Nobody has monopoly over Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and priest ordinations

Update - click here to read about 

the first ordination done at Amidaji!

No organization or branch has monopoly over the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teaching. There are already ten old branches of Jodo Shinshu since Shinran Shonin plus Amidaji which is the newest. There are probably other branches or groups (old and new) in Japan that I do not know about and also various organizations that they claim they represent Jodo Shinshu. I have no idea what they teach and how loyal they are to our Founder, Shinran Shonin and to the historical Buddha. When we at Amidaji say that we are orthodox Jodo Shinshu we do that by comparison with the nowadays decadent situation of the two Hongwanji branches (Nishi and Higashi) that allow the spreading of wrong views and the various priests and lay we know in Japan, USA, Europe, etc, but we can't pretend we are the only orthodox followers in the world! Even among the Hongwanji there are many orthodox followers although the leadership is very corrupt, indolent and not willing to oppose wrong views. 

Why I sometimes use harsh language against proponents of wrong views

Japanse temple guardian in fierce form

Some suggested that even if I speak the truth I should say it in a moderate way. However, in a world filled with so much ambiguity, relativity of values, secularism and various wrong views I think that strong voices are very much needed. There are many priests and religious organizations nowadays that nobody knows what they actually teach and stand for because their language is too polite and too pleasing with everybody. It is of course, not the case with myself as everybody knows in detail who I am and what I stand for. Being the founder of Amidaji I want some things to be extremely clear from the start so that there is no confusion among people who might intend to become members.

What I am against for is the grave karmic sin of slandering the Dharma. To say that a certain thing is good and virtuous when the Buddha Dharma says it is wrong and unvirtuous might not be a problem for many but for me, as a priest, is worse than killing all the beings in all the universes. To deny the Larger Sutra, the existence of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land, to deny the Buddhist morality, the teaching on rebirth and life after death which are the main elements denied by various fake Buddhists and modernists nowadays falls under this category. This is because if you kill one person you are merely destroying his body, but if you destroy the Dharma you are shutting the door to liberation for all sentient beings. It is like killing them and throwing them in the fire house of samsara again and again. This is the reason why slandering the Dharma makes one go to the deepest hell for many kalpas.

On why it is important to defend all aspects of the Buddha Dharma

Somebody asked me why I put so much energy in defending general Buddhist teachings when all that matters in our tradition is faith in Amida.

My strategy is simple. If we allow modernists to destroy only a little part of the Dharma they will grow confident and start destroying all the teachings of various Dharma gates. They are already doing that as they attack anything that does not conform with their atheistic or secularist ideologies. They attack for example the doctrine or rebirth and life after death as well as the teaching on the transcendent reality of Amida and His Pure Land. They also try to destroy the teachings on morality and family duties. They are like rats who enter a house from all parts.

The complexity of the reform we need

the altar of Amidaji temple

click here for the Spanish version of this article

Definition of reform: By reform I mean a return to the roots of our religion and a refusal of the so-called modernist or "progressive" ideas which deny our basic doctrines or redefine them to conform to the worldly ideologies and faithless minds of various times.

First and foremost we must stand up and counteract such horrible ideas supported by many deluded scholars nowadays which present Amida as a myth, symbol, fictional character, etc, or His Pure Land as not being a real enlightened place to be attained after death but something in our heads or"here and now". This is the greatest of all evils and we must fight against it with all our strength. I am already doing this in my book The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land as well as in the articles I wrote in the section dedicated to this topic.

Never say Amida Buddha is the same with the "god" of monotheists or with any other divine figure outside the Buddha Dharma

Amida Buddha image from
 Amidaji temple

You should NEVER, EVER, say Amida Buddha is the same with the god of monotheists or with any god and religious figure of a non-Buddhist religion! Don’t use words such as “entrust to Amida Buddha or God”, “be in harmony with Amida Buddha or God”, “communicate with Amida Buddha or God”, etc, like this would be the same! It is NOT the same! Religions are NOT the same, and NO religion outside Buddha Dharma can ever lead you to perfect Enlightenment. Having faith in Amida Buddha and having faith in god do not lead to the same result. Faith in any god, including the so-called “god” of monotheist religions will NEVER lead you to Enlightenment.  

Don’t be a politically correct Buddhist in these matters because you will do no good to your fellow practitioners or beginners, but lead them to more confusion. It is exactly because I wanted to clear away the confusion people make nowadays on this topic, that I wrote these articles (and many others!) which I ask you to READ CAREFULLY:

An example of the false teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh

 updated and revised on September 3, 2021

 

This is a striking example of false teaching and false teacher. No matter how popular he is among many ignorants, I say this again - this is false teaching and he is a false teacher!

You cannot be a Christian and a Buddhist in the same time for the simple reason that Christianity (and any monotheistic religion) promotes faith in a creator and supreme god. This idea of a creator and supreme god is denied by Shakyamuni Buddha. Please read the chapter “There is no supreme creator god in the Buddha Dharma” from my book The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land which is filled with quotes from the Baka Brahma sutra. Also read the entire first part of the same book.
Somebody who accepts the idea of a supreme creator god who is also judge of the world, as Christians do (their god is both creator and judge), does not understand the law of karma. The idea of somebody who created and rules everything is contrary to the Buddhist teachings on being, karma and rebirth. You cannot just practice Buddhism while following wrong views because if you do that you put yourself outside of Buddhist practice. Right views must always accompany right practice!

A question on shinjin (faith) and Amida's attainment of Buddhahood

Question:

"Amida attained Buddhahood for all of us when he became Enlightened. 'Shinjin' is simply the realisation of that fact with total conviction which in turn compels us to recite in thanksgiving "Namo Amidabutsu" ("Namo Amitofuo"). I wonder if it contradicts Jodo Shinshu".

Answer:

Shinjin (faith) is NOT only the realisation of the fact that Amida attained Buddhahood. Of course, Amida did attained Buddhahood in order to save us all, but this is not enough. All Buddhas attained Buddhahood and wish to save us, but this does not mean that sentient beings are saved just because Buddhas are Enlightened. We must follow the method prescribed  by each Buddha if we want to attain Enlightenment ourselves. So, Amida Buddha made His Primal Vow in which He said we should entrust to Him, say His Name in faith and wish to go to His Pure Land.

On the wrong view of regarding one's teacher as a manifestation of a Buddha or a Master

I have just found these words (see left photo), writen on September 21st, by a Dharma friend, member of Horai Association of Jodo Shinshu on another friend's Facebook page: "Zuiken Sensei was also known to be a manifestation of Kassapa Buddha in Japan". I decided to take a print screen and give some quick comments.

With all due respect for the good things Zuiken Sensei and his son, Zuio Inagaki Sensei, did for the Sangha, I publicly ask my Nembutsu friends to stop this idol worshipping attitude. No modern teacher should be placed on equal status with Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin, and nobody should be considered or treated as a manifestation of a Buddha. This is clearly NOT the Jodo Shinshu way of relating with a teacher. If we allow such idolizing of our priests and teachers, we open a very dangerous gate. Thus, everything a teacher sais or writes will not be checked anymore through the filter of reason and no more compared with what Shakyamuni, Shinran and Rennyo said, because..... that teacher is "the manifestation of a Buddha".....

Nobody is beyond criticism - an example of Rennyo criticizing a Hongwanji family member

Rennyo Shonin, the eight Monshu (Patriarch)
of Hongwanji 

"Rennyo's criticism of divergent views and beliefs reached into the interior of Hongwanji.  In particular, in a letter dated the ninth month of 1473 (Bunmei 5), he severely admonishes the laziness of 'a certain young person' who was holding himself out as a member of the 'first family of the Hongwanji in Kyoto'. The content of the letter indicates that this person was likely one of Rennyo's sons who had been assigned to a temple in Kaga. The young man would always declare to others,

'I understand about the settled mind (anjin). I recite the nembutsu often. Also, I have never performed anything like the miscelaneous practices, nor worshipped other Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. I am, in particular, a member of the first family of Kyoto. Everyday I eat whatever I want to eat and if then feel like sleeping, I can lie back and sleep whenever and for as long as I like. No one can ever complain. I am not especially concerned about the Buddha-Dharma. Besides, I can learn about it through listening to what others say about any temple matter. As for the benevolence of the Master Shinran, I only think about it from time to time.'

(Other Letters, in SSS, P. 157)

Amidaji is strictly a Jodo Shinshu temple - short discussion between me and Zuio Inagaki Sensei

I was recently asked by Rev Zuio Hisao Inagaki (June 22nd 2016):

"I wonder if your temple is purely Jodo Shinshu or Zen or combination of both. I am in favor of seeing a combination of both, or a new way of Buddhism".

This was my answer:

My temple is strictly Jodo Shinshu. I am strongly against any combination between Jodo Shinshu and Zen or Jodo Shinshu and anything else.

As Shinran or Rennyo did not make any combination, I myself will make none. We are ignorant, unenlightened beings and so we do not have the authority nor the wisdom to play with various Dharma gates  or create a "new way of Buddhism", as you say. I even think that this is very dangerous and leads people into confusion. We, as priests and teachers should try to be as simple as possible, so that even illiterate can understand the Call of Amida, and have a simple faith in Him. We live in times of great confusion in the international sangha with various clerics and scholars teaching many wrong views, like the "Pure Land is here and now" or "in our minds", or describing Amida as a metaphor, fictional character, etc, and this makes ordinary people to depart from true birth in the Pure Land. To add more to this big mountain of confusion, like mixing Jodo Shinshu with Zen, is something I will never do.

My goal is to escape Samsara as quickly as possible and to help others escape it as quickly as possible. Without the Primal Vow, there is no chance of doing this, and in the Primal Vow there is no mention of anything else than entrusting ourselves to Amida Buddha, say His Name in faith and wish to be born in His Pure Land. Thus, Amidaji is a temple which limits itself to the Primal Vow. 

***

Here is another short question and answer between me and Inagaki Sensei:

Does the Pure Land really exists?

Rights versus Dharma Responsability

- fragment from a letter to a priest who embraced wrong views -

  

Recently, a priest wrote to me:

"I have the right to my own views. What you do in your books and on your website is to judge others because you do not agree with them. This is outrageous".

My answer:

From the legal or juridical point of view, you have the right to do everything you want with Amida Dharma. This is because we are fortunate to live in countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed.  But from the moral and Buddhist point of view, you do not have the right to change Amida Dharma, and the reason for this is very simple -  you are not a Buddha. 

As a priest and teacher you do not have rights, but responsabilities toward the Amida Dharma and sentient beings who come in contact with it. This is not a matter of you and me agreeing with each other. The sangha is not a social club, but a place where we should be in harmony with the Dharma. Please bear this in mind.

Why do I call myself an orthodox priest

Before reading Dharma texts we raise them to the forehead.
This signifies the Dharma is supreme and above personal
views and opinions.

I was recently asked how I dare to consider myself an orthodox Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest and say that some other nowadays teachers/priests are mistaken...

My answer is that I do NOT dare anything in relation with Jodo Shinshu! On the contrary, I am very "frightened" when I think to Amida Dharma. Since I have become a priest and started to wear the kesa of Nembutsu faith I am constantly under a great fear. It is the fear that I can make a mistake and somehow misguide people with personal ideas. And it is because I have this fear that I stick to the words of the sutras and the Masters of our lineage.

Because I am stupid and they are all-wise, because I am nothing and they are supreme, because I am unenlightened while Shakyamuni who told the story of Amida Buddha was Enlightened. This is why I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower.

I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu priest because I am responsible and I know my place and limitations. Just like I do not dare to behave like a surgeon and operate people on open heart, I also do not dare to behave like a Buddha and change His Dharma. This unique Dharma (Amida Dharma) can save beings from birth and death only if it is followed as prescribed by the Buddha and the Masters, so I do not dare changing it.  

I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower and priest because I have abandoned any idea of personal authority over the Amida Dharma. It is because I humble myself at the feet of Shakyamuni and the Masters of our tradition, not teaching what they did not teach, and not transmitting to others what they did not transmit, that I call myself an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower. 

Pure Land as a state of consciousness or a real place?

Question: I was told that the Pure Land is a state of consciousness and not a real place with forms and manifestations. What do you think?

Answer:

States of consciousness do not exclude forms and manifestations. In fact, depending on the states of consciesness one dwells in, various forms appear. Thus, for unenlightened beings, samsaric bodies and realms come into existence as effects of their specific karmic obscurations. When one becomes a Buddha, transcendental manifestations arise (see the article on Three Bodies/Aspects of Amida Buddha) as the effect of Enlightenment and the wish to save all beings.

Compassion as the motivation for correcting wrong views

“What is 'Great Compassion'? Those who continue solely in the Nembutsu without any interruption will thereby be born without fail in the Land of Happiness at the end of life. If these people encourage each other and bring others to say the Name, they are all called "people who practice Great Compassion."

(Shinran Shonin, KGSS)

  

Amida Buddha loves all beings unconditionally, both those who entrust to Him, and those who spread wrong views about Him. We should know this, and also try our best to never hate those who slander the right Dharma, but continue to look to them as our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, because in fact, we are ALL karmically related. Even Maras, the celestial demons and their followers are our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. There was indeed a time, in one of the previous lives, when they cared about us and loved us as parents, friends or relatives. We should not forget this and strive to repay their benevolence by offering to them the gift of the true Dharma, and by coming after them after we are born in the Pure Land.

Dharma Discussions versus Debates

One cannot posses the Amida Dharma.

This is what those who try to accommodate it to

 their own opinions fail to understand.

Please, do not approach the Amida Dharma 

with a possessive mind, 

but with the humbleness of receiving the most 

precious medicine.

If people have different religious standards they cannot have a true Dharma discussion.

For me the words of the sutras and the Masters are supreme, the story told by Shakyamuni about Amida is the true Dharma, while for others the 'Dharma' is a continuous process of change and adaptation to their unenlightened minds, personal beliefs or opinions. So, what can we talk or debate about here? I accept the actual and literal existence of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land, while they think of them as metaphors, symbols or even compare Amida with a fictional character. It is like we live on different planets. What can we really discuss about? 

The truth is that unless one is ready to empty his cup of personal interpretations, there is no reason to talk with him or her about Amida Dharma. The karma of some fake followers is simply  not ripe for true listening as even when they read or hear the Dharma they listen only to the noise of their own minds. They have no devotion and treat the Dharma like property, not like the supreme medicine given by the Buddha. So what can we talk or debate about?

The "Western Mind" Excuse for Slandering the Amida Dharma

“Even if a great fire were to fill the universe of a thousand million worlds, you should pass through it to hear this sutra, to arouse joyful faith, to uphold and chant it, and to practice 

in accordance with its teachings”

Shakyamuni Buddha, Larger Sutra on Amida Buddha

Amida Buddha compasionately waiting for
deluded scholars to surrender their "western"
mind  to Him :)

I bet you all heard that slogan which is so much used in many American, European and even Asiatic temples and centers - "we must adapt Jodo Shinshu to the West" or to the "Western mind"..... Whenever I hear such statements, I'm like, "oh, no, not that nonsense again "....  So, I'll say it from the very start of this article. There is NO "Western mind" or "Asiatic mind" to which we must accomodate the Amida Dharma. There is only an opened mind and a closed mind; a mind of faith and a doubting mind. Some simply accept the teaching of Shakyamuni on Amida Buddha while others don't. This "western mind" idea is nothing but a delusion and a mental fabrication to hide the lack of faith (shinjin) and to justify the alteration and slander of Amida Dharma by those who fancy themselves as "progressive" or "modern" Buddhists.

I mean, come on guys, just read the story of Amida Buddha as told by Shakyamuni, read some of Rennyo's letters or a selection of Shinran's simple instructions in Tannisho or Mattosho. What is there so hard to understand? Or, perhaps.... the difficulty rests not with intelectual understanding, but with accepting those teachings and explanations in faith...

A Standard of Shinshu Faith (complete free online edition)

update - click for the audio version on my youtube channel (work in progress)

A Standard of Shinshu Faith by Dr Ryosetsu Fujiwara was first published in 1963 by the Buddhist Churches of America and it contains a digest of the Anjin Rondai - Topics for Discussions on Faith, which is the doctrinal standard of the Nishi Hongwanji branch of Jodo Shinshu school. As the author himself said in the first part of the book:

"For the better understanding of Shinshu and for the prevention of unorthodox faith, the Nishi Hongwanji selected a certain number of special topics for discussion of Doctrine and of Faith. The latter, including 30 topics, is called 'Anjin Rondai' or 'Topics for Discussion on Faith.' The original is not so easy to understand because of its classical terminology and expressions. So the writer has tried to sum up the main points of these topics and rearranged them with the hope that it would become a helpful guide for those voluntarily working for the spreading of Shinshu in the West".

As this book is now out of print, I thought that it is very important to  make it available online to readers, especially in our difficult times when so many divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teachings prevail in the international sangha.

My book - The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land

I am happy to share with you the free online edition of my book, The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.

This is a long term project which has begun a few years ago as a reaction to the appearance in the international sangha of some divergent views which threaten to destroy the chances of many people to listen to the genuine Amida Dharma. It is also a work in progress, and the reader can expect that I will come back again, sooner or later, with new editions and improvements.

Click here to order a printed copy:

Click here to order it in British pounds on Amazon.com/uk
Click here to order it in US Dollars on Amazon.com
Click here to order it CDN on Amazon Canada

Click here to order it on Amazon Australia 
Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon Germany
Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon Italy

Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon France
Click here to order it on Amazon Spain
Click here to order it in Japanese yen on Amazon Japan

Here are the links where you can download it for free:

 1) My personal drive on google

2) (Academia.edu)

3) (Scribd.com)

The audio version is now available on my youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lmsf6r5kn8&list=PL1TmuLHxJGTN8Vk7gD2wh0LmfV4hu-0fc
 

If you have difficulties in downloading it, please write to me at josho_adrian@yahoo.com, and I will send you a copy myself.

If you can afford, please consider a small donation to support me and my Dharma activities, and especialy the construction of Amidaji Temple (click here to see all articles and photos related with the temple).:

Namo Amida Butsu

A collection of passages on the true meaning of birth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha

Unfortunately, many people nowadays do not correctly understand the meaning of birth in thePure Land of Amida Buddha, and explain it in terms that are alien to our school, like  being “here and now”, or in our mind, etc, thus denying its actual existence as an Enlightened place and of birth there after death.

The collection of passages from the sacred texts that I am going to present to you in the posts bellow proves the falsity of such claims and helps us understand the true teaching on birth in the Pure Land. They do not recquire special explanations as they are not hard to understand.

To make the lecture easier to follow, I divided the passages in three categories:

1) Passages who show that birth in the Pure Land takes place after death

2) Passages who show that birth in the Pure Land takes place after death and it means the attainment of Nirvana (Enlightenment/Buddhahood), 

3) Passages who show the enlightened qualities of those born in the Pure Land of Amida, and which can’t be found in the “here and now”samsaric bodies and minds of unenlightened followers.

Please also refer to some of my articles on this topic:

- The safe enlightened realm of Amida Buddha

-The Pure Land in the teaching of Jodo Shinshu

- The two aspects of the Pure Land

- What part of our mind goes to the Pure Land?

This article is a fragment from my book,

The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.

Click here if you wish to order it or download it for free

1) Passages who show that birth in the Pure Land takes place after death

When their lives are about to end, Amida Buddha will appear before them with a host of sages. When they die, their minds will not fall into confusion and so they will be born in his land.”[1]

Shinran Shonin, quoted the Smaller Amida Sutra, in his Kyogyoshinsho

“It is like a wax seal impressed on the clay; as the wax seal is destroyed, the letter is formed. When one’s life ends, one is born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.”[2]

Master Tao-ch’o, An-le-chi (Anrakushu)

*

“If one wholeheartedly places faith in the Buddhist teachings and aspires to be born in the Pure Land, one is born there as soon as one’s life—whether short or long—ends. […]

I now urge you to turn to the Land of Utmost Bliss for refuge. If you dedicate all your practice toward it with sincerity of heart, you will be born there, without fail, after the end of your life.[3]

Master Tao-ch’o, An-le-chi (Anrakushu)