Lecture 21:
From Sangha Work to Sangha Creation
A lecture given by Sensei Ryokyu Endo.
Kyoto. March 8th 2007.
First let me say something about the Nembutsu. By listening to the sound of the drum or the voice of the Nembutsu you can understand what kind of practice the person is doing i.e. depending on, leaning on the Nembutsu or bringing others up. You have to realize this and correct your own Nembutsu. The Nembutsu and Tao Shiatsu Treatment are the same, in one hour you are changing others Ki.
Previously what was called “Sangha Work” is now finished and we now have “Sangha Creation”, which actually is the same but different. Before, it was better from the “person’s” point of view, the “who did it” point of view, i.e. please can you do it, this kind of expression, not an order, this is now completely finished. Now it is really opposite, it has changed to a “can I do it?” “May I do it?” Then we think whether it is ok to do or not. Do you understand what I mean? It is not people being asked to do some thing, but people asking whether it is ok to do some thing or not, this is them creating something.
Creation is an art and it would be a strange feeling if the art, the creation became something that was “dirty”, some thing like “I will do it for you”, “I will do a painting for you”. It is not going to be beautiful is it? So we cannot share with other people the “dirty creation” the “dirty art”. Even a little bit of “I help you” or “It is my duty”, this is all finished, there is no reason for this kind of heart in Tao Sangha anymore. Any way what is the ”Basic System of Creation” I will share with you at a later date, but of course the basic spirit of this is art and creation.
Going back to the Nembutsu and sharing with others. Anybody can do it, who has Nembutsu faith, practice and a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of knowledge means that everyone has a little bit of knowledge including me. There are 5,600 Sutras and it would take you 5 years to read if you read every day from morning to night, so compared to this, what knowledge we have is just a drop in the ocean, so now you can understand what I mean by every one has just a little bit of knowledge. If you have the medical skill of Tao Shiatsu and you go by yourself to one village and you create Sangha this is the spirit that I am talking about. If you cannot do this then there is no meaning to the Centre. In ancient times when Sages used to go to a village they would build a hut for Nembutsu practice, go begging for food and then with what ever knowledge or skill they had would help the people in some way, for example by building a bridge, or a well, or by healing etc. Then little by little they could gain the trust of the villagers and create Sangha. This is why there are still so many small temples in Japan today.
(In the Meiji age of Japan, when Japan opened to the West, the Japanese government saw that in many other countries there was a National religion and thus decided to make Shinto the National religion of Japan, and to weaken Buddhism by destroying 7 out of 10 Buddhist temples. Even the walking style of Japanese changed after Japan opened it’s doors to the West. The original style was “right arm with right leg, left arm with left leg”, It has changed to “right arm with left leg, left arm with right leg”, this was to copy military style (marching).
All of this effort by the then Japanese government might have contributed to Japan not being colonized. But any way lets go back to our original story of the Sages going into a village, and I want you to imagine that you are now in ancient times, and you go alone into a village. You can go with the skill of Tao Shiatsu, and the clothes of a Buddhist Monk or Nun, or with none of these, it is up to you, also there is no temple or church in the village, so what will you do to create Sangha. What you actually do here in this Centre, the spirit is the same
Authors note+ After this part of the lecture the students had to actually say what they would do if they went in a village to create Sangha. Many of the students seemed to be over concerned about the receiving of food. Sensei explained that it is said that the historical Buddha Sakyamuni could have lived for a hundred years or more, but that he actually died when he was only 85 years of age, and in doing so donated the remaining 15 years or more to his students so that they would never go hungry. This is Faith. Also in Japan there is a big community called Ittoen, *(founded by Tenko Nioshida in 1904, and the foundation of this community is the faith that “when human beings live in accordance with the way of Nature we are accepted and able to live, even without owning things and even without converting labour into money, and that all the necessities for life are provided by LIGHT (God, Buddha, Mother Nature). One of the main practices of this community is the going from house to house to clean the toilets.).
*This information was found by the author.
Sensei finished this lecture with the words “Share With Action”