Jodo Shinshu – the only effective path in this last Dharma age

-based on some verses in the Shozomatsu wasan-

(my speech at the spring meeting in Jiko-ji temple, 2007 (Antwerp, Belgium)

last revised: May 23, 2021

Buddhism has spread widely outside Asia in the last fifty years and this is indeed very fortunate. But in this spreading and in the image that Buddhism has in the West a very important element is missing or is not so well understood. Too many voices are heard in Western Buddhism that support some already established preconceptions like: “Buddhism is a path of Liberation by oneself” and “Buddha is only a teacher or the finger pointing to the moon”, etc. The established image of a Buddhist is a forever calm and smiling monk or practitioner, following a path of self-liberation and improvement. This for many is Buddhism, but for Shinran, this is exactly what Buddhism is no more. His life story and teaching shows another aspect of Buddhism which he considers it to be the real goal of Buddhism: the true Pure Land Teaching or Jodo Shinshu in which Amida Buddha is not the finger pointing to the moon, but a Savior - in fact, the best Savior of all the three worlds, with Shakyamuni being His messenger, guiding sentient beings to entrust to Amida. What a dramatic difference in the vision of what the Dharma truly is between Master Shinran and all other schools of self-power Buddhism!

We can say that in Shinran’s terms, Buddhism will not be well established in the West until the teaching about Amida’s salvation is known. In fact, in the West only the provisional and accommodated (self-power) teachings of Shakyamuni have spread until now, but not the teaching of His true intent of coming into this world. Thus, it is our mission to understand and transmit correctly the only Dharma of Shakyamuni that is still functioning in this world of the last age. The more we become aware of this truth, the better it is for all sentient beings.

The possibility of attaining Buddhahood in this very life is the essence of most of the Buddhist schools that are widely spread in Europe. News about famous Buddhist masters and their realizations are many and the number of disciples is growing. Who does not want to see, touch and be around somebody about whom it is said he is an incarnation of an ancient Master or even a living Buddha… But I myself cannot help looking with suspicion at all the so-called spiritual achievements of today’s important figures of Buddhism.

Seeing all these “modern realizations” with the eyes influenced by the teaching of Shinran Shonin about the true capacities of beings in the last Dharma age, I think there are two possibilities about those who seem to attain Buddhahood in our times:

1) they might be Enlightened Bodhisattvas[1] in disguise who already became Buddhas in the past and come here to preserve the Buddhist Path for those who can’t yet have faith in Amida but continue to follow other Dharma teachings, or

2) because we are deluded, we think that somebody who shows more calm than us has already supposedly attained Buddhahood.

To become a Buddha means a lot more than always showing a calm face and saying beautiful words of wisdom. Shinran mentioned in Tannisho a few aspects of what it means to become a Buddha and what those smiling Buddhist faces of his days and ours do not have:

“Do those who speak of realizing Enlightenment while in this bodily existence manifest various accommodated bodies[2], possess the Buddha’s thirty-two features[3] and eighty marks[4], and preach the Dharma to benefit beings like Shakyamuni? It is this that is meant by realizing Enlightenment in this life….”

 A true Buddha knows all His past lives and the past lives of all sentient beings, He knows all the causes and their possible effects, thus being able to predict the possible future of any being. He knows perfectly which method is better to be applied to every one meeting Him, and the list of the Enlightened capacities of a Buddha can go on filling many pages….

I think it is very important to understand that a Buddha is not a human being, as the human condition is just one of the many unenlightened states of existence. The inside Enlightened qualities of a Buddha manifest outside and are impregnated on His physical body, so both physically and mentally a Buddha is an extraordinary person, beyond and superior to any being.

To become a true Buddha, possessing such capacities as those enumerated above is something that cannot be done in this age, according to Shinran Shonin. Unfortunately, people often don’t read carefully in the sutras what a Buddha truly is, and instead become easily impressed by anyone who shows more calm than they do.

When I myself look to the various Buddhist magazines that are so popular nowadays, I always have the feeling of futility. So many smiling monks, sophisticated articles, Zen talks about emptiness and how we are already Buddhas and don’t need to worry about anything, practicers talking about how to overcome anger or jealousy, and many other wordly things…. I read all those articles and feel like they talk for aliens, but surely not for me. Who are all those good Buddhists and how can their nice talks be of any help to me? Did the Buddhas came into this world only to teach these nice guys who are always calm and have such fulfilled lives through meditation? If the answer was yes, then what am I doing here?
Before coming to Jodo Shinshu I felt like in school when the teacher always talked with the good children and sent me in the back of the classroom with the bad children.

And then…I found Jodo Shinshu which is the only reason I am a still a Buddhist. Without Jodo Shinshu, Buddhism is just another nice discourse for the smart and good folks but with no relevance for the average person living in the real world. I truly understand now why Shinran Shonin considered that preaching the Larger Sutra was the main reason for Shakyamuni’s coming to this world. He had the courage to abandon his mask of a good smiling monk and looked deeply into himself and the true human capacities. Shinran didn’t choose to teach the nice discourses of other sutras, but carefully selected the passages that were truly beneficial for himself and this world.

There were teachings and practices taught by Shakyamuni that Shinran chose not to speak about and he did this not because those practices are bad, but because they are not truly useful for our attainment of Buddhahood, given our limited capacities. He said in his letters that some Buddhist teachings are of limited relevance while others are of universal relevance and that the teaching of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is of universal relevance. To be of universal relevance means to be useful and effective both for the good and virtuous as well as for the evil beings filled with blind passions. Saints and idiots can be saved equally. It is “the teaching in accord with the times and with beings” as he also said in Shozomatsu Wasan.

Some might think - and I heard such a statement at one of the European meetings before I founded Amidaji - that we should not be as radical as Shinran who says that only faith in Amida can make people attain Buddhahood, because in this way we might offend other Buddhist schools with whom we are engaged in ecumenical talks.

So what can we do? Why should they feel offended when so many other schools also claim they have the best practices and methods? Just look to the statements of the Tibetan schools when they speak about their specific teachings! My opinion on this matter is that it is extremely important to stick with the explanations of Shinran Shonin and expound them as they were truly said without censoring anything to satisfy the expectations of unenlightened people from other schools or non-Buddhist religions. This is because in Shinran’s explanations we find the true reason for the existence of Jodo Shinshu. This wonderful teaching on the absolute reliance on Amida Buddha is not just another Buddhist method in the 84,000 Buddhist teachings[5], but the most important teaching among all Shakyamuni’s teachings.
Shinran said in the second verse of Shozomatsu Wasan:

“…the teachings that Sakyamuni left behind

Have all passed into the naga’s palace.”

This means that all other Buddhist teachings are no longer effective during these times. To “pass into the naga’s palace” means exactly this – not being effective or only being as good as non-existent.

Shinran is even more clear:

“Although we have the teachings of Sakyamuni,

There are no sentient beings who can practice them;

Hence, it is taught that in the last Dharma-age,

Not a single person will attain Enlightenment through them.” 

“Not a single person will attain Enlightenment through them” is a very strong statement! Not a single one – this should be very well heard and understood. Not a single person can effectively practice the Buddhist teachings other than the reliance on Amida Buddha.

Shinran said it clearly for those who are ready to hear it:

“Without entrusting themselves to the Tathagata’s compassionate Vow,

No sentient beings of these times - the last Dharma-age, and

The fifth five-hundred-year period since Sakyamuni’s passing –

Will have a chance of parting from birth-and-death.”

Shinran’s words leave no trace of doubt about what we have to do. There is no other Buddhist method which can guarantee Buddhahood so quickly without asking anything from the follower. All the nice discourses and practices of other schools through which they claim that everybody can become a Buddha in this very life are good in themselves, but they are not effective for this age and for the people living in it, so they are as good as non-existent – “gone into the naga’s palace”.

In this age, any true spiritual practices, (by “true” I mean any Buddhist practices and not the practices of other religions), which require as little merit as a particle of dust are not effective practices and we should abandon them, because we cannot become Buddhas through them.

If we should abandon all other Buddhist teachings and practices as being as good as nonexistent or gone into the naga’s palace, so much more we should never follow non Buddhist teachings and practices about which Shinran Shonin talks in greater detail in his Kyogyoshinsho where he states, for example, quoting the Great Nirvana Sutra:

“Good sons, there are two kinds of Enlightenment: eternal and impermanent…. The Enlightenment of non-Buddhist ways is called impermanent, Buddhist Enlightenment is called eternal….. The emancipation of non-Buddhist ways is called impermanent, the emancipation of Buddhist ways is called eternal.”

He makes reference again to non-Buddhist teachings in Shozomatsu Wasan about which we are talking now:

“The ninety-five non Buddhist teachings[6] defile the world;

The Buddha’s path alone is pure.”

The above words were immediately followed by these verses:

“Only by going forth and reaching Enlightenment can we benefit others

In this burning house; this is the natural working of the Vow.”

which if they are compared with the statement about the two types of Enlightenment (eternal and impermanent) quoted by Shinran in his Kyogyoshinsho and presented here, we can easily conclude that not through non-Buddhist teachings, but through the Buddha’s Path which is pure, is one made capable of attaining Enlightenment.

So, if we live in this last Dharma age with all its defilement and difficulties, we should follow only the Path of the Buddha and not the various non-Buddhist teachings which are themselves manifestations of this defiled world. More than this, among all Buddhist methods we should select only the teaching of the Primal Vow and abandon the rest as being as good as nonexistent.

I especially think that these statements of Shinran Shonin about the non-Buddhist teachings and other Buddhist practices are very useful in our days when it became a custom to mix things and find so-called synthesis of various religious beliefs. Many spiritual soups are prevalent in our days, mixing elements of Christianity with Buddhism and Hinduism. But also in the Buddhist world mixing things is often met and even in other branches of Jodo Shinshu there is for example, the tendency among some followers to make Jodo Shinshu more Zen-like in order to accommodate their personal visions or hide their incapacity to follow a devotional and faith-oriented teaching.

In rejecting non Buddhist views as not leading to Enlightenment and also other Buddhist teachings as ineffective, Shinran Shonin shows that he is not interested in satisfying everyone’s ideas or in having a nice and politically correct talk with all doctrines and religious views, but is focused in saving people from birth and death, which is the most important thing in this life. In front of the two rivers of fire and water with death and danger waiting to strike at every moment, and the rare chance of having another human life so hard to find, Shinran is interested only in showing us the path to escape from birth and death. And he clearly sees no other way than entrusting to Amida Buddha. All other methods are not real or they are ineffective.

Shinran calls us to wake up and not lose the precious time we have. This is a burning house and not a place for unimportant talks and doctrines. He is clear in his explanations like a doctor who prescribes exactly what a patient needs to save his life. He says something like: “Do you want to escape birth and death? If you do, then this is the Path to follow and no other. Entrust in Amida Buddha and in no one else”. It is Shinran’s message to a terminally ill world in the last Dharma age, a world that needs the best medicine ever to be found in all religious history.

For those who come to Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu only for intellectual delights or interesting discussions, the radical attitude of Shinran will always be embarrassing or not so politically correct. But for those to whom birth and death is the most important matter and realize their true capacities, the clear message of Shinran and his way of rejecting that which is not true or effective and selecting that which is true and useful, is all they need to hear.

So, dear friends, make a choice: escape this burning house or remain inside it, spending your time with false or futile practices. It’s your decision: no one can make it for you.

 

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[1] The term „bodhisattva” is used to describe the practicer who aspires to become a Buddha for himself and all beings (bodhisattva in aspiration) and makes the vows of the Bodhisattva, and the one who although he has attained supreme Enlightenment or Buddhahood does not remain stuck in it but continues to manifest himself in various forms in the world of suffering to help all beings (Bodhisattvas who are already Buddhas). For a better explanation of these two types of Bodhisattvas you can read the second chapter of my Commentary on the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life.

[2] Nirmanakaya, in Sanskrit. One of the three bodies of a Buddha. Any Buddha manifests himself in various forms according to the conditions and capacities of those He wishes to save. See the chapter “About Amida Buddha and his Pure Land” where the doctrine of the Three Buddha Bodies (Trikaya) is explained.

[3] “Thirty-two features”, refers to the thirty-two physical marks attributed to a Buddha and to a Cakravatin (ideal universal king).

[4] „ Eighty marks” refers to the eighty important physical features of a Buddha. These are minor features that accompany the thirty two important features.

[5] Shinran said in Letter 8^th of his Lamp of the Latter Ages: “Of the conceivable and the inconceivable Dharma, the conceivable comprises the 84,000 kinds of good of the Path of Sages. The Pure Land teaching is the inconceivable Dharma-teaching” - so he clearly separated the Pure Land teaching from other Buddhist teachings and practices.

[6] “Ninety-five non Buddhist teachings” (kujugoshu ) originally appear in the Nirvana Sutra and others. It is said that at the time of the Buddha there were ninety-five kinds of wrong teachings. They are views of the six philosophical masters (rokushi gedo) and those of their disciples, fifteen under each master (Zuio Sensei explanations). I also think that any spiritual teaching nowadays that contradicts the law of karma as explained by the Buddha, denies rebirth, affirms the existence of a Creator and supreme judge of the world, etc., can be considered in the category of non-Buddhist teachings that should be rejected. One cannot be a Jodo Shinshu follower and believe in God, deny rebirth or the law of karma.