The indiscriminative salvation offered by Amida Buddha is NOT an encouragement to commit or justify evil

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Honen Shonin said: 

„There are those who say that the effort to avoid sin and improve oneself is making light of Amida’s Vow [...] But do not for a moment be misled by such misconceptions. Is there any place in any of the sutras where Amida encourages men to sin? Certainly not. Such things come from those who make no effort to get away from their own evil deeds, and who go on in their former sinful life. By such utterly unreasonable and false sayings, they would mislead ignorant men and women, urging them forward in the committing of sin and stirring up their evil passions within them. Now such persons are nothing less than a company of devil, and you ought to think of them as enemies to your reaching birth into the Pure Land of Bliss”.[1] 

Goodness or badness are NOT the cause of birth into the Pure Land

 

Click here to return to 

Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Some people were conversing about the future life, some saying that fish-eaters will be born in the Pure Land, others that they will not. Honen overhearing them said, ‘If it is a case of eating fish, cormorants would be born into the Pure Land; and if it is a case of not eating them, monkeys would be so born. But I am sure that whether a man eats fish or not, if he only calls upon the sacred Name, he will be born into the Pure Land.’”[1] 

Commentary:
There is a sentence in Tannisho which explains the reason for such useless discussions about eating or not eating meat in relation with birth in the Pure Land: 

“In truth, myself and others discuss only good and evil, leaving Amida’s benevolence out of consideration”.[2] 

On vegetarianism according to Mahayana sutras and Amida Buddha's indiscriminative salvation (video teaching)

 

 You can find more video teachings on the playlist DHARMA TALKS in my YouTube channel.

Useful articles related with this video teaching:

Words of Rennyo Shonin useful to meat eaters 

Shabkar org - extensivewebsite on Buddhism and vegetarianism 

The karmic situation ofbeings who have no aspiration for Enlightenment and Shakyamuni’s encouragement to do good in daily life and wish to be born in the Pure Land – commentary on sections 31 - 40 (PART II) of the Larger Sutra 

No self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers 

The meaning of “there are no precepts” 

Only the Buddha knows what is good and evil and we should humbly accept what He said

Question: In the Postscript of Tannisho it is said:

“In truth, myself and others discuss only good and evil, leaving Amida’s benevolence out of consideration. Among Master Shinran’s words were: ‘I know nothing at all of good or evil. For if I could know thoroughly, as Amida Tathagata knows, that an act was good, then I would know good. If I could know thoroughly, as the Tathagata knows, that an act was evil, then I would know evil. But with a foolish being full of blind passions, in this fleeting world-this burning house-all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity. The Nembutsu alone is true and real.’” It seems to me that you often spoke about good and evil, especially in your so-called “spiritual war” against various worldly ideologies. Aren’t you afraid that you leave “Amida’s benevolence out of consideration”?

My answer: No I am not afraid of this because I do not exclusively talk about good and evil, nor do I think that I am an expert of good and evil. When I speak about good and evil I do it NOT by relying on my own personal knowledge and wisdom but on the words and instructions of the Buddha. Thus. I am in harmony with “I know nothing at all of good or evil”, that is, I do NOT rely on my own personal ideas about good and evil and with “as the Tathagata knows” because I rely on the Tathagata’s (Buddha) own words in the sutras about what is good and evil. For example, when I speak about morality, I rely on the sutras taught by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, which is evident in my articles and books.

You don't need to change the Buddhist morality when you are saved as you are

Whenever there is something my ego does not like in the Buddhist morality (I can honestly say that I am an animal possessed of myriads of blind passions and attachments) I don't try to change the teaching to make it more agreeable, but humbly recognize that I am incapable to follow it, ask for apology and bow down gratefully to Amida Buddha for saving me as I am.

The Nembutsu of faith and gratitude is the only answer when comparing my limited capacities with the Buddhist precepts and the example of virtuous Masters of the past.

It is extremely important to never change anything from the Dharma, not even as small as a  particle of dust. The Dharma is perfect even if our ego doesn’t find it agreeable and there is already a way out of samsara especially made for such wretched people like us – the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, so we don’t need to change anything to be accepted. 

Some statements on family, couples and women

I state the following so that people in my Facebook list or readers of my website and books should know who I am as I have never been evasive in matters related to my convictions. If you find these convictions unbearable, you can delete me now from your contact list without any comment, as I do not want to hear any complaints later. There are many modern and progressive teachers out there in the Buddhist world where you can choose from.

When people ask me about family, couples or women related issues, they find that:

The karmic situation of beings who have no aspiration for Enlightenment and Shakyamuni’s encouragement to do good in daily life and wish to be born in the Pure Land – commentary on sections 31 - 40 (PART II) of the Larger Sutra

     

                          fragment from my commentary on the Larger Sutra

- this is a work in progress and under constant revision - 
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     2) Shakyamuni’s encouragements to do good in daily life and aspire for birth in the Pure Land for the attainment of Enlightenment

To counter the karmic effects of the evil acts described previously one has two options: to do good and/or to aspire to be born in the Pure Land. Even without having the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land, people can still do good and change their karmic situation for the better. Also, the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land and the non-discriminative salvation offered by Amida does not mean one should not try to have a good behavior towards others. As long as one is clearly aware that his/her salvation depends entirely on the Power of Amida Buddha and abandons any idea of transferring his pitiful merits towards birth in the Pure Land, his efforts to lead a decent life and do as much good as possible is not in contradiction with the Primal Vow. Thus, to try to lead a moral life and aspire for birth in the Pure Land can be followed in the same time by those who have faith in Amida.

No self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers

It must be very well understood that when I speak about trying to have a good behaviour towards others in our daily lives, I do not propose self improving programs for Jodo Shinshu followers, and do not say that we should do this or that good deed in order to be born in the Pure Land.

Birth in the Pure Land and, for example, my trying to not beat people when I become angered, or not to cheat my girlfriend when I meet with temptations has no connection with one another. I am saved exactly as I am, no matter if I am calm or I burst into anger, if I am a good partner or a bad partner, a drug addict, or anything else. The Jodo Shinshu teaching is very clear on this aspect: “No evil act can bring about karmic results, nor can any good act equal the nembutsu”.

But why not trying to abstain from all these when no matter if I succeed or not, I am still loved and accepted by Amida Buddha. Why not trying – to try is the key word. If I change something within me even for a second its ok, if I fail, its ok, too.

This is, I think, the meaning of “don’t make a linking to poison because you have the antidote” from Tannisho, or some letters written by Shinran, in which he speaks about not encouraging people to intentionally do evil. Shinran never said, “go and kill everybody because you are saved by Amida”. Jodo Shinshu teaching does not say “rape, kill, and torture people”.

Although it saves evil people, Jodo Shinshu is not an encouragement to do evil. A mother never encourages her children to do bad deeds, but even if they do all the evil things in the world, she still loves them and accepts them. This is the meaning of “no evil act can bring about karmic results, nor can any good act equal the nembutsu”.

 

Ryogemon - Profession of Faith (short explanation and commentary)

Ryogemon is the creed of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teaching, composed by Rennyo Shonin. In it we find all we need to know and accept in order to be born in the Pure Land of Amida. There are a few English versions of Ryogemon, but I prefer to use the one translated by Zuio Inagaki Sensei:

“Having abandoned the mind of self-power to perform various practices and miscellaneous acts, I have entrusted myself to Amida Tathagata with singleness of heart recognizing that He has resolved my crucial after-life problem once and for all.

I understand that at the moment such entrusting Faith arises in me, my deliverance from Samsara is settled with the assurance of birth in the Pure Land, and joyfully accept that recitation of the Nembutsu which follows is to express my indebtedness to Amida.

The meaning of “there are no precepts”

Question: “Why does Jodo Shinshu deny and discourage the observance of Buddhist precepts? Can I observe precepts and be a Shinshu follower? Why it is said in Jodo Shinshu that “there are no precepts”? 

Answer: In Jodo Shinshu we do not deny nor discourage anybody to try to observe precepts. We are not against precepts; we do not say that followers of this school should not try to observe precepts or lead a moral life. What we say is that we should not think that trying to observe precepts creates personal merits that can be used to have more chances to be born in the Pure Land. We are born in the Pure Land and become Buddhas only due to Amida’s Power, not to our own efforts in observing precepts or in doing such and such practices.

My advice is this: as a voluntary choice and not a requirement for birth in the Pure Land, try your best to live a moral life, which can include not to hurt anybody directly or indirectly, don’t steal, don’t engage in sexual misconduct, don’t make abortions, don’t lie, don’t drink intoxicants, don’t eat meat, etc., but never relate this to your attainment of Buddhahood which comes only through Amida Buddha’s Other Power. Your success or lack of success in voluntarily observing precepts has no connection with your Enlightenment, so be relaxed in this matter. This is the difference between Jodo Shinshu and other Buddhist schools. 

What a Jodo Shinshu follower does is to delete once and for all the words “personal merit” or “personal virtue” from his Buddhist vocabulary. These concepts may have some significance in other schools but in Jodo Shinshu they have no significance at all. 

Words of Rennyo useful for meat eaters

Here is a passage from one of Rennyo Shonin’s letters which is very useful for those of you who are incapable of abstaining from meat or who work in jobs that are directly or indirectly related with killing sentient beings:

“First, realizing the settled mind in our tradition does not mean that we put a stop to our mind’s evil or to the rising of delusions and attachments. Simply carry on your trade or position of service, hunt and fish. For when we realize deeply that Amida Tathagata ‘s Primal Vow promises to save such worthless beings as ourselves, confused morning and evening by evil karma when we single heartedly rely on the Compassionate Vow of the one Buddha Amida, and when sincere faith is awakened in us with the realization that Amida saves us – then, without fail, we partake of the Tathagata’s saving work. “

AGAIN ON JODO SHINSHU ETHICS

Rev. Masanobu Nishiaki wrote in his article “Lifestyle of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist” about the relation between ethics and Jodo Shinshu:

“Please imagine a chest that has four drawers. In the first drawer you put in your Onenju and Seiten Book, the second drawer – letters and stationery, the third drawer - clothes and the fourth drawer you put in your laundry. As long as you keep this in order and put things separately you will have no problems. However, if you do not care about the order and put things in here and there, then the inside your chest there will be chaos and you will have problems. This can apply to Jodo Shinshu too!

The first drawer in Jodo Shinshu is the act of listening. It is the effort one puts in to listening to the teaching. This is the essence of Shinshu teaching. Without listening, we will never get an understanding of Jodo Shinshu. Also, listening once is not good enough, we must listening to the teaching over and over. The second drawer of Jodo Shinshu would contain shinjin.Shinjin is not something you create within yourself; you receive it from Amida Buddha. This means to fully understand the working of Amida Buddha’s Wisdom and Compassion, which is already helping us regardless of the kind of person we are. Simply accepting Amida’s Wisdom and Compasion is essential in Shinshu. The third drawer is the nembutsu. The nembutsu is showing our gratitude to the Buddha. The fourth point is daily life. As long as we are living in this society, we have to follow its rules. Morality, ethics and common sense – these are important factors to living in our society. We cannot mix these drawers. If we mix these up, we will misunderstand the Jodo Shinshu teaching. The most common mistake is mixing the second and fourth drawers, shinjin and daily life. How does this happen?

In the process of receiving shinjin or awakening to shinjin, we may think, ‘No matter what we do, Amida Buddha will help us and we will be reborn in the Pure Land as we are. That being the case, then what is the point of behaving properly.’ By thinking this way, we are mixing up the two drawers. We should not take Amida Buddha's’Wisdom and Compassion for granted...

If we keep mixing the drawers, Jodo Shinshu will be an excuse for our laziness…Do not mix up the drawers. Do not use the teaching (shinjin and nembutsu) as a tool to rationalize our egocentric actions.”