Category
chugengi Temple Messages
(Reprinted with permission from the former chief priest)
“Rare indeed is it to hear the Buddha-Dharma; yet now, already, we hear it.”
The other day, I had an opportunity to share a meal with a senior priest who had just returned from a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sacred sites in India. He spoke to me of many joyful memories from his journey. It had been some time since his previous visit to India, and he said he was continually astonished by the dramatic development of the cities brought about by India’s economic growth, while at the same time being equally struck by the great numbers of pilgrims who still continue to visit the sacred sites just as before.
More than twenty years ago, I myself visited the Four Great Buddhist Holy Places: Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha; Bodh Gaya, where he attained enlightenment; Sarnath, where he first preached the Dharma; and Kushinagar, where he entered Nirvana. Though the climate was less humid than Japan, it was an intensely hot season, and I also suffered greatly after arriving in India by falling ill from food poisoning. Yet even now, I can never forget the deep emotion I felt in standing upon the very ground where the Buddha had lived his life.
The Buddha was born a prince of the Shakya clan. Though he lived a life that appeared free from want, he was troubled by the suffering inherent in existence—old age, sickness, and death, from which no one can escape. He renounced both his princely status and his beloved family and left home in search of liberation. Through severe ascetic practices he sought a solution to suffering, yet finding no ultimate answer there, he abandoned such austerities. At last, at the age of thirty-five, he awakened to the Truth and attained enlightenment.
That Truth was this: all things exist in mutual relationship, and results arise through the working together of causes (in) and conditions (en). He also revealed that the reality of our suffering and the cause of our delusion lie within our own hearts, in the defilements of greed, anger, and ignorance.
It is said that after attaining enlightenment, he spent seven weeks in deep contemplation. He reflected: “The Truth I have realized is profound and difficult, never before taught. People of the world, blinded by desire and constantly thinking only of themselves, will surely not understand it.” At that time, the highest deity of the heavenly realm, Brahmā, appeared and implored him: “For the sake of those who suffer in this world, please proclaim the true teaching. Surely there are those who will awaken to genuine happiness through your words.” Encouraged thus, the Blessed One chose the path of teaching.
The Buddha’s first sermon is called the Turning of the First Wheel of Dharma (Shotenbōrin). “Turning the Wheel of Dharma” signifies that through the teaching of the Truth, the wheel of the Dharma gradually spreads throughout the world. The Truth realized by the Buddha did not remain merely his own joy; through his words it has reached even me, here and now. Just as a wheel begins to roll and a carriage moves forward, Buddhism began its journey from that very moment.
And when I reflect upon the long path by which the Buddha’s teaching, first proclaimed in distant India, has reached me today, I realize that the footprints of countless predecessors have shown me the road I ought to walk.
In the first half of the Raisanmon (The Hymn of Reverence / Threefold Refuge Verse), which is recited at many ceremonies and observances in the Jōdo tradition, we hear:
Rare is it to receive a human birth, yet now we have received it.
Rare is it to hear the Buddha-Dharma, yet now we hear it.
If in this present life we do not cross beyond delusion,
Then in what future life shall this body be delivered?
Together with all beings, with sincere hearts,
We take refuge in the Three Treasures: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
Even to be born as a human being in this world is rare. Yet now, we have already received such a birth. And even having received human birth, it is rarer still to encounter the teaching proclaimed by the Buddha. Yet now, already, we have met this teaching. If in this life we do not cut off the path of delusion, where indeed will our lives go? Therefore, together with all living beings, we wholeheartedly take refuge in the Three Treasures.
In the latter half appears the verse:
The unsurpassed, profound, and wondrous Dharma
Is difficult to encounter even in hundreds of thousands of kalpas.
But now I have been able to see, hear, receive, and uphold it.
No matter how vast the span of time, it is difficult to encounter the supreme and profound teaching taught by the Buddha. Yet now, already, we have met it and are able to rely upon it as our true foundation.
Even now, we have encountered that which is so difficult to encounter. I, who had repeated a life of delusion and suffering, not even knowing the path I ought to follow, have been able to meet the Buddha-Dharma because there were predecessors who, through their own lives, tasted and rejoiced in the Buddha’s teaching as the true foundation of life, and who revealed the danger of living merely by human judgments and worldly values.
From the moment the Wheel of Dharma first began to turn through the Buddha’s preaching, it has never ceased. Beyond time and beyond place, it continues to turn even now.
English version prepared with AI assistance
(Originally written in Japanese)
Japanese version:
https://hifuka-otibohiroi.net/宿縁 三月号 中原寺-3/