FreeVol. 3

2016
WinterShōsei-en 渉成園

Your Own New YearFor people living today, winter is thetime when the old year departs and anew one arrives. For the Japanese,too, December is the busy year-end
period and January 1st is the first dayof a new phase in life. This is justsomething we have come to accept asa given wherever we go in the world –just like free wi-fi or ATMs that gladly
accept any credit card.
It didn’t always use to be like this,though. Up until 1872 Japan used acombined lunar and solar calendar, inwhich the year started at the point oftransition between winter and spring.
In certain traditional contexts this calendar is still observed, with New Year’s
Day falling on or around February 4th.
This is why in Japan the new year istraditionally associated not with winterbut with the coming of the spring – regardless of the mismatch created by theadoption of the modern solar calendar
during the Meiji period.
This association with spring has resulted in yet another important date thatserves as a virtual New Year’s Day, April
1st, which usually overlaps with theblossoming of cherry trees. This is when
the school year begins, new recruits
enter companies, and many other occasions occur that symbolize a new beginning officially taking place.
Japan, then, has at least three different starting points for the new year, depending on how you look at it; and all ofthem coexist, each serving a different
purpose. Rather than a single day,Japanese people have a whole series ofsuch cutoffs and renewals.

There is something valuable that
we can learn from this: we can startanew any day we choose. Spring cancome even in the middle of winter if
we decide to welcome it then andthere. While it is always nice to haveofficial dates to help us out and give
us motivation, we don’t have to wait
for them to move from one chapter toanother. Where does an old year end
and a new, hopeful one begin? Whenis the right time to make New Year
resolutions and start putting theminto practice? There is no need tocheck your calendar, because theanswer is always the same: Today.
(Dan Bornstein)Leaves of Scripture“Self-power” characterizes those who have full confidence in themselves,trusting in their own hearts and minds, striving with their own powers, andrelying on their own various roots of good.
(The Collected Works of Shinran, vol. 1, translated by Dennis Hirota, et al. Kyoto: Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha, 1997, p. 484)

“Devils (Goblins) out! Good luck in!”
People throw roasted soybeans
inside and outside their houses
while shouting this phrase. This iscalled Setsubun 節分, which literallymeans a division of seasons andsignals the end of winter. According
to a folk belief, picking up as manybeans as your age plus one andeating them brings you health andgood fortune.
It is one of the seasonal events inJapan. However, it is much moremeaningful than simply an event,but something which deeply takes
root in our daily lives. It refers to
how our “minds separate between
good and bad,” which has formed
our religious consciousness. We try
to get rid of those things we label as

MON Vol. 3 2016 Winterbad, while we willingly take in goodness or things which are convenient
to us.
If Buddhist activities were to be
conducted from such a dualisticstandpoint, these activities would just
foment the idea of “minds of goodand bad.” It might imply that themost important thing is to pursue
goodness and eliminate the bad or
the evil in our daily lives. However, if
we think in such a way, we would
gradually separate ourselves fromothers based on the same standards,
and eventually lose sight of ourselves. For us human beings, it is noteasy to distinguish between what isgood and bad in a true sense. Things
that seem to be good at first some-times turn out to be bad, and viceversa. If we try to judge everythingfrom our limited point of view, we
will inevitably make mistakes inour judgment and cause suffering
for others and ourselves. Shinranclarifies that trusting in our minds
that try to distinguish between
good and bad is called “Selfpower.”Things Worth Knowing about Shin Buddhism

Gasshō and Nenju
If you have visited a Buddhist temple, you might have seen people holding prayer beads and putting their hands
together in front of a Buddha statue. But what is the meaning of such things?

The meaning of gasshō

When we meet someone we usually
shake hands and when we departwe wave our hands to say goodbye.
We use our hands in different ways
to greet other people. In order togreet the Buddha, or more precisely
to show respect toward him, weplace our palms together in front ofour chest. This is what we callgasshō 合掌.
Gasshō is a gesture that has beena part of everyday life in India forages and it was transferred to Japan
together with Buddhism in the 6thcentury. It is still used in India as away to greet each other. When Indianpeople do gasshō, they say namaste,
which literally means “bow to you”
and is meant to express mutualrespect. In this way, gasshō has beenused in India even before the adventof Buddhism and was later naturallyadopted by Buddhists in India.
We Shin Buddhists do gasshō infront of Amida Buddha and say thenenbutsu, “Namu Amida Butsu.” Itis fair to say that the daily lives ofShin Buddhists start with gasshō.
It is not only a way to venerate theBuddha, but also an outer expression of the heart that answers to
the Buddha’s call by saying thenenbutsu.

The meaning of nenju
Buddhist prayer beads are called
nenju 念珠 in Japanese and are used
when doing gasshō in front of a
Buddha. There are different theories
about their origin. Nenju originallyhave one or two loops, consisting of get 27 beads, which is the number of
108 beads, symbolizing the 108 worldly beads of the nenju that are normallydesires we possess. If we divide this used have.
number in half we get 54 beads, anddividing this number in half again, weHow to do gasshō while holding a nenju
Put both of your hands through thenenju and place your palms
together. Your wrists should be infront of your solar plexus. Don’t

raise your elbows. Extend your at about a 45˚ angle to your body.
fingers without creating any space Then say “Namu Amida Butsu.”
between them. When you look fromthe side, your upper arms should beMON Vol. 3 2016 WinterAbout theRenovation
The Founder’s Hall Gate (Goeidō-mon) was rebuilt in 1911
following the reconstruction of theFounder’s Hall (Goeidō) andAmida Hall (Amidadō). It is themain gate to the temple grounds
and has had many people passthrough it to encounter the teaching of Jōdo Shinshū. On March 31,
2016, the commemorative ceremony of the returning of the Amida
Buddha statue from the temporary
altar in the Founder’s Hall to the
newly restored Amida Hall will beheld. This will complete the renovation of the hall and it will be
open to the public from April 1,
2016.
Later in November, the completion of the entire renovation project of both halls and the gate willbe commemorated. As we draw
near to the end of the project, wewish to take this opportunity to
express to the generations ofmembers and followers ourutmost gratitude for the tremendous support of our temple
extended over so many years. We
wish that the newly renovatedtemple will continue to be theplace to encounter the teaching
and to meet fellow sangha members for many generations tocome. We ask for your continued
support of our temple.
Thank you for visiting Higashi
Honganji. We hope your visit toour temple is a meaningful experience in encountering the teachingof Jōdo Shinshū. We look forward
to your next visit.

Published by: Shinshū Ōtani-ha (Higashi Honganji), Kyoto
Kindly supported by: Dan Bornstein, Markus Rüsch
Website: www.higashihonganji.or.jp/english