VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 1 • MARCH 2025

HONPA HONGWANJI MISSION OF HAWAII’S TRIPLE CELEBRATION
‘Understanding Our Moment in Timelessness’

As keynote speaker of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii’s Triple Celebration, Reverend Dr. Takashi Miyaji delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking address entitled “Why Life Is Great: Understanding Our Moment in Timelessness,” among the highlights of the Sept. 7 and 8 program at Ala Moana Hotel.

The first of two parts from his historic speech are reprinted here with its conclusion in June. A complete version may be viewed at https://youtu.be/ZxOWAkdI2w0

BY REV. DR. TAKASHI MIYAJI,
DEAN, INSTITUTE OF BUDDHIST STUDIES
MINISTER, SOUTHERN ALAMEDA COUNTY BUDDHIST CHURCH

The overarching theme of this joyous event is “Sharing the Joy of Nembutsu Together: Our Living Heart of Gratitude” and my talk is in keeping with that theme and is titled “Why Life Is Great: Understanding Our Moment in Timelessness.”

To put it succinctly, when we put our lives into proper perspective through the Buddha Dharma, we come to see how one’s life is, in fact, the expression of Great Life. This understanding will naturally lead us to a life of deep gratitude where we want to share this teaching with other people.

I’m first going to talk about who Amida Buddha is. Then I’ll talk about our connection to Amida Buddha and how this connection is found through the Nembutsu. That might seem easy, but there’s a problem: this self that is the human being of blind passions.

Finally, I will show that despite having these blind passions, we are still embraced in the world of Great Compassion.

What is Amida Buddha? To begin with, Amida is the conjunction of two names: Amitabha and Amitayus.

First, “A-” is a prefix referring to a negation, it’s like the word “im-possible.”

Next, “-mita-” refers to meter, or a measurement of something.

Then “-ayus” is life. So this word means immeasurable life. Amitabha means immeasurable light.

The light emanating from the Buddha is much too much for us to see and be able to understand. I’ll give you an example of the power of the Buddha’s light.

When we think of the source of physical light, we think of the sun.

As children, we were told not to look directly at the sun, right? Otherwise, if we did, we would destroy our eyes and not be able to see anymore.

The power of the sun is much too bright and powerful for our eyes to withstand. It’s not that the sun wants to hurt us or punish us.

Rather, it’s that we don’t have the capability as humans to be able to afford this kind of strength.

Similarly, we don’t have the capabilities to fully understand the Buddha’s wisdom and power when we look directly at the Buddha’s wisdom. It is indescribable, inexplicable and inconceivable, or what’s known in Japanese as fukashō, fukasetsu, fukashigi.

Thus it becomes easy to shun, ignore and criticize things we do not understand. When we don’t understand something like the Buddha’s wisdom, it is easy to think there’s something wrong with Buddhism itself.

We often think, “Buddhism should be made to be more understandable for the modern age. Buddhism needs to change its methods to be more accessible and understandable for the common masses!”

We hear these criticisms all the time, both within and outside the sangha and within and outside the temple. But the problem isn’t Buddhism. The problem is the egocentric mind that is immature and impatient, unwilling to learn the teaching that has so much depth.

Returning to the conversation about light, how do we connect with the Buddha’s light? If it’s something too powerful for us to understand, how do we know it’s there? How do we even know it exists?

We know of this light when there’s some-thing contrasting it that does not emanate light. For example, let’s say there’s a car or a house. We know the car or house is there because it obstructs the light of the Sun.So it is through this contract of the object and the Sun’s light that we an come to see the object for what it is and understand the quality and power of the Sun’s light.

Similarly, it is the self of blind passions that doesn’t give off any light of wisdom whatsoever and contrasts the light of the Buddha.

When we juxtapose these two, that’s when the power of the Buddha’s wisdom and foolish nature of the self can be seen.

Shinran Shonin states: “Obstructions of karmic evil turn into virtues. It is like the relation of ice and water. The more the ice, the more the water, the more the obstructions, the more the virtues.”

What our founder is pointing out is that our blind passions engulf our hearts, suffocates us, and never gives us a moment’s rest. It’s like an anchor that pulls us down into this abyss of our suffering.

The karmic ignorance is like ice, but when there is something that changes this ice, namely the light of the heat of the Buddha’s wisdom, then that very ice becomes the source of the water of virtues.

Next, there’s the term “Amitayus,” which means the Buddha of Immeasurable Life. I’ll give you an example that explains this. We are beings of egocentricity where this “I” is the center of the world. I look at the world as the center of the universe. You in the audience are all side characters who are not as important as the all-important “Me.”

However, my world is small. I could go on in this entire life without even realizing anything other than this one that I know.

Indeed, many people do this. But suppose there’s something that shatters this worldview. When that occurs, I awaken to a greater reality that envelops and embraces me despite this egocentric worldview that I have. What I awaken to is “Great Life” with a capital “L.”

We call this in Japanese muryōju nyorai, the Tathagata of immeasurable Life. It is Great Life, hence the title of my talk today: “Why Life is Great.”

Life is great because we awaken to see muryōju nyorai, or Amida Buddha. The “Great” part doesn’t mean that I live a fulfilled and wonderful life with a loving spouse and children, where I have a white picket-fenced house in the affluent part of town, or that I live to a ripe old age.

That’s not what I mean by “Great Life.”

Those standards are fleeting and unrealistic. Why? What happens if I don’t get any of them? What happens if one of those things on my checklist isn’t met?

Does that mean I can’t live a great life? Indeed, that’s not what Jodo Shinshu means when they say the word “great.” When Jodo Shinshu ministers say, “great practice” or “great Shinjin,” “great” is actually a technical term. “Great” means it comes from the world of Enlightenment.

To review, Light is a metaphor for the Buddha’s wisdom and Life is a metaphor for the Buddha’s compassion. Wisdom and Compassion is Enlightenment itself. Thus, absolute truth is wise precisely because it is the summation of all things interconnected. Absolute truth is also compassionate because no one gets left out of this picture.

Amitabha and Amitayus is Buddha. It is the one and the same Absolute Truth.

Another question I get is, “Well, if Amida Buddha is a representation, like a metaphor, then does that mean Amida Buddha is not real?”

The answer is that Amida Buddha is very real. It is as real as your existence is. Without you, there is no Amida Buddha. This is called imotsushin in Japanese, meaning Amida Buddha’s purpose is to liberate the sentient being of blind passions.

In other words, the world of Buddha, or wisdom, reveals itself to us as compassionate activity.

How does it reveal itself to us? In the form of Amida Buddha, the Pure Land and the Nembutsu: the audible voicing of the world of truth, which we Shin Buddhists know to be “Namo Amida Butsu.”

How do we know that this came to be? In the Larger Sutra, Śākyamuni Buddha talks about how there is the Amida Buddha, Śākyamuni explains that the quintessential archetype that embodies the highest goal of Buddhism is Amida Buddha. Why is Amida the most supreme of all Buddhas?

It is because Amida Buddha has established a path to spiritual liberation for all sentient beings, even the ones who have no hope of attaining enlightenment for themselves. And the way to be born in Amida’s Pure Land is ex-plained in the process of the five vows: the 17th, 18th, 11th, 12th and 13th. In the 18th Vow, it states:

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings in the ten quarters who, with sincere and entrusting heart, aspire to be born in my land and say my name even ten times should not be born there, may I not attain the perfect enlightenment. Excluded are those who commit the five gravest offenses and those who slander the right Dharma.”

Simply, it says that if there are those who encounter the Nembutsu awaken the entrusting mind and respond to the Buddha by saying the Buddha‘s name, then they will have a path to spiritual liberation regardless of who they are.

Allow me to give an example that might help to explain this.

Suppose there is a pregnant mother who continually talks to her unborn child and says, “Call me ‘Mama.’ I am Mama. Mama.”

Before the baby is born, the mother is already instinctively talking to the child: “Call me ‘Mama.’ I am Mama. I am here for you.”

Then the baby is born and as the mother holds the child, she continues to say, “Mama, Mama. Call me ‘Mama.’ I am here for you,” and the baby at first hears this and does not understand or respond.

However, over time, the baby comes to associate the word “Mama” with warmth, care and love. Over time, the baby starts to make this connection and thinks if I say “Mama,” I know I will be cared for.

It’s the same thing with us. The world of absolute truth calls out to us and says, “This is the world of truth that embraces you as you are: Call my name ‘Amida.’ ”

At first, this calling voice sounds like a bunch of gibberish. “What is this ‘Namo Amida Butsu?’ ” we may think to ourselves.

However, over time, as we continue to listen with open hearts to the Buddha Dharma, we start to realize we are actually being nurtured by the world of absolute truth and the words “Namo Amida Butsu” naturally spills out of our mouths in response.

It is a process of calland-response that is taking place. We are being called upon by the world of truth whereby we respond by recognizing this world of truth and voice this affirmation.

As I mentioned earlier, Amitabha and Amitayus, the two names of Amida Buddha, are boundless light and life; boundless wisdom and compassion. In other words, Amida is the embodiment of limitless-ness.

It’s the Transcendence of diametrically opposed entities like black and white, up and down, left and right, good and evil, and right and wrong.

In the context of space, the Pure Land is without bounds. In the context of time, Amida Buddha’s wisdom has existed since the infinite past and will continue on into the infinite future.

So how does the world of limitless-ness and our world of the limited come into contact? Where does it meet?

It meets when we say “Namo Amida Butsu.” Furthermore, this can happen at any time. You can be going for a walk by yourself; or when you see your grandchild take his first steps. It can be at a funeral of a loved one as well.

When you say, “Namo Amida Butsu,” right there in that moment, the Buddha emerges. In the utterance of the name, we come into contact with the world of the unlimited.

In addition, the easiest place where that can happen is at the temple.

The temple hondō is the portal to the world of the unlimited.

This why the temple is such a crucial and sacred place.

It is not just some place where one goes to light incense and doze off as the minister is talking about having a bad experience at the DMV.

The temple is a sacred place. It is the juncture of the world of the unlimited and the world of the limited meeting. Of course, this point of contact can happen anywhere, but the temple is set up specifically for that purpose.

It is designated for this rare and wondrous occasion to occur, and the Nembutsu is the key to that connection.

That is why the temple is a sacred place and why we emphasize reciting the name Namo Amida Butsu.

What if we do not allow ourselves the opportunity to hear and receive the Buddha’s calling voice? Then we’ll continue in this cycle of birth and death. Shinran Shonin encourages us to seek the path and listen to the Buddha Dharma with open hearts.