I Stumbled Upon a Jewel: A Collection of Essays by a Lay Sangha

By Margaret Petersson

Virtually everything written in English about Buddhism has been written by scholars, ministers, or formal leaders, no matter whether it is Tibetan, Zen, Shin or any other Buddhist sect. This book is written by lay people about their own experiences with Shin Buddhism, which is after all, the Buddhism of the common people. The sangha or the community of fellow seekers is the backbone of Buddhism, providing a structure, encouragement, and nurturing of the development of one's beliefs, yet it is not represented in Buddhist literature. Perhaps it is understandable that this is so since Buddhism began as an oral tradition, at a time when few people besides scholars could read or write. However, it is very often the sharing of one's concerns and ideas with members of the sangha which makes Budddhism or any spiritual endeavor alive and relevant to one's life. The sense of sharing and intimacy are captured in the essays presented here, with the special richness of poetry and visual images to enhance the heartfelt message of the book's intent. It represents a breath of fresh air, bridging the gap between the point of view of the expert and the experience of the ordinary follower of the Buddhist path..

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481760669

Margaret Petersson

Margaret Petersson has been a member of the Buddhist Faith Fellowship of Connecticut since 2006. During this time she has taken classes at BFF and been an active leader in the sangha's cultural and educational activities. Reflecting her professional interests as a psychotherapist, she taught a seminar on Buddha and the Brain, a comparison of the view of the mind from the perspectives of Buddhism, psychology, and neuroscience. She also led a workshop on making origami paper cranes, symbolizing hope and healing for sangha members facing serious illness. As a fund raiser, Margaret organized the sangha's Buddhist craft festival where people from the community came to buy books and crafts, and had an opportunity to write calligraphy and compose poetry. She has an active interest in the arts and hopes to captures the aesthetic aspect of spirituality by editing this book. She has been inspired by the words, images, and spirit of her fellow members of the sangha who were gracious and enthusiastic about sharing their experience of Buddhism with the general public.

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© 2013 Editor, Margaret Petersson. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/17/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4817-5892-5 (sc)

978-1-4817-6066-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013910009

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Introduction - What is Shin Buddhism?

A Brief History

A Buddhism for Ordinary People

A Group for Ordinary People

Worldwide Adherents

The Importance of the Sangha

I Stumbled Upon a Jewel

Creating is Giving

I Will Love You Till You Stop

My Spiritual Journey

MUMS

Falling into the Groundlessness of Impermanence

Just Where I Am

Listening Deeply

One Pure Moment of Deep Hearing

A Question

Things as They Really Are

Respect in Buddhism

A Deep Sense of Gratitude

Live

How the Dhammapada Set Me Free

Physics and Buddhism

NEBULA

This Age Is My Truest Reality

How Should a Buddhist Read a Poem?

Farewell to a Samurai

Living My Own Story

Making Cranes

Seeing the Extraordinary

Bibliography

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Buddha in the Shadows: photography by Daikon

Introduction - What is Shin Buddhism?

Imagine a religion without original sin, judgment, a wrathful God, a multitude of gods and saints, an eternal hell, Satan, a sense of guilt, a personality cult, an idolized book, a blood sacrifice for atonement, a rejection of personal experience, holy wars, hypocritical rules, sexism, a cultish mind-set, and obsessions with money and power. Luckily, such a religion exists, and it is called Shin Buddhism.

Shin Buddhism is an eight-hundred-year-old religion and way of life dedicated to manifesting the endowed purpose of every human being to realize enlightenment. This is a natural path open to everyone; it is especially geared to ordinary working people involved in daily responsibilities and worldly entanglements. It is called a natural path because it is devoid of superstitious dogma and is based on personal experience and reality-as-it-is. It utilizes all experiences as a vehicle on the journey to enlightenment. Shin Buddhism never forces itself onto others and instead maintains a gentle but persuasive demeanor. What’s more, it does not turn a blind eye to what it means to be a real human being and fully accepts the human condition with all of its limitations and potentialities.

Since Shin Buddhism is a natural way, it is also all-inclusive and embracing because, like the ocean, it accepts everybody, even nonbelievers and the so-called lowliest of our society. No matter who you are or what you have done or what burdens you carry, you and everyone else is assured of transformation through the power of great compassion into an authentically complete and awakened person. This is the assurance of Shin.

At its core, Shin can be seen as an anticult; this feature is clearly manifested in our Buddhist fellowship, which is nonhierarchical, egalitarian, and nondogmatic. Moreover, it does not ask for followers but seeks dedicated practitioners of daily compassion, love, and wisdom, so that we can transform ourselves and the world into a happier place. As a wholesome vehicle to spiritual practice, Shin does not make any requirements to join—only that those who practice must have faith and commitment to transmute the burdens of daily life into the source of received wisdom and compassion. Come as you are, and practice with us.

Shin Buddhism was founded over eight hundred years ago in Japan by the religious reformer Shinran Shonin (1173–1262). The Shin path is the latest branch of the greater twenty-five-hundred-year-old Pure Land tradition, established in India, by the historical Buddha. The word Shin means heart or core, so Shin Buddhism can mean heart of Buddhism. The original Japanese name of Jodo Shinshu means true essence (heart) of the Pure Land Way.

A Brief History

In the thirteenth century, Shin was a lay reform movement during a decadent age of monastic spiritual materialism that focused more on power, fame, and gold than the original intention of Buddhism. In those days, women, butchers, samurai, fisherman, merchants, etc. were forbidden to practice the dharma. Shinran Shonin and others dared to challenge the religious elites by returning the Buddhist religion to the Buddha’s original intentions and teachings, such as universal salvation, compassion, and simplicity of practice. As a result, Shin opened the gates of the Pure Land Way to the suffering masses.

For a long time after that, Shin was relegated to a minor fringe group and was even oppressed by the government and the elites. At one point, monks felt so threatened by this egalitarian movement that they even attacked and burned down Shin temples. Regardless of these setbacks, the Shin movement grew in numbers, appealing to the outcasts, morally weak, poor, destitute, and uneducated who were attracted to its all-inclusive attitude, egalitarianism, and reliance on simple daily practices.

Shin Buddhism arrived in the United States in the late nineteenth century with successive waves of Japanese immigrants, who concentrated in Hawaii and California. However, due to the intense racism and the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II in the 1940s, the Shin religion kept a very low profile on the American landscape. Since the late 1990s, with the publication of popular Shin books like River of Fire, River of Water by Dr. Taitetsu Unno, there has been a surge of interest in Shin throughout