Reflecting 2025
Hello, OCBC Sangha! I hope everyone stays safe and well as we approach the end of this year. It’s amazing how quickly 2025 has passed—only a few weeks remain! This issue reflects on our temple’s activities throughout the year, and I’d like to express my deep appreciation for being part of the OCBC Sangha.
First, I would like to thank Mr. Bryan Furumoto for his outstanding leadership as President of the Board in 2024 and 2025. He has been an energetic and forward-thinking leader, enhancing temple communication and developing OCBC’s Instagram presence. Younger generations especially enjoy engaging with short videos that connect us beyond time and space. Through these efforts, OCBC continues both to reach inward—strengthening bonds among members—and to reach outward, welcoming future Dharma friends.
Throughout the year, during our seven special services, we were honored to welcome guest speakers from other BCA temples, Higashi Honganji, and even Japan. On November 16th, OCBC joyfully celebrated its 60th Anniversary Service, welcoming Rev. Marvin Harada, BCA Bishop. Many members gathered to share this milestone together. As part of the celebration, the Kieshiki (Affirmation Ceremony) was held, and thirty-one members received their Buddhist names, called Homyo.
From birth, each of us carries a secular name used in school, work, and society. But a Buddhist name expresses our Shin Buddhist identity—it is a name that guides us in the Dharma and accompanies us through the journey of birth and death. Our daily lives are filled with both challenges and joys, but with a solid Dharma backbone, we can always return to the Buddha-Dharma, even when we drift away. Receiving and living with a Dharma name while we are alive is profoundly meaningful.
The Essence of Shinran Shōnin’s Teaching – Jinen-hōni (自然法爾):
Watching everyone receive their Dharma name, I reflected on the essence of Shinran Shōnin’s teaching. Among many important concepts, one phrase stands out: “Jinen-hōni” (自然法爾), meaning “all things are made to be so of themselves.”
“Ji (自)” means “of itself”—not through our calculation.
“Nen (然)” means “to be made so,” signifying the working of the Tathagata’s Vow.
“Hōni (法爾)” refers to being made so through the working of Amida’s heart and mind to spiritually liberate all beings.
Shinran was eighty-eight years old when he expressed this realization of ultimate truth. (CWS I, pp. 427–428)
In everyday Japanese, the word 自然 (shizen) means “nature.” We think of mountains, rivers, trees, flowers—the beautiful world around us. But Shinran used the same characters differently, reading them as jinen. Jinen does not mean “nature” in the usual sense, but rather, “things as they become of themselves.” For Shinran, this expresses the spontaneous working of Amida Buddha’s great compassion. Liberation and awakening do not occur through our effort or calculation—they arise because the Dharma is already at work, guiding us, without our control.
A simple metaphor helps illustrate this. Imagine a garden. We can plant seeds and pull weeds, but we cannot force a flower to bloom. Blooming happens naturally—when sunlight, water, and soil come together. That is shizen, the natural process of growth. Yet, when we look deeper, we realize: the seed does not choose to bloom, nor do we make it bloom by will. It blooms jinen—of itself—through a greater working beyond our control. Likewise, our spiritual awakening unfolds through Amida’s Vow, embracing us just as we are.
Jinen-hōni and “Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold”:
The expression “Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold” appears in Shinran Shōnin’s Essentials of Faith Alone (Yuishinshōmoni, CWS I, pp. 459–469):
“Bits of rubble change into gold” - This is a metaphor. When we entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s Primal Vow, we, who are like bits of tile and pebbles, are turned into gold—grasped and never abandoned by the Tathagata’s Light. Know that this comes about solely through true shinjin. We speak of the light that grasps because we are taken into the heart of the Buddha of Unhindered Light; thus, shinjin is said to be diamondlike.”
Shinran drew this metaphor from the Chinese master Hui-jih. He realized that true spiritual liberation arises through genuine entrusting (shinjin) in the working of the true and real. It is not achieved by self-effort or willpower but through the transformation that occurs when we abandon self-will and are embraced by Amida’s working. Through this transformation, we are freed from the bondage of samsaric life. Even while living with human afflictions, we are simultaneously illuminated by the unobstructed light that grasps us.
Rev. Dr. Taitetsu Unno beautifully explains this phrase:
“Foolish beings are the primary concern of Amida, and it is upon them that the flooding light of boundless compassion shines, eventually bringing about a radical transformation in life—from hopeless to hopeful, darkness to light, ignorance to enlightenment, bits of rubble to gold.” (Shin Buddhism, 2002, p.15)
This, indeed, is the experience of Shin Buddhists.
As We Hear the Nembutsu:
When we hear the Nembutsu—“Namo Amida Butsu”—let us remember:
Shizen reminds us to appreciate the natural beauty of the world around us.
Jinen reminds us to entrust ourselves to the compassionate working that carries us, like the seed that blooms of itself.
Nothing is a hindrance to our spiritual transformation.
I wish all of you a joyful holiday season, living together under the Light of Wisdom.
Gassho,
Namo Amida Butsu
