Everything is as it should be

This week I am taking time off from work to spend time with the family as my vacation won’t carry over to my transfer to Dublin, so I might as well use it. Anyways, this morning I sat and listened to Jundo Sensei, a Zen teacher who runs an online Zen class daily. The topic today was on reality as a moment-by-moment flow. I thought this was one of Jundo Sensei’s best talks so far, and agrees a great deal with my own Jodo Shinshu background.

In Jodo Shinshu we often talk about coming to Amida Buddha “as we are”, which in one regard is the genuine compassion (metta in Pali language) of Amida Buddha reaching to all beings, and not discriminating them. On another level, this notion of “as we are” refers to the uniqueness of all beings. This is another way of saying “suchness” in Zen-parlance. As I’ve often noticed, Zen and Jodo Shinshu share a lot of teachings, but express them with different terms.

Yesterday, we had a good Hanamatsuri (Buddha’s Birthday) service at the ol’ Temple. The guest speaker was Rev. Briones (the first Mexican-American Jodo Shinshu minister…very cool) who talked about how unique each of us is. If you think about all the generations that preceeded you, if any couple in the past did not meet, we would not be here. In his calculations, over 25 generations, 33.5 million people were involved in some way or another with you being you. If any one of these people had lived a different sort of life, you would not be here.

This reminds me of something a Shingon Buddhist priest once told me. He told me that “you” (meaning “me” in this case) are the sum total of all the causes and conditions that have ever led up to you being you. So, when you look at a flower and thing of the vast array of causes of conditions that lead up to that flower blooming, since the beginning of time, it’s incredibly profound. This is just as true for a drunk homeless guy, or a pile of trash.

Jundo Sensei’s point was that each moment is perfectly right in its own regard. It’s neither good nor bad, thinking only makes it is so. It just is what it is. All the previous moments have paved the way for this moment, and this moment is just right. The moment is just as it should be.

All of this reminds me of a famous Jodo Shinshu titled Sonno-Mama, which means (that is) “just right”. The poem was by the Jodo Shinshu follower, Asahara Saichi, a shoe-maker who was also a prolific writer. The poem, in part, reads as follows:

…The life that you have tread is neither good nor bad,
For you, it is just right.

Whether you go to hell or to the Pure Land,
Wherever you go is just right.

Nothing to boast about, nothing to feel bad about,
Nothing above, nothing below.

Even the day and month that you die,
Even they are just right…

As Jundo Sensei and Saichi both teach, everything is exactly as it is. I too once stumbled upon this profound little truth about a year ago. My wife was spending the morning at a day-spa (I bought her a gift card for her birthday), so Baby, then 6 months, and I were wandering around the neighborhood killing time, when I got to thinking. As I walked Baby’s stroller, and saw the people that passed me by, I thought about all the causes and conditions that would make one guy a biker, and another a tree-hugger. Then somehow my mind made a leap and realized that everything is as it should be. All the causes and conditions that led up to this moment simply had done their work, no more, no less, and I couldn’t help but think of how right everything was. Even the bad was simply causes and conditions coming to fruition.

So, sometimes I remember this kernel of truth when I step back from the craziness of life, and just observe. Why is today so busy? Why did I not sleep well last night? It’s not that the world is against me, it just things working out as causes and conditions dictate. Everything is as it should be.

Namuamidabu