In addition to enjoying Mother’s Day together, today we are observing the birthday of Shinran, founder of our Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist tradition, who was born on May 21, 1173.
As you may recall, we observed the anniversary of Shinran’s death in January with our Hoonko Service. Thinking about these two observances, it’s safe to say that a lot has happened in our country and in the world over the past five months. In January, our country’s leadership changed. Just this past week, the Catholic Church’s leadership changed.
Over this time, and for many years, really, there have been a lot of words, a lot of actions, and what feels like constant, vocal, aggressive disagreements about what’s right for our country, what’s right for our world, what’s wrong, and who’s wrong.
What is right? Who is right? These questions consume so much of our daily lives. Every debate on the news, every workplace disagreement, every time your car and another car are headed for the same parking spot. We form an opinion, and until we change our mind, we think we’re right.
And when we come into conflict with someone else who is equally convinced they’re right, the real trouble begins. This is the trouble I believe we are seeing and experiencing dramatically these days. And being so convinced that we are right and the other side is wrong has lead to serious conflicts.
Shinran also lived in a time of upheaval. But he wasn’t a famous religious figure. He didn’t hold political power. Shinran did not seek power, and in fact, he was exiled for following his teacher, Hōnen. Hōnen was a monk who had introduced Shinran to the idea of simply taking refuge in Amida Buddha with an entrusting heart. Those in power thought their view of was right, and Hōnen‘s view was wrong.
Shinran was thrown out of Kyoto and traveled the countryside for years, preaching like so many wandering monks of his time. He was not famous, but he gained a small following. Shinran spent his later years back in Kyoto, writing most of his scholarship and corresponding with his following, until he died at the age of 89.
I believe the reason we’re all sitting here today in a Jōdo Shinshū sangha is because Shinran built a vision that strongly argued for what he thought was right, and against what he thought was wrong. This Buddhist revolution came not from Shinran ruling the system or overthrowing the system. Shinran’s revolution came from within.
Let’s reflect on Shinran’s words:
While persons ignorant of even the characters for ‘good’ and ‘bad’
All possess a sincere mind,
I make a display of knowing the words ‘good’ and ‘bad’;
This is an expression of complete falsity.
– Collected Works of Shinran, 429
In these verses, Shinran first refers to the people he visited and shared the nembutsu teaching with in the countryside. These were mostly farmers, not literate, and so they would not have studied or even known how to recognize the kanji, classical characters, for the words ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ But Shinran was a Buddhist scholar, and he was often asked by his followers about values questions, asked to share his view of what was good and bad. Yet Shinran says this approach is totally false. Why?
Shinran saw himself not as a sacred monk, not as a political hero, but as a bombu—an ordinary, deluded human being. Shinran had no illusions about his moral righteousness. He engaged in deep reflection, even sorrow, about his own limitations, as we see in the quotation. Shinran called himself arrogant and selfish for the pride he took in teaching others.
But instead of becoming trapped in self-centered thinking, the type of thinking that says I decide what is good and what is bad, Shinran turned his life toward Amida Buddha’s Vow—the universal promise that all beings, without exception, will be carried toward awakening.
It’s easy to say we’re right and others are wrong. But Shinran would remind us that we don’t even see ourselves clearly, let alone others. That’s why it can be false to make a display of knowing good and bad.
To entrust yourself to Amida’s Vow is to say: I don’t know everything. I can’t know everything. But I know that the path of compassion, of light, of wisdom beyond my narrow ego, my limited perspective—that is the path I will follow. We’re carried by the power beyond ourselves, outside of ourselves.
Yet to truly allow ourselves to be released by the Buddha’s Vow is the most difficult of difficulties. Shinran knew how difficult this was for himself, and he saw how difficult it was for the people he shared the nembutsu teaching with in the countryside. Some followers came to see the nembutsu as a golden ticket to liberation. “Well, I’ll be enlightened no matter what, so I can do whatever I want. I can be bad.” And others tried to take control of what the nembutsu meant. “Only if you do it my way will you be enlightened.” Only if you follow these rules. Only if you take refuge the right way are you good.
Both views are making assumptions, using their own desires and intentions, their own power to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. But taking refuge in the Buddha-Dharma, the Buddhist teachings, is a release from good and bad. Remember the verses: a sincere mind does not know the characters good or bad. Shinran says you don’t say the nembutsu to become good. You don’t rely on it to justify doing bad. You take refuge. You allow the Buddha-Dharma to release you from your self-centered perspective. And through that release, the Dharma begins to work within you. Not as a magical power, but as a personal transformation that unfolds over time.
This does not mean there is no good or bad in the world, or that we should just step away from those issues and be quiet. Shinran did not back down. He vigorously challenged those who distorted the Dharma, especially those who thought they could define exactly who would be enlightened and who wouldn’t.
Shinran threw his entire being into arguing his view, but he argued from a place of humility before the Buddhist teachings. He wasn’t simply trying to win. He wanted to awaken us to the power beyond ourselves.
Now think of the person who gets under your skin politically. Or the person in your workplace who drives you up the wall. Or even the person who just rubs you the wrong way whenever you see them.
How would it change us—change you—if you saw everyone you oppose, every difficult person, as being on the same path of liberation as you? What would it mean for the world if we could truly let go of our self-centered notions of good and bad and entrust ourselves to the Buddha-Dharma? If we let the Buddha’s promise of liberation carry us, where would it carry us?
In our outlook as Shin Buddhists, everyone is destined for liberation. All those people you think are wrong will ultimately become Buddhas. We are all moving toward this light together. How does that idea change you and your approach to conflict? How does that change your approach to someone who thinks they are right and you’re wrong, when you’re sure they’re wrong and you’re right?
You don’t use Buddhism to become good or to give yourself a pass to do bad. We are here to see ourselves clearly and move forward from there, together.
Today we celebrate the day Shinran was born into this world, and I am grateful that his teachings are born within us as we take refuge in what’s right. By accepting the nembutsu in your heart, you let the dharma work through you and alongside you, as you become the person you are meant to be in this world.