I don't miss meditation since I met the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha

Question: Do you ever feel like anything is "missing" for you without regular meditation?

My answer: I really do not feel something is missing. For an ordinary person meditation is useless anyway because no one can attain Enlightenment through it in this last Dharma age. More than this, meditation can even be a distraction from the Primal Vow. If Amida wanted us to practice meditation and considered meditation to be helpful to us, then He would have included it in His Primal Vow, which He didn't. As Honen said, Amida chose only His Name from the myriad practices. Why? Because this Name is supreme and all-powerful, and will take us quickly to freedom from birth and death.

Nembutsu does not work because of us

 - fragment from a letter to a friend - 

When you say the Name of Amida, do not think this saying (nembutsu) works because of you, like the often you do it or the more concentrated you are when you say it, the better it is. The Name has nothing to do with you and so, it is not a tool for your unenlightened mind to manipulate and generate birth in the Pure Land. The Name is the manifestation of Amida and it works because of Amida. While other Pure Land schools focus on the person saying the Name and are busy with teaching their followers to have a good state of mind when saying it, our Jodo Shinshu school focuses on Amida and His Power to save. Here we just let Amida save us. When we, Jodo Shinshu followers, say the Name, we simply express this faith and we say, „thank you, Amida Buddha”.

What is the meaning of faith and nembutsu?

When one has faith (shinjin), one is convinced that Amida Buddha and His Pure Land exists, and that the Promise He made in His Primal Vow is true, so he simply entrusts to this Buddha and wishes to go to His Pure Land (Buddha-field of Amida) after death. Saying Namo Amida Bu 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, “Thank you Amida Buddha for saving me and taking me to your Pure Land at the end of this physical body”.

Just say the Name in faith

- fragment from a letter to a Dharma friend - 

There is no need to create something special into your mind.

By saying Namo Amida Bu in faith
 you accept that everything necesary to your salvation
 depends entirely on Amida Buddha

When you say the Name, just say the Name. No matter if you feel something good or bad, if you are calm or have an agitated mind, just say the Name. When you say this Name you do not take refuge in your own mind, in the thoughts that appear in it, in your feelings or ideas, but in Amida Buddha who is outside of your mind.

Why bother with having the best attitude of mind when you say the Name?

This Name does not belong to you and its power is the Power of Amida Buddha, so you cannot improve it or damage it by anything that can be found in your mind.

I am telling you all these things repeatedly and in many letters, so that you do not have any fear that somehow, something that exists in your mind can be an obstacle to the saving activity of Amida Buddha. If you simply entrust yourself to Amida, and saying His Name means exactly this (that you entrust yourself to Him), you are saved just as you are, and no matter what happens to you or with your mind while you are still in this illusory body, your birth in the Pure Land is safe and you will surely go there, at the end of this present life.

Again, please do not busy yourself with your unpredictable mind; do not worry about it. It is normal for an ordinary, unenlightened person like you to have an unstable mind, and the Compassion of Amida Buddha is especially directed to such people.  You just say the nembutsu of faith and relax. Yes, you can relax, because your salvation and birth in the Pure Land does not depend on you, but on Amida’s Power. This is exactly why you say His Name, „Namo Amida Bu” (I take refuge/entrust in Amida Buddha), Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amida Bu…. You rely on Him, not on yourself. This is the true nembutsu – the nembutsu of faith.

Do not rely on your 'spiritual evolution'

Your spiritual evolution is an illusion. What you think you obtained now, you can lose in the next moment.  The ego cannot evolve; all he really does is to constantly adapt himself to various coarse or refined attachments. From material pleasures to spiritual satisfaction and false Nirvanas, the possibilities of deceit are endless to those who rely on personal power. 

In contrast to other paths, the nembutsu of faith is not a mantra for personal evolution, but a surrender of your ego to supreme Enlightenment in the form and Name of Amida Buddha. Even if we remain ego-centered in our daily lives until death and rebirth in the Enlightened realm of Amida Buddha, this ego is no more a basis for the Path to Enlightenment.

Namo Amida Butsu - we entrust not in our unenlightened ego, but in Amida Buddha, the Enlightened One of Great Mercy.

We cannot mix Nembutsu with Zazen

In zazen, one simply dwells in awareness and lets go to any thought that appears in one’s mind. Even if the thought of Amida and of saying His Name appears, the Zen practitioner will simply let it go; he does not reject it, but also does not embrace it, either. However, this attitude is not in accord with the teaching of our school, where we “cling to Amida’s sleeves’, take refuge in Amida, and say His Name in faith. So, a true Jodo Shinshu follower who entrusts to Amida cannot engage in the practice of zazen, because in the very moment he refuses to say the nembutsu, or lets go to the thought on Amida, he in fact, abandons the Pure Land path. Similarly, in the very moment a Zen practitioner takes refuge in Amida and says the nembutsu of faith, he abandons the Zen path or the Zen attitude of mind.

Jump in the arms of Amida

In our school we leave everything to Amida, our bad karma and our so called "good karma". We do not think of merit or lack of merit. 

Namo Amida Butsu is not a personal struggle or mantra, but the expression of simple faith. 

It means to jump in the arms of Amida.

No meditation, just nembutsu

Master Shan-tao saying exclusively the
Name of Amida Buddha

UPDATE (April 22) - read bellow the initial article

Question: Is it ok for a nembutsu devotee to also practice various Buddhist or non-Buddhist meditation techniques and mantras, as a mean to calm one's mind or because of various positive effects these might have in one's daily life?

Answer: NO, it is not ok.
Your mind will never be calm – please learn to live with this. Life as an unenlightened person is hard, and there is nothing you can do to change this. So, just say the nembutsu of faith in Amida and wish to be born in His Pure Land after death. If you want to  busy your mind with something until you die, then say nembutsu as often as possible; say it many times and concentrate on it. Sometimes your mind might become calmer if you focus on nembutsu, even if calming the mind is not the goal of nembutsu. 

Do not worry about wandering thoughts

Question: Whenever I say the nembutsu many good or bad thoughts appear into my mind. What should I do about them?

Answer: When you say the Name in faith, treat this nembutsu as the host and the wandering thoughts as guests. Just say the Name and let the good or bad thoughts arise and vanish, let them come and go as they please. Do not busy yourself with them, you just say the Name and entrust to Amida Buddha. There will always be something to appear into your mind and you simply cannot do anything about this. So, just entrust in Amida and let your changing mind be a changing mind.
Namo Amida Butsu

Concentrate exclusively on Amida Buddha

“With your whole heart look forward expectantly to birth in the Pure Land, worship and bear in mind the Buddha of Infinite Light, and don’t think about anything else, nor perform any other spiritual practices.” Honen Shonin[1]

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, no this or that special virtue, just entrust to Amida, say his Name and wish to be born in his Pure Land.

The essentials of our tradition are just these three conditions, which are comprised in shinjin or faith in Amida. If you have genuine faith in Amida, then you naturally say his Name and wish to be born in his Land after death. It is as simple as that. Also, in order to have faith in Amida, you need to accept that he is a real and living Buddha, and in order to wish to be born in his Land you also need to accept that thisland is true and real. I think that everybody, even illiterate people, can understand this simple logic.

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.

Saying nembutsu as many times we like - a story

Here is a true story of a Jodo Shinshu follower from Japan who liked to recite nembutsu many times to express his gratitude to Amida Buddha. I met some people in our school who were afraid to recite nembutsu many times, thinking that this might be an attachment to their personal power (jiriki). The truth is that the number of nembutsu recitation is not important in Jodo Shinshu, because it is not a method to gain merit, but an expression of gratitude. But exactly because of this - nembutsu is an expression of faith and gratitude and the number is not important - we can enjoy the recitation of nembutsu as many times as we like.

All Buddhas praise Amida's Name (short explanation of the 17th Vow of Amida Buddha)

 last revised September 24 2019

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas in the lands of the ten directions should not all praise and glorify my Name, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.”[1]

the 17^th Vow

In this vow Dharmakara promised that when He becomes Amida Buddha, His Name will be praised by all Buddhas so that sentient beings are encouraged to entrust to it and say it in faith. Thus, the 17^th Vow supports the 18thVow (the Primal Vow) in which the saying of Amida’s Name in faith and aspiration to be born in His Pure Land are mentioned. As Shinran said in Notes on Essentials of Faith Alone:  

Nembutsu of faith and gratitude

We often speak in our tradition about Nembutsu as being the expression of gratitude for the assurance of birth in the Pure Land by Amida Buddha. It’s a correct understanding, and Master Rennyo especially emphasized this aspect in his letters in order to help people not to fall into the wrong view of considering Nembutsu as a self power practice – such as, for example, to think that the better or longer you recite the Name, the more chances  you have to be born in the Pure Land.  

 

In the same time as being the expression of gratitude, the Nembutsu is also the expression of faith, and one can find the same Master Rennyo using for example, words like “recitation of the Nembutsu arising from True Faith” in his Goichidaiki Kikigaki (Thus I Have Heard from Rennyo Shonin) or saying that „our realization of Other Power faith is itself expresses by the six characters ‚Namo Amida Butsu’”[1]. Both aspects, Nembutsu as the expression of faith and Nembutsu as the expression of gratitude (of saying „thank you, Amida Buddha”) appear in Master Rennyo and Master Shinran’s texts. 

 
“Namo” from “Namo Amida Butsu”, means “homage to”, which expresses gratitude („thank you”) and also “to take refuge” which expresses faith (shinjin). It is logical that one cannot have gratitude to Amida if he has not received faith in Him.  Only because I entrust in Amida, being convinced that His Primal Vow is true and reliable, I am able to trully say thank you. This is why I always explain the Nembutsu as the natural expression of faith and gratitude.

Nembutsu recitation (audio/video recording)

For those who asked how to recite the Name of Amida Buddha (nembutsu) here is a record from a Dharma meeting at Tariki Dojo Craiova.
This is how we do it, but its not the only method of saying the Name in our tradition.

Enjoy the taste of nembutsu

I met people who were somehow afraid of reciting nembutsu for many times, or using a nenju of 108 beads as a help in their recitation, thinking that this might become a jiriki (1) effort. So, I thought of presenting to you a short and relaxed questions and answers dialogue in order to express my opinion about this, and to disperse their tensions and worries.

Question: It is said that in Jodo Shinshu the number of recitation is not important. So we do not need to say nembutsu many times in order to be born in the Pure Land.
Answer: Yes, it is true.

This article was updated and moved to this link,

http://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.ro/2018/05/faith-in-amida-buddha-is-not-creation.html

Many recitations of nembutsu - a question

Here is a question and my answer to it, posted on a Buddhist yahoo group:

QUESTION:
I am wondering if anyone can provide any helpful tips on how to count Nembutsu repetitons each day. I read where Honen once said that "even 10,000 a day is good in the beginning"(I' m not sure in today's world if its possible even getting to 10,000!). I use an old mala of 108 beads (
I don't have proper nenju). Before I go out and buy counters or a more expensive juzu, nenju, I thought I should ask others about their own practice.
Peace to all,
Bob


ANSWER:
Hy Bob,

I think that Amida created the nembutsu for simple people, who cannot follow difficult practices in order to attain Enlightenment. If Amida wants us to recite at least 10,000 nembutsu every day in order to be born in the Pure Land, then I think, the practice of nembutsu is a difficult practice (maybe for monks who have all the time in the world), not an easy one and Amida lied to us. Nembutsu means to rely on Amida for your Enlightenment in the Pure Land. I typed on Amida in bold so as to show that reliance is on Amida Buddha's power, not on that of the practitioner. I think the most important thing in reciting the nembutsu is the attitude which lies at the base of your recitation and this is faith, entrusting, relying on Amida Buddha. If we recite nembutsu while having true faith in Amida Buddha's saving power, we will be born in the Pure Land and attain Enlightenment there, no matter if we recite it once a day or 100 times. But if we recite the nembutsu relying on our power to recite the Name for 10,000 times, this might become like a heroic test for us and we tend to concentrate on our effort and forget the power of Amida who is the real power in saving us. In our effort to recite nembutsu 10,000 time a day we might strengthen our ego and not abandon it in Amida's saving power. Amida is the one who saves, not our power to recite nembutsu 10,000 times. Amida knows our power is limited and Honen knew this too. He was a monk all his life, but not all of his followers were monks, some of them were living lay life and were very busy with gaining their daily bread. When he talks about nembutsu recitation for many times, he is in fact makes reference to the entrusting in Amida that has to be a permanent awareness in our lives. Because what is nembutsu all about if not the expression of entrusting and faith. I like how Saichi (a Pure Land devotee in Japan) said about the nembutsu: “When someone is catching a cold he cannot abstain not to cough. I caught the cold of Buddha’s Dharma and I cannot stop coughing the nembutsu.” Saichi "caught" a lot the nembutsu but he was never worried if he recited it for 100 times or 10,000 times. He never count the nembutsu recitation. He just recited it when he could in his busy and hard life, relying on Amida and not on his power to reach a high number.
I hope this is helpful to you.
Namo Amida Butsu,
Josho Adrian Cirlea

ps: I also like to recite nembutsu many times and I use a nenju with 108 beads. I like to use the nenju , but not in order to know the number of recitation , but because this relaxes me and makes me not think about when I will finish the recitation. I simply finish my recitation session when all the 108 beads of the nenju are used. This also helps me to concentrate better on the recitation. But there are also times when I recite nembutsu without using a nenju. It simply comes on my lips naturally.