Depend on Amida, not on your feelings

There is no need to create something

special into your mind.

By saying Namo Amida Bu in faith 

you accept that everything necesary 

to your salvation depends entirely 

on Amida Buddha. 

Question:

How can I say that I have or don't have shinjin (faith) if there is no special feeling I should associate it with?

Answer:

Rather than asking yourself, "do I feel the right thing" in relation with shinjin (faith), you should better ask:

- do I accept the real existence of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land?

- do I accept Amida Buddha's salvation as promised in His Primal Vow, that is, do I entrust myself completely to Him?

- do I accept that only Amida Buddha can save me through His Power from birth and death and that nothing which can be found in my unenlightened personality can help me in any way in achieving this goal?

If your answer to the above questions is YES, I DO, then you are a person of faith.

So, you are a person of faith not because you feel the right thing, or because you have an intellectual understanding of all Buddhist concepts, including faith, but because you accept and you know  that Amida Buddha and His Pure Land are real and that He saves you by assuring your birth there after death.

Se o Voto Original de Amida é Verdadeiro...

                                            (translated from English by Shaku Shinkai)

- click here for the English version - 

 Shinran Shonin disse:

Shinran Shonin

“Se o Voto Original de Amida é verdadeiro, então o ensinamento de Shakyamuni não pode ser falso. Se os comentários de Shan-tao são verdadeiros, as palavras de Honen podem ser falsas? Se as palavras de Honen são verdadeiras, então certamente o que eu digo não pode ser vazio.[1]”

O Voto Original é verdadeiro. Esta é a base da nossa fé e de todo o Dharma de Amida ensinado por Shakyamuni e os Mestres que vieram depois. Tudo começa assim – o Voto Original é verdadeiro. Se aceitamos que o Voto original é verdadeiro e confiamos nele sem dúvida, então somos salvos; se não, esta vida em forma humana será em vão:

“se nesta vida você ainda está emaranhado em uma rede de dúvidas, então inevitavelmente você deve passar mais uma vez no caminho de nascimentos e mortes através das miríades de kalpas[2]”.

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!