Amida Buddha is the best guide to our Buddha nature

Amida Buddha is the best guide to the Buddha nature which is the true nature of all beings. However, attaining Buddha nature does NOT mean that transcendent Buddhas like Amida stop existing.  Rather it means Amida takes you to a dimension where all Buddhas dwell. It's like escaping a prison (samsara) and joining all Buddhas in the same beautiful park where you can know each other and have fun together. Of course, discovering Buddha nature is beyond words and conceptual understanding, but I'm using this image just to help you stop falling into the wrong view of nihilistic voidness.

The similarity between Shinran and Honen and the difference between Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu

 You can find more video teachings on the playlist DHARMA TALKS in my YouTube channel.

Useful articles related with this video teaching: Difference between Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu State of mind in the moment of death

Can someone read about another religion just to get knowledge?

It depends who that person is and how much settled he is in the faith of the Primal Vow. A person who really has faith in Amida Buddha can read whatever he wants because he will never be influenced by other religions, but someone not yet settled in faith should better leave aside any nonBuddhist book and focus entirely on listening deeply (reading is also listening) the Jodo Shinshu teaching and asking questions to clear his doubts. Why? Because he can be easily influenced by what he reads and everything he reads can become an obstacle and make him depart from the Dharma and the Primal Vow. I saw many people abandoning the Buddhist Path because they read too many things.
 
Also, I remember that Master Rennyo said something like, before shinjin listen to the Dharma, after shinjin also listen to the Dharma. The listening of Dharma never stops for a true Nembutsu follower.
 
So read whatever you want if you have faith and you just want to get knowledge but be careful to never abandon listening and reading the Dharma. Don’t put the study of other religions first and reading the Dharma second. Make yourself a habit to always read at least a Dharma sentence or a Dharma text every day. If you find time to read about other religions you will certainly find time for the Dharma, too.

 

Los Diez Beneficios de la fe en Amida durante esta vida: 7. El beneficio de tener una gran alegría en nuestros corazones

translated from English by Juan Sebastian Hincapie Arana

Recibir la fe (shinjin) equivale a escapar de una gran carga. Sabemos que nos convertiremos en Budas en la Tierra Pura de Amida, sin importar nuestra situación actual. Esta alegría es como el alivio que sientes cuando te quitan una gran carga de los hombros y, de hecho, no hay mayor carga que la de no estar iluminado y ser un esclavo de la existencia samsárica. La carga de nuestra liberación la lleva el Buda llamado Amida, quien ya cruzó el Camino por nosotros. Cualquiera que lleve una gran carga se siente feliz cuando se la quitan, por lo que puedes sentirte feliz o sentir alivio cuando te encomiendas por primera vez al Buda Amida, si lograr la Budeidad o la liberación final del nacimiento y la muerte es lo más importante para ti. Sin embargo, esto no quiere decir que hora a hora, minuto a minuto, segundo a segundo, pensarás en Amida o sentirás una alegría continua como para saltar por los aires. Nuestras vidas son de tal manera que siempre podemos ser abrumados por los problemas y preocupaciones diarias. Pero está bien, simplemente está bien ser así. No estamos obligados a saltar siempre de alegría porque Amida nos salva. 

Don’t say “Mother Nature” – say “Mother Karma”

 In Buddhism we do not consider nature to be our mother. We do not embrace such ideas of mother nature as a benevolent goddess. We do not venerate “mother Earth”. In fact, as long as we are not enlightened, karma is our only mother because we are born from our karma, that is, from our own thoughts, words and deeds. Individual karma is responsible for what we are now, how we look, how beautiful or ugly we are, how smart or stupid, how healthy or sick, and if we die young or old. We are the effects of our own karma and what we do, say or think creates us in the future. Also, individual karma and the collective karma is responsible for the apparition of world systems and universes, each with their own different physical laws. Actually, you are the mother or parent of the world you live in now with all its exterior appearances, just like you are the creator of your own dreams at night which arise due to your thoughts and actions during the day. The dreamer is the creator of his own dream and because samsara is our collective dream, we are the very origin of all that appears in our samsaric universe. The earth itself appeared from our own collective karma and it is part of our collective dream.

I don't need miracles to strengthen my faith in Amida Buddha (video teaching)

 

You can find more video teachings on the playlist DHARMA TALKS in my YouTube channel.

What to do with evil thoughts that arise in our ignorant minds?

Question by a Dharma friend:

“When you are at home or walking around the village or somewhere and you see and feel evil impulses in your mind, do you feel regret or disliking that they arose?”

My answer:

“When I see evil impulses in my mind I am aware of their occurrence and I let them come and go by themselves. I change the focus from them to something else that I am doing at the moment, be it Nembutsu or watching a movie, working, etc, and by simply leaving them alone. I don't give them attention because that would make them grow even more, and I cannot solve them by feeling regret or by disliking them.

It is useless to dislike thoughts and feelings. If I focus on them with dislike or regret then I empower them, so I do not do that. After I instantly realize their appearance, I simply leave them alone. I do not take them seriously. Thoughts and feelings are like clouds that appear on the empty sky. They do not deserve my attention because they are not real, so I do not want to give them a reality they don't actually have.

Thoughts and feelings appear and disappear naturally IF we allow them to disappear. But if we start judging them, feeling regret about them and dislike them, then we help them become greater and greater. This is how obsession grows. Obsessions are simple thoughts and feelings that were given too much attention and were taken too serious.

My way is to not take the evil thoughts and feelings too serious, but leave them, let them come and go, not focusing on them. Shinran Shonin made a wonderfully true statement when he said that "the Nembutsu alone is true and real" while everything else is a delusion. If the Nembutsu alone is true and real why take seriously all the residual thoughts and garbage that normally appears in my ignorant mind?

Namo Amida Bu