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O NN EE NN EE SS SS Quarterly Newsletter of the Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose Dharma Legacy Vol. 5 No. 3 Autumn 2001 EQUALITY By Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose The Buddhist concept of equality is mayor or governor. The work is dif- and children together become one expressed in a sutra which says, “Dif- ferent but the quality, the value, is the and form a whole. All are different ference is equal; equal means differ- same. Difference is equality. This kind but at the same time one and the ent.” Buddhism teaches that all beings of perspective can be seen in the same. In a family there are many are equal. However, this equality does phrase, “byodo soku sabetsu” which members, but they are one in the not mean that all beings are the same. says, “equal means different.” This name of the family. To realize this For example, a table is a piece of fur- view is also present in the Zen say- oneness and to live accordingly is the niture on which to put things. The top ing, “shiki soku ze ku” or “all things Buddhist way. This teaching is ex- of the table is beautiful and the legs are empty.” Here, empty means ev- pressed in the Buddhist quotation, are underneath supporting the top. erything. This kind of paradoxical ex- “One is many and many is one.” This The legs are usually not visible but pression is used to try and express kind of perspective or way of life can there is no table without legs. The legs the reality of things. Truth or reality is be extended to all humans, in all situ- are just as important as the top. Each paradoxical. The ideas of right and ations - whether people are joined to- has its unique position to fulfill. There wrong, for example, are exactly op- gether in a business, church, or coun- is no actual superiority or inferiority. posite, but right and wrong are equal try. And fundamentally, there is al- All are equal. So it is with all things. or the same in the sense that if there ways a basic oneness because there We live in a democratic society is no wrong there is no right. Just as is universal equality within life itself. and this can be taken to imply that we light and darkness exit only in relation- (The Center Within, pgs 64 - 65) are all equal, all the same. However, ship to each other. If there is all dark- there is no democracy in the sense that ness, there can be no light. Darkness all are literally equal. We are not equal exists only in relation to brightness. in the sense of everyone being the Wisdom cannot exist without igno- Inside same. It is only in a convenient sense rance. Many examples can be men- that all citizens are considered equal. tioned. There can be no husband Remembering Sensei p. 3 The President has his duties to per- without a wife; no teacher without a Komical Karma p. 4 form and so does everyone else - con- student. It is because things are dif- gressmen, city officials, garbage col- ferent but equal that there is a one- Save Oct. 13 Date p. 4 lectors. Garbage collectors are just as ness of all things. important as city officials. If the gar- Husband and wife are different Dharma Glimpse p. 5 bage collectors strike and do not col- people; they have different person- Dharma Talk Video lect the garbage for months, the city alities and usually have different do- Loan Program p. 5 would be a stinky, dirty place. Gar- mestic duties. The children are also bage collectors are important and we different and have their different du- should respect them just as we do the ties and privileges. Yet, wife, husband, Universal Teachings For Everyday Living Page 1 President’s Message By Rev. Koyo Kubose Summer travels… opportunities to experience the Dharma in whatever is happening in any given moment is just like the tip of new ways! July found us on an Alaskan cruise— starting from an iceberg. The real cause is the unseen, massive interaction of Vancouver and going to places like Ketchikan, Juneau, karmic conditions. How nice that the Dharma works in such Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord and Seward. Then we mysteriously wonderful ways! To Akiyama Sensei and the Van took a train up to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Parijs’ I gave each three pebbles as an offering of gratitude and An Alaskan cruise is unique because it combines the luxury encouragement. I told them to scatter the pebbles in their back- of ocean liner accommodations with being able to experience yards or wherever they wanted. The Dharma is alive and well a great wilderness. Throughout the trip we saw wildlife like in Alaska! eagles, moose, bears, sea otters, and whales. At each port of A significant aspect of our Alaska trip was experiencing call there were interesting land tours. We learned about the icebergs and glaciers. On one tour, we took a helicopter and culture of the native people and the importance of their totem landed on the Mendenhall Glacier. We drank ice-cold glacier poles. We were able to hug Husky puppies where dogs were water and walked on blue glacier ice. Blue ice is ten times trained for the Iditarod race. We became familiar with the denser than ordinary ice like in one’s refrigerator. The locals history of the Yukon gold rush and even panned for gold… said that when they use glacier ice at parties, the ice in one’s combining the flakes we found into a small necklace pendant. drink will last all night! While at sea, there were numerous activities available aboard Dense ice reminds me of how in Shin Buddhism, Shinran the ship. It was also easy to said, “The more the ice, the more find quiet moments to just gaze the water”—meaning that when out at the vast ocean. When the ice of bonno (human defile- passing through the Inland ments) melts, water will flow Passage, the shoreline is dra- compassionately. We humans matically backed by a majes- have very deep bonno, so I could tic mountain range. There identify with the dense glacier ice. were many moments that made Even though there’s presumably me feel grateful or inspired. great potential, one’s egocentric As a practice of mindful bonno is so slow to melt, we of- awareness, I carried some ten get discouraged. Yet, as with pebbles from home— picked glaciers, there’s always some up from my backyard or from a nearby beach at Lake Michi- movement, however slow, toward the sea. gan. When moved to do so during the Alaska trip, I made When land glaciers eventually reach the sea, they’re called “offerings” of pebbles… leaving one here and there. Talking hanging glaciers. When a huge chunk of ice falls off a hanging half to myself and half to the sea, I dropped a pebble over- glacier, an iceberg is born. This is called “calving” and when board in a vow to deepen my spirituality. I left a pebble on a calving occurs, there is a tremendous sound as ice breaks off glacier, being awed by nature’s grandeur. and falls into the sea. While our ship was in Glacier Bay, a Later, after taking a train to Anchorage, I visited Rev. Tozen hanging glacier named Marjorie did a calving and I heard the Akiyama, who had recently come from the Zen Center in Mil- sound of an iceberg being born. The sound was powerful and waukee for an extended stay to help further the Anchorage unlike any sound I had ever heard before. I’ll never forget that Zen Community. Together we visited the White Lotus Center sound. It seemed like Nature was calling out a birth cry to the for Shin Buddhism, started three years ago by Yuho Van Parijs Universe. At the same time, it was a coming home— a glacier’s and his wife Jishin (Diane). Rev. Van Parijs, originally from long journey to the sea … then an iceberg breaking off with the Belgium, is still affiliated with Jikoji Temple in Antwerp. It is great sound of enlightenment— knowing ice will become wa- always a pleasure to get together with fellow travelers of the ter, water into clouds, clouds making snow to fall in the moun- Way.What are the myriad causes resulting in a meeting in Alaska? tains… and the cycle continues. So, although one’s self- It is said that we see only the tip or 1/10th of an iceberg. The centeredness may be hard as glacier ice, be patient… you are other 9/10ths is unseen under the surface of the water. In life, moving to the sea… in a majestic, awesome coming home. Universal Teachings For Everyday Living Page 2 REMEMBERING SENSEI This past spring, we sent out copies of the book, “Remembering Sensei” which paid tribute to the life of the late Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose. Touching sentiments were expressed in letters sent to us from people who had received the book. Copies of the book are still available. To request a copy, please contact the Kubose Dharma Legacy, 8334 Harding Avenue, Skokie, IL 60076. Some excerpts from letters we received: Thank you so much for the wonderful book, “Remem- I feel honored to have received the book “Remembering bering Sensei.” Such a touching memorial to someone Sensei.” Rev. Gyomay Kubose was to me, and still is, who was so special to many. I deeply appreciate your America’s Shinran, founder of American Buddhism.