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 

Rev Oku Kyokai Sensei - a friend of Amidaji has passed away

With Rev Oku Kyokai in 2004  

 Rev Oku Kyokai of Zuikoji temple in Osaka passed away last night at  85   years old.

  First time I met him in 2004 (I was 27 ) when I visited   Japan for the second time. He found about me on internet and invited   me at his   temple on his expanse where he offered me accommodation   for three   weeks. He greeted me warmly and kindly helped me to visit   mount   Koyasan as well as various religious sites in the Kansai area.   We held   religious services together at his temple and in the houses of people from his parish. I remember fondly how I recited Nembutsu, Sambutsuge and Juseige in a tiny Japanese house for a big family with parents, grandparents, children and a dog, all gathered together in front of their obutsudan (home altar).

Big statue of Amida Buddha on the land of Amidaji temple

Click aici pentru versiunea in limba romana

Dear friends in the Dharma,
 
During my recent Nembutsu pilgrimage an older aspiration resurfaced with great power in my mind – to have a big outdoor statue of Amida Buddha (Amitabha/Amituofo) of at least 4 meters high on the land of Amidaji temple in Romania (see photos bellow), for the benefit of human and nonhuman beings.
 
As you might know, there is great merit and great karmic connection for those who see and show respect to Budha statues. Recently, I came across this sutra passage, quoted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who also approved and supported the building of the Kadampa Stupa in my country, that I visited a few weeks ago,
 
“Manjushri asked Buddha, ‘One Gone Beyond, now you are the only object to whom sentient beings can make offering. After you pass into the sorrowless state, what will sentient beings do? How will they accumulate merit when they can’t see Buddha anymore? Please advise us.’
Buddha answered, ‘My four followers, there is not one single difference between making offerings to me now and in the future, with devotion, making offerings to my reflections. The merit is equal and the result is equal.’”