Orange County Buddhist Church

A Way Of Seeing (Shinran Shonin’s Day, Among Others)

As you are all aware, this month is quite auspicious, since it is the month in which Shinran, the founder of our way of seeing, was born, as well as others, maybe even you. I did not know whether I should say it is my month as well, but it is. (lol)

If you do not find anything particularly auspicious about that fact, I would have to say that you probably have not given much thought to it, one way or the other. There is a Japanese word, de-ai, which connotes so much more than it denotes that, were you to look it up in a Japanese-English dictionary, you would think very little of it. The dictionary simply says something like “meeting,” or “encounter.” I prefer the latter meaning, especially in a Buddhist, human (is that redundant?) context. In this context, an encounter is a chance meeting with another (nearly always human) from which you emerge a different person, and you realize it, although perhaps not immediately. The change is always positive, and the Japanese phrase describing it would be something like, “De-aete yokatta,” which I would probably translate, “I’m so glad we met,” or, more literally, “It was a good thing we met.” It is not the usual, “It was nice meeting you.” It is almost like, “I’m so grateful we were able to meet in this lifetime, because you have changed my life for the better.”

We can meet Shinran only through his words now, or through the words of others either about him or about his words (sometimes we need explanations.) I guarantee you his words will change your life for the better, and you will want to say, “Shinran Shonin ni de-aete yokatta,” or “I’m so grateful that I was able to hear the Buddha Dharma through Shinran’s words, because it has changed my life for the better.”

I hope you will avail yourself of the words of Shinran Shonin, which you will encounter throughout your sojourn here.

Gassho,
Dull-rooted Jaan (Rev. John Doami)