Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
A Way of Seeing (Spring Ohigan)
By now it should be a natural assumption that most of you know what Ohigan is and why we observe it, but there might be new readers out there who are not familiar with it. Higan literally means “other shore,” which refers to the Pure Land, in contrast to shigan, or “this shore,” which refers to our world of birth and death. The “O” is an honorific and not usually translated. Higan also refers to enlightenment, or Nirvana, which are synonyms of the Pure Land. As I write this, I am laughing to myself because I recall Rev. Tetsuo Unno’s remarks in his class on Jodo Shinshu in a post modern context, in which he said something to the effect that Nishi Honganji ministers have a tendency, albeit learned, to define terms and so on when they begin sermons.
Here I am doing exactly that. I suppose I could go right to the heart of Jodo Shinshu, at least as I see it at the moment, and say, “You are going to die sooner than you want to. Are you prepared for it? Have you been made aware of your true self such that you know Amida’s faith is the only means by which you can realize birth in the Pure Land, or enlightenment? Do you know what I’m talking about? Do you care?” If not, you might be more concerned with such questions as, Do you truly understand how beholden you are to all those around you? Do you realize how much you make other people, not just yourself, suffer? Do you realize how much your own happiness depends upon those around you? Do you care?
Ohigan is the perfect time to think about these and other questions arising from your life, because it is neither too hot nor too cold and very conducive to thinking about your life and how you live it.
Gassho,
Donkon Jaan, Rev. John Doami
