Message on
the Completion of the Inner Altar Restoration of the Hall of Amida Buddha at Hongwanji
Nearly 800 years have passed since Shinran Shonin established the Jodo Shinshu teaching through clarifyingthat the Primal Vow of Amida Tathagata is the aspiration for saving all living beings. In transmitting this teachingover many generations, the Hongwanji Temple was founded as the fundamental gathering place for those who
appreciate Amida Buddha’s working through the recitation of the nembutsu. It has been carefully maintained as thecenter for appreciating the teaching to the present day by all nembutsu followers of the Hongwanji community
throughout the world.
The present main worship hall, the Hall of Amida Buddha, was erected in 1760. After 200 years following its
construction, the roof had deteriorated, and so the structure underwent a grand-scale restoration over five and a halfyears, commencing in 1979, which included re-roofing work and the installation of disaster-prevention facilities.
The latest renovation, which began in August 2017, is scheduled to be completed in March 2022. For this project, avariety of decorations of the inner altar as well as the Yoma and San’noma side rooms are undergoing substantial
refurbishment, and other repair and recoloring restoration work is being carefully carried out.
Through this restoration, we are able to pass down to the next generation this precious space for receiving theDharma, as well as preserving an important cultural asset that was established, maintained, and cherished by ourforebears. I am truly grateful that we are able to complete this great undertaking thanks to the tangible and intangible
support and contribution from all of you, as well as the financial aid for cultural properties from the Japanese
government. All of this was made possible under the guidance of the Buddha and Masters.
As human beings, we are unable to realize the true reality of everything around us, as Śākyamuni Buddha
expounded through his teachings, namely, impermanence, no-self, and dependent origination. We are unable to see
things as they are because of our own self-oriented mind, which traps us in constant suffering. The compassion ofAmida Tathagata looks upon us with sorrow and benevolently embraces us. Being illuminated in the Light of theBuddha, which is the embodiment of great wisdom, that is, the working of the Primal Vow, we are enabled to beaware of our true state as sentient beings who are filled with ignorance and self-oriented passions. This awarenessguides us to recognize and come to appreciate Amida Buddha’s liberating working that always includes each of us.
Then, out of gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence, we naturally begin to take measures that distance ourselvesfrom egocentric and selfish actions that create further sorrow. This is how we are guided to live as a nembutsufollower.
Based on this way of living, and in an effort to share the Buddha Dharma in a more approachable way, I
composed the work “Gratitude for the Jodo Shinshu Teaching,” presented on the occasion of the Commemorative
Service of the Establishment of the Jodo Shinshu Teaching, observed this past April. Scheduled for next April is theCelebratory Service to Commemorate the Completion of the Inner Altar Restoration of the Hall of Amida Buddha.
Through upholding Shinran Shonin’s teaching and constantly reflecting on ourselves as foolish beings filled with
selfish desires and attachments, we come to feel gratitude for the working that Amida Buddha extends to us out ofgreat compassion. In today’s world where we see so much social division and discrimination occurring, let us respectand support each other while spreading the Dharma and enlarging the circle of fellow nembutsu friends.
November 23, 2021
SHAKU SENNYOOHTANI Kojun
MonshuJodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha