by BISHOP KOSHIN OGUI
Buddhist Chrurches of America

For this week’s installment, I will share a somewhat funny experience I had. It happened to me over 45 years ago when I was working at the Betsuin in Los Angeles.

A friend and I had been out drinking. By the time I got home, it was about 2 in the morning. Unfortunately for me, the door to the temple office was locked from the inside and I couldn’t open it.

Since I was out of luck, I decided to climb the tree next to the building that extended up to my room, which was on the third floor.

Looking back on that now, it was a really bad idea for me to climb a tree in my drunken state. But there I was, climbing, when suddenly a searchlight from below switched on and I heard someone yell in English, “Come down from there!”

Bewildered, I looked down and saw a patrol car. And next to it were two officers standing with their guns drawn.

I climbed down and in my clumsy English explained what was going on. I showed them my license and my identification proving I was a monk.

“So Buddhist monks in Japan train by climbing trees, do they?” They laughed and joked but then they said kindly, “All right. Well, go ahead and climb up there then. We’ll shine the light up there for you.”

They did, and luckily for me, the window to my room was unlocked so I was able to get in.
“Thank you!” I said, waving down. “All right, well, don’t drink too much!” they said and then switched the searchlight off.

As I thought about what had just happened, I said to myself, What am I doing? I’m a monk! I became ashamed in myself.

What if I had been shot down out of the tree? The whole incident sobered me up. I couldn’t sleep for quite a while.

To tell you the truth, the shame of that incident has stuck with me to this day. I still admonish myself about it. But it serves as a reconfirmation that I am a product of all of my life’s experiences.

They say that awakening or enlightenment is coming to understand things with the physical form. That, in a nutshell, is what our experiences are.

They are important happenings that may someday (ahem) lead to enlightenment.

Gassho

Translated by Lefteris Kafatos