Honi signifies being made so through the working of the Tathagata's Vow. It is the working of the Vow where there is no room for the calculation on the part of the practicer. Know, therefore that in Other Power, no working is true working. Jinen signifies being made so from the very beginning. Amida's Vow is, from the very beginning, designed to bring each of us to entrust ourselves to it --- saying "Namu-amida-butsu" --- and to receive us into the Pure Land, none of this is through our calculation. Thus, there is no room for the practicer to be concerned with being good or bad. This is the meaning of jinen as I have been taught. After we have realized this, we should not be forever talking about jinen. If we continuously discuss jinen, that no working is true working will again become a problem of working. It is a matter of inconceivable Buddha-wisdom. (Bold, mine) (The Collected Works of Shinran, Vol. I, The Writings; Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Kyoto, Japan; 1997, pp. 427-428.)

Other translations for the phrase, 'gi naki wo gi to su', often include non-reason being the reason or no working being the meaning. These are all translations that may be literally correct, but leave the reader totally confused as to what it might mean. Though Shinran does explain it, one gets the impression that he is talking in circles and not giving us an explanation. Those familiar with his writing have probably become accustomed to that feeling.

However, an experience earlier this year gave me an insight that, at least partially, clarified this phrase, gi naki wo gi to su, for me. I was preparing talks for my Joya-e and Shusho-e Services, the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day services. In that process, the obvious struck me. Though there are slight differences in how we prepare the naijin for the services, there is really no substantial difference between those services and the services that we are supposed to do each morning and evening as adherents of the Hongwanji tradition of Jodo Shin Buddhism. We chant the Shoshinge in the evening in appreciation for being able to have experienced all that we were able during the past day or year and in the morning we once again chant the Shoshinge in appreciation for being able to greet a new day/year with renewed hopes and expectations for what may lay ahead.

This made me realize that what makes each day special is the non-special nature of each day. It is not the great ups and downs of a day or of a life that make it special as much as it is the people and events that temper those hills and valleys for each of us. We can see in the recently completed Olympics that reaching the pinnacle in moments of achievement are special, but that the people who support and comfort us in our falls can be even more special. We were also able to see how ones rise can lead to a fall and back again in the case of the gymnast from Romania being stripped of her medal for some cold medicine that she took. The support of her teammates in returning their own hard earned medals must have been a very special event for her. The support of teammates is something we often take for granted, but that support made the whole episode so special.

In a world of impermanence, where meeting leads to parting, birth leads to death, and happy times must end in some manner, the people, things and events that keep our lives from a maddening cycle of rises and falls are what make our lives special. They temper our climbs so we do not lose sight of our goals and keep us from becoming intoxicated with my achievement. They cushion our falls by being there with their support and comfort. These people and things are such an integral part of our lives that we usually do not notice them. When we do notice them as being special, it is often too late.

Shinran seems to be telling us that we spend too much time and effort looking for significant, earth shattering meaning, a truly motivating reason, something special that stands out to make our lives complete. We are seeking these and delude ourselves so we do not see the ìinsignificant, the mundane and non-specialî events and people in our lives that make our lives so special. It is the obvious and commonplace that make our lives special.

How often have we seen people wasting their lives looking for Mr. Right or the perfect woman when the person to fulfill their lives may be around them if they only worked at the relationship? How many people do we know who are looking for the perfect job, the meaning of life, and so on? The objective should be to make the job as perfect as it can be by doing it in appreciation for being able to do it with those around them. The meaning of life is not a question, but something that reveals itself as it is lived.

All of this is possible to see and realize when one becomes embraced in the great compassion upon hearing the call of Amida. When the naturalness manifests itself in our lives, we will see how many special things we have missed because we had been overlooking them as being commonplace and not special. We must be constantly aware that we cannot be trying to live a life of naturalness, since that would be a calculated action on our part and not a result of Amida's working. Only when the myogo or Name is reified, does the world of naturalness manifest itself as gi naki wo gi to su, as nothing special being what makes our lives so special.

Only then, does the non-special aspect of life reveal to us how marvelous and special life really is.

© October 20, 2000