updated and revised September 30, 2021
Questions:
1. I sometimes think the central
theme of Buddhism is that it all comes from Avidya (ignorance) and this makes
us view the world as samsara rather than Nirvana. I wish to know what some
Buddhists mean when they say there is no distinction between the two. Also,
related to this and bringing it back to Jodo Shinshu: Is the Pure Land here and
now or not? Or is it to be reached after death when we become Buddhas?
Personally, I think it has to be here and now or it is nowhere. For me this is
what I thought was the essence of Shinran’s teaching, and why I was attracted
to it.
2. As far as the Nembutsu is concerned does it have a particular form? Or
rather is it a door through which ignorance is cleared and we realize we have
always been in the Pure Land?”
My answer:
Yes, ignorance makes us see this world as suffering. The Enlightened Ones are truly happy wherever they are, so for them, samsara is like Nirvana (this is the meaning of the unity between samsara and Nirvana), however I, as an unenlightened person, can speak about that unity for days and nights but I use only mere words and still remain caught in my limited mind. No matter how much I speak about this, I still don’t become a Buddha. Only from the Buddha’s perspective (the absolute truth), are Nirvana and samsara one, because a Buddha has no illusion, and so He experience no suffering, but from the perspective of an unenlightened person, these two are different. Thus, samsara and Nirvana will remain different as long as we are not Buddhas, no matter how much we speak about unity.
And about the Pure Land:
Shinran Shonin is quoted as saying in chapter 15 of Tannisho:
“According to the true essence of the Pure Land way, one entrusts oneself to the Primal Vow in this life and realizes Enlightenment in the Pure Land; this is the teaching I received.”
To entrust in the Primal Vow in this life amounts to the same as saying the Nembutsu – Namo Amida Butsu – with complete faith and gratitude in Amida. Namo means “to take refuge” and also it means “homage to”, so it’s an expression of faith and gratitude[1].
There is no other meaning related to the Nembutsu in our Jodo Shinshu teaching.
“‘Saved by the inconceivable working of Amida’s Vow, I
shall realize birth in the Pure Land’: the moment you entrust yourself thus to
the Vow, so that the mind set upon saying the Nembutsu arises within you, you
are immediately brought to share in the benefit of being grasped by Amida,
never to be abandoned.”
So, Shinran says that in the moment you entrust yourself to
the Vow (and because of this you say the Nembutsu), “you are immediately
brought to share in the benefit of being grasped by Amida, never to be
abandoned.” This means that you enter the stage of those assured of
Nirvana or the stage of non-retrogression.
What is meant by the stage of non-retrogression? It means
that the root of your karma is cut, that is, although you continue to
experience the results of past karma and to act as a being full of illusions
and blind passions until the moment of your death, your karma cannot plant its
seeds into another life in samsara.
Because of the merit transference from Amida, you are now
assured of Buddhahood, which you will attain in the moment of your death, when
you are born in the Pure Land. You are established in this stage of
non-retrogression, not by yourself, but by Amida (“being grasped by Amida”)
who will never abandon you (“never to be abandoned”) – this is what is
mean by non-retrogression, or assured of Nirvana.
Master Rennyo used the six-character name (NA MO A MI DA
BUTSU), although the ten-character Name[2] and the
nine-character Name[3]
are the same in meaning with the six-character Name because they express the
same faith in Amida Buddha.
We should not forget that the Name is made to be easy to
recite, and it doesn’t have any hidden meaning, whether esoteric or some “Zen
meaning”. It simply means to entrust in Amida’s saving power.
The Name was not created in order to make us think that we
have always been in the Pure Land. For us, unenlightened beings, “here and now”
means only samsara, the world of illusion and suffering. We are assured of
birth in the Pure Land even if we don’t understand the so-called ultimate unity
between samsara and Nirvana.
Nembutsu being the same with shinjin (this is why I always
call it “the Nembutsu of faith”), it means to have the Twofold Profound
Convictions (nishu jinshin): 1) to know that you are a person of deep karmic
limitations, incapable of attaining Buddhahood through your own power, and 2) that
only Amida Buddha can save you through His Vow Power, without asking anything
from you.
So, as you see, shinjin (faith) and the Nembutsu of shinjin
(faith) do not mean that “the Pure Land is here and now” or to “realize we have
always been in the Pure Land”. Nowhere in the writings of Shinran or Rennyo is
there to be found such an interpretation, not to mention anywhere in the Three
Pure Land Sutras about Amida, which are the words of Shakyamuni Buddha himself.
But why do some followers insist on spreading false views
like “the Pure Land is here and now” or presenting Amida as a symbol, myth or a
fictional character? The answer is simple – it is because they cannot accept in
their hearts the words of Shakyamuni and the Masters, and because they are
blinded by their own limited and illusory opinions to which they try to adapt
the Jodo Shinshu teaching. Such people think the Dharma must necessarily adapt
to the materialistic or so-called “modern” visions of a world in which they are
incapable of going beyond what they see with the naked eye. It is as if they
are saying that our eyes or our limited minds, are the only criteria upon which
we can distinguish what is real from what is not real in the universe, and
further, what we don’t see, touch or smell, etc, automatically doesn’t exist.
Only in the moment of death, when through faith in Amida Buddha we are born the “birthless birth” in the Pure Land and become Buddhas, will we understand what our present minds and senses can’t understand – the unity between samsara and Nirvana, the “non-arising of all phenomena,” “emptiness”, etc.
[1] In the sense that to say Namo Amida Butsu means to say “thank you Amida Buddha for saving me as I am”.
[2] KI MYO JIN JI PO MU GE KO NYO RAI – Homage to the Tathagata of Unimpeded Light Pervading the Ten Quarters.
[3] NA MO FU KA SHI GI KO NYO RAI – Homage to the Tathagata of Inconceivable Light.
Excellent teaching, Dharma Friend.
ReplyDeleteAll these people who say "samsara is nirvana" simply don't KNOW what they're talking about. They may have some intellectual apprehension, but their lives are riven by duality and disconnectedness just as yours and mine.
That's why Master Shinran and Master Honen never talked in non-dual terms of the classical Mahayana (Path of the Sages). They were deeply honest - honest enough to admit they simply didn't KNOW that samsara is nirvana, the way Shakyamuni Buddha, or Mahasattva Nagarjuna, know it.
So they concentrated their message on what they DID know. And what was that? They knew (as you say) that they were grasped by the real and true Buddha Amida - that the root of their karma had been cut - and that they would take birth and attain Buddhahood in Amida's Pure Land.
And we can know the exact same thing, in the exact same way. That - and that alone - is what SHINJIN is.