Members of Amidaji: Hokai Sylvie Kirsch from the Cook Islands

Click here to return to the main page of spiritual biographies of Amidaji members

My grandmother brought me up Catholic. My first husband was Protestant, we’d agreed to allow our children to grow up and make their own spiritual choices. It was when my 13-month-old daughter passed away and a catholic priest refused to bless her grave because she wasn’t baptised.  The implication that my daughter was abandoned in hell because she wasn’t baptised devastated me. How could this so-called “god of love”, one to whom I’d put my faith and devotion all my life, not gladly receive the soul of an innocent child in his arms? I went through a spiritual struggle over the next few years, shifting towards the Protestant Reformed Church and trying to make sense of the growing inconsistencies. Eventually, I lost my faith in Christianity. I then went on a spiritual journey to find the true manifestation of all-embracing compassion.
 
 Like many of my Amidaji kin, I began by grappling my way through various spiritualities and philosophies.  Studying in earnest, I would eventually peel off the veneer of salvation, to discover that each was riddled with inconsistencies, and all lacked any true, universal compassion. What seemed like a purposeful journey ended up being stuck going around in circles in a meaningless labyrinth, from which there was no escape.

Plans for Amidaji in the year 2024 - water and sewage system

Click here to go back to Amidaji work plan 

and progress

Until now in the village where Amidaji temple is located there has been no water and sewerage system, so the inhabitants (including Amidaji) need to use the public or private wells, and to build their own peasant style toilets in the backyard which mainly consists of a hole in the ground with a wooden cabin on top. Some wells had problems and dried up or became difficult to use, so the county and local officials finally decided to make a contract with a company and recently brought the main water pipes in the village and placed secondary ones in front of each property. However, from this main and secondary water pipes each owner has to pay for installing its own pipes and build its own water system through which to bring the water inside his property and house.

Amidaji has a few buildings on its property so I need lots of pipes and a few professional workers to bring the water in. The total costs for the first phase of work (pipes and other materials as well as the workers) are around 1000 euros. From this, around 600 euros is only to pay the workers and the rest is for various materials. If I successfully raise the amount needed, I will do the first phase and make a report with photos after which I will continue with the second step.
 
Any little help is welcomed and very much needed so, if you wish to DONATE, you can use the PayPal box and/or the Bank accounts mentioned at this link,
https://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.com/p/donation.html
 
The names of donors as well as those in whose name a donation was made will be mentioned in a dedication list of my next book and at the end of the video teachings posted on my YouTube channel.
 

Amidaji temple courtyard. The water pipes must come from the 

house in the distance to the one in the top right (kitchen).

A bathroom with shower and toilet will be built between the 

house in the top left (library and guest room) and the house

in the distance. In the foreground is Amidado (Hall of Amida)

A big nenju has been gifted to Amidaji temple

My Dharma friend Cheusa Wend (77) from USA donated this beautiful big nenju (mala/Buddhist rosary) of around one meter and a half to Amidaji temple Romania in the name of her late husband Koun Eb Whipple, and her parents Phyllis Latham Stoner and William Richard Stoner. May all their obstacles be removed and may they create indestructible connections with Amida Buddha, entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land! 

The nenju now adorns the hands of the statue of Amida Buddha in the Amidado (Amida Hall) of Amidaji temple Romania until we decide where to keep it. We intend to use it in some ceremonies, perhaps in chanting the Nembutsu in a circle, and other liturgies to express faith in Amida Buddha and our gratitude for being saved as we are. 

As you might know, in our Amidaji branch of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, the nenju represents faith in Amida Buddha and the Nembutsu of faith. It shows our devotion and connection with Him. 

Namo Amida Bu

 

Remember to say the Nembutsu

last revised February 18th, 2024

Click here to return to 

Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

You must believe that Nembutsu possesses supreme merit and that Amida Buddha with His great compassion of the Primal Vow, will come to embrace one who recites Nembutsu even ten times or just once. Thus believing this, practice Nembutsu for your entire lifetime without negligence”[1]. 

Commentary:

As I showed in chapter “The Nembutsu is true and real” from my book Simple Teachings on Emptiness and Buddha nature, by quoting many sacred texts, the Name contains the merits of Amida and all Buddhas, as well as the virtues of all Buddhist teachings and practices. “It is the treasure-sea of merits of true Suchness, ultimate reality”[2], as Shinran said. 

Also, Amida protects and embraces those who entrust to Him both in this life as well as in the moment of death when He welcomes them into His Pure Land of Bliss.  

After pointing out that the number of recitations is not important for our birth in the Pure Land, Master Honen encouraged us to say the Name for our entire lifetime. Just as one who was saved from fire will always be grateful to his savior, we should also not be negligent in expressing our gratitude to Amida Buddha for saving us from the repeated births and deaths. This is the reason why sometimes Honen, but also Shinran and Rennyo, insisted on remembering to say the Nembutsu. It was NOT that the number of recitations is important (it isn’t!), but because we should remember to say “thank you” to the one who assured our liberation from samsara.

The Nembutsu is also the expression of faith, so if we really entrusted ourselves to Amida, we’ll surely like to express it by saying His Name.

---

[1] Teachings of Honen, translated by Yoko Hayashi and Joji Atone, Bukkyo University, Los Angeles, p 243-245
[2] Shinran Shonin, Kyogyoshinsho, chapter II, Kyogyoshinsho – On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment, translated by Hisao Inagaki, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p. 9

 

On those who deny the basics of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism while calling themselves "innovators" (video discussion)

 

On the "here and now" spiritual trap

Some people say that the Nembutsu of faith is too much related with death and afterlife and that they prefer something (a practice or teaching) for the "here and now”. The world of spiritual seekers is filled with such ideas of "here and now" being a supreme goal, that we must learn to live in the "here and now", and not think about death or after death. But this separation is only a delusion. In truth, death is not separated from the "here and now” as breath which comes out might not be followed by the breath which comes in. In the "here and now” we can lose everything; in the "here and now” we and our loved ones can stop breathing, in the "here and now” we may suddenly find ourselves in the afterlife, losing this humanform, the chance of listening the Amida Dharma and receive faith.

Like in the good movie, "Groundhog day” , the minds of unenlightened people dwell constantly in an ever repeating "here and now”. Unfortunately, they like this "here and now" so much that they even create spiritual ideologies to keep them focused on it. Being extremely attached to the "here and now”, they refuse to speak about death and rebirth, or the aspiration to be born in Amida’s Pure Land, calling it a reminiscent of folk religion or a distraction from the "here and now". Unfortunately, they will also die one day, in the exact moment they dream about ‚"here and now" and will be born again, in another "here and now" - the same here and now, but painted differently. How sad this is…