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Living in Eihei-ji
(Dec.21,2006)

It is about 800 years ago when Rev. Doh-gen, one of the fathers of Zen Buddhism, made his residence in Eihei-ji of Echizen. He needed a serene place to perform the ascetic practices based on the doctrine of the Zen. He thought that, in order to get truly enlightened, we should not play down to the popular tastes, therefore, should not live around big cities. Doh-gen's age was the age of Buddhism; several Buddhist priests had proposed new interpretations of Buddhist scriptures. Among them, Doh-gen's position was most radically stoic.

There are denominational differences in interpreting the teachings of Buddhism: Mahayana [greater Vehicle] Buddhism vs. Hinayana [smaller vehicle] Buddhism, etc. In the history of Japanese Buddhism, the greatest doctrinal dispute was about the way of salvation; some sects advocated tarki-hongan [salvation by faith] while the others jiriki-hongan [salvation by one's own efforts]. Doh-gen's sect of Zen took jiriki-hongan, for which I feel sympathy.

I am now living in Eihei-ji. The kanji character for "Ei" means eternal, and that for "ji" means temple. Moreover, the kanji character for "Hei" can consist the word "Hei-wa" [peace] in Japanese. Thus I arbitrarily read "Ei-hei-ji" as meaning "the temple of the eternal peace." This reading nicely fits to my taste for pacifism.

Since the end of the last war, I have care for the concept of the "eternal peace." A few years ago, I invited Professor Adachi from University of Wakayama as a lecturer at one of the lecture series JSB hosted. His great-grandfather is Lord SUZUKI, Kantaro, who held Japanese combined fleet commander Admiral, Grand Chamberlain, etc.). The greatest achievement of Suzuki's life is that he led the war to the end in line with the Emperor's wish. Suzuki's last words at his death was "the eternal peace." He had been bombed out by air raids. He was acutely aware of horror of war and preciousness of peace. I think this is the reason he passed away with the words, "the eternal peace." His age at death was 82. He lived a very rich life. If you want to know how peace is precious, I strongly recommend that you read the biography of Lord Suzuki.

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