This last month, we held the Tendai-shu New York Betsuin 2024 Doshu/Soryo Gyo, a training period for aspiring Tendai priests. We are fortunate to be able to conduct this training, and one pivotal factor in being able to do so is by benefit of our community, our Sangha.
Jiunzan Tendai-ji, the Tendai Buddhist Institute, has an amazingly supportive Sangha. And I say that without hyperbole. To allow others to come into our local community, to be met with open arms, and then to allow those people to, for lack of a better word, commandeer the space and routine of our local village temple is very generous. Each sangha member has contributed to the livelihood and vitality of the Tendai Buddhist Institute, and thus the influence those actions have on the trainees cannot be understated.
That karma, those causes, leave an impact. It influences and forever changes those who train here. Therefore, each member of the Sangha has touched the experience that each trainee has had. The Sangha is forever a part of those people.
And this has a meaningful implication. This is a representation of Indra’s Net, each precious jewel containing the reflection of every other jewel, just as those jewels are all reflected in each. As a Sangha, we cause change, impact and influence each other and our world.
During the Gyo, we discussed how the doing of Sangha becomes a practice. It’s a way to understand how to contribute to the Sangha’s livelihood and vitality, which in turn will impact us and those after us. We looked back at early pictures of what the Sangha looked like 20-25 years ago. It was striking to me just how much time, energy and effort has been put into the temple by the people who have come and gone, and more so by those who have come and stayed. We would not be the Sangha we have now without the karma of those before. The causes they set forth can still be felt and lives on.
We may sometimes worry about whether or not we are reborn, or if our actions are actually of any consequence. But I will say that, personally, I do not need any better example of how we are reborn or if our karma matters than how the Sangha has grown, and continues to thrive. Our Hondo and the wood it was built with, the land and surrounding environment, has been touched by so many, adding to the beneficial impact that can be felt today, and will be felt in the future.
There are numerous people, some no longer with us, who have left a mark, causes that caused causes, that led to what we experience today. Their actions are a continued influence. What we do and give to the Sangha directly affects others of the Sangha. What we bring, what we contribute, how we show up all impacts how the Sangha manifests, and thus how it is experienced by everyone else, and what will endure into the future.
Therefore, as a Sangha, we should be aware of how we each practice Sangha. If we imagined for a second what our Sangha will look like in another 20-25 years, we can imagine many different scenarios. One of which may be that we don’t survive as a community. One may be that we are larger, more cohesive, more empowered, influential, supportive, cooperative. However, both situations are dependent on each member.
We can mutually benefit each other. We are benefitted by those who laid the groundwork before us, and we can honor and show gratitude for that by benefiting those after us. Our actions can always be felt and in fact, live on in how the Sangha manifests. With those beneficial actions, our impact can grow.
As a group, we can create greater change. We can put more energy into our own religious programming – like retreats, classes, and social support network – into social welfare movements, local community development, environmental policy improvements, interfaith dialogue, political reform, etc. The way in which we are in our Sangha reflects how we are in our world. There are much greater implications of what can be done through our actions to not only benefit our own community, but how we benefit all sentient beings.
As a Sangha, we have already caused great things, however what I would pose as an open-ended question is: how can we cause even greater things?
As the Gyo came to a close this year, I am left with a tremendous amount of hope. And looking at the world around us, it seems that we all may need some of that hope; a hope of something better. But it is not enough to wait around for it. It is dependent upon us as a Sangha to practice and strive diligently, together. To practice what it is to be a Sangha.
I am so grateful for our community and am excited to see what we are capable of achieving.
Be well and Gassho. . . Koshin