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

 

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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.

Do not despise other Buddhas, Dharma Gates and Buddhist teachings because you have faith in Amida

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Honen Shonin said: 

"Just because one relies solely upon Amida Buddha and believes only in Nembutsu, do not make light of the compassionate vows of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, or think ill of and slander wondrous sutras such as the Lotus Sutra or the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. The karma of defaming myriad Buddhas and of doubting and slandering many holy teachings is not in harmony with the heart of Amida Buddha. Such actions would certainly exclude one from His compassionate Vow even if one recites Nembutsu”.[1] 

Commentary:

This excellent teaching of Honen Shonin is fundamental to our Amidaji school. 

Nembutsu is the same no matter who says it

 

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

“When someone once said to Honen that his repetition of the Nembutsu must be very acceptable to the Buddha, he asked ‘Why?’

‘Because you are a wise man, and know in detail what merit there is in the repetition of the sacred Name, clearly understanding the meaning of the Buddha’s Primal Vow.’

At this Honen replied: ‘You have not yet really come to believe in the Primal Vow at all. As to calling upon the sacred Name of the Primal Vow of the Buddha Amida, it makes no difference whether the man be a wood-cutter, a gatherer of grass or greens, or a drawer of water or the like, whether he be utterly unlettered in Buddhism or other religions. It makes no difference, I say, so long as he calls upon the sacred Name. If he believes his Ojo (birth in the Pure Land) is certain and keeps repeating the Nembutsu, he is the very best kind of believer. If it is possible by wisdom to get free from the bondage of life and death, why indeed should I, Genku (Honen), have given up the Holy Path (Shodo-mon) and devoted myself exclusively to this Pure Land doctrine (Jodo-mon)? The self-discipline of the so-called Holy Path consists in the effort to escape birth and death by the cultivation of one’s wisdom whereas that of the Pure Land consists in coming back to what the world calls foolishness, and thus attain birth into the Land of Bliss.’”[1] 

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

 

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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] 

Iguales al Buda Maitreya

translated from English by Juan Sebastian Hincapie Arana

Una enseñanza única del Jodo Shinshu es que los seguidores que han recibido shinjin (fe) son iguales a la Iluminación perfecta, iguales a todos los Budas e iguales a Maitreya Buda.
 
Shakyamuni dijo que Maitreya, que ahora reside en el cielo de Tusita, es un futuro gran Buda que aparecerá en este mundo después de muchos miles de millones de años (5.670.000.000) desde Su tiempo.
 
Shinran Shonin explicó esto en la carta 3 de la obra Mattosho:
 
“Puesto que aquellos que han recibido el shinjin necesariamente moran en la etapa de los verdaderamente asentados, están en la etapa igual a la Iluminación perfecta. En el Sutra Mayor de la Vida Inconmensurable, se dice que aquellos que han sido acogidos, para nunca ser abandonados, están en la etapa de los verdaderamente asentados, y en el Sutra del Tathagata de la Vida Inconmensurable se dice que alcanzaron la etapa igual a iluminación perfecta. Aunque difieren, los términos "verdaderamente asentado" e "igual a la Iluminación" tienen el mismo significado e indican la misma etapa. Igual a la Iluminación perfecta es la misma etapa que la de Maitreya, quien está en el rango de sucesión a la Budeidad. Dado que las personas de shinjin definitivamente alcanzarán la Iluminación suprema, se dice que son iguales a Maitreya”.

Honen said the Nembutsu as if already saved by Amida

 

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Honen Shonin said: 

“Where one is to receive something from another, which is better, to have already received, or not yet to have received? I, Genku (Honen), repeat the Nembutsu as if I had already received.”[1]

 Commentary:

There are two types of Nembutsu: the Nembutsu of those who don’t have faith, and the Nembutsu of faith.

The Nembutsu of those who are not yet established in faith is said without being sure of their salvation (“not yet to have received” – not yet assured of birth in the Pure Land).  This is because when one relies on one’s own power one cannot have any certainty.

The Nembutsu of faith or Honen’s Nembutsu is said by one who knows that he has already received the assurance of birth in the Pure Land since the moment he entrusted for the first time in Amida (“have already received”).  This is the Nembutsu of Buddha centered Power through which one is certain to attain Ojo[2]. It is also the Nembutsu of “thank you Amida Buddha for saving me as I am”.

 

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[1] Honen the Buddhist Saint - His Life and Teachings, volume III, compiled by imperial order, translation by Rev Ryugaku Ishizuka and Rev Harper Havelock Coates, The Society for the Publication of Sacred Books of the World, Kyoto, 1949, p. 400

[2] Ojo means birth in the Pure Land.

The determination of the true disciple of Amida Buddha

 

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Honen Shonin said: 

“When a deer is being pursued by the hunters, it does not stop even to look around for its fellows or look back at its pursuers, but with all eagerness, hastens straight forward, and no matter how many may be following, it escapes in safety. It is with the same determination that a man fully entrusts himself to the Buddha’s power, and without regard to anything else, steadfastly sets his mind upon being born into the Pure Land.”[1] 

Commentary:
A genuine disciple of Amida Buddha does not care about other practices and does not listen to the wrong views of modernists or the false teachings of externalists (non-Buddhists). Even if thoughts of “what if Amida is not real” or “what if the Primal Vow is not true” appear suddenly in his mind, he does not pay attention to them, but continues to be focused on the Nembutsu of faith. Instead of looking at these “pursuers” who come in the form of non-Buddhists, heretics or even random thoughts, he goes forward to the Pure Land encouraged by Shakyamuni and the lineage Masters. 

To be satisfied with the Nembutsu and to think that Nembutsu is enough, to not need anything else than Amida’s Holy Name – these are the characteristics of a person of faith. Promises of other practices and religions fall deaf to his ears because he obeys only to the exclusive requirements of the Primal Vow: exclusive faith in Amida, exclusive saying of His Name and exclusive wish to be born in His Pure Land. 

Even if the people around him follow other paths or the stones and rocks, the sky and the trees all shout in one voice that Amida does not exist or that so and so god has a better teaching, the true disciple will never falter in his determination to have faith only in Amida, say only His Name and wish to go only to His Pure Land after death. Just like the deer pursued by hunters, he sees nothing, hears nothing and is not interested in any other path than the Nembutsu of faith. Only such a true disciple will reach the safety of the Pure Land.
 

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[1] Honen the Buddhist Saint - His Life and Teachings, volume III, compiled by imperial order, translation by Rev Ryugaku Ishizuka and Rev Harper Havelock Coates, The Society for the Publication of Sacred Books of the World, Kyoto, 1949, p. 399

There is no need to wait for the coming of Maitreya when Amida’s Primal Vow is available here and now - the strange story of Ajari Koen, former teacher of Honen Shonin

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

"Ajari[1] Koen, the abbot of the Kudokuin Temple, and one of Honen’s teachers hailing from the province of Higo, was a noted scholar who was learned in the doctrines of both the esoteric and exoteric sects, and himself a disciple of Hokkyo Kokaku of Sugyu on Mount Hiei. One day as he was reflecting seriously upon life, and considering the limitations of his own powers, he thought that it would be no easy thing for him to get free from the fated round of life and death, and that every time he would change his state of existence, he would, as the doctrine goes, forget what had happened to him in the one before, and so, he thought, he would probably in the next life forget what he had now learned about the Teaching of the Buddhas. ‘I have’, he said, ‘indeed been born a man, but I am so unfortunate as to have come into the world in the period between the appearance of the two Buddhas, and so I see nothing for it but that I must go through transmigration after transmigration. But in order to be able to meet the Merciful One (Maitreya) when He finally appears in the world, I should like to have my body changed into that of some being that has long life. So there is nothing better for me than to be born a serpent. I therefore vow that I shall be born a great serpent (naga). Only there is one thing I am afraid of, and that is the mighty gold-winged bird (Garuda)[2] that lives on the serpents dwelling in the great sea. My wish therefore is to live in a pond.’ So he made a bargain for a pond called Sakura-ga-ike[3] in the village of Kasawara in the province of Totomi, receiving the deed of it from its owner. When he came to die, he asked for some water which he put in the palm of his hand and then passed away. 

I am a priest of Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism without any affiliation with Hongwanji

I heard there are some frustrated snowflakes out there who spread fake news about me that I was kicked out of Hongwanji for criticizing scholars who were spreading wrong views about Amida Buddha and His Pure Land or for speaking against LGBTQ as an organization on the basis of Buddhist moral teaching, etc. They enthusiastically shared among themselves a note sent on December 14, 2021 by International Department of Temple Affairs Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha and signed by a guy called Ishida Masumi titled “to whom it may concern”, in which they say that the reason of my revocation is: “establishment and operation of Amidaji International Temple as an institute independent of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha.” In that short note it is said “Effective revocation date: October 8, 2021”. 

However, I declared my and Amidaji International Temple’s independence from Hongwanji on September 4, 2020 through this article On Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu and its relation with Nishi Hongwanji and in an official letter sent to Hongwanji International Center, IABC and other Japanese leaders on September 5, 2020. 

Soldiers are saved by Amida Buddha if they entrust to Him - Honen Shonin's instructions to Samurai Taro Tadatsuma Amakasu

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

In the province of Musashi there lived a samurai called Taro Tadatsuna Amakasu, who belonged to the Inomata clan and was in the service of the Minamoto family. He was also a devout Nembutsu follower of Honen Shonin. At that time there was a conflict with the monk armies of Mount Hiei who took their stand at the Hiyosho Hachioji shrine. Tadatsuna was put by Imperial command in charge of a body of troops to suppress the uprising. Before going to battle he paid a visit to Honen and said to him: 

“I have often heard you say that even sinners like us, if they will only say the Nembutsu, and put their whole trust in Amida’s Primal Vow, will undoubtedly attain Ojo (birth in the Pure Land). This has made a deep impression upon me, but I suppose it is the case only with those who are lying on a sick bed and calmly waiting for the end to come. But as for myself, being a samurai, I cannot do just as I would like, and now in obedience to an imperial order, I am setting out for the castle at Hachioji to chastise those obstreperous priests of Sammon. I was born in a soldier’s family and trained in the use of the bow and arrow, being on the one hand under obligation not to fail in carrying out at least in some measure the will of my ancestors, and on the other responsible for handling down something of glory to my posterity. And yet if, as a soldier, I abandon myself to the driving back of the enemy, all sorts of wicked and furious passions are likely to be stirred within me, and it becomes very hard to awaken any pious feeling in my heart. If, indeed, I should allow myself to keep thinking all the time about the transitoriness of life, and trying not to forget the truth about attaining Ojo by the Nembutsu, I should be in danger of being taken captive by my enemies, and thereby be eternally branded as a coward, straightway have all my patrimony confiscated, and so for a fool like me it is very hard to decide which of these courses to choose. Will you not tell me how I may accomplish my cherished desire for Ojo, without on the other hand sacrificing the honor of my family as an archer?” 

La fe en un dios creador es un obstáculo para la fe en el Buda Amida

translated from English by Juan Sebastian Hincapie Arana

Pregunta[1]:

"Muchas personas que terminan en el budismo Shin aquí en Occidente tienen muchos conceptos vestigiales de nuestros antecedentes de religiones abrahámicas –hayan sido "creyentes" o no- y llevan estas ideas vestigiales con ellos una vez comienzan su camino como budistas. Algunos no hacen esto, por supuesto, especialmente los que tienen una disposición seria para el estudio de las enseñanzas y consideran importante aprender lo que el Buda Shakyamuni realmente enseñó. Pero por lo que sabes por tu tiempo tanto en el Zen como en sanghas del budismo Shin, tal estudio a menudo no es el enfoque principal, ni siquiera de la manera como lo es en las escuelas Theravada y las sanghas budistas tibetanas.

Entonces, en tu opinión, basado en tu propia lectura y contemplación,¿es posible para una persona ignorante, pero bien intencionada llegar a establecerse en shinjin (fe asentada) si él/ella nunca ha estudiado realmente el tema[2], y tiene algunas ideas eternalistas mezclada en su flujo mental? O ¿Acaso es la presencia de tales pensamientos-ideas, un obstáculo kármico que requiere ser tratado y removido antes de que la persona pueda recibir el regalo de la Fe de Amida?”