Cause and Effect

Reverend Koho Takata

            After coming back from the Legislative Assembly (Giseikai), I caught a cold.  The fever was close to 104.  Since coming to Hawaii, it was the first time for me to have such a high fever.  I guess that the cause of catching a cold was air conditioner in the meeting room.  According to one of members of Hawaii Betsuin, air conditioner was broken.  If you turned on the air conditioner, it automatically set to the lowest temperature.  It could not be controlled at all.  Also, the hall was not ventilated during the 3 day-meetings.  All the windows and doors were closed.  I guess I needed some fresh air.

            During the meetings, many members were freezing.  I always wonder why they keep running the air conditioner.  Because of the cold temperature, they wore the sweater, jacket, etc.  When I was one of associated ministers at Hawaii Betsuin for about 5 years ago, I used to work in the office where had been cooled down by the air conditioner.  There were some times that I turned off the air conditioner of the office.  When I turned off the air conditioner, some of volunteer members in the ministers' office scolded me about it.  "I am hot.  Don't turn off the air conditioner."  However, they were wearing sweaters.  I did not understand why they kept running the air conditioner while wearing sweaters.

            Anyway, I used to be able to stand the low temperature.  However, on Kauai, I do not use an air conditioner because it is not working.  So my body became accustom to warmer temperature.

            Like this, when you catch a cold, there is a cause for that effect.  All of our words, thoughts, and deeds have cause and effect.  For example, you eat something because you are hungry.  You drink something because you are thirsty.  You are angry because you are against something.  You grumble because things do not go as you wish.  You receive the bad grade because you do not study.  You come to the Sunday service because of listening to the teachings of the Buddha.  Like these examples, if you have an effect, you have a cause.  If you have a cause, you have an effect.

            "The word 'hear' in the passage from the [larger] Sutra means that sentient beings, having heard how the Buddha's Vow arose – origin and fulfillment – are altogether free of doubt.  This is to hear."                           

 (The Collected Works of Shinran, P. 112)

            Needless to say, the primary purpose of having a temple is listening to the teachings of the Buddha.  Without this purpose, the temple will be like a senior center and community center.  Our founder Shinran Shonin teaches us that listening to the teachings is listening to: why the Buddha established his vows; how hard the practices was to realize the way of salvation to all sentient beings; and what was the fulfillment toward the origin.  In other words, listening to the teachings is to listen and understand the establishment of the Buddha's vows in the context of "Cause-and-Effect".  And this "listening" must be done without any doubts. 

            The reason why the Buddha established the Primal Vow was solely to save me who is full of blind passions and absolutely without true and sincere mind.  It is not necessary that the Buddha establishes the vow to save me, if I have true and sincere mind.  Because I am always suffering in this deluded world and I do not know how to escape from this suffering world to the pure and true world, the Buddha established the vow to save me and vowed "if you should not be born in the my (Buddha's) land, I may not attain the supreme enlightenment."

            Dharmakara Bodhisattva deeply and profoundly contemplated the vows to save me for five kalpas.  It is metaphorically explained about a kalpa, as the period required for one to empty a city full of poppy seeds by taking away one seed every three years.  Thus, Dharmakara Bodhisattva spent an immeasurably long period of time and deeply contemplated a way of salvation and practiced to realize the vows.  Then Bodhisattva Dharmakara fulfilled his vows and attained Buddhahood.

            When I looked at a statue of Amida Buddha, it reminds me of the "Cause-and-Effect" of Amida Buddha's vows, and Amida Buddha's calling to further listen to the teachings.  Let us listen to the teachings of the Buddha and deeply consider and appreciate the profound thought of establishment of the Buddha's vows for us and express our full gratitude by reciting the Buddha's Name, Namo-Amidabutsu.