How can one know that he received shinjin (faith) if he has no access to a temple or priest?

Question: “Because nothing physical happens or is done to the person receiving shinjin (baptism /Dharma transmission, etc.) how can that seeker know he/she has indeed received shinjin (faith) and attained the rightly established state? This question above assumes that the person referred to has no physical access to a Shinshu Buddhist temple or priest, which is a sad reality across most of the world except for Japan.”  

 

My answer: Fortunately, in our school there are neither gurus nor masters who can give or confirm the receiving of faith in the heart of the practitioner. Jodo Shinshu is a personal and exclusive relation between Amida Buddha (a real and living Buddha) and the person who has faith in Him. They are like mother and child.

Thus, the Mother (Amida) is always sending her love to the child and she knows if the child entrusts to her while the child (the follower) knows that he is loved and has faith in the Mother.

On those who are not satisfied with Nembutsu only

 

Shinran Shonin said:

"Those who, it appears, will never attain Enlightenment

All attack the practice of solely saying the Name.

The mark of destroying the teaching of sudden attainment[1]

Is that for them, the vast sea of birth-and-death will have no end".[2]

We must pay attention here as the passage refers not to attacking the saying of the Name, but the solely saying of the Name. This means they attack the true teaching of exclusively saying the Name of Amida Buddha (Nembutsu). Those are the false teachers who, while wearing the kesa of Nembutsu faith (Jodo Shinshu), mix the saying of the Name with various meditative practices and make great efforts in convincing others that there is no problem with this combination. In the same time, they call those who follow faithfully the requirements of Amida's Primal Vow in which only the saying of the Name, faith and wish to be born in the Pure Land are mentioned, to be fundamentalists.

My advice is to please stay away from those who are not satisfied with "solely saying the Name".

Honen Shonin said:

"Abandoning the miscellaneous practices and performing the exclusive practice of the recitation of Nembutsu are in accordance with the heart of Amida Buddha."[3]

To feel that the Name of Amida Buddha is somehow not enough for your religious life is a sign that faith (shinjin) is not yet firmly established in your heart. A true Amida devotee never thinks that something is lacking and is completely satisfied to say Amida's Name alone. He will never feel the need to add this or that meditation practice or this or that sacred mantra to his daily Nembutsu, and he will not pray to various gods and spirits. In the Primal Vow, Amida Buddha presented the guidelines for our religious life, "entrust yourself to me, say my Name, and wish to be born in my land".

So, we should do nothing else, but entrust to Amida Buddha, say His Name in faith and wish to be born in His Land after death.

 

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[1] This is the teaching of sudden attainment of Nirvana upon birth in the Pure Land after death.

[2] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Dharma Ages (Shozomatsu Wasan)

[3] Honen Shonin, An Outline of the Doctrine for Birth in the Pure Land

 

On a teacher abandoning the Primal Vow

A few hours ago a friend showed me the message of Richard St Clair (Shaku Egen) posted on True Shin Buddhism Group from which I quote the most important sentence:

“My spiritual path has taken a very different direction, away from True Shin Buddhism and away from Buddhism in general”.

Here is my comment:

When you hear about a teacher leaving Jodo Shinshu and Buddhism after many years of writing, teaching and judging what is right and wrong, you should realize that person has never had shinjin (faith) but only knowledge and enthusiasm for the Dharma. As any enthusiasm is impermanent, it is inevitable that one day he will get tired and search for something else.

Members of Amidaji - Shaku Hojun (Russia)

Click here to return to the spiritual biographies of Amidaji members 

 Greetings. My Dharma name is Hōjun 法 遵 (One who follows the Way of the Dharma).

I was born on the 9th of February in 1997 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. I had gone a long way to the Dharma Path before I became a member of Amidaji International Temple. This is the short story of my life towards the Dharma Path.

My story started when I was 4 years old. I realized myself as a human being who was born once and going to die at last. I asked myself about the life and its meaning, but didn’t know where to find from. Many Russians traditionally are baptized in Russian Orthodox Church so was I.

Amida Buddha is our strength

Amida Buddha is our strength.

No matter the outer or inner obstacles that appear in our lives, we should not fall prey to desperation because Amida Buddha is on our side.

Dear friends, please follow this heart advice! Whatever disturbing emotions and fears appear in your mind-stream due to your ignorance, attachments and past karma, just ignore them, let them come and dissolve by themselves, and you focus on Amida. Change the focus to Amida every time your inner or outer world is overcome with problems and difficulties.

Remember this truth - all that appears in the outer or inner samsaric universe is illusory and ultimately not real. Only Amida, His Pure Land and His Name are truly real, so focus on that. Don't allow your lives to be ruled by illusion and fear. Choose the real, choose Amida and make Him the foundation of your life.

Namo Amida Bu

Against the idea that the Pure Land is "here and now"

I have always wondered how can one say that the “Pure Land is here and now” or in “the mind” if he cannot actually manifest, here and now, the qualities of the Pure Land? Indeed, how can one be in the Pure Land, but continue to be impure in one’s mind and still unenlightened? This is clear evidence that such views do not belong to the Dharma Gate of the Pure Land, or to the simple faith oriented teaching of the Jodo Shinshu school.  

In the Larger Sutra it is said:

“They are of noble and majestic countenance, unequaled in all the worlds, and their appearance is superb, unmatched by any being, heavenly or human. They are all endowed with bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity.”[1]

So, are those deluded scholars who claim that the Pure Land is “here and now” endowed with “bodies of Naturalness, Emptiness, and Infinity”? Shinran himself made reference to the same passage from the Larger Sutra, in his work Passages on the Pure Land Way [REALIZATION] :