Selected Teachings from Honen Shonin with Commentary (free edition and printed edition for sale)

The role of a teacher is to make things simple and this is exactly what I’m trying to do through my books. I pick and choose that which is easy to understand from the many volumes of the sacred texts and organize and explain them in such a way so that both the idiot and the scholar can understand and receive faith (shinjin). 

I also try to make useful connections between various Masters and their teachings. For example, in this book I show that Honen and his disciple Shinran, spoke the same language of faith and essentially taught the same teaching although sometimes the words and context are different.

Among the many sayings of Honen, I chose a few in this book and my other books, that I consider to be very important and which can serve as a standard of reading and understanding him in our Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. 

Click here if you wish to download the free online edition in pdf,

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Members of Amidaji: Hokai Sylvie Kirsch from the Cook Islands

Click here to return to the main page of spiritual biographies of Amidaji members

My grandmother brought me up Catholic. My first husband was Protestant, we’d agreed to allow our children to grow up and make their own spiritual choices. It was when my 13-month-old daughter passed away and a catholic priest refused to bless her grave because she wasn’t baptised.  The implication that my daughter was abandoned in hell because she wasn’t baptised devastated me. How could this so-called “god of love”, one to whom I’d put my faith and devotion all my life, not gladly receive the soul of an innocent child in his arms? I went through a spiritual struggle over the next few years, shifting towards the Protestant Reformed Church and trying to make sense of the growing inconsistencies. Eventually, I lost my faith in Christianity. I then went on a spiritual journey to find the true manifestation of all-embracing compassion.
 
 Like many of my Amidaji kin, I began by grappling my way through various spiritualities and philosophies.  Studying in earnest, I would eventually peel off the veneer of salvation, to discover that each was riddled with inconsistencies, and all lacked any true, universal compassion. What seemed like a purposeful journey ended up being stuck going around in circles in a meaningless labyrinth, from which there was no escape.

A big nenju has been gifted to Amidaji temple

My Dharma friend Cheusa Wend (77) from USA donated this beautiful big nenju (mala/Buddhist rosary) of around one meter and a half to Amidaji temple Romania in the name of her late husband Koun Eb Whipple, and her parents Phyllis Latham Stoner and William Richard Stoner. May all their obstacles be removed and may they create indestructible connections with Amida Buddha, entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land! 

The nenju now adorns the hands of the statue of Amida Buddha in the Amidado (Amida Hall) of Amidaji temple Romania until we decide where to keep it. We intend to use it in some ceremonies, perhaps in chanting the Nembutsu in a circle, and other liturgies to express faith in Amida Buddha and our gratitude for being saved as we are. 

As you might know, in our Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, the nenju represents faith in Amida Buddha and the Nembutsu of faith. It shows our devotion and connection with Him. 

Namo Amida Bu

 

Remember to say the Nembutsu

last revised February 18th, 2024

Click here to return to 

Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

You must believe that Nembutsu possesses supreme merit and that Amida Buddha with His great compassion of the Primal Vow, will come to embrace one who recites Nembutsu even ten times or just once. Thus believing this, practice Nembutsu for your entire lifetime without negligence”[1]. 

Commentary:

As I showed in chapter “The Nembutsu is true and real” from my book Simple Teachings on Emptiness and Buddha nature, by quoting many sacred texts, the Name contains the merits of Amida and all Buddhas, as well as the virtues of all Buddhist teachings and practices. “It is the treasure-sea of merits of true Suchness, ultimate reality”[2], as Shinran said. 

Also, Amida protects and embraces those who entrust to Him both in this life as well as in the moment of death when He welcomes them into His Pure Land of Bliss.  

After pointing out that the number of recitations is not important for our birth in the Pure Land, Master Honen encouraged us to say the Name for our entire lifetime. Just as one who was saved from fire will always be grateful to his savior, we should also not be negligent in expressing our gratitude to Amida Buddha for saving us from the repeated births and deaths. This is the reason why sometimes Honen, but also Shinran and Rennyo, insisted on remembering to say the Nembutsu. It was NOT that the number of recitations is important (it isn’t!), but because we should remember to say “thank you” to the one who assured our liberation from samsara.

The Nembutsu is also the expression of faith, so if we really entrusted ourselves to Amida, we’ll surely like to express it by saying His Name.

---

[1] Teachings of Honen, translated by Yoko Hayashi and Joji Atone, Bukkyo University, Los Angeles, p 243-245
[2] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho, chapter II, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 9

 

On the "here and now" spiritual trap

Some people say that the Nembutsu of faith is too much related with death and afterlife and that they prefer something (a practice or teaching) for the "here and now”. The world of spiritual seekers is filled with such ideas of "here and now" being a supreme goal, that we must learn to live in the "here and now", and not think about death or after death. But this separation is only a delusion. In truth, death is not separated from the "here and now” as breath which comes out might not be followed by the breath which comes in. In the "here and now” we can lose everything; in the "here and now” we and our loved ones can stop breathing, in the "here and now” we may suddenly find ourselves in the afterlife, losing this humanform, the chance of listening the Amida Dharma and receive faith.

Like in the good movie, "Groundhog day” , the minds of unenlightened people dwell constantly in an ever repeating "here and now”. Unfortunately, they like this "here and now" so much that they even create spiritual ideologies to keep them focused on it. Being extremely attached to the "here and now”, they refuse to speak about death and rebirth, or the aspiration to be born in Amida’s Pure Land, calling it a reminiscent of folk religion or a distraction from the "here and now". Unfortunately, they will also die one day, in the exact moment they dream about ‚"here and now" and will be born again, in another "here and now" - the same here and now, but painted differently. How sad this is…

The relation between hearing the Name, faith and saying the Name of Amida Buddha

Amida Buddha promised in His Primal Vow that those who entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land (“sincerely entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and say my Name perhaps even ten times[1]”) will be born there.
 
The reason faith (“entrust to me”), desire to be born in the Pure Land, as well as the saying of the Name (Nembutsu) are mentioned in the same Vow is because they cannot be treated separately. One who has faith in Amida Buddha will naturally say His Name and wish to be with Him in the Pure Land. Thus, there can be no faith separated from Nembutsu, and no Nembutsu separated from faith. Also, there can be no faith and no Nembutsu of faith without the desire to be born in the Pure Land.
 
Recently, a reader expressed the opinion that to say the Name of Amida Buddha is secondary to “hearing the Name”. This is a grave misunderstanding of the Jodo Shinshu teaching which cannot arise if we properly understand the term “hearing the Name”. So, to hear the Name means to have faith (shinjin), as Shinran clearly explained,

We do not rely on personal vows but on Amida's Primal Vow

Last update - January 8th, 2024

Scroll down to watch the video teaching on this topic

I heard many times the idea that we need to make a vow to be born in the Pure Land. This is said under the influence of various Chinese Pure Land groups that place a lot of emphasis on self-power, a view which is totally rejected in our school.

I will state it clearly and I ask all of you to please listen deeply:
We do not need to make a personal vow to be born in the Pure Land because birth in the Pure Land does NOT depend on our personal power, but on Amida's Power.
This is extremely important - you can be born in the Pure Land by the Power of Amida Buddha, and NOT by your self power! The vows you make have ZERO importance. What matters is that you give up any idea of self power and entrust completely to Amida Buddha.

In His Primal Vow (18th Vow) Amida mentioned three conditions to be born in His Pure Land : "say my Name, entrust to me and wish to be born in my land". He did not mention that you must make any vows or transfer any merits! To wish to be born is not the same as a vow which can easily make one think that he goes to the Pure Land through his own act of will. So, if we do the above three simple things in the Primal Vow, we become karmically connected to Amida's Power and we are assured of birth in the Pure Land.

Our Jodo Shinshu is the school of the Primal Vow, of total and exclusive reliance on Amida Buddha. Nothing inside our unenlightened minds can bring us closer to the Pure Land. Only Amida's Power and His Primal Vow (His Main Promise) are reliable. We will reach His Pure Land because He vowed that He will bring us there if we entrust to Him and say His Name in faith, and NOT because we make any personal vows or we transfer our pitiful "merits" to birth there.

The promises and vows made by unreliable and unenlightened minds mean nothing, while the Promise and Vow of Amida is everything.
Namo Amida Bu

The Pure Land is in harmony with all beings

Master Shan-tao said:

“It is regrettable indeed that sentient beings doubt what should not be doubted;
The Pure Land is right before us and never out of harmony with us.
Do not ponder whether Amida will take you in or not;
The question is whether or not you wholeheartedly turnabout at heart.”[1]
 

Commentary:
The Pure Land is extremely easy to reach. This is the meaning of the words “right before us”. We’ll go there in an instant at the moment of our death if we have entrusted ourselves to Amida Buddha during this life. It is the easiest country to emigrate – no visas, no special requirements, just say Amida’s Name in faith and wish to be born there, and you will, at the end of your physical body. Being easy to enter, the Pure Land is in harmony with all beings as anybody can go there without discrimination between virtuous and non-virtuous. Harmony mean accessibility, that is, nothing that can be found within our ignorant mind constitutes an obstacle for birth there.

Thus, you should not doubt Amida Buddha’s capacity to save you, but ask yourself if you really have faith in Him. To turnabout at heart means to leave behind any reliance on your self-power and abandon yourself totally to Amida’s Power. As He is the One who manifested His Pure Land, you can only go there through Him. An unenlightened mind cannot create within oneself the cause to birth into the enlightened realm of the Pure Land. 

 

 

---

[1] Master Shan-tao as quoted by Shinran in his Kygyoshinsho, The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.238

  

There is NO true spirit of compassion in the celebration of Christmas, Easter or other holidays of monotheistic religions

I think it’s necessary to continue the previous article We should not make publicity to nonBuddhist holidays or the gods and spirits they represent with a new one in which to explain even more why I think that promoting nonBuddhist holidays, symbols and so-called “divine figures” associated with them is creating a subtle obstacle for other people’s encounter with the true teaching of Buddhism. Many nowadays Buddhists and especially teachers or aspiring teachers suffer from the illness of political correctness, combined with an incapacity to use what they already have in Buddhism to promote its teachings. They are blind for subtle dangers and are unable to raise themselves above the ideologies or habits of their time and so they support some things just because the majority do it and it’s nice (and “compassionate”) to do them, or it pleases people, etc, without being aware that they actually build more obstacles for people’s encountering the Dharma and receive faith in Amida.
 
I usually do not read other people’s reactions to my posts, but sometimes their stupidity helps me to explain things better, which is why I think this article will be very beneficial to many.
 
Somebody wrote a reply to my previous article,
“The point I am making is that neither Amida Buddha, nor Shakyamuni Buddha, nor any other buddha (awakened being) cares whether you celebrate Christmas or not. Being an American raised in a Protestant Christian family, I personally celebrate Christmas, and treasure its spirit of forgiveness, charity, and compassion.”
 
Here is my answer,
The true spirit of Compassion is to be found in the Buddha Dharma because true Compassion is always related with true Wisdom which belongs only to Buddhas. From Infinite Wisdom arises Infinite Compassion, that is, from a real understanding of ultimate Buddha nature, the emptiness of samsaric phenomena and of the suffering of all beings drowned in delusion, Infinite Compassion arises. 

A great year for Amidaji

It has been a great spiritual pleasure for me that this year when we had the 850^th anniversary of Shinran Shonin’s birth in this world, and 20 years have passed since my ordination, our Amidaji international sangha has grown in quality with people of faith who are active in both learning and teaching. We are indeed a genuine Sangha where faith in Amida Buddha can be received and those who don’t have faith yet, can be guided and helped to receive it.
 
Also, this year has been very auspicious in the sense that I successfully examined and ordained Rev Kosho Arana of Colombia as a Buddhist monk (priest). He and our lay teachers, together with various lay members, are doing their best in their respective parts of the world to promote the orthodox teaching of Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. I also try my best to do my duty, inspired as I am by Amida Buddha and my fellow travelers on the Nembutsu Path. After so many years of struggle, which I explained in my autobiography, The Path Between the Thorns, I am finally at home in a Sangha which is a reflection of Amida’s Light in the world.
 
I often say that NOBODY has the monopoly on the Jodo Shinshu teaching (and ordinations), as there are people of genuine faith in all branches of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism or without any official affiliation at all. They are themselves reflections of Amida’s Light in the world and future Buddhas who will, sooner or later, be able to manifest an infinite number of Nirmanakaya (accommodated) bodies all over the samsaric universes to guide all beings, while in the same time dwell forever in Sambhogakaya form in the Pure Land of Peace and Bliss.   
 
To Amida Budha, to Amida Dharma, and to all people of faith from inside or outside of Amidaji,
I bow in gratitude with my head touching the ground and worship them as the Three Treasures.

Namo Amida Bu 
 
Josho Adrian Cirlea – Daisojo of Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism 

(Amidaji International Temple)
 

Links of Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism

( except this website)

Amidaji group in Russian language 

 Amidaji website in Spanish maintained by our members in Latino America

Youtube page of Amidaji in Spanish

Youtube channel in English (Rev Josho Adrian Cirlea)

Youtube channel of Joshin from USA 

Website in Romanian 

We should not make publicity to nonBuddhist holidays or the gods and spirits they represent

Some time ago I posted this message advising Buddhists to stop making publicity to nonBuddhist holidays:

 
Being respectful towards our nonBuddhist neighbours and friends does NOT mean that we should pray to or make publicity to false, nonBuddhist gods. As Pure Land Buddhists we should promote only Amida Buddha and encourage people to entrust only to Amida Buddha. By making publicity to nonBuddhist gods and spirits you create the evil karma of offering false teachings to sentient beings. I very much dislike how fake Buddhists post images (and even praises) of nonBuddhist gods and spirits on various nonBuddhists celebrations, including Christmas, Easter and even pre-Christian holidays. Remember, respect does NOT mean promotion! Respect means working together with your neighbors, helping them in times of need, etc. Promoting the images of their gods and spirits is a mistake, not a sign of respect. Pull yourselves together and stop being stupid when you try to be nice.

Question and Answer - the True Teaching of Shakyamuni on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land

Rev Kosho Arana at Amidaji

    Click here for the Spanish version

by Rev Kosho Arana 

 

 I recently received this question from a Facebook contact   Fatih Ozkan:

 I would like to ask some questions:

 Was Amitabha Buddha actually preached by Shakyamuni   Buddha  or was he later invented as an Upaya by the Mahayana   saints? Are Amitabha Buddha and The Pure Land literally real or   an archetype? Buddha-Dharma says that all dharmas   (phenomena) are sealed with three realities: pain, impermanence   and selflessness. How can Sukhavati be an eternal realm now?

 Sincerely, A-Mi-To-Fo 

*

  Hello Dear Ozkan, Namo Amida Bu

 Thank you for your questions. They are very important.

I will answer them as best I can.

The teachings about Amida Buddha (Amitabha Buddha) are an essential part of more than 290 Sutras in the Mahayana Canon, especially the Sukavativyuha or the Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life which was preached by Shakyamuni Buddha.  This teaching has been praised by many Mahayana masters including but not limited to Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, Bodhisattva Asanga, Master Tan Luan, Master Tao Ch’o, Master Shantao, Master Honen and Master Shinran. Shakyamuni Buddha Himself taught in many sutras the existence of innumerable Enlightened Realms outside Samsara, called Pure Lands which are created by different Buddhas according to their specific vows.

Nembutsu - the Path of the Last Dharma Age (commentary on the words of Bodhisattva Manjushri)

 

"In the Record of Holy Chu-lin Temple, it is recorded: 'While Bodhisattva Samantabhadra and Bodhisattva Manjusri sat facing each other in the east and west and were revealing the wondrous teachings to a multitude of sentient beings in the great hall of Chu-lin Temple on Mount Wut'ai, the meditation master Fachao kneeled and asked Bodhisattva Manjusri, 'What sort of teaching would make it possible for common mortals of the future defiled world to depart from the delusive triple realms forever and to be born in the Pure Land?'
Bodhisattva Manjusri replied, 'There is no practice superior to the recitation of the Name of Amida Buddha for birth in the Pure Land. Even in the path for the instantaneous realization of
Enlightenment, there is the sole teaching of Nembutsu. Therefore, the acclaimed holy teachings from the lifetime of Buddha Shakyamuni are the teachings of Amida Buddha, particularly for the common people in the defiled world of the future.' ”[1]
 

Commentary:
“Common mortals of the future defiled world” are us, people living in the Last Dharma Age, far removed from the presence in human form of the historical Buddha and His direct disciples.

The Path of the 19th Vow and the explicit and implicit (hidden) meaning of the Contemplation 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.

- last revised December 2nd, 2023 -

According to Shinran Shonin, and as I mentioned previously, the Contemplation Sutra is explicitly guiding people to the 19^th Vow, while implicitly referring to the Primal Vow (18^th Vow)[1]:
 
“When I consider the Sutra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, taking into account the interpretation of the commentator [Shan-tao], I find there is an explicit meaning and an implicit, hidden, inner meaning.
 
‘Explicit” refers to presenting the meditative and non-meditative good acts and setting forth the three levels of practicers and the three minds. The two forms of good and the three types of meritorious acts, however, are not the true cause of birth in the fulfilled land (center of the Pure Land). Further, the three minds that beings awaken are all minds of self-benefit that are individually different and not the mind 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. This is the import of the sutra; it is its “explicit” meaning.

Being ordained and training as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist monk in Amidaji Temple - my experience, by Rev Kosho Arana (Colombia)

This article is related with the first monk (priest) ordination held

 in Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism (click here to read)

download this article in pdf here

click here for the Spanish version of this article

I stumbled upon Reverend Josho Adrian Cirlea’s books on Jodo Shinshu Buddhism around 2018. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that my life was never the same after that. This is not because Josho Sensei is some kind of great guru or great spiritual master but simply because he expressed the Jodo Shinshu teaching with great simplicity and clarity and every page he writes on Jodo Shinshu doctrine is not based on his personal ideas but on the Sutras and the teachings of Shinran, Rennyo and the Jodo Shinshu Patriarcs.

 

Josho Sensei’s books contain the nectar of the sutras and shastras, because they are full to the brim with quotes from the words of Shakyamuni Buddha, Shinran Shonin, Honen Shonin and Rennyo Shonin, and the great Mahayana Patriarchs. There is no room for wrong views or half-truths in his writings. You can sense he is just an ordinary guy doing his best to explain to himself and others the wonderful treasure of the Buddha Dharma in general and Jodo Shinshu in particular, and that is priceless in our day and age in which there are thousands of self-proclaimed gurus, masters, “venerables” and mystics of all sorts who don’t blink twice at combining Buddhism with worldly ideologies, and samsaric religions just to make them more appealing to the masses. 

Josho Sensei simply could not care less about numbers or pleasing people. I could sense that from the first emails we exchanged. All his words and deeds as a Jodo Shinshu monk are just ways to say, “entrust yourself to the real and living Amida Buddha, say His Name with faith and gratitude and wish to be born in His Pure Land after death so that you scape the painful cycle of birth and death and attain Buddhahood, and then you yourself will eternally return to Samsara so save all beings in the 10 directions with perfect wisdom and compassion”. This clear, honest and uncompromising way to teach the Dharma is rarely found in Jodo Shinshu nowadays and I would say it is also scarce for Buddhism in general. “Feel good talks”, dangerous and misleading spiritual combinations, mundane entertainment and pop self-help teachings is what most temples thrive on nowadays. It’s fairly easy to find so-called Buddhist teachers and temples that never or rarely mention basic Buddhist teachings such as karma, samsara, Buddhahood, faith and morality. So, I am truly grateful to have found in this life an honest teacher who puts the Dharma above his own opinions and who tries to understand and explain the Dharma in simple terms for ordinary people living ordinary lives.

Three Jodo Shinshu Buddhist hymns recited in Amidaji style by Rev Josho and Rev Kosho (audio/video)

Here are three hymns recited in the powerful and energetic Amidaji style at Amidaji temple in Romania, during the Nembutsu retreat organized on the occasion of our first monk (priest) ordination (click here to read about it).

Each hymn is followed by the phonetical recitation and the English translation. All the hymns we use as well as various liturgical and worshipping explanations are explained in my book, Worshipping Amida Buddha - Liturgies and Ceremonies of Amidaji Temple, that you cand download for free or buy at this link. 

The Nembutsu liturgy

●●

doshi (the Leader): BU JO MI DA NYO RAI NIU DO JO

we respectfully call upon Amida Buddha to enter this place of practice[1]

doon (together): SAN GE RAKU[2]

as we joyfully scatter flowers of welcome

Things I did and improved at Amidaji in 2022 and 2023 - your help is very much needed and appreciated

the new kitchen of Amidaji
in the former accomodation place

 My last post (December, 2021) in the category Amidaji temple - work

 plan and progress was related with the stove that I installed in the

 Amidado (Hall of Amida), so now I am going to tell you what I did since that time. The following information are already present on various social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc

 In 2022, I arranged a new kitchen in the former accommodation place and transformed the former little Hondo (Dharma Hall) into a library and accommodation place. There I installed a cooking stove on gas and many useful things. 

in Amidaji kitchen with a guest from Taiwan

In the new accommodation place I also added a good stove made of tiles which is very useful during winter. This stove is even better than that from Amidado Hall which can warm the place for the duration of a service, while the heat in the library and accommodation place lasts for many hours. 

Electricity was also added to both the new kitchen and library.

In 2023 I printed and framed ten images of various Buddhas and Enlightened Bodhisattvas, like Avalokitesvara, Mahasthamaprapta, White Tara, Green Tara, Mahakala, etc, some of them wearing Amida on the crown of their head, as well as images of Shinran Shonin, Rennyo Shonin, the seven Patriarchs (Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, T’an Luan, Tao’ch’o, Shantao, Genshin, Honen), Shotoku Taishi, and I placed them inside the Amidado Hall.

The Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is inconceivable

 "Tathagata's Primal Vow surpasses conceptual understanding; it is a design of the wisdom of Buddhas. It is not the design of foolish beings. No one can fathom the wisdom of Buddhas, which surpasses conceptual understanding."[1]
 
"Further, with regard to Other Power, since it is inconceivable Buddha-wisdom, the attainment of supreme Enlightenment by foolish beings possessed of blind passions comes about through the working shared only by Buddhas; it is not in any way the design of the practicer. Thus, no working is true working. 'Working' that is negated refers to the calculation of the person of self-power. Concerning Other Power, then, no working is true working."[2]

New video discussion on the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha

 

Here is a new video in the series of the 71 topics of examination for those who want to be ordained in Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. The main speaker is my student Kosho Arana from Colombia. His presentation is based on my books TheMeaning of Faith and Nembutsu in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and my Commentary on the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life.

Kosho Arana is scheduled to receive monk (priest) ordination soon, together with Daigan from Uruguay. He already finished all the examinations with me but we continue this public presentation so that people find how we do things at Amidaji, and what a candidate for ordination needs to know. 

At THIS LINK you can also find the original detailed explanation (video) of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha as it appears in my books mentioned above. HERE is the same content on Amidaji website.

May all beings create indestructible connections with Amida Buddha, entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land.

Namo Amida Bu 

The Pure Land is NOT here and now (video discussion)

 

 Articles related with this video teaching,

The True Teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land

A collection of passages on the true meaning of birth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha Vows explaining the characteristics, the capacities and activities of beings who attained Enlightenment in the Pure Land after being born there Virtues and activities of the Enlightened Bodhisattvas of the Pure Land – commentary on sections 28 and 30 of the Larger Sutra Against the idea that the Pure Land is "here and now" AMIDA DHARMA - Fascicle 11. The benefits of birth in the Pure Land after death

Those who deny the existence of Amida don’t have shinjin (faith) – some simple explanations

Youtube channel of Shaku Joshin Video presentation of the 71 topics of examination for those who want to become lay teachers or monks and nuns in Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism