Buddhist Thoughts is the SLC Buddhist Temple newsletter which is mailed to Temple members each month. Here we provide excerpts from archival Buddhist Thoughts.

2002 November

The Choice is Yours
by J.K. Hirano

This then is the true teaching easy to practice for small, foolish beings; it is the straight way easy to traverse for the dull and ignorant. Among all the teachings the Great Sage preached in his lifetime, none surpasses this ocean of virtues. Let the one who seeks to abandon the defiled and aspire for the pure; who is confused in practice and vacillating in faith; whose mind is dark and whose understanding deficient; whose evils are heavy and whose karmic obstructions manifold-let such persons embrace above all the Tathagata's exhortations, take refuge without fail in the most excellent direct path.

-- Kyogyoshinsho

This past month, I attended San Jose Betsuin's 100th anniversary celebration. It was a wonderful time to visit with old friends and to take part in that very special occasion. The keynote address was given by Rev. Tetsuo Unno. His talk centered on the subject of how Buddhism was a teaching that was universal in it's appeal. He spoke of the great historian Arnold Toynbee. According to Rev. Unno, Toynbee did not give much hope for the survival of civilization as we know it. Unless the great religions of the world could lead mankind. Of these great religions of the world, Toynbee had singled out the Buddhist teachings to have the greatest potential for effecting positive change to the survival of civilization.

Rev. Unno also mentioned the great Zen philosopher D.T. Suzuki. Suzuki is most well known in the west for his writings on Zen Buddhism. He has written many books and articles, introducing Zen teachings to the west. However, Suzuki also wrote extensively about Jodo Shinshu. Rev. Unno said the D.T. Suzuki had commented that he considered Jodo Shinshu to be the highest development of Mahayana Buddhism. It was a very enjoyable talk. It reminded me of a coach giving a pep talk for Buddhists.

After attending the centennial in San Jose, the following week I attended a meeting of the Utah Buddhist Council (UBC), which we hosted at the Ogden Buddhist Temple. UBC is a group made up of the Buddhist Sanghas within Utah. Members of these groups are the Thai Buddhist Temple in Layton, the Tibetan Temple in Salt Lake, the Kanzeon Zen Center in Salt Lake, two Vietnamese Temples in Salt Lake, a number of meditation centers and our three Jodo Shinshu Temples. At this quarterly meeting, we discussed activities that the various Sanghas would be holding. After the meeting, we went to the hondo. I lead a short service, which was followed by talks from the various representatives in attendance.

One of the aspects of Buddhism that I take great pride in, is the viewpoint that there are 84,000 paths to enlightenment. This means that the Buddha felt that there are many ways to understand truth. If this is the case, there is no one religion that should claim title to having the patent on Truth. This has always made great sense to me. I have met many wonderful people in my life and all of them were not Buddhists. Something must have taught them to be good human beings. In Christianity they have the golden rule. In Judaism there is the story of the great Hillel being asked to explain the Jewish teaching while standing on one leg. His reply was, "Don't do to others, what you don't want them to do to you. The rest is commentary." As the niece of the Dalai Lama told us at our UBC gathering, the advice given to her by the Dalai Lama, was "Place the life of another before your own. If this is not possible, at least do no harm." We are all finding ways to be good human beings.

Living in Salt Lake, I have been confronted by some people questioning my choice of Buddhism as the teaching I choose to live by. This has happened to me since I was a child and continues even when people come to visit our temple. One of the many replies I have used to these questions, is this. "If God were all knowing, He would have realized that allowing me to be born to a Japanese American mother and father, who were members of the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple, would probably have a great effect upon me. I'm sure that God knows something about the sociological, psychological and environmental effect this would have had on my young mind. Therefore, if God does exist, I'm sure he wouldn't be that critical of me following the Buddhist teaching. Why are you?"

As our Dharma School has began this past month. I hope that each of you will make a conscientious choice as to what is right for you. It's not about my family is Buddhist so I am too. It shouldn't be about telling your children this. In fact, I'm quite sure, knowing my own personality, that if my Father had said that I must be Buddhist because he was. I would probably be following a different path right now, just to spite him. Instead he had given me the choice while I was in Jr. High School or High School, to decide what religion would be good for me. He told me that it was just important that I had some religion or teaching to rely upon. For there would be times in my future when it would be of great help. As my father had done for me, generosity of spirit with a true open mindedness always seems the correct way to approach this subject, for yourself or your children. The choice is yours, if you choose to follow along this same path as our Sangha, we welcome you. Namo Amida Butsu.

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006