Like in the good movie, "Groundhog day” , the minds of unenlightened people dwell constantly in an ever repeating "here and now”. Unfortunately, they like this "here and now" so much that they even create spiritual ideologies to keep them focused on it. Being extremely attached to the "here and now”, they refuse to speak about death and rebirth, or the aspiration to be born in Amida’s Pure Land, calling it a reminiscent of folk religion or a distraction from the "here and now". Unfortunately, they will also die one day, in the exact moment they dream about ‚"here and now" and will be born again, in another "here and now" - the same here and now, but painted differently. How sad this is…
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„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]
“I am very sorry indeed to hear about Shonyobo’s illness. Having heard that she is ill, in fact seriously so, I should like to go and see her, and make sure whether she is going right on with the practice of the Nembutsu up to the very end; but especially so when I remember how often she used to call upon me to ask questions about the way of salvation. So as soon as word reached me, I at once wanted to go and see her. But I had just before that decided upon the special Nembutsu practice (Nembutsu retreat) for some days, and not to go out of my chamber for anything whatsoever. Now circumstances have so changed, that I am tempted to reverse my decision and go at once to see her. But on further reflection I have come to feel that, after all, it does not matter one way or the other about such interchanges of courtesy in this world, for the fact is that we are in danger anyway of becoming foolishly attached to these earthly bodies of ours. No matter who it is, no one stays forever here in this fleshly body. The only difference is that either I myself or someone else must be left behind and the other go first. Then if we think of the interval of time that will separate us, that too is uncertain. And even though they may call it long, at the longest it is only like a short dream. So no matter how many times I think it over, the more I am convinced that the thing to do is to think only of our meeting in the land of Amida Buddha where, as we sit upon our lotus flowers, the cares of this world will have all clear away, and we shall converse together about the scenes and events of our past lives.
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| Oni no Nembutsu - a demon converted to Nembutsu |
I dreamed that I caught something like a spirit or demon who is bound to fulfill desires. When I told him that now he has to fulfill one of my wishes he replied, “yes, but a wish can turn against you”. That made me think that I should not wish something for myself but for a dear one. Then he appeared in his demon form with a hideous face but sooner he changed into a beautiful woman. I realized that he is a shapeshifter but I was not afraid of him and he was also not feeling uncomfortable with me. He was waiting for me to tell him my wish… When I was about to tell him that I wish my mother to live for many years a thought occurred to me that if I want this I should better pray to Amida Buddha and not ask a demon to prolong her life.
Question: What does it mean to seek to be born in the Pure Land through a false, deceitful and poisoned good?
My answer: To seek
to be born in the Pure Land through a false, deceitful and poisoned good means
to aspire to be born in the Pure Land through transferring one’s personal
merits. Shinran said that personal merits are always mixed with the poison of
ego, ignorance and attachments, so he considered that we do not actually have
genuine merits. In relation with this, we should remember the story of the
meeting between Master Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang.
It is said that when Master Bodhidharma came to China, Emperor Wu called him and asked him: “I’ve built many temples and I’ve offered many lands to the path of the Buddha; now please tell me what merits have I gained? Bodhidharma’s answer came shocking but true: “None, not one merit.” Why Bodhidharma said that? It was because the merits the emperor described above were worldly merits gained with a mind full of attachments and lacking the wisdom of ultimate Reality.
This was a question asked at one of our sangha meetings
Answer: To seek to be born in the Pure Land through a false,
deceitful and poisoned good means to aspire to be born in the Pure Land through
transferring one’s personal merits. Shinran said that personal merits are
always mixed with the poison of ego, ignorance and attachments, so he
considered that we do not actually have genuine merits. In relation with this,
we should remember the story of the meeting between Master Bodhidharma and
Emperor Wu of Liang.
It is said that when
Master Bodhidharma came to China, Emperor Wu called him and asked him: “I’ve
built many temples and I’ve offered many lands to the path of the Buddha; now
please tell me what merits have I gained? Bodhidharma’s answer came shocking
but true: “None, not one merit.” Why Bodhidharma said that? It was because the
merits the emperor described above were worldly merits gained with a mind full
of attachments and lacking the wisdom of ultimate Reality.
In Buddhism we speak about two kinds of merits: worldly merits and supramundane or otherworldly merits.
If we wish to understand a certain object we look to its
qualities, to the elements that make it up. What are the elements and
fundamental qualities of life? A body and mind which are subject to an
inexorable cycle of birth, growing, maturity, decay and death.
Decay and death …. Especially these two must attract our attention in the same way we analyze a certain object: some qualities distinguish themselves from others and lead to the definition of the object.
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| Shakyamuni and Queen Vaidehi (source of the photo) |
The Contemplation Sutra[1] was taught in the context of a tragedy in the royal family of Magadha[2]. Master Shan-tao[3] who also wrote a commentary on this sutra, gave a detailed account of what happened. As I don’t have access to a good/useful English translation of his commentary, I quote Rev Hisao Inagaki’s summary of Shan-tao’s explanation:
“Shakyamuni had a
cousin, Devadatta, who was greedy for fame and wealth. Seeing the Buddha
receive many offerings from King Bimbisara, he wanted to take over the
leadership of the sangha. He first learned supernatural power from Ananda,
which he displayed to Prince Ajatasatru;
thus he won the respect of the prince and also received sumptuous offerings
from him. Devadatta then approached Shakyamuni and suggested that the Buddha
retire but was rebuked for his stupidity. Angered by this, he next incited
Ajatasatru to usurp the throne.
Seeing that Ajatasatru hesitated, Devadatta pointed at the prince’s broken little finger and told him the following story.
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| Rev Josho Adrian Cirlea on zoom in Amidado (Hall of Amida) of Amidaji temple |
One of the things that I'm finding amazing is the Other Power of Amida. And how the more you become a person of faith, you realize that faith in Amida is not from you. It can't be from you. And it comes directly from Amida and I see so much proof of that, in my faith. When it's like everything else in my life is in upheaval and change and flux. The only thing that remains unchanging is my faith in Amida Buddha. And it just I still find that amazing.
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.
Translated from English by Juan Sebastian Hincapie Arana
En el estilo Amidaji de enseñanza siempre consultamos directamente el Dharma tanto en el aspecto más importante de la vida después de la muerte como en los detalles de nuestra vida diaria. En este caso queremos saber qué tiene que decir el Dharma sobre el matrimonio, por eso escucharemos las enseñanzas que el Buda Shakyamuni dio a las parejas (hombres y mujeres).
La mujer debe prestar atención y contemplar lo que el Buda dijo sobre los deberes de una buena esposa y el hombre debe prestar atención y contemplar los deberes de un esposo igualmente.
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.
The woman should pay attention and contemplate what He said about the duties of a good wife and the man should pay attention and contemplate the duties of a husband.
The followers of our tradition should empty their cup (mind) of modernist and worldly ideologies and listen deeply to the Buddha’s teaching. To those who argue that such teachings on couples should be changed and adapted to our so-called “modern times” and “modern views” I say that the reason we have so many marriage problems, broken couples, destroyed families and neglected children nowadays is especially because such teachings and instructions are not carefully observed anymore. It is because men are not willing to assume the role and duties of husbands and women are not capable to assume the role and duties of good wives.
