Infinite Causes

G Sakamoto

My interest in photography began many years ago. It was art, technology and a bit of alchemy all rolled into one. In high school there was a photography club that took pictures for the school paper and yearbook. The photos were shot in black and white, and students learned how to develop film and make prints. I was on the periphery but through the art and drafting classes I hung around and watched, under red lights, as images emerged from blank sheets of paper.

It was fascinating and intimidating. Film, chemicals, paper not to mention equipment, I could only wonder how others were able to spend so much time with photography. I was on a work scholarship and so spare time was taken up by hours in the library shelving books and sitting at the desk. Then there was Judo and Nihongo gakko and Scouts, there were a lot of commitments and photography just drifted into the background noise of things to do.

Several years later, when I was to leave for Japan for ordination, my mother gave me my father's Nikon. My father had died eleven years before and although the camera was getting old, it carried with it strong memories. That camera is the root of my photography. After awhile, with mom's permission, I traded in the Nikon for a Nikormat, with a 43-86mm f/3.5 lens that I still have today. In time I added a 80-300 mm lens. Years later, in Oakland, I sold that lens to a boy and his father. The lens was for the boy, his father was along just to supervise. Thinking about that now, I wonder about the excitement of finding a deal on a pretty usable lens and bargaining for a good price. I wonder if he enjoyed that lens and if he used it a lot. I wonder what influence the lens may have had on his experience. He did not know of the influence that my father had on that lens.

Everything is the result of causes and conditions. The more clearly we see these relationships the better we understand something. It was not necessary for the boy to know about my past or the importance of my childhood photos by my father. But the influence of my father was there.

When we consider of the depth of the causes and conditions of this simple encounter we may begin to appreciate the expansiveness of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. The following is a description of a portion of his awakening.

"Moving on to the fourth meditative state, with a tranquil, pure, unstained and pliant mind that could not be disturbed by anything, he contemplated his past lives. Recalling in detail numerous past and distant lives, at the outset of that first night, he attained the first wisdom, took leave of ignorance and dispelled the darkness." New English Version, Buddha-Dharma, pg 30

"Numerous past and distant lives" may mean the lives that result at the intersection of causes and conditions. Within the boy's life, as a result of that encounter, are the influences of his father, me, my father and my mother. If we follow each of these threads, there are infinite conditions that influenced that encounter. In any moment of our life there are infinite influences that shape our experience. I am the intersection of truly infinite conditions. My parents, my brothers and sister, uncles and aunts, Kathy, Elanor, Sarah, my family in Hawaii all influence my life but un-enlightenment obscures the "detail [of] numerous past and distant lives."

We are unable to recognize all the causes that bring us into being and sustain us. When we do catch glimpses, it is the movement of infinite life. Infinite life which causes us to look more carefully, opening our heart and mind to things that are genuine and authentic, moving us toward enlightenment. We respond and say namu amida butsu in gratitude.