A friend of mine asked me to send him a few words on the occasion of Obon festival, so I wrote these verses, which comprise the essentials of our teaching. I call them Funeral Verses on the Death of Self-Power Mind:
Cremate the old corpse
of clinging to your so called merits and "spiritual realisations" in
the fire of the twofould profound conviction.
Conduct daily funeral ceremonies for your attachement to self power by entrusting to Amida's Power of salvation.
As the smoke offering to provide to the departed, enjoy in the merit transference of coming back to this world to save all beings.
And for the funeral monument, raise the Nembutsu of faith on the grave of different practices, teachings and wrong views.
Explanation of some
terms for those who have little knowledge of Jodo Shinshu: