Hiyaku nyo issai sen
Sui nyū daikai
Ichimi
“Like all rivers and streams, when they enter the great ocean, they become of one taste.”
— Shōshinge (Collected Works of Shinran, Vol. 1, p. 84)
Last month, I enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics and I hope I’m live when they are scheduled to be in Utah again from February 10-26, 2034. I love the Olympics and am awed by the athletes' amazing dedication. I know that they do not become great on their own. I am disgusted by how some of our politicians bring their personal opinions into the aspiration of these athletes. For instance, Eileen Gu is an absolutely amazing human being, brains, beauty, and extraordinary athletic ability. It would be great if she were with the U.S. Olympic team, but who supported and paid for so much of her training? The U.S. doesn’t pay these athletes as much as many countries do. These young people give so much of their lives to these sports, and I want them to be proud of wherever they are from, and I believe we should support each and every one of them, American, Canadian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Sports have an extraordinary power. They bring people together, and they also drive people apart. The same game, the same ball, the same rules—and yet emotions rise quickly. Strangers embrace. Others turn away in anger. For a moment, sports feel almost religious. We gather. We chant. We hope. We suffer. We rejoice. Sports are like rivers. Each river has its own name, its own speed, its own twists and turns. Some are calm. Some are violent. Some carry joy. Some carry anger. And yet Shinran reminds us: when all rivers enter the great ocean, they become of one taste.
Sports expose the self. They show us how quickly pride arises, how easily disappointment turns into blame, and how naturally we divide the world into “us” and “them.” This is what Shin Buddhism calls bombu—foolish beings filled with blind passions. And Shinran never excluded such people. In Shin Buddhism, awakening does not end with oneself. Compassion turns outward. This returning movement is called genso eko—the return from the Pure Land to this world. Genso eko is described as the play of bodhisattvas. Play does not mean trivial; it means free, unforced, and responsive. Seen this way, even sports become part of that play—messy, emotional, imperfect places where compassion appears without planning. Shinran offers another image near the close of the Shōshinge: Dō nyū daie-shu Jū shōjōjū-chū“Together we enter the great assembly and dwell among those who are truly settled.”
— Shōshinge (CWS, Vol. 1, p. 86)
Not because we agree. Not because we win. But because we are grasped and never abandoned. Different rivers. One ocean. Together we enter.
Namo Amida Butsu.