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?”

The cause for birth into the Pure Land may appear anytime

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Honen Shonin said: 

“The completion of the karma necessary for birth into the Pure Land may be at any ordinary time, or at the time of death. There is no distinction made between the two in the language of the Primal Vow.”[1]

In the very first moment one entrusts to Amida Buddha he enters the stage of non-retrogression for birth in the Pure Land where he will attain supreme Enlightenment. The karma necessary for birth into the Pure Land appears in the very first moment of faith when the believer receives the pure karmic merits of Amida which make him capable of going there. 

This passage contradicts those who think that the moment of death is of paramount importance for birth into the Pure Land. I always insist that we are the school of the Primal Vow and that whatever we need to know is to be found in the Primal Vow. Honen Shonin thought the same when he made reference to “the language of the Primal Vow” in which Amida urged us to entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His land. Some do this when they are strong and healthy, young or old, while others when they are about to die. Amida did not mention a specific moment in life when one should entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His land, so we should not worry about this. Anytime is a good time to say the Nembutsu of faith. 

The following passage proves even more that Honen Shonin did not add a special significance to the Nembutsu at the time of death: 

"Question: Which is more profound: Nembutsu at the time of death or Nembutsu in our daily life?

Answer: They are the same. Our daily Nembutsu and Nembutsu at the time of death are no different at all. When we are visited by death, our daily Nembutsu becomes Nembutsu at death; if our life is prolonged,  Nembutsu at death becomes Nembutsu of daily life."[2]

  

---

[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. 398
[2] The Promise of Amida Buddha - Honen's Path to Bliss; English translation of the Genko edition of the works of Honen Shonin - Collected Teachings of Kurodani Shonin: The Japanese Anthology (Wago Toroku), translated by Joji Atone and Yoko Hayashi, Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2011, p.125

The need for oral instructions by a true teacher

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

Honen Shonin said: 

“A man who reads about the doctrines of the Jodo (Pure Land) without receiving oral instruction will miss the thing really necessary to the attainment of Ojo (birth in the Pure Land). Men of high station such as Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, and on the other hand, men of the lowest rank of common latter-day sinners guilty of the ten evil deeds and the five deadly sins, used to be the object of Shakyamuni Buddha’s exhortations to enter the Land of Perfect Bliss. Now we, common men of the lowest class, when we hear the Buddha exhorting good men at once begin to depreciate ourselves and to think that we cannot be born into the Pure Land, and so we actually by our doubts prevent ourselves from reaching that birth after death. The main thing, then, is that we clearly distinguish between the teaching intended for the good, and that applicable to the evil like ourselves. If we are so minded, our faith in the certainty of our own birth will become assured, and through the power of the Buddha’s Primal Vow we shall accomplish our birth into that land at death.”[1] 

Honen Shonin and the nun in the Ninnaji temple

 

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

“There was once a nun in the Ninnaji temple who came to Honen, and with a tone of sadness in her voice, said she had made a vow to read the Hokke Sutra (Lotus Sutra) a thousand times over. She had already finished reading it seven hundred times, but as she was now getting quite old, she did not know how to obtain the merit of doing the rest. Then Honen said, ‘You have indeed done well despite your age to read it over seven hundred times. As to the other three hundred, the best thing to do is to apply your whole mind to one thing, and that is the practice of the Nembutsu’.

She took his advice, gave up the reading, and did nothing but call upon the sacred Name all the rest of her life, till she at last attained Ojo (birth in the Pure Land). 

Honen Shonin's letter to nun Shonyobo

 

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin with commentary

A nun called Shōnyobō who practiced Nembutsu and embraced the teaching of Honen Shonin became sick, and as she was lying on her death bed she sent word that she would like to see him one last time. At that moment Honen was in a Nembutsu retreat and he wrote her the following letter (words in brackets are my own): 

“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.

Simple explanations of shinjin (faith) coming from Amida Buddha (video)

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Here are two articles on the same topic:

Faith in Amida Buddha is not the creation of our minds

Again on the idea that faith in Amida comes from Amida