Do not despise other Buddhas, Dharma Gates and Buddhist teachings because you have faith in Amida (video teaching)

 

As this is a very important teaching I decided to poste it here too. At Amidaji we consider it to be of utmost importance to respect all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as all Dharma Gates, sutras, tantras and authentic lineages of transmission. 

There are hundreds of video teachings on my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@JoshoAdrianCirlea and I invite you to visit it, subscribe and enjoy them, perhaps finding something useful there.

As a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist I do NOT believe in any good or evil "world order"

I think this short video might be useful, so I post it here too. Please check my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@JoshoAdrianCirlea/videos for hundreds of other video teachings and discussions.  

Namo Amida Bu 

Article mentioned in the video:
The benefit of entering the stage of the truly settled (non-retrogression) 

Keep worldly affairs out of the temple

 

As you may probably know, in many Buddhist temples around the world, Jodo Shinshu or not, members organize parties with music, alcohol, and dancing. Some say it relaxes people and brings them together. I say it is a smart trick of internal maras (one's own blind passions and ignorance) and/or external maras or various evil spirits to make people forget the Dharma in the exact place where they have the chance to deepen its meaning, a subtle way of distracting them from the teaching and keeping them focused on their worldly passions and preoccupations.

State of mind in the moment of death

Shinran Shonin said in one of his Letters (Mattosho):

“I, for my own part, attach no significance to the condition, good or bad, of persons in their final moments. People in whom shinjin (faith) is determined do not doubt, and so abide among the truly settled. For this reason, their end also - even for those ignorant and foolish and lacking in wisdom - is a happy one.”

This is for me, one of the most important statements of Shinran Shonin. No matter if I die well, in my bed, or in the street like a homeless person, no matter if I feel good or bad, if I smile and die peacefully with the appearance of a wise person or I cry because of pain or fear, no matter if my death makes a good impression or not, no matter if I die of old age or in my youth, I am accepted exactly as I am and I will be born in the Pure Land because of Amida’s Compassion. This is because, in His Primal Vow, Amida Buddha did not mention a special condition in which I have to die in order to be born in the Pure Land, He just promised that those beings who trust in Him, wish to be born in His land and say His Name will be born there. These three minds – the mind who entrusts in Amida, the mind who wishes to be born in Amida’s Land and the mind who says Nembutsu are in fact one mind –  the manifestations of the entrusting mind.

In Jodo Shinshu our salvation starts in the here and now, that is, we enter the stage of non-retrogression (“truly settled”) or the stage of those assured of Nirvana, in the very moment we entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha, and we are born in the Pure Land where we become immediately Buddhas in the moment we die. But even after we receive shinjin (faith in Amida Buddha) we continue to live our lives like ordinary people, filled with blind passions and illusions, and we can die like ordinary people because of the problems of ordinary people.

However, this very ordinary person is already “received and never abandoned” by the Compassion of Amida Buddha and in this way his end becomes a happy one. He dies like an ordinary person but is reborn as a Buddha in the Pure Land of Amida.

A BOMBŪ LOST ABOVE THE SKY OF ROMANIA - My experience at Amida-ji, by Hōrai Alessandro Coletta

Rev. Jōshō Adrian Cîrlea was the first teacher from whom I heard Amida Dharma when I discovered his videos on YouTube at the beginning of 2023.

A few days earlier, I had been in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy, with my wife on a sightseeing trip. As usual, I felt the deep discomfort that almost always accompanies me when I step outside my comfort zone. Among various monuments and museums, we visited the Museum of Oriental Art (MAO Torino), where I knew several Buddhist objects, statues, and paintings from Asia were displayed. I have always been attracted, since childhood, to Eastern aesthetics, particularly Sino-Japanese, which even influenced my first steps into the Dharma when, in 2008, I set foot in my first Zen temple.

Since then, many years have passed, during which I practiced zazen and vipassana, attended retreats (sometimes fleeing from them), and visited various Dharma centers in Italy belonging to different schools. I formally took Refuge in the Three Jewels, undertook the Five Precepts, and maintained a general practice—not without struggles—while simultaneously trying to manage various personal, family, and emotional issues.

Some of my views on Buddhism and state

 

You can watch more than 570 video teachings and discussions at this link, https://www.youtube.com/@JoshoAdrianCirlea/videos on my YouTube channel.

Namo Amida Bu