May 31, 2024
Reviving temple and priestly roles in Japanese society would indeed seem appropriate in the ancient capital of Kyoto, visited by millions of tourists every year for its grand Buddhist temples and rich Buddhist culture. Out of the largest Buddhist denomination in Japan, the Jodo Shin Pure Land Hongan-ji denomination, has emerged another grassroots initiative by priests concerned with the suicide pandemic. Sotto, the Kyoto Self-Death & Suicide Counseling Center, was established in 2010 by ten priests from the Hongan-ji
One of the co-founders, Rev. Noro Sei explains that as individual Buddhist priests began to get involved in the suicide issue in the mid 2000s, one of the biggest barriers they faced was the damage caused by their fellow priests towards the families and loved ones of those who had committed suicide. Many discovered that one reason families were withholding the details of how their loved one had died was the high number of priests who would make pejorative comments or negative judgments about those who commit suicide. For example, “A person who throws away their life cannot rest in peace”, and “Since suicide cannot to be forgiven, such a person will fall into hell.” Another example involved a priest who refused to do a funeral for a child who had committed suicide unless the family paid an additional 500,000 yen to 800,000 yen, while still declaring to the family that the child could not be interred in the family cemetery plot located at the temple. Such publicized incidents led Rev. Noro and other members of the Jodo Shin Hongan-ji Research Institute to conduct a survey of their 10,281 affiliated temples on this issue in September of 2009. Among the 2,694 priests who responded, 68.7 percent said affirmatively that suicide is “an act of throwing away one’s life”. 74.1 percent responded affirmatively that suicide is “an act that goes against Buddhist teachings”. However, only 15 percent responded affirmatively that they had actually provided counseling to anyone who was suicidal. In short, Buddhist priests have a negative view of suicide derived from their respective sectarian doctrines, and the greater they hold this view, the less it seems they provide support to their lay members.
This research became the impetus to founding Sotto. At present, they have 48 regular members, 17 corporate members, 33 supporting members, and 25 monthly supporters with an annual budget of 10-20 million yen per year depending on subsidized projects and other contingencies. In 2012, Sotto began to receive public subsidies from the Kyoto City government for their work. The first such subsidized activity was a large public seminar in March 2013 on “Truly Confronting Suicide and Self-death” with panelists from a wide range of legal, governmental, and bereaved family support groups. This cooperative work between Sotto and the Kyoto government continues today with the latter providing consultation services for the start-up and management of suicide prevention groups, grants for a variety for related activities, and support for increasing private-public partnerships. In keeping within the boundaries of the separation of religion and state, Sotto does not advertise itself as a specifically Buddhist organization, yet the fact that it is staffed and run by Buddhist priests is also not hidden and easy to recognize. Thus, Sotto marks an important step forward in reviving the social role of the modern Buddhist priest and bringing a healthy form of religiosity into the public sphere. Further, Rev. Noro explains that the government also feels the need to consult with religious leaders, but there are few religious organizations even in the city of Kyoto that have a clear philosophy and are willing to work with them. As such, Sotto has become a resource for them.
The core staff is only 1 full-time and 3 part-timers, however, they have over 70 volunteer counselors from Buddhist, Christian, and Shinto organizations who have undergone training since the founding of the group. This volunteer staff includes housewives, Buddhist priests, graduate students majoring in psychology, and so forth. Some people who first came to them for support have subsequently become staff members. They provide telephone consultation on Fridays and Saturdays from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am (948 cases in 2022) as well as e-mail consultation 365 days a year with a reply from a consultant within 3 days after an immediate reply (2,434 cases in 2022). With such limited catchment, one discovers that one of their most important activities is a face-to-face encounter in the sanctuary of a temple.
The approaches of Zen priests, like Rev. Fujio Soin and Rev. Nemoto Ittetsu, to use the practice of Buddhist meditation as a foundation for interpersonal intimacy and resilient mindfulness in psycho-spiritual care is highly congruent with international trends in Buddhist chaplaincy. It is fascinating then to see how these Japanese Pure Land priests have developed an approach that is totally different yet quite congruent. They employ the Pure Land teaching of all humans, both ordained and lay alike, being deeply flawed and unable to access bodhicitta (菩提心 bodaishin) through their own efforts to attain enlightenment. Through the teaching of “other-power” and the inability to even liberate oneself much less anyone else, Pure Land priests understand the fundamental aspect of chaplaincy in which the chaplain does not provide answers but facilitates the discovery of them. Further, the literal meaning of sotto is “to sit quietly at one’s side”, which is congruent with the concept of “presence” (yori-soi) that modern Buddhist chaplains develop through the practice of meditative mindfulness. For the Pure Land priest, sotto involves a particular emphasis on providing the warmth they experience when embraced by Amida Buddha. As with the concepts of modern Buddhist chaplaincy, they seek to recognize and affirm the patient’s experience rather than negate it by offering their own solutions or viewpoints. Like Rev. Nemoto, they prefer to not see their work as “suicide prevention”. They feel they should not tell people, “You musn’t die,” and put further shame on them. Rather, the way to ease their desire to die comes by being with them and accepting their feelings “just as they are”—in the same way the Pure Land practitioner feels accepted by Amida Buddha despite being filled with “afflictions” (klesha 煩悩 bonno), “just as they are.”
Out of this unusual congruence in view—for the academic scholar could see no greater separation in view than the “self-power” of Zen vs. the “other power” of Pure Land—a collaboration has been made by these two major denominations in the Kyoto landscape. In the afternoon, the delegation was led on a lengthy walk into the inner precincts of the Myoshin-ji temple, the headquarters of Japan’s largest Rinzai Zen lineage. In this haven, a place where the average citizen or tourist cannot enter, Sotto holds the Oden-no-Kai gathering for those feeling overwhelmed by life. Oden is a popular traditional Japanese food eaten in the cold weather of stewed vegetables, tofu, egg, and fish cakes. The nuance of the name is as a comfortable place where people can relax and warm their bodies and hearts by gathering together, just as oden becomes very tasty when various ingredients are gathered and cooked together. The gathering is held monthly on Wednesday, and lunch and snacks are prepared for everyone. It is subsidized by the Kyoto Prefectural Suicide Prevention Project.
Participants are encouraged to spend their time in their own way. Some confide their secret worries, others simply listen, and still others stay off to the side looking out on the beautiful Zen gardens of Myoshin-ji to rest their minds. The organizers believe that if there is a place where you can talk about any feelings you have without being denied, or a place where you can feel that you can be comfortable, it will be a place where you can feel safe. Rev. Kodo Kosaka, abbot of the Chokei-in sub-temple at Myoshin-ji where the event is held, explains: “We don’t have a specific way of counseling things one way or another. Eventually, we will approach them and ask, “Shall we discuss things together?’” One of the counselors in training explains that, “I want these people to come here and spend time with the staff and others who are suffering from similar problems, listening to other people’s stories and talking about their own, so that they can gradually relax”. The essence of this approach follows the Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths, that is, within the context of a sangha that is safe and takes the vow of non-violent speech, sharing one’s suffering (dukkha), the 1st Noble Truth, can lead to individual and collective insights into its causes, the 2nd Noble Truth, thus leading into the development of wisdom and compassion as expressions of the 3rd and 4th Noble Truths. Creating a safe space with no agenda also allows a dis-regulated nervous system to re-regulate, leading to increased energy, resilience, and insight to resolve troubling issues. In this way, the practice of sangha in Buddhism is congruent with the cutting edge of modern psychotherapy that involves somatic regulation with psychological insight.
A Pure Land Buddhist Approach to Suicide Prevention and Training Priests in Interpersonal Encounter
November 9, 2017
Rev. Ryogo Takemoto is a representative of the SOTTO Kyoto Self-Death & Suicide Counseling Center and a former member of the Hongan-ji Jodo Shin Sect Research Institute. Rev. Takemoto spoke of his own discovery of how specific teachings within Buddhism helped him understand and help support those who wish to die. He has tried to tie together the concept and the activity of spiritual liberation for ongoing counseling work.
He explained that it has become popular to say that, “The person who holds the idea of wanting to die actually wants to live.” However, Buddhism sees this in a different way. It is not about a fixed idea of “I want to die”, but rather from the influence of a small, seemingly insignificant event that creates a kind of feeling and then in turn a specific action. For humans, a small insignificant feeling can cause change in us. Further, from the Buddhist viewpoint of dependent origination, self and other are tied together. One receives influence from what is around them, and in turn influences things around them.
In terms of liberation, Buddhism teaches a variety of paths. Concerning two methods of easing suffering, there is the one path taught by Shakyamuni Buddha of liberation through one’s own practice and another of liberation through Amida Buddha’s guidance. The former is the path of self-control through practice and the latter the path of encounter with another. However, the spiritual liberation gained through an encounter with Amida and the liberation through encounter with another person are clearly different. As our existence is one of fundamental solitude or loneliness, the experience of liberation through an encounter with Amida Buddha can bring light to this basic isolation. It is an experience with an encounter with light. One does not find a resolution to every single matter through Amida Buddha, but through this encounter with light, our way of perceiving our surroundings can change. Since I myself have not attained enlightenment, I cannot liberate anyone by my own will. However, I can communicate warmth to someone who is suffering before me. Interpersonal support cannot bring light to one’s fundamental darkness, but it can communicate warmth to a person that is before oneself. In western thought, humans consist of body and mind, but in Buddhist thought, life is defined by breath and heat. For those people who need support, an interpersonal encounter can help lighten their feeling of isolation by transmitting warmth to them.
At SOTTO, they do not use any Buddhist terminology at all, because although some people who seek their counseling are Buddhist, others are not. Further, there are so many different schools of Buddhism, it is hard to speak to each person according to their own specific school of thought. From both their experience working with people and from the standpoint of their faith as Pure Land Buddhists, they find that the individual’s personal religious view is beside the point. They have found interpersonal encounter to be a more effective way of supporting people rather than trying to instill in them a specific form of religious practice, which might be different from theirs or basically non-existent as a non-religious person.
He explained that the topic of suicide can appear often in counseling in Japan when someone says “I want to die”. As such feelings cut across many demographics in Japan, a variety of types of professionals may encounter people with such feelings, such as social workers, psychiatrists, religious professionals, health professionals, etc. There is also the need to support bereaved families. When they began SOTTO in 2010, they had 10 volunteer counselors, which has now increased to 70 volunteer counselors from Buddhist, Christian, and Shinto organizations.
The main part of the curriculum is the role-play training. Besides the person who acts as a client and the person training as a counselor, there is the role of a facilitator and an observer. The facilitator makes sure everything goes smoothly in the practice session, and the observer evaluates the whole session, especially the counselor. Often, there will be more than one observer, and the facilitator will also share feedback. Adequate time is taken at the beginning for preparation and also for reflection at the end. The counselor will also be able to ask the observers and other people for feedback and to answer questions.
Once a month, they take time to share reflections amongst the working volunteer staff and spend time with consultant leaders in the movement to help them self-reflect on certain cases they have handled. They also have a session for all the counselors to gather and talk about cases they have had, especially cases in which they have taken in negativity. Concerning self-care, Rev. Tsuruno expressed that he can get depressed from the work. In the early days, he thought he had to save people and that created a much heavier impact on him. As a priest, he would go into the main hall at Nishi Hongan-ji temple to pray and be quiet in front of the Buddha image. Now he has learned about what he can and cannot do, so is able to draw the line better and not take on all the suffering of the client.
In June 2018, Rev. Takemoto and three other Jodo Shin Hongan-ji ministers took a radical new step in their work by establishing a Buddhist based energy company to address suicide and social isolation from the foundations of society. Click here for more –> Tera Energy: A Buddhist Company Building Human Bonds and Community while Taking on the Structural Foundations of Climate Change
written and edited by Jonathan S. Watts
JNEB 