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Our Cleveland Buddhist Temple Sangha chants The Golden Chain at different times during the year.1 We chant of our bright, strong link in the chain that stretches around the world and how our link may contribute.
If we read the text of The Golden Chain carefully, we begin to understand the import of the metaphor. We see the Buddhist teachings of interconnections, of karma, of dukkha, of interdependence and compassion.
The mooring line in the above photo with its rusty links is also a “golden chain.” It is “bright and strong” for its purpose. Whether a rusty looking iron link or a delicate bright gold link they both must be maintained for their role to be fulfilled. Just as all beings are different, our “links” are different, and it is those different links connected to one another that make up the whole of this samsara world we live in. Each link must exist for the ‘now’ of this life we are living to take place.
Accident analysis uses the chain metaphor of each link in determining actions/inactions leading to accidents. Richard Heiner writes “…we have all heard of the infamous accident chain and the connecting links that ultimately lead to an aircraft accident. If at any point leading up to the accident a link is broken by a sound decision, the accident is prevented…The links of an accident chain stand out dramatically in every case I examined….”2 In this case, the link is not bright and strong, but needs to be broken and replaced with one that is.
All the links matter. In this application, accident prevention is achieved by sound decision making at every link, or every step/action, on the way. Prevention may take place at any link. If not, an undesirable outcome may take place.
The “get thereitis ego” is an example commonly used and goes as follows: After a long work week it is now 5 PM Friday. You are tired, hungry and still have work that needs to be done before you can leave for your school reunion weekend that you won’t miss for the world. You finish your work and leave at 7 PM for the 4 hour car trip. It starts to snow and you groan for not getting around to putting on the snow tires or filling up the gas tank. It is slow going with heavy traffic getting out of town because of the snow. But you are determined to get there tonight. You have to let your friends know you’ll be late. Pulling over to text would add 5 minutes more to your trip. To save those 5 minutes, you begin to text as you drive, your last action in this life.
Just as preventing an accident is possible by considering options at each “link,” we are also free to consider options at each step/word/action, or link, on the path to awakening to enlightenment.
The Eightfold Noble Path for monks and nuns offers a framework for lay people as well. If we look at “Right Speech,” we are not sure what is or isn’t right speech. Is this something I as a lay person can do? And if I do, what will I get in return? Hard questions to ask and even harder to answer.
If I am to keep my link bright and strong Right Speech is important to remain on the path. But oh so hard to put into practice! How many times have we rolled our eyes when talking about someone in a petty or negative way? This simple act is not considered acceptable in the concept of Right Speech. Looking at it from my chain, I fail to keep this one link bright and strong in my own chain if I roll my eyes in derision.
Add to Right Speech abstaining from false speech (to speak the truth); abstaining from slander (to avoid malicious talk) and abstaining from harsh speech (to speak gently and kindly). All of these mean looking at ourselves in a new light. Not only am I a link in a chain that stretches around the world, but I too have my own chain with its own links. If I care for them, then my contribution to a more peaceful world will matter.
Walking this Shin Buddhist path is not about outward appearances, rituals or following codes of conduct. That does not lead out of samsara. When we hear the call of Amida Buddha we begin to examine our life because we know it can be different from our current state. We hear the call and know we are embraced by this unhindered life, this unhindered light and yes, we see how these teachings, when we put them to the test and practice them, begin a life changing chain, one link at a time, to awakening.
Yet we are bonbu
and often fail putting our best intentions into practice. This then is when Amida Buddha’s 18th Vow is heard. We are human, not gods. It is not our ego self but the knowledge that we are accepted just as we are, supporting us, as we continue on the path.
May every link in the Buddha’s golden chain of love become bright and strong, and may we all attain perfect peace.
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Rev. Anita
1See Golden Chain text in today’s The Nightstand Buddhist.
2 https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2002/august/flight-training- magazine/breaking-the-accident-chain
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