Below is the personal remembrance that I gave at Greg Dilley's memorial this past Sunday:
The founder of Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Daishonin wrote to one of his followers upon hearing that the brother of that follower had died, "...until now I thought it was something I had dreamed, a mere dream, an illusion. I doubted that it could be true - a mistake, a false report, I thought." This is exactly how I felt when I heard the new about Greg Dilley’s passing.
I have known Greg for about five years now. I still remember the subject line of his first email to me: "Zen Heretics are destined for Hell!" I remember sighing and debating whether to just delete it or give in to my curiosity to see what this bit of over the top rhetoric was all about. Fortunately, my curiosity got the better of me and I opened it to find that Greg was just pulling my leg. The email actually contained a serious offer. Prior to receiving that email I had been blogging on a Nichiren Buddhist website with several other Nichiren Buddhist bloggers, but that site had come to an end for various reasons. Greg decided to step in and give the bloggers from that site a new forum called fraught-with-peril. He wanted to know if I wanted to join them. And that is how Greg recruited me for one of the many endeavors by which he successfully brought people together.
Greg’s dream, as I understood it, was that this would be a forum wherein the many different voices of the online Nichiren community could come together and be heard. That dream was fulfilled, and fraught-with-peril continues to this day with bloggers covering a wide spectrum of the Nichiren Buddhist practitioners in North America of various affiliations and non-affiliations. Greg really took to heart Nichiren Daishonin’s guidance concerning the unity of all those who uphold the Lotus Sutra and chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo:
"All disciples and lay supporters of Nichiren should chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo with the spirit of many in body but one in mind, transcending all differences among themselves to become as inseparable as fish and the water in which they swim. This spiritual bond is the basis for the universal transmission of the ultimate Dharma of life and death." (WND 1, p. 217)
Now it is 2008 and fraught-with-peril is still going strong and seems to be widely read. I occasionally discover that our blogs are referenced by other Buddhist blog sites on the web and even by those associated with Tricycle. I am honored to be part of it, and very glad be part of the community that Greg brought together.
After fraught-with-peril was up and running I had the opportunity to actually meet Greg and his family in person at the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple for our New Years service and party in 2005. For the next few years we would meet like this at New Years, and each time I really enjoyed the chance to talk with someone as enthusiastic, engaging, and concerned as Greg was in regard to the teaching, practice, and growth of Nichiren Buddhism. My wife got a chance to meet Greg this past New Years and she was very impressed by him. She told me that she had found Greg and Nancy to both be very warm-hearted and such good listeners. On that occasion, Greg even had a photo album from his last visit to Japan. It turns out that he had been in Chiba, Japan and had visited Hondoji Temple, which is a very important temple in Nichiren Shu, and some Shinto shrines in the area. The funny thing about this was the head minister of Hondoji is actually the son of the founder of the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple. I later found out that Greg had been visiting the San Jose Nichiren Buddhist Temple back in the late 80’s and early 90's, long before I showed up there. So it would appear that Greg had a great causal affinity with the lineage that I am a part of. It is funny that we met online first, but I like to think that the causes were such that it was inevitable that we would meet and become friends as fellow disciples of Nichiren Daishonin.
Only two weeks before Greg’s passing, my daughter and I headed out the door to see a movie in Japan-town in San Francisco. As we ran down the street I ran right by Nancy and Kaela. My daughter, though, looked back and pointed them out to me. I called out to them and found out that Greg and Leila were looking at a Zen rock garden just nearby. We got to spend a few minutes saying hello and taking about the various goings-on at fraught-with-peril and then made plans to talk later some more. Little did I know it would be my last chance to see him, and how strange that Greg just happened to be in Japan-town San Francisco and that I would just be passing by where he was at that moment. I have my daughter to thank of course for being so observant. Looking back on this it really makes me appreciate how precious each moment really is that we have with friends, family, and loved ones. I am told that one of Greg’s favorite lines from the gosho was this one: "time passes as quickly as a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall." (WND, p. 99) This is how fleeting our time here is, and our moments with each other. This is something else that I think Greg deeply appreciated, or so it seemed to me from the brief occasions that I had to be spend time with him. I certainly value those moments, as did all who met him at the San Jose Temple and the online fraught-with-peril community.
Hi everyone,
Below is the "Buddhist Perspective" that I gave at the memorial service for Greg Dilley this past Sunday at the SGI's community center in Silicon Valley. This will include the parts that I edited out for the the actual talk, those parts are in italics:
Nichiren Daishonin wrote many letters of condolence and many letters dealing with the crucial issue of life and death. In one letter he wrote: "Once a person is born that person must die - wise men and foolish, eminent and lowly alike all know this to be a fact. Therefore one should not be grieved and alarmed by a person’s death; I know it to be so and teach others to do likewise. And yet when something like this actually happens, I wonder if it is not a dream or an illusion." (WND 2, p. 887)
Nichiren knew very well the Buddhist perspective that life and death are two phases of the Wonderful Dharma, what we call Myo Ho - the sublime or wondrous nature of all phenomena. We usually measure life and death by things that arise and fall due to causes and conditions, things that have a beginning and an end such as our physical forms and mental and emotional states. The changing nature of interdependent causes and conditions is one side, but the other side is the unconditioned true nature of which the passing changes are the superficial expression. The reality of our lives is this Wonderful Dharma that manifests both birth and death but is actually the unconditioned, unborn and deathless true nature of reality. In a key passage from chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha said of his perspective on this triple world of desires, passing forms, and formlessness: "All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is. I see that the triple world is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear; that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which I do not disappear; that it is not real or unreal; and that it is not as it seems or as it does not seem. I do not see the triple world in the same way [as the living of] the triple world do. I see all this clearly and infallibly."
We are each of us, in life and in death, expressions of the unconditioned true nature that transcends birth and death. This true nature we name after the sutra or scripture that awakens us to it - the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra, in Japanese: Myoho Renge Kyo. We express our faith and conviction that this is so by chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo - "Devotion to the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra." In this regard, Nichiren wrote: “Shakyamuni Buddha who attained enlightenment countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Buddhahood, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant Myoho Renge Kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Dharma of life and death. This is a matter of the utmost importance for Nichiren’s disciples and lay supporters, and this is what it means to embrace the Lotus Sutra." (WND 1, p. 216)
And yet, Nichiren Daishonin knew that the rather lofty perspective of the Buddha and all the doctrinal explanations of Buddhist philosophizing fall rather flat when a family member, loved one, or good friend is suddenly taken away from us. I honestly couldn't bear to read them now to you, but there are many passages in Nichiren's writings where he expresses his understanding of the shock and loneliness that those left behind feel. In light of this, Nichiren Daishonin began to convey his understanding of the vision of the reality that transcends birth and death in terms of the pure land of Eagle Peak. Eagle Peak is where Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Lotus Sutra, and in the Lotus Sutra it is the scene of a huge assembly that takes place beyond time and space as we normally understand it wherein the truth is revealed fully to all beings. The pure land of Eagle Peak is conveyed warmly and poetically but it is ultimately a state of awakening where we all meet one another in truth. As Nichiren Daishonin wrote: "The way of attaining Buddhahood is just like this. Though we live in the impure land, our hearts reside in the pure land of Eagle Peak. Merely seeing each other’s faces would in itself be insignificant. It is the heart that is important. Someday let us meet at Eagle Peak, where Shakyamuni Buddha dwells." (WND 1, p. 949)
To a woman who had sent him offerings for a prayer service for her late husband Nichiren Daishonin wrote: "Surely your late husband is in the pure land of Eagle Peak, listening and watching over this Saha world day and night. You, his wife, and your children have only mortal sense, so you cannot see or hear him, but be assured that you will eventually be reunited [on Eagle Peak]." (WND 1, p. 456)
What kind of place is this pure land of Eagle Peak, this state beyond birth and death? How do we reach it? How do we awaken to it? Nichiren explains to one of his lay followers: "As a lay believer, the important thing for you is to chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo single-mindedly and to provide support for the Sangha. And if we go by the words of the Lotus Sutra, you should also teach the sutra to the best of your ability. When the world makes you feel downcast, you should chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, remembering that, although the sufferings of this life are painful, those in the next life could be much worse. And when you are happy, you should remember that you happiness in this life is nothing but a dream within a dream, and that the only true happiness is that found in the pure land of Eagle Peak, and with that thought in mind, chant Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. Continue your practice without backsliding until the final moment of your life, and when that time comes, behold! When you climb the mountain of perfect enlightenment and gaze around you in all directions, then to your amazement you will see that the entire realm of all phenomena is the Land of Tranquil Light. The ground will be of lapis lazuli, and the eight paths will be set apart by golden ropes. Four kinds of flowers will fall from the heavens, and music will resound in the air. All Buddhas and bodhisattvas will be present in complete joy, caressed by the breezes of eternity, happiness, true self, and purity. The time is fast approaching when we too will count ourselves among their number." (WND 1, p. 761)
Each moment we live is a moment encompassing the reality of life and death. How can we meet this moment of life and death? In answer to this, Nichiren Daishonin wrote: "For one who summons up one's faith and chants Namu Myoho Renge Kyo with the profound insight that now is the last moment of one's life, as the sutra proclaims: ‘When the lives of these persons come to an end, they will be received into the hands of a thousand Buddhas, who will free them from all fear and keep them from falling into the evil paths of existence.’ How can we possibly hold back our tears at the inexpressible joy of knowing that not just one or two, not just one hundred or two hundred, but as many as a thousand Buddhas will come to greet us with open arms!" (WND 1, p. 217)
Greg lived his whole life practicing Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, living Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, and sharing Namu Myoho Renge Kyo with others. There is no doubt in my mind that a thousand Buddhas greeted him as the Lotus Sutra promises. In time, if we maintain our faith and awaken to the deathless, a thousand Buddhas will also greeted us, and one of those Buddhas is Greg.
Hi everyone,
I am very shocked and saddened to hear of my friend Greg's passing on Tuesday. When I first heard about it I thought it must be one of his jokes - but sadly it was not. I really don't know what to say or write at a time like this other than to express my shock and sadness for Greg and for his family.
A few years ago my sister-in-law passed away and my own family was touched by this kind of abrupt and tragic change. It is very wrenching.
As Nichiren Buddhists we have faith that death is not the end - that it is part of a grander scheme of the unfolding of buddhahood that goes beyond any individual birth and death. The Lotus Sutra envisions this as a grand ceremony embracing all time and space. Nichiren believed that for those who have faith in the Lotus Sutra this ceremony will become even clearer and their participation in it is gauranteed. He wrote to one woman that her deceased husband would be with her - watching from the sun and moon. This is all very poetic - but it expresses what I, we, all hope is true - that life doesn't just end it continues on and those have passed will still be present to us to help and support in their own way.
Yumi keeps asking me what happens to people when they die. I get annoyed and tell her, "I don't know. Why do you think I should know that anymore than anyone else?" She points out that I am a Buddhist minister and its my job to know. I tell her, "Well yes, I can tell you what the Buddha said about what happens to us, but that's just passing on second hand information." Granted, it's a good source and not just an idle rumor for us Buddhists. Still, I can't pretend to knoweldge I don't have. I only know that I don't know, but that as I grew up and heard all the theories it was the Buddha's teaching that made the most sense to me. It still does. So I don't know but I can hope. I can hope that death isn't the end of my friend Greg anymore than his birth was really the beginning. Greg is and always was ineffable and that this ineffable, ungraspeable reality of Greg is only apparently absent. If our faith is correct, his presence and participation in our lives, in all life, is birthless, deathless, unconditional.
Despite what my wife and some others might think, I don't think that it's my job to know or to pretend to know. I have taken it upon myself to give consideration to these things in light of the Buddha's teaching, to cultivate faith and to share whatever hope or insight I may find with others and to be open to what they have to share with me. Greg shared a lot with me, with all of us. So that too is something that it is now my role to share if I can. So I don't know where or how Greg is, but I have faith and hope that his love and care will continue to be really present for all of us - but especially for his family.
I don't know what else to say, I hope I have not said too much or too little or spoken nonsnense. But I have tried to express what is really in my heart to express now, and I offer that for what it is worth to Greg, to Nancy, Kaela and Leila, and to all Greg's friends here at fraughtwithperil and elsewhere. He will be greatly missed.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei