June 28th, 2015

Hello, everyone!
It is my great pleasure to have an opportunity to give a greeting to address the members of Reno Buddhist Church today.

Last March, about 10 members of RBC came to our Head Temple at Asakusa, Tokyo and four of them took part in the Lay Ordination Ceremony in order to become Buddhist followers.   Two others, Mr. Matthew and Mrs. Shelley Fisher, had the Ordination Ceremony to become Buddhist priests by taking refuge in the Three Treasures: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Five years have passed since Dr. Matsunaga returned to the Pure Land. He was the founder of RBC, and also President of International Buddhist Center at Higashi Honganji Temple.

“Lay Ordination” in Shin Buddhism means to become a disciple of the Buddha.  In the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, when taking lay ordination, people took refuge in the Three Treasures - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha -, and were given five sila (precepts).

Sila generally means “precepts” or “regulations” in the Sangha, and also includes personal vows for attaining Enlightenment.

In the case of Shuddhipunthaka, a disciple who was not considered wise, his personal vow was to observe a precept to clean up the garden, telling himself, “clean up your mind!”
He repeated this training for a long time and finally attained Enlightenment.

挨拶
日本で、今年の３月に僧侶が誕生したことの喜び
帰敬式を受ける意味
仏門に入ると言うこと。
釈尊の時代には、三帰をし五戒を受けた
簡単にいうと、教団での、規則と、修行上の課題。
人を殺すなと言う、盗むなという初歩的で、簡単なものから、精神的なモノまであった。律は、教団のルール。戒は、人それぞれ違うものであった。
ある人には、掃除を徹底することと言うものもあった。その時に、「塵を払う」ということ。これは、心を見つめて、磨くと言うことに通じる戒でもあった。
サンガの規律は、一般の法律よりは、少し精神的には厳しいものであった。

To be a disciple of the Buddha is immeasurably profound.

An ancient sutra for taking refuge in the Three Treasures tells us it is not easy to be born as a human. In ancient India, people believed that people were reincarnated or transmigrated, repeating births as an insect, as an animal or as a human being.
Shakyamuni taught the six realms of existence: the worlds of hellish beings, hungry ghosts, fighting demons, human beings and heavenly beings.

But Shakyamuni Buddha preached that even the heavenly beings (devas) have sufferings. Of course human beings have a lot of sufferings

And living a good, virtuous life meant receiving a better life in the next one.

So, to be born as a human is a very rare opportunity.

To become a disciple of the Buddha, or a Buddhist follower, is said in sutras to be much harder than to be born as a human being in the first place.

This ancient sutra for taking refuge in the Three Treasures seems very important even for modern people.

It is still true that human life is full of sufferings.

In the early stage of Shakyamuni Buddha’s life, what was meant by Enlightenment was nothing but liberation from suffering.

Mahayana Buddhism, which pureland Buddhism belongs to, originally meant “Great Vehicle”, a teaching by which to be able to save all sentient beings.

Mahayana has been considered to be taught by Shakyamuni in the latter half of his life.

Shakyamuni was very successful in teaching people while he was alive.
And the essence and the spirituality of his teaching continued to live and work, and later developed into Mahayana Buddhism movement.

仏門に入るというのは、特別に意味があること。
三帰依文では、
人間として、生まれるのも、難しい。また、人間として生まれて、仏教に出会うのも難しい
と言われる。
これは、非常に面白い考え方。
人間は、まだ、苦悩が多い存在であると言うことを言っている。
初期の仏教では、苦から逃れることを悟りと呼んだ。

釈尊の生涯後半においては、大乗の教えになる
これは、教化の成功を意味する

In Mahayana Buddhism, one of the most prominent teachings is Shin Buddhism, one of the Pure Land schools.
It is believed in Shin Buddhism that Shakyamuni Buddha’s life was ultimately in order to teach Pure Land Buddhism.

大乗の流れからは、いろいろな教えが出てくるが、その内の一つが浄土真宗
浄土真宗では、釈尊の生まれた意味は、浄土門を開くためと教えている
In the 5th century, the famous Buddhist priest called Vasbandhu appeared in Indea. Vasbandhu is one of the seven patriarchs Shinran Shonin admired as the most important in the history of Pure Land Buddhism.

His understanding of Buddhism is intriguing, indeed. According to his teaching,
the world that one sees as real is a manifestation of one’s mind or consciousness.

面白い考え方がある。
自分が見ている世界は、自分の心が、表面化したものだという考え方。

Human beings are always thinking something. According to Vasbandhu’s Buddhist philosophy, this act of thinking is like planting seeds somewhere in the three thousand great worlds, a very large spiritual universe described in Buddhist scriptures.
人間の心は、何時も何かを考えているが、それは、何時も精神世界のどこかに、種を植えているようなものである。ということ。
Planted seeds grow, being watered and nourished. Then they come to bloom and bear fruits. All that we can feel by our sense organs are the phenomena that have appeared by taking form.


植えた種に、水や、養分がやられて、その内、花が咲き、実がなる。
実を私たちは、見て、触ることが出来る。


In this world, so many things occur.  However, they are all the result of human thoughts in the past or present time, manifestations of our spiritual world.

この世界には、様々なことが起きているが、それは、実は、世界の中の誰かが、いつか考えたことが現実化したもの。


種は見えず、茎も見えない。
Usually we don’t see seeds or kernels, but can clearly see flowers and fruits.

At the very end we can only taste fruits on our dining table.


最後に、花や、実となったときに、初めて見ることが出来る。

We usually do not know what kinds of seeds were planted.

自分が撒いた実というものも、人はなかなかわからない。
Similarly, we don’t know what we have thought or are now thinking
自分で、考えていることも解らない。
That is why Shinran Shonin called us ordinary people, meaning the ignorant or unenlightened

だから、私たちは普通の人間。

Usually we are surprised to come to know the final taste of the fruits.
There are good fruits and bad ones.

This process is called “the karmic law of cause and effect.”

some modern thinkers called this law of cause and effect, the rule of mirror, as a result always reflects its cause like a mirror.

でも、実がなってみて始めて驚く。良い実もあれば、悪い実もある。
だから、鏡の様であるとも言う。鏡の法則と、言われることもある。
Therefore, we should look at ourselves and change time to time, just as we do so with our appearances.

鏡を見て、自分の姿を直すように、時々、自分を見直す必要がある。

量子力学の創設者の一人、シュレディンガーは、
Erwin Schrodinger, a famous physicist and the founder of quantum physics, says
that the image of the world is nothing but one’s ego.
(残念ながら、原文不明)
「世界描像とは自我そのものなのである」（精神と物質 mind and matter　４章　冒頭）と、語っていますが、まさに、これは、仏教の種子から世界が生まれるという考え方である。
He is known as studying the ancient Indian philosophy. His understanding of the world is quite similar to the Buddhist view, which I just described

また、良い種を植える必要もある。

We should plant good seeds and at the same time should not forget the fact that Amida Buddha is always working to save us.

仏様は、私たちを助けようとしている、

Thus, Shinran Shonin says that we should entrust ourselves to the grand vessel of Amida’s Vow to carry us all to the other shore, the Pure Land. This is the mind of taking refuge in Amida Buddha.
だから、その救おうという願いを信じる必要がある。
そのこころが、帰依の心。
When we take refuge in the Buddha, it will naturally be accompanied by sincere gratitude to him for what he has done for us.
What is important for us is to take refuge in the Buddha and thank him for all that he has done for us. All this means planting good seeds.
帰依の心をもつこと、常に仏に対する感謝の心を持つことが大切。
それが、良き種となる。

世尊、我一心に、
尽十方無碍光如来に、帰依します
そして、如来の浄土に往生する願いを信じます
Vasbandhu declared,
“Buddha, without any hesitation, with pure concentration, I take refuge in Amida Buddha and entrust myself to his wish for us to be born in the Pure Land.”

阿弥陀仏の、御浄土に生まれさせたいと言う願いを信じていきて下さい。

Please entrust yourself to Amida Buddha’s great wish for us to be born in the Pure Land.

And always try to plant good seeds, good seeds for pure faith.
常に、そういう良き種をまき続けて下さい。
それは、いつか良き結果として、実となるでしょう。
Seeds will definitely produce good fruits someday in future.
良き種が、良き実となることを信じることが大切です。
It is important fro us to believe this Buddhist truth.
これを因果の法則と言います。
This is called the law of causality or, more in detail, the karmic law of cause and effect.
法とは、縁起である。と言う言葉もあります。
Another aspect of the Buddhist truth is described as the Dharma of interdependent origination.

その様に、生きて下さい
Please live your life, with pure faith in Dharma, and with sincere gratitude to Amida Buddha, because Amida save us all without any discrimination.
I hope you may have a good fruit, whether in this life or next life.

皆さんには、必ず、良い世界が待っているでしょう。

Thank you very much.