Grateful for Moms

After a short hiatus due to a personal loss, I am happy to be back in the blogger’s seat. Being Bombu returns just in time to celebrate a very special day here in the USA. It is Mother’s Day today, a day for remembering all of the amazing things that moms - especially our own - do for us, our communities, and our nation. It’s a day that is specially set aside to magnify the gratitude that they deserve every day though we are often too caught up in the usual frenzy to remember to give them. So, to all of you mothers out there, let me start by wishing you a very HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY.

Here in the history and development of Jodo Shinshu, mothers have long held a special and powerful place.  We have all heard the amazing stories of Shakyamuni’s mother, Queen Maya, and his birth.  Though she died shortly after his arrival, her love and influence would make an indelible mark on the prince. Then there was his stepmother, Mahaprajapati, who not only raised him with love and the memory of his mom, but who would support him in his path to enlightenment and become herself the very first Buddhist nun. 

It was the untimely passing of Shinran Shonin’s beloved mother that forever changed the course of the life of the young man who would become a monk and then the founder of our faith.  Through many hardships, Shinran’s wife Eshinni solidified the master’s legacy through her letters and became mother to the very one who become known as the protector of that legacy, their daughter Kakushinni. There was also Rennyo’s mother who impressed upon him that he was “a descendant of Shinran” as she left her six-year-old son to start his temple studies – and we all know how seriously Rennyo took that advice. 

We could go on and on in our homage to the countless mothers who kept the dharma flowing from each generation to the next for over two millennia. Suffice it to say that without the moms who have raised generation after generation of Nembutsu practitioners, with their love and nurturing, we would not be here sharing the dharma today.  Mothers, thank you for all that you have done, continue to do, and will yet do for the generations today and to come. We are grateful for each and every one of you!