May all beings be happy and well.
May no harm or difficulties come to them.
May they live in peace and harmony.
—Gautama Buddha, Mettā Sutta, the Loving-Kindness Sutra

Let’s put our hands together, bow our heads, and reflect for a moment on the lives lost, the anguish of the loved ones left behind, and the fear and anxiety created by political violence and senseless shootings across the Nation in the past days, weeks, and months. 

NamoAmidaButsu!

As Buddhists, we stand against violence in all forms, based on the Truth of Non-Self, anatman, truly recognizing the inter-connected and inter-dependent nature of all life, and thus follow the principle of ahimsa, non-harm to all life. 

The Buddha taught that when we harm or cause harm to other living beings, this karma, this action, this reality, inevitably ends up harming ourselves.

As Buddhists, we understand this Truth and aspire to living this unrepeatable life accordingly.

But, as human beings, we live in the “real world” of 2025 in America!

In the “real” world, politicians, the media, the rich and powerful, and social media “influencers” seek to use human tragedy and suffering to advance political, profit, and personal agendas, not to address very real human suffering.

We are taught to “BLAME THE OTHER” for all of our problems, pain, and anxiety!

We are told to convince ourselves, “We are the victims here!”

We are conditioned to think it is acceptable to “DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THE OTHER”—“They are the cause of all of our problems!”

We are shown it is profitable to promote “HATE THE OTHER”.

When politicians, media, and influencers are successful in causing us to turn our hearts to the darkness of HATE—which exists in all human beings—that HATE burns us from the inside, forcing us away from the Heart of Compassion and drives us into the Heart of HATE.

HATE is one of the most powerful emotions and mental states that we as ordinary human beings can experience, and just as easily can become addicted to. 

We instinctively know that addiction to “HATE” is not beneficial to our physical, mental, and spiritual health, yet HATE is compelling, alluring, enticing.

As Buddhists, we seek guidance in the Dharma.

“Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”
—Shakyamuni Buddha, Dhammapada, verse 5

The truth: HATE can only be overcome by LOVE.

This reality-as-it-is, this Dharma, this truth, this Law, is undeniable. 

We intuitively know this to be true. 

This Truth as taught by the Buddha, more 2500 years, ago finds expression is many languages, many cultures, by many people. 

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

So, if we know this to be the Truth, why do we continue to have violence against the “other”?

Because in the “real world” of human confusion and delusion…“HATE” is easier than “LOVE”.

In the real world, the Buddha taught it is human nature seek to blame the causes and conditions.

We blame:

• Politicians who use racial, economic, and religious differences to divide, to create hate, to distract people from the world-as-it-is, for political power;

• The extraordinarily wealthy, whose insatiable and all-consuming greed continues to drive economic inequality in society;

• The media (news and entertainment), who knows that conflict sells advertising space, and focuses on the “drama” of HATE, confrontation, and violence;

• “influencers” who know that “extreme” sells on social media, and seek to exploit tragedy, provoke violence, and normalize suffering for personal fame and fortune;

• easy access to weapons, violent imagery and language in the media, as well as propaganda and pornography that focuses on racial, sexual, gender, and identity stereotypes and scapegoating;

• unfiltered ability to hate, to express hate, to provoke hate without “real world” consequences created by social media and the internet;

In the real world, all of these causes and conditions can, and must be addressed, if America is to live up to its values, aspirations, and dreams.

The long-term solutions will take a shared commitment to doing what is right for all people, not just certain groups of people, through civil discourse, deliberation, and working together to fix the breaches in society.

In the meantime, as Buddhists, should we rise up in protest and make our voices heard that HATE in any form, VIOLENCE against anyone and anything, and DISCRIMINATION against any person is unacceptable?

Yes!

As Buddhists, should we participate in the democratic process and make our voices heard by our political and government leaders?

Yes!

As Buddhists, should we vote and encourage others to vote?

Yes!

Will doing these making our voices heard—will our protests, resistance, and passion—change the world?

Will trying to do something make us feel better, even if it produces no immediate results?

The very realistic and Buddhist answer is “maybe”—which of course is a very unsatisfactory answer.

Our Ego-Self thinks, “If I cannot change the world, what’s the point of trying?”

It is very easy—and very human—to convince oneself into doing nothing, saying nothing, and caring about nothing.

As Shin Buddhists, honorable friends and fellow travelers on the path of Nembutsu, we strive to balance the secular world, the “real” world, this world of confusion and delusion, and the world of spiritual truth, the Heart of Compassion and Mind of Non-Discrimination.

As Buddhists, we go to the Dharma for guidance.

Shinran-Shōnin, the founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, lived during a time of great social and political upheaval, civil wars, breakdown of the class structure, pandemics, and famine. 

When Shinran reflects upon himself, his faith, in the “real world” of the 12th and 13th centuries in Japan, he realizes:

“I know nothing at all of good or evil. For if I could know thoroughly, as Amida Tathagata knows, that an act was good, then I would know good. If I could know thoroughly, as the Tathagata knows, that an act was evil, then I would know evil. 

But with a foolish being full of blind passions, in this fleeting world—this burning house—all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity. The nembutsu alone is true and real.”
—Shinran Shōnin
Quoted in A Record in Lament of Divergences, CWS Vol. I, page 679

In modern language, there is a “secular” truth: moral good and evil in the sense of Judeo-Christian “sin” against the Laws of God.

In the modern world, there is “legal” and “illegal” as defined by “laws” created by human society.

Then, there is a spiritual truth, separate from secular truth, from the “real world.”

In this passage, Shinran is referring to “karmic” “good and evil”, i.e., not moral good and evil but rather the consequences of our thoughts, words, and actions.

Shinran urges us to recognize that we are the “foolish being full of blind passions” —we are simply ordinary human beings living in the modern world.

We are easily led to “hate” people who are different from us; we are compulsively driven by our self-centered greed; and we willfully ignore the Dharma.

“In this fleeting world—this burning house—all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity. The nembutsu alone is true and real.”

Shinran is NOT saying that the “real world” is irrelevant to our lives.

Shinran is NOT saying turn your back on suffering.

Shinran is NOT saying disengage from the real world.

Shinran is simply saying, receive the Faith of Shinjin and rely upon it, then share the Faith of Shinjin with others.

Having done that, having settled your Birth into the Pure Land, you are free to change the “real” world, knowing it is “fleeting”, a “burning house” in which all is “without truth and sincerity”!

Historical Fact: Shinran, his great teacher Hōnen, disciples and followers of the Jōdo Pure Land Way were persecuted, punished, and exiled by the government, who was prompted by the “established” Buddhist Schools at the time.

Shinran was stripped of his priest license, given a name that immediately identified him as a convicted criminal, and exiled to a remote area, far from the life he previously had in Kyoto, the center of power in Japan.

And yet, he continued to teach, to share the truth of what he had found in NamoAmidaButsu!, and to live this unrepeatable life to the fullest.

Was he angry about the treatment of his great Teacher, himself and other disciples, and the disparagement of the Pure Land Way as “not Buddhism”?

Yes, of course. 

There are writings of Shinran where he is highly critical of the Buddhist establishment of the time and the hypocrisy of the priests in pushing for the ban of the Nembutsu Teachings and Jodo Pure Land Sect, the execution of four disciples, and the exile of Hōnen and others.

In fact, the Kyōgyōshinsho, Shinran’s masterwork, is a comprehensive academic defense of the doctrine of the Jōdo Pure Land Way, the Teachings of his great teacher Hōnen.

Shinran could have easily used his growing popularity among the masses for personal gain but he did not. 

Shinran simply devoted his life to teaching the “true essence”—the “shinshū”—of the Jōdo Pure Land Way through his writings, letters to laypersons, and sharing with everyone and anyone he met in his travels, regardless of position, power, wealth, education, or social status.

What would Shinran do if he were alive today?

Would Shinran react in anger, with hatred, and seek to blame the “other” for the challenges we face today?

No, Shinran would not.

Shinran would simply rely upon the Faith of Shinjin, NamoAmidaButsu!, and continue to share the path of Nembutsu Mindfulness of Amida.

Shinran would continue to change the world in his own way.

Me, on the other hand, I’m a different story. 

As a third-generation California sansei Japanese-American who grew up in Los Angeles of the 1960s, my very human instinct is to react to today’s political rhetoric, the political violence, the HATE espoused by politician, media, and influencers with my own hatred, violent thoughts, words, and actions.

“Resist!”

“Protest!” 

“Overthrow the Government!”

Realistically, I know I do not the skills, energy, or passion to organize resistance and revolution against the President of the United States of America.

But, my Ego is such that trying to do that might make me “feel better” for having tried.

Would my individual efforts solve the fundamental problem of human nature—people hating people because they are “different” and thus making them the “other”?

No.

Guided by Shinran’s wisdom, we must first recognize we each have our own aversions, biases, and prejudices—it is our human nature to fear, thus hate, the “other” because they are different from us.

We must learn the only thing to hate is “HATE” itself.

Illuminated by Amida’s Light of Infinite Wisdom, Amida’s Great Compassion awakens our heart of compassion, and we seek to understand the other, to alleviate the suffering of all people, to overcome Hate with Love.

Embraced by Kindness and Gratitude Beyond Words, we must strive to return it by embracing others with kindness and gratitude.

Is it easy?

NO, it is not easy to change the world, much less change my SELF!

By myself—just as I am—I may not make a difference in the world.

But, I must try.

The strength and serenity to “try” and “try” and “try again” come from truly accepting one’s very human limitations and at the same truly experiencing the Heart of Compassion and Mind of Non-Discrimination of Amida working in one’s unrepeatable life in the real world.

When the Heart of Compassion and the Mind of Non-Discrimination are awakened in us through the Faith of Shinjin, we are empowered to live each moment of this unrepeatable life with strength and serenity because we know, without doubt, that:

“The nembutsu alone is true and real.”

One criticism of Jodo Shinshu is its apparent other-worldly focus on settling Birth into the Pure Land, becoming Buddha, and returning in Oneness with Amida to this world to guide others.

That is to say, Jodo Shinshu is not actively “engaged” in social justice in the real world, but rather concerned solely with the “after-life”.

This is not necessarily true—Jodo Shinshu is vitally concerned with “before-death” but teaches we must first settle our Birth into the Pure Land by receiving the Faith of Shinjin, NamoAmidaButsu!

When you’re not worried about the “after-life”, you are free to do whatever you wish in the time you have left “before-death.”

And this is the simple truth of Jodo Shinshu, which is the most difficult of difficulties: the answer is always NamoAmidaButsu!

The essence of Shin Buddhism as taught by Shinran Shōnin is the Faith of SHINJIN, Kindness and Gratitude Beyond Words, transforming our all-too-human hearts and minds so that we are empowered to RESPOND IN GRATITUDE to this unrepeatable life as it unfolds naturally, just as we are!

Just say Mahalo! 

Mahalo for listening this morning!

May your day be filled with Aloha!