The steeple of the Memorial Church. File photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications
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By The Rev. Dr. Mark Unno,
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Oregon
(The following is a transcript of the service audio, April 16, 2023)
It is a great, great honor to be invited to speak before you all here at Memorial Church. I would just like to express my deep sense of gratitude to Reverend Dr. Matthew Ichihashi Potts and Memorial Church for inviting me. Also, to Dr. Monica Sanford and Jonathan Makransky of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative. And the Buddhist ministry working group for inviting me to be part of their conference this weekend, which was a marvelous experience. I would also like to express my word of appreciation to the late great Reverend Doctor Masatoshi Nagatomi, who founded the Buddhist studies program here at Harvard University. And to my father Taitetsu Unno, who was a close colleague and friend of Dr. Nagatomi.
You know, when I was first invited to come speak before you, I was wondering what I did in my previous rebirths that I was so lucky to be invited here. And then I realized, well, unlike the universal laws of physics, the Buddhist law of cause and effect might not apply here in Memorial Church. So I thought, "Well then it must be the grace of God." On the second Sunday of Easter, we have received the words of Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them." And I hope that you'll correct me if my understanding of the Bible's incorrect, because this is not my main area. But in my amateur understanding of this beautiful, beautiful passage, there are two things that are important here. One is, it expresses the glory of God and the incarnation of God's unconditional love in the person of Jesus Christ.
And second, it expresses how for those who feel they are too sinful, who have doubt, it is an invitation to an opening to the great, great experience of faith. In reading this, it reminded me of another passage from the New Testament, Matthew 5:35, the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus states, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." And when I thought about this, this is the reason why I selected this passage from my tradition of Shin Buddhism. Which is expressed in a work called the Tannishō. Even a good person attains birth in the pure land, how much more so the person of evil karma? Usually we think, in order to attain nirvana, in order to realize what we call in our tradition, the pure land. A oneness beyond this world, then the more good karma you have, the closer you are.
But in this passage it states, even the good person attains the realization of the pure land beyond this world, how much more so the evil person? How can that be? And I was led to a deeper understanding of this teaching in my own tradition when I read these words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for for they shall inherit earth." As long as I think I'm a good person, doing good things, then I'm relying just on myself. And my heart and my mind will not open to that reality which is deeper and greater than the merely human.
And could that have been the teaching that Jesus imparted to his followers? Why is it that Jesus was incarnated on the second Sunday of Easter? What is the meaning of the resurrection? That there is something beyond ordinary human life. Eternal life. An eternal life that is beyond the boundaries of ordinary human life and death. And that that is the expression of God's infinite love. And only those who realize their human limitations, our human sinfulness, can open our hearts and minds to the greater glory of God. So I wish to share with you one story which is certainly from my tradition. And so it may not be exactly the same as what you understand in your Christian tradition, but hopefully will resonate with you all. This was a story that I heard at a conference in Japan where I was invited to be a respondent to a set of presentations by graduate students at Kyoto University at an international conference. It's the story of a young woman who was a PhD student studying to become a therapist.
Kyoto University is one of the finest universities in Japan, and arguably in the world. She had studied many, many theories, but as part of her training she was assigned to become a school counselor. A junior high. And she was appointed to receive the case of a young girl, 14 years old, who was an aspiring violinist. So brilliant, as a young woman, learning to play the violin that her teacher recognized her ability. And took her to concerts whenever famous violinist came from around the world. She slept, ate, dreamt being a violinist. But there was one problem, that in her maternal line, there was adult-onset deafness. And DNA testing was available. But as in this country, in Japan, they're required to undergo counseling, because even if they're not deaf at that moment, the report of the results of the test can have a life-altering effect. So the counselor said, "It's up to you whether you would like to take the test." And the young girl said, "Yes, I want to know what's going to happen." So she took the test.
Two weeks later, she came back, 99.9% chance that she's going to go completely deaf. The young therapist didn't know what to say. So the therapy hours' one hour long, but really 50 minutes. 50 minutes of silence, once a week. Next week, the therapist didn't know whether the young girl was going to come for her appointment. She came back. Again, the therapist didn't know what to say. They sat in silence again, for 50 minutes. And again the next week. And the next week. And this went on for two months until finally the young girl spoke up. And she said, "You know, I think I'm going to go visit the graves of my grandmother and my great auntie." Which was out in the countryside. So she got on a train, she went to the cemetery. She went to pay her respects to her grandma and great auntie. But what came up for her was anger. And she said to them, "Grandma, how come? It's not fair. You gave me this great gift, but now you're taking it away from me before I can really enjoy it. It's not fair." And of course, it's unfair.
But as she was speaking to her grandma and her great auntie, it's as if she could hear the voices of her grandmother and great-aunt urging her on. And she responded to that voiceless voice. She said, "How hard it must have been for you when there were no therapists, when you faced so much discrimination." And then she went home. And then she went to her next appointment, and the therapist was waiting for her. Initially again, complete silence. But eventually the girl spoke up and she said, "Yes. At first I was so angry, but then I heard the words of my grandma and great auntie. Not words they spoke, but the feeling I got from them that my grandmother had my mother as a deaf woman facing so much prejudice and she was strong. I know, because my mom is strong and she raised me.
And for the first time I felt such a deep, deep connection with my grandma and my great auntie, and I don't know what I'm going to do now. But they have given me the strength to go on. And I'm looking forward to what life has in store for me." At the beginning of this journey when she initially received the report of her inevitable deafness, the first word she uttered to her therapist was, "When I got the results, I died." She didn't say, "I felt like I died." She said, "I died." And one can easily understand this, I think. Because she had been eating, drinking, sleeping, dreaming, violinist 24/7, 365. That's who she was. But now that violinist who she was, was no longer. But had it also not been the case that she had received this report of her inevitable deafness, she might not have connected so, so deeply with the life and spirit of her grandmother and her great-aunt. The therapist who was incredibly knowledgeable did something right.
In the discomfort of that 50 minute silence she did not cover over the discomfort by offering some kind of easy words or fancy theory. No. She sat with the young girl in silence, deeply listening to the young girl. The voiceless voice of her profound suffering. And that enabled the young girl to go visit her grandma and great auntie and listen to their voiceless voice of suffering, of courage, of compassion. And then she was born anew. Buoyed by the force of love and compassion that comes beyond the ordinary boundaries of human life and death. Then in some ways, of course, we would not want this terrible fate on anyone that we know. And yet without it, she might have had a great career as a violinist, but would she have awakened spiritually to the force of love and compassion that goes beyond life and death, beyond the merely human and be spiritually reborn as a human being in the light of the infinite?
So truly, I cannot say what is the meaning of the resurrection for you all, here in this sacred Memorial Church. But for me, the teachings of Jesus Christ and the words, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them." Resonates deeply for me with the teachings in my tradition of Shin Buddhism. That each of us must realize what fools we are to hang on so tightly to our wealth, to our social status, to our tiny, puny notions of what is a successful human life. And only when I realize, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." Even a good person attains birth and the pure, and how much more so the one who realizes how limited I am as a karmic being grasping on to such narrow, limited ideas of what is the truth of human life.
And just like you have many prayers in Christianity, in Shin Buddhism too, we have a prayer. And that prayer is expressed first in Sanskrit as Namu Amitabha Buddha. Then in our Japanese tradition as Namu Amida Butsu. And the meaning of this prayer is, Namu is the expression of who I am. What we call a foolish being filled with attachments, with limited notions of what my human life is.
But when I realized that being illuminated by the infinite, by the boundless love and compassion, the dynamic force of reality itself arising from deep within. Then I am moved to rise up like that courageous young girl who said, "I don't know what my life holds in store for me, but I've been given the courage, the faith, and the trust to move forward. And enter my life, my spiritual life, the life of the infinite of boundless love and compassion, which is much, much bigger than me." And this is the meaning of the other half of our prayer Amita Buddha. The Buddha of infinite light and compassion, the dynamic unfolding of the awakening of the ocean of light, of boundless compassion. And I don't know whether this is the same as the unconditional love of God for Christians. But I want us to try something together, which is just to take a moment to sit in silence together. Thank you. Thank you.
I think there are probably many differences between Christianity and Buddhism, but in that silence that we just shared, are there any differences? I don't think so. In God's infinite love, in the Shin Buddhist realization, of boundless compassion, I think we are all brought together as one. Thank you so much.