Practical Lessons from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism: Guest Blog from an IOBT Member

Editor's Note: In this guest blog Melody Smit, a long-time resident of Idaho and member of IOBT, shares her thoughts on Buddhism and her recent move to South Carolina

I am so pleased to be writing to you but I do not come to you as a minister's assistant or a scholar of Shin Buddhist teachings, but as a fellow member of Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple (IOBT) who would like to share with you some of my thoughts and experiences. Some of you may know that I recently moved from Southwestern Idaho--where I enjoyed membership at IOBT--to South Carolina.

I know what you must be thinking, “why?”. Well it has to do with long term retirement plans that would not work out in the cold winters of SW Idaho, and as beautiful as the Treasure Valley is, the Midlands of South Carolina are just at beautiful, albeit very different. I can ride my horses all year long in relative comfort, that is a big plus, I don’t have to deal with dust and mud, and I still can’t get used to the idea that I don’t have to irrigate my pastures all summer! How great is that?

Through the long process of the move I came to be ever more grateful for the Shin Buddhist tradition I have come to know and love. I am especially grateful for all the long-time members of IOBT who served as such wonderful models of Buddhist life. I will never be able to express how much that has meant to me and that I carry those lessons with me wherever I go.

When I first came to IOBT, it immediately felt like I was coming home. Mostly because the teachings of impermanence and inevitable change mirrored my chosen profession as a health educator in which we acknowledge that all of the pieces of a person’s health are, in fact, interchangeable and interdependent. Add to that my personal philosophy that life is a series of long processes that we learn from through our whole lives; IOBT was a wonderful fit for me.

So when I decided to move my farm from Southwestern Idaho to the Midlands of South Carolina, one of the emotional issues I had to come to terms with was leaving behind my beloved home temple. In some ways the process felt like it did when I went off to college, leaving behind comfort and security and knowing literally where all the roads lead, to move to a new landscape with all its uncertainty and adventure.

My home life prepared me to leave home for the first time and I have come to realize the lessons at IOBT had prepared me for this move in ways I would never have imagined. The concepts of impermanence and change usually move through our lives slowly at intervals that we notice in varying degrees depending on how uncomfortable we are with the situation. But when you pick up and move to a different region of the country, into a new culture, nothing is the same and everything changes right before your eyes. Asian food, sadly, tastes different, you have no idea what back roads to take, speech patterns are different. (I find myself asking for people to repeat themselves a lot!) And there are the cultural expectations of behavior that are unwritten and mysterious!

Never would I have thought while listening to a Dharma talk that so many of those lessons would prepare me for the this big change I have chosen for myself. However, the consistency of interdependence has given me so much comfort. It is the constant that I depend on: the fact that no matter what, we are all in “this” together. The truth is that what I do affects others even while living in times that are not quite what we recognize, there are people to count on who do and say what they mean. And while I miss all the Sangha members, especially some members that hold special places in my heart, I know that I have taken with me the really important things: lessons from howas about patience and the balancing between wisdom and compassion, images of Ruth Harada’s ever present smile, Sue Ueyeki’s dedication to doing a great job, Mike Iseri’s quiet and constant presence around the temple, Jim Mizuta spraying weeds in the back lot, Akiko Rucker bouncing on the balls of her feet when she is excited and happy about something, usually food or a road trip. And other images, of devout men and women bowing before Amida Buddha, the role models I had and will always have in my mind’s eye of quiet knowledge and assurance.

I may not be there physically any longer, but just like when I left home for the first time, I have taken with me the most important things, the things you carry in your heart that the wise and compassionate people around you give so willingly.

Now as I go out each morning to start my day, the air above the pastures is filled with dragonflies of all kinds of colors. I can’t help but think of all of you; I am transported back to the temple with all my lovely friends, my heart swells with gratitude and my mind is filled with namoamidabutsu, namoamidabutsu, namoamidabutsu, namanda, namanda, namanda.

Your friend in the Dharma,

Melody