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After hearing the
Primal Vow you should have no doubt, think that the Primal Vow is reliable and
that Amida Buddha will keep His promise and take you to His Pure Land if you
entrust yourself to Him, say His Name and wish to go there.
Shinran Shonin said:
"Shinjin
(faith) is hearing the Vow of the Tathagata and being free of doubt".[1]
"'Entrusting'
is to be free of doubt, believing deeply and without any double-mindedness that
the Tathagata's Primal Vow is true and real."[2]
"Hearing
the inconceivable selected Primal Vow and the holy Name of supreme wisdom
without a single doubt is called true and real shinjin; it is also called the
diamondlike mind".[3]
"'Entrusting'
is to be free of doubt, believing deeply and without any double-mindedness that
the Tathagata's Primal Vow is true and real."[4]
"The
Great Sage Sakyamuni teaches
That Amida's land is easy to reach,
And calls the sentient being who doubts the Pure Land path
A person lacking eyes, or lacking ears".[5]
That Amida's land is easy to reach,
And calls the sentient being who doubts the Pure Land path
A person lacking eyes, or lacking ears".[5]
"Each
of you should realize that you are certain to attain birth in the Pure
Land."[6]
"Concerning
entrusting:
One becomes sure of the attainment of Birth. This mind, being deep trust, is like diamond."[7]
One becomes sure of the attainment of Birth. This mind, being deep trust, is like diamond."[7]
Rennyo Shonin said:
„However well you may study
the scriptures, it is useless if you are not firmly settled in the Faith of
Other-Power. If your faith in Amida with the belief that your birth in the Pure
Land is settled continues without confusion until death, you will certainly
attain Birth.’"[8]
Honen Shonin said:
"The removal of doubt is called faith.
Whatever you may see, whatever you may hear, if you believe that birth in the Pure Land is
a certainty, you will never think that birth in the Pure Land
To have no doubt, also
means that you abandoned forever the any idea of relying on your sel-power in
the matter of birth in the Pure Land:
„People
who say the Name in self-power
All fail to entrust themselves to the Tathagata's Primal Vow”[10]
All fail to entrust themselves to the Tathagata's Primal Vow”[10]
"Faith
is the heart and mind without doubt; [...] To be free of self-power, having
entrusted oneself to the Other Power of the Primal Vow - this is faith
alone."[11]
Shinran Shonin
admonishes us against doubting Amida’s salvation:
„There
is no cause for endlessly turning in transmigration
Greater than the hindrance of doubt".[12]
Greater than the hindrance of doubt".[12]
"'Know
that because of doubt one remains in the house of birth-and-death'[13]:
When one doubts the inconceivable karmic power of the great Vow, one remains in
the six courses, the four manners of arising, the twenty-five forms of
existence, and the twelve kinds of arising. We are to realize that up to now we
have been wandering for aeons in such a realm of illusion."[14]
[1] Shinran Shonin, Notes on Once-calling and Many-calling, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo
Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.474
[2] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls, The Collected Works
of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.493
[3] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the Essentials of Faith Alone, The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.454-455
[4] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls, The Collected Works
of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.493
[5] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Pure Land (Jodo Wasan), The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.350
[6] Shinran Shonin, Lamp for the Latter-Ages, letter 20, The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.552
[7] Shinran Shonin, Gutoku's Notes, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism
Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.612
[8] Thus I Have Heard from Rennyo Shonin (Rennyo Shonin ‘s Goichidaiki
Kikigaki), translated by Hisao
Inagaki, Dharma Lion Publications, Craiova, 2008, p.19-20
[9] Honen Shonin, An Outline of the Doctrine for Birth in the Pure Land, The Promise of Amida Buddha - Honen's Path
to Bliss; English translation of the Genko edition of the works of Honen
Shonin - Collected Teachings of Kurodani
Shonin: The Japanese Anthology (Wago Toroku), translated by Joji Atone and
Yoko Hayashi, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2011, p.116-117
[10] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the
Dharma Ages, The Collected
Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu
Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p. 413-417
[11] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the Essentials of Faith Alone, The Collected Works of
Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p. 451
[12] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Pure Land Masters (Koso Wasan), The Collected Works
of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha,
Kyoto, 1997, p.389
[13] „Know that because of doubt one remains in the house of
birth-and-death” is a passage from Honen's The
Passages on the Nembutsu Selected in the Primal Vow, which Shinran explains
in the quote above.
[14] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the
Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin
Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.513
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