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Click-a-Sermon 19: " Wisdom of Assimilation"

With mixed emotions of joy and sadness, we greet the 2004　A.D., the year 2489 of the Buddhist Calendar, the 16th year of Heisei, the 104th year for Eikyoji Temple, the 11^th year for Reno Buddhist Church and the year of Monkey. As we reflect upon the past, we have a feeling of loss and perhaps failure to live up to our earlier expectations but we do have hope and aspiration for the dawning new year.

Our mixed emotions are well expressed by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) in his famous Haiku poem:

     my Happy New Year!"
     about average......
     my spring

On the surface, our society appears to be very placid and content, yet last year we were bombarded by international political, economic and social waves, creating a great deal of turmoil. Within this information-oriented world, news and shock waves travel in matters of seconds from London, to New York to Tokyo. There is no way for modern man to remain politically, culturally or socially isolated.

But the question is what is happening to individual human beings in this shrinking world? Contrary to the reality that our world is reducing in size and interrelationships are essential, individual beings still keep closed and narrow minds, concerned with chauvinism to protect their small ego patches. The true internationalization of humankind still remains on the far distant horizon.

A fundamental belief in Buddhism has always been the wisdom of coexistence and the assimilation. Buddhist wisdom has always been based upon compassion and finding the means to solve problems by working together rather than by confrontation and challenge. Humankind has endlessly repeated the mistakes of wars and destruction. But the modern world is no longer a place where individuals have the right to consider only their own interests. The Buddhist philosophy of co-existence and mutual helpfulness can rescue humankind from self-destruction during the 21st Century.

For example in the Japanese history, Buddhism and Shinto religions managed to coexist, prosper and assimilate each other. The tolerance of the Buddhist philosophy of assimilation is based upon Mahayana Buddhist wisdom and compassion. In our contemporary world we have the impulsive tendency to rush to confrontation and alienation. The 2,500 year old wisdom of Buddhism that teaches love for all sentient beings, compassion and consideration, is sorely needed for the future survival of humankind.