How can we transform our consciousness and go beyond this sense of separation from other human beings? This is an especially important question at this time in human history. As a result of developments in science, technology, transportation and communication, the world of human beings has become one community. People from different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds must communicate and interact with each other. Unless we find some common ground, one on which people can live knowing they are connected to each other, humans beings will not be able to live together peacefully.
-- Shohaku Okumura​

While the role of Sanshin as an organization related to beneficial action looks one way, the role of the individual practitioner can look another.  Through their professions, volunteer activities or material support, individual practitioners can and should be involved in their communities in ways that seem the most meaningful to them based on their bodhisattva vows.  They are free to take positions on issues, engage in public processes of debate and decisionmaking, and work for particular changes, outcomes or circumstances as they see fit.  By supporting their discernment and practice, Sanshin can help to equip these bodhisattvas for effective community engagement.

Ideally our individual practice of beneficial action includes discernment, action and reflection.  It's helpful to create a solid foundation in the precepts, the practice of zazen and the study of teachings about interconnectedness and cause-and-effect that points us toward using our particular karmic conditions most effectively in liberating beings from suffering.  As individuals we each have particular skills and abilities, experiences and interests that we can offer for the benefit of others.  When we decide in what activities we will engage, we can start or partner with community organizations, get training, commit time and resources and concretely carry out our vows.  But our practice doesn't stop there -- we also need to reflect on that experience.  What insight are we gaining into our own motivation, assumptions and delusions?  What fear and ignorance are  we unearthing?  Where are craving and aversion arising, and what might we do differently next time?

We offer our practice to our community as part of our individual bodhisattva activity, but we're also supported in the deepening and maturing of our practice by those very activities.  Our actions don't need to be grandiose.  If we've got the wherewithal to organize large initiatives, donate significant funds or train and manage a legion of volunteers, that's terrific.  It's also meaningful beneficial action to walk to nearby destinations rather than driving, rake an elderly neighbor's leaves or volunteer at the food bank.  When Sanshin's doors are open, beneficial action can mean supporting the sangha's practice by ringing bells, participating in work day, cooking meals during sesshin or teaching zazen.  Each of these activities inside and outside of the temple is a practice of beneficial action that manifests the dharma and is also an opportunity for personal inquiry into the roots of suffering.

As Okumura Roshi notes above, transformation of our understanding of interconnectedness is key.  How do we understand interconnectedness and how do we take action based on that understanding?  We practice beneficial action in the intersection of abstract theory and concrete activity, seeing one reality from two sides and expressing two sides with one action.  Sanshin becomes the place to which we return to share our growing understanding, check our perceptions, broaden our awareness, and gain support to wrestle with the tough questions.  There will be a diversity of views, interests and experiences of engagement as practitioners identify their bodhisattva paths.  What holds it all together is our shared commitment to help beings who transmigrate through samsara.

Previous: Beneficial action: the role of the temple

We're gaining some additional clarity about what the beneficial action element of Sanshin's mission includes.  There are several components, including the activities that Sanshin undertakes as an organization and the community engagement in which individual practitioners involve themselves.

Traditionally, the beneficial action work of Buddhist clergy has been simply in serving their danka (congregations).  Having no involvement in secular affairs was seen as a virtue; when people became clergy they were no longer required to pay taxes or serve in the military.  By removing itself from economic and political structures (sometimes by physically relocating to a remote mountain) the temple also removed itself from the control of the government.   This kind of separation no longer works because today's temple is a nonprofit corporation in the US (a religious juridical body in Japan) and subject to laws and regulations.  Thus we need to determine what role Sanshin plays in the larger society as distinct but not separate from its role in enabling individual practice. 

The most important consideration is that action taken in the name of Sanshin must be action that does not create division within the sangha.  This means that Sanshin does not take positions on contested political issues or take sides in conflicts.  Choosing one position over another blocks people on the other side from joining and fully participating in the life of the sangha and makes Sanshin part of the conflict.  The felt need to take a position raises questions like "How can we be sure this position represents the feelings of the entire sangha?" and "Who decides what Sanshin's position should be?"  Appropriate activities are those that promote integration and benefit everyone.

Okumura Roshi has identified two kinds of community activities that Sanshin could appropriately undertake as an organization: caring for the earth and providing direct help to those lacking the basic necessities of living.

Sotoshu has long had a focus on caring for the earth; its Five Principles of Green Life are:

1. Protect the green of the earth; the earth is the home of life.
2. Do not waste water; it is the source of life.
3. Do not waste fuel or electricity; they are the energy of life.
4. Keep the air clean; it is the plaza of life.
5. Co-exist with nature; it is the embodiment of Buddha.

Okumura Roshi has noted that taking care of our own temple and grounds is beneficial action in itself because a well-tended temple creates good feelings for visitors and the community.  Our native restoration project has already replaced about half of our lawn with native woodland and prairie plants. The change brings a number of benefits, including the creation of a substantial amount of habitat for wildlife, a reduction in the need to mow the area from once a week to just once a year (and all of the gasoline usage that goes along with that), and providing a season long source of flowers for our altars.

We don't yet know what involvement in direct relief might look like.  We do know that this is a traditional role of temples much as early churches provided hospital care, lodging for pilgrims and meals for the hungry.  Temples served as refuges for those in society who had lost their places and were seeking new directions precisely because the temple itself was outside of the systems of government control and support.  

NEXT: Beneficial action: the role of the individual