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Equanimity and Gratitude
by
Rev. Cheryl Joko Ikemiya
The Wise One
Dhammapada 81-83
The wind cannot shake a mountain.
Neither praise nor blame moves the wise one.
He is clarity.
Hearing the truth of the Dharma,
He is like a lake,
Pure, tranquil and deep.
Want nothing.
Where there is desire,
Say nothing.
Happiness or sadness –
Whatever befalls you
Walk on
Untouched, unattached.
The Covid pandemic erupted in New York City in March 2020. With the disease spreading at lightning speed, the death rate escalated rapidly. Fear was part of our daily lives. As the rest of the city shut down to a standstill, we had to shut down the NY Buddhist Church building. But the Sangha quickly adapted to online streaming of our weekly Sunday Services keeping us in touch. We realized the Sangha could continue throughout this difficult time. This gave us a sense of calm and stability which continues even now.
During this time, I have been deeply grateful to be a Buddhist. The Nembutsu is the source of peace and balance in my life. How difficult and challenging this time would have been had I not been a Buddhist. I’d like to explore and share these thoughts on how Buddhism sustained us. For me this arises from the equanimity or perfect balance taught by Shakyamuni Buddha and the gratitude that I experience from saying the Nembutsu that centers in Shinran Shonin’s teachings.
Each of us experienced something different during the worst of the pandemic. First, we all scrambled to protect our own health and changed our lives to stay safe. Remember how we feared going outside our homes and apartments. How we avoided encountering anyone on the street. How we washed our hands, changed our clothes after going out, and wiped down all surfaces after coming home. Now it seems that we are far from those days, and many around us want to forget this time. But we should remember what we experienced.
After we established that we could survive with the proper precautions, our Sangha members and friends felt that we needed some ballast or anchor in our lives. Something that would keep us from toppling over. Something that would provide balance and calm. The passage from the Dhammapada is about the Wise One, a follower of the Dharma, who maintains steadiness, balance and calm throughout life’s storms and challenges. The wise one is unflappable, steady and settled; not swayed by criticism or flattery; failure or success; pain or pleasure. The wise one is untouched, unattached.
From a Buddhist perspective, equanimity arises from being able to see our lives and the world without being caught up in what we see, or think we see. This is Right View the first of the Eightfold Path of the Buddha’s teaching, that is, seeing things as they truly are. It is being able to view without the winds and storms of the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance rising up. Then we are able to see things without jealousy, anxiety, fear or prejudice based on lack of knowledge.
During the pandemic we all faced many of these challenges. The mind of equanimity allows us to stand in the middle of all things while being fully engaged with the view/perspective of
knowing exactly what surrounds us. We see and we respond with clarity and understanding. “Like a lake, pure, tranquil and deep.” Because we can face these challenges with a peaceful and observant mind, the effects of the storm calm down, we are able to experience understanding and being present. This leads to a sense of wellbeing, calm, joy and, eventually, freedom. The wise one is untouched by fear and anxieties, unattached to emotions that cause harm or prejudice, and able to let go of too much attachment or clinging. To let go of attachments to other sentient beings, inclusive of human beings and animals, as well as inanimate objects, such as prized
possessions that could be lost. Because we know that loss and impermanence is an ever- present part of our lives.
This is not a passive state of non-attachment but a very active state of living with Dharma that leads to freedom from attachment. For example, during Covid we might have lost the physical closeness and contact with others, but seeing the reality of the disease, we adjusted to the aloneness of our situations. We began to make efforts to speak to our loved ones including
Sangha members by phone or Zoom calls. In fact, many relationships changed because we made this effort.
Where does this balance and calm come from in our lives as Jodo Shinshu Buddhists? Let me digress a little to tell you about my recent visit to my prior home in Maine, where I had lived in a Zen community many decades ago for more than 10 years. A close friend invited us to sail on his 33’ sailboat. It was a beautiful clear day as we watched the boat’s sails unfurl many feet above our heads. When we were far enough out in the bay, we caught the wind, and I observed how navigating it was a challenge of judging the wind, watching the current of the waves and observing how deep the water was beneath the boat. The wind was quite strong, and at times it felt like we were going to tip and take in water. I braced myself from sliding off the bench with
my foot and held onto whatever I could grab. I must have looked a bit frightened. My friend assured me that the boat would not tip over because the ballast below the boat weighed as much as a large vehicle. I felt much more at ease then knowing the sailboat would always be balanced in the ocean. So that’s what ballast does!
What is our ballast as Jodo Shinshu Buddhists that keeps us balanced and steady? We are always sustained by the three treasures – the Buddha, the and the Sangha and other Buddhists and spiritual fellows throughout world, and our community of sentient beings, all animate and inanimate forms. During the worst of Covid, our Sangha strengthened in unexpected ways, and our efforts to support each other became our ballast to keep us peaceful and steady.
In Shinran’s Hymns of the Pure Land Masters (T’an-luan) I, p. 3776, #60), he says:
Though we commit evil throughout our lives,
If we say the Nembutsu always
With our hearts turned wholly to Amida,
Our obstructions fall away by the Vow’s spontaneous working.
With the support of Amida Buddha and Shinran Shonin’s teachings, we say the Nembutsu, Namu Amida Butsu (I, this foolish being, entrust myself to Amida’s Vow of great compassion). Therefore, Namu Amida Butsu is the ballast that assures, sustains and holds me through my daily life – in lonely, frightening, uncertain, and difficult times. It is the ballast that assures sustains and holds me through good, happy and uplifting times. It connects me with my Sangha, family, friends, neighbors, strangers and even those who might do harm to me. It is often the fearful, uncertain times that we need the calm and balance of the Nembutsu. You have all experienced this with an illness or surgery of yourself or a family member or friend. In saying the Nembutsu
a wave of calm emerges, then our hearts become settled, and we then can trust that whatever comes will come, and we will be at peace. When we say Namu Amida Butsu at these times, we truly begin to understand what Shinran Shonin says that after awakening true entrusting in Amida’s boundless and unfathomable wisdom and compassion. We experience entrusting in that which we are a part of and that which is beyond our limitations. We are filled with deep gratitude
for being at one with the Buddha’s benevolence. The Nembutsu gives us the equilibrium and calm that strip away all the fears, anxieties, doubts and grasping. Then we are able to see things as they truly are and live with peace and joy. Though we commit evil throughout our lives,
If we say the Nembutsu always with our hearts turned wholly to Amida, our obstructions fall away by the Vow’s spontaneous working.
Namo Amida Butsu
In gassho
Rev. Cheryl Joko Ikemiya
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