The Pure Land is NOT here and now

updated and revised September 30, 2021

Questions:

1. I sometimes think the central theme of Buddhism is that it all comes from Avidya (ignorance) and this makes us view the world as samsara rather than Nirvana. I wish to know what some Buddhists mean when they say there is no distinction between the two. Also, related to this and bringing it back to Jodo Shinshu: Is the Pure Land here and now or not? Or is it to be reached after death when we become Buddhas? Personally, I think it has to be here and now or it is nowhere. For me this is what I thought was the essence of Shinran’s teaching, and why I was attracted to it.
2. As far as the Nembutsu is concerned does it have a particular form? Or rather is it a door through which ignorance is cleared and we realize we have always been in the Pure Land?”

My answer:  

Yes, ignorance makes us see this world as suffering. The Enlightened Ones are truly happy wherever they are, so for them, samsara is like Nirvana (this is the meaning of the unity between samsara and Nirvana), however I, as an unenlightened person, can speak about that unity for days and nights but I use only mere words and still remain caught in my limited mind. No matter how much I speak about this, I still don’t become a Buddha. Only from the Buddha’s perspective (the absolute truth), are Nirvana and samsara one, because a Buddha has no illusion, and so He experience no suffering, but from the perspective of an unenlightened person, these two are different. Thus, samsara and Nirvana will remain different as long as we are not Buddhas, no matter how much we speak about unity.

And about the Pure Land:

Shinran Shonin is quoted as saying in chapter 15 of Tannisho:

 “According to the true essence of the Pure Land way, one entrusts oneself to the Primal Vow in this life and realizes Enlightenment in the Pure Land; this is the teaching I received.”

To entrust in the Primal Vow in this life amounts to the same as saying the Nembutsu – Namo Amida Butsu – with complete faith and gratitude in Amida. Namo means “to take refuge” and also it means “homage to”, so it’s an expression of faith and gratitude[1].

 There is no other meaning related to the Nembutsu in our Jodo Shinshu teaching.

“‘Saved by the inconceivable working of Amida’s Vow, I shall realize birth in the Pure Land’: the moment you entrust yourself thus to the Vow, so that the mind set upon saying the Nembutsu arises within you, you are immediately brought to share in the benefit of being grasped by Amida, never to be abandoned.”

So, Shinran says that in the moment you entrust yourself to the Vow (and because of this you say the Nembutsu), “you are immediately brought to share in the benefit of being grasped by Amida, never to be abandoned.” This means that you enter the stage of those assured of Nirvana or the stage of non-retrogression.

What is meant by the stage of non-retrogression? It means that the root of your karma is cut, that is, although you continue to experience the results of past karma and to act as a being full of illusions and blind passions until the moment of your death, your karma cannot plant its seeds into another life in samsara.

Because of the merit transference from Amida, you are now assured of Buddhahood, which you will attain in the moment of your death, when you are born in the Pure Land. You are established in this stage of non-retrogression, not by yourself, but by Amida (“being grasped by Amida”) who will never abandon you (“never to be abandoned”) – this is what is mean by non-retrogression, or assured of Nirvana.

Master Rennyo used the six-character name (NA MO A MI DA BUTSU), although the ten-character Name[2] and the nine-character Name[3] are the same in meaning with the six-character Name because they express the same faith in Amida Buddha.

We should not forget that the Name is made to be easy to recite, and it doesn’t have any hidden meaning, whether esoteric or some “Zen meaning”. It simply means to entrust in Amida’s saving power.

The Name was not created in order to make us think that we have always been in the Pure Land. For us, unenlightened beings, “here and now” means only samsara, the world of illusion and suffering. We are assured of birth in the Pure Land even if we don’t understand the so-called ultimate unity between samsara and Nirvana.

Nembutsu being the same with shinjin (this is why I always call it “the Nembutsu of faith”), it means to have the Twofold Profound Convictions (nishu jinshin): 1) to know that you are a person of deep karmic limitations, incapable of attaining Buddhahood through your own power, and 2) that only Amida Buddha can save you through His Vow Power, without asking anything from you.

So, as you see, shinjin (faith) and the Nembutsu of shinjin (faith) do not mean that “the Pure Land is here and now” or to “realize we have always been in the Pure Land”. Nowhere in the writings of Shinran or Rennyo is there to be found such an interpretation, not to mention anywhere in the Three Pure Land Sutras about Amida, which are the words of Shakyamuni Buddha himself.

But why do some followers insist on spreading false views like “the Pure Land is here and now” or presenting Amida as a symbol, myth or a fictional character? The answer is simple – it is because they cannot accept in their hearts the words of Shakyamuni and the Masters, and because they are blinded by their own limited and illusory opinions to which they try to adapt the Jodo Shinshu teaching. Such people think the Dharma must necessarily adapt to the materialistic or so-called “modern” visions of a world in which they are incapable of going beyond what they see with the naked eye. It is as if they are saying that our eyes or our limited minds, are the only criteria upon which we can distinguish what is real from what is not real in the universe, and further, what we don’t see, touch or smell, etc, automatically doesn’t exist.

Only in the moment of death, when through faith in Amida Buddha we are born the “birthless birth” in the Pure Land and become Buddhas, will we understand what our present minds and senses can’t understand – the unity between samsara and Nirvana, the “non-arising of all phenomena,” “emptiness”, etc.

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[1] In the sense that to say Namo Amida Butsu means to say “thank you Amida Buddha for saving me as I am”.

[2] KI MYO JIN JI PO MU GE KO NYO RAI – Homage to the Tathagata of Unimpeded Light Pervading the Ten Quarters.

[3] NA MO FU KA SHI GI KO NYO RAI – Homage to the Tathagata of Inconceivable Light.