Happy New Year V 4

Happy New Year – v. 4.0

K. Ken Fujimoto

Ikkyu, a famous Zen monk and a contemporary of Rennyo Shonin, the 8th head of our Hongwanji, were said to have been friends. There is a story attributed to him that had him standing at a famous bridge in Kyoto, Sanjo Ohashi, with a skull on his walking staff and greeting people saying, "What's so happy about greeting a New Year? It only means that you are getting closer to this!"

Whether this is a true story or not, it does fit the legend of the man who was supposedly very intelligent and quick thinking. He may have been a little odd, but he was able to communicate the Buddha-dharma to others. He was trying to communicate to people that we should not distract ourselves from the truly important realities of life by getting caught up in the festivities of the day. The festivities of the day may be a temporary distraction, but it will not stop the flow of life and death.

This past year seems to have been filled with tragic deaths for our temple sangha, but we must not forget that each death can be a tragic one. Each minute, there are people dying somewhere in the world. We need to look into ourselves and ask why we cannot feel for all those deaths in the same way.

The answer is actually a simple one. It is in the relationships that we have. The closer we are to another, the greater the sense of loss. If we do not know or have no relationship with a person, their loss does not affect us much. If the deaths in the world affected us equally, we would either go insane with the constant sense of grief or become extremely callous.

Fortunately, we are not expected to feel each loss in the same way. This is also not intended to deter us from living our lives fully and develop relationships. Those relationships may cause us to grieve and feel loss with the deaths of those close to us, but it is in the relationships that we experience greatest joy and adventure. Would we want to forsake the joy and excitement in life to be freed from the grief and loss?

This gives us insight as to the Pure Land being the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, Sukhavhativyuha. Ultimate Bliss refers to the fact that because of interdependence, everyone's bliss is shared. Everyone's happiness becomes our happiness and our happiness is shared with all others. We all know that our happiness when shared becomes enhanced so sharing it with all and all sharing with us makes it the ultimate bliss or happiness. However, the other side of this shared happiness is that everyone's suffering is shared as well. The suffering of all others becomes our suffering and our suffering is shared with others. We do not emphasize this aspect since it would be bad PR, but we also know that sharing suffering eases the pain. When pain is eased and joy enhanced, how else can one express this besides Ultimate Bliss?

We need to go into the New Year knowing that the cultivation of true relationships can lead to great pain at some point, but that it contains great joy and excitement as well. We do not want to avoid the possible pain at the cost of losing all that is possible in life. To live in such a way is not living life, but mere existence. Our goal as human being should be to live a truly human life, in all its glory of joy and the accompanying pain. To embrace life with its ups and downs without getting attached to either is to live a Buddhist life.

May the New Year be one of true meaning, growth and discovery for you and for those with whom you have karmic ties.

 Gassho and a Happy and New Year,

© December 12, 2009