So this past Sunday I had my Faithful Fools meeting and I found myself wondering what "guidance" to give to someone who has been out of work, out of medicine (needed for diabetes), and living in welfare hotels via the city for the past few years. This person has been committed to coming and doing meditation with me for the past few months and though she chants Odaimoku with me and is pretty good at following along when we do gongyo she tells me that she really gets nothing out of that.
So before anyone else says it, yes, I mostly listen to where she is at. A lot of our discussion sessions consist of me asking her how she is doing, what is happening, and her telling me about her daily struggles, the classes she is taking in graphic design at city college (she showed me some of her work which looks quite good to my untrained eye), the medicine she needs, etc. She does not ever ask me for money or help outside of my providing a space to sit quietly and talk about life and the Dharma. So this is not a matter of me trying to foist something on her or not listening. I mention this because people seem to assume that I don't know how to listen or that I just spout the Pali Canon or Lotus Sutra at people regardless of their circumstances.
Many times I will share stories or teachings from Buddhism that might be relevant, but mostly I respond to people's questions, whether this woman's or those of other people who have stopped in.
I do try to talk about the power of Odaimoku and the Lotus Sutra. But it seems incredibly lame to me to tell homeless people that they should just chant to get a job or a home, or the drugs they need (prescription that is), or to feel better about their situation. It feels doubly lame since I am living quite comfortably myself.
So should we Nichiren Buddhists tell the homeless to just chant about it? Is that enough? Is that considerate or even compassionate? Will the Odaimoku enable people to get a job, and housing, and the medicine they need, and their health and dignity back?
Since I am going kind of stream of consciousness here, I'll share this image that just jumps to mind of Jesus being mobbed by beggars, lepers, and the handicapped in Jesus Christ Superstar all trying to get him to save them. He finally shouts, "Heal yourselves!" and they all fall away. I don't feel anywhere close to be being overwhelmed like that, but I do think people need to heal themselves and stop looking for a savior or some kind of external magic.
So my answer is that the Odaimoku is not magical (though perhaps magickal but let's leave that aside for a moment) but is the bottom line of all the Buddha's teachings - and that bottom line is that we have the power to heal ourselves, our neighbors, and our environment. But we must have faith in ourselves and faith in the true nature of ourselves and all things - which we call the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Teaching.
We must stop undermining our lives by thinking I am worthless, or we are worthless, or they are worthless, or this situation is worthless. We must stop looking for security in those things which can never deliver the kind of permanent safety, contentment, or satisfaction we are looking for. There is nothing in this world that is exempt from the three marks of impermanence, loss, and lack of stability. This is not something only Buddhist teach, it is clearly in the Bible. The book of Ecclesiastes is a good statement of this.
So what should we decicate ourselves to, if job, family, home, basic medical care, and even our own health and sanity are far from guaranteed? What is it which is beyond birth and death, beyond unstable conditions? Where do we direct our devotion to an ultimate concern (which is what the word Namu conveys)?
The Wonderful Dharma is what Buddhism proposes. The Wonderful Dharma means the Sublime Truth, the Wondrous True Nature of Reality, the Ineffable, the Ungraspeable, The Unconditional Source of Loving-Kindness and Compassion, the Unborn, the Deathless, the Mystic Law, the Unsurpassed Truth which is not a person, but is not merely impersonal. Why is there something rather than nothing? Because there is a Wonderful Dharma. Or as some have put it, all phenomena are not empty and meaningless, but rather empty and marvelous.
This Sublime Truth manifests itself in our lives like a lotus flower blossoming in a muddy swamp. We sometimes only see mud and defilement, frustration, disappointment, corruption. But it is from this that the lotus flower takes its nutriment and in the midsts of all this, untainted by it, that it blossoms. From our lives just as they are it is possible to awaken to a life of selfless love and compassion and to face our circumstances with renewed hope and a sense of meaning. Just as the lotus flower seeds and blossoms at the same time we become able to manifest seeds of insight and compassion and just in doing that there is a blossoming, it is the effort itself that makes life worthwhile.
Finally, this is what all the teachings of the Buddha are leading us to, this is what all of life is expressing, once we have the ears of faith to hear it. The "sutra" or "thread of discourse" is the thread of our own lives.
We chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo as a way of calling all this to mind and heart. I don't think lip service alone is enough. We must really be calling it into our heart and mind. Maybe this will be done silently or in other words or formulations. But the point of it must take root in us and come to flower. Certainly I think it is very efficacious to chant the Odaimoku out loud with others, but the point of it should not be missed. We must not be like those who Nichrien regards as "praising the sutra with their lips while slandering it in their hearts."
So this is some of what we discussed at Faithful Fools. Recognizing that babbling in Sino-Japanese was not a meaningful practice by her admission, I explained the point of it as I saw it. I shared my hope that she might as least contemplate its meaning and if recalling the sound of the Odaimoku to see that it carries the blessings and merits of her dedication and her own wisdom and her own compassion, and those things she feels in touch with when she is able to sit quietly in the peace of the Faithful Fools meditation hall. Perhaps this power and blessing and merit will open doors that seemed close, or will challenge underlying bad attitudes that she told me she had which were perhaps blocking her path. This is, of course, shakabuku, to "break and subdue" the false thinking, bad attitudes, and destructive tendencies and habit-patterns that hold us back. Through our practice we clear the way for something finer and for a sense of the unconditional love, light, life, and liberty that is buddhahood.
So those were some of the thoughts I shared at Faithful Fools on Sunday night in light of the struggles, frustrations, and setbacks faced by at least one homeless woman in San Francisco.
So, what would you say? Do the sick and homeless just need to chant about it?
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
[copy of my response at NichirenShuBuddhism Yahoo group]
Personally, I would say one must do as you have done, and treat each individual as an individual with individual problems and issues. I don't think a blanket statement as above can be made with any sort of accuracy.
Some of our sangha attended a talk by a Soto Zen monk, Claude Anshin Thomas, who is also a Viet Nam War vet. He does a practice where he goes and lives among the homeless for a week at a time, talking to, living with, and meditating with them. He mentioned the high percentages of homeless (men) who are vets, especially from the Viet Nam War. These men will obviously have certain issues in common, but will also have their own individual issues above and beyond the
common ones.
I have had experiences with persons having mental disorders who were also chanting. When on their medication, things were fine. When off, bizarre things often happened. I have read that a fair
percentage of homeless folks may be in need of (or not wanting to take) medications for similar mental disorders (if there's a better term for this, please let me know). Odaimoku can help a person with such a disorder, but not to the exclusion of medication, at least in my experience. What it can do for someone who does not wish to take meds, or can't afford a steady supply, is not an easy question.
I think these are societal issues, which require more than just a religious practice response, however effective said religious practice may be. A catch-all phrase, whether religious or not, isn't going to solve these problems.
Namaste, Engyo Mike Barrett
Ryuei:
Will power, wise actions, and prayer will help homeless people. I have ministered to the homeless many times. Their homelessness is usually no accident, but in many cases a result of poor choices. Once they are down and out, it is very difficult to undo that. If they're getting government aid, even more so. Lacking medical coverage and being unable to obtain medicine is one of the big problems facing American society today - however, no matter how destitute one is, medical care, treatment, and perscription medicine are obtainable through various programs.
I told such people to chant and to aspire beyond being a professionally disabled or subsidised person. Even when pointed in the right direction, virtually everyone I advised in that situation continued down their path of stalmate and loss. As the old saying goes, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink."
Homelessness, lack of medical care, and destitution are severe problems. You teach them to chant and give them advice, and you hope for the best, but aware that those people took a long time for their lives to become stalemated - it will take a long time to reverse their actions and decision making processes. Daimoku helps that a lot, but it occured to me along the way that it was no accident how they got to where they were.
Charles
Posted by: Charles at May 25, 2005 01:04 PMFor me, chanting and meditation and mindfulness all put me in a centered, receptive, creative space where the "right things" seem to happen at the "right time." However, it's up to me to PAY ATTENTION and to then TAKE ACTION. When I am not in a head space to pay attention and take action, no amount of daimoku is going to wake me up and change the direction of my life. However, at the same time, I usually don't spend much time chanting or meditating when I'm NOT open to waking up. So can chanting help someone who is homeless? Maybe. Maybe not, unless they are also able to pay attention to the doors that begin to open, and then take the action needed to walk through them.
Having said that... I have often thought that the mere effort of chanting could, indeed, be the incentive to change someone's life. I heard an amazing experience shared at the New Year's SGI gathering this year. A boy had been a violent gang member, on his way down the tubes of society. He was introduced to Nichiren Buddhism, and because he really, deeply needed someone to take him under his or her wing, he listened to the older Japanese woman who said, "You must come to my house every morning at 6 a.m. to chant." He did, and slowly but surely his life changed (or rather, he changed his life). Was it the chanting? Or was it the discipline? Was it the attention and guidance? Or was it realizing there was another, better way to live?
I don't think his life would have changed if he had just sat alone in his room and chanted. But the combination of everything that transpired worked for him. (Today he is a successful musician.)
Queen Lolo
Hi Lolo,
Your point is right on in my opinion. The human factor makes all the difference. At one point I drove a homeless veteran to chanting sessions which he said made him feel 'visible' again. I think just the fact that someone sits with us and believes a better life for us is possible reflects in our self awareness. It's the real Buddhist response to someone in need...seeing the person instead of the problem.
Homeless people have usually run through the support systems (family, friends) which most of us rely on for a reflection of who we are. This is something we don't appreciate until it's gone, I think.
So, the fact that Rev Ryuei is there every Sunday night may be one of the few constant human contacts in this woman's life.
To tell a homeless person to 'just chant' is IMO,
not a caring act. Sitting with them, listening and chanting with them would be of more help and is how I'd expect a practicing Buddhist person to respond.
With palms together, Patty
Patty,
And you know... I think that in addition to the human factor, having to personally and actively DO SOMETHING, such as chant, or walk every day, or WHATEVER, can also bring about a tremendous change. My husband (who isn't a Buddhist) calls it "shifting the energy." I believe chanting works, in part, because it requires sustained physical effors. That alone can change a person. That alone can energize and wake us up.
Lolo
Hi again,
I really like your husbands description of "shifting energy". It's a good description.
I know some evenings I've been so caught up in work that it's 9 or 10 before I recite the sutra and chant. As I light the incense and offer my opening prayers there's a "shifting of energy" from my own little realm of influence to the ceremony that goes beyond place and time. I guess you can say my energy shifts from the everyday to the timeless.
Most of the time this is a transforming experience. The 'energy shift' reminds me why I continue to practice Buddhism. And, I'm able to take the ceremony with me to make my immediate environment a 'purer land'.
Not sure if I get the same transcendence from gardening or walking the dogs. Some days I do. It's just that I almost always come away from my altar, well... altered!
Stay well, Patty
Patty wrote: "I almost always come away from my altar, well... altered!" I love that!
Lolo
Michael: The reading I have been doing on Buddhism has given me a sort of different POV on homelessness. In Shakymuni's day, it was OK to be "homeless", in fct, a sign of saintliness. People who had left their homes and families in search of enlightenment were honored, in a way. But that was a whole different society - there wasa give and take between householders, who supported the mendicants, and the mendicants, who offered the teachings. Today, it's very different.
I mean, Michael, when you took your vows, wasn't there an element of "leaving home" in there somewhere?
Otherwise, my own experience with otherwise homeless people is experience with exploitation. We have a lady in our Co-op who just has a knack for attracting otherwise "homeless" people who proceed to just use her up - use her car, her money, her apartment, you name it. And I end up getting quite peeved and frustrated. Gotta gonow, Byrd in LA
Posted by: Byrd in LA at May 28, 2005 12:24 PM
Any homeless person with any sort of physical or mental handicap should immediately:
{1} Find a real lawyer who will handle appeals on a contingency. A lawyer can make sure they get the correspondence and follow through.
{2} Apply through the Social Security Admin. for BOTH Disability & SSI.
{3} They should then apply at Public Aid for AABD-Medicaid, and Food Assistance. AABD will get them any vital medicines with no co-pay.
They should know in advance it takes up to two years and at least 2 appeals to get full SS benefits. The lawyer will pick up the case after the initial rejection and one rejected appeal. If a lawyer takes the case, they will win the 2nd appeal, almost always.
I think most people do not know how to get Social Security disability benefits. Legal assistance is needed or they will be screwed over.
In many cases, they lose Fully Insured Worker status by not applying & appealing properly. This is a shame, because SSA is a benefit paid for via the payroll tax. It is not a welfare benefit any more than the old age benefit that even the wealthy collect.
Even then, they would quality for Supplemental Security Income {SSI}. Also, they can back date the application. {I do not recall how far}.
And in most cases they have earned the benefits -- if they have held a job within 3 years of first developing the symptoms that prevented them from doing jobs available in the community.