The difference between the three kinds of faith in the Contemplation Sutra and the three kinds of faith of the Primal Vow and the Larger Sutra

Fragment from my Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra. It is a work in progress and under constant revision. Click here to read the other chapters.

Shakyamuni Buddha said, in the Contemplation Sutra,

 
“Those who attain birth on the highest level of the highest grade are sentient beings who resolve to be born in that land, awaken the three kinds of faith, and so are born there. What are the three kinds of faith? They are, first, sincere faith; second, deep faith; and third, the faith that seeks birth there by transferring one’s merit. Those who have these three kinds of faith will certainly be born there.”[1]
 
In relation to the above three minds of faith in the Contemplation Sutra, Shinran Shonin explained,
 
“The three minds that beings awaken are all minds of self-benefit that are individually different and not the mind (of faith) that is single, which arises from Amida’s benefiting of others. They are roots of good with which to aspire for the Pure Land that Sakyamuni Tathagata taught as a distinct provisional means.”[2]
 
Here “the three minds” are “the three kinds of faith”. These are not aspects of true faith/shinjin (“mind that is single”) that is given by Amida Buddha (“arises from Amida’s benefiting of others”), and which means a complete and total reliance on Amida Buddha in matters of birth in the Pure Land, but aspects of a self-created faith.  As the personalities of the practitioners of the highest level of the highest grade (as well as all grades and levels listed in the Contemplation Sutra) differ from each other, they have “individually different” faiths/minds with which they go to the border land of the Pure Land.
As this is a book that is meant to be simple, I will try my best to offer easy to understand explanations of these three faiths or three minds.
 
The sincere faith of the Contemplation Sutra means a sincere wish to go to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha and sincerely relying partially on Him and partially on their own spiritual capacities. For these kind of practitioners, Amida’s Power is only an assisting power and not the only Power that leads to birth in the Pure Land. They have a mixed faith and a faith that is deep in the sense that they really want to go to the Pure Land. Their deep faith is a deep understanding of the suffering of samsara and a strong wish to go to the Pure Land, asking for the assistance of Amida Buddha and being deeply convinced that their so-called merits and contribution is very important to reach that goal. Thus, they have a “faith that seeks birth there by transferring one’s merit”.
 
Contrary to the three aspects of the self-power faith of the Contemplation Sutra, the three aspects of the genuine faith of the Primal Vow that is presented in the Larger Sutra, are a sincere faith in the Power of Amida as the only Power that makes birth in the Pure Land possible. This mind of faith is a “mind that is single” in the sense that has totally surrendered to Amida’s Power and is uniquely oriented towards Amida, thus saying only His Name in faith, without combining other practices. The deep mind aspect of a genuine faith in Amida Buddha is the twofold profound conviction which is 1) to know that we are people of deep karmic limitations, incapable of attaining Buddhahood through our own power and 2) that only Amida Buddha can save us through His Vow Power without asking anything from us.
The aspect of merit transference in a genuine faith (shinjin) is that we rely NOT on the transference of our pitiful merits towards birth in the Pure Land, but on Amida’s transference of merits. A person of true faith abandons the idea of “deserving” to be born in the Pure Land which is the main feature of those destined to the border land and who are obsessed with levels and grades. Unlike them, a person of total faith in Amida Buddha knows that he cannot create anything in his samsaric and unenlightened mind that can bring him to the Pure Land of Enlightenment, and so he lets Amida bring Him there.

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[1] The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.92
[2] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho, cf with Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 212

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

 

As this is a very important teaching I decided to poste it here too. At Amidaji we consider it to be of utmost importance to respect all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, as well as all Dharma Gates, sutras, tantras and authentic lineages of transmission. 

There are hundreds of video teachings on my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@JoshoAdrianCirlea and I invite you to visit it, subscribe and enjoy them, perhaps finding something useful there.

As a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist I do NOT believe in any good or evil "world order"

I think this short video might be useful, so I post it here too. Please check my youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@JoshoAdrianCirlea/videos for hundreds of other video teachings and discussions.  

Namo Amida Bu 

Article mentioned in the video:
The benefit of entering the stage of the truly settled (non-retrogression) 

Keep worldly affairs out of the temple

 

As you may probably know, in many Buddhist temples around the world, Jodo Shinshu or not, members organize parties with music, alcohol, and dancing. Some say it relaxes people and brings them together. I say it is a smart trick of internal maras (one's own blind passions and ignorance) and/or external maras or various evil spirits to make people forget the Dharma in the exact place where they have the chance to deepen its meaning, a subtle way of distracting them from the teaching and keeping them focused on their worldly passions and preoccupations.

State of mind in the moment of death

Shinran Shonin said in one of his Letters (Mattosho):

“I, for my own part, attach no significance to the condition, good or bad, of persons in their final moments. People in whom shinjin (faith) is determined do not doubt, and so abide among the truly settled. For this reason, their end also - even for those ignorant and foolish and lacking in wisdom - is a happy one.”

This is for me, one of the most important statements of Shinran Shonin. No matter if I die well, in my bed, or in the street like a homeless person, no matter if I feel good or bad, if I smile and die peacefully with the appearance of a wise person or I cry because of pain or fear, no matter if my death makes a good impression or not, no matter if I die of old age or in my youth, I am accepted exactly as I am and I will be born in the Pure Land because of Amida’s Compassion. This is because, in His Primal Vow, Amida Buddha did not mention a special condition in which I have to die in order to be born in the Pure Land, He just promised that those beings who trust in Him, wish to be born in His land and say His Name will be born there. These three minds – the mind who entrusts in Amida, the mind who wishes to be born in Amida’s Land and the mind who says Nembutsu are in fact one mind –  the manifestations of the entrusting mind.

In Jodo Shinshu our salvation starts in the here and now, that is, we enter the stage of non-retrogression (“truly settled”) or the stage of those assured of Nirvana, in the very moment we entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha, and we are born in the Pure Land where we become immediately Buddhas in the moment we die. But even after we receive shinjin (faith in Amida Buddha) we continue to live our lives like ordinary people, filled with blind passions and illusions, and we can die like ordinary people because of the problems of ordinary people.

However, this very ordinary person is already “received and never abandoned” by the Compassion of Amida Buddha and in this way his end becomes a happy one. He dies like an ordinary person but is reborn as a Buddha in the Pure Land of Amida.

A BOMBŪ LOST ABOVE THE SKY OF ROMANIA - My experience at Amida-ji, by Hōrai Alessandro Coletta

Rev. Jōshō Adrian Cîrlea was the first teacher from whom I heard Amida Dharma when I discovered his videos on YouTube at the beginning of 2023.

A few days earlier, I had been in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy, with my wife on a sightseeing trip. As usual, I felt the deep discomfort that almost always accompanies me when I step outside my comfort zone. Among various monuments and museums, we visited the Museum of Oriental Art (MAO Torino), where I knew several Buddhist objects, statues, and paintings from Asia were displayed. I have always been attracted, since childhood, to Eastern aesthetics, particularly Sino-Japanese, which even influenced my first steps into the Dharma when, in 2008, I set foot in my first Zen temple.

Since then, many years have passed, during which I practiced zazen and vipassana, attended retreats (sometimes fleeing from them), and visited various Dharma centers in Italy belonging to different schools. I formally took Refuge in the Three Jewels, undertook the Five Precepts, and maintained a general practice—not without struggles—while simultaneously trying to manage various personal, family, and emotional issues.