The Shinnyo-en Foundation is one of our organization’s premier partners.  We share foundational beliefs in the transformative power of volunteering and service.

The Foundation was established in 1994 by Shinnyo-en, a lay Buddhist order whose members strive to live with utmost sincerity and respect for others.

Her Holiness Keishu Shinso Ito, the spiritual head of the Shinnyo-en order, was recently interviewed in Tricycle magazine about why service is so important to Shinnyo-en.  We thought you’d enjoy this excerpt from the magazine.

Why is volunteerism and other social work so central to Shinnyo Buddhism’s practice?

Master Shinjo understood that the training within the traditional Buddhist framework would lead to one’s own enlightenment as a monk, but he believed religion had to be able to help more people, including those who were not especially religious, in ways that suit their different circumstances.

He incorporated new practices such as volunteerism so our sangha [community] could offer assistance to the widest range of people.

People who are interested in traditional Buddhist training are always welcome, but volunteer activities provide an additional avenue for Shinnyo-en to contribute to the wider secular community.

Since we are a lay-oriented form of Buddhism, we believe it’s very important to engage with the community around us and to express our ideals there selflessly and unconditionally. I think that is pretty common in other religious traditions, too.

For us in Shinnyo-en, though, it’s a way to extend the Buddha’s loving kindness and compassion, something we believe is innate in all of us. And that benefits both the receiver and the giver. For the receiver, the benefit is obvious.

For the giver, it cultivates a stronger sense of compassion for the suffering of every living being. But it has to take concrete form. We have to actually do something physically.

At the organizational level, we can do things by donating the money we raise to various charities and working in harmony with other groups.

But when we’re engaged at the individual level, it’s an opportunity to experience the joys of selfless service and attain the accompanying insights. For example, we realize our heart’s natural capacity for compassion, which is very liberating in and of itself.

There is the story of Chudapanthaka from various Buddhist sources.

Basically, it’s the story of one of the Buddha’s monks who cleaned or swept his way to enlightenment.

Chudapanthaka became an arhat [enlightened one] not because of his intellect— he was considered dumb or “slow” and couldn’t memorize any of the Buddha’s teachings—but because of his focused effort, or “one-pointed mind,” to clean; through that, he was able to see the true nature of existence.

True, selfless service, or true volunteering in the Buddhist sense, must contain this element of one-pointedness for it to lead to an authentic experience of the Buddha’s enlightenment.

In Shinnyo Buddhism we sometimes describe it as “unconditional” service to others, something you engage in without attachment and without expectation of reward or recognition. The spiritual growth you experience is validated and confirmed by the sangha, and paradoxically, it lifts your idealistic aspirations for enlightenment to a new level by placing them within the context of everyday reality.

Another way to look at it is to say that selfless service brings balance to your practice. Since it engages the body, it balances the tendency we have to think and theorize rather than act.

By channeling your energy into acts of service, you transform the ideal into the real. So cleaning the inside of a temple, or picking up trash at a public park, not only cleans the space used by others (this is where the selfless part comes in); it figuratively polishes your buddhanature.

It’s palpable in the joy and satisfaction you feel.

This is related to the Buddhist concept of building merit. One of our daily chants goes:

May the merit I have accrued be transferred to others, and may we, all together, follow the Buddha’s path to enlightenment.

This daily chant is an affirmation of our buddha nature, and any kind of sincere, correct practice builds merit, which counteracts and diminishes, or purifies, negative karma.

Skillful and meritorious practices work on the deep, unconscious level of the mind, reorienting the psyche toward the boundless lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity that characterizes your buddhanature. And that’s what liberates us and makes us happy in everyday life, regardless of the external circumstances we may find ourselves in.

These are especially difficult and confusing times. What opportunities do you see in this?

The challenges can be taken as opportunities to polish one’s mind. I don’t want people’s minds to lean toward negativity.

Rather, I hope that they will use this difficult time as an opportunity to acquire the strength to sustain a positive attitude at all times.

Young people are vulnerable to negativity, which could shape their future irrevocably.

They often don’t know where to look for meaning and can easily take a wrong turn.

I want to encourage young people, communicate and interact with them, and help them keep their hearts and minds pure and open—I believe there are ways for an individual to do that, even in times of difficulty.

I want to help them see the value of working on themselves and developing spiritually.

For example, if we take a crisis, even one that may seem far off, and use it to meditate and reflect and gain some insight based on that, and then apply that insight in daily life, we can make some truly transformative changes in our lives. And positive transformation is usually incremental. Small efforts, if concrete, will pile up and bring about big personal, and even social, change.

That’s part of seeing things with the eyes of the Buddha, beyond distinctions and dualities, which helps us to see the real nature of things, the true nature of existence.

This is very liberating, as it allows us to let go of the idea that things are permanent, that things will always remain a certain way, or that there are differences between us, all of which prevent us from seeing the big picture—that we are ultimately free, interconnected, and of the same essence.