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Living in the Dharma - Confusedly > Tombstone for Termites—17-Article Constitution By Rev. Shojo Honda, Dharma Message, Dec. 19, 2004
Last year, my wife, June, and I went to Japan. During our stay, one day, we went to Koyasan Mountain in Wakayama prefecture. It is located about 60 or 70 miles away from Kyoto to the southwest.
Koyasan is the name of a mountain, and it is also known as the Head Temple of Tantric Buddhism, Shingon-shu. The temple of Koyasan was established by one of the most brilliant priests in Japanese history, K?kai, in the 9th century. Today, Koyasan has become one of Japan’s popular sightseeing spots, so, many tourists and pilgrims visit this mountain.
In the grounds of this temple, there are about two-hundred-thousand gravestones and memorials, or so it is said. Some gravestones are of historically famous people, such as feudal lords, samurai, priests and many others, including contemporary businessmen and numberless Buddhists.
I couldn’t help laughing when I discovered the gravestone of Shinran Shonin there—it certainly could not have been Shinran’s gravestone in the temple ground of Tantric Buddhism.
Not only are there tombstones for human beings, but also, there are tombstones and memorials of animals and even insects. The most unusual one is a tombstone for termites! This one was dedicated by a company that exterminates termites.
To exterminate termites, the company’s workers must, of course, kill them. Then, the business of this company is to kill termites, and yet, while it is their business, they also feel a certain guilt over what they do to make their living. Is this why they dedicate a memorial to the poor termites that they must kill? If it is so, the termite exterminators may have dedicated the tombstone to termites to atone for their own sins.
I heard a story that a philosopher visited Koyasan, looked at this tombstone dedicated to termites, and said, “What stuff and nonsense.”
To some extent, those who truly understand the humanity of Buddhism will understand the feeling of the termite exterminators who erected this tombstone for termites. They will not see the tombstone as a joke or as “stuff and nonsense.”
People call termites “noxious insects” or “vermin” and never get along with them. This is because termites can seriously damage our houses. My own house was damaged by termites—twice! Including my many books!!
(By the way, I thought that a termite was a kind of an ant, but according to the book of an entomologist that I consulted, the termite is a kind of cockroach. Almost 3 million years ago, termites split off from the cockroach line to become a separate branch. So, termites, in fact, have nothing to do with ants.)
From the point of view of entomologists, termites play a crucial role in renewing forests, woods and groves. According to entomologists, termites never eat living trees or bushes. They eat only dead or decayed trees, and they return the nutrients in the wood to the earth.
In this way, they reactivate the soil. As a result, termites renew the forest, giving it new life. Once we learn such things about termites, we see that they are not bad insects at all, except for the fact that they eat our houses—and my books.
So, if the termites heard that we accuse them of evil, and call them “noxious insects,” they would probably protest to people, saying: “Our job is to return the dead trees to the Mother Earth. The wood of your house is already dead, so we participate in the recycling-orientation. Nothing is wrong with us!”
Here, the logic of man and the logic of termites completely contradict one another. People condemn the behavior of termites as completely bad. Termites are not happy with this characterization. In fact, they become irritated, and say: “This cannot be allowed.”
To the termite, what they do is what is natural. They are only doing their job. “Why is that bad??” they assuredly must say.
What is good and what is bad? Herein lies the difference between good and bad?
The answer is different between termites and man, and between man and the termite. So too, it differs from person to person. A great philosopher of Greece once said: “There is no such thing as absolute righteousness. All think that what benefits themselves is right.”
In the period between the late 6th and the early 7th centuries, there lived a wise man in the Far East. He was a great Buddhist scholar and also an outstanding statesman.
This person was Prince Shotoku, who founded Buddhism in Japan in the 7th century.
In 604 AD, it was exactly 1,400 years ago, he wrote, “The Seventeen Article Constitution,” to start a new nation.
In Article 10, Prince Shotoku states:
Let us cease from wrath, and refrain from angry looks. Let us not be resentful just because others oppose us.
Every person has a mind of their own, each heart has its own learning. They may regard as wrong what we hold as right. We are not unquestionably sages, nor are they assuredly fools. Both of us are simply ordinary men.
Who is wise enough to judge us good or bad? For we are all wise and foolish alternately, like a ring which has no end.
Therefore, although others may give way to anger, let us, on the contrary, dread our own faults, and though we may be sure that we are in the right, let us act in harmony with all others.
The spirit of Article 10 is the ideal behavior of Sangha people.
Every Sunday, we chant the “Ti-Sarana.” The third refrain is, “ Sangham Saranan Gacchami.”
“Sangha” refers to a group of three or more Buddhist followers – or a Sangha. “Sangha” + “m” is Sangham, which means “For the guidance of the Sangha.”
“Sangham Saranam Gacchami,” means “I take guidance in the Sangha.”
Guidance of what? To me, the best answer is the spirit of Article 10 of the Constitution by Prince Shotoku.
That’s the way I look at it.
Namo Amidabutsu.