The twelve Lights of Amida Buddha – commentary on the first part of section 11 of the Larger Sutra

Image of Amida Buddha at the altar
of Amidaji temple

  fragment from my commentary on the Larger Sutra

- this is a work in progress and under constant revision -  

The whole section eleven should be read in connection with my explanation of the 12^th Vow where Bodhisattva Dharmakara promised that His Light as a Buddha will be infinite.

Now Shakyamuni himself speaks about the Light of Amida Buddha, praising it as supreme among the lights of all Buddhas and describing it as having twelve special characteristics, corresponding to twelve names:

 “‘The majestic light of Buddha Amitayus (Amida) is the most exalted. No other Buddha’s light can match His. The light of some Buddhas illuminates a hundred Buddha lands, and that of others a thousand Buddha lands. Briefly, that of Amitayus illuminates the eastern Buddha lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River. In the same way, it illuminates the Buddha lands in the south, west, and north, in each of the four intermediate directions, and above and below. […]

No need for ritual empowerment or initiation from a Master to connect with Amida Buddha

Question: Do I need to receive rituals of empowerment or initiations from a Master in order to connect with Amida Buddha?

My answer: You don't need empowerment from a Master or priest to connect with Amida Buddha. The greatest of all Buddhas is always available to you and offers His salvation freely and without any intermediary.
All you need to do is accept His helping hand, say His Name in faith and wish to be born in His Pure Land after death. In His Primal Vow, Amida did not mention any empowerment, but only "entrust to me, say my Name and wish to be born in my land". If nothing else was mentioned there, then you do NOT need anything else. Through following the three requirements of His Primal Vow you enter into karmic relation with Amida Buddha and into the stage of those assured of birth on His Pure Land. 
Any other practice associated with Amida Buddha which is not related with the three elements of His Primal Vow should NOT be your concern, because it does not constitute Amida's main intention. Jodo Shinshu is the school of the Primal Vow. We follow exclusively the requirements of the Primal Vow and by doing this we are always in direct connection with Amida Buddha.

Attitudes when doing ordinary offerings or Dharma offerings

Question: What should be the attitude when we help others with material things or if we are priests and offer teachings?

My answer:  When you give something to a poor person, (and I encourage my Dharma friends to make constant offerings of food, money, clothes, or whatever one can, to those who are in a difficult situation), you should be humble, respectful and grateful to them for accepting your offering. Be respectful as poverty is hard to bear and any insult can add immensely to their suffering. Be humble and grateful at being offered the opportunity to help them, as this will also help you to develop compassion and fulfill your filial duty towards your parent-like sentient beings.

Especially if you offer something in the name of your dead relatives, be grateful that they might thus receive the karmic benefits of your action[1]. Also be aware that there are still people who lack basic needs and that you cannot help them constantly due to your limited compassion and means.

Its the same when giving Dharma teachings because the offering of Amida Dharma is the highest form of offering. Be respectful because all people suffer from ignorance and attachement to their ego. They might also feel insulted even if you teach the true Dharma, so its better to avoid those who are not in a learning mood as you and them can always lose control due to spiritual limitations.

Be humble because the Dharma you are teaching is not your property, and you are only a transmitter, not a creator of the teaching. Be grateful to Amida Buddha for giving you the chance to help others receive faith in Him and for His unseen guidance and inspiration. Think that whatever true and useful words you say come from Amida's influence on you and whatever you say wrong is due to your unenlightened and limited personality. And you should also be aware that no matter what you do, you will never be able to repay Amida's benevolence and Compassion for you.

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[1] Beings in bardo, but also others can see the things that are done in their name by their former relatives. If they see and are joyful of the good done in their name, they receive the karmic effect of that action. Its like it was done by themselves.

 

Our attitude towards those who try to harm us or lead us away from Amida Dharma

"While holding the Nembutsu in your heart
and saying it always, please pray for the present
life and also the next life of those who slander it".

Question: What attitude should I have, as a Jodo Shinshu disciple, towards those who try to harm me or lead me away from Amida Dharma?

Answer: The truth is that there is NO being who was not, somewhere in the beginingless past, your own mother and father. So, you should look to them as to your own parents who went mentally sick, and cannot recognize you. This is not just a metaphor, but the truth in accordance with the Buddhist teaching. Samsara is a disturbed horror movie, in which loving parents from a previous life may kill their children in the next, and vice versa. However, even if we accept this Buddhist truth of inter-relatedness of all beings, we should be aware of our present limitations and do not pretend to be saints when we know we are not, so perhaps for the majority of us is better to stay away from those who wish to harm us or lead us astray with their behavior. 

The story of Dharmakara becoming Amida Buddha – commentary on the sections 4 to 10 of the Larger Sutra

fragment from my commentary on the Larger Sutra 

               - this is a work in progress and under constant revision - 

Now let’s see what Shakyamuni told us about Amida Buddha and His Pure Land.

In section 4 of the Larger Sutra He first enumerates many Buddhas of the past eons of time who appeared in samsara to teach the Dharma: “in the distant past – innumerable, incalculable and inconceivable kalpas ago…”[1]. Doing so, He showed to us that human history, as we know it, is only a very small fraction of the endless and inconceivable time of the universe and that the various world systems and beings living in them had existed before the appearance of this earth. So He mentioned 52 great Buddhas who appeared in samsara, taught the Dharma and entered Nirvana before the story of Amida actually happened. After these 52 Buddhas, another great Buddha named Lokesvararaja appeared, still in a distant, and impossible to explain, time and place:

Don't bring worldly activities into the temple

inside the Hondo (Dharma Hall)
of Amidaji temple

Question: What do you think about the idea of having a bar in the temple – I heard some Japanese priests are doing it to attract people. Other temples organize parties or cultural events for the same reason.

Answer: I saw a lot of people praising that bullshit with Japanese Buddhist priests transforming temples into bars or having a bar on the temple grounds to attract people. Also, other Jodo Shinshu temples around the world organize bazaars, and even parties with alcohol for members and visitors. I find this to be disgusting. Such things will never happen at Amidaji. The temple should be a gate to the Pure Land, a place for listening deeply to Amida Dharma, and NOT for promoting our blind passions and worldly amusements.