Please, read carefully the other articles in this category:
Question[1]:
“A lot of folks who end up in Shin
Buddhism here in the West have a lot of vestigial concepts from our Abrahamic
background - whether or not they were ever "believers" [in God] themselves. And they carry those vestigial ideas with them when they
start in as Buddhists. Some don't do that of course - particularly the ones who
are given to serious study, and really consider it important to know what
Shakyamuni actually taught. But as you know from your time in both the
Zen and Shin Sanghas, such study is often not the primary focus - or even as
great a focus as it is in the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist Sangha groups. […]
So, in your opinion, based on your own reading and
contemplating, is it possible for an ignorant, yet well meaning person to come
to settled shinjin (faith) if he or she has never actually studied the subject[2],
and has some mixed up ideas about eternalism stuck in his mind stream? Or is
the presence of such thoughts a necessary karmic obstacle that must directly be
addressed and removed before the person can receive Amida's gift of shinjin?”
Answer:
I think it depends on how important the baggage of eternalist ideas is for
them or how much weight it has in their mind-stream.
Most of the
people in the world today, and especially those born in a Judeo-Christian
background, have a basic information about the idea of a creator god, but I make a distinction in the way they react
to it, especially if they call themselves, Jodo Shinshu followers. Some
don’t care too much about it – if this creator-god exists or not – because they do not find it important, and so
they focus single-mindedly on Amida Buddha, while others do care about it and
think it is important, thus giving it some important space in their minds. Both
categories of people may claim they entrust in Amida, but I doubt that those in
the second category have a genuine faith.
If, for the first
category the „creator god” is just an information which they prefer not to deal
with it or don’t care about it, for the second category it is an actual
presence which clearly has some conscious or unconscious consequences on them.
I think that for people in the second
category Amida is automatically thought and felt in relation with this creator-god,
and according to my experience, most of them even think about Amida in terms of
a superior creature or a person who is somehow lower than god. But no matter how they place Amida in
relation with this creator-god, their clinging to the god idea is the key to
understand them. This clinging is, into my opinion, a hindrance to true
shinjin, which is not the case for the first category.
People in the
first category, after hearing a Buddhist explanation they can easily let go to
the idea of a creator god, even if until then they did not know they should
actually let it go, but those in the second category will put up a fight and
will try to defend it.
Of course, we can
never know exactly what happens inside one’s heart and only Amida knows if one
really has shinjin or not, but we can also say that people are like trees, so
they can be known by their fruits or in our case, by their reactions. Just like someone who denies the existence of Amida Buddha cannot possibly have genuine faith in Him, one who tenaciously
clings to and defends the idea of a creator god, cannot possibly entrust to
Amida Buddha as a supreme Savior. Also, as I previously said, one who is
mentally and spiritually attached to the idea of a creator god will, consciously
or unconsciously, relate Amida Buddha with this god-creator, and he may also
think that Amida is a creature himself –
a creation of this god….
It is not by chance that we have an explanation by Shakyamuni, made in
human terms, of who a Buddha is, who Amida is, and what is His Pure Land. Also
– and this is extremely important – in the Primal Vow we are told to entrust
to/have faith in Amida Buddha – which means ONLY in Amida Buddha. To have faith in Amida Buddha means to
accept that He is the supreme and unique Savior, but when we cling to the idea of a creator god, this is also an
expression of faith which, in this case, is directed toward that god. To accept the existence of a creator god, of
Amida Buddha or any divine figure from any religion is not a scientific fact,
but a matter of faith. So, if upon hearing Shakyamuni’s teaching about the
non-existence of a creator-god, some react aggressively and try to resist it, or
even deny it, this is a hint that they actually have faith in that creator god.
Their very resistance is an expression
of their wrong faith.
Those who claim to have received shinjin (faith in
Amida), but cling to the idea of a creator-god they actually have faith in the
creator god, and a false or unsettled
faith in Amida. This is
my opinion, which comes not only from my contemplation on this matter or my
readings, but from my experience as a priest and my meeting face to face with
such people.
You asked me, “what is the minimum
necessary understanding of Buddha Dharma that a person MUST have in order to
receive Amida's gift?”
I cannot make a complete list and cannot relate to every
particular situation and persons, but I can say that one should be helped to
have a minimum Dharmic vision of the world (like I explained in this article), so he must understand in simple
terms what is karma (karma and the idea of a creator god cannot actually
coexist, as I explained in my previous articles on this topic), that rebirth
is a true phenomenon filled with constant insatisfaction, and that true Freedom
(Buddhas can be explained as truly Free Ones, having perfect Compassion) from
these repeated births and deaths is something he should wish for ….. and for
this freedom to come quickly and certainly, one needs to accept Amida’s helping
hand, as the only true Savior.
Even an illiterate person can have such a minimum understanding of karma, rebirth (which can be explained in terms of life after
death in various forms), and of Amida Buddha as a supreme Free One who
manifested a perfect world/realm where we can aspire to go after death and become
Free Persons (Buddhas) ourselves, then come back to save those we love.
We can ask ourselves – if we do not
consider Shakyamuni to be the supreme all-knowing Teacher in the universe
(Teacher of all sentient beings, including gods and men), if we think that the
Buddha can be right in some matters and wrong in others, like in His denial of
the existence of a supreme creator god, then how can we listen to Him with an
open mind and accept His teaching on Amida Buddha from the Larger Sutra? If Shakyamuni was wrong in only one thing, then how can we
know He wasn’t wrong when He taught about Amida and His Pure Land? We must
remember that Shakyamuni urged us to accept His teaching on Amida Buddha in
faith, and that it is the teaching most hardly to be accepted in faith, so how
can we do this, if we do not consider Shakyamuni to be infallible in His
wisdom?
Indeed, the entire Dharma of Shakyamuni Buddha must be 100%
true or is not true at all.
Unenlightened people (non-Buddhas) who call themselves
disciples of the Buddha, cannot pick and chose what they like and discard what
they don’t like from the Buddha’s teaching. All Buddhist doctrines are
inter-related, and if one adds an alien element, like the so called, “creator
god”, then the whole Buddhist system is unrecognizable. Karma and the teaching
on Buddha and Buddha-nature cannot co-exist with that of a supreme and eternal
creator god. Thus, before we entrust to Amida Buddha and aspire to be born in
His Pure Land, we must be true disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha and fully accept
His teachings and explanations on Samsara.
[1] This
question was sent to me by Paul Robert and the entire discussion can be read on
the True ShinBuddhism yahoo group, at
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/true_shin_buddhism/conversations/messages/7005
[2] The subject of eternalism as the existence
of a supreme creator god who is eternally abiding.
As always another excellent dharma message from our dear friend Josho Adrian Cirlea.
ReplyDeleteThank you once again
Gassho,
Dave Kruemcke
Greetings, Dave! Thank you for being my friend on the nembutsu Path!
ReplyDeleteNamo Amida Bu