The Bodhi Mind of the Pure Land Path (short question and answer)

Question from a reader: Shinran said that shinjin (faith) is Bodhi Mind. Does this mean that if I do not have Compassion for all beings in this life I will not go to the Pure Land?
 
My answer: The fact that shinjin (faith in Amida Buddha) equals Bodhi Mind does NOT mean that you are able to have the kind of Compassion ancient Mahayana saints had for every being in your present life! It only means that through faith in Amida you will be able to save all beings, because faith is the cause of birth in the Pure Land and of subsequent attainment of Buddhahood for you and all beings. So, the aspiration inherent in the Bodhi Mind is contained in shinjin in the sense that through faith you can fulfill the Bodhi Mind (after birth in the Pure Land). The aspirations of the Bodhi Mind (to become a Buddha for you and all beings) are fulfilled through faith, which is why faith is the Bodhi Mind. 

This is the proper way to understand this matter in accordance with our Jodo Shinshu school. So, don't worry. There is no problem that here and now you remain an ordinary person filled with ignorance and blind passions. It is especially for beings like you that Amida made His Primal Vow and created His Pure Land that is so easy to access.

PS: The only way you can practice compassion while you are still in this present samsaric body is to be an example of faith and help others entrust to Amida Buddha. I explained this when I presented the ten benefits in this life of a person of faith (click here to read the 9th benefit).

We can always say the Name of Amida Buddha

Question: If it is said that it does not matter how many times we recite Nembutsu why does Shinran urge us to say it constantly in this hymn:
 
“Those who deeply entrust themselves
To Amida’s Vow of great compassion
Should all say Namo Amida Butsu constantly,
Whether they are waking or sleeping.”
 
My answer: Shinran also said:
 
"In the Primal Vow are the words:
'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times'.
Know from the words 'ten times' that appear from the beginning in the Vow itself that saying the Name is not limited to one utterance. And the word 'perhaps even' makes it clearer still that there is no set number of times one should say the Name."
(Notes on Once-Calling and Many-Callings)
 
"'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times': In encouraging us to say the Name that embodies the Vow, the Tathagata added 'perhaps even' to the words 'ten times' to show that there is no set number of times the Name must be said, and to teach sentient beings that there is no determined hour or occasion for saying it. Since we have been given this Vow by the Tathagata, we can take any occasion in daily life for saying the Name and need not wait to recite it at the very end of life."
(Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls)
 
Honen Shonin also said:
 
"Question: Which is superior in merit: a mere single utterance of nembutsu or ten repetitions of nembutsu?
Answer: They have the same merit with regard to birth in the Pure Land.
[...] The number of recitations is not the issue. The merit of birth in the Pure Land is equal, as is clearly stated in the Primal Vow. How can there be any doubt?"
 
The above passages show that the verses “should all say Namo Amida Butsu constantly, whether they are waking or sleeping” were actually an urge by Shinran to not forget Amida’s benevolence in our daily lives, and NOT that if we do not say Nembutsu day and night or when we are asleep, we are not saved. The Primal Vow is clear: “saying my Name perhaps even ten times”, so Amida did not emphasize the number of Nembutsu recitations. Shinran, who could not contradict Amida Buddha himself, actually wanted to show us that we can remember Amida’s compassion anytime, without regard to time (day or night/awake or asleep) and circumstance, therefore - “we can take any occasion in daily life for saying the Name”; „there is no determined hour or occasion for saying it.”
The Nembutsu of faith can be said anytime, even in the dream when we are asleep (I myself say it in the dream from time to time) or during ANY daily activity.

The relation between hearing the Name, faith and saying the Name of Amida Buddha

Amida Buddha promised in His Primal Vow that those who entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land (“sincerely entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and say my Name perhaps even ten times[1]”) will be born there.
 
The reason faith (“entrust to me”), desire to be born in the Pure Land, as well as the saying of the Name (Nembutsu) are mentioned in the same Vow is because they cannot be treated separately. One who has faith in Amida Buddha will naturally say His Name and wish to be with Him in the Pure Land. Thus, there can be no faith separated from Nembutsu, and no Nembutsu separated from faith. Also, there can be no faith and no Nembutsu of faith without the desire to be born in the Pure Land.
 
Recently, a reader expressed the opinion that to say the Name of Amida Buddha is secondary to “hearing the Name”. This is a grave misunderstanding of the Jodo Shinshu teaching which cannot arise if we properly understand the term “hearing the Name”. So, to hear the Name means to have faith (shinjin), as Shinran clearly explained,

We should not make publicity to nonBuddhist holidays or the gods and spirits they represent

Some time ago I posted this message advising Buddhists to stop making publicity to nonBuddhist holidays:

 
Being respectful towards our nonBuddhist neighbours and friends does NOT mean that we should pray to or make publicity to false, nonBuddhist gods. As Pure Land Buddhists we should promote only Amida Buddha and encourage people to entrust only to Amida Buddha. By making publicity to nonBuddhist gods and spirits you create the evil karma of offering false teachings to sentient beings. I very much dislike how fake Buddhists post images (and even praises) of nonBuddhist gods and spirits on various nonBuddhists celebrations, including Christmas, Easter and even pre-Christian holidays. Remember, respect does NOT mean promotion! Respect means working together with your neighbors, helping them in times of need, etc. Promoting the images of their gods and spirits is a mistake, not a sign of respect. Pull yourselves together and stop being stupid when you try to be nice.

Question and Answer - the True Teaching of Shakyamuni on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land

Rev Kosho Arana at Amidaji

    Click here for the Spanish version

by Rev Kosho Arana 

 

 I recently received this question from a Facebook contact   Fatih Ozkan:

 I would like to ask some questions:

 Was Amitabha Buddha actually preached by Shakyamuni   Buddha  or was he later invented as an Upaya by the Mahayana   saints? Are Amitabha Buddha and The Pure Land literally real or   an archetype? Buddha-Dharma says that all dharmas   (phenomena) are sealed with three realities: pain, impermanence   and selflessness. How can Sukhavati be an eternal realm now?

 Sincerely, A-Mi-To-Fo 

*

  Hello Dear Ozkan, Namo Amida Bu

 Thank you for your questions. They are very important.

I will answer them as best I can.

The teachings about Amida Buddha (Amitabha Buddha) are an essential part of more than 290 Sutras in the Mahayana Canon, especially the Sukavativyuha or the Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life which was preached by Shakyamuni Buddha.  This teaching has been praised by many Mahayana masters including but not limited to Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, Bodhisattva Asanga, Master Tan Luan, Master Tao Ch’o, Master Shantao, Master Honen and Master Shinran. Shakyamuni Buddha Himself taught in many sutras the existence of innumerable Enlightened Realms outside Samsara, called Pure Lands which are created by different Buddhas according to their specific vows.

The merits transferred by Amida Buddha are not ours to use for personal goals

Question by a Dharma friend: If Amida transfers His karmic merits to us, why can we not dedicate them to others?
 
My answer: The transference of merits from Amida Buddha does NOT mean these merits become our property. They still remain Amida’s merits but working from inside us. And these merits have only one goal - to lead us to His Pure Land. It is like being carried to a wonderful place by your best friend in his car. The car is not yours and will never become yours because you are carried in it by your friend. It’s the same with Amida’s transference of merit. Just like you cannot do what you want with the car of your friend who leads you to destination, you cannot do what you want with Amida’s merits.

 

Don't be hungry for feelings and special experiences

Click here for the Spanish version of this article

Question by Shoshin: Dear Sensei, why is it that despite my having entrusted myself to Amida (formally in Amidaji to signify my sincerity), recited his name, and wished to be born in his Pure Land, why is it that I have not felt any assurance of any kind at all up to this time.
 
I have listened to all your books, which I converted to audio your videos, every day and night, over and over, and they are so wonderfully written, but all I get is Amida is so silent, so distant, as if he did not exist.
 
I need an experiential concrete assurance of rebirth in his Pure Land. Amida seems so distant, so far away. If his light is that powerful why can it not penetrate my thick obscurations no matter how encrusted they are of blind passions?
 
Time for me is running out because of my age and health issues, and I really need assurance urgently that I shall be reborn in the Pure Land, but it all seems now like blind faith. Why? I really want to go to the Pure Land. This sense of urgency has never been so urgent for death could come anytime. Can you please help me?
Namo Amida Bu

Self-power as obstacle to Nembutsu

Question: ”Quite often it seems that we want it both ways...’our power’ and Other Power. Could we think about it this way, ‘self-power’ is an illusion that exists within Other Power, and even this illusion cannot obstruct the Nembutsu?” 

My answer: I think we should not complicate our minds. To rely on your own power cannot lead you to Buddhahood in the Pure Land. It is as simple as that. To rely on your own power will obstruct the Nembutsu and your birth in the Pure Land. In the true Other Power faith there is no trace of self-power. You rely on Amida Buddha or not. Mixed faith is not true faith. 

When it is said in the sacred texts that nothing obstructs the Nembutsu this means that no matter how heavy your karma, you are saved by Amida if you fully entrust in Him. In this sense, your illusions or blind passions cannot be an obstacle to the Nembutsu. But self-power simply means that you do not rely at all or not exclusively on Amida for your attainment of Buddhahood in the Pure Land. This is why self-power is an obstacle for the Nembutsu, because in reality, the vehicle that takes you to the Pure Land is Amida’s Power, not your own power. 

We also have to understand clearly the meaning  of the terms “self-power” (jiriki) and “Other power”(Tariki). They are related only with the ultimate goal of becoming a Buddha in the Pure Land. They have nothing to do with our daily activities related to work, family, health, business, etc. In everyday life one can make efforts to be successful, to be a good husband or wife, a good doctor, a good engineer or teacher, etc., but in matters related to Buddhahood one should rely only on Amida Buddha and on nobody else, especially not on himself. 

To put it in the simplest terms – with Other Power your becoming a Buddha is the doing of Amida, not yours.

Be careful how and to whom you speak about Amida Buddha

Click here for the Spanish version

In reference to saying anything about Amida Buddha to other human beings, Master Rennyo said:
 
„In particular, act with extreme caution, as this is a time when people determinedly strain their ears to hear anything that can be distorted and spread in slander.”[1]
 
Whatever we say about the Nembutsu teaching, it can always be misinterpreted if we say it to those who are not karmically mature and not opened to it. Master Rennyo called those who are not karmically mature and not open, to be people without stored good from the past. Thus he instructed:
 
„In teaching others, one must determine the presence or absence of good from the past.”[2]
 
The "stored good from the past" represents our good karma from past lives and this life which manifests itself as an opening or receptive state of mind towards the message of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha. A lot of people hear the teaching about the Primal Vow or Amida’s Name but few are opened to it. This openness is very important in our tradition and is the manifestation of good stored from the past[3].
 
Master Rennyo said:

Dealing with evil thoughts (short question and answer)

 

Question by a Dharma friend: “When you are at home or walking around the village or somewhere and you see and feel evil impulses in your mind, do you feel regret or disliking that they arose?”
 
My answer: “When I see evil impulses in my mind I am aware of their occurrence and I let them come and go by themselves. I change the focus from them to something else that I am doing at the moment, be it Nembutsu or cutting firewood, carrying water, etc, and by simply leaving them alone. I don't give them attention because that would make them grow even more, and I cannot solve them by feeling regret or by disliking them.
 
It is useless to dislike thoughts and feelings. If I focus on them with dislike or regret then I empower them, so I do not do that. After I instantly realize their appearance, I simply leave them alone. I do not take them seriously. Thoughts and feelings are like clouds that appear on the empty sky. They do not deserve my attention because they are not real, so I do not want to give them a reality they don't actually have.
 
Thoughts and feelings appear and disappear naturally if we allow them to disappear. But if we start judging them, feeling regret about them or disliking them, then we help them become greater and greater. This is how obsession grows. Obsessions are simple thoughts and feelings that were given too much attention and were taken too seriously.
 
My way is to not take the evil thoughts and feelings too serious, but leave them, let them come and go, not focusing on them. Shinran Shonin made a wonderfully true statement when he said that "the Nembutsu alone is true and real" while everything else is a delusion. If the Nembutsu alone is true and real, then why take seriously all the residual thoughts and garbage that normally appears in my monkey mind?
Namo Amida Bu

Focus on Amida’s Name, not on your monkey mind

 

Click here to return to 

Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

“Question: ‘When evil thoughts will keep arising within the mind, what ought one to do?
Answer (by Honen Shonin): ‘The only thing to do is to repeat the Nembutsu.’”[1]
 
Commentary:
This is something that I often say in my books, articles and discussions with my Dharma friends. We cannot fix our samsaric minds. We cannot eliminate evil thoughts. We cannot stop thinking. All we can to do is change the focus from whatever appears in our mind to Amida, through the saying of His Name. Just as you don’t take a monkey serious, don’t take your mind serious. We are not saved because of any quality that can be found in our minds and we are not obstructed to be born in the Pure Land by our blind passions and evil thoughts. Our salvation comes from outside of our samsaric mind, so we do not need to bother about it anymore.

Advice to a Buddhist wife persecuted for her faith (video)

 

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

What to do with the samayas and commitments taken on the Vajrayana Path if I chose to entrust myself completely to Amida Buddha?

Question: I have been reading a lot of your blog articles, which really resonate with me.  One in particular, A simple analogy between Vajrayana and Jodo Shinshu to help undecided practitioners, stood out to me. I realize the article was written for those who have not yet entered Vajrayana so that they can be realistic about things. 
But, do you have advice for someone who has entered Vajrayana some time ago? I’ve taken numerous empowerments and done a variety of practice. But Honen’s and Shinran’s writings really resonate with me. And I’ve come to realize my own limited capacity. How can someone like me enter into Shin practice and rely solely on Amida, when I have all these other commitments and samayas to maintain? It’s said that abandoning them would lead one to vajra hell. As you’re the first Shin author I’ve seen mention this topic, I was wondering if you have any advice.

Can someone read about another religion just to get knowledge?

It depends who that person is and how much settled he is in the faith of the Primal Vow. A person who really has faith in Amida Buddha can read whatever he wants because he will never be influenced by other religions, but someone not yet settled in faith should better leave aside any nonBuddhist book and focus entirely on listening deeply (reading is also listening) the Jodo Shinshu teaching and asking questions to clear his doubts. Why? Because he can be easily influenced by what he reads and everything he reads can become an obstacle and make him depart from the Dharma and the Primal Vow. I saw many people abandoning the Buddhist Path because they read too many things.
 
Also, I remember that Master Rennyo said something like, before shinjin listen to the Dharma, after shinjin also listen to the Dharma. The listening of Dharma never stops for a true Nembutsu follower.
 
So read whatever you want if you have faith and you just want to get knowledge but be careful to never abandon listening and reading the Dharma. Don’t put the study of other religions first and reading the Dharma second. Make yourself a habit to always read at least a Dharma sentence or a Dharma text every day. If you find time to read about other religions you will certainly find time for the Dharma, too.

 

What to do with evil thoughts that arise in our ignorant minds?

Question by a Dharma friend:

“When you are at home or walking around the village or somewhere and you see and feel evil impulses in your mind, do you feel regret or disliking that they arose?”

My answer:

“When I see evil impulses in my mind I am aware of their occurrence and I let them come and go by themselves. I change the focus from them to something else that I am doing at the moment, be it Nembutsu or watching a movie, working, etc, and by simply leaving them alone. I don't give them attention because that would make them grow even more, and I cannot solve them by feeling regret or by disliking them.

It is useless to dislike thoughts and feelings. If I focus on them with dislike or regret then I empower them, so I do not do that. After I instantly realize their appearance, I simply leave them alone. I do not take them seriously. Thoughts and feelings are like clouds that appear on the empty sky. They do not deserve my attention because they are not real, so I do not want to give them a reality they don't actually have.

Thoughts and feelings appear and disappear naturally IF we allow them to disappear. But if we start judging them, feeling regret about them and dislike them, then we help them become greater and greater. This is how obsession grows. Obsessions are simple thoughts and feelings that were given too much attention and were taken too serious.

My way is to not take the evil thoughts and feelings too serious, but leave them, let them come and go, not focusing on them. Shinran Shonin made a wonderfully true statement when he said that "the Nembutsu alone is true and real" while everything else is a delusion. If the Nembutsu alone is true and real why take seriously all the residual thoughts and garbage that normally appears in my ignorant mind?

Namo Amida Bu