AMIDA-JI RETREAT TEMPLE ROMANIA

JODO SHINSHU BUDDHIST TEACHINGS ( FREE ONLINE EDITION)

2012-01-01T21:15:00.009+02:00

Dear friends,

I am happy to announce you at the begining of this new year, that the English edition of my book
JODO SHINSHU BUDDHIST TEACHINGS (1) is now available in a free online edition.

This book is an adaptation of some Dharma sermons given at Tariki Dojo and letters to my Buddhist friends all over the world. Many of the articles posted on this blog are to be found in it in a revised form.

According to my religious vows, I must have a free edition of any book I write, for the readers who can't afford to read it in another way or who do not want to buy it. This is because the Dharma does not belong to anybody and it is the right of all sentient beings to have access to it (2).

Click here to download it:
Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Teachings

If you have problems downloading this book, please write to me at josho_adrian@yahoo.com and I will send you a copy via e-mail.

Notes:

(1) The Romanian edition will be printed in 1000 copies for free distribution by the Corporate Body of Buddha Educational Foundation (CBBEF), Taiwan. The online Romanian edition can be found here.

(2) A printed edition for sale will be available when I raise enough funds to do it. Those who wish to support me, my Dharma activities and the printing of this book can do so by clicking the "donate" box bellow.

Those who don't want to use PayPal can send their donations here (Euro):

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NEWS! THE PATH OF ACCEPTANCE - COMMENTARY ON TANNISHO available for sale

2011-12-21T12:32:00.000+02:00

The printed edition of my book THE PATH OF ACCEPTANCE - COMMENTARY ON TANNISHO is now available for sale here.

The free online edition can be downloaded from here.

No discrimination of women in the salvation of Amida Buddha (comments on the 35th Vow)

2011-12-15T19:41:00.001+02:00

If one reads the Thirty-fifth Vow of Amida Buddha without carefully understanding its meaning, he might come to the conclusion that there is a disesteem against women:

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten quarters who, having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for Enlightenment and wish to renounce womanhood, should after death be reborn again as women, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.”

"Womanhood", like "manhood" is just a limited form for us living in samsara or the world of delusion and suffering. In reality, our true nature or Buddha nature is not of women or men, so upon birth in the Pure Land of Amida where we attain Buddhahood, we naturally “renounce” our womanhood or manhood, that is we do not define ourselves by these terms. By birth in the Pure Land we become Buddhas and go beyond woman or man limitations.

So, this Vow does not look down on women, like there is something wrong with being a woman, but it shows that also women are equally treated by the salvation of Amida Buddha, contrary to some texts which sustain the idea that women have few chances than men to become Buddhas.

In his Letters Rennyo Shonin often addresses especially to women. Here are just a few quotes:

“Let all women living in the present age deeply entrust themselves with singleness of mind to the Amida Tathagata. Apart from this, they must realize, they will never be saved in regard to the afterlife, whatever teaching they may rely upon.”

“Women who have renounced the world while remaining in lay life and ordinary women as well, should realize and have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that there is deliverance for all those who simply rely deeply (single-heartedly and steadfastly) on Amida Buddha and entrust themselves to that Buddha to save them, bringing them to Buddhahood in the afterlife. This is the Primal Vow of Other Power, the Vow of Amida Tathagata. Once they have realized this, when they then feel thankfulness and joy at being saved in regard to the afterlife, they should simply repeat “Namo Amida Butsu, Namo Amida Butsu”.

“By just entrusting herself solely to Amida Buddha (with no double-mindedness, with steadfast, and with the single thought that Amida saves her in regard to the afterlife) a woman will readily become a Buddha. If this mind is free of the slightest doubt, she will unfailingly go to the land of utmost bliss and become a splendid Buddha.”

“All women – if they are concerned about the afterlife and have a sense of reverence for the Buddha Dharma – should simply entrust themselves deeply to Amida Tathagata, cast off the sundry practices, and rely single-heartedly and firmly on Amida to save them [bringing them to Buddhahood] in the afterlife. They should have no doubt whatsoever that such women will be born without fail in the land of utmost bliss.”

Especially in the letter “On Women Attaining Buddhahood”, Rennyo Shonin speaks about the 35^th Vow of Amida Buddha, which he calls “the Vow of Women’s Attainment of Buddhahood”:

“Amida Tathagata himself made the supreme great Vow concerning women who are abandoned by all other Buddhas, thinking, “If I do not save women, which of the other Buddhas will save them?”

Resolving to go beyond all other Buddhas and save women, he meditated for five kalpas; undergoing practices for numberless kalpas, he made the all-surpassing great Vow. Thus it is Amida who originated the incomparable Vow, “Women’s Attainment of Buddhahood”. For this reason, women who deeply rely on Amida and entrust themselves to him to save them in regard to the afterlife, will all be born in the land of utmost bliss.”

All these passages prove that there is no discrimination of women in the salvation of Amida Buddha. Especially because other practices or religious systems might discriminate women, Amida wants to reassure them that in his case, they need not worry about anything. Although his Primal Vow already made no discrimination among sentient beings, he wanted to make another Vow to be sure that nobody will never EVER say that women are not included in his salvation. Thus, we may say that the 35^th Vow supports the 18^th Vow by emphasizing that ALL beings, including women, are born in the Pure Land and become Buddhas if they entrust to Amida.

Those who deny the existence of Amida don’t have shinjin – some simple explanations

2011-12-13T18:19:00.007+02:00

Unfortunately, there are many false teachers in the international Jodo Shinshu community who support wrong interpretations of the nembutsu Dharma - the so called modern and progressive interpretations - but which are in evident contradiction with the teaching of the sutras and the sacred texts. One of the most widely distributed is the theory that Amida is a symbol, a metaphor or a fictional character.

Such interpretations prove the absence of the genuine shinjin from the hearts of those who support them. It is simply impossible to have the experience of faith in Amida and in the same time to consider him a fictional character or a metaphor. On the contrary, such a shinjin is false or fictional like how fictional the object of faith is. I have never heard or read in the sacred texts about such presentations of Amida Buddha. Not Shakyamuni, nor Shinran Shonin or other masters of our tradition ever spoke in like that about Amida and his Pure Land. This is why I always say that those who present Amida as a fictional character, metaphor, symbol or something similar to these terms, don’t have the experience of faith and salvation.

The entrusting heart (shinjin) is the cause of our birth in the Pure Land and of our attainment of Buddhahood, but how faith in something fictional can be called true faith? This is something easy to understand even by kids. Fictional is fictional no matter how you present it, while the real is real. Only faith in something real and alive can be a true faith and have results - birth in the Pure Land.

If somebody says that you, the reader of these lines, are a fictional character, I suppose he doesn't believe that you exist. It’s as simple as that:).

It is said that trees are known by their fruits. It’s impossible that someone speaking and insisting in his entire work on such false teachings to have a real experience of faith and guide others to faith. It’s not that I judge the faith of others, but their own words speak for themselves. They simply don’t know or don’t feel or don’t understand or don’t want to accept who Amida is (who the sutras and explanations of the Masters say he is) so how can they have faith in him?

Master Honen was recorded in the postscript of Tannisho to say that some people don’t have the same shinjin (faith) as his so they will surely not go to the same Pure Land he goes, after death.

His shinjin and the shinjin of Shinran came from Amida Buddha, the real Amida Buddha, not the fictive Amida, the symbolic or metaphorical Amida, this being the reason why they had the same shinjin, although their personal wisdom and knowledge of the Dharma were different.

Both Shinran and Honen, but also the other Masters, accepted the teaching about Amida Buddha as taught by Shakyamuni in the Larger Sutra. By listening to this teaching they received shinjin and became Buddhas in the Pure Land. We, their disciples of modern times, are also different in knowledge, experiences and wisdom, but we too must accept the same teaching they accepted in order to receive the same shinjin like them.

Birth, life and death are not fictive, symbolical or metaphorical. Also our freedom from birth and death can’t be fictive, symbolical or metaphorical. A Buddha who is not alive and active in the world of suffering, cannot help and guide us to the supreme, unsurpassed Enlightenment. Faith in a fictive character, in a symbol or metaphor does not keep warm and cannot free anybody.

If shinjin comes from Amida and is the cause of our Freedom, those who do not entrust in Amida as being a living and active Buddha, what kind of shinjin they have?

Please use your mind and simple logic, so that you do not fall in such illusions and wrong understanding.

The true Jodo Shinshu Buddhism is not a rambling metaphysical system, filled with symbols, metaphors and hidden meanings, but a set of clear and precise teachings intended to free all beings from birth and death through a simple faith in a living and active Buddha called Amida.

Those who don’t like or cannot accept this path are free to leave it or forget it, but they should never try to change it so as to accommodate it with their personal ideas and lack of faith.

_______________________________________________________

Please carefully read these articles:

- The effect is simmilar to the cause: difference between the path of self power and the Pure Land path

- About Amida Buddha and his Pure Land

- Amida Buddha is a real Buddha (video teaching by Paul Roberts)

- Honen Shonin on Amida Buddha

- Does the Pure Land really exists?
- The reason for the western location of the Pure Land and its wonderful description in the sutras

The Alaya (storehouse) consciousness and faith in Amida Buddha

2011-12-11T19:21:00.003+02:00

In Buddhism we speak about the Eight Consciousnesses which are generated when our senses encounter their objects: 1) consciousness of sight, 2)consciousness of hearing, 3) consciousness of smell, 4) consciousness of taste, 5) consciousness of touch, 6) consciousness of mind, 7) impure (mind) consciousness, 8) the alaya (storehouse) consciousness.

The meaning of the first five consciousnesses is easy to comprehend, so I will not dwell upon them.

The consciousness of mind integrates the perceptions of the five senses in concrete images and takes decisions concerning the exterior world.

The impure (mind) consciousness is the source of clinging and so the origin of the sense of ego as well as of the other illusions which are born from the fact that the man takes as real something which is merely apparent.

The alaya consciousness or storehouse consciousness is the place where all the actions and experiences in this life and the previous lives generated by the seven consciousnesses are stored as karma, being the only consciousness which comes along with every birth. This consciousness influences at the same time the workings of the other seven consciousnesses.

We take this alaya consciousness with us in all our births in the various realms of existence. It contains the seeds of various types of karma, and it is the storehouse of the habitual evil karmic tendencies that we have cultivated for eons. Because of the karmic seeds contained in the alaya consciousness one may die a premature death, be stricken with unexpected disease or inexplicable misfortune, overcome by strong desires, aversions and obsessions, can think and do things that one should never even imagine, etc. So strong is the influence of the alaya consciousness. ..

When Shinran is recorded as saying in chapter 13th of Tannisho: “a person may not wish to harm anyone and yet end up killing a hundred or a thousand people”, he is in fact referring to the influence of past karma contained in the alaya consciousness.

Here are two questions and answers related with alaya consciousness:

1. How can the influence of this alaya consciousness be annihilated in our case, as ordinary people ?

Answer:

Only through the nembutsu of faith in Amida Buddha.

2. What exactly happens with alaya consciousness after we receive shinjin (faith in Amida Buddha)?

Answer:

After we take refuge in Amida Buddha and receive shinjin, the alaya consciousness as well as the other consciousnesses continue to exist as long as we are still in our bodies, but at the end of our lives, when we are born in Amida’s Pure Land or his sphere of influence, it naturally melts and is absorbed in the Buddha nature. It is as the comparison with ice and fire. Once the ice meets fire (birth in the Pure Land), it becomes water (Buddhahood).

Thus we can no longer speak about alaya after we become Buddhas in the Pure Land. It simply doesn’t exist anymore.

We can’t purify this consciousness during our lives, but due to Amida’s influence it becomes powerless and cannot accompany us in the next life. By receiving shinjin[1] during this present life, the seeds of our karma contained in alaya consciousness are cut, never to arise again. It is like the struggle of the fish after it was taken out of the water. It will still move for a while but it will surely die in short time. Or like the flower cut and put into a vase. It still preserves its color but will soon wither away.

Our karma stored in alaya consciousness is like this. It may continue to influence the present life, but cannot accompany us into the next life, because we become Buddhas in the moment we die and we are born in the Pure Land.

No other religious practices outside or inside Buddhism can destroy the karmic seeds of the alaya consciousness so easy as the Jodo Shinshu method. This is because in Jodo Shinshu we become totally connected to the enlightened karmic energy of Amida Buddha who takes care of everything related with our attainment of Buddhahood.

[1] It is important to realize that shinjin is not our creation, nor the manifestation of a karmic seed from alaya counsciousness, but it comes from Amida Buddha’s Mind. Because it is not our creation and it does not have its source in the alaya, but in Amida’s Mind, shinjin cannot be destroyed by the forces of evil karma from alaya counsciousness.

The Path of Acceptance - commentary on Tannisho (free online edition)

2011-11-30T12:33:00.013+02:00

Update (December 21st 2011):

THE PRINTED EDITION FOR SALE IS AVAILABLE HERE!

Dear friends,

I am happy to announce you that the English edition of my new book The Path of Acceptance - commentary on Tannisho (1) , is now available in a free online edition.

According to my religious vows, I must have a free edition of any book I write, for the readers who can't afford to read it in another way or who do not want to buy it. This is because the Dharma does not belong to anybody and it is the right of all sentient beings to have access to it. So, please enjoy my texts as you like.
Namo Amida Butsu

Click here to download it:
The Path of Acceptance-Commentary on Tannisho

Click here for direct link.
If you have problems downloading this book, please write to me at josho_adrian@yahoo.com and I will send you a copy via e-mail.

NEW:

Reactions to this book:

Paul Roberts from trueshinbuddhism yahoo group

Notes:

(1) The Romanian edition was printed in 1000 copies for free distribution by the Corporate Body of Buddha Educational Foundation (CBBEF), Taiwan. The online Romanian edition can be found here.

(2) Those who wish to support me, my Dharma activities and the printing of more copies of this book can do so by clicking the "donate" box bellow.

NEWS! Son of Shinmon-sama at his first visit to the Hongwanji-temple

2011-10-09T21:13:00.002+03:00

Takashi-sama, the son of Shinmon-sama (the future Patriarch of our tradition) and of Ruzumi-sama, born on 12th of May 2011, attended the ceremony of the "first visit" at Hongwanji temple on 8th of October.

In the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition, the family presents their newborn child at the temple, thus expressing the wish that the child will follow the Buddha's Path. Congratulations! Namo Amida Butsu!

Pictures from the 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin (8-11 September 2011)

2011-09-15T21:51:00.005+03:00

link here

new pictures were added on 19th September

I recently came back from Japan where I attended the 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin, an event which is organized once in 50 years.

There are so many things to be said, stories to tell, people to mention, but I will resume myself in this article only at sharing with you pictures that might be useful for those who attended the Conference, kikyoshiki (confirmation) ceremony and pilgrimage to Mount Hiei.

I know that usually it takes a lot of time until official pictures are released by the organizers and maybe, as it often happens, some people might not find themselves in them. This is why I always hurry, after all the Conferences and meetings I attend, to make available as many pictures as possible.
On September 11th I tried to position myself so that I could take some pictures with my members and other nembutsu friends in the foreground, receiving kikyoshiki. However, I appologize for not being able to catch all the candidates.

I am grateful to the members of my sangha for many other pictures taken by them.

Soon, more pictures will be added, so check this post for new updates!
There is no copyright for the pictures, so feel free to share then with others!

ps:
- The same pictures can be seen on the Facebook page of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Community from Romania
- on my youtube page you can also see a video record of a small part from the Ceremony dedicated to Shinran Shonin

Against the view that the Pure Land sutras are not Shakyamuni’s teaching, but a later invention.

2011-08-28T14:02:00.005+03:00

last updated August 31th 2011

First, it is of common sense to realize that the time when a sutra was put into written form was not automatically the time of its creation. During Shakyamuni’s life and later, upon his physical death, his discourses (sutras) were transmitted orally and sometimes through special states of mind called samadhi, by his closest disciples, for a few hundred years, before they were put into written form. Some falsely state for example, that the pali canon of Theravada school is the oldest and thus the most reliable collection of sutras, but if we accept that all the discourses or sutras originated from Shakyamuni, then the fact that some were put into written form earlier than the other, is not a proof for their exclusive authenticity. So, Mahayana and Pure Land sutras existed and were transmitted in the same time with the sutras of the Pali cannon, just some monks recognized only the latter while others considered the first as being genuine, too. Each group put into written form their own basket (pitaka) of recognized sutras, some earlier and some later.

But no one can prove by means of archaeological evidence that his school’s basket of sutras were actually preached by Shakyamuni while the other’s not, and the earliest creation of a writing canon is not a proof for authenticity. If a group didn’t write its sutras in the same time with the others or earlier, this doesn’t mean its transmission is not authentic and did not continue in parallel from Master to Master. No one can prove that Shakyamuni did not imparted some sutras only to a group of special disciples which were opened and more prepared to receive them than others and who, in turn, transmitted such sutras to their own chosen disciples in an uninterrupted succession, until one day they decided its time to give them a written form. No one can check and investigate the Buddha’s mind or the minds of his closest disciples and their actions by means of archaeology.

If we read about the Buddhist councils who first compiled orally the discourses of the Buddha, soon after his physical death, we see that the monks who attended such councils could all recite by heart dozens of those discourses and that all were accomplished Masters.

Also, we know from the first passages of the Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life (Larger Sutra), that among the assembly gathered on the Vulture Peak, where Shakyamuni delivered it, there were “twelve thousand monks […] all great sages who had already attained supernatural powers”. This aspect is extremely important because it is an indication about who were the monks who heard that sutra and later transmitted it to further generations. They were monks who “attained supernatural powers” and is naturally that these monks used their mind power to accurately transmit this sutra to further generations. Among these monks we read the names of Venerable Mahakasyapa, Venerable Sariputra, Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana and Ananda. “All of these were Eders”, says the sutra. But monks with supernatural powers were not the only listeners. Great transcendental Bodhisattvas like Samantabhadra, Manjusri and Maitreya, the future Buddha, were present too, and they all rejoiced at hearing Amida Dharma, which means they had faith in it and later helped in its promotion.

More than this, Shinran presents the testimony of his own Master, Honen Shonin (Genku), who revealed to him that in a previous life he was present too, on Vulture Peak where the Larger Sutra was preached:

“Genku himself said,

‘Formerly, I was among the assembly on Vulture Peak;

I practiced austerities with other sravakas

And guided beings to the Buddhist path”.

This is a proof for us, disciples of modern times, that the event described in the Larger Sutra is a real one. As we know, Shinran never regarded Honen as an ordinary person, but a returner from the Pure Land[1], thus taking his revelation very serious and we have no reason for doing otherwise.

I wonder how modern scholars can verify with their limited mind and methods, the presence of all those great beings on the Vulture Peak and their further work of spreading this sutra! In reality, these so called scholars and teachers are acting like they understand everything related with Shakyamuni and the transmission of the Pure Land sutras. They do not accept that this transmission might go beyond the capacities of their limited minds to understand. They do not accept the possibility that for some centuries it might had been an orally transmission, or a mind to mind transmission or maybe a special transmission by disciples of high spiritual capacities through the concentrated state of mind called samadhi. Such kind of transmissions, even the simple orally one, can’t be proved or denied by archaeological means. Nobody can check the minds of Shakyamuni and his closest disciples who dedicated themselves to the proper transmission of the Pure Land sutras until they were finally put into written form[2].

More than this, we clearly see that the transcendent Power of Shakyamuni Buddha lies within the transmission of the Larger Sutra to the future generations, even after all other sutras would have been disappeared:

“In the future, the Buddhist scriptures and teachings will perish. But, out of pity and compassion, I will especially preserve this sutra and maintain it in the world for a hundred years more. Those beings who encounter it will attain deliverance”.

Here, the words “I will especially preserve this sutra” are extremely important, because Shakyamuni himself vows to help its transmission and never let it disappear. Such a promise is beyond the capacity of unenlightened people to comprehend, but nevertheless it’s a true promise upon which we can depend, because it was made by a fully Enlightened Buddha.

The truth is that we, Buddhist disciples of these times, far removed from the physical presence of Shakyamuni, have only two choices, we either accept in faith the Pure Land sutras as being genuine, like all the Patriarchs and Masters of our school did, including Shinran, or we discard it.

Shakyamuni himself said at the end of the Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life (the Larger Sutra): “Most difficult of all difficulties is to hear this sutra, and accept it in faith. Nothing is more difficult than this”.

As we clearly see from Shinran’s written work, he relied on Amida and his Primal Vow only because this was, in his opinion, the teaching of Shakyamuni recorded in the Larger Sutra. He and all the Patriarchs and Masters of our school never doubted that this sutra was the genuine preaching of Shakyamuni. The reason why they had trust in this sutra and other Pure Land sutras, was especially because Shakyamuni delivered it. More than this, Shinran considered the Larger Sutra, in which the Primal Vow was revealed, to be the main reason of Shakyamuni’s appearance in this world. He could not say this if he considered it a later invention of some Buddhist monks, as so called modernists scholars argue.

Thus, he stated in Shoshinge:

“The reason for the Buddha's appearance in the world
Is solely to expound the Primal Vow of Amida, wide and deep as the ocean.
All beings in the evil age of the five defilements
Should believe in the truth of the Buddha's words.”

The words of the Buddha are superior to the teachings of humans, even if those humans might be saints.

“Amida, who attained Buddhahood in the infinite past,
Full of compassion for foolish beings of the five defilements,
Took the form of Sakyamuni Buddha
And appeared in Gaya ”

So, in Shinran’s view, Shakyamuni was in reality the manifestation of Amida. This is an even greater proof that the path of birth in the Pure Land, presented in the Larger Sutra, is true. This sutra is not only Shakyamuni’s teaching, but Amida’s direct exposition through the mouth of Shakyamuni.

So, those who don’t accept the Larger Sutra to be an authentic discourse of Shakyamuni, are destroying the foundation of the entire Jodo Shinshu path and they accuse Shinran and all the Patriarchs and Masters of our school to be liars or ignorant.

If we carefully study Shinran, we see that he clearly accepted the Larger Sutra and all the Pure Land sutras in faith only, without ever doubting that this was actually taught by Shakyamuni and never had he imagined it might be a later invention of some monks:

“The teaching of the Pure Land way is found in the Larger Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life [….] It reveals that Shakyamuni appeared in this world and expounded the teachings of the way to Enlightenment, seeking to save the multitudes of living beings by blessing them with the benefit that is true and real. Assuredly this sutra is the true teaching for which the Tathagata appeared in the world. It is the wondrous scripture, rare and most excellent. It is the conclusive and ultimate exposition of the One Vehicle. It is the right teaching, praised by all the Buddhas throughout the ten quarters. To teach Tathagata’s Primal Vow is the true intent of this sutra; the Name of the Buddha is its essence”.

If this sutra is indeed praised by all Buddhas, as Shinran clearly stated, then it means that all Buddhas have done and are doing everything in their power to transmit it to future generations. Thus, this sutra is clearly the genuine teaching of Shakyamuni.

It is of common sense that the Buddhas would not praise the ordinary work of some monks in such an extraordinary way. More than this, the Primal Vow and nembutsu of faith are presented and contained in this sutra. So, if this sutra is not authentic, that is, if it was not taught by Shakyamuni, then the Primal Vow and nembutsu of faith have no value.

Shinran quotes Wang Jih-hsiu in part three of his Kyogyoshinsho:

“The Sutra of Immeasurable Life is truly the shortest path to attainment of birth, the superlative means to liberation from suffering. All people should embrace its teaching”.

How can such a sutra, the most important sutra among the whole Shakyamuni’s teaching be just the creation of some people?

In Gutoku’s Notes, Shinran says:

“The true and real teaching of the easy practice, the Primal Vow of the Pure Land way; this is the teaching of the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life”.

As already explained before, in the Larger Sutra, the Primal Vow was presented, so if this sutra is not genuine, which means, its not the exposition of Shakyamuni Buddha, but the later creation of some monks, then the Primal Vow is also not true, but the creation of human beings. Things are very clear and logical. Without Shakyamuni’s testimony, no teaching can be called authentic. The reason why some modern scholars spread false views that Amida Buddha is a fictional character, a myth, a metaphor, symbol, etc, and the Pure Land not something to be attained after death, is because they do not accept that the Pure Land sutras actually came from Shakyamuni. If the sutras are human creations, then Amida and his Pure Land are human invention too, and to rely on such inventions in order to escape birth and death would be futile.

It is very important to know that, according to Buddhism, “what one Buddha teaches, all Buddhas give witness to”, which happens especially in the case of Amida’s Dharma through which all beings, without discrimination, are saved (brought to Buddhahood). In the Smaller Amida Sutra, quoted by Shinran in his Kyogyoshinsho, it is said:

“Well does Shakyamuni, in this evil age of the five defilements, in this evil world, among evil sentient beings, evil views, evil passions, and in a time when evil acts and lack of faith prevail, teach the and praise the Name of Amida, encouraging sentient beings, “if one says the Name, one unfailingly attains birth”.

And where Shakyamuni does this encouragement, if not in the sutras on Amida Buddha and especially in the Larger Sutra?

Shinran explains and then quotes again from the Smaller Amida Sutra:

“Further, the Buddhas throughout the ten quarters, fearing that sentient beings might not accept the teaching of the one Buddha, Shakyamuni, all together with the same intent […], preach these true and sincere words:

‘Sentient beings, each of you should accept what Shakyamuni has taught, has praised, has given witness to!’”

So, those who deny the Pure Land sutras as being the true exposition of Shakyamuni Buddha, also deny the true teaching about Amida and his Primal Vow, which means they regard all Buddhas as liars and their testimony to be a fake. This is indeed the most evil karmic act because they plant doubts in people’s hearts and close the gate of birth in the Pure Land. Also they deny the testimony and understanding of all the seven Patriarchs who experienced in their own life the authenticity of the teaching contained in these sutras.

Shinran clearly entrusted himself and relied on the testimony and teaching given by the Pure Land Patriarchs from India, China and Japan who, like him, also accepted this sutra in faith only:

“Here I, Gutoku, of outlying islands, relying on the treatises from India and the western regions and looking to the explanations of the teachers of China and Japan, reverently entrust myself to the teaching, practice and realization that are the true essence of the Pure Land way”.

None of the seven patriarchs and his own Master, Honen, ever regarded the Pure Land Sutras as being the creation of some monk’s imagination. On the contrary, they all relied their explanations on them.

In his Discourse on the Ten Stages, Nagarjuna, the first Indian Patriach of our school, said, referring to Bodhisattva Dharmakara who later became Amida Buddha:

“When he was seeking the Path to Buddhahood, he performed

many marvellous practices

as described in various sutras. So I prostrate myself and worship him”

It is clear beyond any doubt that Nagarjuna fully accepted the story from the Larger Sutra of Bodhisattva Dharmakara who practiced for many kalpas until he became Amida Buddha. Also, his explanations from the Discourse, his recognition of the innumerable Buddhas in the universe and his hymns of adoration toward Amida, prove that he accepts the words of Shakyamuni in the sutras.

Vasubandhu, the second Patriach, wrote in his Discourse on the Pure Land:

Depending on the sutra’s exposition

Of the manifestation of true merit,

I compose verses of aspiration in a condensed form,

Thereby conforming to the Buddha Dharma.

He successfully visualized Amida and his Pure Land and he was always filled with sincere devotion to this Buddha.

Master T’an-luan especially emphasized three Vows, in his teaching, which of course, are to be found in the Larger Sutra: the 18^th Vow, which enables the faithful to be born in the Pure Land through nembutsu, the 11^th Vow which brings about Nirvana and the 22^nd Vow, which makes those born in the Pure Land to act like Bodhisattva Samantabhadra in saving unenlightened sentient beings. He also made very important references in his writings to the Contemplation Sutra, for example, when he explains at the end of his Commentary on Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the Pure Land, why recitation of the Name ten times at the death of an evildoer is capable of extinguishing his grave karmic evils and make him being born in the Pure Land of Amida.

Master Tao-ch’o was especially devoted to the Contemplation Sutra on which he lectured about two hundred times, but he also talked about the Larger Sutra, on the bases of which he considered the Pure Land as a land of recompense manifested from Amida’s Vows.

Master Shan-tao, the fifth Patriarch, practiced according to the Contemplation Sutra and also had wonderful visions of Amida Buddha and his Pure Land which were described by him in his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra. How could he had such results if the sutras were only some monk’s imagination?

He is also said that he copied the Smaller Amida Sutra more than a hundred thousand times and made more than three hundred paintings of the Pure Land. And he clearly explained that beings can attain birth in the Pure Land (which he considered to be the land of Amida as a Sambhogakaya Buddha) because of the Power of Amida’s Primal Vow. He encouraged followers to recite the Contemplation Sutra, the Smaller Sutra and the Larger Sutra, which of course, he considered to be the true teaching of Shakyamuni. In his Parable of the Two Rivers and the White Path he clearly explained that the voice from the eastern bank of the river, who encourages the traveller to walk the path to the Pure Land represents Shakyamuni’s teaching while the voice from the western bank is Amida’s Call. Thus, there is no doubt that he entrusted to Amida due to Shakyamuni’s encouragement and teaching that can be found in the Pure Land sutras.

Master Genshin wrote A Collection of Essential Passages Concernuing Birth in which he quoted 952 passages from various sutras, including the three Pure Land sutras, and many commentaries. He is also said to recite the Smaller Amida Sutra ten thousand times.

Master Honen, the seventh Patriarch and teacher of Shinran, an eye witness of the preaching of the Larger Sutra on Vulture Peak, as I showed previously in this document, clearly stated in many parts of his writings, that his entire teaching was based on the sacred scriptures and that he was only a transmitter, not a creator of the Dharma. Thus he said in one of his letters:

“I am not telling you this by my own initiative. I just state exactly what the sacred scriptures describe, as if holding the text up to a mirror. Please look over the scriptures”.

He also said:

“There is not one word of falsehood in the words uttered by Shakyamuni Buddha. Simply revere and believe them. Also know that if you doubt his teaching, it would be harmful and you would be karmically unfortunate. Please have implicit faith in his teaching”.

We clearly see from the above explanations and passages, as well as from other texts I am not quoting here due to lack of space, that Shinran was not alone in viewing the Pure Land sutras and the teaching about Amida as coming from Shakyamuni Buddha.

There is not a single passage in his or the seven Patriarchs of our school’s texts and commentaries, which might contain the idea that the Pure Land sutras were a later invention. Their works are filled with quotes and passages from the Pure Land sutras which they always considered to be the channel through which Amida Dharma entered our world. Everything that the Patriarchs of our school wrote was proved with words from the Pure Land sutras at such an extent so that if we are to quote them properly, we should in fact, quote their entire works, that is, hundreds and hundreds of words and explanations which are based on the Pure Land sutras delivered by Shakyamuni.

Truly, nobody is so smart and spiritually evolved as to check the Buddha’s mind and the transmission of the most important teaching of his life. Unfortunately, our Jodo Shinshu teaching is so much artificially complicated nowadays by many scholars and false teachers whose egos are so big as to change the Dharma about Amida and even say that this Dharma is not the genuine teaching of Shakyamuni! Truly, we must wonder why such people are accepted and recognized as priests, scholars and teachers in our school and why are they promoted on so many official websites and magazines.

Some of these people argue that even if the Pure Land sutras were not delivered directly by Shakyamuni, this doesn’t make them lesser valuable because they preserve the spirit of his compassionate teachings. So, in other words, the Pure Land sutras which, in their opinion, were invented by some monks a few hundreds years after Shakyamuni, can be considered as if it were his, in their spirit. But this is just a smart trick in order to have a free hand to reinterpret their content in a symbolical or metaphorical way. By deleting from the follower’s minds the truth that Shakyamuni preached those sutras, they are in fact, creating a new foundation for their own interpretations. If the Pure Land sutras are something else than Shakyamuni’s own discourses, then everything which is contained in them can be interpreted in any way by anybody because the texts do not have the authority of a Buddha. So, the gate of false teachings and modern divergences becomes opened and Amida and his Pure Land can be understood in ways completely different than Shakyamuni’s intention.

Another argument these people present is that Shinran lived in the 13^th century and he couldn’t know the later development of science and archaeology. But how can a true Shinshu follower think that if living in our time, Shinran would possibly embrace the views of such scholars simply because of materialistic ideas that are prevalent today! How could Shinran, if he was to live in our times, accept the theories that Amida and his Pure Land are fictional, because if we study the writings of modernists we clearly see that all their wrong views are closely connected to each other. All those who state that the Pure Land sutras were not actually preached by Shakyamuni, also share the ideas that Amida is a fictional character, a symbol, a metaphor and his Pure Land not a real place to be attained after death where we attain supreme Buddhahod.

How can someone, who truly received faith, may think that Shinran and all the Patriachs would change entirely their vision and teaching about Amida and his Pure Land if they lived in our times. How Vasubandhu and Master Shan-tao, who clearly had visions of Amida and his Pure Land, or Master Honen, who was seen by Shinran as the actual manifestation of Amida and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, could declare that the Pure Land sutras were not preached by Shakyamuni and embrace the modern divergences related with this view. How could they suddenly discard all their profound spiritual experiences because science and archaeology cannot prove the transmission of the Pure Land sutras when exactly based on these sutras they experienced faith and wonderful visions? How big is the delusion and lack of any humbleness of those scholars to state that the Jodo Shinshu teaching preached by Shinran and the Patriachs should be changed because we are no longer living in the medieval times, when our Masters were ignorant of science and archeology, but in scientific modern days. As if the essential religious truths about the transmission of the Pure Land sutras, and the existence of Amida and his Pure Land, are not the same for any time or place or as if such things could be checked by unenlightened beings and their limited methods.

How far they are from the humble statement of Shinran Shonin recorded in Tannisho:

“If Amida's Primal Vow is true, Shakyamuni's teaching cannot be false. If the Buddha's teaching is true, Shan-tao's commentaries cannot be false. If Shan-tao's commentaries are true can Honen's words be lies? If Honen's words are true, then surely what I say cannot be empty. Such, in the end, is how this foolish person entrusts himself to the Vow”.

He simply started his arguments by stating that Amida’s Primal Vow is true. This is the beginning of a genuine spiritual life in Jodo Shinshu and cannot be negated. It is the base of his faith and life. Without the Primal Vow being true, there is no Dharma. Anyone who is in accord with the intention of the Primal Vow is a true teacher and the mission of a true teacher is to expound the Primal Vow. This is the lineage of the True Pure Land path with Amida’s Primal Vow as the origin. But what proves the Primal Vow of Amida is true and where do we find the good news about it, if not in the words of Shakyamuni recorded in the Larger Sutra and other Pure Land sutras. Thus, if someone denies that these sutras were actually taught by Shakyamuni, he or she automatically denies the authenticity of the Shinshu Dharma, and the reality of Amida, his Pure Land, the Primal Vow, shinjin and nembutsu. If Shakyamuni, as a fully Enlightened Buddha, did not preach the Pure Land sutras, then all these cannot be trusted anymore, because there would be no Buddha to testify for their existence.

Shinran clearly said that through the testimony of Shakyamuni and the Patriarchs, he was able to meet with the Primal Vow of Amida. Only because he regarded their words to be true, he was able to entrust to the Primal Vow. Such was the way he, as “a foolish person”, entrusted to the Vow and how we should also have faith in it.

[1] Shinran said about his Master’s physical death:

The death of our teacher Genku

Came in 1212, in early spring;

On the twenty-fifth day of the first month,

He returned to the Pure Land”

He also revealed Honen’s own words on his death bed:

“When the moment of death approached,

Our teacher Genku said:

‘This is my third time to be born in the Pure Land;

It is especially easy to accomplish’”

[2] The earliest Mahayana sutras and the Larger Sutra were probably put into written form between the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE.

A story of Shinran's meeting with a hungry ghost

2011-08-28T11:21:00.001+03:00

This is a painting of Shinran and a Gaki on Mt Tsukuba ( from the Jofuku-Ji temple in Ozone Tsukuba).

As we know, unlike other Buddhist schools, in Jodo Shinshu there are no ceremonies to feed the hungry ghost (segaki). In relation with this, I recently found a story from Tsukuba and the surrounding area involving Shinran Shonin’s visit to Mt Tsukuba.

It is said that Shinran was staying at some lodging house at the foot of Mt Tsukuba the night before his planned ascent of the mountain. While he slept he dreamed of a boy who announced himself as the messenger of Nantai Gongen ( the male god of the mountain). The boy went on to beseech the great priest to visit the middle one, of 3 caves he would find on the mountain`s slopes.

Shinran found the cave and entered. First he found two jars with a little water in them. Then deeper into the cave he found a gaki (a hungry ghost).

The tormented spirit told Shinran that because of past evil actions he was now suffering terrible hunger and thirst. However, due to the merciful kindness of the deities of the mountain every day, he and the other gaki could drink one drop of water each day.The Gaki then went on to beg Shinran for relief in the form of food or water.

Shinran, however, did not believe that just because one had a bad karma, one had to suffer so much. He was certain that ANYONE who said nembutsu would be saved.

And this, according to the story, is exactly what happened. After saying nembutsu with the Gaki for a day- he was saved and taken to the Pure Land by a mysterious cloud.

It is said that this story was a proof for followers of Tsukuba area that it was not necessary to make offering to gaki because they can save themselves with nembutsu of faith.

I am asking those who know more about this story and the Jofukuji temple, to share their knowledge here. Is this temple belonging to Jodo Shinshu? And if yes, to what branch?

- the original article where I found the story is here -

The nembutsu meetings in the Romanian Shinshu Sangha

2011-08-26T00:37:00.007+03:00

I was asked many times how we do things in the Romanian Shinshu sangha. How do we chant, if we do meditation, how is the Dharma talk, etc. The following is a short answer I gave today to a friend:

At the two dojos we have in Romania (Tariki Dojo Craiova and Tariki Dojo Bucharest) we chant in the traditional way - in sino-japanese. We do not chant in Romanian, but we have the Romanian translation of the texts we use. We usually chant Shoshinge, Sambutsuge, Juseige and Amidakyo (we especially like to chant Amida-kyo) followed by nembutsu in the form of “NA MO AMIDA BU”.

I also make refuge ceremonies for those who wish to enter the sangha, when the new member chants together with the sangha The Three Refuges (1) followed by Ryogemon (Shinshu Creed) in Romanian. I also ask my members to learn Ryogemon by heart.

After the chanting, I give a Dharma talk on various topics of Jodo Shinshu teaching followed by questions and answers. I often ask my members various questions to check their understanding. The teachings I give are based exclusively on the sacred texts from the canon of our school. This is because in the Jodo Shinshu sangha of Romania ONLY the words of the sutras and the commentaries of the Masters of our tradition (Shinran, Rennyo, etc) are considered to be the true and real Jodo Shinshu teaching. In the rule 8^th of the dojos from Romania it is written:

“In the dojo only the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teaching is taught, in exactly the way it was presented in the canonical texts of our school. Those who distort the teaching or wish to spread false views that are not present in the canonical texts, don’t have access at the dojo. This rule applies to visiting teachers/priests, too “

Please read the entire article RULES OF THE DOJO so that you can fully understand the way I teach the Dharma in Romania and how I organize my activities here.

Also no meditation is taught in the Romanian dojos because Shinran and Rennyo did not taught meditation and our tradition is not about meditation. I do not feel we must add something to the Shinshu teaching which is ok in itself.

The greatest importance in the Romanian Shinshu sangha is placed on understanding the Dharma, listening the Dharma over and over again, asking questions, etc. Listening the Dharma is the only way to open the mind and heart to the Call of Amida Buddha. Listening the Dharma is the only way to receive shinjin. This is in accordance with the teaching and instructions of Shinran and Rennyo who always emphasized listening the Dharma.

Chanting at the beginning of the meeting is only to prepare the members to listen to the Dharma and to express gratitude.

At the beginning of the meeting, when people enter the dojo, they bow to the sacred image of Amida at the entrance, then they bow to greet the other members. They do the same at leaving the dojo. All members and visitors, no matter they are priests or lay, must follow the rules of the dojos.

______________________________________________________
Notes:

(1) click on the link to see how I teach the meaning of the Three Refuges in Jodo Shinshu
I am trying to make my members aware of the modern divergences from the Shinshu teaching that are prevalent in our days and try my best such divergences never enter my country.

Handwriting of Shinran Shonin found

2011-08-12T11:49:00.000+03:00

A piece of paper with a monk's name believed to have been written by Shinran, left, and another piece of paper with the title of the Buddhist archive Saihoshinansho and the name of one of Shinran's followers. (Provided by Takada Honzan Senjuji temple and Takada Honzan Senjuji temple)

Takada Honzan Senjuji Temple in Mie Prefecture said it found two pieces of paper that apparently contain the original handwriting of Shinran (1173-1263), founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist sect. The papers were found inside the six-book archive Saihoshinansho believed to have been written by the monk around 1256, when he was 84 years old, the temple said.

Read the entire article here
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201108110242.html

The Meaning of "True Disciple of Buddha"

2011-08-10T11:39:00.000+03:00

Eiken Kobai Sensei

by Eiken Kobai Sesei, Professor Emeritus, Soai University

Introduction

Shinran Shonin says in the Chapter on Shinjin in The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way.

“In the phrase “true disciple of Buddha,” “true” contrasts with “false and provisional.” “Disciple” indicates a disciple of Sakyamuni and the other Buddhas. This expression refers to a believer who has realized the diamondlike heart and mind. Through this Shinjin and practice, he will without fail transcend and realize great nirvana; hence, he is called a true disciple of Buddha.”①

In the above text, Shiran Shonin says that a “true disciple of Buddha” means a person of diamondlike heart and mind (true Shinjin established in the present life), whose own birth is completely settled .
As above, Shinran Shonin says a person of Shinjin is a True Disciple of Buddha. The important problem here is that it is necessary to clarify　what Shinjin is, what it is necessary to do to attain Shinjin, and what changes if Shinjin is attained, in Shiran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin's words.

1. What is Shinjin？
　　
Shinjin is the Shinjin of the 18th Vow, and the true cause (of our birth in the Pure Land). As Shinran Shonin wrote in in the chapter on Shinjin in The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, Shinjin is “untainted by the hindrance of doubt,”② and in the Ichinen Tannen Mon'i、 he wrote “shinjin is hearing the Vow of the Tathagata and being free of doubt.”③ In this way, Shinran Shonin says Shinjin is “hearing the Tathagata's Vow without the mind of doubt” and that this is the true cause (of our birth in the Pure Land). He doesn't say either ethical practice or social practice are Shinjin. This is the important point.

2. What is it necessary to do to attain Shinjin.？
　
Jodo-Shinshu is not a teaching in which we perform ascetic practices through “self-centered effort” (jiriki). 　Rather it is how we are saved by Amida Buddha's Primal Vow, through “Buddha-centered power” (tariki).
Also, Shinjin is what we receive from Amida Buddha, as expressed in phrases such as “shinjin of ‘merit transference’ of the ‘power of the Primal Vow,’” and “Shinjin given to us by the Tathagata.”
That does not, however, mean that those who have not yet received “settled Shinjin” do not have to do anything. Shiran Shonin says in Hymns of the Pure Land,

　　　“Those who hear the Buddha's Name
　　　 Going even through flames that fill
　　　 The great thousandfold world to do so
　　　 Attain forever the stage of nonretrogresssion.” ④
Also Rennyo Syonin in the Heard and Recorded During Master Rennyo's Lifetime, 193.

　　“There's an old saying, ‘Stone is extremely hard and water is extremely soft, and yet that soft

water can bore a hole in stone. If you reach down to the depths of the originally pure mind/heart, how can Enlightenment not be attained?’ If even those without Shinjin listen to the teaching of Buddha-dharma from the bottom of their mind/heart, they absolutely will receive Shinjin because the power of the Buddha's Great Compassion is added. All we need do is expend effort in listening to the honorable teaching.”
Again, in Article 185 of that same work, is the passage: “.. teach (the ignorant and illiterate) to just listen and accept shinjin. There is nothing in our Jodo-Shinshu teaching other than this.” As can be determined from the above, Shiran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin urge us to “just listen (to the Dharma)” for the purpose of “settled Shinjin.”

3. What changes if Shinjin is attained ？

Shiirann Shonin says in the Hymns of the Dharma-Ages, Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection

　　“Although I take refuge in the true Pure Land way,
　　 It is hard to have a true and sincere mind.
　　 This self is false and insincere;
　　 I completely lack a pure mind.” ⑤
Again, in the Notes on Once-calling and Many-calling

　“Foolish beings: as express 　in the parable of the two rivers of water and fire , we are full of ignorance and blind passion. Our overwhelming, arising without pause; to the very last monent of life they do not cease , or disappear , or exhaust themselves."⑥

In the above text, Shinran Shonin says that even after attaining Shinjin, evil passion is not lost. However, it changes clearly after attaining Shinjin.
Shiran Shonin says in the chapter on Shinjin in The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way,

“When we realize the diamondlike true mind, we transcend crosswise the paths of the five courses and eight hindered existences and unfailingly gain tenbenefits in the present life. What are these ten?

1. The benefit of being protected and sustained by unseen powers.
2. The benefit of being possessed of supreme virtues.
3. The benefit of our karmic evil being transformed into good.
4. The benefit of being protected and cared for by all the Buddhas.
5. The benefit of being praised by all the Buddhas.
6. The benefit of being constantly protected by the light of the Buddha's heart.
7. The benefit of having great joy in our hearts.
8. The benefit of being aware of Amida's benevolence and of responding in gratitude to 　　　　　his virtue.
9.The benefit of constantly practicing great compassion.
10. The benefit of entering the stage of the truly settled.”⑦
　　In this way, Shinran Shonin describes ten benefits in the present life. Again, he says in Lamp for the Latter Ages.20.

“When, upon hearing this, a person's trust in the Buddha has grown deep, he or she comes to abhor such a self and to lament continued existence in birth-and-death; and such a person then joyfully says the Name of Amida Buddha, deeply entrusting himself to the Vow. That people seek to stop doing wrong as the heart moves them, although earlier they gave thought to such things and committed them as their minds dictated, is surely a sign of having rejected this world. Moreover, since Shinjin that aspires for attainment of birth arises through the encouragement of Sakyamuni and Amida, once the true and real mind is made to arise in us, how can we remain as we were, possessed of blind passions? "⑧.
　As stated above, a person of Shinjin changes after attaining Shinjin. However, evil passion is not lost, as Shnran Shonin says in A Record in Lament of Divergences, 4.

“However much love and pity we may feel in our present lives, it is hard to save others as we wish; hence, such compassion remains unfulfilled.”⑨.

　Equally for us, it is not easy to help people and to contribute to society. I think what we have to understand here is that we have to become a person of Shinjin, a person of firmly established Shinjin, a person of the Certainty of Birth.

Conclusion
　
What Shinran Shonin means when he says "True Disciple of Buddha" is a person of firmly established Shinjin, a person who attains nirvana by Shinjin. The meaning of Shinran Shonin phrase, "True Disciple of Buddha" is this, and there are no other meanings.

Primarily, I think that it should mean a person of firmly established Shinjin, and a person of Certainty of Birth through Shinjin.

________________________________________________________
Notes

1. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 117.
2. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 94.
3. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 474.
4. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 332.
5. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 421.
6. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 488.
7. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 112.
8. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 553.
9. The Collected Works of Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Hongwangi-ha, p. 663.
{Fifteenth Biennial Conference of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies. August4～August6, 2011, Otani University, Kyoto]

The Three Pillars of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism (video teaching by Paul Roberts)

2011-08-03T08:30:00.000+03:00

The reason for the western location of the Pure Land and its wonderful description in the sutras

2011-08-01T00:10:00.005+03:00

revised December 13th 2011

Question: „Why the Pure Land of Amida Buddha is called „the Western Pure Land” or „the Pure Land of the West”? Why the „west” is so much emphasized in many of the sacred writings related with Amida? And also why the Pure Land is described in such a fantastic way in the sutras?”

Answer: In order to show that Amida’s Pure Land is not a metaphor, but a real place in which people can actually aspire to be born after death, the land is given a direction and is described in great details in the sutras.

Some say that the direction „west” and the marvelous descriptions of the Pure Land are a proof for its non-existence or for its existence as a symbol or metaphor only.

But the truth is that by making the effort to describe in many words the wonders of the Pure Land and by pointing to a direction where to face the Pure Land when worshipping Amida, Shakyamuni Buddha wants to emphasize its actual existence as a place where sentient beings should aspire to be born without worry and doubt.

It is like I speak to you about a beautiful park which I would like you to visit. If I tell you, „its there, in the west of the town” and I start describing it to you, then you will have no doubt about its existence and you will wish to see it. Its the same with the expression „Pure Land of the West”.

The exaltation with which Shakyamuni describes the Pure Land of Amida in the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amida-kyo) without even being asked to do it[1], or the radiant light that emanated from his body when he delivered the Larger Sutra in which he expounded the story of Amida and his 48th vows[2], are both an indication that his words were true and his listeners should accept Amida as a living Buddha and his Pure Land as a real place.

[1] The Smaller Amida Sutra (Amida-kyo) is a sutra spontaneously delivered, not in response to a question, which is a proof of the importance of the teaching about Amida Buddha. In this discourse, Shakyamuni begins every description with great enthusiam, repeating the name of his main listener, Shariputra, telling him the wonders of the Pure Land and the uniqueness of Amida Buddha among all Buddhas.

[2] It is recorded in the Larger Sutra on Amida Buddha that when Shakyamuni was about to deliver it“all the senses of the World-Honored One radiated joy, his entire body appeared serene and glorious, and his august countenance looked most majestic.” After Ananda asks him which is the reason of these wonderful manifestations, Shakyamuni reveals to him the true goal of his coming to this world, by presenting the history of Amida Buddha, the 48th Vows and encouraging sentient beings to aspire for birth in the Pure Land. In the same sutra, the whole gathering listening to the discourse, including Ananda, had a vision with Amida Buddha and his Pure Land, which is another proof that Shakyamuni speaks about real things, not symbols or fictions.

The Pure Land in the teaching of Jodo Shinshu

2011-07-26T16:16:00.008+03:00

Chih-i (538-597), the founding master of the Tendai Buddhist school in China, advocated the idea that the Pure Land „exists in one’s mind”, which was later transmitted to Japan. This can be found in the Vimalakirti sutra, a teaching belonging to a diferent Dharma gate than that of the Pure Land, and in which it is said that if one’s mind is pure then the land appears pure by virtue of the purity of the mind. Essentially speaking, the Pure Land was understood by many Tendai masters of the past as existing only in one’s mind. Chih-i even spoke of Amida Buddha and his Pure Land as elements of one’s consciousness to be realized in the mind.

Nowadays, many followers and so called teachers of our school take this idea and integrate it in various ways in their own interpretation of the Jodo Shinshu teaching without knowing or without wanting to accept that such ideas are against the Pure Land teaching advocated by our Founding Masters.

We need to understand very well that contrary to the theories of "mind only" or "pure land is pure mind", the Jodo Shinshu teaching recognizes the existence of many transcendental Buddhas who preside over many realms and that it is possible, by various methods, to be born in one of these after death. Various examples of such Buddhalands are, for example, Maitreya’s Tusita Heaven, Akyobhya’s land, the land of Tara Bodhisattva, Bhaisajyaguru (Yakushi) Buddha’s land and Amida’s land of the west which is the best land to be born into by those who wish to attain Buddhahood quickly. The real existence of such lands and especially of Amida Buddha’s Pure Land was naturaly accepted by the masters of our school, like Nagarjuna, Shan-tao, Honen, Shinran and others who clearly instructed us to aspire to be born ONLY in Amida's land. They all embraced the idea of the Pure Land from the viewpoint of the next life (raisejodo), which means it is to be attained after physical death and of Amida as a real and living Buddha. Shinran himself lamented in the 3rd chapter of Kyogyoshinsho about those who embraced wrong views about Amida and his Pure Land:

„the monks and laity of this latter age and the religious teachers of these times are floundering in concepts of „self-nature” and „mind only”, and they disparage the true realization of Enlightenment in the Pure Land way”.

It is unfortunate that many nowadays false teachers continue to lead people into confusion with concepts that are not to be found in our school, due to their own lack of faith in Amida Buddha and of a sincere aspiration to be born in his Pure Land.

How far they are from the words of faith spoken by Nagarjuna:

With reverence I bow my head to Amida, the Sage,
The Most Honored One, who is revered by humans and devas.
You dwell in the wonderful Land of Peace and Bliss,
Surrounded by innumerable children of the Buddhas.

_________________________________________

Please study these articles:
- The effect is simmilar to the cause: difference between the path of self power and the Pure Land path

- About Amida Buddha and his Pure Land

- Amida Buddha is a real Buddha (video teaching by Paul Roberts)

- Honen Shonin on Amida Buddha

- Does the Pure Land really exists?
- The reason for the western location of the Pure Land and its wonderful description in the sutras

- you may also read the many articles and discussions in the category "modern divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teaching"-

Honen Shonin on Amida Buddha

2011-07-24T17:17:00.002+03:00

Honen Shonin (1133-1212)

In the Dialogue on One Hundred Forty-Five Topics, Honen Shonin said:

„Although there is one Amida Buddha, his teachings have different interpretations. The Shingon school teaches that Amida Buddha resides in one’s own heart; they do not admit his existence outside of one’s heart. The Pure Land school, however, teaches that Bodhisattva Dharmakara realized Buddhahood and became Amida Buddha and now resides in the west[1]. These two viwepoints reflect great differences between the two schools”.

The words of Master Honen are very clear for those who have a sincere wish to understand who Amida really is and repent for spreading wrong views.

I especially chose this quote to show that any presentation of Amida Buddha as being a metaphor, a myth, a symbol of one’s own Enlightened nature or one’s own heart and mind, etc, is not in accord with the Pure Land teaching of Honen and his Dharma heir, Shinran Shonin. The right view that a follower of our school should have about Amida Buddha and teach it to others is the one presented by Shakyamuni in the Larger Sutra: Amida is a real and living Buddha who resides in his Pure Land of the west (a manifestation of his vows to save all beings). Because Amida is not something inside our heart or mind his Pure Land too, is not inside us, not „here and now” and not „our own pure mind”as some might say.

Because Amida is a real and living Buddha outside of us, his Pure Land too, is a real place outside us, unenlightened beings, who can never have a pure mind and heart. In our own heart and mind there is nothing else than illusion so we cannot say that Amida Buddha or his Pure Land is to be sought there.

There are great differences in interpreting Amida between our Pure Land school and other Buddhist schools based on personal power. But if we consider ourselves disciples of Honen and Shinran Shonin we should discard the latter and take refuge in the living Amida Buddha of the western Pure Land.

Only upon birth in the Pure Land, when we become Buddhas, we’ll understand fully the ultimate nature of all things and the Pure Land.

- reccomended article "About Amida Buddha and his Pure Land" -

[1] The Pure Land of Amida Buddha is sometimes called the Pure Land of the west. See the chapter „The reason for the western location of the Pure Land and its wonderful description in the sutras”.

Listen deeply - (Video Teaching by Paul Roberts)

2011-06-20T17:31:00.000+03:00

Amida is a real Buddha (video teaching by Paul Roberts)

2011-06-13T08:58:00.001+03:00

Here is a video teaching by my Dharma friend, Paul Roberts, on Amida Buddha and his Pure Land in accordance with the Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life (Bussetsu Muryoju kyo). It is a useful guide on what Amida is and what is not, very much needed in these times when so many divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teaching appear. I praise Paul's initiative to start a series of Dharma talks on youtube and I highly reccomend him as a genuine teacher of the Dharma.

I remain the same

2011-06-10T22:02:00.001+03:00

No matter where I go, or what I do, I remain the same.

Wether I am in my room, a temple, or even in the presence of the relics of the Buddha, where I was today, I remain the same.

I came to the relics shrine with a distracted mind, I stayed there and payed homage with a distracted mind and left home with the same distracted mind.

I did this or that, circumambulation, gassho, etc, but still my mind remained the same. When I realized this, I stopped doing anything and remained sitting. Just being there was enough.

I was and always am in the presence of Amida Buddha, so what else do I need doing? What does a child need to do in the presence of the mother? Nothing. Trully nothing. He just stays there and feels accepted. No special thing is required.

Just sitting there I realized again that everything is ok.

My mind can never be at peace. Since the Buddha and me both know this simple truth, just sitting in his presence is enough.

Namo Amida Bu. The problem of my life and death are solved once and for all without me doing anything special.

The Smartest Guy in the Room

2011-05-28T14:12:00.000+03:00

by Paul Roberts, from trueshinbuddhism yahoo group

Dharma Friends -

Recently, we had a brief discussion about Buddhist cosmology - the Buddha's vision of the cosmos.

Here's something I just read about what scientists are discovering right now:

Data from the Kepler telescope leads them to believe that there are some two BILLION earth-like planets in our own Milky Way galaxy. That is, planets with the kinds of basic conditions that would support the presence of liquid water, and thus have the potential of supporting sentient life as we know it.

And our galaxy is one of FIFTY BILLION, that we know of.
Here's the link:
http://www.space.com/11188-alien-earths-planets-sun-stars.html

>>>
So what is the significance of all this to me, as a Buddhist, and particularly as a Shin Buddhist?

It goes back to the very REASON that I became a Buddhist in the first place.

Some years back, as I read some of the words of Shakyamuni Buddha, I became convinced - TOTALLY convinced - that He is the smartest guy in the room.

I became convinced that of all the teachers out there, in the various traditions that I knew anything about, He was the one who had truly gone beyond, and reached the very pinnacle of enlightenment.

I became convinced - way before I had even heard of Shin Buddhism - that His teaching was the RIGHT teaching, that His understanding was the RIGHT understanding, and that His vision was the RIGHT vision, about life, the universe and everything.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't make any claim to understand all that He taught, or all that I have read. In fact, I'd say that most of it is just way above my pay grade - and goes right over my head.

Sure, I can read it and study it and even memorize it and regurgitate it. But that's a far cry from REALLY understanding something as profound as (say) the cycle of dependent co-arising.

But nevertheless, I have understood enough to know that He is the teacher worth listening to. So when I found Him - I was able to let go of all other teachers and their teachings, and I became one of his many followers.

And now, some nine years after having found Master Shinran's teaching, and the Sutras of Shakyamuni that undergird it, I get just one more glimpse of just how expansive and overarching Shakyamuni's Dharma wisdom actually was. Science is beginning to catch up to what He talked about in the Larger Sutra, when He spoke about the existence of countless Buddhas and countless Buddha-lands.

>>>

One of the Seven Pure Land Masters cited by Master Shinran is a man named Tan Lu'an. He had been a Taoist master, venerated by the Emperor of China in his day.

One day Tan Lu'an met a Dharma teacher named Bodhiruci. He listened to Bodhiruci's exposition of the Dharma, and then burned his Taoist texts, and became a disciple of Shakyamuni, instead.

He recognized that Shakyamuni is the smartest guy in the room.

And then, at some point after that, he was led to the core Sutras of our school, and became one of the Pure Land Masters who unfolded the Dharma of the Pure Land Way over the course of centuries.

So why am I saying all this?

The fact is, there are countless spiritual teachers and teachings out there. There are eastern teachers, and western teachers. Ancient teachers and modern teachers. Buddhist teachers and non-Buddhist teachers. Traditional teachers and new age teachers.

You can borrow bits and pieces from all of them, and cobble together your own personal path. You're allowed to do that, because we live in a free society (more or less).

But Shin Buddhism - TRUE Shin Buddhism - is never going to make sense to you as long as you do that.

Sure, you can say that Shinran says this, and Rumi says that, and Ken Wilber says so and so, and Mohammed says thus and such...and on and on and on.

But SHINJIN will continue to elude you if you do.

At some point, you have to decide FOR YOURSELF who the smartest guy (or gal) in the room really is. Who is the teacher whose teaching is 100% true and reliable? Who is the teacher whose teaching is so good, that it's worth your while to spend your life sitting at his feet and listening deeply to what he says?

If you REALLY want to become enlightened - if you REALLY want to come to the end of this endless journey of countless lifetimes - that is what you must do.

Of course, I cannot convince anyone else that my decision to become a follower of the Buddha is right and correct. That's an INSIDE job. That can only happen as you listen deeply inside, with that great and heartfelt yearning to become an enlightened being yourself.

So that's where I would tell anyone to begin, as they start to listen to our Dharma message. Listen to Shakyamuni Buddha until you too are convinced that He's the singular figure - the one who has "gone beyond".

And then, once you KNOW that, take refuge in Him, leaving all other teachers and teachings behind, once and for all.

Only after you have done that, will you be able to respond to His own instruction that His own disciples should actually take refuge in a Buddha greater than Him - a Buddha who is worshipped and praised by Him and ALL the other Buddhas in countless Buddha-lands.

After you have truly taken refuge in Shakyamuni Buddha, THEN you can be like the man in the parable of TWO RIVERS AND THE WHITE PATH.

THEN you can stand in this world, trembling (perhaps) at the difficulties of navigating this life, and listen to Shakyamuni as He whispers in your ear that you should simply go forward into the waiting arms of Amida.

If you have other teachers, other ideas, other thoughts - you're not going to listen to Shakyamuni very well, or very much. But if you have fully invested yourself in being His disciple (as poor a disciple as you might be), then you will be responsive to His gentle encouragement to entrust yourself and your karmic destiny entirely to Amida Buddha.

Of course you will listen to Him. Who else would you listen to? After all, He's the smartest guy in the room.

Gassho,

Paul

Campaign "Life for Andrada"

2011-05-27T16:08:00.001+03:00

I appeal to all my Buddhist friends to help this little girl (Andrada Maria) by donating or promoting this campaign. She is the niece of Shaku Gonen (Bogdan Barbu), my great friend and one of the founding members of the Romanian Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Association from Romania. The girl needs help as soon as possible. Please, show your Compassion in these times of suffering.
Here is the link with details about Andrada's ilness and ways to donate:
http://schichandrada.blogspot.com/p/english.html (English)
http://schichandrada.blogspot.com/p/t.html (Italian)

I will keep you updated.

Namo Amida Butsu,
Josho Adrian Cirlea

UPDATE:

Andrada will start a treatment in Ukraine. She needs to go there 3-4 time per year, and for each session we need to pay : 2084 euro for treatment, 1500 euro for hosting, 700 euro for transport.

The 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin in Kyoto

2011-05-17T17:50:00.003+03:00

Through the benevolence of the International Association of Buddhist Culture I will be able to attend, together with three members of Romanian sangha, the 750^th Memorial of Shinran Shonin and the European Conference that will be organized on this occasion between 8^th to 11^th September in Kyoto.

The whole year of 2011 is under the auspicious celebration of Shinran Shonin, the Founder of Jodo Shinshu school. Many ceremonies take place in Japan and everywhere.

These religious ceremonies are beautiful and have their utility, but most important is teaching and listening the Dharma. Thus, I encourage all priests and lay members to use the 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin to first meditate on the Teaching, share the Teaching in accordance with the sutras and commentaries, clear the doubts, ask questions and answer to questions. The goal of this year when we comemorate Shinran Shonin is to receive shinjin and help others receive shinjin. Nothing else.

I will go to Japan with this single goal in mind. I hope to meet there people who are dedicated to the Dharma and wish to understand the Dharma. To venerate Shinran Shonin means not only to make many ceremonies in his name, but to be faithful to his Teaching, to guide our lives and teaching activities according to what he taught.

I will not go to Japan because there are many old statues, temples and his tomb. In Japan or in my own room I feel the same. Amida Buddha, Avalokitesvara, Mahasthamaprapta, Shinran Shonin and all the Masters of the past walk with me everyday. I have my personal relation with them. So, I don’t really feel that going to Japan adds something special to my faith.

Such pilgrimages are useful only if they help people to be more concentrated on the Dharma, receive shinjin and help others receive it. I hope this pilgrimage will be this way.

Don’t rely on „all beings will eventually become Buddhas”

2011-04-08T08:25:00.001+03:00

To think that all beings will eventually become Buddhas is a dangerous trap for ordinary, unenlightened people who thus might strenghten the reliance on their false ego. It is another delusory thought of those who „copy and paste” the words of Enlightened Beings without discrimination.

„But the Buddha said this”, can someone argue....
Yes, he said it, but the meaning is that he as a Buddha will never stop untill all beings will also become Buddhas. It is not that ordinary people will become Buddhas by their own power, at some time in the future, but that the Buddhas will do everything in their power to make this aspiration come true. That sentence is the wish and aspiration of the Buddhas, not what people will actually do without their help.

Only if we give up trust in our self power (the power of our unenlightened ego) and entrust in Amida Buddha’s Power (Other Power) we will become Buddhas. Otherwise, no one can escape birth and death, with the exception of a few special beings who are already very close to perfect Enlightenment but who struggle for this since timeless past, like for example, Maitreya Bodhisattva[1].

The time is infinite, but the Buddhas have enough patience to wait and will always work to make all beings entrust to Amida so that all will eventually be free from birth and death. This is because all Buddhas sustain Amida Buddha, who is the one who provided the best method (His Primal Vow) to make this wish come true: to bring all beings to Buddhahood. Some methods require special capacities on the part of beings, but the Primal Vow recquires trully nothing, no virtue, no special quality. This is why this method is universal: both saints and idiots can be saved through it.

If Amida’s Primal Vow had not been made then the beings wouldn’t have had any chance for Liberation and the sentence that „all beings will eventually become Buddhas” would have been spoken in vain.

The Buddha, as the Supreme Doctor, knows that some are too sick to recover and because he has infinite Compassion he does not wait until they become capable to emerge by themselves from deep hells. What mother would do such a thing – to let her child sink in hell and wait for him on the edge of the abyss until he finaly recovers. But what if he does not recover? And in fact, what chances somebody has to recover by oneself if he sank in the ocean of immeasurable pain of the lower realms. No Buddha whose essence is compassion, would wait and see without doing anything. This is why Amida made his Primal Vow and established his Pure Land, because he didn’t want to stay and wait until sentient beings will evetually become Buddhas by themselves. It would have been stupid and compassionless had he done that. He wouldn’t have been a Buddha had he done this.

So, dear friends, please do not rely on words that you cannot understand, but on the thought of impermanence. The impermanence of your life who can end anytime, and the impermanence of your so called spiritual realisations based on self power. Please bear in mind that in the ocean of birth and death there is no „you” alone who will eventually become a Buddha. The road to the lower realms is always open for those who rely on their personal power and there is no real spiritual evolution for an unenlightened being like you, no „today I learned someting new and made a new step forward”, no hope, no nothing, just Amida’s helping hand. Please accept it.

[1] See the article „Equal with Maitreya Buddha”

Incapable to read even a single Dharma sentence

2011-03-31T16:36:00.002+03:00

-fragment from a letter-

In times of great deppresion I cannot read a single Dharma sentence, nor am I capable to make my daily devotions properly. To think, to contemplate something, to write, translate or teach becomes a great burden. Everything stops and I cannot do anything.

In those moments, when I am incapable of any religious activities, I often become deeply aware of the friendship and care of Amida Buddha. My innability of doing anything, even to read or recite a single line is entirely accepted and I feel nothing like a reprimand on His part. I sometimes blame myself for my inaction and my incapacities, but still the feeling of being accepted as I am never dissapears from my heart and mind. So, even if I say the Name often or seldom, I know that my assurance of birth in the Pure Land is the same and the Buddha is here as always, walking with me, seeing me, protecting me.

Indeed, I realize that Jodo Shinshu is for me, Josho, a person incapable of any sustained practice, who often falls and wanders here and there driven by various atachmenets. It is this feeling of being accepted no matter what, that makes me a Jodo Shinshu follwer. Without Jodo Shinshu I could not be a Buddhist and the gates of Freedom would be forever closed for me. This is not a metaphor, nor a sign of humblesness, but the simple truth. There is no hidden quality in myself, no special capacity that can be of any help in the matter of birth and death. Still, such a person is saved and assured of Buddhahood due to Amida.

Indeed, the greatest miracle in religion is not that Shakyamuni or Nagarjuna became a Buddha, but that an ordinary person will become a Buddha without deserving it. Many wise and virtuous people will never understand this....

Namo Amida Butsu

Earthquake in Japan

2011-03-12T10:37:00.000+02:00

We, members of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Community from Romania wish to express our solidarity with the people of Japan who are now suffering the effects of the natural disaster which falled upon their country.

We are looking forward to receive news from our Japanese Dharma friends and hope they are well and safe.

May we all deeply understand impermanence and follow the Dharma like this would be the last day of our life. In this world of suffering nobody is safe.

Namo Amida Butsu

Self-power as obstacle to nembutsu

2011-03-07T20:35:00.001+02:00

Question:

“Quite often it seems that we want it both ways........'our power' and Other Power.

Could we think about it this way, 'self-power' is an illusion that exists within Other Power, and even this illusion cannot obstruct the nembutsu ?

Answer:

I think we should not complicate our minds. To rely on your own power cannot lead you to Buddhahood in the Pure Land. It’s as simple as that. To rely on your own power will obstruct the nembutsu and your birth in the Pure Land. In the true Other Power faith there is no trace of self power. You rely on Amida Buddha or not. Mixed faith is not true faith.

When it is said in the sacred texts that nothing obstructs the nembutsu this means that no matter how heavy your karma, you are saved by Amida if you fully entrust in him. In this sense, your illusions or blind passions cannot be an obstacle to the nembutsu. But self power simply means that you do not rely at all or not exclusively on Amida for your attainment of Buddhahood in the Pure Land. This is why self power is an obstacle for the nembutsu, because in reality, the vehicle that takes you to the Pure Land is Amida’s Power, not your own power.

We also have to understand clearly the meaning of the terms “self power” (jiriki) and “Other power”(Tariki).

They are related only with the ultimate goal of becoming a Buddha in the Pure Land. They have nothing to do with our daily activities related with work, family, health, business, etc. In everyday life one can make efforts to be successful, to be a good husband, a good doctor, a good engineer or teacher, etc, but in matters related with Buddhahood one should rely only on Amida Buddha and on nobody else, especially not on himself.

To become a Buddha is the problem of Amida, not yours.

A bad Buddhist who entrusts to Amida

2011-02-14T09:57:00.003+02:00

Long time ago I was in correspondence with a drug addict who showed great interest in the Jodo Shinshu teaching. He had a hard time trying again and again to give up taking drugs but he always returned to his bad habbit.

I said to him:

Just entrust to Amida as you are. If you can abstein, and is useful to try, this would be good for your health, but if you cannot, don’t worry. Jodo Shinshu is especially for people who cannot abstein, who are incapable of any practice, for those that any advice or any treatment is useless, for people whose minds are too sick to recover from their problems, anxieties, and deviations. Its not that they especially want to be like this, but their habitual karma is too strong for them to overcome. After many years and even many lives of taking the drugs of ignorance and blind passions how can one think and act like a normal person? How can one practice Buddhism and become a Buddha by himself?

I met many times with alcholics and told them the same if they asked me questions on Buddhism. If you tried and cannot give up, then be an alchoholic who entrusts to Amida. Be an alchoholic nembutsu follower. Its ok and normal to be like that. Be a bad Buddhist who entrusts to Amida.

Jodo Shinshu is the path for sick people, for those with no hope. Its the path for alchoholics, drug addicts, and all kind of people with strong attachments. All are equally accepted by the Compassion and Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. So please, come as you are.

No self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers

2011-02-05T15:44:00.004+02:00

It must be very well understood that when I speak about trying to have a good behaviour towards others in our daily lives, I do not propose self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers, and do not say that we should do this or that good deed in order to be born in the Pure Land.

Birth in the Pure Land and, for example, my trying to not beat people when I become angered, or not to cheat my girlfriend when I meet with temptations has no connection with one another. I am saved exactly as I am, no matter if I am calm or I burst into anger, if I am a good partner or a bad partner, a drug addict, or anything else. The Jodo Shinshu teaching is very clear on this aspect: “No evil act can bring about karmic results, nor can any good act equal the nembutsu”.

But why not trying to abstain from all these when no matter if I succeed or not, I am still loved and accepted by Amida Buddha. Why not trying – to try is the key word. If I change something within me even for a second its ok, if I fail, its ok, too.

This is, I think, the meaning of “don’t make a linking to poison because you have the antidote” from Tannisho, or some letters written by Shinran, in which he speaks about not encouraging people to intentionally do evil. Shinran never said, “go and kill everybody because you are saved by Amida”. Jodo Shinshu teaching does not say “rape, kill, and torture people”.

Although it saves evil people, Jodo Shinshu is not an encouragement to do evil. A mother never encourages her children to do bad deeds, but even if they do all the evil things in the world, she still loves them and accepts them. This is the meaning of “no evil act can bring about karmic results, nor can any good act equal the nembutsu”.

Realizing our limitations in daily life

2011-02-03T15:55:00.001+02:00

- all articles in this section are from my correspondence with various nembutsu friends-

Question:

Can "worldly Way" actually assist us in realizing shinjin, by making clear to us that we are unable to help ourselves reach Nirvana, Enlightenment, and the Pure Land ?

My answer:

I do not know if I understand correctly what you mean by “worldly way”, but into my opinion, everything can teach us important lessons if our minds are ready. When one is ready to learn, everything becomes a teacher and a guide.

Everything around is, for example, a lesson of impermanence. Our relations with those close to us are in constant change, our bodies are changing, our minds are changing, etc – there is nothing stable we can rely on in this world. We can see the limitations caused by our bodies who, no matter we like it or not, have their own path to follow, which is growing old, becoming ill and dying; we can see the limitations caused by nature, but more than this, we can see the limitations of our minds.

Everything we build doesn’t last long, both our material constructions and mental states.

Everything changes constantly. We realize, if we are karmicaly mature, that we have nothing to rely on and that our dependency on various things from outside or inside us is so powerful that it is impossible to overcome. Thus, we may discover that freedom and long lasting happiness is not in our power to find it.

If the message of Amida’s salvation reaches us when we are karmicaly mature so as to realize all these, then it has a good chance to take root in our hearts.

If one does not realizes his limitations, or does not long for freedom from birth and death, he or she cannot become opened to Amida’s message of salvation.

The important element that can make us see everything around us or inside us as teachers of impermanence is awareness. But as I said in my previous letter, there is a difference between seeing yourself using the light of your own power and seeing yourself with the help of Amida’s Power. It is the same with lighting a small candle in a darkened room or using a thousand electricity devices.

So, all worldly things can assist us and make us ready to accept, now or later, the message of the Primal Vow. It depends on us, on how we look to these worldly matters. Being in chains can make one to wish for freedom and be ready when a liberator comes to rescue him or can make another find pleasure in living as a slave. Some can’t even realize they are in chains.

This is my answer.

I think this article written by me long time ago is also related with this matter

- Aspiration to become a Buddha - the most important matter

The "Two Truths" in Jodo Shinshu

2011-02-01T15:49:00.003+02:00

Question:

What is the meaning, in Jodo Shinshu, of ' The Two Truths ?'

My answer:

When I asked the same question to Zuio Inagaki Sensei he answered me shortly:

‘The Two Truths’ in Jodo Shinshu mean: 1) the truth about our salvation through Amida’s Vows and 2) the moral codes we should abide by in daily life.

Of course, in general Buddhism, ‘The Twofold truths’ means the absolute truth and the relative truth.”

I think he meant that we should live by knowing we are ultimately assured of Amida’s salvation while we may also try (if we can) to follow Buddhist rules of behaviour in relation with others.

The fact that we are saved does not mean we are not allowed to make any effort to improve ourselves. But we should never think that by trying to have a good behaviour we add something to the salvation of Amida which makes no distinction between good or bad people.

If we try to somehow relate the doctrine of two the truths from the general Buddhism with Jodo Shinshu, then I think we can say that Amida is the ultimate Dharmakaya, beyond any form, but who took a form and a Name and made the forty-eight Vows to enter in the world of cause and effect and make us capable to attain Dharmakaya ourselves, via birth in the Pure Land.

According with the absolute truth, there is no dualism between the Buddha nature and us, but because we are unenlightened and we live at the level of relative truth and we cannot perceive the so called unity between Nirvana and Samsara, we are offered a Name and a Vow in which we can entrust and thus, enter ultimate Dharmakaya upon birth in the Pure Land.

We cannot access ultimate Buddhahood or Dharmakaya or absolute truth as we are now, so we are given an indirect way to it, via faith in Amida and birth in His Pure Land.

I also wrote an article which may have some connection with this. You can read it here.

People like us need the dualism of the savior (Amida) and the one to be saved. We should let go the ultimate truth as long as we live, because no matter how smart we are and how beautiful words we use to describe it, it is impossible to understand it and be saved by it.

- please also read the articles
"No self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers"
-A bad Buddhist who entrusts to Amida

Ryogemon - Profession of Faith (short explanation and commentary)

2011-01-18T18:15:00.001+02:00

Ryogemon is the creed of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teaching, composed by Rennyo Shonin (1415-1499), the eight Monshu of Hongwanji. In it we find all we need to know and accept in order to be born in the Pure Land of Amida. By taking refuge in the Three Treasures [1] and accepting this profession of faith into our hearts we become Jodo Shinshu followers, so we must fully understand its meaning. There are a few English versions of Ryogemon, but I use the following one, translated by Zuio Inagaki Sensei:

“Having abandoned the mind of self-power to perform various practices and miscellaneous acts, I have entrusted myself to Amida Tathagata with singleness of heart recognizing that he has resolved my crucial after-life problem once and for all.

I understand that at the moment such entrusting Faith arises in me, my deliverance from Samsara is settled with the assurance of birth in the Pure Land, and joyfully accept that recitation of the Nembutsu which follows is to express my indebtedness to Amida.

How grateful I am that I have come to this understanding through the benevolence of the founder, Shinran Shonin, who appeared in this country and of the masters of the succeeding generations who have guided me with deep compassion!

From now on, I will abide by the rules of conduct all my life.”

***

“Various practices and miscellaneous acts” include all the religious practices, teachings and actions through which people believe they achieve something, especially perfect Enlightenment and Buddhahood. These can be various meditation/contemplation or non-meditation methods, observing precepts with the thought of transferring the merits thus gained toward Enlightenment. Even the saying of Amida’s Name can be placed in this category if it is done while relying on your personal power[2].

All these are abandoned; the very idea that you can do something by yourself to gain perfect Enlightenment and Liberation from Samsara is abandoned. You simply realize that you are limited and incapable to become a Buddha by yourself.

You accept that only Amida Buddha[3] can help you in this and stop your endless wandering in the repeated cycle of birth and death, so you entrust completely to him.

In the exact moment you entrust to Amida you are assured of escaping from Samsara and of birth in the Pure Land. In that exact moment (not when you die) you become saved, your karmic destiny is fixed and you are sure to become a Buddha in the Pure Land. Nothing which follows to this moment of the appearance of faith can somehow influence, improve or destroy your chances to be born in the Pure Land. You remain an ordinary person as you have always been, till the moment of your death, and even if you die unexpectedly, without thinking to Amida or not in a good state of mind, you still go in the Pure Land because you are already saved since your first moment of faith. So don’t worry about anything, just entrust in Amida and all is assured for you. The saying of Amida’s Name is just the expression of faith and gratitude because Amida saves you without asking anything from you, not the smallest virtue or merit.

You met the Dharma of Amida’s salvation because of Shinran Shonin’s appearance in this world and of his explanations. His successors who were faithful to his teachings and further spread them to the later generations, like for example, Master Kakunyo or Master Rennyo, also provided you with the conditions to meet this wonderful teaching. So they all, especially Shinran Shonin, deserve your gratitude and appreciation.

The rules of conduct you engage to observe all your life when you enter the Shinshu sangha are to be found in Rennyo’s letters[4]. They are reformulated by me here:

- respect other Buddhist schools and do not denigrate their teachings or followers[5]

- do not belittle other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

- do not denigrate the kami (gods of Shintoism)[6]

- do not put on airs of a high spiritual person – be humble

- do not impose our faith to others of various religions or Buddhist schools

- be careful when you talk about Jodo Shinshu teaching with people who are not karmicaly mature and open to understand and receive it – do not impose it on them; in general, speak only when is truly necessary and at the right time.

- do not be proud and do not become noisy, especially in the public, with your convictions and faith in Jodo Shinshu; be discrete, act normal, and enjoy your faith in silence and humbleness.

- do not denigrate or slight government and local authorities because you have faith and they don’t

- meet your public obligations and duties in full without fail

- take the laws of the state as your outer aspect[7], store Other Power faith deep in your hearts and take the principles of humanity and justice as essential[8].

Also by becoming a Jodo Shinshu follower you automatically promise not to distort this wonderful teaching with personal ideas and opinions based on your unenlightened mind. Thus, you realize that the Shinshu Dharma is the wonderful medicine given by Shakyamuni and the Masters to save people from birth and death and in order to be effective you must not change it or alter it in any way since you are not a Doctor or a Buddha yourself. This is a rule of conduct which you automatically and naturally accept when you enter this path. It’s just common sense. If one destroys or modifies Amida Dharma, then this Ryogemon becomes useless and no salvation from birth and death can be possible. So, please be careful when you talk about Jodo Shinshu or you try to transmit it to others. Indications about this general rule of conduct are to be found everywhere in the teachings of Shinran and Rennyo, so take it as essential when you enter the Shinshu sangha.

[1] See my article „The meaning of the Three Refuges in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism”.

[2] For example if you think that the better you recite it, the more chances you have to be born in the Pure Land, or that the number of recitations and the concentrated state of mind are important, or if you imagine that you can gain merits by this recitation which can be transferred to your birth in the Pure Land, etc.

[3] If one thinks that Amida is a symbol, a fictional character, a metaphor, as some deluded modern scholars interpret him, then this Ryogemon is useless. Only those who accept Amida as a real and living Buddha as described by Shakyamuni in the Larger Sutra can have true faith in him.

[4] References to these rules can be found at pages 20, 27, 32, 34, 35, 40, 41, 47, 50, 53, 71, 74, 77, 81 from “Rennyo Shonin Ofumi (The Letters of Rennyo)”, published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center Translation and Research in 1996.

[5] Rennyo said in one of his many letters referring to this aspect: „Within our tradition there must be no slandering of other teachings and sects. As the teachings were all given by Shakyamuni during his life time, they should be fruitful if they are practiced just as they were expounded. In this last Dharma age, however, people like ourselves are not equal to the teachings of the various sects of the Path of Sages; therefore, we simply do not rely on them or entrust ourselves to them”.

[6] We do not rely on the kami, but this does not mean that we denigrate them. As Master Rennyo pointed out in many of his letters, these kami worshiped in Shintoism were in fact manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who tried in many ways to bring sentient beings to finally entrust in the Amida Dharma. Thus, by receiving faith in Amida, we fulfill their wishes and aspirations, so we do not need to worship and take refuge in them. Shinran Shonin himself forbade worshiping of the kami and various gods, but he also never said we should denigrate them or their followers. I would not go so far as to say that the important figures of all religions are in fact, manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We know that in Buddhism, in general, gods are just one type of unenlightened beings among others, so we must not conclude that Master Rennyo tried to make us see all gods from various mythologies or important figures of major religions as being Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. In his letters he specifically made reference to Shintoist kami which other Japanese Buddhist schools also considered them as having a link with the Buddha Dharma. This also does not mean that Jodo Shinshu followers should see Shintoism or other religions as being the same with Buddhism. Shinran himself quoted Nirvana Sutra in his Kyogyoshinsho, where it is clearly stated that: „the emancipation of non Buddhist ways is called impermanent, the emancipation of Buddhist ways is called eternal”. So we abandon all non-Buddhist ways and follow only the Buddha Dharma, but in doing this we respect other people’s religious decisions and do not denigrate them.

[7] Act accordingly with the laws of the state you live in. Of course, this does not apply to laws that are inhumane and criminal.

[8] Try to be compassionate and treat all people equally no matter their differences.

photo: Hongwanji Shinshu crest inside a Dharma wheel

Buddhist books for children

2011-01-12T15:28:00.000+02:00

Dear readers and Dharma friends,

Can you please help me with Buddhist books for children, especially cartoons? I need as many variants as possible to get inspiration for something like "Buddha's life", "Shinran's life", "Rennyo's life", Buddhist teachings with animals, etc. It does not matter if they are in Japanese (I know there are many such cartoons in Japanese), English or any language. We have no Buddhist books for children in Romanian and I intend to create some. I also know there are not so many in English, too.

If you have some free copies, please send them to my mail address:

ADRIAN CIRLEA

O.P. 6, C.P. 615

CRAIOVA, DOLJ

ROMANIA

Your help will be very much appreciated.

Namo Amida Bu,

Josho Adrian

Solve the matter of death and after death NOW!

2011-01-03T16:42:00.001+02:00

"We should all quickly take to heart the

matter of the greatest importance of the afterlife, entrust ourselves deeply to
Amida Buddha, and recite the nembutsu." (Master Rennyo)

No matter what I do, there is one thought that comes to me naturaly and this is: „I will die one day, maybe tommorow or even today”.....

To be or not to be a religious person lies in how much attention one gives to his own death and after life. And there is something more: in how hurried he or she is to solve this matter of death and after death.

This I think should be a great urge for a Buddhist – to solve the matter of death NOW, as soon as possible, to be hurried to solve it and being afraid to postpone it for another day or year.

To have the sense of urgency in liberating yourself from death and rebirth is a sign of health on the Buddhist path. To wait, to feel that you have a lot or even some small time for spiritual evolution its a delusion, the gravest delusion Mara, the demon, can give to you. And its such a sweet delusion! How nice it is to spend your time thinking you are always learning and evolving!

People in general and many Buddhists, while staying on the edge of the great abyss of death and rebirth, they are playing the game of spiritual seekers, indulging themselves with the fruits of their personal realizations, thinking that today they learned something new and they evolved a little more, when in fact they are unconsciously lying themselves .

Please do something and stop this madness, dear Dharma practitioners! You are no better than before and you will never be. You will never learn anything true, but your own ego centred wisdom.

You are NOTHING in the great storm of birth and death and the so called merits or wisdom you think you gained in this human life will count nothing when you die. Nothing truly reliable, nothing stable can be built by your unenlightened mind. Only the Buddha’s Mind is reliable. And this Buddha Mind took a Name and a form in the person of Amida and is waiting for you to realize you need help.

I think there is nothing more valuable in the spiritual life than realizing the need for help and asking for help. Isn’t it a stupid thing to be in a deep dark ravine and refuse the help of the only person who can get you out just because you think you can do it by yourself?

Isn’t it stupid to think you can become a perfect Buddha capable to save all beings in this very life with this body? I mean, of course, some could do it in the past, but isn’t it stupid to think that YOU, the reader of this blog, are the same with them? And isn’t it stupid to have the feeling that you have enough time to try? If this is not delusion, then what is it? Have you entered this path to become a Buddha and free yourself from birth and death, or to be a nice and smiling Buddhist? Please meditate on this.

What makes you so special that you cannot die suddenly when you go to toilet or eat something? And in what state of mind will death find you if you die suddenly? Will you be a Buddha, a free One in the moment of death, or an ordinary person like you are now and you have always been?

And if you do not become a Buddha in this life, what makes you think you will have another chance to do it in another life? Isn’t it stupid to lose the chance of escaping the prison of birth and death when someone offers to take you out, just because you wish to go out by yourself? And you call your attitude, wisdom???

Or is it delusion?......

Please meditate on this.

Wishes for the New Year (2555/2011)

2010-12-30T16:26:00.000+02:00

Impermanence can strike at any moment – please listen to the Dharma like this would be the last day of your life. Make 2555 (Buddhist era)/2011 a year of awareness and appreciation for the chance to be born in human form and meet Amida Dharma.

May the true Jodo Shinshu teaching spread and modern divergences dissapear.

May at least one more person receive shinjin.

Namo Amida Bu

Buddhist books for sale

2010-12-22T19:52:00.012+02:00

last updated December 21st 2011
If you buy one of these books you support me and my Dharma activities in Romania:
(If you can't afford to buy them, please write to me and I will send you a free copy according to my possibilities).

NEW!!

date of publication: December 2011
THE PATH OF ACCEPTANCE - COMMENTARY ON TANNISHO,
by Rev Josho Adrian Cirlea; 122 pages;
13 Euro or 14 US Dollars (delivery expanses included)

Click here for the free online edition if you don't want or can't afford to buy it

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date of publication: April 2008 - THUS I HAVE HEARD FROM RENNYO SHONIN (Rennyo Shonin's Goichidaiki Kikigaki) - ;An annotated translation by Zuio Hisao Inagaki.132 pages - 13 Euro or 14 U.S. Dollars (delivery expanses included)

TRANSLATOR Zuio Hisao Inagaki Sensei was born in Kobe, Nov. 1929. Graduated from Kobe City University of Foreign Languages (B.A.), Ryukoku University (M.A.) and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (Ph.D., 1968). Lecturer in Buddhism at the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1969-81; professor at Ryukoku University, 1982-98. After his retirement in 1998, a professor emeritus at Ryukoku University. Appointed to Numata professorship at the University of California, Berkeley (1985), the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1989), and Leiden University, The Netherlands (1992). President of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies from 1993 to 2005; Honoary President of the same since 2005; representative of the Pure Land Mandala Study Group since 1995.The web-master of "Amida Net" (http://www12.canvas.ne.jp/horai).

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date of publication: August 2007 - UNDERSTANDING JODO SHINSHU by Eiken Kobai - English edition, 190 pages - 13 Euro;or 14 U.S. Dollars (delivery expanses included)

Professor Kobai explains the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, as taught first by Master Shinran, and then by Master Rennyo.For those new to Shin Buddhism, and for those confused by the different teachings being propagated today in Master Shinran's name, Kobai Sensei provides clear insight into the Dharma coming from 40 years of study as a faithful scholar of Shinran's thought.

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- date of publication: October 2007 - ;THE TRUE AND REAL WORLD OF SALVATION - An Introduction to the Life and Teaching of the Venerable Master Shinran.79 pages - pocket size -price: 8 Euro or 9 U.S.Dollars (delivery expanses included)

A very good introduction into the life and teaching of Master Shinran Shonin, the Founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist school in Japan.A book you can take with you everywhere, to use as a guide and meditation on the life of Shinran Shonin and his teachings.

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You can also send your payment to the following Bank Account (Euro)

CIRLEA GHEORGHE ADRIAN

COD SWIFT INGBROBU

RO73INGB0000999900545998

ING BANK NV AMSTERDAM

SUCURSALA BUCURESTI - ROMANIA

On returning from the Pure Land

2010-12-13T15:03:00.002+02:00

Question:

“Do you think all beings who are born in the Pure Land will return to this world in order to help others? Or only some great teachers like Honen and Shinran? If all beings return, would they have some knowledge on this (that they came from the Pure Land?) It seems Honen, for example, only realized this (or mentioned it to his students) when he was about to die. Also, I wonder what the difference is between returning to this world from The Pure Land and returning to this world for an ordinary next life (without achieving Ojo[1] first). I you have any thoughts on this, I'd be happy if you share them with me.”

Answer:

Not all beings who are born in the Pure Land will immediately return to this world to help others. Those who have faith mixed with doubts will stay a period in the border land of the Pure Land. They are those born in the Pure Land through the 19^th and the 20^th Vows[2]. But those who enter the Pure Land through the gate of the Primal Vow (18^th Vow) will immediately become Buddhas and they will be able to quickly return to this world in various forms, to help others.

Only Buddhas can come to the Saha world whenever they wish and in whatever form they wish, to help all beings. The reason for being born in the Pure Land is to become a Buddha. Aspiration to become a Buddha for ourselves and others is central to Mahayana Buddhism and we, Jodo Shinshu followers, also have this aspiration. But, as Master Shan-tao said, we aspire to become Buddhas through Amida’s Power, not ours. So, if we entrust completely to Amida’s Power, then we become Buddhas in the Pure Land, but if our trust is not complete, then we are forced by our own doubts to remain in the border land of the Pure Land.

Between birth in the Pure Land of an ordinary person and of a great master there is no difference if they have shinjin (faith in Amida’s Primal Vow). Both become Buddhas capable to return to the world of suffering to help others. This is because it is Amida’s Power that causes them to be born there, not their virtues and personal merits.

If they were born in the Pure Land by their own virtues, then there would be differences among them, but because they are born through faith given by Amida, their birth and Buddhahood is the same. Honen is recorded as saying in Tannisho that if one has the same shinjin like him – which is shinjin given by Amida (shinjin of the Primal Vow) – then he will go in the same Pure Land as him.

And of course that everybody who returns from the Pure Land as a Buddha will know it, because all Buddhas know their own and all beings previous lives. There is nothing a Buddha does not know about him or other beings, no limitation to his vision or power, because he is completely free from all bondages. And this is what we all Buddhists want to become, isn’t it?

Buddhas come to this world of birth and death out of their free and enlightened will to help others, while unenlightened beings, who haven’t achieved Ojo (birth in the Pure Land) first, come due to their karma. The latter are slaves of their own karma; they do not choose where to go or where to be born and no matter where they are, they will suffer and make others suffer even when they wish to make them happy.

So, one should first become a Buddha in the true Pure Land through simple faith in Amida’ Primal Vow if he or she wishes to help other beings.

In the end I wish to mention one more thing. Into my opinion, Honen and Shinran were already Buddhas when they came into this world and preached the Pure Land teaching. This means that they somehow became Buddhas in the Pure Land in the distant past and their life we know on this earth was in fact a returning from the Pure Land. Shinran never regarded Honen as an ordinary person and we can see this in his wasans (hymns). I myself go even further, and am sure that Shinran was not only a returner, but the manifestation of Amida Buddha and Avalokitesvara[3].

One very important thing should be very well understood: Buddhas never live for themselves and the Pure Land is not a place to enjoy egoistic pleasures. It is not a destination, nor the end of the journey, but the beginning of our activity to save other sentient beings. We go there in order to return.

[1] Birth in the Pure Land.

[2] See the article „Three Vows of Salvation”.

[3] See the article „Shinran Shonin , a manifestation of Amida Buddha and Avalokitesvara”.

My prayer to Shinran and Rennyo

2010-11-21T18:17:00.000+02:00

I renamed this category POEMS, PRAYERS, ASPIRATIONS. Here I will post all kinds of texts, old and new that fit into this description and might be of help to Jodo Shinshu followers. Please feel free to send me any poem, prayer or aspiration that you discover in the sacred texts, various modern works or even those composed by you. All that matter is that you be inspired by it in your own nembutsu path.
Bellow is my personal prayer to Shinran and Rennyo.

Shinran and Rennyo,
My Compassionate parents,
please always stay on the crown of my head and bless me.
By the Power of Amida,
May I and my Dharma companions
be always in accord with your teachings
and receive the same shinjin like you.
May I always meet and be influenced
only by teachers and lay people
that are faithful to you and do not deviate from your words.

Thoughts upon awakening...

2010-11-14T05:23:00.000+02:00

- from Paul Roberts of True Shinbuddhism yahoo group-

Dharma Friends,

This morning, as I woke up, this thought was bubbling up for me:

WHAT WE YEARN FOR IS THE PURE LAND.

Now I can't remember exactly (so maybe someone will refresh my memory), but I don't think those words are original with me. I'm pretty sure I read them, from either Master Shinran or Master Rennyo.

But it really doesn't matter where I read them. What matters is that those words are true - in my life, at least, and I know in the lives of others, too.

I'm no saint, for sure - and no one who knows me would ever confuse me with one. But the plain truth is that I really do yearn for the day when I will awaken in Amida's Pure Land, and seem Him face to face, and experience the final transformation into Buddhahood.
On some days, my yearning is like a great roaring fire. I feel like I can't wait, like the moment of leaving this body and this life can't come soon enough. Typically, those are the days when the weight of samsaric life hangs most heavily upon me.

And then there are other days where samsaric life isn't so bad - and sometimes is actually damn good. On those days, the great roaring fire of yearning is more like a bed of coals.

There's an old saying attributed to some well-known Japanese Shin Buddhist whose name escapes me right now. It translates to this: "OK if I live. OK if I die".

That's a nice sort of serenity to enjoy - a gentle acceptance of however and whenever the path of life, death and transformation unfolds.

I think most folks - Buddhist or not - finds it pretty easy to accept the first part of that: "OK if I live". Of course, someone who is "in extremis", physically or mentally, might not think it's OK just to keep living. I certainly know what that feels like - and so do many, many others. That's a very real part of what suffering in this world is all about.

But I think that "OK if I die" is not at all a common sentiment for most people, unless they have given up the life impulse (EROS) as folks often do when they are terminally ill.

For most people, the underlying sentiment is really what the poet Dylan Thomas talked about when he said,

"Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light".

I have to say, that as a person of SHINJIN - the SHINJIN given to me by Amida Buddha, that just doesn't compute.

Of course, I do what I can to stay alive. I've got a daughter who wouldn't want me to leave her. And I have some commitments in this world, to share the Dharma with those who are being called by Amida. Those commitments, both to my daughter and my Dharma friends, are karmic - given to me by Amida - and so I hold them as important, and not to be abandoned lightly.

But certainly, when it is my time to go, I am not going to "rage, rage against the dying of the light".

Why? Because in fact when I leave this world, I will be going into the light - not into the darkness. I will be going into the world of reality, and leaving behind this world of ephemeral dreams.

What seems so real to us - the here and now of our lives, individually and corporately - is really but a dream, the Buddha teaches us. It is only when we become fully and finally enlightened that we awaken from this dream at long last.

I can't prove that this is true, but deep down inside I bear witness that it is, in fact, the truth.

That which we think is substantial is really insubstantial. That which we think is ephemeral is really the true substance of existence.

Do I act that way in my daily life? Sometimes, but often not. I'm just a bonbu, after all - a spiritual idiot easily confused - a forgetful person who can get all caught up in the dramas and attachments of day to day existence. I have Buddhist attention deficit disorder, just like most other Buddhists, do. I'm no sage - but just a plain person, like most everyone else.

But even though I'm just a plain person, I still yearn. I yearn for the Pure Land. I yearn for Nirvana - the quenching of the fire that burns me from deep inside. I yearn for the end of untold ages of suffering, and the beginning of an eternity of Buddhahood.

Ultimately, Dharma Friends, that is what Buddhism is actually all about. Everything else is just details.

The ESSENCE of Buddhism concerns what it is that we actually want. What we want is to become Buddhas. That is the goal. That is the destination.

The DETAILS of Buddhism concerns what paths, opportunities and options we have to get to the great goal - the end of our journey across the ocean of birth and death.

Some 2500 years ago, in a place in Southern India called Vulture Peak, Shakyamuni Buddha first unveiled a particular path - a particular opportunity - a particular option.

It was an option no one had ever heard of before, in all the teachings that Shakyamuni Buddha had given up until that point. But when the time was right, his cousin, the monk Ananda, asked Him WHY he was glowing with such an unearthly glow on this particular day, as He sat in profound meditation before Ananda and thousands of others.

The Buddha looked at Ananda and asked him, "Did you think of this question yourself, Ananda - or did some angelic being tell you to ask it".

Ananda replied that the question was his, and his alone.

Shakyamuni Buddha replied that because Ananda had asked this singular question, untold benefit would accrue to countless beings.

And then, Shakyamuni began to reveal what had previously not been revealed: the story of another Buddha - a transcendental Buddha named AMIDA.

Why was this story - and particularly the revelation of it - so important?

Because Amida Buddha has done what no other Buddha - including Shakyamuni Buddha - could do.

Sure, Shakyamuni Buddha was able to develop and offer many Dharma doors for many people. But those Dharma doors all required intense dedication, if the person was to make any serious and sustained progress towards the final goal of Buddhahood.

Those were Dharma doors for the BEST of us.

But Amida did something far greater. He created a Dharma door for the REST of us.

I've thought many times how ironic it is that the very simplicity of the Dharma door created by Amida is such a great stumbling block for the "educated" folks of our day. For so many, whose minds have been soaked in the modernist paradigms of Jung, Campbell, Armstrong etc, it is just impossible to even admit the possibility that there could be such a thing as a transcendental Buddha. That just seems too...PRIMITIVE.

And so, starting from the premise that Shakyamuni's words in The Larger Sutra can't possibly be true, in any more than a mythical, allegorical kind of way - they try to work their way back to some deconstructed and reconstructed version of Shin Buddhism.

- Amida Buddha becomes an amorphous sort of monism.

- The Pure Land becomes a metaphor for having a Buddha mind.

- And as for what happens after death...well, who knows and who cares, really.

That's very, very sad. It's tragic, really. And one day, those who say such things will recognize just how tragic it really is.

You see, Dharma Friends, those who deny transcendental reality, whether they call themselves Shin Buddhists or not, are not really CHANGING the way that reality actually is. All they are doing is insuring that they will continue on in endless rounds of birth and death, after this life is over.

It's like someone who is impoverished, and comes upon a chunk of rock, and doesn't recognize it for the diamond it is. So he throws the rock aside, and thereby insures that he will continue in his poverty.

Someone who KNOWS that rock is really a diamond would call out to the impoverished one, if he could. He would tell him not to throw the rock away, but rather to guard it with his life, and take it to a jeweler to be polished and cut.

But if a person is deluded and ignorant, will he be willing to let go - tentatively - of his delusion and his ignorance? Will he be willing to suspend his own disbelief? Will he be willing to invest the time, the energy, the effort in REALLY determining whether that rock is actually a diamond, or not?

At any given time, some will and some won't.

Those who will - who will sit in the midst of their ignorance and unknowing - who will ask the Buddha within to lead and guide them into truth - will find the truth is revealed to them.

The old saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears" was never more true than it is for a sincere inquirer who is willing to listen deeply to the Dharma, laying aside all pre-conceived notions and ideas, and wait patiently and humbly for the truth to emerge.

Those who won't - well, they will have an infinite number of opportunities to do differently some time in the indeterminate future.

Eventually, even the most stubborn, self-absorbed and block-headed person will come to a place of readiness. In this life, it took me a long long time - and much suffering - before I was able to let go of my own fascination with my nickel's worth of understanding, and became willing to "empty my cup" so the Buddha could pour me some of his tea.

And who knows how many lifetimes it took me to get to this place!

So each and every one has his or her own time - a time when karmic conditions are ripe - a time when the person is ready - FINALLY - to listen deeply to the Dharma of Shakyamuni Buddha and Shinran Shonin.

And how does it happen? How does a person actually GET to this place? What is the catalyst?

The catalyst is what I mentioned in the beginning. It cannot be said too much or too often. It is that sacred YEARNING - the yearning that lies deep inside each and every sentient being - the yearning to become what we were always meant to be - the yearning to become true Buddhas, at long last.

When a person finally connects with that primal yearning - the yearning for Buddhahood - Amida's salvation is not far away.

That's why I say so often that this sacred yearning is the North Star for us all. As long as we follow it - as long as we allow it to pull us along - that yearning will guide us, step by step, until we are actually ready to meet a true teacher of The True Teaching of the Pure Land Way.

And then, it will be that same yearning that empowers us to truly listen deeply - with our minds and our hearts - to the simple Dharma of True Shin Buddhism.

And then, once we have listened, that same yearning will enable us to wait patiently for the Buddha within to reveal the truth of the True Teaching to us.

For me to tell you that Amida is a real Buddha, and not just an archetypal figure, is one thing. For you to hear that yourself from the Buddha within, is something entirely different.

So then, realizing that this is the path to Buddhahood available for us, and that there is no other - that same deep yearning will encourage us to take full and final refuge in the living Buddha Amida - entrusting ourselves and our karmic destiny entirely to Him.

This is all so doable - so easy - for anyone, whether you are an illiterate or a Ph.D. - IF that yearning for Buddhahood is alive and well within you.

And now, the time is right - and the gift of authentic SHINJIN can be received at last.

FINALLY, when the gift has been received, you KNOW. You KNOW that you are saved by Amida Buddha. You KNOW that at the end of this life you will awaken in Amida's Pure Land. You KNOW that as soon as you awaken there, you will complete the transformation into Buddhahood.

And because you KNOW those things...it is OK if you live, and OK if you die.

That's how it is for me. And that's how it can be for you, too.

Namu Amida Butsu.
Thank You, Amida Buddha.
Gassho,

Paul

Build barricades of true Shinshu Dharma in your own town and country

2010-11-11T15:13:00.001+02:00

Recently I wrote to one of my fellow practitioner from Europe:

„No, I don’t have anything in common with those who do not rely exclusively on the sacred texts of our school, I mean on the medicine given by Shakyamuni and the Masters. How can people who rely on different things have something in common? How can I who, following the Masters instructions, entrust in Amida as a real and living Buddha, have something in common with those who think Amida is a fictional character or a metaphor?”

I am sure that many feel the same when facing the doctrinal chaos which is easy to be found everywhere in the international sangha. Officially, we are all Jodo Shinshu followers, but practically speaking, if you take two separate groups and put them at the same table, you’ll see that sometimes they speak different doctrinal languages. The main difference is of course, that between us who strictly follow the instructions of Shakyamuni and the Masters from the canonical texts and those who tend to adapt the Dharma to their own limited opinions, to the teachings of other schools and even to the various materialistic views that are prevalent today. In the last categories are included theories like Amida being a metaphor, symbol or a fictional character, the Pure Land being here and now, and the Pure Land sutras not actually being taught by Shakyamuni.

While I see no mistakes in the official documents declaring the basic teaching of our school (like Kyosho, for example) or in the official statements of Go Monshu sama or other leaders of our school[1], I do find great error in letting people of wrong understanding to spread their personal views as the Shinshu Dharma.

The situation is such that at the official level the doctrine is well preserved and affirmed, but in practice, everybody is allowed to say everything he wishes about the Dharma so that a doctrinal chaos is unnoficially maintained by the lack of action against modern divergences and wrong understanding of the Jodo Shinshu teaching which is prevalent in many places.

If one wishes to read the sacred texts of our tradition he can do so thanks to the great efforts done by Hongwanji International Center who made a wonderful translation work in English and other languages[2]. He can thus find and study the official and traditional canonical texts of our school on which Jodo Shinshu teaching is based.

So, I repeat, I find no fault in the official documents of our school which establishes and affirms the doctrine and I greatly respect the translation work that has been done, but I strongly criticize the lack of action by those responsible against the gradual spreading of some divergent modern interpretations which have nothing in common with the teaching one can find in the texts of the sacred cannon that Hongwanji-ha itself officially recognizes as absolute authority. On the one hand, the true teaching of Shakyamuni and Shinran about Amida is maintained at the official level, but in practice nothing is done to prevent false interpretations to be spread and more than this, if one (like me, for example) dares to speak against such false interpretations of the Dharma, actions are done against him to shut his voice in the name of a so called democracy of opinions.

Of course, I wonder what democracy of opinions can exist in a sangha where my voice is oppressed with such miserable methods like those I talked about in my previous articles in this category, but I do not wish to insist on this matter now as the goal of this article is a different one.

After contemplating the present situation I reached the conclusion that it is the right time for Jodo Shinshu followers who are true to the Dharma found in the sacred texts of our tradition to build their own barricades across Europe and the world against modern divergences. Some of these barricades may consist of internet places like personal blogs, websites, online discussion groups, etc, which already exist, but also of centers in as many locations as possible, throughout the world.

To build our own groups and dojos inside the Hongwanji-ha branch of Jodo Shinshu, composed of people who are faithful to the sacred texts presentation of the teaching is the only solution to counteract the spreading of false teachings. To have our own meetings and discussions and base our understanding on these texts only, should be the reason for the existence of such groups. Amida-ji Retreat Temple Romania will be exactly this kind of international temple as Tariki Dojo Craiova already is since I found it in 2004.

Without having the smallest thought of leaving the family (Hongwanji-ha branch of Jodo Shinshu) when it passes through difficult times like these, I chose to build an island of true understanding in the middle of the nowadays doctrinal chaos, working to heal the international sangha from inside. Those who belong to other branches of Jodo Shinshu school or who are independent of any branch, but adhere to the same teaching of Shinran and Rennyo are also encouraged to do the same – start their own groups and dojos. We can work together, both members of Hongwanji-ha and non-members for the promotion of true Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teaching across the world.

I especially mention again and again that I have not and I will never propagate any separatist tendencies in the international sangha. I declare myself to be a faithful and devoted member of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha with the only difference that I think (like many other members) that our Buddhist family passes through great problems in terms of how the doctrine is presented to the world.

Thus, actions like those I am talking about in this article are very much needed.

My urge is not to create separatist movements inside the international sangha, but groups and centers where the Shinshu Dharma will be taught only according to the sacred texts (that Hongwanji itself officially recognizes as being the source of the teaching). These places will perhaps gradually become centers of healing the international Shinshu community from the inside and will provide to newcomers a helping hand in learning and studying the Dharma about Amida as it was taught by Shakyamuni and the masters.

In these temples, dojos and groups I advice to be found everywhere, only those who are ready to listen to the teaching as it is presented in the sacred texts should be allowed to become members while those wanting to promote their own personal ideas be redirected towards other places where they can do so without anybody say anything. Thus, everybody will find a suitable place for himself in the international sangha, without anybody becoming upset.

The rules I established for my dojo are a perfect example of how the Romanian sangha works under my leadership in this spirit of faithfulness to the sacred texts. If others think these rules would apply to their situation too, they can copy and use them. If not, they can make their own rules and regulations.

Groups who spread their own ideas as being Jodo Shinshu are allowed to flourish and expand, so us who think that Jodo Shinshu is only the teaching found in the sacred texts of our Masters should be also allowed to organize ourselves as we think is best.

So, dear friends from Europe or other continents, who share the same aspiration like me, start organizing yourselves! Found your own centers in your towns and start doing activities for the spreading of the Jodo Shinshu Dharma. Make study groups everywhere, put posters in the town or make publicity to such a group in local newspapers. Make it a custom to read and discuss various passages from the sacred texts at your monthly or weekly meetings. From time to time, if you can, invite teachers that are faithful to the Dharma to give lectures, etc.

Make your own blogs or websites and add your voice to the ones that already exist on the internet. It doesn’t matter you are a priest or a lay. Be sincere, study hard, ask advices, and share with others what you have learned.

It depends on us to counteract the immense river of modern divergences from flooding every corner of the world and everyone should feel responsible about how the Dharma he himself received will be preserved and spread to future generations.

No central leadership should be named for this network of centers which I hope will soon develop as time passes, but every group should act and organize itself freely according to the wish of their founders or members. We can collaborate together and keep good contacts among us and with Hongwanji International Center, IABC or other official institutions for those who belong to Hongwanji-ha branch while maintaining our uncompromising allegiance to the sacred texts and the fight against modern divergences. Attending international Conferences, receiving kikyoshiki (confirmation rites) or any other activity that is usualy organized in the international community should be appreciated and joined too, while in the same time we’ll try to have our own specific meetings and events.

Thus, for members of Hongwanji-ha branch, affiliation and respect for our Buddhist family is maintained, while we act according to our counscience as responsible members and disciples of Shinran and Rennyo.

I would like to hear your reactions to this article here or in private and if you are interested in founding a group or a center somewhere in the world I would be happy to help you with everything I can, from advices to Dharma materials.

Yours in Namo Amida Butsu

[1] For example, the last animation made by Hongwanji about Shinran’s life is a wonderful presentation of the Dharma in accordance with the sacred texts.

[2] Read, for example, www.shinranworks.com

On doubts and fears

2010-11-07T10:39:00.001+02:00

Question:

“How does the person of nembutsu, who has received shinjin, deal with the 'demon' of doubt that resurfaces after the believer has received and experienced the blessings of true entrusting from Amida Buddha?

As foolish beings, our Saha world minds are prone to delusion and 'doubt'. That is part of our hopeless condition as bonbu. Perhaps, those who doubt after receiving shinjin, are loved all the more by Amida Nyorai, because Amida recognizes the great need to embrace these hopeless, helpless beings in their delusional state of doubt.

A Chinese Pure Land Master once said, " You may not ever doubt Buddha Amitabha, but, you will doubt yourself."

(I realize that those who have shinjin have Amida's own faith through his Merit Transference to us , and that Amida Buddha cannot doubt himself ).

At some level, most Westerners, who are converts from some form of Christianity, know they are 'risking their very eternal lives' (souls?) to receive, and possibly transmit, the Dharma of our school of Buddhism.

Could it be that 'all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas praise the person of nembutsu,' because of that person's stubborn reliance on the Great Vow and belief in the sutras preached by Shakyamuni......at a 'fundamental' level ? Are people of Shinjin......heroes to all the beings of all the worlds ? .

Are these children of Amida Butsu recipients of the 'Present Benefits' because they recognize their stupidity and know, beyond any doubt, that the one thing they cannot do is save themselves from birth and death ?”

Answer:

A person who has received shinjin cannot doubt Amida’s salvation. To have shinjin means, in the words of Shinran, to hear the Primal Vow of Amida without doubt. So, doubt and shinjin cannot coexist with one another.

Of course, in terms of his personal daily life, the follower can have doubt related with many things, like his relations, his friends, even his own self, but he never doubts in ultimate matters like his own birth in the Pure Land and subsequent attainment of Buddhahood.

Generally speaking, the follower who has faith in Amida should not expect to feel special things or become a better person, to acquire qualities that he hasn’t had until then or to overcome his ordinary problems and fears. Simply stated, he remains an ordinary person filled with delusions and attachments even after receiving shinjin. But there is only one difference – he knows that from now on (from the moment of his first thought of entrusting) a great burden was taken off his shoulders, the burden of becoming a Buddha by himself. He certainly knows, with no doubt that he has become assured of birth in Amida’s Pure Land.

He knows all these, but deep inside, fears of various kinds, delusions and difficulties might continue to coexist with this faith. Shinjin or faith is an “outside element” in the heart of the believer because it is not his creation but what Amida planted inside of him. It is also like the big and warm arms of the mother who carries the frightened child across the turbulent waters of a flooded river. The child continues to cry, being frightened of various things he sees and hears around him, but he is safely kept in his mother’s embrace. Fear of many types are present but there is also entrusting in the mother. For example, he might be scared when he sees a big wave coming toward him or hears a thunderbolt in the sky or the rain pouring over his face, but he knows he is safely carried away by the mother to the other shore.

Fear is an instinctual habit which cannot completely disappear from our hearts until we do not become Enlightened. For example, even when we are in a big and solid house we might fear for a moment when we hear a powerful thunder. In the same way, we continue to fear death even if we know that when we die we go to the Pure Land and become Buddhas. Fear of death is the manifestation of our powerful attachment and identification with our bodies. It is the same with fear from being injured, but I would not call this to doubt Amida’s salvation.

If we were asked to feel no fear in order to be saved by Amida, then who would be saved? Who is free of at least one type of fear? So, Amida Buddha does not require us to be without fear as there is no mention in his Primal Vow of anything like this. If we read the Primal Vow we see that he only asks us to entrust in him (saying of the Name and aspiring to be born being the same with entrusting).

In ultimate sense, faith in Amida is not the product of our minds or hearts as unenlightened beings. It is said that in a forest filled with poisonous trees, there cannot appear any tree with good fruits. So in the hearts filled with illusions and attachments faith in Amida cannot appear unless Amida makes it to appear. It is the love of the mother who makes the child entrust to her. Without the love of the mother, the child can do nothing. The calling of the mother echoes in the child’s heart and makes him respond with faith and Namo Amida Butsu (which is the expression of faith). But it is the mother’s love who works inside the child to make him entrust to her. This is how I explain in limited terms the impossible to understand thing that shinjin comes from Amida and is not our creation.

Because shinjin comes from Amida it is called the diamond like shinjin, which means it cannot be destroyed by anybody, be it a demon or a person from a different religion.

Even if we hear others saying that because we left Christianity we’ll go to hell, it is like hearing thunderbolts and heavy rain from inside a big, strong and safe house. The thunderbolts and heavy rain might sound frightful for a moment, because we are used to hear many threats all our life since childhood, but we remember that we are safe in the house which is an image of Amida’s embrace.

It is the same when watching a horror movie. We can become scared but in the end we know we are safe and that is only a movie, nothing real. After all, the reality is that we are safe with Amida Buddha and carried to his Pure Land where we’ll become Buddhas.

I repeat, in ultimate matters – that we are saved by Amida – there can be no doubt for one who has shinjin. No matter what happens or how he feels, sometimes good and sometimes bad or scared by various things, he knows deep inside him, due to his faith, that he is saved by Amida and destined to become a Buddha in the Pure Land.

There is nothing we, ordinary people, can do with our fears, attachments and problems, so there is no need to worry that they remain with us for the rest of our life. Most important is to rely on Amida, have a simple faith in him and thus be sure this is our last life as non-Buddhas.

Please do not forget that fear, attachments, delusions are different from shinjin. The first are the product of your own delusion while the latter originates from Amida and is the assurance that he saves you and accepts you as you are.

People of nembutsu are praised by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas not because they made something special through their own power, but because they follow the most important teaching of all Buddhas and they entrust to Amida. All Buddhas know the Amida Dharma is the supreme Dharma because it can save everybody, no matter their spiritual capacities. The goal of all Buddhas appearance in the world is to save ALL beings and what method is indeed saving everybody and corresponds to this goal, if not the nembutsu of faith in Amida?

So, to be open to this Dharma, accept it, venerate it and saying the nembutsu of faith is a thing all Buddhas praise even if the follower does not have anything special inside him.

It is due to Amida that we are praised by all Buddhas. We are not heroes because without Amida we can do nothing but end in hell; we are not heroes because it is Amida who works inside us, once we entrusted ourselves to him, and makes us be born in the Pure Land. We can rather say that we are the children with the most important father or mother in the universe. If you have the most important father or mother be sure that everybody will praise you, even if you are nothing special by yourself.

Also there is one thing to see yourself as you are in the light of your own wisdom and another one to realize your limitations once the infinite light of Amida enters your being through faith (shinjin). It is the difference between sitting in a dark room with a small candle and illuminating it with lots of modern electricity devices.

Shinjin or connecting to Amida’s Light is what makes you receive the ten benefits in this life and the praise of all Buddhas.

All one needs doing is to listen the teaching about the Primal Vow again and again. Even if he doubts many times, he should continue to listen, ask questions, meditate on himself and on what he has heard and one day he might become open and a simple faith in Amida will arise in his heart. Then he will be sure of his birth in the Pure Land no matter his mind remains as ordinary as before.

How can one know that he received shinjin if he has no access to a temple or priest?

2010-11-02T15:58:00.001+02:00

Question:

“Because nothing physical happens, or is done, to the person receiving shinjin (baptism /Dharma transmission etc.) how can that seeker know he/she has indeed received shinjin and attained the rightly established state?

This question above assumes that the person or persons referred to has no physical access to a Shinshu Buddhist Temple or priest, which is a sad reality in much of the eastern USA. “

Answer:

Fortunately, in our school there are neither gurus nor masters who can give or confirm the receiving of faith in the heart of the practitioner.

Jodo Shinshu is a personal and exclusive relation between Amida Buddha (a real and living Buddha) and the person who has faith in him. They are like mother and child.

Thus, the Mother (Amida) is always sending her love to the child and she knows if the child entrusts to her while the child (the follower) knows that he is loved and has faith in the Mother.

When someone entrusts to Amida for the first time, he/she knows or becomes aware of this faith. He knows “I entrust in Amida Buddha to attain Buddhahood in his Pure Land”. By having faith in Amida he becomes aware of two simple things:

1. that he cannot save himself from birth and death (deep awareness of his limitations)

and

2. that Amida will do this for him - he accepts Amida’s salvation (expressed in his Primal Vow) as being real and trustworthy.

Nothing special has to happen inside the mind of the practitioner or outside of him when he receives shinjin in his heart. There is no need to feel anything special, although the follower may experience something like a heavy burden has been lifted from his shoulders – the burden of having to reach freedom from birth and death by himself. Also, there is no need for another person to say “now I certify that you have shinjin”.

Various ceremonies and receiving of a Buddhist name are beautiful and can be performed if the follower has access to a temple or sangha, but if he is living in a place too far from them or he simply doesn’t want to be an official member of a certain group or denomination, then he should not ask for such ceremonies. Alone or in a group, all that matters is that you understand the Dharma and receive shinjin.

The teacher is important in Jodo Shinshu but only as a messenger of Amida’s salvation. He or she is somebody who encourages you to entrust in Amida. It would be better if you have face to face access to a true teacher and a true sangha so that you can always ask questions to clear your doubts and misunderstandings, but if the conditions are difficult and you cannot meet anybody in particular, then use every means necessary, internet for example, to have this Dharma dialogue.

Or if you don’t trust in any nowadays teacher, just read the sacred texts by yourself, while asking Amida Buddha and Shinran Shonin to guide you and protect your understanding. Reading the sacred texts (with or without access to a priest or sangha) is also listening the Dharma as now there are many good translations that can be found everywhere in the libraries or on the internet.

Dharma dialogue and Dharma listening is very important, no matter you do it by face to face meetings or by internet, letters or telephone, because only by first understanding with the head the content of the teaching, openness toward Amida’s message of salvation can occur and shinjin (faith) can arise in the heart.

Then you will know that you indeed rely on Amida Buddha and have faith in him. The others can see or not see this change in your heart, but their opinions are really not important.

The most important is that you know for yourself that you entrust in Amida Buddha[1] for attaining Buddhahood in his Pure Land. You have to know this, not somebody else, because Amida addresses each and everyone in particular. He is having a personal relation with every one of us like only you or only me are the only beings to exist on this planet. All sentient beings in particular can say that the Primal Vow of Amida was made especially for him or her. This is also what Shinran himself felt.

Your first moment of entrusting and the later moments when you continue to savour your faith during the entire life represent your personal and intimate relation with Amida Buddha. Even if the whole world is filled with false teachers and no true sanghas exist, or if you remain the last human being on the planet, you have nothing to worry. You entrust in Amida and he receives you. This is all that matters.

[1] Amida as a real and living Buddha, not a symbol, a metaphor or a fictional character like some nowadays deluded priests and teachers try to present him. Only with a real and living Amida Buddha one can have a relation of faith and be saved. Metaphors, symbols or fictional characters can’t save anybody and faith in them is not true faith but a cultural and intelectual game of the mind. See the article: „Those who deny the existence of Amida don’t have shinjin”.

Article by Kobai Sensei on the occasion of 750th Shinran Shonin Memorial

2010-10-28T18:12:00.002+03:00

I wish to share with you the most recent article of Eiken Kobai Sensei, written on the occasion of the 750^th Memorial Service for Shinran Shonin. I find it easy to understand and very useful. Please read it.

ON RECEIVING SHINJIN

Eiken Kobai

INTRODUCTION

Clearly, the most important matter in our Jodo-Shinshu teaching is receiving shinjin. There can be no doubt about this because of the many references to it in the Venerable Master Shinran’s voluminous writings.

I wonder, however, if I am the only one who has misgivings about the fact that recently this most important aspect of our Jodo-Shinshu teaching is becoming obscured by other matters. With the approaching 750th Memorial Service for the Venerable Master in mind, I would like to comment on this most important subject.

1. SHINJIN

The Venerable Master wrote:

Those who attain true and real shinjin
Immediately join the truly settled;
Thus having entered the stage of nonretrogression,
They necessarily attain nirvana.[1]

As indicated, those who receive shinjin “join the truly settled” (shojoju) and are guaranteed to be born in the Pure Land where they will become Buddhas. Shinjin in Jodo-Shinshu is not something that we create ourselves but rather, is what we receive from Amida Buddha. It is the “… shinjin that is directed to beings through the power of the Primal Vow”[2] and “… shinjin given by Amida.”[3]

As to what shinjin is, the Venerable Master wrote that “… there is no mixture of doubt (in it). It is therefore called entrusting”[4] and “… shinjin is hearing the Vow of Tathagata and being free of doubt.”[5]

Although shinjin is what we receive from Amida Buddha, something also finds expression in the minds and hearts of the sentient beings who receive it. Recently, statements have been made that unless the feeling that we have received shinjin is accompanied by appropriate social actions or practices, there is no meaning to having received it. But such actions are meaningful only after receiving shinjin, and are not considerations about shinjin itself. As just indicated, the Venerable Master wrote that shinjin is “hearing the Vow of Tathagata and being free of doubt.” That is the proper cause of our birth in the Pure Land and the true cause of our attaining nirvana. The most important consideration is that this mind/heart is “given by Amida,” and then finds expression in the minds/hearts of sentient beings. The birth of this mind/heart is what receiving shinjin is.

2. RECITATION OF THE TRUE AND REAL SHINJIN

The Venerable Master wrote:

The saying of the Name arising from true and real shinjin
Is Amida’s directing of virtue to beings;
Therefore, it is called “not directing merit,”
And saying the nembutsu in self-power is rejected.[6]

A major characteristic of the Venerable Master’s teaching is the clear division he made between:

- “saying … the Name arising from true and real shinjin” and

- saying the Name (reciting “Namo Amida Butsu”) with self-centered effort” (jiriki).

(“Saying … the Name arising from true and real shinjin” is another way of referring to recitation based on “Buddha-centered power” (tariki).)

In other words, this is a division between:

- Shinjin that is completely endowed with Amida Buddha’s power.

- Shinjin that is not completely endowed.

I believe misunderstanding of this is a great problem today.

I frequently hear statements such as, “Voices reciting the Nembutsu seem to be lacking today,” and I agree. While the voices of those reciting the Nembutsu in a loud voice were often heard during Dharma Talks given in the past, they are noticeably absent today. This is not to say, however, that it is sufficient if the Nembutsu is recited during Dharma Talks (though I personally believe that rather than remaining silent, it is preferable to recite the Nembutsu during Dharma talks).

But vocalizing the Nembutsu is not all there is to the practice of “reciting the Nembutsu” (shomyo), nor is it the “Nembutsu of Amida Buddha’s ‘merit transference’” (tariki eko no nembutsu).

Only when shinjin is endowed as explained above does it become recitation of the true and real shinjin, does it become the Dharma of Amida Buddha’s “merit transference,” and is the Nembutsu that the Venerable Master Shinran taught.

Only after receiving shinjin does “recitation of the Name” become shomyo. The Nembutsu that is recited without it is a recitation based on “self-centered effort” (jiriki).

3. THE WAY TO SHINJIN

The Venerable Master Shinran received shinjin at the age of 29. That was when he abandoned the monastic practices on Mt. Hiei, descended that mountain, met Master Honen, and was taught about Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow.

The Venerable Master’s wife, Eshin-ni, wrote about this in a letter:

“… (the Venerable Master) visited Master Honen daily for a hundred days, rain or shine, regardless of obstacles… in order to be saved in the next life…”

From Esshin-ni’s statement that the Venerable Master “visited” and listened to Master Honen’s Dharma Talks for a hundred days, we understand that he reached a state where he was able to receive shinjin from this “listening.”

The same thing is mentioned in the Tannisho where Yuien quotes the Venerable Master:

As for me, I simply accept and entrust myself to what my revered teacher (Honen) told me, ‘Just say the Nembutsu and be saved by Amida’; nothing else is involved.[7]

Here again, it states that the Venerable Master received shinjin as a result of being “told,” i.e., “listening.”

The Venerable Master wrote the following wasan:

Those who hear the Buddha’s Name ?
Going even through flames that fill
The great thousand fold world to do so ?
Attain forever the stage of nonretrogression.[8]

In Article 193 of Kikigaki (Heard and Recorded), Master Rennyo is quoted as emphasizing that “listening” is the way to receive shinjin:

If even those without shinjin listen to the teaching of Buddha-dharma from the bottom of their minds/hearts, they will absolutely receive shinjin because of the power of the Buddha’s Great Compassion that is added. All we need do is expend our efforts in listening to the honorable teaching.

The way to receive shinjin in the Jodo-Shinshu teaching is by “hearing” (chomon). Today, that would include studying the doctrines of Jodo-Shinshu.

4. SHINJIN AND WORKING FOR SOCIETY

In a letter dated “Seventh month, 9th day,” the Venerable Master Shinran wrote:

Those who feel that their own birth is completely settled should, mindful of the Buddha’s benevolence, hold the nembutsu in their hearts and say it to respond in gratitude to that benevolence, with the wish, “May there be peace in the world, and may the Buddha’s teaching spread!”[9]

Horrendous attacks by terrorists before and after that frightening day of September 11, 2001 have not ceased. In addition to such frightening human acts of terrorism, our world has experienced many natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunami, causing much anxiety. When the discussion turns to what we as followers of Jodo-Shinshu teaching can do in such circumstances, the passage in the above letter that the Venerable Master wrote is often quoted. What concerns me, however, is that the most important part of that statement is almost invariably left out. The part that is left out is: “Those who feel that their own birth is completely settled (i.e., those who have received shinjin) should, ….”

Clearly, it is important that we Jodo-Shinshu followers work for peace in the world and spread the Buddha-dharma. But as indicated, for the Venerable Master, this cannot be done without receiving shinjin and being assured of birth in the Pure Land.

“… peace in the world, and (spreading) the Buddha’s teaching,” is what comes after receiving shinjin. Only then can Nembutsu ‘doers’ (gyojya) truly say they are working for the good of society.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Jodo Wasan Number 59, The Collected Works of Shinran, Volume 1 (hereafter CWS:1), Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, page 341.

[2] Chapter on Shinjin of the Kyogyoshinsho, CWS:1, page 112.

[3] Tannisho, CWS:1, page 664.

[4] Chapter on Shinjin of the Kyogyoshinsho, CWS:1 page 98.

[5] Ichinen tanen mon’i, CWS:1, page 474.

[6] Shozomatsu Wasan Number 39, CWS:1, page 408.

[7] Tannisho, CWS:1, page 662.

[8] Jodo Wasan Number 31, CWS:1, page 332.

[9] A Collection of Letters, CWS:1, page 560.

*"This is an English translation of an article in THE HIGASHI HONGWANJIHO (May 10, 2006)

About petitionary prayers

2010-10-09T16:33:00.001+03:00

In the Kyosho (Essentials of Jodo Shinshu) it is said:

"..we shall live expressing our gratitude without depending on petitionary prayer and superstition. "

Here we see that petitionary prayer is linked to superstition as both are put in the same category of the things we, as Jodo Shinshu followers, should not do.

But what does it mean to use nembutsu as a petitionary prayer or superstition? Simply stated it is to say the Name of Amida in order to receive worldly benefits, like wealth, possessions, success in love affairs, etc. Or to think that by reciting it in a certain manner this will bring good luck and good fortune.

To believe in luck is in itself a superstition as this implies the denial of the law of karma according to which one reaps what one sows. Luck it is said to appear from nowhere, while the karma implies that everything has a cause. One cannot be a Buddhist and believe in luck or good fortune which comes from other sources not related with personal karma. So, any religious method, which implies asking a higher being, a Buddha or a god, to grant ones worldly wishes or any divinatory practice that is believed to modify ones destiny outside the law of karma is strictly forbidden in Buddhism.

I think the above sentence from the Kyosho was especially promulgated to prevent Jodo Shinshu followers from falling in two wrong views:

1. to misinterpret nembutsu as a divinatory method or a petitionary prayer for worldly benefits and,

2.to discourage wrong dependency upon various gods and higher beings

But what if we cry to Amida Buddha, like a child calls his mother when he feels sad or when he is in danger? Can this be considered wrong, too?

For example, when I was in a plane and I was passing through strong turbulences I prayed to Amida and Avalokitesvara and asked them to protect my life. I simply didn’t care then if this was a petitionary prayer or not, and I also think that Amida was not upset on me.

I am an ordinary person who is afraid of death and in times of great sorrow or fear I may cry to Amida or Avalokitesvara: “please help me, I am afraid of this or that…”.

I think it’s all right to do this. Amida and Avalokitesvara and any Buddha we call is always present, can hear our cries and understands our need of protection.

One cannot ask me to suddenly have no fear of death after I entrust to Amida. If we were supposed to have no fear after receiving shinjin then it would mean that Jodo Shinshu is not a path for ordinary people as ordinary people are always capable of experiencing fear. To be free from fear in this life means to no longer be in the category of ordinary people. And Amida Buddha especially this kind of people saves.

Shinran said to Yuien-bo in Tannisho that he himself was afraid of death and did not wish to go to the Pure Land soon. Instead of putting him outside the Dharma, this fear is exactly what assured him even more of Amida’s salvation.

Of course, it is not the fault of Amida that I suffer and have to pass through many kinds of dangerous situations. Due to my heavy karma from the past I deserve to experience any injury – this is the law of cause and effect. But in the exact moment of being injured who can really have a calm state of mind and say to himself: “I am now experiencing the results of my heavy karma so I should stay calm and don’t cry to Amida for help”.

I myself cannot really promise that when facing danger I will not pray to the Buddhas for protection. It’s really impossible for me to never say “Please Amida, protect me”.

I think we should not be strict when approaching Amida in our daily lives or when we meet with problems. We can ask for help, without becoming upset if due to causes and conditions, unknown to our limited minds, we still suffer and apparently receive no help as we wished it. But surely we are helped and supported even if our minds can’t understand how a Buddha helps us.

My opinion is that there is no real Dharmic problem as long as we don’t think we can get money or other things through the nembutsu, or that through petitionary prayers we are born in the Pure Land or we become more worthy to go there.

As I said previously, I think that exclusion of petitionary prayers in Jodo Shinshu comes from fearing that some might misinterpret the nembutsu as a petitionary prayer or use it to transfer merits gained from a good recitation to this or that worldly gain, or think we can obtain material wealth ignoring the law of cause and effect by praying to higher beings and Buddhas.

It should be very well understood that nembutsu is not a magic formula to solve one’s problems in daily life, but only the manifestation of faith in Amida which causes our attainment of Buddhahood in the Pure Land. Through the nembutsu of faith one receives only the attainment of Buddhahood in the Pure Land, nothing else.

To end all suffering, to become a Buddha and to help others indefinitely, this is the natural outcome of nembutsu. Once we received faith in our hearts and started saying the nembutsu of faith our karma is cut and we are assured of birth in the Pure Land. Having the karma cut means that it doesn’t plant its seed in another life filled with ignorance and suffering, but as long as we live we continue to experience the results of our past actions from this life or the endless past. It is like a flower taken from the ground – it will soon wither away and die but still it preserves its colour for a few hours or days. Our karma is like that flower after receiving faith. We still suffer until we die and we are born in the Pure Land, but after death our suffering is 100% finished and we become Buddhas.

I think there is a great difference between using the nembutsu for worldly means and crying for help in times of danger when we are overwhelmed by fear. The latter is simply the child’s cry toward his mother (Amida Buddha) and no one can say it is not doctrinally correct for a child to cry to his mother.

We should be relaxed in our relation with Amida Buddha, Avalokitesvara or any Buddha, as Buddhas are our parents, and we, as children, should be able to talk freely with them. How can I, a child of Amida, be not allowed to call him in times of great sorrow, fear or danger? Of course, I as a child, can’t always abstain from becoming emotionally overcame with fear or sorrow and act without wisdom. But a mother never judges a child like an adult and in the same way, a Buddha never relates to an ordinary person like to a Buddha.

I do not know how my last moments of life would be, so I cannot promise that I will die like a courageous person, facing death with bravery, although I wish this so much.

But no matter if in my last breaths I ask helplessly not to die due to my unconscious attachment to life, and I finally die, I know I will go to Amida’s Pure Land and become a Buddha myself. Shinran said in his Letters that he gives no special meaning to one’s last moments. If one has shinjin, then he can die in any way, as he will surely go to the Pure Land.

To have fear or ask for protection and help from the Buddhas in times of great dangers and suffering is due to our own blind passions, while to be saved as we are from birth and death is due to Amida’s Power. These two have no connection with one another.

In the end of this chapter I wish to mention one more thing. I know that the example of Shinran’s giving up the recitation of the Pure Land sutras for the benefit of others[1] is always showed as a proof against petitionary prayers and wrong interpretation of practice in Jodo Shinshu. But into my opinion, what Shinran tried to do when he chanted Amida-kyo in that specific situation was transference of merit. He hoped to achieve merits by sutra recitation which to be transfered to those in need. He then realized this attempt is not in accord with the Pure Land teaching, and he stopped.

In comparrison with this, what I did when I prayed to Amida and Avalokitesvara in that dangerous situation, was not a transference of merit but just a cry of help in the out of suffering and fear.

I am sure that faith and the nembutsu of faith can co-exist with some cries of help in the middle of great suffering. Amida will not be upset.

[1] It is said that one day, when Shinran saw the immense suffering of peasants from an area devastated by hunger, he secluded himself and concentrated on chanting the Three Pure Land sutras many times in order to benefit them. But after a period he gave up this practice realizing it was a mistake to think that he can rely on his own power of chanting to save others. To chant sutras and transfer the merits thus gained is a custom in many Buddhist schools, but not in Jodo Shinshu because we think only Amida, as a Buddha, has true merits that can be shared with others.

Question: are gay and lesbians welcomed in the dojo?

2010-10-02T11:57:00.002+03:00

I was asked this kind of question from time to time so I thought is good to post an answer here:

All people without exception are welcomed in the dojo if their reason of being there is to listen to the Dharma about Amida’s Primal Vow. This should be very well understood.

But if you come to the dojo and tell me „I am gay”, I will reply, „did I asked you something?”

If you also come to the dojo and tell me, „I am heterosexual”, I will give you the same reply, „did I asked you something?”

If you come to the dojo and start talking about your homosexuality or your heterosexuality, or you express it in any form, I will send you home. Why is this? Because the dojo is not a place for such things. Its the same if you insist talking about politics or other religions. You simply go home.

I do not care who you are in your personal life or with whom you make sex with. I do not preach theories on sexual orientations, but the unconditioned salvation of Amida Buddha. If you are interested in learning about it, then you are welcomed at the dojo, if not, please don’t come.

It really doesn’t matter mine or your personal opinions on the matter of homosexuality, same sex marriages, or any other things, as in the dojo we do not preach or talk about personal beliefs. I will never allow anybody express their opinions and ideas on matters not strictly related with the Shinshu Dharma.

Master Rennyo said in his letters that the goal of nembutsu gatherings should be listening to the Dharma in order to receive shinjin. He didn’t mentioned any other reasons for coming to the dojo or temple so I myself refuse to talk on matters not related with the Shinshu Dharma.

All you need in order to be born in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha is shinjin (faith). This shinjin has no color and no sexual orientation.

My duty as a priest is to help you receive it, so when I put my robes and kesa I leave everything else behind. Please also do the same and do not lose your time and mine with unimportant matters.

A Romanian tokudo candidate not recognized by me

2010-09-28T22:27:00.001+03:00

Many days ago I received news from a Japanese source who wishes to remain anonymous that a Romanian person is now in Japan for tokudo (priest) ordination. All the evidences indicates that she is the one who left my dojo after I did not allowed the publication in Romanian of Taitetsu Unno’s „Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold” due to some fragments from that book which I consider to be a divergence from the Jodo Shinshu teaching one can find in the sacred texts of our school.

I know it is traditional when someone goes for tokudo he or she must first receive a reccomendation from the priest and teacher where one was member for many years and who instructed him or her, in this case me, who I am also the official representative in Romania (though I am not sure for how long).

Why this did not happen now?

It is very simple. Because she is a good tool to be planted in my own country against my uncompromising style of teaching the Dharma and my fighting against modern divergences. Many were upset by my style and have started to find ways of shutting my voice or isolate me, first by sabotaging the 16th ESC and now by supporting for tokudo a person not prepared for this mission.

Because I state it very clear that into my opinion, as the one who gave her instructions into Jodo Shinshu teaching for so many years, she is not prepared to become a teacher and a priest.

I am very much concentrated on the members of my sangha with great care and attention, instructing them in the best way I can, and sometime in the future when I will consider they are ready, I will give reccomendation to one or more of them to become tokudo candidates, but not now. To be hurried in this matter of absolute importance is not good. So I repeat, nobody from Romania has now, at the present moment, any reccomendation from me to receive tokudo (priest) ordination.

I wish to inform everybody in the European and international sangha* that I will never ever collaborate with her nor recognize her as a member of the Romanian Shinshu Association or Tariki Dojo Craiova. If she wishes to start activities as a priest, she will do it by herself, start her own dojo, etc, but be always separated by me and not have my support.

As you see, the seeds of great discord will be sown by making her a priest in Romania. To do such things, to promote somebody as a priest without asking me anything who for so many years work for the promotion of Jodo Shinshu in this country as well as in the international sangha is a irresponsable action, an act done without taking into consideration the local specific situation, without talking with others involved, not only with me but with other members of my dojo as well.

I am sad that again I find from unofficial sources that things are decided about Romania without myself being informed, exactly like the cancellation of the 16th ESC was decided with two months before I found about it, in a secret meeting.

I am sad about how I, as a person who worked a lot for spreading Jodo Shinshu in Romania and for the international sangha in general, have been treated now and in relation with the cancellation of the 16th ESC.

This is all I have to say for the moment and do not wish to enter into greater details about this topic unless it becomes really neccesary, which I hope it will not be the case as there would be many other miseries to be said that would only bring greater suffering and discord in the sangha.

I am sorry to interupt the posting of my usual Dharma teachings, which are trully useful for people’s understanding, with this kind of article. Be sure that I find no pleasure in doing this, but I really had no other option.

Notes:
*I also informed IABC and Hongwanji International Center about my decision and this article.

Please also read:

-A book by Unno denied access in the library of Tariki Dojo-

-Next European Shinshu Conference supposed to be held in Romania was cancelled

Equal to Maitreya Buddha

2010-09-27T13:07:00.000+03:00

A unique teaching of Jodo Shinshu is that followers who received shinjin are equal to perfect Enlightenment, equal to all Buddhas and equal to Maitreya Buddha. As this can be very easy misunderstood, I thought to dedicate it a special article.

Maitreya, now residing in the Tusita heaven, was said by Shakyamuni to be a future great Buddha who will appear in this world after many billion years (5,670,000,000) from his era.

Shinran Shonin explains this in his Letters:

“Since those who have realized shinjin necessarily abide in the stage of the truly settled, they are in the stage equal to the perfect Enlightenment. In the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life those who have been grasped, never to be abandoned, are said to be in the stage of the truly settled, and in the Sutra of the Tathagata of Immeasurable Life they are said to have attained the stage equal to perfect Enlightenment. Although they differ, the terms "truly settled" and "equal to enlightenment" have the same meaning and indicate the same stage. Equal to the perfect Enlightenment is the same stage as that of Maitreya, who is in the rank of succession to Buddhahood. Since persons of shinjin will definitely attain the supreme Enlightenment, they are said to be the same as Maitreya.”

Those who entrust themselves in Amida Buddha in this life are said to be in the stage of the truly settled or the stage of those assured of Nirvana or in other words, the stage of non-retrogression. This means that since faith aroused in their hearts they are assured of the attainment of birth in the Pure Land which will occur at their death. This birth in the Pure Land will be immediately followed by the attainment of Buddhahood or perfect Enlightenment.

So, the stage of the truly settled or of those assured of Nirvana is equal with that of perfect Enlightenment in the sense that those belonging to the first state will surely attain perfect Enlightenment. The cause of perfect Enlightenment is definitely settled when faith in Amida arises in the heart of the followers. Faith is the cause of Enlightenment, so both are equal in the sense that one is the effect of the other like there can be no smoke without a fire. The fire will necessary produce smoke even if the fire is not the same with the smoke. In the same manner, a follower who has faith in Amida Buddha is equal with the state of perfect Enlightenment because he will become a Buddha and has the seed of Buddhahood already planted in his heart, but is not a Buddha yet during his life until death.

Shinran said to Joshin-bo in Letter 7 of Mattosho:

“You should understand that the moment of settling of those who entrust themselves to Tathagata's Vow is none other than the settling into the stage of non-retrogression, because they receive the benefit of being grasped, never to be abandoned. Whether we speak of the settling of true shinjin or the settling of the diamondlike shinjin, both come about through being grasped, never to be abandoned. Thus is awakened the heart and mind that will attain the supreme Enlightenment. This is called the stage of non-retrogression, the stage of the truly settled, and the stage equal to the perfect Enlightenment.”

He also said:

“The Garland Sutra states that those who have attained true shinjin are already certain to become Buddhas and therefore are equal to the Tathagatas. Although Maitreya has not yet attained Buddhahood, it is certain that he will, so he is already known as Maitreya Buddha. In this manner, the person who has attained true shinjin is taught to be equal to Tathagatas.”

The stage of the truly settled or of those assured of Nirvana is the same state in which Maitreya now dwells in the Tusita heaven where he is waiting for the right moment to be born in this world and attain Buddhahood, exactly like Shakyamuni did in the past.

In Letter 15 of Mattosho, Shinran said:

“…the moment they realize the diamondlike mind (shinjin), they are said to abide in the stage of the truly settled and to attain the same stage as Bodhisattva Maitreya[1].

Since persons of true and real shinjin are of the same stage as Maitreya, they are equal to Buddhas.”

He also said in letter 18:

“Further, since Maitreya has already become one who is certain to attain Buddhahood, he is called Maitreya Buddha. By this we know that the person who has already realized shinjin that is Other Power can be said to be equal to Buddhas. You should have no doubts about this.”

Shinran explains further:

“The Buddhas in the ten quarters rejoice in the settling of this mind and praise it as being equal to the hearts and minds of all Buddhas. Thus, the person of true shinjin is said to be equal to Buddhas. He is also regarded as being the same as Maitreya, who is in [the rank of] succession to Buddhahood.”

“…all Buddhas feel great joy when such a person rejoices in the realization of true shinjin, and they proclaim, "This person is our equal." Sakyamuni's words of rejoicing are found in the Larger Sutra: "The one who sees, reveres, and attains [the Dharma] and greatly rejoices - that person is my excellent, close companion"; thus he teaches that the person who has attained shinjin is equal to Buddhas.”

As you see, Shinran based his arguments on the words of Shakyamuni in the Larger Sutra or other sutras:

"Those who attain shinjin and joy are equal to Tathagatas." This is from the Garland Sutra and means that the person who rejoices in shinjin is the equal of all the Tathagatas. This is also indicated in Sakyamuni's statement about those who realize shinjin and greatly rejoice: "The one who sees, reveres, and attains [the dharma] and greatly rejoices - that person is my excellent, close companion."

There is also the Seventeenth Vow of Amida Buddha recorded in the Larger Sutra who clearly states that those who say the nembutsu of faith are praised by all Buddhas:

“Further, Amida's Seventeenth Vow declares that the Buddha will not enter into perfect Enlightenment if those who say the Name are not praised by all the countless Buddhas throughout the worlds in the ten quarters. The passage declaring the fulfillment of the Vow states: "Such people are praised by all the Buddhas and rejoice."

The only difference between Maitreya and the followers who have faith in Amida Buddha and are now in the same stage as perfect Enlightenment like him is that Maitreya has entered this stage through his own power while those who have shinjin become truly settled through the Power of Amida.

Shinran said in his letter 15 of Mattosho:

“To think in self-power that one is equal to the Tathagatas is a great error. But it is because of the shinjin of Other Power that you rejoice; how can self-power enter into it? Please consider this fully.”

This clearly shows that ordinary people become equal to the Tathagatas (Buddhas) and equal with Maitreya not through their own power but through the Power of Amida Buddha.

There is also another difference between Maitreya and us. If he has to wait many more billion years until he is born into this world and become a Buddha, we who entrust in Amida will become Buddhas after this life is ended.

Until death and birth in the Pure Land we remain ordinary beings filled with blind passions but carrying in ourselves the settled cause for becoming Buddhas. We are not equal to the Tathagatas and to Maitreya because we deserve it or have great merits and virtues, but because Amida made us to become so. This is the meaning of “they receive the benefit of being grasped, never to be abandoned.” Due to Amida grasping us are we made capable to receive faith, enter this stage and are assured of becoming Buddhas in the Pure Land.

It is like a person flying in the air by his own power (Maitreya) and another one (us) carried by a plane. Both are flying (are in the stage of non-retrogression/assured of Nirvana or the stage next to Buddhahood, etc.) both will reach their destinations, but they travel by different means, the first by self power and the latter by Other Power (Amida’s Power).

[1] “Since Maitreya is already close to Buddhahood, it is the custom in various schools to speak of him as Maitreya Buddha”, explained Shinran. So, Maitreya is sometimes called “Bodhisattva Maitreya” in the sense of a person who engaged himself in practices to become a Buddha for the benefit of himself and all beings or “Maitreya Buddha” because he will surely become one in his next life.

Jodo Shinshu – the only path for people of lower classes

2010-09-18T16:47:00.002+03:00

As an ordinary person that I am, gratitude not often arises in my mind, but when it does I feel happy not only for Amida’s salvation but for every little thing that brings me satisfaction.

Those who always had what they wanted might not easy feel happiness when for example, they eat a good meal, but for me, this might bring me great happiness. Also to have enough clothes to cover my body, to have the rent paid so I am sure that I do not become homeless, to be able to pay electricity or water, etc, are sources of great satisfaction and relief. This is because every day I struggle with these matters and worry how I will be able to cope with them. Thus my mind is very much attached to such things.

To concentrate on the Dharma is never easy in the everyday life of an ordinary person who has a minimum income which is hardly enough to cover his needs. To be a full time practitioner or full time priest is completely impossible.

More than this, to have a job that does not contradict Buddhist precepts is also in many cases impossible. Many years in Europe and in the West in general, the majority of Buddhist practitioners belonged to the middle class, were highly educated and had a stable financial situation that allowed them to dedicate much time to study and practice or to travel in Asiatic countries on their own expanse, but now more and more members of the lower classes and workers are becoming Buddhists. Most of these, especialy people from the former Eastern communist countries or from Africa have a hard life and many limitations but still they are as dedicated as their colleagues from the West.

Speaking for myself, I think I am a living proof of a decadent monk in the last age of the Dharma as my means of existence can often lead to the beaking of precepts.

I work as a guard, am dressed in uniform, and am ecquiped with tools for violent intervention against those who might attack the objective I guard, usually the building of a rich person or company. Sometimes I am also on duty on footbal stadiums where I am always ready to fight, if neccesary, with hooligans and aggresive supporters. It is a violent environment where I can hardly abstein not to curse somebody, speak violently to somebody or raise the tone of my voice to people. When I go home after some high risk games I need a long time to recover after the stress.

When sometimes a rain of stones comes on me and my colleagues from angry supporters, no Buddhist feeling of peace and compassion can be found in my heart. The agitation from such a game stays with me for many hours after the game and I need long time until I am able to sleep. Sometimes even in my sleep and dreams I curse footbal supporters and want to smash their faces.

Then, after some time has passed, in my small free time when I do not work for 24 hours or even 48 hours, I try to read or write, to translate or answer to my readers letters. I also do my best to keep in touch with my sangha or people interested in Jodo Shinshu teaching from arround the country.

I do all these, saying the Name and entrusting to Amida, reading, studying, translating, etc in the middle of a chaotic life filled with violence, worries of the next rent, electricity, water and other taxes. Its not easy, but whose life is easy? I know I am not the only practitioner fighting everyday for the basic needs of shelter and food, often driven mad for lack of resources, so to all people sharing the same situation like me I send them my warm thoughts and understanding. To them I especialy wish to transmit them now, the assurance that Jodo Shinshu is exactly the Buddhist teaching they can succesfully follow, without worrying they cannot keep a calm mind in the middle of their everyday struggle for survival.

It really doesn’t matter for the Compassion of Amida Buddha that you have a job which doesn’t fit into the ideals of Buddhist precepts, that you barely have time to say the Name a few times every day because your mind is too much filled with angry thoughts and worries of what you or your children will eat tomorrow, that you are afraid of becoming homeless every month when the owner calls to tell you that you are again late with your rent, etc. Buddhism is not only for the middle or high class people, proffesors, educated persons or peacefuly and law abiding citizens.

Even if sometimes you are forced by hunger to steal or cheat others, or you become a prostitute, you should never think that you are not embraced by Amida’s Infinite Compassion. Of course, this does not mean that Jodo Shinshu encourages stealing or other kind of wrong behavior, but what this great teaching of simple faith profeses is that we cannot become pure at heart in this decadent age no matter how much we struggle.

Jodo Shinshu does not start with the ideal – we all have Buddha nature and we can become Buddhas – but with the sense of failure, with what you really are here and now.

Jodo Shinshu knows your true capacities and limitations and how hard your life is in an environment characterized by the five defilements* and because of this it does not recquire anything from you. Jodo Shinshu knows that you cannot meditate when the owner of your rented house gives you a call, or your mind is full of calculations of the prices for bread, rice or potatoes. I know it might be embarasing to talk about this, but for many people the immediate problem is not how much a religious retreat costs but the prices for bread and potatoes. People do not meditate well even when they have everything they wish, but how can one meditate with an empty stomach?

How can one become a fully awakened Buddha in this life when he can hardly find a minute of peace in his daily routine, when his mind is worried and stressed by fighting for survival? For many of us, Buddhist practitioners, who had not such a good karma as to be born in rich families or have enough income due to a high education, life seems more like that of hungry ghosts rather than of normaly human beings.

Trully I say to all people who find themselves in this situation, tormented day and night by worries related with life’s neccesities, there is only one path you can follow and this is Jodo Shinshu.

The karma fom past lives has manifested brutally in this present life giving you so many misfortunes and lack of basic needs so that the time for Dharma practice is almost inexistent.

So, as nothing peacefuly can be found in you, just entrust to Amida Buddha. No other path can lead you to Buddhahood.

To carry the nenju** in the pocket of my ecquipment when I go to work and say Amida’s Name with simple faith, no matter my mind is at peace or not, is all I can do. You and I, my friend, are accepted exactly as we are by Amida Buddha.

Footnotes:

* The five defilements are the five marks of decay of the world we live in: 1) the defilement of views, when incorect, perverse thoughts and ideas are predominant, 2) the defilement of passions, when all kinds of transgressions are exalted, 3) the defilement of human condition, when people are usually dissatisfied and unhappy, 4) the defilement of life-span, when the human life-span as a whole decreases – according to the sutras, when it is less or close to one hundred years, 5) the defilement of the world-age, when war and natural disasters are rife.

** Buddhist rosary.

Amida as the eternal Buddha and the Buddha described in the Larger Sutra

2010-09-08T07:53:00.003+03:00

Question:

“….how can Amida Buddha be the primordial (eternal) Buddha if he is Dharmakara who practiced aeons ago and had a starting point of existence in an other world? Is Dharmakara a manifestation of Primordial Buddha as Amida, like Saka Nyorai (Shakyamuni) is a manifestation of Amida in this world? I am a bit confused...”

My answer:

Dharmakara becoming Amida Buddha is the description in terms of cause and effect of the salvation work of Amida as eternal Buddha. It is how the eternal and supreme Buddha or Dharma body of Dharma nature, indescribable and beyond any form, becomes Dharma body of compassionate means with form and Name.

In its ultimate sense or Dharmakaya sense, Amida Buddha is the eternal Buddha nature, in Sambhogakaya terms he is the result of Dharmakara vows and practices, that is Amida Buddha as described in the Larger Sutra and in Nirmanakaya terms it is said by Shinran that he emanated Shakyamuni Buddha to expound his method of salvation.

In order to be born in the Pure Land and attain supreme Enlightenment there we should entrust to Amida as described in the Larger Sutra, that is, as the Buddha who has a form and Name, fulfilled the 48^th Vows when he was Dharmakara Bodhisattva and who now resides in the Pure Land.

This is my answer but I wish to go a little further.

We cannot directly worship and entrust to Amida in his aspect of eternal Buddha which is beyond any form. Shakyamuni encouraged us in the Larger Sutra to take refuge and have faith in Amida as the Buddha who made the Primal Vow and so who has a form and a Name. He didn’t tell us to have faith in the ultimate nature of Amida Buddha. One cannot have faith in the Dharmakaya. In Dharmakaya one can only live when he becomes a Buddha because in that state there is a transcendence of subject and object.

This is what those who deny the reality of Amida in his Sambhogakaya or transcendental form and of the Pure Land do not understand.

Only in Amida Buddha with a form and Name, that is, in Amida as described in the Larger Sutra one can have true faith. Shinran Shonin also talked about Amida in ultimate terms but he encouraged people to entrust to Amida as described in the Larger Sutra whose story told there he fully accepted.

Thus, to call the story of Amida in the Larger Sutra or the existence of the Pure Land to be fictional, symbolic or mythical is equal to not have faith (shinjin) in Amida and to deny others the chance of receiving it.

Methods for the visualisation of Amida and shinjin (a question and answer)

2010-09-04T08:57:00.001+03:00

Question:

“I was reading about the practice described in the Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra and I was really impressed by the idea of experiencing the presence of Amida Nyorai and the other Buddhas. I also read that this sutra contains one of the earliest mentions of Amida Tathagata so I would like to ask you about such practices.

It is true for me that some times I feel my faith becoming strong and settled in my mind while some other times it becomes weaker so there is still work for me till I experience true and pure shinjin in Amida Nyorai and the Vow.

My question is, whether practices like that mentioned in the sutra above are allowed to practitioners of the Jodo Shinshu sect. The Contemplation Sutra which I have not yet studied is said to contain ways to visualise Amida and in Chinese Pure Land school this kind of visualisations was widespread among priests and monks. Is it ok if someone tries to visualise Amida in addition to chanting the nembutsu (I do not mean chanting as a way to gain merit but having in mind the Shinshu doctrine that it is an expression of gratitude for Amida's Power of salvation)?

Are visualizations of Amida Nyorai and the 90 days practice in Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra examples of reliance on jiriki? In my opinion, such practices could be useful in strengthening the experience of shinjin and I do believe that the results of these visualizations and practices are made visible to us by the Other Power and not our personal power. I mean, isn't it Amida who makes the visions possible to us? A man of shinjin for example, could practice visualization methods to have a look of Amida Tathagata and his attendants.

If I keep in my mind that the visualisations are a gift of the Other Power and are experienced only with the help of the Other Power, could I for example, visualise Amida and the Pure Land?”

Answer:

A Jodo Shinshu follower can do any practice he wants if by that practice he doesn’t think he adds something to the salvation of Amida. If one has firm faith in Amida Buddha and thinks that only through the Power of Amida he is born in the Pure Land and becomes a Buddha then he can not deviate no matter he sometimes does some meditation or visualisations.

But if one thinks that by practicing a certain meditation or visualisation he is gaining merits, improves his chances of being born in the Pure Land or even thinks that he improves his shinjin, then this is not in accord with the Jodo Shinshu teaching.

In Jodo Shinshu faith is something very simple. It’s just to entrust in Amida.

If it helps you, maybe you can say this to yourself: “From now on I rely exclusively on Amida for my birth in the Pure Land and attainment of Buddhahood. No matter what other thoughts arise in my mind or fears or doubts, I leave them alone and rely exclusively on Amida Buddha.”

Do not try to create a special state of faith in your mind, and don’t work on that special state of faith. Just rely on Amida in a simple manner and let other thoughts, fears or doubts arise and leave your mind. Listen again and again to the Dharma as explained by Shinran Shonin. Listening the Dharma makes us opened to Amida and ready for shinjin.

There are many sutras and sacred texts about Amida Buddha, and many interpretations, but Shinran’s view is unique among all. In Tannisho, Yuien-bo encouraged us to adhere ONLY to Shinran’s explanations of the sutras. In the sutras, he said, “the true and real and the accommodated and provisional are mixed.”And he continued, “that we abandon the accommodated and take up the real, set aside the provisional and adopt the true is the Master's fundamental intent. You must under no circumstances misread the sacred writings.”

This means that the teaching about Amida’s salvation is presented in various ways depending on the sutras. Some sutras encourage people to practice visualisations, others to keep precepts and do good deeds in addition to aspiring for birth in the Pure Land, others to recite the Name with right concentration, while the Larger Amida Sutra (Bussestsu Muryoju Kyo), which Shinran considered it to be the most important sutra preached by Shakyamuni, presents the Primal Vow in which only saying of the Name in faith is all that matters. No other requirements or other practices like visualisation or meditation and precepts are mentioned in the Primal Vow (18^th Vow).

What does this mean? It means, according to Shinran, that the methods related to visualisations presented in some sutras are only provisional methods for those still incapable to rely exclusively on Amida Buddha in accordance with the Primal Vow. They are not direct means of entering the Pure Land, but practicing such methods shows a lack of shinjin and an attachment to one’s own power. Such methods practiced without shinjin can lead only to the Border Land and not the true Pure Land where one becomes immediately a Buddha.

But one who has received shinjin in his heart and knows surely that he is born in the Pure Land only by faith in Amida and through Amida’s Power, he may enjoy such visualisations if he wishes because he knows that success or lack of any success in visualisation does not add something to the salvation of Amida. We can say that he tries visualisations for fun.

You can also give it a try if you are in the situation of the person described above. Only the person described above is not going against Jodo Shinshu teaching if he practices visualisation. This is simply because he received shinjin – a simple, not complicated faith in Amida Buddha.

But if something like transference of merit is involved in the technical description of that visualisation, you as one who knows that you have no merits, should pass that part.

Of course, in the end, any success of Amida’s visualisation is due only to Amida’s Power and influence. You said: “I do believe that the results of these visualizations and practices are made visible to us by the Other Power and not our personal power.”

Yes, this is true, but those without faith and who rely on their own power do not realize this and because they cling to their so called realisations and not on the Power of Amida they are not born directly into the true Pure Land but in the borderland of the Pure Land.

But I also do not deny that after seeing Amida with their own eyes, some self-power practitioners might become aware that it is only Amida’s working who does all things and end up relying exclusively on Other Power. So, I am not against visualisations but against the wrong attitude of mind that does the visualisations. The presence of shinjin or lack of shinjin (simple faith) is all that matters.

It is very important to know that shinjin does not become stronger through visualisations and does not depend on visualisations. It is an error to think that shinjin is the product of a successful visualisation or it is strengthened by it. Shinjin is just the simple entrusting to Amida that comes after hearing and accepting the Primal Vow in which only faith and nembutsu of faith is mentioned. In its ultimate sense it is the gift of Amida and is not dependent or strengthened by any visualisation.

Great movie about Shinran Shonin on the occasion of his 750th Memorial Commemoration

2010-08-31T22:08:00.004+03:00

I am very much pleased to share with you this link http://www.bakabt.com/147195-shinran-sama-negai-soshite-hikari-his-wish-and-light-bonbu.html

from which you can download for free the animation movie „SHINRAN-SAMA, his Wish and Light”.

It is in Japanese with English subtitles done by Hongwanji International Center and edited by Bonbu Media.

I reccomend „SHINRAN-SAMA, his Wish and Light” to be seen by as many people as possible, both Jodo Shinshu followers or not, because it is a 100% correct description of Shinran’s life and his teachings. Both mature persons and children can enjoy it and derive great understanding from it. As you may know, animations in Japan are not only for children, but also for mature people.

This movie is a wonderful presentation of the most important aspects of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Passages from Tannisho or from the letters of Shinran (Mattosho) are put into dialogue form so that we can better savour them. Events from Shinran’s life are also accurately presented so that newcomers can thus have a picture of who was Shinran Shonin (1173-1262), the Founder of Jodo Shinshu school.

In short, this a great Dharma movie that I reccomend it from all my heart. I think that all libraries of Jodo Shinshu temples and dojos around the world must have it and use it for instruction of the members.

It is my hope that in short time I will be able to have Romanian subtitles added to the movie and also place it on my youtube page.

After you download it from the torrent link, please also seed and continue to share it with others as long as possible.

Time for practice

2010-08-28T03:19:00.000+03:00

M said to me, „I am very sick, I haven’t felt well for two months, so I can’t practice”.

But if you don’t practice* when you are sick and in danger of death, when will you ever practice? Now is the time, when your life is fragile. In fact, your life is always fragile but only when you are ill you trully feel the fragility of life.

We are such that when we are healthy we don’t practice because we feel well. When we are ill we also don’t practice because we feel bad. So when do we think it is the right time for practice? When we are young we need time for girls and fun, when we are old we are too tired and we need time to rest....

We become lost in happiness or sadness. We always think that if we had this or that then we could finaly concentrate on the Dharma.

A, for example, said she wants to finish her studies first at University and then she will have more time for the Dharma....

But what if you die while you are still a student, I asked her. She said smiling, „don’t worry, I can’t die so soon”.

There is really nothing I can say to such a person. If one does not have the sense of his/her own fragility then all is in vain. Without the thought of death, all Buddhist practices are just hobies, not true practices.

Without the thought of death there is no urgency in our spiritual life.

I often see in the town posters about yoga classes with young naked women sitting in meditation postures and some verses promissing good health and many other worldly fulfilments. But what if those posters contained verses like „there is no time, death is near” or „this might be the last day of your life”, I wonder how many people would attend the classes... Even if nobody would come to our dojos or temples, people should be made aware that Buddhism is not a mean to gain health, prosperity, knowledge, success, not even spiritual gains, but to escape birth and death and become a Buddha, a trully free one.

To become aware of your own fragility and impermanence is the first important step on the Buddhist path. The awarenes of your own death is the best companion you can ever have. Like a faithful friend he will always warn you when you go astray and start inventing excuses for not listening the Dharma.

Notes:

* „Practice” in Jodo Shinshu means to listen to the Dharma. By listening again and again to the Dharma about Amida Buddha we can become opened to the message of his Primal Vow and receive shinjin (faith) in our hearts. Recitation of his Name thus becomes an expression of faith and gratitude.

A vision with Amida Buddha

2010-08-20T21:44:00.003+03:00

Today I wish to share with you a personal experience that happened more than six years ago, even before I became a priest. Other similar stories might come, but this one I consider it to be very important, so I decided to start with it. Whether you believe me or not, it doesn’t matter, as I can’t prove to you that I am telling the truth. This being the situation, you may treat this testimony as you wish. Feel free to consider it a real experience, a lie or a hallucination.

Here is what happened.

It was in the night at about four o'clock when I woke up from the bed feeling insecure due to a bad experience and an ugly dream and went to the altar in my room. There I started saying the nembutsu.

Suddenly an image of Amida Buddha appeared and a bright but impossible to describe light came from his head toward me. The image was somehow the same as the one from the altar but more bright and with that beautiful light.

When I saw that image and light I instantly calmed myself and felt secure. I felt and also I heard in my head something like "don't worry I am here and I am protecting you". All that experience lasted little than a minute so I didn't have enough time to savor it, but I felt it very strong and real. It was as if I was looking at somebody sitting in front of me - this is how I saw that image of Amida. And it was unexpected.

A strong sense of security overwhelmed me and I could finally went to sleep that night.

I often remember that experience and is incredible that it really happened but it surely happened. And it was not a dream, but a fully awake experience. It is like seeing somebody right in front of me, this is how I saw Amida Buddha’s image emanating clear light.

Sometimes I recall it in my mind and I find it incredible, but this is what I know for sure it happened and it was not a dream because I was fully awake.

I believe these kind of rare experiences are possible and many have them, but few dare to speak freely about them. However, today I decided to speak. I was thinking a lot whether to do it or not, as I was and am still afraid that some might call me a liar or a crazy person having hallucinations…. But as I can do nothing to change their opinions, I think is better to stop worrying about it.

We live in a secularized world where to have or speak about such religious experiences as visions might attract exclusion from the company of so called respectable people.

I also hope the readers will realize the mechanism of these experiences and not have a wrong understanding. They appear only due to Amida's Power and not at all to some merits on the part of the practitioner. Every experience the believer has is due only to Amida. They just happen or don’t happen at all. I think we should not worry if they don’t appear and do not think they have something to do with having or not having shinjin (faith). We should not depend on miraculous events or visions.

Whether we have or not have such experiences it has nothing to do with our birth in the Pure Land as this comes naturally only due to shinjin. Diamond like faith is all that matters in Jodo Shinshu and this is nothing special, but a simple, firm entrusting to Amida Buddha.

I am not special in comparison to others because I had that vision. In fact, I don’t know why it happened, but it surely happened and for this I feel grateful to Amida. I also know for sure that others had similar experiences and they are not special people, too.

It was a real event in my life and I don’t care if others believe me or not. Indeed I had a vision with Amida Buddha who appeared in front of me in a form adapted to my mind. Nobody can take this experience from me.

- please also read the article Faith is simple, nothing special

The meaning of Obon (festival of the dead 14th-15th August)

2010-08-14T08:58:00.003+03:00

Candles floating on water - a traditional custom on the occasion of Obon festival

When someone died very young a few years ago everybody was astonished. How could this happen? Why her? She was so young!

This is how every family reacts when a younger member dies suddenly.

Death looks like a thief entering unexpectedly with dirty boots in your room.

People are always taken by surprise. Even you, the reader of these lines, might be shocked if the doctor would tell you that you have cancer and only 3 months to live. Even me, the writer, might react in the same manner.

Why is that? Because for us death does not exist, it is something that always happens to somebody else or which is scheduled to take place some other time in the far future.

In fact, the truth is that surviving to old age is a miracle while dying at any time, unexpectedly, is a real possibility. Cemeteries are full of young people and only in my circle of friends I had three premature deaths.

Life is more fragile than you or me have the courage to understand. Instead of realizing this, we postpone indefinitely the though of death and indulge ourselves in the various dreams of this world. We forever keep our minds busy and do whatever we can to forget the only real thing we should take into consideration – our own death. It might happen now, in a few days, months, years or when we are old, but it will surely happen. Nobody escapes death.

On these things we should reflect upon in these Obon days.

If Obon does not help us become aware of the fragility of life, then it is a useless festival. When you commemorate your dead relatives or friends, think to your own death that might come at any time.
All people who died before us taught us only one thing, which is that death will soon come to us, too. If we realize this and concentrate the rest of our lives on the Dharma, then their deaths and our friendship and relation with them were not in vain. This is the meaning of Obon – to become aware of our own fragility and impermanence while remembering our departed ones.

From beyond the graves, their loving memories call us to awake ourselves to the truth that we never know when death might come and that we should be prepared.

And how do we become prepared if not by practicing the Dharma…. But just practicing the Dharma is not everything. We need to practice the Dharma like this would be the last day or minute of our life.

If you die now, in what state of mind death will find you? This is the most important question. Now, in this very moment, are you a Buddha? Are you sure that if you die today you will never be born again in another life experiencing again sickness, old age and death?

Don’t fool yourself with the thought that you are now a beginner in Buddhist practice and that one day your practice will improve and you might attain a higher level. This is delusion, the most dangerous delusion! What makes you so sure that you have a few more years to live; can you predict your own death?

Ask now; if you die now, in what state of mind death will find you? Not tomorrow, not after a few years, but now! If you are not a Buddha now, when do you think you will become one? What guarantee do you have that you will live longer than this month or year, that an unexpected accident or illness will not come upon you? Or what guarantee do you have that after a certain number of years you will surely become a fully enlightened one, a Buddha? Do you think that to become a Buddha is so easy like becoming an engineer or electrician?

You can’t afford the luxury of relying on uncertainties. In this fragile life as a human being that is so hard to attain, you can’t afford not to be sure that if you die today your endless wandering in samsara is over.

This is the very reason why you should stop dreaming of becoming a good Buddhist after some years of study and practice. Rather take refuge and rely on Amida now, in this very moment. Only through faith in Amida Buddha you are made to enter the stage of those assured of Nirvana. At the level you are now, as an ordinary being, there is no other path more efficient than this.

Be wise and chose among all Buddhist methods the one that does not require impossible things from you. This is because you are definitely not a sage so close to Enlightenment as those living and practicing in the presence of Shakyamuni and who were transformed only by listening to a sermon or after a very short time of practice. Do not compare yourself with saints or monks living in Sakyamuni’s lifetime!

Do not play supermen when you are just a foolish being. Koans* and smart Buddhist quotes or meditation will not help you escape birth and death. They are simply not methods designated for you. Please understand this and do not lose the precious time you have. The method of quickly entering the stage of those assured of Nirvana is right before you and no discrimination is made between virtuous and those who committed grave karmic sins.

Death may strike at any time. Take refuge in Amida now. This is the meaning of Obon days.

Footnotes:

* Koan is a word or a phrase of non-sensical language which cannot be “solved” by the intellect. It is used as an exercise to break through the limitations of conventional thought and to develop intuition, giving the practitioner the chance to reach an awareness beyond duality. They are used as meditation objects in Rinzai Zen. However, very often these koans are treated by many as mere intellectual interesting games, loosing in this way their original function.

Movie about Shinran Shonin

2010-08-09T03:12:00.005+03:00

I have been looking for a long time to find a movie about Shinran's life and here is what I found:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170569
It is called SHINRAN: PATH TO PURITY (Original name: Shinran: Shiroi michi) and it appeared in 1987.

If anybody can help me get a copy for the library of Tariki Dojo I will multiply it and share it with others for free. I mention that on Amazon is unavailable.