My mother died in June 2012. Moments before she passed, you came to the hospice center in Skokie to perform a ceremony I believe is called Makura-gyo? Can you tell me the meaning, purpose and intent of that ceremony?

Also, at her memorial service, you gave my mother the Buddhist name Shaku-Ni-Raku (Eat–Joyful). Can you give me its translation (by the way, the name you chose aligns so perfectly with her) and the purpose of the naming tradition?

The Makura-gyo Service, literally, means “pillow Sutra.” This is a short traditional short service just prior to death or immediately after death. In recent years, this service is not common (it is performed maybe 20% of the time).In the Pure Land Schools, it was believed that Amida Buddha and his entourage would appear as a person was dying and take the person to Amida’s Pure Land. So, this service is to “welcome” a new Buddha to the Amida’s Pure Land.

The Homyo or Buddhist name is given to a person, either at the Funeral Service (or a person can receive a Buddhist Name from the Bishop or the Monshu—head Abbot).

This is symbolically the name that one uses in the Pure Land, which is free of human limitations. The characters for the Homyo has to come from the Sutra (words of the Buddha), so only about 5,000 characters can be used.

For your mother, I tried to use characters that meant something to her. In talking with your family, I realized that food and eating were important to your family, thus I selected “to eat” and then the character for “joyful.” This second character has deep Buddhist meanings about the benefits of the Dharma (Teaching), which is expressed as “great joy” or “joyful.”

When a Christian is going through a difficult time, he often turns to his religion, his faith in a higher being for comfort, guidance and strength. Since Buddhism does not profess a belief in God or a god or higher power, where can a Buddhist turn when life is hard for comfort and strength?

As Shin Buddhists, we turn to Amida Buddha for guidance and strength both in times when “life is hard” and when life is easy.

Amida is many things. Amida is a symbol of Wisdom and Compassion. Amida is an external example of the infinite. Amida is a personal friend who guides us. Amida is an inspiration to go beyond ourselves. Amida is an internal voice within our self. And Amida is so much more because Amida cannot be defined (not able to be measured).

So, when “life is hard,” we certainly can seek guidance and courage to struggle through the hard times by turning to Amida. We seek external inspiration to solve internal issues. We find the solutions from within ourselves; we find courage from within ourselves; we find the way out of times “when life is hard”.

Thus, Amida is a trigger or the point of inspiration to go beyond our selfish-Self (the ego). However, the answers and solutions were already within us.

This can be a time when we can understand interdependence, Karma, nonego, sincerity, Wisdom and Compassion. It can be a time when there is no separation from the heart and the mind, no separation from theory and practice, no separation between the infinite and the finite. Thus we can know Oneness.

How does the Midwest Buddhist Temple show loving kindness to others?

I hope that MBT is a beacon of Wisdom and Compassion. We can teach the community by example what cooperation and kindness can do.

Perhaps, we share why the Legacy Garden has a water feature (ask a docent of the garden for the answer), or perhaps it is the Dharma School children parading around the hondo to show us their Halloween costumes.

Loving Kindness is performed at an individual level. Organizations and institutions really cannot express loving kindness. It’s on a person-to-person level that we share loving kindness.

But individuals from MBT (if not the organization/institution) show loving kindness as members of the temple regularly. You can see it in the monthly sandwich-making to feed the homeless and other work done with Sarah’s Circle; the New Life for Old Bags mat-making for the homeless that brings temple members together with other volunteers from the Chicago area once a month; and the blanket/towel collection by the Dharma School for local animal shelters.

Christians have “The Bible.” Jews have the Torah. Muslims have the Quran. If someone wanted to go to one source to learn as much as they could about the essence of Buddhist teachings, what book should they turn to? And what will they find in it?

Buddhists in general do not have a single “book” to follow. Instead, we have the Tripitaka which is the collection of the Sutras (words of the Buddha) and commentaries.

There are several versions of the Tripitaka, and they differ by language and various Buddhist schools. For example, the usual scholarly languages are Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and Japanese, and each of these languages has a Tripitaka that is larger than the previous language.

There is no agreement on what would be considered an “official” Tirpitaka. To the Buddhist way of thinking, this is fine and all versions should be considered official and valid.

In each of the various schools, only a single Sutra or a small group of Sutras is emphasized. For Shin Buddhists, this would be the Triple Sutras of the Sukhavati Sutra, the Contemplation Sutra and the Amida Sutra. But these are scholarly books and not read for “inspiration” or direct understanding. Buddhism is both too broad and too personal to have a single book.

There is no “one source” in Buddhism. Each person has to “discover” their own Awakening or Enlightenment. Currently, each tradition, school or sect of Buddhism offers a gateway, or a starting point, to begin our personal journey.

One should keep in mind the Three Treasures: the Buddha (the teacher), the Dharma (the teachings) and the Sangha (fellow travelers). One can study and understand doctrine, but there is also the balance of respect to the Teachers and Masters, as well as, a group of fellow travelers so that one can live the Buddhist life. There is a whole society or a whole civilization that embraces Buddhist teachings, thoughts, attitudes, art, culture and actions that makes one a Buddhist.

One can start by attending services and activities at the Midwest Buddhist Temple. Plus there are so many good books to suggest. My personal suggestions:

“What the Buddha Taught” by Walpala Rahula. This book provides a basic understanding of the Four Noble Truths form the Pali perspective.

“Ocean—An Introduction to Jodo-Shinshu Buddhism in America” by Kenneth Tanaka. This book is a wonderful introduction to Shin Buddhism.

“River of Fire, River Of Water— An Introduction to the Pure Land Tradition of Shin Buddhism” by Taitetsu Unno. This book is both profound and an easy read.

We sometimes talk about seeing someone who has passed away again, or the deceased being with other loved ones who have passed. How does this thinking fit in with Buddhist teachings?

To personalize death and seeing our loved ones after this earthly life is a common thought. There are all kinds of theories and writings on this topic. The bottom line is that we do not know.

No one has ever died and come back to tell us what happens after human death. So, in the spirit of the Oneness of all Life, if we can take comfort in thinking that we will be reunited with loved ones after death, I guess I cannot deny it.

The Oneness of all Life is the key teaching to understand. We are all interconnected and interdependent. Birth and death is all part of the Oneness.
 

Should I practice chanting at home?

In theory, everyone should chant sutras at home. However, I know that it is not practical in every home and in this busy world that we live in.

But, yes, it is suggested that at home, one should have both a Morning Service and an Evening Service. This is a tradition that was started by Rennyo Shonin, who lived from 1415 to 1499. He was the 8th Monshu (head priest of the Hongwanji tradition) who is credited with organizing and re-vitalizing Shin Buddhism. From the time of Rennyo, there are many households in Japan that would chant the Shoshinge twice a day. In more recent times, this tradition has fallen away.

On a practical side, chanting the Sutras is a meditation using our voice to quiet ourselves to be able to receive the Dharma. Even to chant a short sutra, such as the Ju-Sei-Ge or San-Butsu-Ge, even once a day, is a nice way to gather the family and share some unique quality time.

In America, the tradition of chanting everyday was not emphasized and very few families have continued the tradition.

What is the benefit or chanting at home? Can you please elaborate?

Chanting the Sutras is a tradition from the early days of Buddhism. It was initially a way of helping one memorize the Sutras (words of the Buddha). Today, with the printed word, with the Internet and other means of communication, we can listen or read the words of the Buddha in different ways.

Sutra chanting is one of the universal characteristics of all schools of Buddhism. The sounds might be very different and the languages might be different, but the repetition of the words of the Buddha carries a very powerful message of Wisdom and the powerful expression of Compassion.

The benefit goes beyond just repeating the words. To chant is to change our breathing; to chant together with others is to manifest the Sangha; to chant is an expression of gratitude to our teachers.

As Shin Buddhist, chanting the Sutras together at Service is probably the ultimate expression of Sangha—it is doing something together.

What led to your decision to become a minister? Was religion/Buddhism very integral in your life as a child?

Buddhism was not a big part of my life as a child. I went to Sunday School (what Dharma School was called at the time). It was just something to do and a place to see my friends. Then it became a requirement to be part of the church basketball and baseball teams.

By high school, church and Sunday School fell by the wayside for me. But, later, when I was in college at the University of California at Davis, I became active in the YBA (Young Buddhist Association) and this led me to questions about Buddhism.

At UC Davis, I started out studying engineering. But I was not able to keep up. So I switched my major to history— because it was easy for me. As a history major, the career path looked like I would become a school teacher. But for some reason that did not appeal to me, so I started to look around.

At this time, many things came together: While I was searching for some path, I stumbled upon the Institute of Buddhist Studies. It was there that I became interested in Buddhism and a whole lot of other things.

I started down the path of IBS and, you can say, things just fell into place. I ended up studying to be a minister. I was able to transfer to UC Berkeley and then went to Ryukoku University to earn my master’s degree in Shin Buddhism.

What did you hope to accomplish as a minister? And has being a minister been what you had hoped for and expected?

I had no expectations when I became a minister. Looking back, I can’t believe how unprepared I was. I had a great academic type education, but I had no training for the practical aspects of the ministry. Fortunately, I was assigned as the associate minister under the late Rev. Gyodo Kono who helped me in so many ways.

What is the point of becoming a Buddha? Why do we want this? Should it be considered the goal of life?

To be a Buddha is the journey of life. It is what gives us meaning to live. We live this life to find meaning and happiness.

To be a Buddha is not a goal, it is the journey. A goal makes it seem like it is something that we work for and achieve by self-efforts. The journey is to realize that the ego-self is not real and that ego-self is only temporary.

It is only with humility and gratitude that we realize that self-efforts are useless, and then we can allow Infinite Wisdom and Compassion to be a part of our life.