrete and realistic solution. Our community doesn’t want to get the core of problem, for example, like a murder case with knife by victim’s classmate. As long as being too absorbed in object and trying to keep decency with neglect of our heart, we can’t find out how to make our household happy.
Love, which form the basis for family, have varied style; “love included in great mercy”,“love given by social graces”,“love twisted by selfish minds”,“love with desire and fixation”. And they are changing all the time. It is necessary for us to effort to nurture love sanely. Not having effort, we couldn’t outgrow the pain.
Parents would be the last man to waver without mentioning their mind, and to live without facing each other. So, they can’t communicate with their own children even if they live together. This is a greedy and plastic unit named “family” as if any contracts.
People who can’t find relation between their life and Buddhism will be lost in the social trend and have family trouble. We need notice this strain. It is necessary for us to approach *Gohozen and pray, swear by Budda, practice this faith.
Pity parents bring their children up pity. What is pity? It is that parents chasing lose sight of what to do and where to go with their family. Though all in family go to amusement park, they don’t have where to go praying for Budda and hearing precious wisdom by Budda. Without *Chanting the Odaimoku, they would lose the way to make their home happy, because there is no *Bosastu in family.
We must treat this word as our own problem; “Kah, help me.”
Notes
*Kah Kah comes from “Okasan” in Japanese, it means one’s mother. Kah is to Okasan what Mom is to mother in English.
*Odaimoku = Nammyohorengekyo. Chanting Odaimoku is fundamental practice for followers of HBS.
*Bosastu A person who think other people’s happiness are one’s own happiness. A parson who can pray(chant Odaimoku) for other people.
This is a voice that I can’t forget. The case of murder and abandonment of a dead body had been occurred in Yamagata Prefecture. A five-years-old boy whose name is Sho Kato had been killed by his mother. His dying words were“*Kah (Mom), help me.”
In Japan, two cinemas became great hits in past years(2004);Shouting Love at the Heart of the World and Winter Sonata which were what we call “the pure romance story”.. However, in contrast to the hits, ‘domestic problems’have increased and family relationship, which is basics in human life, has been becoming worse. Where does such a paradox come from? Many parents can’t love their own children and don’t know the way to communicate with them. There is no communication between the married couple, between parents and their children. Recently, the bad condition has been growing more and more all over the world. The most terrible child abuse I won’t forget following sentences.
The boy, Sho, lived with his mother in Akita Prefecture, northern part of Japan where it becomes very cold and snowy in winter. She was a single mother, they had lived in harmony; she had taken him to and from kindergarten. However, one day, she had acquainted with a man through encounter site. The mother was a young lady, so she might felt cut off and lonely, she had gotten intimated with him. Then, they had decided on living together. The man also had a child, so they made afresh start with four in a new family, May 2003.
Sho always wet his pants because he had a congenial kidney disease. Naoki Itagaki, his father-in-low, hated the boy’s act, so he had scolded him very hard. At first, his mother who had had maternal love after a manner pitied him. However, the man got angry;“Why aren’t you scolding?”When she scolded her child hard, he praised her. Therefore, her motherhood had gone out day by day, and she had lost normal sense as mother. She had gradually regarded her child as nothing with common. First stage, she hit her child. Second, she gave him only a meal a day, and then only water instead of a meal. She hit him on his head hard again and again. Third, she made him stand alone at the balcony for few hours, next for a day, at last for three days. Then Sho was hit by them with pipe chair, his chin was broken. She and her partner brought him into the bathroom, they poured boiling water on the boy, who was only skin and bones. Cut his skin by scissors, he was collapsed. He was killed by them.
At his last breath, Sho said “Kah (Mom), help me.”I couldn’t help dropping tears when I heard it. On his death, the boy said the words to his mother who treated him badly: with no meal, with boiling water, at last with cutting his skin.
You know what to say? I couldn’t stop crying when I thought about his mind.
After then, the mother went to a place where the man directed her to bury the body.
After that, she spent her life remitting the man, working at a sex-related business from shop to shop. It was not until when she met with her son’s body dug out on TV that she came to herself. (And then, she was arrested.) In jail, she told her defense that Sho had said “I want to marry with Kah (Mom)”“Kah(Mom), I love you.”when she and her son lived in Akita Prefecture.
On June 7, 2004, she received a sentence of an eleven-year prison. She scarcely heard this judge before she collapse into tears,“Please give me death penalty.”
We should feel as if it were our own affair. This madness story is not in fantasy. We all have awful and horrible mind in our heart of hearts. Maybe they appear with some triggers; sexual desire, a hunger for fame, money, jealousy, grudge, rage. We are liable to dismiss whether our minds are sane or insane. We can justify our foolish action, so human being is serious being. Without a mirror which is ore mind itself, many people would live. With having too much confidence in oneself and blaming other person, you are as like as monkey. Even if you can be in romance, monkey is better.
In Chiba, an analogous incident was occurred. As suspects of Baby-battering and killing, one mother and all grandparents and great-grandfather were arrested. A three –years-old boy killed by them was Sho.
Whenever I hear such cruel cases, I fully realize that we, living in wealthy country, need consider about what ourselves and our family should be like. And we need seek out “answer”for meaning of a human's existence which hardly function in a normal manner.
Many people will ask nothing of Buddhism. They think that there should be concrete and realistic solution. Our community doesn’t want to get the core of problem, for example, like a murder case with knife by victim’s classmate. As long as being too absorbed in object and trying to keep decency with neglect of our heart, we can’t find out how to make our household happy.
Love, which form the basis for family, have varied style; “love included in great mercy”,“love given by social graces”,“love twisted by selfish minds”,“love with desire and fixation”. And they are changing all the time. It is necessary for us to effort to nurture love sanely. Not having effort, we couldn’t outgrow the pain.
Parents would be the last man to waver without mentioning their mind, and to live without facing each other. So, they can’t communicate with their own children even if they live together. This is a greedy and plastic unit named “family” as if any contracts.
People who can’t find relation between their life and Buddhism will be lost in the social trend and have family trouble. We need notice this strain. It is necessary for us to approach *Gohozen and pray, swear by Budda, practice this faith.
Pity parents bring their children up pity. What is pity? It is that parents chasing lose sight of what to do and where to go with their family. Though all in family go to amusement park, they don’t have where to go praying for Budda and hearing precious wisdom by Budda. Without *Chanting the Odaimoku, they would lose the way to make their home happy, because there is no *Bosastu in family.
We must treat this word as our own problem; “Kah, help me.”
Notes
*Kah Kah comes from “Okasan” in Japanese, it means one’s mother. Kah is to Okasan what Mom is to mother in English.
*Odaimoku = Nammyohorengekyo. Chanting Odaimoku is fundamental practice for followers of HBS.
*Bosastu A person who think other people’s happiness are one’s own happiness. A parson who can pray(chant Odaimoku) for other people.
4.16.2010
Don’t Let Your Negative Karma Hinder Your Faith
Don't Let Your Negative Karma Hinder Your Faith
Religious discourse by Seijun NAGAMATSU, head priest of Myoshinji Temple, Honmon Butsuryu Shu (HBS), Yokohama, Japan.
Translated by fluteman3
When we smell danger in the wind, instinct pushes us into a protective posture. Similarly, the world charges toward protectionism when it is trapped in an economic predicament. What concerns us today is how we can protect ourselves against and prepare for the unpredictable; we are too self-centered to look after other people and tend to the needs of other countries.
When the world seems harsh and discomforting, it is because the minds and hearts of the people are harsh and discomforting. It appears as though we are becoming increasingly egotistical, blaming others for all the woes that we experience in our daily lives. We are permitting the occurrence of incidents such as miscommunications and misunderstandings with the people who are closest to us more frequently than ever before. Everyday conversations are often marked by complaints about and criticisms of someone different. Given the current socioeconomic realities of the world, we are encountering more cases like this than ever before, so we must ask ourselves if we are sane to live like this.
One unhappy event can cause people to hold grudges against each other. They ask themselves why this is happening to them without arriving at a convincing answer. They maintain that they have done nothing wrong and ask why they have reached a dead end. Lamenting and pondering why so many outrageous things are happening around us and holding grudges against cold-hearted and uncaring neighbors will inevitably lead us nowhere but to a nervous breakdown.
Now is the best time to change and start living the Buddhist way.
People who are unaware of their negative Karma are not Buddhists. Today, the word “Karma” is widespread in Japan, but very few people understand its true meaning. The “mediocre persons” of the Mappo era have long lost this awareness. These people are referred to as “mediocre persons with three poisons” because their lives are heavily influenced by their desires, anger, and lack of enlightenment.
Our past deeds (three forms of Karma, from the body, the mouth, and our emotions, inclusive of our thoughts) do not evaporate in the moment of action. What we have done, what we have said, and what we have thought are all recorded in our soul. Dreadful though it may be, these actions, words, and thoughts are all accumulated in the innermost part of the subconscious and the deeper part of the soul as “seeds.” All of our emotions, words, and actions are planted as seeds in the soil of the deepest strata of our subconscious.
However, we want to know when these seeds will sprout into leaves. This depends on the
“
weather and environment
,
” or the conditions in which they grow and the amount of nurturing they receive, but there is no denying that our behaviors constitute the seeds.
In Japan, popular contemporary hobbies include gardening and cultivating small family farms. Everybody who has experience in growing flowers and vegetables knows the wonder of seeds. A variety of miniscule seeds that are only a few millimeters in diameter produce a range of flowers and vegetables in the same soil. Because the seeds look alike, very few experts have the ability to distinguish between the tens of thousands of different species contained therein. Once planted, under the proper conditions, seeds never fail to spring forth leaves; without seeds, there can be no buds.
There is a religious poem written by Master Nissen Shonin, the founder of HBS, and it reads as follows:
Remember: without seeding, there is no sprouting.
Sow the seeds. They will always mature into leaves.
The occurrences that we see every day around us are the results or the buds (effect) of the seeds (cause) that we planted in the past, either immediate or remote. This is what the Law of the Universe is all about. We can also refer to this as the General Law or the Law of Cause and Effect. Buddhists call this 果報 [kahoo] (this literally means “good news,” but it should be understood as “capacity” or “potential”), or 罪障 [zaisho] (negative Karma), or simply カルマ [karuma] (Karma).
We are inclined to think that everything is acceptable as long as it remains masked or unnoticed. On the contrary, each act is documented in the soul as though the seeds are being planted in the soil of the soul day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment. One of the teachings of the Great Master Nichiren is that we plant seeds 840,000,000 times a day.
Bad seeds give life to bad buds and good seeds, good buds. This is what we call 善因善果・悪因悪果 [zenin zenga, akuin akuga] or “good cause, good effect; bad cause, bad effect.” We should know that self-centered behavior caused by the three poisons translates into bad seeds, which then get planted. The seeds sprout one after another and start swaying our lives in a certain direction. Buddhists should wholeheartedly acknowledge this factual truth.
Sometimes, a succession of negative occurrences in daily life distresses us. All of the inconveniences and hardships that we face certainly have causes. An accident waiting to befall us is surely the result of the seed. This seed was planted by you and nobody else. To live a truly happy life, we should uproot the bad seeds and buds and freshly plant good seeds instead.
Tell a lie and sooner or later, somebody, not necessarily the person who you deceived, will get even with another lie. Strike somebody and sooner or later, you will be hit by somebody who may or may not be the same person who you struck. The same thing can be said for name calling and gossiping. Likewise, a person who acquires money by cheating will eventually be cheated out of money by somebody else.
Preaching about ethics and codes of conduct is not necessarily the most significant part of Buddha’s teachings. Buddhists know that teachings such as “do a good thing” and “do not do a bad thing” are not effective enough to change people. This may be the case because the so-called mediocre persons of the Mappo era are often overwhelmed by their deep desires; their bad deeds outnumber their good deeds. Such people waste their lives in this way, as they are perpetually stuck in the vicious cycle.
It is essential to know what is important in life. The reason why we remain unhappy and full of anxiety is because we do not recognize the cause and effect relationships of the events that unfold in front of us. In short, we do not see the true nature. The idea that the individual is responsible for the good things, while the people around him or her are to blame for the bad things is utterly incorrect. We must face the truth, and the truth is that you and you alone are accountable for all of the bad things and bad situations that arise. Remember that everything results from the seeds that you have planted. Therefore, be cognizant of the kinds of seeds that you are planting at this moment.
Let us take a look at another religious poem by Nissen Shonin:
Seeds matter for all things. Enlightenment can be achieved
only when we plant good seeds of the fine Dharma.
Human beings are creatures that cannot be controlled by the simple moral dichotomy of “good versus evil” that instructs us to undertake good deeds and forsake bad deeds. This is why the great masters of the past have taught us the importance of the action of “planting the best and most excellent seeds.” We are bestowed with the Odaimoku (sacred mantra) of the “cause, essence, and seeds of illumination (or enlightenment).” The fine mantra of Namumyohorengekyo itself constitutes the “seeds of the fine Dharma,” the most precious seeds, the seeds that contain all of Buddha’s virtues.
The “seeds of 本因妙 [honinmyo] (the true and ultimate cause, or the fine Dharma)” lie at the base of all cause-effect relationships. Take a step forward, acknowledge the precious seeds, and start planting the seeds of happiness; then, you will surely have a better future, eliminating your bad Karma and bad buds. Do this and I am certain that your future will be bright.
Everything results from the seeds that you plant. Nobody is responsible but you. Thus, you should plant the “seeds of the fine Dharma” so that you can eradicate the bad seeds and buds that you have been accumulating since your remote past.
Buddhism is action. Regretting your past deeds and blaming other people will lead you nowhere. We are so inflexible with and critical of others and yet so easy on ourselves We can tell other people what to do because we see them from a distance, but we do not know what to do with ourselves because we do not see ourselves. We experience the pitfalls of human relationships this way. We are so sensitive to other people’s deeds and yet so insensitive when it comes to our own actions and words. With a human nature such as this, we often find ourselves in unhappy situations. Therefore, we must be sensitive to our bad Karma and take a step forward to plant new seeds of happiness in our soul. I am certain that if you start to live this way, you will be rewarded with a new, truly happy life. However outrageous the world may be, your destiny and connections will begin to move forward in a positive direction.
Let me cite one more religious poem by Nissen Shonin:
Your destiny will turn in a better direction
as soon as you have decided to practice faith.
The moment when you decide to live with faith and you begin to practice your faith in your daily life will be the moment when you bring luck on your side. However, beware that your bad Karma might hamper your precious first step in that direction.
Never let your negative Karma hinder your faith.
Take a step forward into faith!
Religious discourse by Seijun NAGAMATSU, head priest of Myoshinji Temple, Honmon Butsuryu Shu (HBS), Yokohama, Japan.
Translated by fluteman3
When we smell danger in the wind, instinct pushes us into a protective posture. Similarly, the world charges toward protectionism when it is trapped in an economic predicament. What concerns us today is how we can protect ourselves against and prepare for the unpredictable; we are too self-centered to look after other people and tend to the needs of other countries.
When the world seems harsh and discomforting, it is because the minds and hearts of the people are harsh and discomforting. It appears as though we are becoming increasingly egotistical, blaming others for all the woes that we experience in our daily lives. We are permitting the occurrence of incidents such as miscommunications and misunderstandings with the people who are closest to us more frequently than ever before. Everyday conversations are often marked by complaints about and criticisms of someone different. Given the current socioeconomic realities of the world, we are encountering more cases like this than ever before, so we must ask ourselves if we are sane to live like this.
One unhappy event can cause people to hold grudges against each other. They ask themselves why this is happening to them without arriving at a convincing answer. They maintain that they have done nothing wrong and ask why they have reached a dead end. Lamenting and pondering why so many outrageous things are happening around us and holding grudges against cold-hearted and uncaring neighbors will inevitably lead us nowhere but to a nervous breakdown.
Now is the best time to change and start living the Buddhist way.
People who are unaware of their negative Karma are not Buddhists. Today, the word “Karma” is widespread in Japan, but very few people understand its true meaning. The “mediocre persons” of the Mappo era have long lost this awareness. These people are referred to as “mediocre persons with three poisons” because their lives are heavily influenced by their desires, anger, and lack of enlightenment.
Our past deeds (three forms of Karma, from the body, the mouth, and our emotions, inclusive of our thoughts) do not evaporate in the moment of action. What we have done, what we have said, and what we have thought are all recorded in our soul. Dreadful though it may be, these actions, words, and thoughts are all accumulated in the innermost part of the subconscious and the deeper part of the soul as “seeds.” All of our emotions, words, and actions are planted as seeds in the soil of the deepest strata of our subconscious.
However, we want to know when these seeds will sprout into leaves. This depends on the
“
weather and environment
,
” or the conditions in which they grow and the amount of nurturing they receive, but there is no denying that our behaviors constitute the seeds.
In Japan, popular contemporary hobbies include gardening and cultivating small family farms. Everybody who has experience in growing flowers and vegetables knows the wonder of seeds. A variety of miniscule seeds that are only a few millimeters in diameter produce a range of flowers and vegetables in the same soil. Because the seeds look alike, very few experts have the ability to distinguish between the tens of thousands of different species contained therein. Once planted, under the proper conditions, seeds never fail to spring forth leaves; without seeds, there can be no buds.
There is a religious poem written by Master Nissen Shonin, the founder of HBS, and it reads as follows:
Remember: without seeding, there is no sprouting.
Sow the seeds. They will always mature into leaves.
The occurrences that we see every day around us are the results or the buds (effect) of the seeds (cause) that we planted in the past, either immediate or remote. This is what the Law of the Universe is all about. We can also refer to this as the General Law or the Law of Cause and Effect. Buddhists call this 果報 [kahoo] (this literally means “good news,” but it should be understood as “capacity” or “potential”), or 罪障 [zaisho] (negative Karma), or simply カルマ [karuma] (Karma).
We are inclined to think that everything is acceptable as long as it remains masked or unnoticed. On the contrary, each act is documented in the soul as though the seeds are being planted in the soil of the soul day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment. One of the teachings of the Great Master Nichiren is that we plant seeds 840,000,000 times a day.
Bad seeds give life to bad buds and good seeds, good buds. This is what we call 善因善果・悪因悪果 [zenin zenga, akuin akuga] or “good cause, good effect; bad cause, bad effect.” We should know that self-centered behavior caused by the three poisons translates into bad seeds, which then get planted. The seeds sprout one after another and start swaying our lives in a certain direction. Buddhists should wholeheartedly acknowledge this factual truth.
Sometimes, a succession of negative occurrences in daily life distresses us. All of the inconveniences and hardships that we face certainly have causes. An accident waiting to befall us is surely the result of the seed. This seed was planted by you and nobody else. To live a truly happy life, we should uproot the bad seeds and buds and freshly plant good seeds instead.
Tell a lie and sooner or later, somebody, not necessarily the person who you deceived, will get even with another lie. Strike somebody and sooner or later, you will be hit by somebody who may or may not be the same person who you struck. The same thing can be said for name calling and gossiping. Likewise, a person who acquires money by cheating will eventually be cheated out of money by somebody else.
Preaching about ethics and codes of conduct is not necessarily the most significant part of Buddha’s teachings. Buddhists know that teachings such as “do a good thing” and “do not do a bad thing” are not effective enough to change people. This may be the case because the so-called mediocre persons of the Mappo era are often overwhelmed by their deep desires; their bad deeds outnumber their good deeds. Such people waste their lives in this way, as they are perpetually stuck in the vicious cycle.
It is essential to know what is important in life. The reason why we remain unhappy and full of anxiety is because we do not recognize the cause and effect relationships of the events that unfold in front of us. In short, we do not see the true nature. The idea that the individual is responsible for the good things, while the people around him or her are to blame for the bad things is utterly incorrect. We must face the truth, and the truth is that you and you alone are accountable for all of the bad things and bad situations that arise. Remember that everything results from the seeds that you have planted. Therefore, be cognizant of the kinds of seeds that you are planting at this moment.
Let us take a look at another religious poem by Nissen Shonin:
Seeds matter for all things. Enlightenment can be achieved
only when we plant good seeds of the fine Dharma.
Human beings are creatures that cannot be controlled by the simple moral dichotomy of “good versus evil” that instructs us to undertake good deeds and forsake bad deeds. This is why the great masters of the past have taught us the importance of the action of “planting the best and most excellent seeds.” We are bestowed with the Odaimoku (sacred mantra) of the “cause, essence, and seeds of illumination (or enlightenment).” The fine mantra of Namumyohorengekyo itself constitutes the “seeds of the fine Dharma,” the most precious seeds, the seeds that contain all of Buddha’s virtues.
The “seeds of 本因妙 [honinmyo] (the true and ultimate cause, or the fine Dharma)” lie at the base of all cause-effect relationships. Take a step forward, acknowledge the precious seeds, and start planting the seeds of happiness; then, you will surely have a better future, eliminating your bad Karma and bad buds. Do this and I am certain that your future will be bright.
Everything results from the seeds that you plant. Nobody is responsible but you. Thus, you should plant the “seeds of the fine Dharma” so that you can eradicate the bad seeds and buds that you have been accumulating since your remote past.
Buddhism is action. Regretting your past deeds and blaming other people will lead you nowhere. We are so inflexible with and critical of others and yet so easy on ourselves We can tell other people what to do because we see them from a distance, but we do not know what to do with ourselves because we do not see ourselves. We experience the pitfalls of human relationships this way. We are so sensitive to other people’s deeds and yet so insensitive when it comes to our own actions and words. With a human nature such as this, we often find ourselves in unhappy situations. Therefore, we must be sensitive to our bad Karma and take a step forward to plant new seeds of happiness in our soul. I am certain that if you start to live this way, you will be rewarded with a new, truly happy life. However outrageous the world may be, your destiny and connections will begin to move forward in a positive direction.
Let me cite one more religious poem by Nissen Shonin:
Your destiny will turn in a better direction
as soon as you have decided to practice faith.
The moment when you decide to live with faith and you begin to practice your faith in your daily life will be the moment when you bring luck on your side. However, beware that your bad Karma might hamper your precious first step in that direction.
Never let your negative Karma hinder your faith.
Take a step forward into faith!
4.15.2010
4.13.2010
Welcome to HBS !!
Thank you for your visiting this site, Nice to meet you.
I'm a member of HBS Japan, Yuki Maekawa.
HBS faith is the real Buddhism. So you sure that you and we can receive benefits: Goriyaku ( in Japanese).
Chant Namu-Myo-ho-Ren-ge-kyo in six beat, every morning, every evening, and whenever you can chant, and Your heart will become peaceful.
And so more you can feel benefit of Budda.
Let's meet on this site, we 'll talk about every benefit we received.
and you can see stories which our chief priest , Seijun Nagamatsu, had written.
Join us!!
Thanks.
contribution of my first article to Myoshinji blog
This is my first contribtution to Myoshinji blog. I am 'fluteman3' or Keiichi Yamazaki of Myoshinji temple in Yokohama City, Japan. Myoshinji is a buddhist temple of HBS [Honmon Butsuryu Shu] whose headquarter temple is Yuseiji in Kyoto. The head priest of Myoshinji is Rev. Seijun Nagamatsu. We all come to the temple regularly (some members come every morning, some less often) to chant Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the most sacred mantra, in our main religious chamber and in our second religious chamber. Many members or faithful of the temple participate in various activities of the temple such as culural and educational activities, international expansion activities, activities for children, and domestic expansion activities. I am director of the department of international affairs.
We are starting this site (blog) to disseminate the teachings of Lord Shakamuni Buddha, Great Master Nichiren, Great Master Nichiryu and Founder of HBS Nagamatsu Seifu (Nissen Shounin) to all suffering people around the world. Myoshinji is getting committed to many social activities, but one of them is to develop a system of HBS CO-OP to provide our members with safe and good foods. The temple is also highly interested in helping overseas members of HBS including members in Sri Lanka, South Korea, Brazil and other countries.
We are happy to answer any questions you might have about Buddhism. Please send your queries to our site. Thank you very much.
We are starting this site (blog) to disseminate the teachings of Lord Shakamuni Buddha, Great Master Nichiren, Great Master Nichiryu and Founder of HBS Nagamatsu Seifu (Nissen Shounin) to all suffering people around the world. Myoshinji is getting committed to many social activities, but one of them is to develop a system of HBS CO-OP to provide our members with safe and good foods. The temple is also highly interested in helping overseas members of HBS including members in Sri Lanka, South Korea, Brazil and other countries.
We are happy to answer any questions you might have about Buddhism. Please send your queries to our site. Thank you very much.
Hello world!!
We started this blog.
Information on HBS is put on this blog.
I am wishing that your life shines wonderfully by the Buddhism!!
Namumyohorengekyo.
Information on HBS is put on this blog.
I am wishing that your life shines wonderfully by the Buddhism!!
Namumyohorengekyo.
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