Editor’s note: The BCA’s Archives-Historic Preservation Committee (AHPC) is highlighting the Minister’s Assistant (MA) program. Two members of AHPC, Cynthia Mee of Midwest Buddhist Temple, Ph.D., and Rev. Dr. Jean-Paul Contreras deGuzman of San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, have agreed to share their unique paths and experiences as MAs. The Wheel of Dharma published Part I and Part II of Cynthia Mee’s path as a MA in the September and October 2024 issues, respectively. We are honored to publish Rev. Dr. Jean-Paul Contreras deGuzman’s article this month.
During the Tokudo ordination ceremony I was privileged to participate in at Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto, Japan, on Dec. 15, 2023, I could feel tears well upon my eyes.
Shrouded in darkness, pierced only by the light of a few Onaijin lamps, hearing the smooth sway of our robes as we rose and sat, before me I could see my fellow ministerial aspirants and, of course, Gomonshu-sama.
Though not physically there, I could feel the presence of countless individuals standing right behind me: family and loved ones, friends and confidants, teachers and mentors, those living and those reborn in the Pure Land.
As I felt their presence, those tears emerged as this experience brought to light just how much I have received in my lifetime, and lifetimes before it, that allowed me to live in that moment. Those tears, in part, sprang from the great sense of humility that I felt reflecting on just how much I have benefited from the dynamic working of Great Compassion and that I could never even begin to repay it.
Crediting BCA’s MAP
I never anticipated the path that led to that moment, but I am confident that I could not have experienced that chilly evening in Kyoto without the BCA’s Minister’s Assistant Program (MAP). Like many others, I entered the MAP out of, perhaps, a selfish desire to learn more about our Jodo Shinshu tradition, from doctrine and ritual, and how Shinran’s teachings have sustained generations of followers from the turmoil of medieval Japan to these often hostile shores. With open hearts and arms, Rev. Patricia Kanaya Usuki and the Sangha of the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple (SFVHBT) in Pacoima welcomed me and my abundant questions. As a convert, I had many.
Over time, Rev. Patti, as we all affectionately call her, directed me to the Jodo Shinshu Correspondence Course and offered me the generous opportunity to serve as her Minister’s Assistant (MA). I gained valuable knowledge of the doctrinal lineages and foundations that shaped Jodo Shinshu as we know it, while learning about ministerial duties from the craft of setting up a precise Onaijin to the art of thoughtful Dharma messages.
As a Minister’s Assistant, I also had multiple occasions to learn more about our Sangha and how they lived the teachings through their own lives.
Over abundantly apportioned otoki plates or shifts at mochitsuki, I heard the tales of families who survived the ravages of discrimination and wartime dislocation through what they felt was the sustaining power of the infinite wisdom and compassion that we call Amida Buddha. I learned of ministers who ventured across difficult terrain to share the Dharma in language schools, homes, and a community center long before the beautiful temple I knew of was built. Nurtured by their abiding belief in Buddhism, they built enduring communities and institutions. These were people who embodied the spirit of gratitude and loving kindness that buoyed them through the ebb and flow of life.
In time, I was eligible to become a Certified Minister’s Assistant and attend MAP workshops. The first session I attended at Orange County Buddhist Church was as intimidating as it was empowering. I felt out of place in part because a large number of participants were part of a cohort that had just received Tokudo. In other words, they sure knew how to chant! But, I also got to hear the Dharma from entirely new voices and encounter Jodo Shinshu followers who were lifelong Buddhists and those who, like me, had been raised in an entirely different spiritual community. I met those for whom the liberatory power of Amida Buddha was an intimately individual experience and those who were guided by that infinite wisdom to try and repair the harm of this mundane world. With my new Dharma friends, I became exposed to even more intricacies of our teachings and learned to express our gratitude for them through rituals that have transcended time and space.
Pandemic’s Impact
Then, the world as we knew it melted away as we entered the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though I missed the rhythms of the year that the pandemic suspended, an unanticipated consequence of the new remote world was the ability to learn the Dharma through the BCA’s Center for Buddhist Education’s YouTube presence.
In-person MAP sessions were not possible, but our newly fashioned, informal BCA online Sangha allowed me to hear from even more voices on topics from Buddhism and popular culture to the seven Pure Land Masters to the future of American Buddhism. The time at home also allowed me to begin studying at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) to deepen my grasp of the Nembutsu Dharma that continues to inspire, mystify, empower, and humble me.
Once we returned to the temple, Rev. Patti and our subsequent supervising minister, Rev. William Briones, began to entrust my fellow MA and Tokudo classmate, Rev. Stacy Readon, and I with more tasks. Now, I am thankful to learn from and support our new Resident Minister, Rev. Yukari Torii.
Sharing the Dharma
Sharing the Dharma, as I have come to comprehend, is both a joyful gift — and consequential responsibility, knowing that my message may be the first — or last — time someone may hear our teachings. Yet, I have learned that the privilege of leading a service, whether in the sutra chanting or a Dharma message, is an opportunity to earnestly share my appreciation for the benefits of the timeless reality that Shinran captured in his “Hymns of the Pure Land Masters”:
My eyes being hindered by blind passions,
I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;
Yet the great compassion, without tiring,
Illumines me always.
How grateful I am for the ineffable light that grasps someone as foolish as I and has illuminated every karmic moment that has taken me from the SFVHBT temple library to MAP sessions and IBS classes in person or online to the same hall where countless other Jodo Shinshu followers from around the world have sat in grateful reverence. For those interested in becoming a Minister’s Assistant, whether lay or ordained, please listen to the Nembutsu in your heart and be open to the unexpected yet meaningful path of learning and genuine gratitude that awaits you.
Namo Amida Butsu!
コメント