Rights versus Dharma Responsability

- fragment from a letter to a priest who embraced wrong views -

  

Recently, a priest wrote to me:

"I have the right to my own views. What you do in your books and on your website is to judge others because you do not agree with them. This is outrageous".

My answer:

From the legal or juridical point of view, you have the right to do everything you want with Amida Dharma. This is because we are fortunate to live in countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed.  But from the moral and Buddhist point of view, you do not have the right to change Amida Dharma, and the reason for this is very simple -  you are not a Buddha. 

As a priest and teacher you do not have rights, but responsabilities toward the Amida Dharma and sentient beings who come in contact with it. This is not a matter of you and me agreeing with each other. The sangha is not a social club, but a place where we should be in harmony with the Dharma. Please bear this in mind.

Os dois aspectos da Terra Pura

- click here for the English version - 

A Terra Pura de Buda Amida têm dois aspectos:: 1) O aspecto do Dharmakaya supremo , e  2) o aspecto da manifestação Sambhogakaya (recompensa). 

1) O primeiro aspecto (Dharmakaya) significa que a Terra Pura é Nirvânica em sua essência, como explicado no Sutra Maior:

Minha terra, como o próprio Nirvana,

Será além das comparações.”[1]

Isto significa que todas as manifestações da Terra Pura estão enraizadas na perfeita Iluminação de Buda Amida e conduzem á Iluminação. Nós atingiremos a Iluminação quando nascermos na Terra Pura, porque a essência da Terra Pura é a própria  Iluminação/Nirvana/Dharmakaya. Se a Terra Pura não fosse um reino iluminado, ela produziria apenas apegos sensoriais como outros reinos samsáricos, mas o Buda Shakyamuni[2] e nossos Mestres[3] foram muito claros dizendo que este não é o caso.

A short question and answer on the home altar

Yasodhara venerating the Buddha by placing her head upon His feet.

I myself like to place my head on the feet of Amida images/statues and kiss them. 

Question:

"Some say that a Jodo Shinshu follower must have a home altar (butsudan), while others say this is not important. What do you think?"

Answer:

I think it depends on each person. Let me give you an example from daily life.

Some are capable to remember their loved ones even if they don't carry their photos with them every day. Others, even if they also never forget their loved ones, they enjoy looking with love and affectionate thoughts to their photos. I myself never forget the girl I love, even when I do not see her for many days or weeks, but I like to look at her photo anytime I can, so I always carry  one of her photos with me, in my pocket. It is the same pocket I carry a photo with Amida Buddha, too :)

This is somewhat similar with having an altar dedicated to Amida Buddha and an image with Him in your own room. You are never far from Amida, and you know He is always with you, but because your unenlightened eyes of flesh cannot see Him, you may wish to have a painted image with Him and His Name in Chinese or English characters. There is nothing wrong with this, but on the contrary, it may prove helpful.

Also, have you ever kissed a photo of your dear ones, when you thought to them or missed them, or simply out of love for them? In the same way, you can have an image of Amida Buddha to whom you can offer flowers or bow to it, or touch your forehead with it, or even kiss it with devotion. I myself like to do all these things with images of Amida Buddha. It is the way this ignorant and devotional peasant likes to express his faith in his Savior.

But of course, you may be different and you might not feel the need to have sacred images at home. Both choices are ok, as long as you have faith (shinjin), because faith is all that matters. And if you are not yet established in faith, sacred images may help in creating connection with Amida Buddha, along with listening to the true teaching about Him.

- fragment from a letter to a friend -

Amidaji Construction News 2016 (part I)

Before you read this article, you can go here (click here) and read about the general work plan and progress made until now

Scroll down to read the updates!
click here to read - Amidaji construction news 2016 (part III) and an announcement for visitors - 
click here to read Amidaji construction news (2016), part II - THE LIBRARY!

Dear Dharma friends,

working on the inside walls of the little Hondo (Dharma Hall)

Here I am again at the place where I build Amidaji temple. And here is the main plan for this year (2016):

- to pay some taxes for the land of Amidaji and for the little Hondo ( - partially done, read bellow!)

- to add thermal insulation to the inside walls of the little Hondo (Dharma Hall) - done, read bellow!

- to build two toilets and a showers area (plus a little septic tank because the village where I build Amidaji has no sewerage)

- to build a gate for the Amidaji compound (you probably remember the fence I built last year!)

- to build one or more accommodation places for visitors
- to build a well (nowadays our source of water is outside of Amidaji land)

- to make a large concrete platform for a new bigger Hondo (around 50 square meters or more) which will be placed near the actual Hondo (Dharma Hall) - when the bigger Hondo will be built, the actual one will be transformed into the library. This bigger Hondo is scheduled to be built in the next year, but if I raise enough funds I do not exclude the possibility to start working on it this year, too!

Why do I call myself an orthodox priest

Before reading Dharma texts we raise them to the forehead.
This signifies the Dharma is supreme and above personal
views and opinions.

I was recently asked how I dare to consider myself an orthodox Jodo Shinshu Buddhist priest and say that some other nowadays teachers/priests are mistaken...

My answer is that I do NOT dare anything in relation with Jodo Shinshu! On the contrary, I am very "frightened" when I think to Amida Dharma. Since I have become a priest and started to wear the kesa of Nembutsu faith I am constantly under a great fear. It is the fear that I can make a mistake and somehow misguide people with personal ideas. And it is because I have this fear that I stick to the words of the sutras and the Masters of our lineage.

Because I am stupid and they are all-wise, because I am nothing and they are supreme, because I am unenlightened while Shakyamuni who told the story of Amida Buddha was Enlightened. This is why I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower.

I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu priest because I am responsible and I know my place and limitations. Just like I do not dare to behave like a surgeon and operate people on open heart, I also do not dare to behave like a Buddha and change His Dharma. This unique Dharma (Amida Dharma) can save beings from birth and death only if it is followed as prescribed by the Buddha and the Masters, so I do not dare changing it.  

I am an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower and priest because I have abandoned any idea of personal authority over the Amida Dharma. It is because I humble myself at the feet of Shakyamuni and the Masters of our tradition, not teaching what they did not teach, and not transmitting to others what they did not transmit, that I call myself an orthodox Jodo Shinshu follower.