Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
Every Year is a Good Year
There is a famous Zen phrase that I have written and spoken about before, that goes, "Every day is a good day." Based on that famous Zen phrase, I would like to offer for a New Year's greeting, the phrase, "Every Year is a Good Year."
Normally we judge the year based on how things have gone for us. If it was a good business year and we made money, then it was a good year. If business was bad, then it was a bad year. Growing up on our family farm, we had good years and bad years. Some years we had good crops with high yield, but poor prices. Other years had poor yield with good prices. Things were always up and down in farming.
If you are an athlete, you would base your judgement on the year based on your won-loss record, or how far you went in the playoffs. Over the New Year's I watched one of the most thrilling bowl games ever, the Fiesta Bowl in which little Boise State upset Oklahoma. That win will make 2007 a most memorable year for Boise State fans.
If you are an Oakland Raiders fan, you would have to say the opposite. Only winning two games is definitely a bad year for an NFL team.
Relationships can dictate whether the year was good or bad for us. Maybe this was the year you found the love of your life. You would have to say it was a good year. But for someone who lost the love of their life, or who ended a relationship in divorce or bitter separation, then this past year was a very bad year.
What the Zen expression is trying to challenge us to, is to look at life beyond our self-centered perspective of whether we profited or lost, whether things went our way or not, whether we benefited or not. To live life beyond the small, relative ego self, and to open our hearts and lives to life beyond the ego self.
What this means is that we take into our life whatever comes, and become one with it, whether it is profit or loss, success or failure, suffering or happiness. Although this might seem like a crazy way to live, it is the most unbounded, unobstructed way to live. A person who can live in this manner fears nothing in life. Neither praise nor criticism affects them. Praise does not go to their head and make them arrogant. Criticism does make them crawl into a hole and disappear. Praise and criticism are taken into their life, and something new emerges, in the endless flow of life.
That is why, rather than wishing for everyone to have a "Good year in 2007", I would like to wish that everyone have a year in which we can say, "Every year is a good year." We can face with an open heart and mind, whatever 2007 brings to us. Whether it brings profit or loss, praise or criticism, health or sickness, we can take it all into our life, become one with it, and live forward with a new spirit of life, something that is unbounded, and unbreakable. Such a spirit of life is to live a life of the Nembutsu, Namuamidabutsu.
Gassho,
Rev. Marvin Harada
The following essay is a translation of an essay by Rev. Haya Akegarasu that illustrates to me what is meant by living in the spirit of "Every year is a good year." It is his essay on Karma, and how one who has touched the heart of the Buddhadharma. has no hindrance in the karmic conditions of life, because one lives not from the ego self, but from the true self.
Rev.
Haya Akegarasu on Karma
translated by Rev. Marvin Harada
In this world there is a time to meet and a time to part. There is a time to be born and a time to die. There is a time to hold on and a time to let go. If we are not bound or attached to such things, then there is a way to transcend, there is a way to turn suffering into joy. This is religious salvation.
Therefore, my Buddhism is not the Buddhism that will cure cancer. My Buddhism is not the Buddhism that will make you rich. Normally we seek what will prevent illness. We seek what will prevent losing a loved one. But we human beings in being born, must inevitably face death. Therefore, it is important that we be taught that no matter what comes to us, we should not be surprised, we should not be bound by it. When we understand that we are saved. When we are saved in that manner, then we have the confidence to let anything come in life.
This year there might be a big snow. We might wonder, will my house survive a big snowstorm? But if it snows, let it snow. Let anything come. If it is cold, let it be cold. If it is hot, let it be hot. I will receive that heat or cold and transcend it. I will receive it as my nourishment. If someone is kind to me, let them be kind. If someone is rude to me, let them be rude. I will receive them all, and from there a new me will step forward into this world. This is to break the bonds of karma. Being illuminated by the Buddha, I receive that joy and its teaching.
Vol. 18, Complete Works of Haya Akegarasu
January 2007
