unfathomable depths

one of the many pitfalls of any given path is that of complacency. this might manifest in such a readily acknowledgeable form as "put it off until tomorrow" syndrome or it may linger beneath the surface in a subtler manner.

a few nights ago, i was discussing with my Dharma mother our respective Chomon experiences. two significant steps foward during introspection are the awareness of how much suffering (knowing or unknowingly) we put those who love us through and the infinite compassion and support we have received from them in spite of such. the key thing is - although such awareness is the turning point to our taking refuge in Amida, we also know that what we are seeing is the mere tip of the iceberg - our blind passions are so deep, and the compassion so infinite that we can never fathom their depths. realising such is an extremely humbling thought.

talking through all this, she then told me that when she says the nembutsu it is not only for the compassion she is aware of having received but for all those infinite, endless examples of love and support which lie under the surface waters of our obscured by blind passions awareness. the ones we never know, never realise, never could know.

during otsutome the following morning it felt as if with each nembutsu the doors had opened wider and with deep shame i offered each syllable in gratitude, not only for all i can recall of what has been done for me, but all the infinite, endless, unfathomable depths of compassion i have received from Other.

namu amida butsu

the value of interfaith...

oh boy, Egypt. it looks like things are close to tipping point over there and i hold the people in my thoughts. there's already plenty of excellent analysis out there and i don't feel i could really add anything worthwhile to it. there is one thing which caught my eye though. i think it's safe to say that all of Blathering Nonsense's contributors hold the matter of interfaith dialogue very close to their hearts. so naturally, i find the coming together of muslims and christians during this revolution moving and inspiring. there are many things we can be learning from the people of Egypt right now and one of the most important is that, beyond the differences of religious identity and belief, underneath we all share the same potential for compassion, love, support and respect to one another. here's what the people have to say (full article can be read here) -

"During the fiercest clashes on January 28, I found a guy about my age guarding my back, who I later found out was a Christian," Yahia Roumi, a 24- year-old protester from Cairo, told IPS. "Now we're best friends; we never go to the demonstrations without one another."

"In Tahrir, I've met many young Muslim activists - even some from the Muslim Brotherhood," Boutros, who preferred not to give his last name, told IPS. "They explained how Islam commands Muslims to protect Christians and Christian places of worship. I learned from them that the Muslims don't have any beliefs that threaten our rights or should frighten us as Copts."

"I'm protecting these churches as if they were mosques, because, according to Islam, we should respect Christian places of worship," Rageb told IPS. "As an Egyptian Muslim, I have no reason to hate Christians. We've always been neighbours here, and our relations are excellent."

and perhaps most tellingly -

"The regime is responsible for the sectarian problems suffered by Copts," Kamel was quoted as saying. "Proof of this is that no church was attacked during the unprecedented absence of security (following the police withdrawal)."

"This corrupt government was behind 90 percent of the problems between Egypt's Christian and Muslim communities, which had coexisted in harmony for hundreds of years," agreed Rageb.

Boutros said: "This uprising won't only bring freedom to Egypt; it will also do much to dispel sectarian tension - of which the ruling regime was the only beneficiary."

namu amida butsu

Muryoju (a reply of sorts)...

last week my good friend Kunga D wrote a piece over at his blog, Why are we amazed? myself being an admitted hopeless romantic, prone to burying my head in books of haiku, dreaming of misty-mountain revelations and deep sunyatic realisations awoken by the smell of falling plum blossom, i must admit the frankness of his squawking at first ruffled me. however, once i'd straightened out those feathers and had time to ponder his words with hopefully a bit of clarity i found myself thinking about two aspects of the Jodo Shinshu path.

the first is a word we all encounter in one form or another pretty early on when studying/practising the Pure Land schools. In Japanese it is rendered "Muryoju" - Eternal Life. bear with me here, as it might appear i'm running off in completely the opposite direction of what my friend is saying (really, i'm not lol). Amida Buddha has many names or titles if you like, all referring to his different aspects, but perhaps the two most well known are Amitabha - Infinite Light and Amitayus - Eternal Life. the former is symbolic of wisdom (light breaking through the darkness of ignorance) whereas the latter of compassion (so long as there are sentient beings unawoken to the vow he will be here, leading them to his Pure Land).
the reason i picked up on the latter aspect - muryoju - is in remembering an account mine and Kyoshin's sensei told our samgha one time. he had received a piece of calligraphy from the late DT Suzuki (of whom, he was his last student) to take back to his Dharma mother at the temple. it bore simply the character for Muryoju. realising he could not take it back without an explanation, he returned to Suzuki-sensei, asking what the character meant - "Sensei, regarding the calligraphy you did for Ekai-san, what does this 'Eternal Life' mean." He replied, "Well, see that cat moving over there and the daffodils blooming in the garden? All of it is Eternal Life. Yes, everything's the working of Eternal Life."  http://bit.ly/fH4KrJ

the second thing i picked up on was the 'gyo' part of the Kyogyoshinsho, which most people are familiar with as meaning 'practice'. however, in a translation just short of complete before his death, Suzuki chose to translate this term instead as 'living' believing it closer to Shinran Shonin's intent. Great Practice becomes Great Living, placing it firmly in the midst of our lives, and thus resolving the tendency we often have to seperate the two.

following this musing then, i can acknowledge the danger Kunga mentions in sublimating or spiritualising everything that is meaningful. a common trap i've fallen into many a time is chasing after intense feelings of joy experienced on the path, believing that somehow if i can't get back to them then i'm missing out on the Vow. of course, this thinking fails to realise the Amitabha - light penetrates all corners - and also, while busy chasing, so distracted as to look past "everything's the working of Eternal Life."
that everything is the working, means not only those times we experience great joy but also those times we seem to be picking our way through the darkness. we'd like to seperate the two and place the former in the realm of Amida and the latter in the realm of suffering because to a self-orientated mind, the alternative seems perverse. but to do so is to deny the compassion which is itself muryoju. when we receive an awareness of this working, then our whole being is re-orientated and the dichotomy we might place between practice and living is nulled.

namu amida butsu