Sometimes, and especially in extent years, I tend to forget that working towards the elimination of suffering within my own life and to a degree, the life of others, is an important part of my Buddhist studies. People have occasionally asked me why I always say that I STUDY Buddhism as opposed to practicing it. The answer to this is quite simple. Because I AM studying it. While I tend to live my life according to some of the concepts and precepts behind the Zen Buddhist faith, I don’t believe that my study of its background and history necessarily makes me an active practitioner. Perhaps I’m wrong and I have been what would otherwise be considered an active practitioner through these recent years. After all, my mother was a devout Catholic her entire life but I can’t recall her ever abstaining from meat on Fridays, going to confession or even observing Lent (although a few times during my childhood, she put off bingo during Lent). In more recent years, she hasn’t even attended Sunday mass. But she still considers herself Catholic.
One of the traits I most admire about my mother is her belief that religion and how we choose to observe it is a personal choice. Because of this, she’s long felt that she doesn’t need to go sit in a random building while listening to someone else read from a bible when she can simply do it herself at home. A pretty enlightened perspective, if you ask me. And I do tend to share that perspective, albeit under the umbrella of a different faith that came along my path by virtue of my martial arts studies and my travels to Japan. I began studying Buddhism over 25 years ago, when karate guided me in the direction of breathing, meditation, finding one’s centre and balance. Because of this, I began looking at some literature attached to Bushido’s Code and Buddhism. Having read enough to convince me I wanted to know more, it’s something I’ve been doing for years. Sometimes intermittently but always present in some way, shape or form, the concepts of Buddhism have guided me and aided me on my daily life for long enough that I can’t remember a time when it didn’t.
Flash back to 2001. I was a brown belt in Uechi-Ryu Okinawan karate. I had just turned 23 and we were planning Sensei’s next trip to Japan. I would be joining on this trip, which I expected to be a once in a lifetime trip. I still remember the thrill and excitement that first morning, despite the early hour, while we sat patiently in a small, rural airport to board a flight that would begin a bunny-hop towards Japan. Leaving a small community in Quebec named Mont-Joli, we landed in Quebec City, followed by Montreal and subsequently New York. We spent the night in Manhattan, then grabbed an international, 14-hour flight to Narita, Japan. We stayed there for a couple of days before grabbing another flight that would bring us to Naha, Okinawa. During our stay in Narita is when I found the tome that would change the game for me. You see, staying in just about any hotel, you’ll usually find a bible sitting in every bedside table. While it’s a very less prominent today than it was 50 years ago, it still happens quite a bit. Turns out, they do something quite similar in Japan, although with Buddhist books.
During our first night in Narita, which was in a traditional Japanese Inn, I was preparing for bed when I noticed the book from the photo above tucked away in the closet. I pulled it out and started it read. This had a fulsome history of how the Buddha came to be, the precepts, principles and guiding philosophies behind the practice. I was entranced and couldn’t put the damn thing down. Sensei commented on a number of occasions that I didn’t travel to the other side of the world to read. And While he may have been right, I was hooked. When we were due to check out of the hotel and travel to Okinawa, I was convinced I needed it retain this book and bring it back to Canada. Not wanting to leave Japan as a thief (believe or not, you aren’t ACTUALLY supposed to keep bibles you find in hotel rooms), I went to the front reception to negotiate the purchase of the book from the owner of the inn. One of our teammates who had travelled there with us, who was not quite as well versed on the customs as he should have been, imposed a monetary tip on the innkeeper for the breakfast he had served us that morning.
This is a great disrespect in Japan, where they believe only in getting paid for the actual work they perform. Giving gratuities is considered rude, bordering on the insulting. Not having learned any of the language, my colleague didn’t seem to understand that he was offending the innkeeper, and walked away smiling, thinking he had done something nice. When I asked to purchase the book and asked how much it would cost, I was puzzled by the innkeeper’s response of, “Please accept it as a gift and keep it.” I didn’t understand at the time but I shrugged and thanked him profusely and carried on. It wouldn’t be until days later that Sensei would explain that the innkeeper gave me the big to save face after being forced to keep money he had not earned. Craziness. But I get it. In any event, that’s how I got my hands on the best book on Buddhism that I had found up to that point, and ever since. I’ve read through the damn thing several times, and every time I pick it up, it brings back fond memories of my travels overseas.
But what this post is about, is an interaction I recently had with a colleague at work with regard to this book. Although I don’t spend my time screaming it from a mountaintop, when someone does ask about karate and about some of my observances, I do bring up Buddhism. For the most part, I get responses like, “Oh. Cool.” Or, “Sounds neat.” But no one ever shows any measurable interest beyond that. It isn’t until this work colleague asked and I brought up my meditation and calming practices and where I had acquired them, that this book was brought up. The colleague was completely fascinated and wanted to know if they could borrow the book to read through it. Especially given that it’s written half in Kanji, they really wanted to see it. I told them I would see about letting them have a look at it but wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to hand it over, after how long I’d had it and what the book represented to me.
So, I did one better. I located a provider in Japan and obtained a copy. Once shipped to my home, I let the colleague know that it would be waiting in my office and she could retrieve it at her convenience. It arrived on a Monday and she attended the office on Wednesday to pick it up. For context, this colleague works 100% remotely, so her trips to the office are fairly rare. Excited to start reading, she even asked me to sign the inner cover of the book, convinced that she would never part with it. It felt nice, sharing that little piece of myself with someone else who showed an active interest. It’s not a part of myself that I share often, except in my writing. But it reminded me that spreading a bit of light should be a part of everyone’s life, no matter how small or momentary. Doing so goes a long way towards cumulatively reducing the suffering in the world. And in the end, that’s really all we can hope to do with our little slices of time in this life. Food for thought… ☯️
