Myōhō Harris, Rev. Master

 

A personal tribute to Reverend Master Saidō Kennaway who entered Parinirvana on 3rd March 2023.

 

The death of a monk, or of any person, is the unfolding of the Buddha’s Teaching. It is part of ‘existence, time, flow’. The conditions that came together to create a human being have changed, they fall away within, and as, that unfolding.

Whilst we are here, in human form, we make endless choices as to how we live the transient life we have been given. It is through those choices, through the way that we are, that we show our understanding of Buddhism. The Buddha told his followers to become a lamp unto themselves. It is by showing the truth of what we have found, through how we do what we do, how we treat others, that the light of Buddha shines forth in this world. Words can come easily, too easily at times, actions take a great deal more effort.

Reverend Master Saidō and I were postulants together in 1977. We were amongst the first group of Britons who went from Throssel to Shasta Abbey, to be ordained by, and train under the direction of, Reverend Master Jiyu, with the intention of returning to form the basis of a British Sangha. As the years went by, he made choices, always grounded in meditation and the Precepts, that enabled him to be transformed from an inexperienced postulant into the magnificent monk he was, thus becoming the living embodiment of the teaching and, by his actions, demonstrating how others can change their lives too.

How he lived his life was the Dharma talk. How he conducted himself was the ever-flowing unfolding of the Buddha’s teaching. Trustworthy and honest, dependable, kind, free of affectation, helpful and a joy to be around. Always in harmony with the Precepts. These actions were the light that shone forth from his lamp, making it a universal lamp. The Light of Buddha shines of itself, and the practice shows us how to become a lamp that enables that light to be seen in human form. Through his years as a Teacher of Buddhism and a Master of Meditation, he inspired, and guided, many others to find the refuge for, and within, themselves.

Reverend Master Saidō led meditation groups in several prisons. When a prisoner from one of those groups heard how ill he was, he sent him flowers. The deepest form of training is to ‘just live’, in an unpretentious, unselfconscious way. He embodied this, and it enabled a wide variety of people to be able to connect with the Buddhist teaching. Like so many others, I feel blessed to have had this gentle monk in my life.

If ever anyone was ready to ‘meet the end of life without impediment’, it was Reverend Master Saidō. When he told me that he only had a short while to live there was no emotion, no tension, just acceptance. His words were, “It’s impermanence”. What came to mind was a quote from Dōgen, who said that the uncertainty of life is the truth, revealing itself before our eyes. We are all one with existence, time, flow. We are all transient. Nothing is fixed. There will come a time for each of us when death is the next step on our journey. Reverend Master Saidō could take that step without a backwards glance, because he had nothing that was left undone to trouble his mind.

Our human life manifests for a reason, and the practice highlights what, for each of us, is the particular spiritual work that needs to be understood, resolved and completed within our lifespan. It is worth taking time to reflect upon that, whilst we still have this life.

The pancreatic cancer advanced rapidly and he experienced pain without complaints or regrets. He died as he had lived; which was to be one with the truth, fully accepting what life had brought to him. There was no resistance to his deteriorating physical condition. When the mind and its object are one, and we do not create any separation, there is only the life of Buddha, appearing in endlessly different forms, some of which can be very painful. He sat, unmoved, within those changes, and they carried him home, unto the source.

His death, like his life, was an offering of Dharma. On the day he died I was miles away, yet in meditation I knew he had slipped effortlessly into a sea of peace. The tender beauty of it filled the temple. There is a completeness to it. Human grief passes, being part of existence, time, flow. The Eternal Mystery, the place wherein we sit and disappear, had called him home and, with a bow, he entered Parinirvana.¹

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His monastic name was Hōun Saidō, meaning the Western Hall within the Dharma Cloud. Rev. Master Kōten wrote this poem:

Saidō

The Western Hall is silent now,

Quiet and Stillness pervade,

Gone into the Light.

 

Om Mani Padme Hum, the dewdrop slips into the shining sea.²

Notes

1. Parinirvana is a word used to describe how the depth of someone’s training can result in the extinction of greed, hate and delusion, when, at the time of death, body and mind fall away, and all that remains is Eternal stillness.
2. This final line of the article is not part of Rev. Master Kōten’s poem. It was added by the author.