Thoughts on this Labor Day Holiday

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For those who make their living drawing nets or fishing in the seas and rivers, and those who sustain their lives hunting beast or taking fowl in the fields and mountains, and those who pass their lives conducting trade or cultivating fields and paddies, it is all the same. Under the influence of our karmic past we human beings will do anything.

Tannisho – chapter 13

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In my previous life many kalpas ago, I was employed at Syntex Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto. I was a Research Biologist in the Department of Physiology. Our department was responsible for testing, both biochemical and physiological effects, of new drugs that were in the development stage, on laboratory animals, and eventually for human use.

You might be familiar with one of our products, the brand name, Aleve®; originally this drug was by prescrip­tion only, under the chemical name, Naproxen®. However, when our patent expired, Syntex and Procter & Gamble joined together to produce an over-the-counter version under a new name Aleve®. Naproxen® was first synthesized back in 1968, just about the time I started at Syntex. I was on the original group that began testing the drug on labora­tory animals. It is no exaggeration that for this one drug alone, from the time it was synthesized to the time it made its way to Sav-on Drugs, hundreds of thousands of animals had sacrificed their lives so you wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of arthritis or sore muscles and aching joints after exercising.

Aleve® wasn’t the only drug that Syntex developed. I tested many of the oral contraception drug formulations of Norynel®, the first birth control pill on the market back in the early 60s. Syntex and Upjohn, another pharmaceutical giant, were synonymous with the Pill. I can only guess that over 100 thousand laboratory animals sacrificed their lives to prevent countless of pregnancies.

In the beginning I never gave much thought on the moral and ethical implications that my occupation touched upon. In fact, as lofty and naïve as it sounds, I felt I was really contributing to benefit mankind.

I was doing a job that I enjoyed, and took great pride in my work, not only that, but it put food on the table, and it paid our mortgage, our four cars, ski vacations in the winter, and a beach house in the summer, and put our two daughters through college.

However, in hindsight, there are many, many incidences that I’m not very proud of. The experiments we conducted, the countless number of animals that were sacrificed needlessly, the callousness and disrespect I had towards these animals.

Needless to say, there were a number of groups that objected to our research. The animal rights activists and the pro-life groups to name a few. They protested and advocated boycotts of products that contributed to this inhumane treatment to animals and disregard of human life (in the case of birth control).

They protested just as I protested or boycotted companies back in the 60s and 70s that contributed to the war effort in Viet Nam. Companies like Dow Chemicals, Livermore Laboratory.

Nowadays, I despise logging companies that cut trees down with disregard for the environment or nuclear power plants that have the potential to create the ultimate contamination. What kind of people work for these despica­ble companies?

However, if you really reflect upon this, they are regular “Joe Blows” that worked at these companies. … And just like me their jobs put food on the table, a roof over their head, and put their kids through college.

The opening reading is from the 13^th chapter of the Tannisho; here the author, Yuien-bo, covers a lot of ground. The gist of the chapter is that Shinran places great emphasis on the role of karma in human behavior. He explains that all our acts, whether good or bad, are the outcome of past karma. So it really doesn’t matter how good we think we are, because we really have no good deeds to be proud of nor are our evil deeds an obstruction to Amida’s Primal Vow.

It is well known that before and during Shinran’s time, social status was based on one’s occupation. Therefore, farmers, hunters, fisherman, merchants were considered the lower class. Not only were these groups looked down upon, but it was understood, during this time, that the salvation was uncertain for this group of workers.

Shinran might have been the first to address these social undesirables. He understood that these workers were born into this occupation and/or social standing and they had absolutely no control over their lives. Shinran understood that we all have our needs and desires that dictate behavior and create inconsistencies in what we believe and how we live our life.

The Jodo Shinshu teachings are deeply rooted in the Law of Cause and Effect, also known as Karma. There is no judge and no judgment. There is no right and no wrong, good or evil. There is only the effects of our thoughts, words, and actions. These effects exist as the consequences of what we think, say, and do. And, how we respond to these effects determines what our next moment shall be. It determines what type of human being I shall become.

Many people think what I did as an occupation was despicable. Yet we eat McDonald’s without thinking that tens of thousands of cows are slaughtered methodically and systematically every day so you could get a quick, inex­pensive meal.

Higher up on the food chain … the taking of human life is condemned by most religions. Meaning, it is wrong to kill another human being. On one extreme, this is what we are taught. On the other hand, we are also told that it’s permissible to kill under certain circumstances such as war, criminal executions, or abortions. With such contradic­tions, it is no wonder that we are confused, and religion is often accused of being hypocritical.

Jodo Shinshu does not place a good or bad label upon an action. Depending on the circumstances, we must all make the best decision at that moment.

For Shinran, faith, is a faith beyond good and evil; because of our human limitations, our biases, and our prejudices we are incapable of knowing what truly constitutes good and evil. Therefore, on the social level, no one can judge who will or will not be saved. No one has the right to stand judgment on anyone else.

The awakening of the individual goes beyond the dualistic nature of extremes. Our life, our karma is unique; therefore, our own awakening will be unique and it doesn’t matter what we are told is good, bad, right, or wrong. Jodo Shinshu’s concern is showing us our true natures in the light of the Nembutsu and less concern in telling us how we should be living our lives.