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Karma Dharma
by
Isabelle Shinjo Bernard
I heard a song on pop radio this week that caught my attention. Not because it was by Taylor Swift [LOL] but because I kept hearing the word ‘karma’! Being a curious person, I googled “songs with karma in lyrics”. There are 45 of these according to one listing, assorted by genre: rock, R&B, rap, pop, Christian, country etc. 13 are current pop hits. Most of them feature the writer’s love life seen through the lens of “karma” which, in music culture, seems to mostly be about relationship challenges, breakups, old loves, learning from the choices we’ve made. I
have been humming “Karma Chameleon” ever since, sung by the inimical Boy George!
In all seriousness, KARMA as Buddha Shakyamuni gave us to understand, has a broader, vaster, and less self-conscious or time-specific nuance. It is explained from the inside out, that
is, how our actions influence and effect the world around us, in ways that extend beyond time and space, endlessly. Buddha explained the results of karma in KALPAS, an impossibly long
period of time. He stressed this concept while urging us to become aware of the ramifications of our actions and so to strive to do no harm, to cultivate thoughts and actions in our lives that would help others. This idea expanded in the Mahayana school to define the ideal seeker, the
Bodhisattva; a spiritual person whose goal is to help all others achieve spiritual enlightenment along with themselves. In our Jodo Shinshu tradition, we might recognize this as Self Benefit
and Other Benefit.
From my Jodo Shinshu perspective, what was notable as I pondered this new category of music, is that “love”, as we commonly use the word in English, comes from a narrow, self-
focused perspective. Nothing wrong with that, certainly the theme of many a great musical composition, novel, opera and gives joy…and sorrow…to our lives.
But to understand “True Compassion”, that is, Buddha’s Love for all beings, we must understand that there is no discrimination, no boundary between “self and other”. As simple human beings, the closest we seem to come to expressing this Supreme Virtue in our everyday lives is in feeling empathy for others, which when examined, seems to be mostly rooted in thinking “I feel so badly for such misfortune”... so that guilt or sorrow arises. Our reactions are far more limited than what is expressed in the fulfillment of Amida Buddha’s Vow, that is, to delay enlightenment until ALL beings are likewise saved [enlightened]. It is impossible for us to transcend our limited perspective, when we are focused on ourselves, our wants, and needs, and how desire for these governs our days.
I’d like to share a story I came across this week, which is a great metaphor for both karma and awakening to karma – both internally and externally – it is called “ The Donkey In The Well”
Once upon a time, a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well that the farmer had accidentally left uncovered. Hearing the donkey crying in distress, the farmer tried to figure out a way to get
the donkey out of the deep hole but the sides were too unstable for him to climb down. The donkey was panicking and kicking, so he was concerned he might get injured too.
The poor donkey cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. He spoke to neighbors, who said “the donkey was old. Give it up”. They were mostly concerned with
covering up the hole so that their children or other farm animals wouldn’t fall in. As time went on, it became less likely that he would be able to help the donkey; He felt terrible, for the
donkey, and for himself, his own loss. He didn’t own much but he’d always had the donkey, now he wouldn’t even have that for company. His neighbors offered to help fill the hole, grabbing tools and shoveling dirt into the well.
As he felt the dirt falling on him, the donkey kicked and kicked and brayed. With more and more piles of dirt being thrown in, the donkey brayed even louder. The men pretended not to
hear the donkey’s pleadings; no one tried to help the poor creature. As the donkey tired, it began to give up, and got quiet. But then he realized something amazing was happening. With
each scoop of dirt that fell into the well, the pile of dirt forming at the bottom of the well got higher. By shaking off the dirt and stepping to the top of the pile, he began to rise up out of the
well. More dirt, another shake, another step up. The dirt was a way out, not a grave!
The men, looking down, kept shoveling; certain that they were burying the poor donkey. But with every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey shook the dirt off and took a step up.
They were so busy shoveling that they didn’t notice what was happening. When the farmer and neighbors finally looked down the well, they were dumfounded to see the donkey, looking right at them, standing on top of all that dirt that had been dropped on it. The donkey then stepped up over the edge of the well, and without a backward glance, picked up its heels and trotted off! Instead of being happy that the donkey was saved, the farmer became angry that the selfish creature, that he had fed and sheltered its whole life, had just got up and left him.
The owner wasn’t loving to the donkey; having no appreciation for the life of service which had enabled him to cultivate his land and provide for his family. Although the donkey was a
good donkey, awakening to the dire circumstances in which he found himself, he chose to cease following blindly and saw his circumstances just as they were. He realized that he would
live better elsewhere, gaining another perspective on his life.
Our harshest critics are often ourselves, and we beat ourselves down, flailing hopelessly in our circumstances…not acknowledging either our own needs OR Amida’s Calling Voice, that is, our deeper connection to the larger world. So, we see in the metaphoric story that karma is both internal and external – as Shakyamuni Buddha pointed out, the first gives birth to the latter.
Someone said that when you point at another there are four finger pointing back at yourself – that is, we should be aware of how we perceive others and how their existence benefits us. In
doing so we cultivate gratitude. In trying to live with kindness and humility we are helped to develop deeper insight into the nature of things as they are: intrinsically dependent and
Interconnected to all-that-is. Selfless Love is the content of Other Power. It does not discriminate or remonstrate. It accepts us just as we are.
In closing, I’d liked to share the poem Sono Mama* that Ty Unno quotes in his book River of Fire, River Of Water: *(this phrase simply means ‘life as is’ or ‘just right as is’)
You, as you are, you’re just right.
Your face, body, name, surname,
For you, they are just right.
Whether poor or rich,
Your parents, your children, your daughter-in-law, your grandchildren,
They are for you, just right.
Happiness, unhappiness, joy and even sorrow
For you, they are just right.
The life that you have tread is neither good nor bad,
For you, it is just right
Nothing to boast about, nothing to feel bad about,
Nothing above, nothing below,
Even the day the month that you die,
Even they are just right.
Life in which you walk together with Amida,
There is no way that it can’t be just right.
“When you receive your life as just right, then a deep and profound trust begins to open up. Sono mama is the everyday Japanese equivalent of ‘suchness,’ ‘thusness,’ or ‘thingness’…it
cannot be fully understood within the conventional dichotomous thinking. The reason is that such a way of thinking simply creates further divisions and contradictions, resulting in the fragmentation of life. This is what we call samsara, the very opposite of life as sono mama”.
So…to conclude, when we are able to open our hearts and minds to the real presence of Buddha’s True and Real Compassion, things fall into perspective in life and Other Power
becomes real in how we perceive our lives. We are enabled to recognize that in spite of all our failings, we are already supported by something greater than ourselves. At times of our
greatest despair, as well as during times of great joy, we are aware that our lives are enabled by something we sense but cannot see.
Please join me in Gassho.
Namu Amida Butsu
Rev. Isabelle
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