—from caption at the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, quoting artist, Sofia Thanopoulou (1908-1997) (a.k.a. "Maroulina")

This was the first time for me to hear Dr. Unno speak at length on the Nembutsu teachings without having his explanations hinge on the technical terms of Jodo Shinshu. I felt this presentation was particularly important to our temple’s tradition in which Rev. Kubose and Rev. Saito followed the insistence of their teachers (Manshi Kiyozawa and Haya Akegarasu) to discuss Buddhism using ordinary modern language.

In a recent trip to Greece, Dr. Unno came upon the passage at left which he included in his handout material. The passage was a great opportunity for Dr. Unno to describe the Nembutsu teachings without resorting to Buddhist terminology. In the Thanopoulou quote, "Other power," Dr. Unno said, "simply means the power of life itself, devoid of self-centric thoughts, the reality that sustains my life and all lives." The artist’s feeling of her work coming "from way back" as if in a previous life, is the awareness that our life is brought into being by the myriad causes and conditions from the distant past up to now. The "certain vision" inside the self, Dr. Unno said, "comes from a deeper level than our individual selfishness." It is the primal wish of life itself to be fulfilled in each of us.

Dr. Unno pointed out that many artists throughout history and around the world have made similar statements, but ultimately it should be the expression at the core of all religions, that our life is fulfilled when it is lived creatively and spontaneously. It is not just for artists to tap into "rich source" deep within the self, but people in all walks of life have a need to find a way to live freely and joyously, in harmony with all beings around them. In the handout material were poems from Dharma Treasures, a collection of poems written by Japanese immigrants to Hawaii who worked on the large plantations. Even those men and women who labored hard under harsh conditions found the same free and creative inner life as the artist Thanopoulos described.

To live spontaneously and naturally — what could be so difficult about that? Our experiences of daily frustrations and sufferings show us that it is far from easy to live our real life. Shakyamuni Buddha pointed out the cause in the Second Noble Truth: we are continually craving to satisfy the ego-self. Shinran dealt with this truth in great detail, calling the problem hakarai, translated by Dr. Unno as "willful calculation." A flower naturally lives as a flower, but the ego-self wants our life and the world around us to be something other than it is. We don’t want to see the hate and anger in us, yet we continue to feel hate and anger towards the world for not satisfying our ego’s cravings.

For Shinran, the painful awareness of our ego-self’s hostility and possessiveness can be the recognition of the deeper source of life. This "boundless life and light" (the literal translation of "Amida") embraces us just as we are and allows us to transcend the hard blockages of our hate and anger. Dr. Unno’s wife, Alice, gave us several examples of this transformation. From her own experience as a special education teacher, she found that being concerned about whether the students liked her or not would only set her up for disappointment since the kids had outbursts of saying hateful things or physically lashing out. But by accepting each child as a unique individual, she could proceed with the learning process as something she and they participated in together.

At the start of the seminar and also at the Sunday service, Mrs. Unno talked about two of the Dharma School students in the Northampton Sangha. In one case, a boy was taking cello lessons and his mother found him getting irritated while practicing a difficult piece. The mother said, "Maybe there’s something you learned in Dharma School that will help you play the cello." The boy said, "I could say Namu Amida Butsu." Mrs. Unno said at the Dharma School sessions they tell the children about accepting their own frustration and anger and that with this acceptance there is a freeing effect. The boy faced his anger and let go of his "willful calculation" to play the cello perfectly. His mother reported that by being more relaxed in his practicing her son became a much better cello player.

Mrs. Unno said another mother reported that she and her nine-year-old son were on their way somewhere, and the mother had to stop in a store to get something while the son waited in the car. In the store someone gave the mother a hard time so she came back to the car feeling upset. When she told her son what happened, he responded, "All you can say is Namu Amida Butsu." For the mother it was a poignant reminder of the deeper level of life which accepts whatever happens and moves forward unencumbered by the ego-self’s concerns.

The two stories show us that the Nembutsu, "Namu Amida Butsu," is not a simplistic formula that anyone can grab onto to create instant peace of mind. The children Mrs. Unno mentioned had been attending Dharma School over a period of time and they had to be self-aware enough to know suffering and see its connection to "willful calculation." Even Dr. Unno admitted that he is still exploring what his grandmother told him when he was six and leaving Japan for America, "Never forget the Nembutsu no matter where you go."