“Learning to live with others …”
Hence, I am now neither a monk nor one in worldly life. For this reason,
I have taken the term Toku (“stubble-haired”) as my name.
Shinran Shonin, Postscript to Kyōgyōshinshō
Tokudo training is not the time for quiet contemplation. Schedule at Nishiyama training facility is tight, and days are eighteen-hour long. Your living space is one-fourth of an average size bedroom - barely enough to spread and fold your robe. One shelf assigned to you is taken by the tray where your robes must be kept neatly folded. The remaining ten inches to the right can be used only for books and notes. Your belongings must be kept in the suitcase which must be always closed. All your electronics are taken away. A twenty-minute break is barely enough to get back to the room, change, fold your other robe, prepare the materials for the next class, and wait for the gong.
Speaking to us from Canada, Bishop Aoki brought up the Japanese term totonoeru - “put in order, tidy up, prepare, adjust, work out.” He added: “This is the time when you learn to live with others.” This is the time when only your ego distracts you from getting to know yourself.
Our training begins with the trip to Hieizan, the stronghold of Tendai school for fifteen centuries, where Shinran Shonin started as a monk. We walk through the chambers of Shoren-in where he was ordained. We step inside the Jogyo Zanmai-do and walk around the statue of Amida Buddha where Shinran Shonin walked thousands of times. We touch the bamboo rail that his hand touched during the ninety-day walking meditation, the rail polished by thousands of hands of monks who circumambulated the statue over centuries.
At Nishiyama, we have been honored to conduct services in the altar of the betsuin which was used as the Amida Hall of Nishi Hongwanji since 1618 until the permanent Hall was completed; it is the oldest building in the Hongwanji complex. The magnificence of this temple is in the gold-plated pillars, mirror-like naijin floor, and the Edo-period decorations on the ceiling and on the altar screen doors - the only surviving paintings by Tokuriki Zenmune, the cultural heritage.
Our living conditions at Nishiyama were very different from what we were used to. This training is the time when they test your ability to share your space and time, put other people first, and be under some pressure. This is the time when you test how you can adjust, listen, and obey. But does human life not change in an instant because of wars, natural disasters, illness, death of a loved one, or other reasons? Many millions of people on Earth right now would give anything to be able to sleep in a warm safe place, have an unlimited supply of clean water and food put in front of them three times a day.
Shinran Shonin’s life changed dramatically when he entered priesthood at nine, left Mount Hiei at twenty-nine, went into exile and became a villager at thirty-five, left the countryside and returned to Kyoto in his sixties. As his path was taking sharp turns he had to adjust and learn to live with others. The Founder gave us more than the teaching. His image with a staff and villager’s hat is a symbol of his path of a life-long seeker - neither a lay man nor a monk – the path that granted us this unique opportunity to be following Buddhism without having to leave the worldly life.
In this training, we were so far from perfect - chanting out of tune, forgetting parts of rituals, and making hundreds of other mistakes. I felt inept and foolish more than ever before, but at the same time closer to the Buddha than ever before. Miraculously, when you are exactly where you should be trying to do your best and be in harmony with others, things fall into places. The Hongwanji patiently corrected our mistakes and accepted us the way we were.
We have been honored on multiple occasions throughout this eleven-day training. Tokudo ordination is not an award for something you have done. It is an opportunity to begin living up to everything that is symbolized by the wisteria crest embroidered on your o’kesa.
The training is over, and we say “Good-bye” to Nishiyama. We are back to the office of Hongwanji International Center where we change out of our priest robes back into everyday clothes. I have been allowed to wear this robe during many sessions at JSC and in Nishiyama for training. Today, December 16, 2023, is the first day that I officially have a right to wear it, and I am in no rush to take it off. I have the rest of my life to prove that I deserve to be wearing it.
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Rev. Igor Makasyuk
Palo Alto Buddhist Temple
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