Are faith and devotion two different things?

Question: Are devotion and faith two different things? Faith seems to be constant while devotion is sometimes felt more or less depending on our inner circumstance and our emotional states of mind. However, faith is not affected by our changing emotional states, so I ask if these are two different things.

Answer: Faith (shinjin) is a simple entrusting. As I always like to say, its similar with entrusting John who is a mechanic to fix your car because you can’t do it yourself. In the same way, we entrust to Amida Buddha to take us to the Pure Land of perfect Enlightenment because we can’t go there through our self-power.

Devotion does not always imply a specific emotional state of mind, but always means dedication. When you have faith you are dedicated entirely to Amida Buddha, you entrust only to Him, you say only His Name and wish to go only to His Pure Land. This exclusive focus on Amida Buddha in your religious life is devotion. It means you are entirely devoted to Amida. It does not matter that today you make more bows or say Nembutsu many times and tomorrow you do no bowing and say less Nembutsu. It means that no matter what happens in your daily life you continue to be devoted exclusively to Amida. Faith never disappears from your heart once it arrived there. So, as long as you have faith in Amida you are automatically devoted to Amida. Faith means devotion. Even those who don’t have mental stability have devotion towards Amida Buddha if they entrust to Him. So, faith and devotion are never separated.

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 then why does Shinran urges 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.”

Answer: Shinran also said:

"In the Primal Vow are the words:
'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times'.

What does it mean to doubt the wisdom of the Buddha?

Question: Doubting the Buddha's wisdom is like saying that what He teaches is false therefore, a person is not born in the Pure Land for doubting the Wisdom of the Buddha?  Not to doubt the Wisdom of the Buddha is equal to Shinjin?

Answer: Yes, not to doubt the wisdom of the Buddha means that you accept Amida Buddha knows better than you how to save you. That He devised the best method to save you, and so you follow exclusively His instructions in His Primal Vow.

To doubt the wisdom of the Buddha means that although you hear the requirements of the Primal Vow you think you know better than Amida and so instead of following the exclusive requirements of Amida – “say my Name perhaps even ten times” you think that you need to say Nembutsu many times or that you can combine Nembutsu with something else, like other practices. This means you doubt Amida’s wisdom and think you know better than Him what is needed for your salvation.

Although you hear Amida said, “entrust to me”, which means only to Him, you mix the reliance on Amida with faith in other Buddhist and nonbuddhist religious figures. Instead of wishing to be born in His Land as Amida asked you to do, you think you know better and you lie to yourself that you are already in the Pure Land of here and now. Although is clear from Amida’s own description (in the Larger Sutra) of the enlightened qualities of those born in the Pure Land, who indicate that the Pure Land is NOT here and now, you continue to believe that you know better and that the Pure Land is here and now when you clearly don’t have the same qualities.

These are just a few examples of playing smart and doubting the wisdom of the Buddha.

New stove inside Amidado (Amida Hall)

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE NEW UPGRADES AT THE TEMPLE 

Last month I installed a stove on wood in Amidado Hall of Amidaji temple. This makes services and teaching activities easier during the cold season. Thank you very much to all who donated to make this possible. 

Please continue to support Amidaji temple!

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How to help friends and family create a connection with Amida Buddha

Question: “Sometimes, one may be concerned about friends and family, because they have chosen different religious ways, or decided to believe in nothing at all. Of course, they also think that their path is the correct one and even if this can change during a lifetime, they might never have access to Buddhism. If we try to bring them on the path, they might block this from the beginning. It is just too early for them from the karmic point of view. How can we work discreetly on them, so that they develop interest in Buddhism, if not in this life, at least in one of the coming lives? What is your advice?”

NEW book! Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Teachings - second revised edition

Jodo Shinshu does not give moral speeches and it doesn’t contain difficult practices. While other Buddhist methods talk about the ideal of Buddhahood and the possibility to attain it in this life, Jodo Shinshu starts with the sense of failure.

It is a simple path for ordinary people like you and me, lost from morning till evening in the fight for daily survival, filled with illusions and attachments to which we see neither the beginning nor the end. Jodo Shinshu is not a path for saints, but for losers, for those who cannot attain by themselves anything stable in the spiritual life.

Abandon any practice which is not mentioned in the Primal Vow

Master Shan-tao said:

"Abandon the teachings that Amida Buddha abandoned, observe the practice that Amida Buddha observed, and leave the practices that Amida Buddha left. This is said to be 'in accordance with the teaching of Amida Buddha' and 'in compliance with the intent of Amida Buddha'. Such a person is referred to as the 'true disciple of Amida Buddha'". [1]

This passage means that we must abandon everything which is not mentioned in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, where only faith, saying of the Name in faith and wish for birth in the Pure Land are taught. If you do this, you are in accord with Amida's Primal Vow and you are His true disciple. Any practice or teaching which are not mentioned in the Primal Vow, like various meditation methods, mantras or anything else, should NOT be followed because they do not lead to birth in the true fulfilled land of the Pure Land[2]. This does NOT mean those practices are bad! On the contrary, if they were taught by Shakyamuni Buddha they are all perfect and good in themselves, but I repeat, they are not practices leading to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha because they were not mentioned in His Primal Vow. This is the only reason we should not follow them. Mixing the various Dharma gates is wrong and not useful at the level we are now as unenlightened beings.

 

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[1] Master Shan-tao quoted by Honen Shonin in An Outline of the Doctrine for Birth in the Pure Land.

[2] The true fulfilled land of the Pure Land is the center of the Pure Land where upon birth there we immediately become Buddhas.