Thank You

(at Disneyland in March, 2004)

It was at 3:04 am on June 3rd, when my mother passed away. I flew back from Irvine to Nagoya, Japan, and arrived at home about 10 pm on that day. Her face was very very peaceful and beautiful. She was like sleeping.

She had been getting weaker. She needed to wear diapers all the time. Her bedsore had been growing bigger and painful. And she showed not much emotion nor smile in the last few months.

"Thank you..........thank you.........thank you..........." I bowed deeply and expressed my deepest and sincerest gratitude to her. And I was thankful that she had not had to suffer too long. And I was a little glad that she has returned to be my beautiful mother I used to know.

It was my mother who loved me most deeply and wished for my happiness most strongly in whole my life. I am grateful that I was her son.

As she wished for me, I would like to be aware that I am always and already in the blessings and happiness. I would like to continue to live the Dharma.

“Parental love exceeds one’s love for his parents" (Shoin Yoshida, a principal intellectual protagonist of the Meiji Restoration of 1868 )

Thank you, Okaa San.

Love

Shoko

Mother's Day, 5/11/2008

Today is the Mother's day and I called my mother living in Japan and expressed my gratitude to her on the phone.

Since the end of last year, she became very weak. I visited my mother last month and was very much shocked because of her big change. She was very skinny, not able to walk now, and was not able to think very well. She has been developing dementia gradually. She needs to wear diapers all the time.

I had been appreciative for my mother's healthy senior life, but this experience was beyond my understanding about how aging affects the life of even my most important person. I could not stop crying when I was pushing her wheelchair . I was sad. At that time, I saw a light. I realized that because of this situation I am able to do something for my mother. She has done so much for me in my whole life. It is my turn now.

Thank you Mom for everything you have given me in your whole life.

"There are 1 billion mothers for 1 billion pepole, but my mother is the best mother in the world. " (Japanese poet: Haya Akegarasu)

Gassho

Shoko Mizuatni

Opening of the Buddhist Center - RKINA on 4/8/08

I am grateful today that I am positing a story in this blog after long time.

The Buddhist Center - RKINA (Rissho Kosei-kai International of North America) was iaugurated on April 8th, the birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha, in the city of Irvine, Orange County, CA.. I would like to share with you a vow I made at the enshrinement service of the Buddhist Center.

[Vow at the Enshrinement Ceremony ]

Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni, Founder Niwano, and President Niwano,
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for all your teachings, support, guidance, and your presence at each and every moment.
Today is the birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha. On this joyful day, we have enshrined the image of the Buddha, here at the Buddhist Center -RKINA. I am filled with great joy and gratitude.

I hear you profoundly proclaiming to us,“Now I entrust it to you. Do you receive and keep, read and recite, and proclaim this Law abroad that all living beings universally may hear and know it.”　(Chapter 22, “ The Final Commission”, the Threefold Lotus Sutra)

We all here respond in unison, “Yes, we receive and keep, read and recite, and share the Lotus Sutra teaching, the guidance of Founder Niwano, the spirit of Ekayana Buddhism, with all people here in this country.

From the enlightened eyes, we are able to feel and see your work at every moment to help reveal buddha-nature of all beings and to bring peace to everywhere. Because of the illusion and attachment, however, we see, think and act in our own way, and mess up our own mind, relationship, and society where we live. It is important, therefore, to walk the bodhisattva way, so that we can see, think, and act in a more enlightened way and we are able to connect to your life.

I would like to vow today to joyfully promote the work of RKINA, so that opportunities to study and practice the teachings of the Lotus Sutra (Ekayana Buddhism) are more widely open in this society,
more centers and groups of Rissho Kosei-kai will develop in the US,
and more positive energy will be generated and be extended to all over the world.

Thank you very much for your continued guidance and presence.

In Gassho
Shoko Mizutani

Please join us for a cup of tea and nourishment for your soul at the Buddhist Center -RKINA.
http://www.buddhistcenter-rkina.org/

The Power of Smile

When I was participating in the web cast celebration of the 70th anniversary of the foundation of my Buddhist Congregation yesterday, I realized that this year is also the 30th anniversary of my own Buddhist life. On May 4th, 1978, I walked into the Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Center of Sapporo to learn the Dharma.

One of the greatest learning I have ever got is the awareness of my connection with external conditions. We are likely to be influenced by the things happening around us. When people are nice to me, I am happy. When things don’t go well, I am frustrated. When the traffic is smooth, I feel good. When a service is delayed at a restaurant, I am irritated.　However, I am also aware that even though the external conditions may not be something I want, I can free myself from negative influences by tuning my state of mind into the Buddha’s state of mind, i.e. appreciation of that circumstance and appreciation of that moment.

Will it take time to attain that special state of mind? I think it is a life-long practice. But making a smile has a power to connect us to the Buddha’s mind right away. When we smile, a feeling of happiness arises from within ourselves irrespective of the conditions we are in.
External conditions fail to control us, and instead we can engage ourselves in a constructive process.

Smile has a power. And this is what I was able to gain from my practice with Rissho Kosei-kai.
Thank you, Buddha, and thank you, Founder Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, for its foundation.

Mizutani

Moving Out 2/18/08

2/10 I moved from Torrance to a new apartment in Irvine. What I took with me today were just the Buddha Statue and a sleeping bag. I started my new life with Buddha.

2/11 I went back to the family house and packed everything in boxes.

2/12 A big truck came and moved all furniture and boxes to the new place.

2/13 I cleaned my sweet house, dumping all trashes in the neighbors’ trash bins as well as mine.

2/14 I returned my house keys to the landlord. I tried to express how much I was appreciative of this house that supported our family life, then tears dropped.

2/18 Most boxes are now gone and I finally vacuumed the rooms in the new apartment.

It was a big week of moving my life from the previous place to the new place.
I realized that I have a strong attachment to my family. Things like a picture, note, toy, often stopped my hand of packing. In 2001, we came to US and my wife and kids made a great effort to adapt to this country. I may not be very considerate to each of them, however, as I was so busy with my own work too. Cleaning a house by oneself is hard, but I realized that it was a great time to feel deeply my appreciation to my wife and kids, Aki, Naoki, Yuri, and Taishi. It was another awakening!

Do not let your attachment controls you; Control your attachment for a new discovery.

Before I left the home, I bowed to each room and thanked. I also bowed to an old tree by the side of a kid's playhouse in the backyard. And I bowed to the house.

Thank you, Buddha.
Shoko Mizutani

Six Paramitas 2/8/08

“How are you doing, Rev. Mizutani?” I appreciate these telephone calls from members of Rissho Kosei-kai LA, where I served as minister for the last seven years. I also appreciate all great comments and encouraging emails from those who have read this Blog. Thank you, all.
Yes, I eat well. Thank you.　　Do I miss my family?　Yes, I do. I try to call them and send email to them often, so that they don’t forget me.

Starting the new office and living home alone bring me many challenges. What I can say is that practicing the Dharma is truly the way to keep me on the right path.

I have written in this blog that I practice the sutra chanting whenever I need strength and Buddha’s wisdom. But please do not misunderstand. It is only one aspect of my Dharma practice. In Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist tradition, the bodhisattva way, or the Six Paramitas*, is the fundamental Dharma practice as in other Mahayana schools.
In the Chapter 3, “Ten Merits”, in “The Sutra of the Innumerable Meanings”, it says;
“This sutra makes a miserly one raise the mind of donation,
makes an arrogant on raise the mind of keeping the precepts,
makes an irascible one raise the mind of perseverance,
make an indolent one raise the mind of assiduity,
makes a distracted one raise the mind of meditation,
and makes an ignorant on raise the mind of wisdom.”

The terms with underline are the components of the Six Paramitas. This part of the sutra teaches that those who realize the truth will be able to attain all these Buddha-like dispositions. And it also reminds us and encourages us to practice hard each of the Six Paramitas for awakening.

Practicing the Six Paramitas builds one’s positive karma for the future happiness.
But from my own experience, practicing the donation (serving to others, or rendering loving kindness to others), for example, brings awakening right that moment.

Sometimes I am in a hurry on a freeway. Usually in those times, I am very self-centered. When some car suddenly cuts in just in front of me, I get angry feeling within myself. But when I try to think of helping other cars, I am willing to accept those cars. And I feel as if the wall which had been surrounding my mind is now disappeared. I feel a great connection between the driver and myself.　A freeway is not just the way to go somewhere, but it is the way for awakening.

The best book I would like to recommend you to read is the “Buddhism for Today”　by Rev.Nikkyo Niwano, founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. It is a wonderful guide for those who want to learn Buddhism in the everyday life context.

Thank you, Buddha.
Shoko Mizutani

*the six kinds of practice that bodhisattvas should follow to attain enlightenment.

Every incident is Buddha's compassion 2/4/08

Forgive me for this long story today.
It was January 2001, when my family came to the US from Japan. After seven years of wonderful life here in LA, we decided that all my family except for me would go back to Japan for mainly kids’ educational needs. They left LA last November. And February 1 was the day of my son’s entrance exam for the middle school in Tokyo.
The school said that they would announce the registration numbers of those who passed the exam on the web at 10pm on February 1st. I woke up before 5am on LA time, which is 10pm on Tokyo time of that day, and opened the school website. My son’s number was not there. Oh, he failed.

Luckily the entrance exam system of that middle school is designed so that students can take the exam on the following day again. I called to my wife in Tokyo. Although she knew that there is a second chance tomorrow, she was very much upset. She was feeling sorry for him that she could not give enough support for him, because she needed to spend most of her time for a daughter. She is an LD (Learning Disability) student and my wife was helping her prepare for a high school entrance exam for the last three months. I could hear my wife crying, holding a cell phone.
I said, “You have done everything you could. He will pass the next one!.” In my mind, however, I could not help but feeling uneasy too. “What will happen if he fails the next one again?” “He should have applied another middle school too…” . These thoughts repeatedly came up and occupied my mind. In this mindset, passing the exam has become the sole cause of my family’s happiness.

Recognizing this, but still holding the attached feeling of wishing his passing the exam, I started reciting the Lotus Sutra to gain calmness, mindfulness, and strength to see the reality of all existence.　When in the midst of confusion, illusion, and attachment, we cannot see it all.
Through reciting, I came to realize that we have done all we could do. Whatever the result is, it is the best result. We can start from there and build our future together.
One phrase in the Meditation Sutra came into my eyes;
“He must read the Great-Vehicle sutras and recite them, think of the meaning of the Great-Vehicle and reflect over its practice, and see all people in the same way as the Buddha see them, and treat living begins in the same way as father and mother treat their children.” ("The Threefold Lotus Sutra", by Bunno Kato)

I recalled how much my parents, particularly my mother, worried about me and prayed for me when I was taking exams for schools. Then right away I called my parents’ home in Japan. My mother nowadays became very weak and mostly stays in bed. But it was she who took the phone. I talked the story and expressed my appreciation to her. She said, “Well, I forgot what I did for you, my son.” But I remember what she did for me and I remember all the love I have received from my parents. And I realized that all blessings I have received from parents are always here with me, no matter whether my son will pass or will not pass the exam.

My wife went to offer a prayer to the Buddha at the Great Sacred Hall, where she met two of her best mentors. She received supportive words from them, similar to what I recognized.
We talked on the phone again;
“Every incident is Buddha's compassion for our awakening. Thanks to this experience, we were able to reflect on ourselves. Let our son do the exam, and let ourselves do what we need to do.”
My son took the exam again. In the following early morning, I jumped out from a bed and tuned on the computer. I found an email from my wife….

Thank you, Buddha.
Shoko Mizutani