Dharma Talk
Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship
Christopher Kakuyo Sensei
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As I develop the content for our Certified Dharma Teacher course, I’ve been reflecting on what makes our fellowship unique. While many of us find inspiration in the Pure Land tradition and its teachers, we are not Shin Buddhists or any other traditional Pure Land Buddhist Sangha—nor do we claim to be. The Dobokai Movement within Shin Buddhism has significantly influenced us, yet we remain a trans-sectarian community rather than a Pure Land sangha. So, what exactly are we?
We are a fellowship of seekers exploring the Way of the Buddha. Together, we find meaning in the symbols and myths of the Pure Land. This is particularly true for the mythopoetic and archetypal figure of Buddha Amida, who represents boundless light and life. Amida embraces everything and everyone just as they are, reflecting the heart of the phrase “come as you are.”
I also want to address those who lean more toward a secular perspective—our differences may not be as significant as they seem. In many meaningful ways, science and poetry, religion, and philosophy are not at odds with each other; they are simply different languages we use to explore what it means to be human. For today’s dharma talk,
I want to start with a poem I wrote that we recite each Sunday before our chanting. Here is the poem:
Come as you are
Is the call of Buddha
Just as you are
Namu Amida Butsu
Is the invitation we give
To ourselves
To others
To all Living Beings
To the totality of our lives, just as we are.
So come, come as you are,
Attend to all and each
Namu Amida Butsu
Stop torturing yourself
With all those made-up stories
Of who you think you are
and aren’t, regardless
of who you are or
are not
Regardless
Of what you have done or
left undone
and enter the gate of boundless compassion
Namu Amida Butsu.
My writing of this poem aims to convey the significance of Namu Amida Butsu — or the nembutsu — for us and our community. I am attempting to take something from a very different place and time, Medieval Japan, and infuse its meaning and healing power in a way that resonates with our lives today.
Like much of art, poetry serves as a form of translation, an effort to articulate the inexpressible, something that transcends concept and language but exists in the heartbeat, pulse, and breath.
Over the past few months, we have explored some of the teachings contained in these verses. We will revisit them repeatedly from various perspectives at different times. Just as an open field or a hidden canyon reveals its secrets to those willing to be still in changing light, so too do the teachings of the Buddha. We examine the same teachings through the evolving context of our lives, uncovering new truths. As Gyomay Kubose Sensei has said, “truth is forever revealing itself in all forms and phases of life.”
Today I want to focus mainly on one verse from the poem,
So come as you are,
Attend to all and each
Namu Amida Butsu.
Let’s focus on the idea of “Attending to all and each.” I want to discuss this theme today.
At the heart of these words lies the essence of what we do after accepting Amida’s invitation, which we can translate as “come as we are.” We must tend to ourselves as part of the whole and recognize others as part of that whole. This is a fundamental teaching of Buddhism: spiritual friendships are essential to our journey. The refuge of the sangha, which is the third jewel of Buddhism, encompasses this entire path. We rely on one another to awaken.
One aspect that draws me to the traditional story of Amida Buddha, the archetypal figure of boundless compassion, is the theme of interdependence.
The mythic Amida Buddha makes a series of vows at the beginning of his bodhisattva career to help all beings attain supreme enlightenment. His compassion is so vast that he pledges not to achieve enlightenment and become a Buddha if even one living being does not awaken.
I cherish this story because it beautifully illustrates how we are all interconnected. To put it plainly: our awakening is dependent on one another. Amida Buddha’s enlightenment depends on our awakening. We need each other to truly wake up.
To further express this idea, I want to share a poem by Saichi, a myokonin from the Shin tradition. Myokonin were often uneducated and straightforward individuals who could convey profound spiritual truths through their words. Saichi, a carver of wooden shoes and a poet, refers to Amida Buddha as Namu Amidabutsu, and for him, there was no distinction between the two names. This poem captures the essence of our discussion.
I’m so happy, I’m so-o happy,
I’m so happy, I’m so-o happy.
Namu Amidabutsu , Namu Amidabutsu,
Namuamidabu comes to Saichi’s rescue,
Saichi rescues Namuamidabu.
That’s something else, don’t you think?
I love how Saichi and Amida rescue one another – there is no hierarchy – only interdependence. The natural outflow of this understanding of interdependence is the attending to all and each. As Emerson has written, “All are needed by each one.” So what does it mean to attend to one another and ourselves?
The English word attend comes from the 14th-century French entendre—to pay attention to stretch toward something or someone, take care of, attend, and be present with or for. At the heart of attending and tending is attention—presence.
The reciprocal invitation to “come as we are” must be more than words. When we respond to the call of Namu Amida Butsu, we extend that same invitation to ourselves, others, and our entire lives, just as they are. We demonstrate our commitment to this invitation through our presence, by showing the courage to engage repeatedly in our lives and in the lives of others. We must be willing to reveal our front and back sides, listening deeply to ourselves and others without judgment. Through this simple act, we support one another.
By accepting this reciprocal invitation and showing up, we express our aspiration to pay attention to what life is right now, in the present moment, rather than wasting energy on how life should be. By embracing all aspects of our lives as they are—including our wounds, which interact with one another—and being there for one another, we can discover the Buddha in our everyday existence. This includes attending to our joy, love, and the aspiration for healing and wholeness, as well as recognizing the many ways these elements manifest. By accepting the invitation to come just as we are, we support another person just as they are. We attend to each other amidst the ever-changing and uniquely intricate process of becoming who we are.
What makes this possible? Something about the way we hold space, the acceptance and compassion we have longed for, unfolds the intricate layers of who we believe we are. These simple words—” come as you are”—carry profound meaning. When we accept this invitation, we experience an opening, a softening of boundaries, and a natural freedom that comes from learning to let go of shame and the belief that we need to be someone other than ourselves to be loved.
This opening, this attentiveness and care for one another, reflects the essence of who we are—our innate Buddha-nature, which emerges from the phrase “come as you are – Namu Amida Butsu.” Here lies the healing energy of nembutsu. In this welcoming space, revealed by the invitation, we find the opportunity to become ourselves in each moment—an awakening, a ripening.
As the poet Rilke expressed,
“All becoming has needed me.”
My looking ripens things, and they
come toward me to meet and be met.”
Our attention, intention, and presence are essential for growth and transformation. They enable us to meet one another as we truly are, rather than through the distorted lens of societal narratives and borrowed stories that have shaped our identities.
So why do we need the Buddha’s invitation to “come as you are”? Many of us seek this reassurance; we need the Buddhas to tell us that it’s okay to be ignorant, wounded, and beautifully imperfect. It is amidst our ordinariness that we find our awakening. As Koyo Kubose Sensei writes, “Every spiritual journey begins in the dark.” In responding to this call, we can release all the narratives about who we are or are not, who we believe we should be, and the burdens of our past actions or inactions.
At the core of everything is this invitation; in a practical sense, anything can serve as a teacher, a bodhisattva. Even darkness and challenges can become Buddhas, guiding us toward awakening. Our complicated lives can also be gifts that lead to enlightenment. We have heard the call, and our initial steps may be tentative and prolonged. The first step is to accept, nurture, and embrace our lives just as they are. However, this acceptance is not passive; it is the opposite.
This form of acceptance does not excuse apathy, nihilism, or harmful behavior. It does not justify an abuser’s actions. Instead, it may involve a heart-wrenching realization that my partner is abusive and that I need to leave, or that I am a perpetrator and need to seek help.
The hardest part is accepting our wounded selves. Whatever we are running from inside needs our attention, intention, and presence; it longs for our compassion. This invitation creates a space where I can nurture my darker and wounded sides, knowing that I am embraced and will never be abandoned just as I am. Because of this understanding, we can finally address what needs attention and begin to embrace our inner wholeness.
Carl Jung once said, “I would rather be whole than good.” This sentiment embodies what it means to reach the Pure Land. We do not go to the Pure Land because we are good; rather, we go because we are whole—whole in the compassion of Amida Buddha. The Pure Land represents all of us gathering in an open field, a place beyond the concepts of good and evil, as described in one of Rumi’s poems. The Pure Land exists beyond these judgments.
As D.T. Suzuki wrote,
“As far as Amida is concerned, he is all love; there is no thought in him of punishing anybody. Such discriminative judgments do not exist within him. He is like the sun in this respect, shining on both the unjust and the just. A sinner comes to the Pure Land with all their sins, or rather, they leave them behind in the world where they belong. When they arrive in the Pure Land, they stand in their nakedness, free from sinful burdens. Karma does not pursue them into the Pure Land.”
When we attend to ourselves and others, we take the journey into all the places we have hidden our suffering and woundedness from view and bring it as an offering to the Buddhas. This tending to one another is not so much a needing someone to go with you or of you needing to go with someone, but it is the knowledge that someone is there, without judgment, waiting for you to return with open arms.
This acceptance leads us toward wholeness, healing, and awakening. As Gyomay Kubose Sensei has taught, acceptance is transcendence; it grants us freedom. This journey toward acceptance is our pilgrimage. I resonate with the words of Philip Chircop:
“On our pilgrimage toward wholeness, in a gentle act of hospitality, we are challenged and invited to name and welcome all the bruised and broken pieces of our marvelous and beautiful story. In the process, we gradually integrate all the different voices within us that compete for attention, learning to love from the unity of voices that we are.”
However, I want to add a word of caution. Many of us were raised, intentionally or unintentionally, to be caretakers. As caretakers, we must be vigilant because we often have a tendency to prioritize others’ feelings while neglecting our own. As Dr. Margaret Paul teaches, avoiding our feelings is a way of avoiding responsibility for them, as we attempt to fill the void of our self-abandonment.
Coming as we are is the first step on our pilgrimage toward wholeness; it is the invitation from Buddha and all Buddhas. By responding to the call of Namu Amida Butsu—come as we are—we begin to cultivate our attention and capacity for presence. Namu Amida Butsu is a call to be truly alive.
At times, I find myself on autopilot, forgetting that I am living a life. This is where regular meditation practice proves beneficial. Cultivating our intention and capacity to be present helps us avoid living merely on the surface of things. As essayist Maria Popova has written, to fully experience life’s journey, we must befriend our attention. Befriending our attention requires intention. However, simple attention is not sufficient. Much of our habitual attention often does not focus on what truly needs healing. Typically, our default attention is not intentional but rather habitual and unconscious, serving a narrative we tell ourselves.
In his book *Naikan*, Gregg Kretch writes: “How often is our attention wasted on judging, criticizing, and correcting others while we neglect to examine and learn from our own lives?” We often use our attention to justify or validate our own narratives. The type of attention we are discussing is intentional, self-reflective, honest, humble, and straightforward—yet not self-centered or self-absorbed. Kretch further states: “Our attention is our life. Shifting our attention opens us to reality and reveals what has always been there.” The process of shifting our habitual attention toward intention and presence is at the core of what we mean by attending and tending. A crucial aspect of this is developing the capacity to hold space within paradox.
Andrew McAlister explores this concept in one of his essays, discussing the coexistence of our woundedness, shame, and self-loathing alongside our essential goodness. Embracing ourselves as we are allows us to hold both of these experiences at the same time.
He writes,
“Something deep in us says we are not good, that we don’t deserve to be good. And yet, the more we practice attending to the depths of us, the more our already given goodness is lavished upon us.
As attention on the mantra (ours would be namu Amida butsu (added)) is deepened, clarified, and focused (thanks to a regular practice) the paradox that woundedness and essential goodness experienced together becomes, over time, resolved.”
This quote reminds me of these lines,
So stop torturing yourself
with all those made-up stories
of who you think you are
and are not, regardless of who
you are or are not, regardless
of what you have done
or have left undone
and enter the gate of boundless compassion.
Come as you are is an invitation for us to tend the garden of our hearts in the refuge of the dharma and the sangha and the boundless compassion of Amida Buddha.
I appreciate this from Jack Kornfield,
“You have in you the seeds of great compassion, the seeds of wisdom and care for others. Meditation then is not to make some special experience, but it is to learn how to tend the garden of the heart and to water the seeds of kindness and presence in your own heart.”
Namu Amida Butsu.
Let us attend to each other
to our lives.
to all of life,
as it is, as you are
Right here
Right now.
I find such great joy in this.
I want to close with this poem from Saichi.
How fine!
The whole world and vastness of space is Buddha!
And I am in it–
“Namu-Amida-Butsu!”
“