Against the superstition of auspicious/inauspicious days

 

Question: I saw many Buddhist calendars on various Buddhist websites who mention “auspicious” or “inauspicious days” for doing various activities from cutting one’s hair, to Dharma activities. What is the view of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism on this matter?
 
My answer: I am glad to say that in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, and based on the words of Shakyamuni Buddha himself, we do NOT believe in propitious/auspicious or unpropitious/inauspicious times. The Power of Amida and all Buddhas surpass any influence caused by spirits, gods, bad energies, elements, etc that might create unpropitious times.

Propitious/auspicious or unpropitious have a meaning only for superstitious samsaric beings who don't experience the Power and guidance of Buddhas in their lives. However, for those who take refuge in the Buddhas, in the Dharma and Sangha, who say the Name of Amida or any Buddhas or their mantras, such things have no influence and must be treated as mere illusions in an illusory world composed of illusory phenomena.

Here are just two quotations from the sutras used by Shinran Shonin in his works:

NEWS! The first Buddhist Black Metal album - To Receive The Adamantine Heart by Urschwur (Horai Alessandro Coletta)

Dear friends,

I am happy to share with you this great news! Many of you  already know that we at Amidaji are very strict about the doctrine and how this is to be explained and transmitted, but very relaxed when it comes to the method of transmission. 

Music is an important expression of the human soul and also a vehicle. Since ancient times people have expressed their feelings but also their convictions and meditations through music. I, for example, am a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist who enjoys Black Metal and like me there are many. So, why not having Black metal music with Buddhist lyrics that talk about one's experience of being a bombu (a person filled with blind passions) and having faith in Amida Buddha? For many years I talked with various people about this possibility.

To many it sounded strange but some were happy about it, and yet, nobody dared to do something...until Horai Allesandro Colleta did it and he did it in a great way! 

Horai Alessandro Coletta during
hisstay at Amidaji where he
received theThree Refuges

So, I invite you, dear readers and Dharma friends who like this type of music, to listen to and follow Horai's Buddhist Black Metal project -  Urschwur and his first album - To Receive the Adamantine Heart. 

You can follow him on YouTube  and Instagram  where you can also find news about his activities and concerts. 

At this link  https://remoteradiancerecords.bandcamp.com you can also order his album, T-shirts and various items related with his project. 

And you can write to him personally at his email: horaisattvahr@gmail.com

Also, please read his interview in the Lunatic Magazin that I am sharing with you bellow this video. It is filled with many profound insights into the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teachings and Horai's deep religious experience.

Namo Amida Bu 

Commentary on the Sutra on Amitayus Buddha (Smaller Amida Sutra) - free edition and printed edition for sale

For this commentary on the Smaller Amida Sutra I used the English translation made by Rev Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart and published under the title The Three Pure Land Sutras by Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003. 

It is a section-by-section explanation in which I tried my best to convey in simple language the message of the sutra in both its explicit and implicit meanings. As the sutras in general have many layers of interpretation and were explained in various ways according to different lineages and schools, I relied in my commentary on Master Shinran’s interpretation[2] and read it through the eyes of faith in the Primal Vow of Amida. Honestly speaking, without Master Shinran Shonin I could never understand the deep meaning of the Three Pure Land sutras and could not transmit it to others, so my gratitude to him is impossible to express in words.
 
Whatever I say that is true and useful to others awakening to faith arises in my mind due to Amida’s influence and the benevolence of my Master Shinran, and whatever I say wrong is due to my limited spiritual capacities. Thus, I ask the reader to always pray to Amida for guidance whenever he or she engages in the study of this sutra and the three Pure Land sutras in general.

The method for birth in the Pure Land – commentary on section 5 (part2) 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 - 

 “Śāriputra, those sentient beings who hear of that land should aspire to be born there. Why? Because they will be able to meet such sages of supreme virtue. Śāriputra, one cannot attain birth in that land with few roots of good or a small store of merit. 

Śāriputra, if a good man or woman who hears of Amitāyus holds fast to His Name even for one day, two days, three, four, five, six, or seven days with a concentrated and undistracted mind, then, at the hour of death, Amitāyus will appear with a host of holy ones. Consequently, when their life comes to an end, the aspirants’ minds will not fall into confusion and so they will be born immediately in the Land of Utmost Bliss of Amitāyus. Śāriputra, perceiving these benefits, I say: ‘All sentient beings who hear this teaching should aspire to birth in that land.’”[1] 

We must notice these words “sages of supreme virtue (merit)” and “one cannot attain birth in that land with few roots of good or a small store of merit (virtue)”.

Outline of the Smaller Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life

This is a fragment from my 

   Commentary on the Smaller Amida Sutra (Amidakyo) 

 - work in progress and under constant revision - 

The sutra begins with Shakyamuni Buddha in the Jeta Grove monastery situated in Anathapindada’s garden in the city of Sravasti with an assembly of twelve hundred and fifty arhat monks and some Enlightened Bodhisattvas, including Manjushri.
The Buddha starts delivering this sutra spontaneous to Sariputra and all those present, without being asked a question, thus showing how important the teaching about Amida is.
(section 1 and section 2)
 
*

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), the 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: