The Path of the 20th Vow and the explicit and implicit meaning of the Smaller Amida Sutra according to Master Shinran

Clay statue of Amida (Amitayus) made by me
and offered to visitors at the temple

This is a fragment from my 

   Commentary on the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amidakyo) 

 - work in progress and under constant revision - 

 According to Shinran Shonin, the Smaller Amida   Sutra  is explicitly guiding people to the 20^th Vow[1]   because the saying of Amida’s Name is selected   among all practices and is apparently (explicitly) used   as a method to gather merits for birth in the Pure   Land,  while implicitly the sutra indicates that the   merits for birth there actually belong to Amida. Many   people who wish to be born in the Pure Land chose   among all practices the exclusive saying of Nembutsu   but still cling to their self-power and think that the   Name is effective because of them - like the more they say it, or the more focused they are when they say it, the better it is for Birth, etc, when in truth the saying of the Name works due to the infinite merits and Power Amida manifested in it.
Thus, while the Nembutsu is encouraged and some tend to see it as their own practice and merit (the explicit/apparent meaning), this saying of the Name is nothing else but the expression of faith in the salvific Power of Amida Buddha (implicit/true meaning).  
In this book I give some examples of the explicit and implicit meanings within the Smaller Amida Sutra when I comment on section 5 part 2 – the method for birth in the Pure Land and on section 14. Please read them carefully.
 
Shinran Shonin said:

All Buddhas praise the Name of Amida and encourage beings to accept in faith the teaching about Him – commentary on sections 6-12 of the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amidakyo)

This is a fragment from my 

Commentary on the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amidakyo) 

- work in progress and under constant revision - 

In sections 6-11, Shakyamuni invokes the witness of all Buddhas in the eastern direction, southern, western, northern, nadir and zenith who all praise “the inconceivable virtues of Amitayus (Amida)” that He himself praises:
 
“Śāriputra, just as I praise the inconceivable virtue of Amitāyus, so do the Buddhas in the eastern direction […]southern direction […] western direction […] northern direction […] in the nadir […] in the zenith as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River […] While dwelling in their own lands, they extend their long, broad tongues and, encompassing with them the universe of a thousand million worlds, pronounce these words of truth: Sentient beings should accept this sutra entitled ‘Praise of the Inconceivable Virtue and Protection by All Buddhas.’”[1]
 
The inconceivable virtues belong to the Name of Amida Buddha (Amitayus/Amitabha) and the above passages are in harmony with His 17^th Vow in which He promised that all Buddhas will praise His Name:

The identity of Amida Buddha and those born in His Pure Land – commentary on section 4 of the Smaller Amida Sutra

 

This is a fragment from my 

Commentary on the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amidakyo) 

- work in progress and under constant revision - 

       Shakyamuni Buddha said: 

“For what reason, Śāriputra, do you think that Buddha is called Amitābha? Śāriputra, the Buddha’s light shines boundlessly and without hindrance over all the worlds of the ten directions. It is for this reason that He is called Amitābha. Again, Śāriputra, the lives of the Buddha and the people of His land last for innumerable, unlimited, and incalculable kalpas. It is for this reason that the Buddha is called Amitāyus.

 Śāriputra, ten kalpas have passed since Amitāyus attained Enlightenment. Moreover, Śāriputra, He has an immeasurable and unlimited number of śrāvaka disciples, all of them arhats, whose number cannot be reckoned by any means. His assembly of Bodhisattvas

is similarly vast. Śāriputra, that Buddha land is filled with such splendid adornments.”[1]

As Shakyamuni confirms, Amida (Amitabha/Amitayus) is now a Buddha because “ten kalpas have passed” since He attained Enlightenment (Buddhahood). This is why in the Larger Sutra or the Smaller Sutra and Contemplation Sutra, He no longer calls Him Bodhisattva Dharmakara which was His name when He was in the causal stage, but “Amitayus”, which means Infinite Life, or “Amitabha” - “Infinite Light”. These two aspects, “Infinite Life” (Amitayus) and “Infinite Light” (Amitabha) are merged in Japanese Buddhism into the word “Amida”[2], which means the Buddha of Infinite Life and Infinite Light. His Infinite Life is the effect of the 13^th Vow He made when He was Dharmakara Bodhisattva, while the Infinite Light is the effect of His 12^th Vow[3]. So, we cannot separate Amitayus (Infinite/unlimited Life) from Amitabha (Infinite/Boundless Light) because these are the two aspects of the same Buddha as Shakyamuni explained in section 4 of this sutra.

Stick with Amida Buddha

Thoughts come and go.
They are like clouds.
Stick with Amida, 
not with the
wandering
thoughts.

 Question from a reader: Josho – I need your help regarding the issue   of shinjin (or lack of). I know that I do not have settled shinjin, as   much as I would like to have it. I follow the Amida Dharma for a   while but then I fall off the rails and think that perhaps another path   is or more suited to me. So…I try to follow another path just to   arrive  at the place where I realize (again) that I cannot “succeed” in   any type of spiritual progress by my own efforts and that I need   Amida. So…. I return to Amida.
 Intellectually I believe in the existence of Amida and His Pure Land,   and I do want to go there, but there is obviously some kind of   emotional or other block which is preventing me from having settled   shinjin and from really experiencing Amida as a living presence in   my life. What is your advice? Can you help?

  My answer: When the thought of leaving for another path occurs       again in your mind, just do not follow it. Take the definitive   decision to stick with Amida Buddha no matter what thoughts   appear in your mind.

Thoughts come and go. This is what they do. They are like clouds. However, they have no power unless we empower them. If you simply let them come and go without focusing on them, they will disappear, but if you pay attention to them, they become bigger and bigger and will eventually make you take bad decisions.

The concrete platform for the Stupa of All Buddhas

I have just finished the concrete platform for the Stupa of All Buddhas. Before I poured the cement, I made a ceremony in which I chanted the Nembutsu liturgy and invited Amida and all Buddhas to bless and consecrate the land. Then I placed small statues and images of Amida Buddha, Green Tara, White Tara, Namgyalma, rolls with Nembutsu, Namgyalma mantra, the four Dharmakaya relic mantras, as well as many others (a complete list with all sacred things I place in the stupa will be available when it’s ready). Now, from time to time I recite the Nembutsu, make offerings and circumambulate the place while visualizing the stupa as already being there.

Two pilgrimages for two friends

Click here to read all articles in the category of Nembutsu pilgrimages

A few days ago, I was sitting in front of the statues of Amida and various Buddhas that I keep in my room to remind me of the 17^th Vow[1] and the protection they offer to people of shinjin (faith)[2], when I was overwhelmed with a strong sense of devotion and energy. Looking at each of their holly faces I said in a strong voice - I am the dog of Amida, I am the dog of the Buddhas.
 
A dog is loyal (in my case to Amida and all Buddhas), a dog fiercely protects what he loves (the Dharma and Sangha), a dog can walk many miles and resist cold and heat without complaining if he is given a task by his master. A dog is, I think, a good symbol for my pilgrimages on foot.
 
This time I had two pilgrimages: one to a friend and another to a dog’s grave.