Vol. 2, Issue 3

FEATURED ARTICLE - FIRST STEPS
yourself— you haven’t developed new perceptions and
understandings yet. When the Dharma talk was given,
my mind immediately thought of the sermons I grew up
hearing from our Priest and then later the Pastor. The
message, however, was very different. The person giving
the talk spoke about impermanence and the constant
changes we experience in life. It was a word I had recently
heard in a counseling session and had come to over and
over again reading “Living Buddha, Living Christ” as
assigned to me by said therapist. But for me, what really
stood out was what had occurred before the talk ever
began. From the moment of entering the temple and
meeting the people to the moment we began chanting,
everything was a blur. I’m not sure those memories
could ever be retrieved—there were just too many new
things happening. When the chanting started however,
something inside me stirred, and I became emotional—
so much so that several tears seemed to appear out of
nowhere and trickle down my face. I remember trying to
When the chanting started however,
something inside me stirred, and I became
emotional—so much so that several tears
seemed to appear out of nowhere and trickle
down my face.
wipe them away, hoping my wife had not seen but instead
she leaned over and asked me if I was okay.
When service ended, we declined heading to the
basement for a snack. It was too much to take in at once,
but it was promising that several people extended the
invitation. This added to the feeling of being welcomed
while also being able to easily leave without feeling
pressured. Instead, we headed across the street to our local
coffee shop and digested our experience. My wife again
inquired about my tearful response, and I still couldn’t
put into words what had happened. But, I was able to
understand enough about myself that I knew I wanted
to return and see what Buddhism was all about. At this
point in our life and marriage, I think my wife would have
encouraged me to join just about anything because she
was worried about the way things were heading not just in
my life but our marriage as well. As incentive, she offered
to attend service with me three more times to continue
checking it out and get comfortable going alone. Eight
years later, she is the Temple’s Board President and has
her own Buddhist path that she walks.
In hindsight, looking back at my emotional encounter
with chanting, I can finally register what I feel happened
for me in that moment. In Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, we
discuss the embrace of Amida Buddha, the Buddha of
infinite Wisdom and Compassion. In Japanese there is a
term, Nyorai no chokumei, which means, “Amida Buddha
is summoning us with the Name.” It is a command. But
when we say “I take refuge” we might be tempted to think
of ourselves doing something- and how could we not, the
first word we encounter in English is I. Where this can
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