“1. One’s faith is not sincere; at one time it exists and at another it does not;
2. One’s faith is not single-hearted, because it is not firm;
3. One’s faith is not constant, because it is mingled with other thoughts.”
Answer: Many
people might think they have shinjin but actually they don’t have. We can
easily confuse shinjin or faith in Amida Buddha with enthusiasm and Dharma
knowledge. Because our teaching is easy to study and understand if one
dedicates enough time, those who know many things and are enthusiasts about
Jodo Shinshu may appear to be people of shinjin. One can even write good books
or articles, translate many sacred texts and so he may seem to have shinjin (we had such examples in our own sangha, too!).
However, as trees are known by their fruits, sooner or later the signs of not
being established in faith will appear and that person will leave the Nembutsu
Path or feel the need to combine it with elements that do not belong to it,
like for example, many fake Jodo Shinshu followers combining Jodo Shinshu with Zen, and so on.
To be satisfied with the Primal Vow is to have faith; to not be satisfied with the Primal Vow means to not have faith.
So, those with a false shinjin (faith) may have moments or many
months of enthusiasm when it seems that they have faith – this is what it means
by “at one time it exists” then later “it does not” exist anymore from the
above passage because they start to not be so sure if they really entrust to
Amida or not. Thus, their faith is also not firm and is not constant because it
is mingled with thoughts of other practices – they crave to mix Nembutsu with
something else that was not mentioned in the Primal Vow.
Anybody who says that he has faith but later he abandons the
Nembutsu Path and the exclusive reliance on Amida has never had any faith in
the first place, but only enthusiasm combined in some cases with good
knowledge. True faith, once received, cannot be lost as Shinran said in one of
his letters:
"Concerning the nature of shinjin, I have learned from the Master of Kuang-ming temple (Master Shan-tao) that after true shinjin has become settled in us, even if Buddhas like Amida or Sakyamuni should fill the skies and proclaim that Sakyamuni's teaching and Amida's Primal Vow are false, we will not have even one moment of doubt. Thus I have spoken for long years."[1]
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