updated and revised August 21, 2020(this article is the 3rd part of The Four Profound Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward the Dharma)
“Not in the heaven, not in the middle of the ocean, not
in the mountain caves: there is no place in this world were you can hide from
the consequences of your deeds.”[1]
I
will divide this section in two: a) general teaching on karma and b) karma and
the salvation offered by Amida Buddha
a) General teaching on karma
Karma
is the law of cause and effect. The term “karma” comes from the Sanskrit word
“karman” which means action - acting with thought, deed and word. There are
three types of karma: 1) the karma of thought, 2) karma of speech and 3) karma
of action or body. All that we think, speak or do will affect our personal history.
What we are now is the result of what we thought, said or did in the past, in
another lifetime or in the present life; and what we think, speak and do in the
present will create us in the future. We are the result of our own
karma. The Buddha said:
"The
joys and sorrows of beings
All come
from their actions,
The
diversity of actions
Creates
the diversity of beings
And
impels their diverse wanderings.
Vast
indeed is this net of actions!"[2]
In the moment of death, our personal karma
determines the form and the vehicle, that is, the body which the mind-stream
will have in the next birth. Our desires need a vehicle to follow them and
fulfill them in another life. The environment where we are now, and where we'll
be born in another life or the form (body) we have and we'll have, depend on
the karma:
In the Sutra
of Instructions to the King, it is said:
"When
the moment comes to leave, O King,
Neither
possesions, friends nor family can follow.
But
wherever beings come from, wherever they go,
Their
actions follow them like their own shadow".[3]
The doctrine of karma teaches us that we are
completely responsible of what we are and of what we'll become. Nobody besides
us, be it a god, human or any other being, can be held responsible. We deserve
what happens to us, even if it is hard to accept that:
"Beings
are owners of karmas, heirs of karmas, they have karmas as their progenitor,
karmas as their kin, karmas as their homing-place. It is karmas that
differentiate beings according to inferiority and superiority".[4]
Also, in the Atthasalini commentary, by Buddhagosha, it is said:
"Depending
on the difference in karma, appears the
differences in the birth of beings, high and low, base and exalted, happy and
miserable. Depending on the difference in karma, appears the difference in the
individual features of beings as beautiful and ugly, high-born or low born,
well-built or deformed. Depending on the difference in karma, appears the
difference in worldly conditions of beings, such as gain and loss, and disgrace,
blame and praise, happiness and misery."[5]
By contemplating
deeply the teaching on karma we come to understand birth, life and death in
accordance with cause and effect. Everything that exists has a cause, and any
cause will have an effect. In every second of our lives we reap the fruits of
our thoughts, words and actions, and we plant new seeds by what we think, say
or do. This is the true way of looking at what happens to us and the world
arround. Trully, instead of "Mother Nature" we should say "Mother
Karma". We are born and reborn from our karma, that is, our own actions.
Even outside nature is a reflection of our collective karma. Our world, our
plane of existence as well as all other planes of existence arise from karma[6].
Not only that the teaching on karma explains
how things work in the world, why we are what we are, why we have this form
(body), but it also assures us of our free will. We are what we think (karma of
thinking), what we say (karma of speech) and what we do (karma of action or body)
and we can always change this karma and thus create a more peaceful and
pleasant way of life.
The karma can be positive, negative and
neutral. Actions, thoughts and words that generate positive karma lead to our
own happiness and the happiness of others. If the intention is to benefit
others, and we act, speak and think accordingly, then we create positive karma.
But if we are motivated by our minds poisons, we will automatically create
negative karma:
"I
declare, o monks, that volition (intention) is karma. Having willed one acts by
body, speech, and thought." [7]
Actions, thoughts and words which are not
motivated by harmfull or good intentions create neutral karma. However, because
such a neutral karma does not have a positive effect on ourselves and others it
is also considered non-virtuous, and so, the Buddhist disciples are encouraged
to focus themselves on creating positive karma only.
*
There
are many classifications of positive or negative actions in the Buddhist
teachings, like for example, the ten transgressions and their reverse - the ten
virtuous actions, the five gravest offenses[8],
the ten kinds of karmic actions that cause sentient beings to attain shortened
lives, etc. There are also various precepts to deter us from evil actions and
encourage us to do what is good, like the five precepts for lay people, the ten
main Bodhisattva precepts, the 227 precepts
for monks and 311 for nuns, etc.
The ten transgressions are: 1) to destroy
life, 2) to steal, 3) to practice sexual misconduct, 4) to lie, 5) to use harsh
words and language, 6) to speak ill of others, 7) idle talk, 8) greed, 9)
anger, 10) to support and spread wrong views.
A fully negative action has four parts. For
example, killing means to identify the being to be killed, having the intention
to kill, commiting the act of killing, and the resulting death of the victim.
If all these four parts are met, then we generate the complete negative karma
of killing. The same applies to stealing, commiting sexual misconduct, lying,
etc. If we only have the intention of killing someone, stealing, or practice
sexual misconduct with him or her, and we contemplate that in our mind but
don't carry on with the act, we still generate half of the negative karma
associated with that specific offense by fulfilling the two parts out of the
four above. Thus, our mind streams are already affected by contemplating and
enjoying the possibility of doing various harmful actions or by being happy
when we see others doing them. Mental problems of various kinds, or inner
disorders, can thus appear as the effect of such distorted thinking. Just ask
yourself, how many times did you wish the death of somebody, looked with greed
and envy to his possesions, or desired his wife or her husband? Also how many
times did you agree with and felt pleasure in your mind when you saw evil deeds
done by others, or even argue in their support? Only by doing that in your mind
you can be sure that you no longer possess the seeds of being born again in a
human or higher realm. How much more if you actually fulfilled the above
transgressions!
To
kill is extremely evil because all beings identify themselves with their
bodies, but to encourage others to kill, praise killing or being a cause for
killing[9]
is worse than that. If you do that you would cause not only your own downfall,
but of others, too. Encouraging or promoting killing influences the minds of
many who will further transmit the idea that killing is good, which might lead
to many deaths and the creation of hell on earth.
Shakyamuni Buddha said:
"All
tremble at violence;
Life is dear for
all.
Seeing other as being like yourself,
Do not kill or cause others to kill."[10]
He also said:
"A disciple of the Buddha shall not himself kill,
encourage others to kill, kill by expedient means, praise killing, rejoice at
witnessing killing, or kill through incantations or deviant mantras. He must
not create the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of killing, and shall not
intentionaly kill any living creature[11].
As a
Buddha’s disciple, he ought to nurture a mind of compassion and filial piety,
always devising expedient means to rescue and protect all beings".[12]
The World Honored One mentioned in the Suka Sutra ten kinds of karmic actions
that cause sentient beings to attain shortened lives and they are all related
with killing:
"There
are ten kinds of karmic actions that enable sentient beings to attain shortened
lives[13]
as retribution: first, is to personally do the killing of beings; second,
is to encourage others to enable killing;
third, is to praise killing's method[s];
fourth, is to see killing and accordingly rejoice; fifth, is, from evil
hatred thus, desire enabling of death and destruction; sixth, is, seeing the
resented destroyed already, the mind giving rise to joy; seventh, is to harm
others' fetus in the womb (abortion); eighth, is to teach others to
destroy and harm; ninth, is to build and erect 'heavenly' temples, for
slaughtering sentient beings as sacrificial 'offerings'; tenth, is to teach others to have war and
fight, to injure and kill each other. These are the ten karmic actions that
attain shortened lives as retribution."[14]
To eat meat, including the meat of animals that were not specifically killed
for you - although it is a lesser transgression than killing - maintains the
karma of killing because without a request or expectation from the public,
there would be no one to kill beings and offer their flesh for sale. But even if we don't eat meat, the vegetables
or the tea and cofee we drink were produced by killing many insects when
planting, taking care of the plants and harvesting them, so one can hardly find
any activity which does not involve in a smaller or larger way the harming of
other beings. Simply stated, there is no
being arround us, in this world or in other worlds, to whom we can say that we
have no karmic debts to pay. Contemplating on that and the above, we can
understand more deeply the urgency to escape samsara and attain Buddhahood for
our sake and others.
To
steal, which is defined as taking what was not given, is extremely grave too,
because beings have great attachements to their possesions, and sometimes to
take one's money or property might be the equivalent to killing him. Just
imagine you would steal the entire monthly income of a poor mother who has
three kids to feed. Those children can die from lack of medicine or food, and
the mother can get ill and die too, because of grief. Just like killing, the
effect of such an act can easily send one to rebirth in the lower realms.
Shakyamuni Buddha said:
"A disciple of the Buddha must not himself steal or
encourage others to steal, steal by expedient means, steal by means of
incantation or deviant mantras. He should not create the causes, conditions,
methods, or karma of stealing. No valuables or possesions, even those belonging
to ghosts and spirits or thieves and robbers, be they as small as a needle or
blade of grass, may be stolen. As a Buddha’s disciple, he ought to have a mind
of mercy, compassion, and filial piety – always helping people earn merits and
achieve happiness."[15]
The
sexual energy is extremely powerful, but if one does not keep it under control
or does not sublimate it, then it will constitute an immense obstacle against
liberation from samsara. There are many types of sexual misconduct mentioned in
the sutras and treatises of various Masters, like for example, not being
faithful to one's wife or husband[16],
having sex with another's partner, with those who are under age, with
non-humans, with someone of the same sex, with one's parents or blood
relatives, a nun or a monk who took the precept of abstinence, to have sex in
the wrong places (temples, outside of one's room), wrong time (during daytime),
in the wrong orifices (anus or mouth) which are not made for sexual intercourse[17],
sexual relations that are harmful, etc. Here are a few quotes on sexual
misconduct and its consequences, from Shakyamuni Buddha:
“If one
has sex at an inappropriate time or place, with someone who is not one’s wife,
or not a woman, one is guilty of sexual misconduct. [...]
If one
has sex with oneself or someone by the road, beside a pagoda or temple, or in
an assembly, one is guilty of sexual misconduct. If one has sex with someone
who, though under the protection of the king, or parents or brothers, has kept
a tryst or accepted one’s invitation or payment, one is guilty of sexual
misconduct. If one has sex beside a holy statue or painting, or a corpse, one
is guilty of sexual misconduct. One is guilty of sexual misconduct if,
while having sex with one’s wife, one thinks of her as another woman; or if,
while having sex with another’s wife, one thinks of her as one’s own wife. Sexual
misconduct can be grave or minor. If it is driven by strong afflictions[18],
it is grave; if it is driven by weak afflictions, it is minor.”[19]
Talking about wives who cheat on their
husbands, Shakyamuni Buddha said:
„With
hateful mind, cold and heartless,
Lusting
for others, despising her husband;
Such a
wife is called a slayer.
[...]
The
types of wives here called a slayer,
A thief,
and the wife like a tyrant,
These
kinds of wives, with the body’s breakup,
Will be
reborn deep in hell.”[20]
Also, Shakyamuni makes the following
statements with refference to homosexuality and paedophilia:
"Likewise,
endless varieties of punishments in a future life are described for the wrong
deed of sexual intercourse between two men.
The one
who commits misconduct with boys[21]
sees boys being swept away in the Acid River who cry out to him, and owing to
the suffering and pain born of his deep affection for them, plunges in after
them."[22]
Describing the neighbouring hells, Master
Genshin, the sixth Patriarch of our tradition, quotes from the Mindfulness of the Right Dharma Sutra (Saddharmasm
tyupasthana Sutra in Skr, Shobonenjogyo in Jpn) and
comes to
the Place of Much Suffering where “are
doomed to suffer such men as are guilty of sodomy. Here the victim, seeing the
man he lusted with, embraces him with a passion like a hot flame which
completely consumes his body. After he has died he comes to life again and runs
away in great terror but only to fall over a terrible precipice where he is
devoured by crows with flaming beaks and by foxes with mouths of flames”[23].
The third Bodhisattva precept related with
sexuality says:
"A disciple of the Buddha must not engage in
licentious acts or encourage others to do so. Indeed, he must not engage in
improper sexual conduct with anyone.
A Buddha’s disciple ought to have a mind of filial piety
– rescuing all sentient beings and instructing them in the Dharma of purity and
chastity. If instead, he lacks compassion and encourages others to engage in
sexual relations promiscuously, including with animals and even their mothers,
daughters, sisters, or other close relatives, he commits a Parajika (major)
offense."[24]
No matter if some modern people disagree, the
sutras, that is, Shakyamuni Buddha's own words, but also the words of many
Buddhist masters like for example Genshin (the 6th Patriarch of our school), are
very clear on what it means to engage in sexual misconduct and the karmic
results of such an act. As in all Dharma matters, what Buddha said weights more
than the opinions of unenlightened beings of various times.
To
lie, to use harsh words and language, to speak ill of others and engage in idle
talk are the four non-virtuous karma of speech. Among lying, the worst is to
lie about one's spiritual realisations, but any other lie creates delusion and
distrust among family, friends and other people. By using harsh words one can
hurt others almost like beating or killing them, while by speaking ill, friends,
families and even sanghas can be separated or slandered. Also by engaging in idle talk one spends his
energy in useless speech and gossip that wastes one's own and other's time.
Shakyamuni Buddha said:
"A
disciple of the Buddha must not himself use false words and speech, or
encourage others to lie, nor lie by expedient means. He should not involve
himself in the causes, conditions, methods, or karma of lying, saying that he
has seen what he he has not seen or vice-versa, or lying implicitly through
physical or mental means."[25]
"A
disciple of the Buddha shall not praise himself and speak ill of others, or
encourage others to do so. He must not create the causes, conditions, methods,
or karma of praising himself and disparaging others. As a disciple of the
Buddha, he should be willing to stand in for all sentient beings and endure
humiliation and slander – accepting blame and letting sentient beings have all
the glory. If instead, he displays his own virtues and conceals the good points
of others, thus causing them to suffer slander, he commits a Parajika (major) offense".[26]
To
be greedy or stingy makes one's experience - even from this life - to some
degree of the suffering of pretas (hungry ghosts) and is a cause for birth
there after death. The greedy person lives only for himself and suffers from a mental
hunger that is never satisfied.
Shakyamuni said:
"A disciple of the Buddha must not be stingy or
encourage others to be stingy. He should not create the causes, conditions,
methods, or karma of stinginess. As a Bodhisattva, whenever a destitute person
comes for help, he should give that person what he needs. If instead, out of
anger and resentment[27],
he denies all assistance – refusing to help with even a penny, a needle, a
blade of grass, even a single sentence or verse or a phrase of Dharma, but
instead scolds and abuses that person – he commits a Parajika (major) offense."[28]
It is also said that one moment of
powerful anger destroys the good ones that have been accumulated over many
years of serious practice. This can also lead to killing or hurting others, as
no one knows what one can be capable of when one plunges in deep anger.
Shakyamuni Buddha
said:
"A disciple of the Buddha shall not harbor anger or
encourage others to be angry. He should not create the causes, conditions,
methods, or karma of anger.
As a disciple of the Buddha, he ought to be compassionate
and filial, helping all sentient beings develop the good roots of
non-contention. If instead, he insults and abuses sentient beings, or even
transformation beings [such as deitis and spirits], with harsh words, hitting
them with his fists or feet, or attacking them with a knife or club – or
harbors grudges even when the victim confesses his mistakes and humbly seeks
forgiveness in a soft, conciliatory voice – the disciple commits a Parajika
(major) offense."[29]
"Do
not speak harshly to anyone. Those who are harshly spoken to might retaliate
against you. Angry words hurt other's feelings, even blows may overtake you in
return."[30]
To slander and abuse the Buddha
Dharma is the most evil deed because by destroying the Dharma one does
something worse than killing the bodies of beings - he actually takes away
their chances of freedom from all births and deaths. To slander and destroy the
Dharma is like killing all beings over and over again, ad infinitum.
Shakyamuni Buddha
said:
"A Buddha’s disciple shall not himself speak ill of
the Triple Jewel or encourage others to do so. He must not create the causes,
conditions, methods or karma of slander. If a disciple hears but a single word
of slander against the Buddha from externalists[31]
or evil beings, he experiences a pain similar to that of three hundred spears
piercing his heart. How then could he possibly slander the Triple Jewel
himself?
Hence, if a disciple lacks faith and filial piety towards
the Triple Jewel, and even assists evil persons or those of aberrant views to
slander the Triple Jewel, he commits a Parajika (major) offense."[32]
Master T'an-luan said:
“If one
says ‚ ‘there is no Buddha’, ‘there
is no Buddha Dharma’, ‘there is no Bodhisattva’ and ‘there is no Dharma for
Bodhisattvas’, such views held firmly in the mind by one’s own reasoning or by
listening to other’s teaching, are called, 'abusing the right Dharma.’”[33]
“He who
has committed the transgression of abusing the right Dharma will not
be able to attain birth in the Pure Land, even though he has
not committed any other evils. For what reason? The
Mahaprajnaparamita sutra[34]
says:
[…]
Those who have abused the right Dharma will also fall into the Great Avici
hell. When the period of one kalpa comes to an end, they will be sent to the
Great Avici hell of another world. In this way, such evildoers will
consecutively pass through a hundred thousand Great Avici hells.’
The
Buddha thus did not mention the time of their release from the Avici hell.
This is because the transgression of abusing the right Dharma is extremely
grave.
Further,
the right Dharma refers to the Buddha Dharma. Such ignorant persons have abused
it; therefore, it does not stand to reason that they should seek birth in a Buddha-land, does it?”[35]
*
Each
negative actions causes four types of karmic effects. These are: 1) the fully
ripened effect, 2) the effect simmilar to the cause, 3) the conditioning effect
and 4) the proliferating effect.
1) The fully ripened effect
To do any one of the above ten transgressions
while motivated by hate and cruelty causes one to be born in the hells, to do
any of them while motivated by desire, greed and attachement causes rebirth as
a preta (hungry spirit) and while motivated by ignorance leads to rebirth in
animal form. Also, virtuous actions stained by all the mind's poisons, with no
particular poison predominating cause birth in the human realm, virtuous
actions stained by jealousy and rivalry, by doing something good only to prove
one's superior qualities are causes to be born in the asura (demigods) realm,
and virtues stained by pride causes rebirth among the gods in the world of
desire.
If we do any of the ten transgressions for a
long and constant period of time, while motivated by a very strong intention,
like extreme desire, anger or ignorance, we end up in hells. If the intention
is not so strong and the period of doing any of the transgression is not long,
then we are reborn as pretas, and if its not so strong but is done continually,
for a long period of time, it causes rebirth in animal form.
2) The effect similar to the cause
When those who were born in one of the lower
realms, due to the fully ripened effect of their karma, are reborn again in
human form, they experience the effects similar to the cause. Also, even in the
lower realms there are various sufferings that come from particular causes.
The effects similar to the cause are of two
kinds: actions similar to the cause and experience similar to the cause.
The first means the inclination to do actions
that were the cause of the previous rebirth in one of the lower realms. For
example, if we killed, we still have the inclination to kill, if we stole, we
have the tendency to steal, if we practiced sexual misconduct, we continue to
feel attracted to such a behavior, etc. This explains why even from early
childhood some enjoy killing animals or insects, steal others belongings, or
feel the urge to do any of the ten transgressions. Innate tendencies usually
shows us what we used to do constantly in previous lives.
The experiences simmilar to the cause mean
that because we did one or many of the ten
transgressions in a previous life, we are now receiving some specific
misfortunes related to them. For example, if we killed in a past life, the present
life will be short or plagued by frequent or constant disease. Thus, some die
as infants due to their karma of killing, while others live sickly lives until
death.
If, in a previous life, we took what was not
given, we now experience poverty or we suffer from robbery and various
misfortunes which results in never having enough or losing what we gained with
hard work.
If we practiced sexual misconduct we will
experience unbalanced relationships with lots of fighting, arguing and various
other difficulties.
If we lied, we are now lied by others, we are
criticized, belittled, not taken seriously
or falsely accused.
If we used harsh words and language we are now
hit back with offensive and insulting words, and whatever we say will be a
cause for problems in our lives.
If we spoke ill of others and sowed the seeds
of discord we are now in difficulty to
get along with friends, associates or people with whom we try to have various
social or work relations. Also, our employees or people under our leadership do
not get along well, do not listen to what they are told, are argumentative and
recalcitrant, etc.
If we engaged in iddle talk, our words in this
life will carry no weight and we will not be believed when we speak the truth.
Also, we'll have difficulties when speaking in front of large crowds and we'll
lack self-confidence.
If we were greedy and full of avarice in a
past life we will continue to feel an unsatisfyed hunger for possesions and
we'll meet various adverse circumstaces that will cause us trouble in
fulfilling such desires.
If we were angry and wished harm on others we
will live in fear and suffer various harm many times in our present lives.
If we supported wrong views in a past life,
and after spending some time in the lower realms, we will continue to be influenced
by false beliefs and we'll be easily deceived in spiritual matters or disturbed
by various misconceptions.
3) The conditioning effect
Due to our former engagement in the ten
transgressions, we appear in bad environments and places. For example, if we
killed, we are born in places with mortal dangers. If we took what was not
given, we are born in places affected by famine, where crops are destroyed by
nature elements. If we engaged in sexual misconduct we are born in muddy,
repulsive or squalor places. Lying causes rebirth in places where we experience
mental panic and material insecurity. If we spoke ill of others and saw discord
we will be born in places that are difficult to cross due to wild landscape. If
we used harsh speech we are born in desolate places lacking vegetation and
exposed to the elements. If we engaged in iddle talk we are born in infertile
land with untimely and unpredictable seasons. If we were greedy we are born in inhospitable
lands with poor harvests and various adverse circumstances related with such
places. If we were angry and wished harm on others we are born in lands where
we experience constant fear and many adverse conditions. If we supported wrong
views we are born in bad places where we have no refuge and protectors.
4) The proliferating effect.
This reffers to the fact that whichever one of
the ten transgressions, or evil act, we did before, we have the tendency to
repeat it again and again. Thus, our evil deeds and the evil causes we plant
tend to multiply and diversify, makig us drowning even more in samsara.
b) Karma and the salvation offered
by Amida Buddha
The
reason I insisted on the above explanations and passages in the section a) - general
teaching on karma, is to help us realize the gravity of our daily thoughts,
actions and deeds. If a honest person contemplates the above, he would naturaly
feel overwhelmed by the realisation of his tendency to do evil. Indeed, how
many times did we wish the death of somebody or even killed various beings
(killing non-human beings like insects or animals is also an act that generates
evil karma) or look with envy at what one has? How many times we got angry, use
harsh language, practiced sexual misconduct, lied, or acted dominated by greed,
etc? Perhaps some of us even spread wrong views
that run contrary to the Dharma!
We must ask ourselves those questions and after
realizing our incapacity to lead a life of constant virtuous actions, we should
immediately take refuge in Amida
Buddha, say His Name in faith and wish to be born in His Pure Land after death.
We must
take refuge in Amida Buddha with the attitude of somebody who is about to die
now, in this very moment, without having any more time left, nor the power to
purify one's actions. Indeed, there is NO time for the
so called, "spritual evolution", and the consequences of our evil karma
will manifest without fail. If we already did some of the above ten
transgressions (who haven't done any of them in this life or former lives and
continue to do them?) it will be impossible for us, ordinary people, to purify
them by our own power while we are still living our busy lives in this samsaric
environment. We really have no guarantee that we can reach a moment in this
life, which may end anytime, when we'll have no attachements, blind passions
and delusions. The clock of impermanence is ticking, and the mind deposit of
heavy karma is already filled to the brim.
Apparently,
by saying that sentient beings cannot free themselves from birth and death by
their own power, it seems that Jodo Shinshu misinterprets or does not totally
accept the doctrine of karma. However, Jodo Shinshu accepts fully the teaching
of karma, just that it sheds light on a very important aspect that many usually
tend to forget.
Yes, generally speaking, we can change our
karma and thus decide to act in such and such a way, influencing our own
destiny, but do we really always act as we wish?
Suppose a person who drinks a lot since
childhood and has now 40 years of alcoholism, can he give up alcohol just like
that, by a simple act of will? Or someone who smokes since early childhood, can
he really give up smoking over night? We see from
experience that many smokers, alcoholics or drug abusers cannot give up their
bad habits so easily, some of them even ending their lives without being able
to stop their harmful behavior. How much more is the influence of the past
habitual karma!
This habitual past karma is not what we did in
a habitual manner in a single lifetime, but what we did and were concentrated
on in many lifetimes. If it is hard to put an end to the habitual karma of
smoking which lasts only for twenty or thirty years, how much harder or even
impossible would be to stop the various bad karmic tendencies of many
lifetimes! Also, as I explained at the proliferating effect of karma, we have
the automatic tendency to repeat again and again the evil acts we did before,
thus drowning even more in samsara.
So,
Jodo Shinshu doesn’t deny free will in changing karma, but it insists on the
truth that this will is so much weakened by the habitual karma of past lives
that it becomes almost incapable of really changing something.
When we have become accustomed for many eons
and long kalpas with living in ignorance, hate, greed, jealousy, attachments,
how could we not be influenced by this habitual evil karma also in this life
and how could we end all these perpetual miseries just by force of will? We all
know that a long time of drug abuse leads to dependency, a state in which the
personal will of change is extremely limited and one needs immediate help from
a specialist. But we took the drugs of
delusion for many lifetimes since the beginingless past!
Jodo Shinshu teaching and method doesn’t start
by staring at the ideal: we all have Buddha-nature and we can become Buddhas,
or at least do pure deeds and gain merits, but from the state of mind in which
we dwell in the present moment. Thus, entering
the Jodo Shinshu path is like saying: “Hello, I am Josho Adrian and I am an
alcoholic”. The Jodo Shinshu Buddhist doesn’t say: “Hello, I am Josho and I
have Buddha-nature”, but “Hello, my name is Josho and I am ignorant and full of
blind passions, incapable of healing myself (attain Nirvana/Buddhahood)”.
So, first in Jodo Shinshu we recognize our own
incapacities and then we accept the medicine, which is the Primal Vow of Amida
Buddha. We understand that we are so sick that we can no longer rely on
ourselves and we agree to apply the only treatment that works in dependency
cases like ourselves.
Someone who says, “I can become a Buddha in
this lifetime because my true nature is Buddhahood itself” is someone who “fails to understand the influence of good
and evil karma of past lives” and “that
every evil act done - even as slight as a particle on the tip of a strand of
rabbit’s fur or sheep’s wool - has its cause in past karma.”, as Shinran
said in the thirteenth chapter of Tannisho.
In the same way as someone who abused drugs
for many years thinks that he can give up immediately his dependency, and after
a few tries he ends up taking a super dose, also “a person may not wish to harm anyone and yet end up killing a hundred
or a thousand people”. This is the heavy influence of karma from past
lives. And this is exactly why we need Amida’s salvation.
This salvation, as promised in His Primal Vow,
doesn’t depend on our own will, which is influenced by our good or bad karma
from past lives, but it depends solely on Amida’s Power of curing our illnesses
and transforming us into Buddhas: “it
is by the inconceivable working of the Vow that we are saved”.[36]
By contemplating on the teaching of karma and
realizing our incapacity to always have pure thoughts, actions and words, we
decide to turn our minds toward Amida Dharma and take advantage of the
salvation Amida Buddha is offering to us, ordinary beings, who cannot escape
birth and death by ourselves[37].
If we do that, the roots of our karma are cut, and although we continue to
experience the results of past karma and to act as beings filled with illusions
and blind passions until the moment of our death, our karma cannot plant
further seeds into another life.
*
To
explain how Amida's salvation works in the field of cause and effect, we must also
understand the teaching on the transference of merit.
Usually, in the practices based on personal
power the practitioner “earns” virtues or merits which he transfers for his own
Enlightenment. But in the case of Other Power (Pure Land) way, the
transference of merits takes place from Amida Buddha to those who
entrust to Him (His Primal Vow). This transference of merit (eko) carries the
follower to the Pure Land where he attains Nirvana or perfect Enlightenment.
Shinran Shonin said in a hymn:
"When
sentient beings of this evil world of the five defilements
Entrust themselves to the selected Primal Vow,
Virtues indescribable, inexplicable, and inconceivable
Fill those practicers".[38]
Shinran explained the merit transference from
Amida to the practitioner as having two aspects:
1) the merit transference of going forth
(Oso-Eko) and
2) the merit transference of returning to this
world (Genso-Eko)
"When
I humbly contemplate the true essence of the Pure Land Way, I realize that
Amida’s merit transference has two aspects: one is the aspect of going forth,
and the other that of returning".[39]
The first refers to the fact that through
Amida's transference of merit we go to His Pure Land where we become Buddhas,
while the second one means that after we become Buddhas in the Pure Land
by sharing the same Enlightenment as Amida, we return to the various
samsaric realms and universes, to save all beings:
"Through
the benefit of the directing of virtue for going forth,
We enter the directing of virtue for returning to this world.
Through great love, which is Amida's directing of virtue for our going forth,
We attain great compassion, which is Amida's directing of virtue for our
return;
If not for the Buddha's directing of virtue,
How could we realize Enlightenment in the Pure Land?"[40]
Also
'merit transference' means that after we have been born in that land we awaken
great compassion, with which we turn toward and enter the cycle of birth and
death to teach and guide sentient beings. This is also called 'merit
transference.'”[41]
How do we receive the infinite and all
powerful merits of Amida Buddha? By entrusting ourselves to Him, saying His
Name in faith (Nembutsu) and wishing to be born in His Pure Land. These three
items, faith, the Nembutsu of faith (the true Nembutsu is the expression of
faith) and wish to be born in the Pure Land are what Amida Buddha asked us to
do in His Primal Vow. Simply stated, He said that if we want to escape the
endless cycle of samsara, we should have faith in Him, say His Name and aspire
to be born in His Pure Land:
"If,
when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings of the ten quarters who sincerely
entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and say my Name perhaps
even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain the supreme
Enlightenment."
Faith, nembutsu and wish (aspiration) to be
born are all three aspects of faith, because if we trully have faith in Amida,
then we automatically say His Name and wish to be born in His Enlightened
Realm.
To better understand the merit transference
from Amida Buddha to us, we can compare it with a blood transfusion, or an
organ transplant. When a sick person receives healthy blood or a healthy vital
organ he can continue to live, even if until then he was supposed to die. Thus,
the blood or the organ he received becomes part of his own body and will
function as if it has always been there.
In the same way, we who deserve to be born in
the lower realms if we are left at the mercy of our unenlightened karma,
by entrusting ourselves to Amida Buddha we receive His enlightened karmic
merits which imbues our mind stream and leads us securely to His Pure Land.
Even if we continue to have delusions and blind passions until we die and we
are actually born in the Pure Land, we become united with Amida Buddha from
this very life (we enter the stage of non-retrogression), as His own blood or
enlightened karma circulates now through our veins.
It is impossible for us, ordinary people to
enter the stage from which we do not retrogress from spiritual achievements,
but if we rely on Amida, we are assured of escaping samsara at the end of our
physical bodies.
Just imagine you want to reach by foot a
certain place situated at a distance of thousands of kilometers away. You may
think that if you are serious enough and you are persistent, you can reach the
destination, but are you sure that you are capable of enduring the hardships of
the road, the wild beasts, the winds, icy storms and tornadoes that will come
in your way? What if you get sick and die before finishing the journey? If you
rely on yourself, there will be no point in your journey when you could say for
certain that you are assured of safely reaching the destination. Now imagine
that somebody comes to you and offers himself to take you there on his plane. If
you accept, you just enter the plane and you will be taken to the destination
safely and in short time. The pilot is Amida Buddha, and the plane or vehicle
is His Primal Vow. Accepting to enter the plane is faith (shinjin) and the
Nembutsu of faith. Being on such a safe plane, with such a good pilot, means
that you are assured of reaching the destination, or in Dharma words, you are
assured of birth in the Pure Land and of subsequent attainment of Buddhahood
there.
Amida Buddha’s salvation takes place within
the law of cause of effect. Simply stated, He offers His help to you, and you
have two choices, you either accept it, or refuse it. This helping hand of
Amida and the fact that you accept it, is the cause, and the effect is that you
are saved and brought to safety by it, which means that you are assured of
birth in the Pure
Land
Unlike this world in
which we live now, the Pure Land is not the karmic result of our own actions
and thoughts, but the manifestation of Amida’s Perfect Enlightenment. We did
not create that place, we do not control it, and we cannot go there through our
own power. This is why we say Namo Amida Bu, which means “I entrust/I take
refuge in Amida Buddha”. By saying the Nembutsu of faith we are assured of
birth in the Pure
Land
*
Along
the path of personal power, repentance is a very important method of destroying the negative karma. However, true
repentance is not just a simple confession of mistakes, but a deep awareness
which penetrates one's body and mind. Thus, Master Shan-tao explained that
there are three types of genuine repentance:
"The
high grade of repentance is to shed blood from the pores of one’s body and also
to shed blood from one’s eyes.
The
middle grade of repentance is to shed hot sweat from the pores of one’s whole
body and also to shed blood from one’s eyes.
The low
grade of repentance is to feel feverish all over the body and also to shed
tears from one’s eyes".[42]
Answering the question whether repentance is
necessary in Pure Land Buddhism, Master Shan-tao says in the same book (Liturgy for Birth), that if the follower
has faith in the salvation offered by Amida Buddha he reaches the same result
as in the case of repentance:
"Even though one is unable to shed tears and blood,
one will get the same result described above if one thoroughly attains the true
faith (shinjin)".[43]
Shinran also said in the Hymns of the Pure Land Masters:
"Persons
who have thoroughly realized the true mind of shinjin (faith),
Because it is the diamondlike mind,
Are equal to those who accomplish
The three grades of repentance; thus Shan-tao teaches."[44]
and in Notes on the Inscription of
Sacred Scrolls:
"To
say Namo Amida Butsu is to repent all the karmic evil one has committed since
the beginningless past."[45]
In chapter III of his Kyogyoshinsho Shinran presents a very important dialogue[46].
Somebody asked how can the evil karma of the five grave offenses and the ten transgressions,
which would cause one to be born into the lower realms for many kalpas, is
annihilated by the nembutsu of faith, thus making one to be reborn in the Pure
Land? How this situation can be explained "in
the light of the law of karma according to which a heavier karma pulls one
down? Furthermore, from the beginningless past, sentient beings have been given
to acts of various defilements, and so they are tied to the three worlds. If,
as you say, they can attain liberation from the three worlds by mere
mindfulness of Amida Buddha with ten repetitions of His Name, what will become
of the bondage of karma?".[47]
The answer is wonderful:
"Suppose there is a room that has been dark for a
thousand years. If a light is cast into the room even for only a short while,
the room will instantly become bright. How could the darkness refuse to leave
because it has been there for a thousand years?"[48]
Darkness may seem deep and strong when we live
surrounded by it for many kalpas, but it disapears as if it never existed when
it meets the Light of Amida Buddha. We can compare the various evils and blind
passions among each other and say that some are heavier or darker than others, but
with what can we compare the Enlightenment and Light of Amida Buddha?
Also, if we speak in terms of weak versus
strong, some beings are more powerful than others, but who in this world is more
powerful than a Buddha? Even the most superior gods who live for eons cannot
compare themselves with a Buddha in wisdom, powers, purity and the capacity to
save all beings.
In order to escape the black hole of samsaric
existence, we need the infinitely powerful energy of Amida Buddha. Only that
can pull us out from the repeated births and deaths.
We cannot build anything equally powerful
through our own actions. Our repentance
is simply not enough to eliminate the evil karma of innumerable eons in which
we piled mountain after mountain of greed, anger and ignorance.
The karma which binds us to samsara is too
strong for people like us, filled with delusion and blind passions, but for
somebody who is already free from it, like Amida Buddha, nothing which belongs
to samsara has any power over Him or the salvation He offers:
"The ten repetitions of the Name are stronger than
the five grave offenses or the ten evil acts[49]
and so this 'stronger' karma prevails, enabling the evildoer to escape from the
three painful states of existence."[50]
Only a few repetitions of the Name of Amida
Buddha, and even one saying which is done by relying on Amida Buddha's Power to
save (the Nembutsu of faith), is able to destroy the roots of all our evil
karma since the beginingless past. And is not just because we say it, but because the
Name we say is the Name of Amida Buddha in which He manifested all His
enlightened karmic energy and virtues:
"The
ten repetitions of the Name arise from the unsurpassed faith by taking as object
the Name of Amida Tathagata of a glorious body of skillful means that comprises
immeasurable merits that are true and pure".[51]
Thus, if one entrusts oneself to Amida Buddha
and says His Name in faith, it is like putting a sumo wrestler on the same scale
with a feather. Which one is heavier and pulls the other one down? Trully, the
whole of samsara with all its worlds and universes, with the realms of various
beings, from hell dwellers up to the most powerful gods, weights less than a
feather in comparison with the Name of Amida Buddha.
By deeply understanding this, let our minds
turn towards Amida's Primal Vow and be grateful for His undiscriminative
Compassion:
"If
we had not encountered
Amida's directing of virtue for going forth and returning,
Our transmigration in birth-and-death would have no end;
What could we do then, sinking in this sea of pain? [...]
Casting
off the pain of birth-and-death since the beginningless past,
We are certain of attaining supreme Nirvana.
This is through Amida's directing of virtue for going forth and returning;
Our gratitude for the Buddha's benevolence is truly hard to fulfill".[52]
[2] The Sutra of a Hundred Actions as quoted in The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche (Boston:
Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998), page 118
[3] As quoted in The Words of My Perfect
Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche (Boston: Shambhala, Revised edition, 1998), page
119
[5] As quoted in The Buddha and His
Teachings by Venerable Narada Maha Thera, http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/BuddhaTeachings/page_18.html#_edn9
[6] See the chapter,
"Some Buddhist explanations on the origin and existence of the
universe" from my book, The True
Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land, Dharma Lion Publications, Craiova
[8] Shinran Shonin wrote about the five grave
offenses in his Kyogyoshinsho:
"There are two traditions concerning the five
grave offenses.
One is the five grave offenses of the three vehicles:
1) intentionally killing one's father; 2) intentionally killing one's mother;
3) intentionally killing an arhat; 4) disrupting the harmony of the sangha
through one's inverted views; and 5) maliciously causing blood to flow from the
body of the Buddha.
These acts are termed grave offenses because they go
against the field of benevolence and run athwart the field of merits. Those who
give themselves to these grave offenses, when they deteriorate in body and die,
unfailingly plunge into Avici ('uninterrupted') hell, where for one great kalpa
they undergo pain without interruption; hence, these offenses are termed 'acts
resulting in uninterrupted pain.'
The Abhidharmakosa lists five acts of uninterrupted pain similar to those
above. A verse states:
Violating one's mother or a nun of the stage of
nonlearning [equivalent to the karmic evil of killing one's mother]
Killing a bodhisattva who abides in meditation
[equivalent to the karmic evil of killing one's father]
Or a sage of the stage of learning or nonlearning
[equivalent to killing an arhat]
Destroying the cause of happiness in the sangha
[equivalent to the karmic evil of disrupting the sangha],
And smashing stupas [equivalent to causing blood to
flow from the body of the Buddha].
The second tradition is the five grave offenses of the
Mahayana. The Sutra Taught to Nigranthas states:
1) Destroying stupas, burning sutra repositories, or
plundering the belongings of the Three Treasures.
2) Speaking evil of the teaching of the three
vehicles, saying they are not the sacred teachings, obstructing and censuring
it, or attempting to hide and obscure it.
3) Beating those who have abandoned homelife, whether
they observe precepts, have not received precepts, or break precepts;
persecuting them, enumerating their faults, confining them, forcing them to
return to lay life, putting them to menial labor, exacting taxes from them, or
depriving them of life.
4) Killing one's father, harming one's mother, causing
blood to flow from the body of the Buddha, disrupting the harmony of the
sangha, or killing an arhat.
5) Speaking evil by saying there is no cause and
effect and constantly performing the ten transgressions throughout the long
night of ignorance.
The Ten Wheel Sutra states:
1) Killing a Pratyekabuddha out of evil intentions;
this is destroying life.
2) Violating a nun who has attained arhatship; this is
an act of lust.
3) Stealing or destroying what has been offered to the
Three Treasures; this is taking what has not been given one.
4) Disrupting the harmony of the sangha with inverted
views; this is speaking falsely."
[11] The mind is the key factor in all Bodhisattva precepts. “Killing by
expedient means”: refers to the means employed to facilitate the killing of a
sentient being, such as pointing out the whereabouts of a chiken to others,
cornering it, binding its feet, forcing its head onto the butcher block, etc.
[13] The shortened lives
mentioned here is the karmic effect in the present. The karmic effect after
death is rebirth in the lower realms of existence. However, sometimes is
possible that those who did the ten acts mentioned in the fragment above to
sincerely repent and change their behavior, save lives, etc, which may bring a
change in their karma. Also, if somebody asks why some criminals reach old age,
he must understand the fact that beside the present karma, they can benefit
from the influence of a good karma from past lives which has not been exhausted
yet. So, even if they reach over sixty they are tormented by various hidden
mental afflictions (including nightmares, fears, etc). I must also mention that what seems a long
life for us, it does not mean it was not actually shortened. Maybe a killer who
dies in his 70s should have lived for another 20 or 30 years more if he had not
done one of the ten kinds of karmic actions that cause sentient beings to
attain short lives.
[14] The Sūtra In Which The Buddha For The
Elder Śuka Spoke Of Karmic Retribution's Differences (Suka Sutra), passage translated at my request by Shen
Shi'an http://thedailyenlightenment.com
[16] Since the moment a man
and a woman are together all rules of behavior apply automatically, no mater
they are officially or religiously married. I mention that during the time of
Shakyamuni’s presence in human form there were no Buddhist ceremonies for
marriage, these being a modern invention.
[17] "What are
inappropriate body parts? The mouth, the anus [...]". Master Asvagosha as
quoted in The Great Treatise on the
Stages on the Path to Enlightenment, by Tsong-kha-pa, Snow Lion
Publications, Ithaca, New York, p. 220
[18] If it is driven by
distructive and negative emotions, exaggerated desires, anger, strong jealousy,
etc.
[22] Saddharma-smrtyupasthana
Sutra. Shantideva also quoted that passage from the Saddharma-smrtyupasthana Sutra in his work Śikṣāsamuccaya (Compendium of
Training or Compendium of Precepts).
[23] Genshin said he quoted
that passage in his Ojoyoshu from Mindfulness
of the Right Dharma Sutra (Saddharmasm tyupasthana Sutra in Skr,
Shobonenjogyo in Jpn). See, Ojoyoshu,
in The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, second series, volume VII,
1930, translated from Japanese by A.K. Reischauer, http://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.ro/2014/03/genshins-ojoyoshu-free-english-edition.html
[27] The Buddhist disciple becomes angry and loses his temper because the
other party keeps asking for help.
[33] Master T’an-luan Commentary on
Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the Pure Land (Ojoronchu),Kyoto, Nagata Bunshodo, 1998, p.199
[35] T’an-luan’s Commentary on
Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the Pure Land (Ojoronchu), a study and
translation by Hisao Inagaki, Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto, 1998, p.196-197
[37] However, Amida Dharma is not an instrument to
justify blind passions nor institutionalize them as normal behavior. Indeed, in
its saving activity Amida Buddha makes no distinction between virtuous and
non-virtuous people. But making no distinction, out of Great Compassion,
between them, it does not mean that it supports or encourages evil. Please do
not confuse being saved as you are with the idea that your actions are worthy
and good. Instead of praising or justifying your blind passions, be ashamed of
them and grateful to Amida’s helping hand.
[38] The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation
Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.406
[39] Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and
Enlightenment, translated by
Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto,
2003, p. 5
[40] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Dharma Ages (Shozomatsu Wasan)
in The Collected Works of Shinran,
Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.411
[41] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and
Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist
Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 98
[42] Quoted by Shinran in his Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata
Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto
[43] Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment,
translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p. 247
[44] The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation
Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.380
[46] This dialogue was taken
by Shinran from Commentary on
Vasubandhu's Discourse on the Pure Land by Master T'an-luan.
[47] Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment,
translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p. 162
[50] Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment,
translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,
Kyoto, 2003, p. 164
[52] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Dharma Ages (Shozomatsu Wasan) in The Collected
Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu
Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.410
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