-based on some verses in the Shozomatsu wasan-
(my speech at the last spring meeting in Jiko-ji temple (Antwerp, Belgium)
Buddhism has spread a lot in Europe in the last fifty years and this is indeed, very fortunate. But in this spreading and in the image that Buddhism has in the West a very important element is missing or is not so well understood. Too many voices are heard in Western Buddhism that support some already established preconceptions like: “Buddhism is a path of Liberation by oneself” and “Buddha is only a teacher or the finger showing the moon”, etc. The established image of a Buddhist is a forever calm and smiling Buddhist monk or practitioner, following a path of self liberation and improvement. This for many is Buddhism, but for Shinran, this is exactly what Buddhism is no more…
His life story and teaching shows another aspect of Buddhism which he considers it to be the real Buddhism: the true Pure Land Teaching or Jodo Shinshu in which Amida Buddha is not the finger showing the moon, but a Savior, - in fact, the best Savior of all the three worlds, with Shakyamuni being His messenger, guiding sentient beings to entrust in Amida. What a dramatic difference in the vision of what the Dharma truly is between Master Shinran and all other schools of self power Buddhism!