AMIDA DHARMA - Fasicle 5. The eight elements of faith

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1.Faith (shinjin) in Amida Buddha, the saying of His Name (Namo Amida Bu) and the wish to be born in His Pure Land after death, are the three important things Amida Buddha asks from us. All this three elements are in fact manifestations of faith (shinjin) because the follower who has faith in Amida will certainly say His Name and desire to be with Him in His Pure Land. So, the saying of the Name and the wish to be born there are expressions of faith. Only a person who has true faith in Amida Buddha will say the Name in an authentic way and wish to be born in His Pure Land.

2. When one has faith (shinjin), one is convinced that Amida Buddha and His Pure Land exist, and that the Promise He made in His Primal Vow is true, so one simply entrusts to this Buddha and wishes to go to His Pure Land after death. Saying Namo Amida Bu (Nembutsu) often or seldom means exactly this – “I entrust to Amida Buddha/I take refuge in Amida Buddha and I wish to go to His Pure Land”. It also means, “Homage to Amida Buddha” and “Thank you Amida Buddha for saving me as I am”.

3. Faith in Amida Buddha is not a special state of mind, nor something complicated that we must develop inside ourselves, but a simple trust in Amida, that is, to accept as true the promise He made in His Primal Vow where He said that those who entrust to Him, say His Name in faith and wish to be born in His Pure Land will go there. In the same way that we trust a mechanic to fix our car or a carpenter to build our fence because we don’t know how to do it, we trust Amida to take us to His Pure Land where we attain perfect Enlightenment because we cannot go there by ourselves.

4.In the exact moment we entrust to Amida Buddha we enter the stage of non-retrogression, that is, no matter what happens to us we are assured of birth in the Pure Land. Just like all rivers flow to the ocean, all beings who entrust to Amida will inevitably be born in His Pure Land after death. Once we put our faith in Amida, nothing constitutes an obstacle for our birth there, not even our evil karma. This is why this stage is called, non-retrogression.

5. To explain it in detail, we can say that faith in Amida Buddha has eight elements (aspects):

-          To accept the actual, literal existence of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land

-          To accept the story of Amida  Buddha as told by Shakyamuni Buddha in the Larger Sutra (and as it is explained in this book)

-          To wish to be born in the Pure Land for the attainment of perfect Enlightenment

-          To have the twofold profound conviction, which means to know that you are a person of deep karmic limitations, incapable of attaining Buddhahood through your own power, and that  only Amida Buddha can save you through His Vow Power, without asking anything from you.

-          To accept the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha without any doubt and be sure of your birth in the Pure Land

-          To accept that birth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha takes place after death

-          To say the Name of Amida Buddha

-          To not mix Nembutsu and devotion towards Amida Buddha with other faiths and practices from inside or outside the Buddha Dharma

The eight elements are part of the mind/heart of faith (shinjin). They come naturally to a person of faith. Anything else, like having a calm, focused and undistracted mind in your daily life, being a virtuous or non-virtuous person, having special or mystical experiences is irrelevant and not important in relation with faith in Amida Buddha.

6. Without accepting the actual, literal existence of Amida Buddha there can be no true faith, no true salvation and no real birth in His Pure Land. If we have faith in someone, then it means we are sure beyond any doubt that he is reliable and that he will keep his promise. Also, to believe in someone’s promise means that we accept his existence, too. Promises can be made by living persons, in our case by a living, existing Amida Buddha, not by material objects or fictional characters. Thus, we must accept Amida as a living Buddha who can hear, see and save us by taking us to His Pure Land after death.

7.Amida Buddha is always with us, seeing us, hearing us. This is not  a metaphor, but the truth. Amida Buddha is in three places at the same time: 1) in His Buddha nature, 2) in His Pure Land in transcendent form, and 3) everywhere in the universe where there are beings that need to be saved. Everywhere we go, Amida Buddha is accompanying us.  Even if we don't actually see Amida Buddha's manifestations with our unenlightened eyes (although visions can happen), it does not mean Amida is not there with us, embracing us with His blessed Light.

8.The Pure Land is a real, enlightened place where we'll actually be reborn after the death of this physical body. Amida Buddha wishes to save us all, but He doesn’t take us to His Pure Land by force, so if we do not wish to go there or we do not accept the existence of that enlightened realm or the existence of Amida, then we’ll not go there. Nobody can go to a place which he thinks doesn’t exist and nobody can be saved by someone who is considered an imaginary person. We must reflect on this and accept the existence of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.

9.The Larger Sutra explains in our human language the apparition of Amida and His Pure Land in terms of cause and effect and cannot be denied, especially because Shakyamuni's main reason for coming to this world was to teach this sutra

10.In the Larger Sutra we acknowledge the testimony of Ananda and all those gathered on Vulture Peak to hear this sutra and who literally saw Amida Buddha and His Pure Land in a vision, thus attesting of their existence. Shakyamuni Buddha said that we must accept this sutra in faith, so we should do this, and not criticize or change it according to our likes or dislikes

11.Even if we did not read the Larger Sutra but hear the teaching from somebody and accept the existence of Amida Buddha, entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to go to His Pure Land when we die, then we automatically accept the sutra, because its main intention is exactly to teach the existence of Amida and His Pure Land, as well as His method of salvation - faith, Nembutsu of faith (saying of His Name) and wish to be born there.

12.The goal of Buddhism is to become a Buddha. Not to paint this life in different colors, not to become a smart or interesting kind of Buddhist, but to become a Buddha.The Buddhist path is not a method of relaxation or a tablet for headache, something like “how can we become happier and calmer people” or a recipe for momentary happiness, but a road to Buddhahood or complete Freedom for us and all beings.

13.It is of utmost importance for those who enter the Buddhist path to have the aspiration to become a Buddha. Without this aspiration there is no Buddhism. If we don’t want or don’t feel the urgency of complete freedom from the many sufferings of repeated births and deaths, then Buddhism will remain for us only an object of study, an interesting lecture of mythology or an intellectual delight.

14. We must understand that we go to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha in order to become Buddhas ourselves, so we should not confuse the Pure Land with some kind of heavenly realm where we enjoy riches and sensual pleasures.

15.There is no greater treasure than the attainment of freedom from the repeated births and deaths. No riches or samsaric pleasures can compare with it.

16. Faith in Amida Buddha means a twofold profound conviction: to know that we are people of deep karmic limitations, incapable of attaning Buddhahood through our own power and that only Amida Buddha can save us through His Vow Power without asking anything from us. Thus, you must take refuge in Amida Buddha with the attitude of somebody who is about to die now, in this very moment, without a single second left and without the power to purify your own actions and negative karma.

17.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 there’s 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 in the case of someone who smokes since early childhood, can he really give up smoking over night?

18. 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 powerful is the influence of 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 it be to stop the various bad karmic tendencies of many lifetimes!

19. Amida Dharma 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.

20. When we have became 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 to change is extremely limited and one needs immediate help from a specialist. We must consider that we have taken the drugs of delusion for many lifetimes since the beginingless past!

21.On the Nembutsu Path we start by recognizing our own incapacities and then we accept the medicine, which is the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. We recognize that we are so sick that we can no longer rely on ourselves and we agree to apply the only medicine that works in dependency cases like ours.

22.The cause of our attainment of birth in the Pure Land is Amida Buddha. Because we are carried by the karmic Power of Amida we can reach His Pure Land. If the Pure Land was the effect of our own karma, then we could naturaly go there whenever we wish, but because it is Amida’s Enlightened realm, we can reach it only through Amida’s Power. This is why we should give up the idea of “deserving” to be born in the Pure Land. Our so-called "good karma" has nothing in common with the Pure Land. It is extremely important to understand that the bridge to the Pure Land comes from the Pure Land, and it is Amida’s creation (manifestation). We simply cannot create something in our samsaric and unenlightened mind that can bring us to the Pure Land of Enlightenment. So, let us relax and let Amida do His saving work on us, carrying us there when we die.

23. 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.

24. To have no doubt, also means that you have abandoned forever any idea of relying on your self power in the matter of birth in the Pure Land

25. Birth in the Pure Land through the Gate of the Primal Vow means the attainment of Buddhahood and acquiring the special transcendental qualities of the Enlightened Ones, which cannot be found in our present samsaric minds and bodies. This is why we must leave this unenlightened environment, which is itself the effect of our collective karma, delusions and sins, and be reborn in the enlightened and safe environment of Amida Buddha where there is no obstacle for attaining Emancipation.

26.The genuine saying of Amida's Name comes naturally after entrusting to Him. Thus, the Nembutsu is both an expression of faith and gratitude due to the fact you are saved as you are by Amida Buddha.

27.One who is sincerely in love will say “I love you” often or seldom, and wish to be with the person he loves. Similarly, a person who sincerely entrusts to Amida Buddha will express this faith by saying His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land. How often or seldom one says "I love you" to the person one loves is of no importance, as long as love is there, in one’s heart. In the same way, any number of Nembutsu is equally good as long as genuine faith in Amida Buddha is present. We should not be obsessed with the numbers of recitations, but simply entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha for our birth in His Enlightened Realm, and enjoy the Nembutsu in a relaxed way.

28.The Name of Amida can be said in any circumstance, time and place, whether sitting or standing, lying down, walking or doing any activity – there is no inadequate situation for saying the Name.

29. The Name of Amida can be said with an ordinary, impure and agitated mind as ours and this will not affect in anyway the salvation offered by Him.

30.A person of genuine faith will not trust, nor rely on the so-called "god" of the monotheists or any other gods or spirits of various religions. 

31. Also as devotees of Amida’s Primal Vow we will never mix Nembutsu with other practices from inside or outside the Buddha Dharma, but focus exclusively on Amida Buddha and His Name

32. All we need to do for our attainment of Buddhahood in the Pure Land is mentioned in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha: to say the Name in faith and wish to be born there. Nothing else. No meditation practices, nor this or that special virtue are mentioned in the Primal Vow;  just entrust yourself to Amida, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land.

Now please, pay attention: to say the Name of Amida, and not of other Buddhas or religious figures outside Buddhism, to have faith in Amida and wish to be born in His Pure Land, not in the land of other Buddhas. This is extremely important.

33.Among all the pure lands in the ten directions we chose to go in the Pure Land of Amida, and from among all the Buddhas in the ten directions we chose to entrust to and say the Name of Amida only. This is not because other Buddhas are not worthy of devotion and respect, or that other Buddhist practices are not good in themselves; It is just because other Buddhas do not have vows for making evil people like us be born so easily in their Pure Lands, and because only Amida made the Vow to do so

34.In our everyday life, depending on the result we wish to achieve, we must follow specific instructions. If for example, we want to go from A to B we follow the course from A to B, not the course from A to C. In the same way, if we want to reach the Pure Land of Amida, then we follow exclusively the indications mentioned in His Primal Vow: faith (shinjin), Nembutsu (saying of the Name) and the wish to be born there, which are all expressions of faith

35. For us, ordinary unenlightened people, it is extremely important to be concentrated on one thing only and not let ourselves be distracted by many practices belonging to different teachings and even different Dharma gates.

Focus is a key point in our religious life. Only when we reach Buddhahood we’ll be able to play as we like with all methods, but until then we must stay humble and let go of everything that is not related with the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha.

36. Although it might be hard for some who are still attached to the previous practices they performed before they encountered Amida Dharma, they must understand that if they want to truly follow this Path it is neccesary to be in agreement with the requirements of the Primal Vow and abandon all elements that are not in accordance with it. If we do that, we please Amida and all Buddhas, including Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. This is because all Buddhas praise the Name of Amida and encourage beings to say it and be concentrated on it, wishing to be born in that specific land. If they do otherwise, even if they think that by doing that they please as many Buddhas as possible, they, in fact, scatter their minds in many directions and fail to observe the intentions of all the Awakened Ones.

37. Amida himself promised in His 17th Vow that His Name will be praised by all Buddhas, which means that all Buddhas will encourage beings to say it in faith and will act as witnesses to this method of salvation offered by Amida Buddha. Because of this, the followers who say Amida’s Name in faith are both the disciples of Amida and all Buddhas.