I've just came back from Tariki Dojo Craiova and found this very interesting discussion from true shinbuddhism yahoo group supporting my actions of exposing and correcting the modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching.
I invite you all to read it, and meditate on it, especially on the quotes presented there from the sacred writings.
One of the reasons I post other people's articles, discussions, letters on the topic of modern divergences is to show to the international Shinshu sangha that there are many, not only me, who are tired of seeing the Dharma being distorted with ideas and opinions that can't be found in the writings of the Masters of our school. I also hope that others will find the courage to speak.
I know that there are even more people there, reading this blog and finding the correcting of modern divergences being true and necessary, but still keeping silence....
I know this because I saw you, met you and discussed with you personally at former European Shinshu Conferences or other meetings, and I know you are sick and tired to see the Dharma being distorted in such a way as it is done in our days by some English speaking scholars seeking their fame in countries where the Dharma is still at the beginning.
I know you often understood nothing from the many complicated discourses presented there.
I know this because I was there and I am sick and tired to see beginners coming and going in the international sangha because there are so few capable to present the Shinshu Dharma as it is - a simple way of faith for all people, in the true and living Amida Buddha....
So, I invite you all who share the same aspiration like me, to have courage and speak openly and directly in the support of this cause - to return to the sacred texts of our school, to the sutras and works of our Masters and guide/rely in our presentation of the Dharma only on them and not on everybody's opinions and ideas. Let us stop our precious Dharma who can make everyone attain Buddhahood, no matter their capacities, from being destroyed and become unrecognizable for future generations of followers. Let us act now as responsible disciples of Shakyamuni and Shinran Shonin.
--------
Jason Ranek (Norway) (1) writes: This quote is from the preface to chapter III. I found this passage AMAZING because it shows clearly that "modern" deviations from the true teaching were also around in Master Shinran's day:
"As I reflect, I find that our attainment of shinjin arises from the heart and mind with which Amida Tathagata selected the Vow, and that the clarification of true mind has been taught for us through the skilful works of compassion of the Great Sage, Sakyamuni. But the monks and laity of this latter age and the religious teachers of these times are floundering in concepts of `self-nature' and `mind only,' and they disparage the true realization of enlightenment in the Pure Land way. Or lost in the self-power attitude of meditative and non-meditative practices, they are ignorant of true shinjin, which is diamondlike."
I would like to note here that the translation in my Shinshu Seiten is
slightly different and renders the last two sentences in the text
above as follows:
"However, priests and laymen of the Declining Age, and masters of these days, sunken in the idea `that one's true nature is Buddha' and `that the Buddha's Pure Land exists in one's mind,' degrade (the belief in) the True Enlightenment in the Pure Land; or, being deluded by the mind of self-power to practice meditative and non-meditative good deeds, they are blind to the Adamantine True Faith."
Here, we find Master Shinran speaking directly to the false views infecting the modern Shin Sangha. Clearly, the idea that what was taught by Shakyamuni in the Pure Land sutras is merely a "skilful means" for the ignorant masses who lack the wisdom to see the deeper, esoteric message of the dharma, is an idea that was rejected by Master Shinran. What strikes me here is that only when the pretensions to wisdom of foolish beings are stripped away can we access the true and real mind and heart of Shakyamuni.
===
Paul Roberts:
Thanks, Jason, for this outstanding post showing how Master Shinran tackles head on the "mind only" approach to Buddhism - including the idea that the Pure Land is just a state of mind.
Unfortunately, someone who is attached to the idea won't accept what you say, even if you point to this passage, or other relevant passages, from the core texts of our school.
Why not?
Because they're not willing - at this point in time - to do the work of LISTENING DEEPLY.
Specifically - they are not willing to take the nickel's worth of thoughts and ideas in their head, and set them aside for a time, so that they may inquire honestly within concerning Dharma TRUTH.
They'll give you all sorts of reasons why they won't do it. They'll quote modern western thinkers, or something they heard in college, or something some guru or teacher says. They'll grab ideas from the YOGACARA (mind only) school of Buddhism, from Carl Jung, or his
student Joseph Campbell, or (as happened recently in a blog defending Taitetsu Unno), Christian theologian Paul Tillich. They'll do anything and everything as long as they don't have to let go of their precious pre-conceptions and sit with their questions, humbly awaiting an answer from their innermost being.
That is why, for such folks, there's really nothing to be done at this time. That's why I won't debate them - even though they'd love to debate me, or Josho Adrian, in some sort of public forum.
There is just no point in debating folks who talk like that. None at all. It would be like trying to debate a blind person about whether or not there was such a thing as the color blue.
That's why Master Shinran, speaking with Amida's wisdom, said that we should avoid all scholarly debate. There's just no point in it.
Now, please don't think I am being hard on these folks - or rejecting them in any way. I am not. But I recognize that each sentient being has his or her timetable for awakening to the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way. It is one of the five conditions for birth explained to us by Master Rennyo.
At some point in the future, these same folks who are now acting as Dharma destroyers will awaken to their great need for salvation from the Other Power of the real and true Buddha Amida. It may happen in this lifetime. It may not happen for another billion lifetimes. But
it will happen.
At that point, Amida and the Buddha team will be able to manifest the great compassion to these folks who are now imprisoned by their doubts. Just as we have been led to lisen - and to listen deeply - so they will be led to listen deeply as well.
And then, because they are ready, willing and able to listen deeply, they will hear what they cannot hear right now. They will hear that Amida is a real and true Buddha of reward body. They will hear that the Pure Land is a real place, and not just a state of consciousness. They will hear that the Larger Sutra is a true record of events that occurred when Shakyamuni Buddha preached one particlar sermon some 2500 years ago on Vulture Peak.
They will hear it from WITHIN - as the fundamental Buddha nature which is within each of us bears witness to truth of the words of our Dharma masters.
Then - after countless ages of living in darkness - the gift of faith-consciousness called SHINJIN will arise in their hearts and minds, just as it has arisen in ours. Then we will all rejoice together, praising - along with all the other Buddhas in the sentient universe - the great Buddha Amida for who He is, and what He has done.
So - in the end - everything will be resolved, every doubter will become a believer, and every endarkened mind will become enlightened.
That is what is going to happen. No one can prevent this ultimate destiny from manifesting - even if today these folks are acting in the role of a Dharma destroyer - as these false teachers in the Shin Sangha surely are.
But that leaves open the question: What should we do TODAY?
Specifically - for those who have been called by Amida Buddha to be true teachers in the Shin Sangha - whether they are clerics, or scholars or lay people - whether they are men or women - whether they are members of one Shin sect or another, or no particular sect at all - what is OUR duty, in THIS day?
For ease of discussion, I've dubbed this question DHARMA DIALOGUE #2, the dialogue about the state of the larger Shin Sangha - in contradistinction to DHARMA DIALOGUE #1, the dialogue about our individual journey to SHINJIN and ultimately, Buddhahood.
There are a number of us right now - including Eiken Kobai Sensei, Rev Josho Adrian Cirlea, and myself - who are publicly pressing others to have this dialogue in various venues. Eiken Sensei writes scholarly papers, Eiken and Adrian speak at conferences and write books, Adrian
and I have Dharma dialogue concerning this issue with others on the internet.
Frankly, there are some who object to this dialogue. They feel we have no right to dictate to others what they should or should not believe.
The truth is, we're not dictating anything. People are free to believe whatever they want. What we are doing is pointing out - just as Jason has pointed out in quoting Master Shinran in the KGSS above - that these divergent beliefs have nothing to do with Shin Buddhism,
that they are NOT Shin Buddhism, and that no one who teaches such beliefs can be said to be a true teacher of Shin Buddhism.
And the reason we can make such sweeping conclusions with such authority is simply because we've been doing what Jason is also doing right now: We're reading the core texts of our school, and we're allowing the pristine teaching of our Dharma Masters to trump our own small thoughts.
In his last response to me on Dharma Dialogue #2, my Dharma friend Richard, a longtime member of the BCA here in America, said that "the Shin Sangha is in disarray". I'll get back to Richard and our ongoing dialogue shortly, but what he says - and what I have been saying for
YEARS - is the bald truth.
The Shin Sangha IS in disarray - and has been in precipitious decline for decades - not because of the Amida-deniers and the Dharma destroyers. Those divergences - and all sorts of other divergences - will ALWAYS be part of the landscape of an endarkened world. It's just one of the countless forms of evil that exists here in Samsara.
No - it is not because of the divergences, nor because of their propagators that the Sangha suffers such great loss as it has experienced. Rather, it suffers loss because those who KNOW the truth, and have been given the gift of SHINJIN, are keeping silent, rather than speaking up concerning the false teachers and their false teachings.
So - one of my own goals is to encourage this essential Dharma Dialogue along with those who are willing, like Eiken and Adrian, so that others who are called as true teachers would stop being silent, and start speaking up - in local Sanghas, at conferences, in scholarly journals, and on the internet.
This is the only way that the larger Shin Sangha will ever emerge from it's current state of disarray.
Thanks to Jason, to Richard, to my Dharma mentor Eiken Sensei, to my close Dharma friend Adrian - and to EVERYONE who is willing to listen deeply to the Dharma, and take part in this dialogue, in whatever way.
Notes:
(1) Tokujo Jason Ranek is a Jodo Shinshu follower living in Norway. He received kikyoshiki (confirmation rite) at the last European Shinshu Conference which was held in Bad Reichenchal, Germany, 2008.
You can read some of his poems in the section "poems" on this blog.
related articles with this post:
Book by Unno denied acces in the library of Tariki Dojo
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writing (part1)
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno'a writing (part2)
General statement to prevent rumors and false informations
and all article in the category DIVERGENCES FROM JODO SHINSHU TEACHING
Monday, November 9, 2009
More on modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching
Friday, November 6, 2009
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writings (part2)
All I can say for the moment to my readers is that I am working hard (in my free time) on a new book about Amida Buddha in which a special chapter will be dedicated to modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching. This book will contain many quotes from the sacred texts of our tradition, recognized as representative by Hongwanji, because as you know, I always rely in my presentation of the Dharma on the words of Shakyamuni and the Masters. So, dear readers, please consider that if I am not always present on the internet, it doesn't mean that I am inactive.
-----
I just read Toshikazu Arai's new post, and my good Dharma friend Adrian has asked me to respond to it, because he is pressed for time.
Rather than respond to it tit-for-tat, which would quickly become a pointless exercise, I want to take a step back so we can ALL look at what has gone on in the Sangha as a result of the modernist approach
to Shin Buddhism, regardless of what Taitetsu Unno was saying, or (as Arai asserts) trying to say, in one passage or another of his book BITS OF RUBBLE.
What is important - and necessary - is not to play a game of "I'm OK, you're not OK"...but rather to encourage all of us to look carefully and closely at what Master Shinran says in teaching the Dharma, and to make sure that we are saying the same thing - and not something different, and therefore incorrect.
The Sangha has suffered great loss, and many have become very confused, because we haven't done that. And right now there are many who call themselves Shin Buddhists, but do not have the same understanding as Master Shinran concerning the very BASICS of our faith. This is the direct result of tolerating divergences in the
Sangha that Master Shinran and Master Rennyo would never have tolerated.
Let's speak frankly about the matter: There are many - including some who have an international reputation as Shin Buddhist teachers - who simply do not accept or believe that Amida is a real Buddha of reward
body. I've read the writings of these teachers, and that's what they say. The result is that sincere seekers who are still stuck in a materialist vision of the universe don't ever have their doubts confronted, but rather confirmed! Because their false beliefs are never challenged, they cannot become settled in SHINJIN.
Similarly, some of these same modernist teachers preach and teach that the
sensibilities of sincere seekers who haven't yet had their eyes opened to the numinous and transcendental mulit-leveled dimensionality of existence - as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, the seven
This is a tragic situation - deplorable beyond words.
We must remember the example of Master Shinran, even as a young man studying under Master Honen: When he encountered others in Honen's Sangha who were disseminating false teaching, he confronted them
directly, and assertively. Master Honen confirmed that Master Shinran's understanding was correct, and the understanding of those he confronted was incorrect. So how can anyone say it is a bad thing for us to do the very same thing that Master Shinran (and Master Rennyo and Yuien-Bo) did - for the sake of all those who are being called by Amida Buddha?
Let me speak plainly: There is no good reason for any teacher of Shin Buddhism to be unclear or ambiguous or unclear about WHO Amida Buddha is, and WHAT the
most basic doctrines of the pristine Dharma leads inevitably to confusion and decline in the Shin Sangha.
As for those who purport to function as teachers of Shin Buddhism, and yet deny these most basic Dharma doctrines of Master Shinran, they cannot be called true teachers of the
may be nice people, and learned scholars - but they lack the essential inner apprehension of numinous reality that is the baseline characteristics for all people of SHINJIN.
As such, it is simply a mistake for anyone in the Shin Sangha to look to them for guidance and direction on how to become a person of SHINJIN - which is the whole point and purpose of our school, as our Dharma masters have said so often, and in so many ways.
Next, Master Shinran is very clear in clarifying his statement about a person of SHINJIN being equal to the Buddha. He says - very explicitly - that it is not meant to give us a position of equivalence IN THIS LIFE...but rather to say that at the end of this life, we will indeed become Buddhas - while the next Bodhisattva who will become a Buddha won't become a Buddha untill six billion years have past.
Once we read all of Master Shinran's statements IN CONTEXT, we know that it is entirely unacceptable to conflate us and our lives - in which we live as non-Buddhas right up until we take our last breath -with the life of Amida Buddha.
We are not Amida Buddha. Amida Buddha is not a mythical figure that really is a symbol pointing to us. The use of the western ideas of symbolism - whether by Carl Jung or Paul Tillich or anyone else - has nothing to do with the pristine Dharma.
We are not Amida Buddha. We are us. Right now Amida is doing the work of graat compassion, along with all the other Buddhas, to bring the rest of us to Buddhahood. Right now, we are not capable of the work of great compassion, because we are non-Buddhas - plain people -BONBUS - still dealing with the tar-baby of our intractable egotism.
Next, we must not conflate our surrender to Amida Buddha with the end of egotism, as Arai does. Even Unno, in his books, speaks honestly enough about how much his own egotism is a part of his life.
What our surrender IN FAITH does is this: It allows Amida to work in us in a direct and more or less unimpeded fashion. If we get off track (as we all can) or succumb to our blind passions (as we all can)
or find our cravings and aversions tugging on our minds (as we all can), then we can go directly to the living Buddha Amida, and His light can move into our darkness.
The end of egotism - for all of us - will ONLY come when we awaken at last in Amida's
Master Shinran himself - even though he surely had surrendered himself to Amida - spoke bluntly and honestly about how he was still "filled with desire for fame and profit". So - if his egotism was still alive and well and something he needed to deal with - how could we possibly otherwise for ourselves?
The truth is, we cannot. Our egotism is a part of our lives, as non-Buddhas here in Samsara. Even Shakyamuni Buddha did not snuff out his own egotism, which he called "the builder of this house", until the very moment of his own attainment of Buddhahood. To present Shin Buddhism in a way that makes it seem that we can (or worse, should) snuff out our egotism will only harm those who come to listen to the Dharma because they yearn for the freedom that only this Dharma path offers us all by setting up impossible expectations that no BONBU can
live up to.
To sum up: It is time - and past time - for those who are people of SHINJIN to return from the wilderness of non-Buddhist teachings, and present the pristine Dharma as it was meant to be presented - leaving the results entirely to Amida.
The pristine Dharma does not belong to us. It is not a teaching that belongs to Dharma scholars or "doctrinal experts". It is not a teaching that belongs to
In truth, the True Teaching of the
In fact, Master Rennyo said this in his Goichidaiki-kikigaki:
"There are some who are learned in the scriptures, but are ignorant of them, while there are others who are ignorant of the scriptures but understand them. Even if you do not know a single character of the scriptures, if you get someone to read the scriptures to others and lead them to acquire shinjin, you are one of those who are ignorant of the scriptures, but understand them. Even if you are learned in the scriptures but if you do not read them in depth and sincerity, without appreciating the Dharma, you are one of those who are learned in the scriptures but are ignorant of them."
Those scholars who do not recognize Amida Buddha as a true Buddha of reward body AS WELL AS the original formless Buddha cannot be said to be among those who truly understand the Dharma. In Master Rennyo's clear words, such scholars "are learned in the scriptures but are ignorant of them."
For those of us who DO recognized Amida Buddha, because He Himself has opened our inner eye, we have a sacred obligation to warn seekers not to mistake the false teachings of such ignorant scholars witht the
True Teaching of the
And for those teachers who really do know that Amida Buddha is a true Buddha, and the
modernist materialist sensibilities - it is time to step back from the precipice of creating confusion by mis-handling the pristine Dharma.
Let's clear the air in the Sangha, and present the Dharma just the way our Dharma masters did - entrusting Amida that He Himself will call those whose karma is ripe, so that they can hear it and respond to it.
"I decided to respond to Rev. Cirlea's severe criticism against Prof. Taitetsu Unno and Prof. Takamaro Shigaraki, not because I am attached to them, but because I respect them as true scholars and as sincere nembutsu practicers. I met them at different times of my life. I met Dr. Unno in 1975 and listened to his lectures for one semester in that year and then in the summer of 1980. As a student of
All this is saying is that these modernist teachers like Taitetsu Unno and Takamaro Shigaraki are personally not strident in their public speaking style. What is missing is that they are not teaching in accord with the teachings of Shinran Shonin and/or Rennyo Shonin. They are not teaching about the all-important matter of attaining Shinjin in this life. They are not teaching about the absolute reality of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land. The point is not to be passive about imposing one's personal beliefs (and by standing up and presenting their views in public through lectures or books they are not passive, no matter their personal style), the point is to be assertive about accurately presenting the true Shin Dharma of the masters, Shinran and Rennyo. If this means saying bluntly that some people ARE wrong in their understanding as measured by the plumbline of Shinran and Rennyo, then that is entirely appropriate whatever the cost of polite discourse. One does not need to have bad manners, of course. But if we are so polite that we cannot stand up to obvious divergences from Shinshu teachings, then our politeness is doing ourselves and the Shin Sangha a grave disservice. Those who courageously stand up to and refute such divergences are what is needed today. Shinran and Rennyo did not abide divergences and misunderstandings when it came to the matter of faith. They were outspoken in confronting such divergences and misunderstandings, as reflected in their letters.
This is precisely what Rev. Eiken Kobai sensei is doing in
These men - Unno, Shigaraki, Arai - are not genuine Jodo Shinshu authorities no matter how many degrees or university professorships they have in their curriculum vitae or how many books or lectures they have. They are bombu, foolish beings of blind passions, like the rest of us. But do they ever admit this publicly as Shinran Shonin did? As Rennyo Shonin did? If they did AND REALLY MEANT IT, perhaps they would have the true humility to stop promoting their revisionist personal theories about Shin Buddhism and return to the basics as taught by the real masters of our Shin tradition based on the Pure Land Sutras and the Patriarchs of Jodo Shinshu. Whether this will ever happen remains to be seen. One can only surmise that these three teachers are NOT persons of true Shinjin, otherwise their teachings would clearly AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY champion the path of true faith and complete entrusting in the Real Amida Buddha and the Real Pure Land, not in some sort of abstract symbol or metaphor that undermines the very Shin Dharma they purport to represent.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writings
Dear friends in the Dharma,
Recently, Rev Toshikazu Arai wrote two articles that you can read
as a response to the articles published on this blog about divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teaching contained in the books of Rev Unno.
Toshikazu Arai even wrote a funny statement about my critical attitude of this scholar and Rev Shigaraki in another article, which I quote here:
"I hope that he will come to his senses as soon as possible - even for the sake of his own journey to the
!!!??
So, do you see, my friends.... how criticizing the words of these scholars, Unno and Shigaraki, might even become an obstacle for my birth in the
However, its really sad how far some people can go in venerating ordinary people, and being attached more to persons than to the Dharma….
As my time in the last period has been very limited especially due to my hard job (I work 12 hours every day) plus other Dharma activities of teaching and guidance of people who are truly interested in the Jodo Shinshu teaching, I don't have now the time and energy to answer myself to those articles written by Rev Arai, in which he defends the divergences from the true Jodo Shinshu teaching made by his teacher, Rev Unno. But I will present you two letters written by my Dharma friends Paul Roberts and Richard St. Clair (Shaku Egen)
I agree 100% with what Paul and Rick write bellow.
------------
Toshikazu Arai: Those who are upset about the use of the term "symbol" for Amida Buddha must know that it is used mainly in academical and intellectual discussions rather than in spiritual discourses for general audiences.
Paul Roberts:
This is not an acceptable explanation for a scholar to make - if he is first and foremost a person who has taken refuge in the Triple Gem.
Further - many of us who are not academics have a broad enough intellectual background so we understand very well the modern thinking about symbols and myth. And we reject, entirely, any attempt to couch Dharma discussion of Amida Buddha in such terms.
Further - our Dharma masters explicitly tell us NOT to use soteric language and concepts when discussing the Dharma...because it would only lead to confusion. And that is exactly what has happened in the
last 50 years in the Sangha. People have become utterly confused by the kind of language you hear in texts and Dharma messages by such teachers as Unno, Shigaraki and others. It has caused many people to
DOUBT, rather than to have FAITH - and the Shin Sangha has declined precipitiously both in Japan and in the West as a result - even while other schools of Buddhism thrive.
===
Toshikazu Arai writes: It would make hardly any sense to non-specialists of the doctrinal studies of Jodo Shinshu.
Paul Roberts:
It makes no sense to many specialists in doctrinal studies of Jodo Shinshu either. Eiken Kobai Sensei, and Hisao Inigaki Sensei (just to name two), both reject the modernist approach to Shin Buddhism that says Amida Buddha does not really exist, that He is a fictive character, a metaphor or a myth. Both of them recognize what Master
Shinran himself recognized: That we live in a transcendental universe with countless Buddhas of Reward Body, who are working constantly to bring the rest of the sentient universe to Buddhahood.
===
Toshikazu Arai writes: It would be perfectly acceptable to most Jodo Shinshu followers to present Amida as a "person" or an "agent" who has supreme wisdom and compassion with which to guide sentient beings to
the Pure Land.
Paul Roberts:
It's not merely "perfectly acceptable". It is the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way, as presented by Master Shinran. Those who don't find it "perfectly acceptable" have the right to promulgate other ideas, and to start their own group.
But - they don't have the right to present such ideas as Shin Buddhist thought - because that just isn't true.
===
Toshikazu Arai writes: In addition, those who criticize the proposition that Amida is a religious symbol must know what the term "symbol" means. Otherwise they would be arguing based on a preconception that it is only a sign, equal to traffic signs and signs to toilets.
Paul Roberts:
Once again, there are plenty of us - both scholars and lay people in the Shin Sangha - who know exactly what Paul Tillich, Carl Jung and other modern western thinkers mean by the term SYMBOL.
We reject such thinking, when applied to Amida Buddha, as being contrary to the clear teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Seven Pure Land Masters, and Master Shinran.
For example, in the Smaller Sutra (the "Amida Sutra") we read as follows:
"The Buddha [Shakyamuni] then said to the Elder Shariputra: "If you travel westward from here, passing a hundred thousand kotis of Buddha-lands, you come to the land called 'Utmost Bliss,' where there is a Buddha named Amida. He is living there now, teaching the Dharma."
HE IS LIVING THERE NOW - TEACHING THE DHARMA.
Shakyamuni - who had the Buddha eye to see reality as it really is - declared that RIGHT NOW there is a Buddha of Reward Body named Amida, who is living in a place we call the Pure Land, teaching the Dharma.
What in the world would lead SOME Shin Buddhist scholars (certainly not all) to say anything other than that? It is INCORRECT. It is FALSE TEACHING. As such it needs to be addressed - just as our Dharma
masters and Yuien-Bo addressed false teaching in their day.
-----------
Frgments from a letter by Richard St. Clair (Shaku Egen) who also has a wonderful and well known website on Shinshu Dharma at http://web.mit.edu/stclair/www/amida.html:
Toshikazu Arai wrote:
"I have already expressed my view on Amida Buddha as a religious symbol in my previous essay."
Richard St. Clair (Rick):
Well, we know clearly where he stands on this point. He is not a person of true faith. There seems to be little point in "debating" with him, but I did find a number of false claims in his article. One of Arai's key arguments is that the 18th vow means "born right now" in the Pure Land with attainment of Shinjin. In his version of
the Primal Vow, the sutra says "When they wish to be born in that land, they will immeidately attain
birth and abide in the stage of non-retrogression."
To interpret "immediately attain birth" as actual birth in the Pure Land is immediately clarified by the phrase "in the stage of non-retrogression." Birth in the Pure Land means BUDDHAHOOD. The stage of non-retrogression means still unenlightened in human form but GUARANTEED of birth in the Pure Land at the appropriate time, namely upon passing out of this worldly existence at death.
"Non-retrogression" is a general Mahayana term which means on the verge of enlightenment and destined to attain enlightenment, but still as yet unenlightened.
He then quotes Master Shinran:
""Upon our attainment of shinjin, immediately we are embraced in the heart of the Buddha of Immeasurable Light.... When we are thus embraced, immediately, without allowing a moment or day to pass, we
attain the stage of the truly settled. This we call attainment of birth""
What could be more clear than that? Shinran DEFINES "attainment of birth" as "the stage of the truly settled," i.e. in the state of Shinjin, non-retrogression, still in this earthly form but not actual birth in the Pure Land as a Buddha.
Toshikazu Arai says:
"However, it would be quite absurd to take some of the descriptions literally. Some examples are the enormous height of Amida Buddha menitoned in the Contemplation Sutra and the great grand antiquity of
the primordial Buddhas mentioned in the Larger Sutra. The first of the primordial Buddhas, Dipankara Tathagata is said to have appeared "in the distant past, countless, inconceivable and innumerable kalpas ago"! That would have taken place well before the Big Bang, while the direct ancestors of our species (homo Sapiens) are said to have appeared only about 200,000 years ago."
Richard St. Clair (Rick):
Arrogant materialism! A transcendent Buddha DOES have, or CAN have, enormous - even limitless - size. And, as long as he is bringing modern science into the discussion, there is no general agreement among astrophysicists that the universe, i.e. time itself, began with the big bang. Many are now saying that there has been an infinite series of big crunches followed by big bangs. Most scientists are humble enough to admit THEY DON'T KNOW FOR SURE, astrophysics is still largely in the phase of hypothesis. Heck, scientists can't say where 95% of the mass of the universe is, i.e. "dark matter". And the accelerating expansion of the universe by "dark energy" is something no one can explain, hard though they are trying to explain it. Some scientists are even saying that our vast universe is just one among an infinite number in an infinite number of dimensions. Those who think time itself began with the big bang are in a shrinking minority. Besides, the Larger Sutra doesn't say that Dharmakara was a homo sapiens! There are in the universe probably a countless number of
sentient beings in advanced civilizations, and they don't necessarily look like 20th century earth hominids! The Dharmakara story doesn't say Dharmakara lived ON EARTH or that it was the same planet we live
on.
The Larger Sutra reads:
"The Buddha said to Ananda, "In the distant past -- innumerable,incalculable and inconceivable kalpas ago -- a Tathagata named Dipankara appeared in the world."
"The world" does not literally state "this planet called Earth."
Toshikazu Arai says:
"Shinran is clear about persons of shinjin attaining birth after death. However, he also says that attaining shinjin is the same as, or equal to, attaining birth in the Pure Land. In my understanding, when we awaken to the Primal Vow and entrust ourselves to the Vow, we are already embraced by the working of the Primal Vow. Attaining shinjin is a qualitative transformation of our life from that of a "bonbu" who is concerned with only world matters to that of a person embraced and protected by the working of the Pure Land. "
Richard St. Clair (Rick):
True to a point: in the state of Shinjin we ARE "embraced by the working of the Primal Vow," but we are not born in the actual Pure Land as Buddhas. Again Arai confuses "attainment" with "actualized".
"Attainment" means assurance, non-retrogression. It does not mean actual birth in the Pure Land. This is Basic Shinshu 101.
Toshikazu Arai says:
"One of Shinran's poems goes, "The person who says the nembutsu with joy/
Is equal to the Tathagata, the Buddha said/
The great shinjin is the Buddha-nature/
The Buddha-nature is indeed the Tathagata"
(Hymns of the Pure Land, #94).
This means that it is perfectly all right to say, "birth in the Pure Land has occurred in the awakening to shinjin
here and now" as Dr. Unno said.
Richard St. Clair (Rick):
This poem by Master Shinran, which is difficult to interpret out of context, does not literally say we are immediately born in the Pure Land with the attainment of Shinjin, thus it does not support his, and
Unno's, contention. The latter part of his statement, "The person of shinjin remains a bonbu - an unenlightened person filled with passions and desires - whose eyes are open to the Buddha's working on himself as well asl on every sentient being and whose ears are ready to hear the call of Amida Buddha. When our physical
existence comes to an end, having shed ourselves of all the defilements, we are totally emersed in the ocean of the Buddha's wisdom and compassion."
claims that we "shed ourselves of all the defilements" prior to death.
In other words, this claims that we use self-power to shed ourselves of all the defilements, and it goes directly counter to Master Shinran, who himself at age 90 still confessed to having base passions and lust for fame. The ACTUAL shedding of the defilements occurs ONLY and IMMEDIATELY when we are born in the Pure Land after death, and it happens through the power of Amida Buddha and the amazing attributes of the Pure Land.
Just a few quick observations........ I really don't want to dissect Arai's statement more than this. As I said, there is really no point arguing with someone like this. He doesn't have his basic terminology straight and can't therefore claim to have any authority on scripture.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
General statement to prevent rumors and false informations
Dear friends in the Dharma,
I recently heard many complaints and reactions related with my uncompromising attitude in exposing and correcting what I call to be modern divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teaching. Some people wrote to me directly and I respect this, while others spoke on my back in an dishonorable manner, sending their complaints to my superiors or persons that supported me in my Dharma activities or conspiring in various ways to silence my voice.
Fearing that many will put into my mouth words that I have never said (it happened before) or will spread false informations about me I think its necessary to summarize again some of the guiding principles of my actions and attitude.
- My allegiance to Hongwanji:
First of all I consider myself to be a member and priest of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha school of Buddhism. I have never thought to leave this school and I will never do this.
I will always be a member of Hongwanji sangha as long as I am allowed to stay in it. I am loyal to Hongwanji and Go Monshu sama (Patriarch of our tradition) and to their very important mission: to guard and transmit the Jodo Shinshu teaching. Thus, I recognize the canon established by Hongwanji (where the words and instructions of Shakyamuni and the Masters of our tradition are recorded) to be the only reliable source for my study and teaching activities.
- My mission as a priest:
As a priest ordained by Go Monshu sama and affiliated with Hongwanji I consider myself to be only a humble transmitter, and not a creator, of the Dharma. My mission is twofold:
1) to present and make accessible the teaching of Shakyamuni and the Masters of our school to others so that they receive shinjin and be born in the Pure Land and
2) to expose and correct the divergences and misunderstandings that may appear in the sangha
In doing this mission I try to accommodate my explanations to the various type of people that ask to hear the Dharma by searching the right method of presentation according to the personality and environment of the listener, but never changing the content of the Dharma to be taught.
Also in exposing and correcting the divergences I never criticize the private lives or the personality of those who spread such divergences, but only their words and texts. Only their words and texts I compare with the teaching contained in the canon established by Hongwanji.
This is the main characteristic of my uncompromising attitude that offends some people who don't seem to understand or don't want to understand the difference between criticizing a written text and criticizing a person. So any accusations that I insult somebody is false and cannot be proved by any of my writings. If some still continue (intentionally or unintentionally) to misunderstand my critical attitude against what I call to be modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching with personal attacks or insults, thus misleading other members and my superiors about the true characteristics of my actions, let it be known that they base themselves only on their imagination or they are liars, if they do this intentionally.
- Again on my allegiance with Hongwanji:
I have never criticized Go Monshu sama or anybody in the leadership of Hongwanji. No one can find in my writings a single word of critique addressed to them or their style of preaching. Also I have never heard Go Monshu sama, nor the Zenmon sama (his venerable father) saying Amida is a fictional character or sustaining the "Pure Land is here and now" kind of theories. So I ask everybody, especially those who are always ready to misunderstand my actions and invent rumors, never to sustain such things about me.
I do not interpret in any way the actions of Go Monshu sama or the lack of any action in the matter concerning the modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching. I chose to abstain here.
I don't know his or Hongwanji's attitude about these divergences, but I know very well and nobody can deny it, that the only official and reliable source of the teaching is the canon recognized by Hongwanji. This canon is the official teaching of Go Monshu sama and Hongwanji. What they do to defend this canon and how they do it, is their problem. I abstain to comment this. My problem is only what I myself do to put an end to these divergences. I myself wish to be the change I want to see around me and in my family (Hongwanji sangha), so I act accordingly.
I repeat that I will never leave my family (the Hongwanji sangha) to start another group or family, and no one should leave his family in times of difficulties, when the roots of this family are attacked by false views.
I live in a large family (international sangha) but I believe my family is sick and is losing direction. So I take action and show to the sickness (the divergences) and the cure - the coming back to the teaching as presented in the canon recognized by Hongwanji.
I know my mission is hard and some might be upset but I didn't received my ordination in order to satisfy peoples expectations and desires. I am ready to endure everything for doing my duty as my conscience dictates me.
I am not waiting for the leaders of my sangha to take action, I don't afford myself to lose precious time or ask others what I myself can do now. Maybe one day more voices, and even more official voices will raise and fight against divergences. Maybe one day I will not be so much put into a corner for my uncompromising attitude...
- My relation with Eiken Kobai Sensei and Paul Robert:
I am not their disciple and I do not follow their's or anybody's orders. I am not the agent of anybody.
I consider them special Dharma friends who happen to share the same ideal like me: presentation of the Jodo Shinshu Dharma as it was taught by Shakyamuni and the Masters of our tradition. This is my connection with them and I especially value this connection like I also value the connection I have with many other members known or unknown of the international sangha who share the same ideal like me and who think that the sangha should return to the sacred texts as the basis for studying and teaching.
I differ from Paul in some points, like for example, that I chose to fight against divergences from inside the Hongwanji, as a priest of Hongwanji, to change the system from inside the system, not from outside. I also differ from him when I abstain to criticize Go Monshu sama. If Paul or Kobai Sensei chose to criticize Go Monshu sama that is their personal choice. I myself chose not to do this. As I said, I do not interpret in any way the actions of Go Monshu sama or the lack of any action in the matter concerning the modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching. I myself take action without waiting for anybody in the leadership of our school to give some kind of official statement of refuting the divergences, although I recognize that such a statement would be very useful. But whether they do it or not, is their decision, not mine. I am only interested of my own actions.
To me the sacred texts of our tradition are my guides and teachers and I always find in them all I need to know and all I need to teach to others. I read, re-read and study carefully these texts, sometimes asking the advice of others like for example, Inagaki Sensei, Kobai Sensei, Paul, etc, but I always compare what these others say with what Shakyamuni, Shinran or other Masters said. Into my eyes, nobody is greater than Shakyamuni and the Masters. The scriptures are the highest authority for me and I advice everybody to think the same.
Kobai, Unno, Shigaraki, Inagaki, Josho Adrian, Paul, are not important and nobody should be attached to them but always compare what they say and preach with what Shakyamuni and the Masters taught. The actions and words of those ordinary people represent something worth mentioning only if they are true to the sacred texts. Otherwise it is only a bubble talk of some unenlightened minds.
Everybody in the sangha, whether they are priests or lay, should develop the custom of using their own brains and eyes to read and study the sacred texts asking Amida and Shinran Shonin to guide and inspire them. Lets do not venerate or depend on any priest/teacher more than Shakyamuni and Shinran.
- About disharmony in the sangha:
To fight against divergences is not bringing disharmony in the sangha. To bring disharmony withing the sangha means spreading perverted views which are not the Dharma. In the chapter on shinjin from Kyogyoshinsho the offense of disrupting the harmony of the sangha is quoted like this: "disrupting the harmony of the sangha through one's inverted views".
I already proved that Unno or Shigaraki hold and spread inverted views. Let others who think I am wrong prove the contrary by quoting the sacred texts instead of trying to shut my voice through sabotaging the next European Conference which was supposed to be held in Romania or sending complaints behind my back to my superiors or supporters. Let those who think I am wrong come in front and prove I am wrong. Let them accept open discussion and even critics as mature people not as children who start complaining immediately when somebody start criticizing their texts or their masters texts.
- The modern divergences I expose and I will always fight against are:
1. the presentation of Amida in terms of myth, symbol or fictional character
2. the so called "Pure Land is here and now" theories
3. the assertion that the Pure Land sutras were not actually taught by Shakyamuni and that the Pure Land teaching is some kind of a later development of Mahayana, thus not having the origin in Shakyamuni Buddha's own teaching, but in some later monks writings.
(My articles that contain the critics of these divergences are gathered here at the category
DIVERGENCES FROM THE JODO SHINSHU TEACHIN(G. )
These divergences and false teachings in all their various forms, subtle or evident, are the object of my critics and not the private persons who share and spread them.
When I use the term "false teacher" is always in connection with the ideas that one promotes.
If you allow me a comparison from politics: if someone says he is liberal but speaks only in socialist terms and promotes socialist ideas labeled them to be liberal, I who am a member of the same party like him, have the right to say that he is not a true liberal, but a socialist. There is nothing to be upset about. I said what I said only in relation to the written words of those teachers, not to their private lives.
My statements are made only at the level of ideas. May those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, not to misunderstand my actions anymore.
Yours in Namo Amida Butsu,
Josho Adrian
Monday, September 14, 2009
The three Dharma ages
I will explain in this article, the teaching about the three Dharma ages by using various quotes from the last chapter of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho.
These quotes are Master Shinran's own words or passages from sutras and commentaries that he himself used in his explanations.
Generally speaking, the doctrine of the Three Dharma Ages refers to the gradual decline of the capacities of beings to practice the Dharma and attain realization through it. Thus there is a difference between the time when the Buddha was in human body and influenced directly through His example and energetic field (Buddha field) those gathered around Him and the periods far away in the history when only the teaching remains, but not the Teacher.
What a great chance it is to meet a Buddha in flesh and bones and receive instructions directly from Him, being constantly in His presence and influenced by His Buddha field. How quick and safe the spiritual development can be, just by seeing His face and having devotion for Him every day, not to mention the constant checking and support He gives to your practice.
Also if you live in the period close to the physical death of a Buddha, His influence is still felt and active through the working of His closest disciples or the disciples of these disciples.
As it is stated in the Sutra of Mahamaya:
"During the first five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvana, seven holy monks, sages all, including Mahakasyapa, will uphold the right dharma in succession so that it does not perish. After five hundred years, the right dharma will become completely extinct."
The first period of 500 years after the physical death of the Buddha (parinirvana) is called the right Dharma age.
It is an age characterized by correct understanding and practice of the Dharma in all its aspects (meditation, wisdom and precepts) with often attainment of emancipation.
The second Dharma age is called the semblance Dharma age, which lasted 1000 years after the previous one.
It is characterized by gradual decadence in the determination by which practitioners, both monks and lay, practice the Way. Self indulgence slowly takes place and fills the minds and hearts of the followers. The breaking of precepts becomes more and more common among monks and nuns and "only a few attain the fruit of Enlightenment".
The third and last Dharma age lasts for 10.000 years after the second age. In it "only the verbal teaching remains", while nobody is capable of observing the precepts and of truly practicing meditation or other Buddhist methods based on self power.
Words like, "the right Dharma will become extinct" or "the teaching will be stored in the naga's palace", which can be found in Mahamaya Sutra, Benevolent King Sutra and others, means that although one can still find the written texts of the Buddhist teaching, the Dharma of personal power teachings and methods is as good as non-existent or practically non-existent because nobody can attain Enlightenment through it.
The requirements of the paths of self power within the Buddhist teachings do not accord anymore with the capacities of beings.
Also even if we read about precepts in the sacred texts, nobody can actually observe then. So it is said that in this period there are no precepts. If there were people who at least have the capacity to observe precepts in an imperfect manner, we could say that there is a breaking of precepts, but since people can't observe precepts at all, it is said that precepts do not exist anymore. The capacities of beings are so low that no requirement is made to them, hence there are no precepts (1). It is the same with having no pretention of healthy behavior from a terminally ill person with a chronic disease.
The matter of accordance between the teaching and the beings to be taught and also the time in which they live in - close or far from the physical presence of the Buddha - is extremely important.
Master Tao-ch'o said that:
"if the beings, the teachings and the times were not in accord, it would be difficult to perform practice and difficult to attain Enlightenment."
A person living in the presence of the Buddha or close in time to it, can easily follow the paths of self power practice in comparison with someone living 2500 years far from the Buddha. The requirements and practices cannot be the same for them because their times and capacities differ.
Master Shinran explained this:
"With regard to the Dharma, there are three ages, and among people, there are three levels. The instruction imparting the teaching and precepts flourishes and declines according to the age, and words of condemnation or praise are accepted or rejected depending on the person...
...the wisdom and enlightenment of beings of the five five-hundred year periods after the Buddha's demise differ. How can beings be saved by only one path?"
"How can beings be saved by only one path?" - how can beings living in the last Dharma age attain Enlightenment through the means and practices given to those living in the presence of the Buddha or in the right Dharma age who have a different environment and different capacities.
"It is like rubbing green wood to build a fire; fire cannot be made, for time is not right", said Master Tao-ch'o in a well suited comparison.
Also Master Shinran said it very clear:
"Truly we know that the teachings of the Path of Sages were intended for the period when the Buddha was in the world and for the right Dharma-age; they are altogether inappropriate for the times and beings of the semblance and last Dharma-ages and the age when the Dharma has become extinct. Already their time has passed; they are no longer in accord with beings."
Thus the Great Collection Sutra states:
"Out of billions of sentient beings who seek to perform practices and cultivate the way in the last Dharma-age, not one will gain realization."
Master Tao-ch'o comments on this last quote by saying:
"This is now the last Dharma-age; it is the evil world of the five defilements. This one gate - the Pure Land way - is the only path that affords passage."
The Jodo Shinshu path alone doesn't discriminate between the capacities of beings and doesn't depend on the time they live in, wether it is the period when the Buddha was in the world, the right, semblance and the last Dharna ages, or the time when the Dharma becomes extinct, because it is the path that brings all to perfect Enlightenment, not through personal power which is changeable and not reliable, but through the Power of Amida Buddha.
I also reccomend you to read this article on the same topic:
Jodo Shinshu, the only effective path in this last Dharma age
Notes:
(1) No requirement in terms of precepts it doesn't mean that people of the last Dharma age should make no efforts in having a moral life or living in harmony with other beings, but their trying cannot be called observation of precepts, anymore. They are not required to attain Enlightenment through leading a pure life because precepts and observation of precepts is exactly this - a method combined with the development of wisdom and meditation as a mean to attain Enlightenment.
Monday, September 7, 2009
A book by Rev Unno is dennied access to the library of Tariki Dojo
---NEW: please also read "Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writing" - 24 October 2009---
Someone wanted the book "Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold" by Rev Taitetsu Unno to be published and promoted in my country and I answered with a clear and definitive "NO".
Why? Because some of the passages I found in it " are not in accordance with the true Jodo Shinshu teaching we find in the canonical texts of our school. Also, as it is stated in rule number 8th of the "Rules of the Dojo" that I established for the Jodo Shinshu dojos in Romania:
"In the library of the dojo, in the Jodo Shinshu section, only the texts from the canon of our school and the books which are in accord with these texts are promoted. No book which denies the teaching presented in the canonical texts, deteriorates, modifies or adds something which is not present in these texts, is allowed in the library of the dojo; also, the authors of these books will never be promoted, translated or invited at the dojo."
I will present in this article some divergences from the true Jodo Shinshu teaching of Rev Taitetsu Unno that I found in his book, "Bits of Rubble Turn Into Gold" and which made me refuse from now on the access of this book or any books by him in the library of Tariki Dojo, either in original copy or translation. (The same applies to Shigaraki's books).
I mention that I do not deny to anybody in my sangha the right to read this book, to like it or be enthusiastic about it, but as an official representative of Jodo Shinshu (Hongwanji-ha branch) in Romania and responsible for the transmission of the teaching of our school, have to be careful to what I promote and recommend at the dojo. Thus I can't advertise and exhibit this book in the official centers and dojos I establish in my country so that beginners, newcomers or members might not consider it to be useful for a true understanding of the Jodo Shinshu teaching.
I don't care if this action might be interpreted by some as not democratic or in any other way. I am already used with many people not wanting to see or understand the true reasons why I am so radical in my attitude of transmitting the Jodo Shinshu teaching. Yes, I think that censorship must be applied when translating or promoting books or authors in official Jodo Shinshu centers around the world, especially in this period when so few disciples actually read and guide themselves by the canonical texts of Shakyamuni and the Masters and a handful of so called modern priests or scholars modify the true teaching according to the opinions and ideas of their unenlightened minds.
I repeat, so that nobody put again into my mouth words that I didn't say: I do not deny to anybody in my sangha the right to read this book, like it or be enthusiastic about it and I am not a savage dictator who encourages the burning of books. I just do not promote some authors that are divergent from the Jodo Shinshu teaching we find in the canon of our school. I have nothing personal with anybody, I am not disrespectful to anybody; only their texts are compared with the words of sutras and comentaries of the Masters. Its just an objective comparison.
So, here are some passages from this book and the comments explaining their divergence from the true teaching of our school:
Unno: The Primal Vow of the Buddha Amida was accomplished in timeless time to liberate all beings from the darkness of ignorance. This story, contained in the Larger Sutra, begins with the forty-eight vows of the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, the Buddha-to-be, who shouldered the
burden of suffering humanity and vowed to meet every conceivable need, both material and spiritual, of sentient beings as the condition for attaining Buddhahood. When Dharmakara fulfilled all the vows and accomplished this, the result was the liberating message of NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU. This story, couched in mytho-poetic terms, is not a story in the ordinary sense, nor is it about a happening in history that took place in some remote past and in some distant land. Rather, it is the truth of the Larger Sutra becoming realized in one’s own life and shaping one’s self-understanding. Having been confirmed and reconfirmed innumerable times by people, beyond any human recall, the story is the cumulative realization of countless human beings down through the centuries.
Comments:
First, there is no such thing as "timeless time" in the true Teaching. Rather, in the Larger Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha speaks of the development of Dharmakara's life as a Bodhisattva in terms of great ages (kalpas) of time.
Such ages are incomprehensible to us, precisely because we are not Buddhas. But they are entirely comprehensible to Buddhas, who are bound by neither space nor time as we understand it.
Shakyamuni Buddha declares that Dharmakara's life story did, in fact, occur in the distant past. To make it into something else by declaring it to be mythic is a gross divergence from the plain sense of what Shakyamuni Buddha plainly declares.
Furthermore, in no sense does the story of Dharmakara in Larger Sutra becomes the story of my life as a person of SHINJIN. Dharmakara accomplished the exceedingly difficult path of the Bodhisattva over the course of countless lifetimes. As a plain person - a BONBU - I am entirely incapable of such an accomplishment, even if I was given an
infinite number of lifetimes.
Dharmakara's story - like Gotama's story - is a HEROIC story of a sentient being who uses self-power to achieve the highest pinnacle of Enlightenment by his own efforts. My story - like Master Shinran's story - is a SALVIC story of a sentient being who was entirely incapable of such heroic work, and instead simply has entrusted his karmic destiny ENTIRELY to the person and work of Amida Buddha.
________________________________________________________
Unno: The story of Dharmakara Bodhisattva is not a story in the ordinary sense, for it articulates the maturing process of a religious seeker. That is, it shapes the inner quest of the seeker as he or she engages in deep hearing, transforming the story found in the Larger
Sutra into one’s personal history.
Comments:
Dharmakara's story articulates the maturing process of a religious seeker, of a HERO WHO IS CAPABLE OF FOLLOWING A SELF-POWER PATH TO MATURATION AND ULTIMATELY ENLIGHTENMENT.
But its not the story of ordinary unenlightened people in this last Dharma age becoming a Buddha.
Master Shinran's story - and my story as well - articulates how someone who is INCAPABLE of such a maturing process can become a True Buddha anyway.
______________________________________________________
Unno: According to Shinran, religious awakening is the realization of timeless time in each moment of temporal activity. The ultimate dimension breaks into the historical dimension, the timeless penetrates time. In his words, “One thought-moment is time at its ultimate limit, where the realization of shinjin takes place.”
Comments:
I've never read any such thing in Master Shinran's writings.
In Master Shinran's writings, the entire goal is SHINJIN - that state of true entrusting which comes as a gift of GRACE to someone who is simply willing to listen deeply to the Dharma message of True Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.
In fact, Master Shinran and Master Rennyo both explicitly tell members of the Sangha not to worry themselves about "maturing" at all - but simply to entrust their karmic destiny to Amida Buddha and say the Nembutsu of gratitude.
________________________________________________________
Unno: Saichi goes to the Pure Land here and now, and he never dies, because he manifests the Primal Vow as he lives out his karmic life on the horizontal plane.
Comments:
This is one of countless example of how modernist teachers like Unno conflate the reality of the Pure Land created by Amida Buddha, with a state of consciousness. So let's clear up the confusion:
All those who entrust themselves to Amida Buddha and have faith with no doubt, IN THIS LIFE are people of the same SHINJIN as Master Shinran.
But not a one of us - including Master Shinran himself - is in the Pure Land in any sense, while he is still alive as a non-Buddha in this life, in this world. Master Shinran never EVER said such a
thing.
Rather, he said that he would surely go to the Pure Land, and be transformed into a True Buddha, AFTER he ended this BONBU life - and so would everyone else who simply entrusted themselves to the person and work of Amida Buddha.
Also I invite you to read these articles "Pure Land, Nembutsu, Samsara and Nirvana - four questions" and Comments on the 15th chapter of Tannisho in which I comment more on the "here and now" misunderstanding of birth in the Pure Land.
Shinran’s statements are very clear:
“Attaining Enlightenment in the coming life is the essence of the
“According to the true essence of the
Unno: There is no need for such a deathbed ritual, because birth in the Pure Land has occurred in the awakening to shinjin here and now.
Comments:
Wrong, on two counts:
First, and most importantly, neither Master Shinran, nor his teacher Master Honen, nor Master Rennyo, nor any of the seven Pure Land masters EVER said that birth in the Pure has occurred when someone has come to the state of SHINJIN.
What Master Shinran DID say is that when someone comes to the state of SHINJIN in this life, his birth in the Pure Land in the next life is assured. This is not the Pure Land, and people of SHINJIN living here who have not yet attained Buddhahood are not, in any sense, living in
the Pure Land.
A true Buddha like Shakyamuni, on the other hand, can co-locate. He can be at once here in Samsaric existence, and at the same time in the Pure Land. That's exactly what happened that day on Vulture Peak, when the monk Ananda asked Shakyamuni Buddha why he was glowing in
such an unearthly way during his meditation.
Second, The reason that there is no need for such a deathbed ritual, according to Master Honen and Master Shinran, is NOT because the person of Shinjin is already living in the Pure Land. Rather, it is because the person of SHINJIN has the ASSURANCE, because of his or her
diamond-like faith, that Amida does not need to come get him at all - but rather that he will awaken in the Pure Land upon his death in this body, no matter what his state is at the moment of death.
Master Shinran writes this EXPLICITLY in his letters - Lamp of the Latter Ages.
____________________________________________________
Unno: The Shin Buddhist path is the path of my choice, a path that makes no undue demands on its followers, physical or otherwise, except one: the giving up of the ego-self.
Comments:
This couldn't be more wrong.
The giving up of the ego-self is the essential work on the Path of the Sages - the Path of the Bodhisattva - or the Path of the Arhat.
But, as Master Shinran explained, over and over again, the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is not first for the good person, but for the evil person. It is not for the person who is able to give up the ego-self (as Gotama and Dharmakara both did). Rather, it is for the person who couldn't POSSIBLY give up the ego-self no matter how many lifetimes he had to do it.
While we are certainly not permitted to engage in deliberate lawlessness, Master Shinran and Master Rennyo NEVER told people to give up their ego-selves, which necessarily include all their cravings and aversions, their blind passions, their delusions and obscurations.
They didn't ask nor expect people to do it, because (by their own testimony) they couldn't do it themselves. And it was precisely because they couldn't do it, and KNEW they couldn't do it, that they entrusted themselves and their karmic destiny to Amida Buddha - and encouraged us to do the same.
Let me be very clear: There is no doubt that the cure for our common disease is, in fact, the giving up of our ego-self. Under the Bodhi Tree, Gotama saw this, fully and finally. He indentified this ego-self, "the builder of this house", as the root problem - and somehow snuffed it out and thereby emerged as the Buddha - the great wheel turner of this age, in this Buddha-land we call Samsara.
But as the Buddha Shakyamuni, because He recognized how limited most of us are, He commended us to take refuge in Amida Buddha - because only Amida Buddha, of all the Buddhas in the entire sentient universe, is able to deliver us from the bondage of the ego-self, who cannot
deliver ourselves.
This deliverance comes - as Master Shinran and Master Rennyo explained over and over again - not during this life, even if we are people of SHINJIN. Rather, it comes in the afterlife. That is why the question of the afterlife is, as Master Rennyo asserted, the single most important question any of us face.
_________________________________________________________________
Unno: The story of Dharmakara Bodhisattva is Reality-that-takes-form given to us as a narrative for the sake of human comprehension. Having fulfilled forty-eight vows on behalf of sentient beings, Dharmakara attains supreme enlightenment and becomes Amida Buddha, the “Buddha of unhindered light filling the ten quarters.” This story is ultimately the story of reality being realized in each person, made possible by the working of the invisible Other Power. Thus, Amida Buddha is not an objective entity but comes alive in each person’s awakening to the
Name-that-calls, NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU. That is, as limited, imperfect, vulnerable, and finite beings (namu), each of us is granted this unrepeatable life, sustained and protected by boundless compassion (amida-butsu).
Comments:
Of all the tragic and destructive divergences that have ever bedeviled the international Jodo Shinshu Sangha, declaring that Amida Buddha is not an objective entity is by far the worst. It is at the very core of what is wrong with Unno's teaching - and the teaching of other like-minded
modernists.
The truth of the Dharma concerning Amida Buddha has been told to us by our Dharma masters. First, Amida Buddha is the Original Buddha. And second, because we are entirely unable to understand, much less apprehend Buddha in that formless form, He has taken on a transcendental body (reward body) after completing the work of His 48 Vows, and creating His Pure Land of Bliss.
More about modern false interpretations of Amida Buddha you can read here:
Some discussions on the nature of Amida Buddha
and in all the articles posted under the label DIVERGENCES FROM THE JODO SHINSHU TEACHING where this article is also posted.
UPDATE: read two more posts on this topic:
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writing (part1)
Reactions to my critics of Rev Unno's writing (part2)
More on modern divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Rules of the Dojo
Here are some general rules I established for the Shinshu dojos in
RULES OF THE DOJO
--to be observed in all the Jodo Shinshu dojos and temples in
1. When you enter the dojo abandon all your worries and worldly affairs. Any discussion except the Dharma is forbidden.
2. The goal of your presence at the dojo or temple is to understand the Jodo Shinshu Dharma. Here there will be no discussions about other religions. Only the Jodo Shinshu Dharma is promoted at the dojo.
3. When you enter the dojo, give up to any prejudgments related with race, sex, social conditions, physical appearance, etc. Before the Buddha we are all equals.
5. At the dojo we follow the instructions and tasks given to us by the dojo’s representative, who is the only decisional factor in doctrinary, practice and organizatorical matters. Nobody can publicly preach the Dharma without the authorization of the dojo’s teacher.
6. If you enter the dojo, you have to follow all the traditional Jodo Shinshu rules. Ask for guidance about the right addressing formulas and behavior in the dojo. Learn all the traditional gestures.
9. Only those authorized by the teacher of the dojo are allowed to work at official translations.
11. Meat eating and alcohol is strictly forbiden at Dharma meetings* .
12. If at Dharma meetings the followers eat together, the topic of discussion will be religious or everybody will keep silence.
13. Come with 10-15 minutes before the beginning of the religious practice and even earlier if you have some tasks and responsibilities.
14. Dress yourself clean. Avoid unpleasant or exaggerated smells.
15. Keep simplicity and decency in clothing. The dojo is not a podium for vestimentary exaggerations. Everything that has a value in the social life has no value in the dojo, thus don’t exaggerate with exterior adornments.
--those who don’t want to follow these rules of behavior, have no acces in the dojo--
(the one who watches these rules to be observed and sanctions their violation is the priest/teacher of the dojo or the representative appointed by him)
* this is not a request for Jodo Shinshu followers to be vegetarians in their private lives, but if they meet inside the dojo or temple they have to abstain from meat and alcohol.
________________________________
other related articles:
Why do we need discipline at the dojo?
Traditional respect towards one's teacher
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
JODO SHINSHU - A GUIDE (reccomended order of articles)
For those who are interested to study Jodo Shinshu Buddhism but don’t know how to start, how to organize their study or read this blog with its many articles, I offer here a helping guide. I might often update this “guide” depending on new entries or ideas that come to my mind so I will post a permanent and easy to see link link to it in the right column.
If you are a beginner in Jodo Shinshu, I advice you to read this selection of articles first and then move on to other articles on your free choice.
http://www.shinbuddhism.ro/shin_site/dpage.php?page_type=jodo_shinshu_buddhism
5. ASPIRATION TO BECOME A BUDDHA – THE MOST IMPORTANT MATTER
11 BIRTH IN THE
17. QUESTION – DISCRIMINATION IN THE SAVING ACTIVITY OF AMIDA?
19. ENJOY THE TASTE OF NEMBUTSU
24. SIX SIMPLE STATEMENTS OF JODO SHINSHU FAITH
---- Modern misunderstandings of the Jodo Shinshu teaching that should be avoided:
1. Pure Land, nembutsu, samsara and Nirvana (four questions)
2. Some discussions on the nature of Amida Buddha
3. Kobai Sensei' statement: Amida Buddha is a true and real Buddha, not a fictional character
4. Reactions against Kobai Sensei's statement and my answer
5. Reactions against Kobai Sensei's statement and my answer (part 2)
Friday, June 12, 2009
Nembutsu recitation (audio/video recording)
For those who asked how to recite the Name of Amida Buddha (nembutsu) here is a record from a Dharma meeting at Tariki Dojo Craiova.
This is how we do it, but its not the only method of saying the Name in our tradition.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Jodo Shinshu – the only effective path in this last Dharma age
-based on some verses in the Shozomatsu wasan-
(my speech at the last spring meeting in Jiko-ji temple (Antwerp, Belgium)
Buddhism has spread a lot in Europe in the last fifty years and this is indeed, very fortunate. But in this spreading and in the image that Buddhism has in the West a very important element is missing or is not so well understood. Too many voices are heard in Western Buddhism that support some already established preconceptions like: “Buddhism is a path of Liberation by oneself” and “Buddha is only a teacher or the finger showing the moon”, etc. The established image of a Buddhist is a forever calm and smiling Buddhist monk or practitioner, following a path of self liberation and improvement. This for many is Buddhism, but for Shinran, this is exactly what Buddhism is no more…
His life story and teaching shows another aspect of Buddhism which he considers it to be the real Buddhism: the true Pure Land Teaching or Jodo Shinshu in which Amida Buddha is not the finger showing the moon, but a Savior, - in fact, the best Savior of all the three worlds, with Shakyamuni being His messenger, guiding sentient beings to entrust in Amida. What a dramatic difference in the vision of what the Dharma truly is between Master Shinran and all other schools of self power Buddhism!
We can say that in Shinran’s terms, Buddhism will not be well established in the West until the teaching about Amida’s salvation will be known.
In fact, in the West only the provisional and accommodated teachings of Shakyamuni have spread until now, but not the teaching of His true intent of coming into this world. Thus, it is our mission to understand and transmit correctly the only Dharma of Shakyamuni that is still functioning in this world of the last age. The more we become aware of this truth, the better it is for all sentient beings.
The possibility of attaining Buddhahood in this very life is the essence of the Buddhist schools that are so well spread in Europe. News about famous Buddhist masters and their realizations are many and the number of disciples is growing. Who will not want to see, touch and be around somebody about whom it is said he is an incarnation of an ancient Master or even a living Buddha…
But I myself cannot abstain not to look with suspicion to all the so called spiritual achievements of today’s important figures of Buddhism.
Seeing all these “modern realizations” with the eyes influenced by the teaching of Shinran Shonin about the true capacities of beings in the last Dharma age, I think there are two possibilities about those who seem to attain Buddhahood in our times:
1) They might be Bodhisattvas in disguise who already became Buddhas in the past and come here to keep on the Buddhist path those who can’t yet have faith in Amida but continue to follow other Dharma teachings, or
2) because we are deluded, we think that somebody who shows more calm than us, already attained Buddhahood.
But to become a Buddha means a lot more than always showing a calm face and saying beautiful words of wisdom. Shinran mentioned in Tannisho a few aspects of what it is to become a Buddha and what those smiling Buddhist faces of his day and today, don’t have:
“Do those who speak of realizing Enlightenment while in this bodily existence manifest various accommodated bodies, possess the Buddha's thirty-two features and eighty marks, and preach the dharma to benefit beings like Shakyamuni? It is this that is meant by realizing Enlightenment in this life…”
A true Buddha knows all His previous births and the previous births of all sentient beings, He knows all the causes and their possible effects, thus being able to predict the possible future of any being; He knows perfectly which method is better to be applied to every one meeting Him, and the list of the Enlightened capacities of a Buddha can go on and fill many pages… I think it is very important to understand that a Buddha is not a human being, as the human condition is just one of the many unenlightened states of existence(1).
Inside Enlightened qualities of a Buddha manifests outside and impregnates on His physical body, so both physically and mentally, a Buddha is an extraordinary person, beyond and superior to any being. To become a true Buddha, possessing such capacities as those enumerated above, is something that cannot be done in this age, according to Shinran Shonin. But unfortunately, people often don’t read carefully in the sutras what a Buddha truly is, and instead become easily impressed by anyone who shows more calm than them.
When I myself look to the various Buddhist magazines that are so popular nowadays, I always have the feeling of futility.
So many smiling monks, sophisticated articles, Zen talks about emptiness and how we are already Buddhas and don’t need to worry about anything, practitioners talking about how to overcome anger or jealousy, and many other bla, bla things….I read all those articles and feel like they talk for aliens, but surely not for me.
Who are all those good Buddhists and how can their nice talks be of any help to me? Did the Buddhas came into this world only to teach these nice guys who are always calm and have such fulfilled lives through meditation? Then what am I doing here?
Before coming to Jodo Shinshu I felt like in school when the teacher always talked with the good children and sent me in the back of the classroom with the bad children.
And then…, I found Jodo Shinshu…. which is the only reason why I am a Buddhist. Without Jodo Shinshu, Buddhism is just another nice discourse for the smart and good guys but with no relevance for the real people, living in the real world..
I truly understand now why Shinran Shonin considered that preaching the Larger Sutra was the main reason for Shakyamuni coming into this world. He had the courage to abandon his mask of a good smiling monk and looked deeply into himself and the true human capacities. Shinran didn’t chose to teach the nice discourses of other sutras, but carefully selected the passages that were truly beneficial for himself and this world.
There are teachings and practices preached by Shakyamuni that Shinran chose not to speak about and he did this NOT because those practices are bad, but not truly useful for our attainment of Buddhahood, given our real capacities. He said in his letters that some Buddhist teachings are of limited relevance while others are of universal relevance and that the teaching of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is of universal relevance. To be of universal relevance means to be useful and effective either for the good and virtuous and also for the evil beings filled with blind passions. Saints and stupid people can be saved equally. It is “the teaching in accord with the times and with beings” as he also said in Shozomatsu Wasan.
Some might think (and I heard such a statement at one of the European meetings) that we should not be so radical as Shinran who says that only faith in Amida can make people attain Buddhahood, because in this way we might offend other Buddhist schools with whom we are engaged in ecumenical talks.
So what can we do? Why should they feel offended when so many other schools also claim they have the best practices and methods? Just look to the statements of the Tibetan schools when they speak about their specific teachings!
My opinion on this matter is that it is extremely important to keep strictly to the explanations of Shinran Shonin and expound them as they were truly said without adding anything to them so as to satisfy the expectations of unenlightened people from other schools, or other non Buddhist religions of this deluded world. This is because in Shinran’s explanations we find the true reason for the existence of Jodo Shinshu.
This wonderful teaching on the absolute reliance on Amida Buddha is not just another Buddhist method in the 84,000 Buddhist teachings (2), but the most important teaching among all Shakyamuni’s teachings.
Shinran said in the second verse of Shozomatsu Wasan:
“…the teachings that Sakyamuni left behind
Have all passed into the naga's palace.”
This means that all other Buddhist teachings are no more effective during these times. To “pass into the naga’s palace” means exactly this – not being effective or being as non-existent.
Shinran is even more clear:
“Although we have the teachings of Sakyamuni,
There are no sentient beings who can practice them;
Hence, it is taught that in the last dharma-age,
Not a single person will attain enlightenment through them.”
“Not a single person will attain Enlightenment through them” is a very strong statement! Not a single one – this should be very well heard and understood. Not a single person can effectively practice the Buddhist teachings other than the reliance on Amida Buddha.
Shinran said it clearly for those who are ready to hear it:
“Without entrusting themselves to the Tathagata's compassionate Vow,
No sentient beings of these times - the last dharma-age, and
The fifth five-hundred year period since Sakyamuni's passing -
Will have a chance of parting from birth-and-death.”
Shinran’s words leave no trace of doubt about what we have to do.
There is no other Buddhist method which can guarantee Buddhahood so quickly without asking anything from the practitioner. All the nice discourses and practices of other schools through which they claim that everybody can become a Buddha in this very life are good in themselves, but they are not effective for this age and people living in it. So they are as good as non-existent – “gone into the naga's palace”.
In this age, any true spiritual practice, (by “true” I mean any Buddhist practice and not the practice of other religions), which asks even a merit as little as a particle of dust from the practitioner is not an effective practice. So we should abandon them because we can’t become Buddhas through them.
If we should abandon all other Buddhist teachings and practices as being as good as non existent or gone into the naga’s palace, so much more we should never follow non Buddhist teachings and practices about which Shinran Shonin talks in greater detail in his KyoGyoShinSho where he states, for example, quoting the Great Nirvana Sutra:
“Good sons, there are two kinds of enlightenment: eternal and impermanent…. The enlightenment of nonbuddhist ways is called impermanent, Buddhist enlightenment is called eternal….. The emancipation of nonbuddhist ways is called impermanent, the emancipation of Buddhist ways is called eternal.”
He makes reference again on non Buddhist teachings in Shozomatsu Wasan about which we are talking now:
“The ninety-five nonbuddhist teachings defile the world(3);
The Buddha's path alone is pure.”
These words are immediately followed by the verses:
“Only by going forth and reaching Enlightenment can we benefit others
In this burning house; this is the natural working of the Vow.”
which if they are compared with the statement about the two types of Enlightenment (eternal and impermanent) quoted by Shinran in his KyoGyoShinSho and presented above, we can easily draw the conclusion that not through non Buddhist teachings, but through the Buddha’s path which is pure, is one made capable to attain Enlightenment.
So, if we live in this last Dharma age with all its defilements and difficulties, we should follow only the path of the Buddha and not the various non Buddhist teachings which are themselves manifestations of this defiled world. More than this, among all Buddhist methods we should select only the teaching of the Primal Vow and abandon the rest as being as good as non existent.
I especially think that these statements of Shinran Shonin about the non Buddhist teachings and other Buddhist practices, are very useful in our days when it became a custom to mix things and find so called synthesis of various religious beliefs. Many spiritual soups are prevalent in our days, mixing elements of Christianity with Buddhism and Hinduism. But also in the Buddhist world mixing things is often met and even in Jodo Shinshu there is for example, the tendency among some followers to make Jodo Shinshu more Zen like in order to accommodate to their personal visions and incapacity to be open to a salvation and faith oriented teaching.
In rejecting non Buddhist views as not leading to Enlightenment and also other Buddhist teachings as ineffective, Shinran Shonin shows he is not interested in satisfying everyone’s ideas or in having a nice and politically correct talk with all doctrines and religious views, but is concentrated in saving people from birth and death, which is the most important thing in this life. In front of the two rivers of fire and water with death and danger waiting to strike at every moment, and the rare chance of having another human life so hard to find, Shinran is interested only in showing us the path to escape. And he clearly sees no other way than entrusting in Amida Buddha. All other methods are not real or they are ineffective.
Shinran calls us to awaken and do not lose the precious time we have. This is a burning house and not a place for unimportant talks and doctrines. He is clear in his explanations like a doctor who prescribes exactly what a patient needs to save his life.
He says something like: “Do you want to escape birth and death? If you do, then this is the way to follow and no other. Entrust in Amida Buddha and in no one else”. It is Shinran’s message to a terminally ill world in the last Dharma age, a world who needs the best medicine ever to be found in the religious history.
For those who come to Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu only for intellectual delights or interesting discussions, the radical attitude of Shinran will always be embarrassing or not so politically correct. But for those whom birth and death is the most important matter and realize their true capacities, the clear message of Shinran and his way of rejecting that which is not true or effective and selecting that which is true and useful, is all they needed to hear.
So, dear friends, make a choice: escape this burning house or remain inside it, spending your time with false or futile practices.
Its your decision.
Namo Amida Butsu
______________________________________
NOTES:
(1) A brahman called Dona encountered the Buddha shortly after his enlightenment and, struck by the Buddha’s serenity, asked Him:
“Sir, are you a god?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you an angel?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a yakkha?
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a human being?”
“No, brahman.”
“When asked, ‘Are you a god?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked, ‘Are you an angel?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman..’ When asked, ‘Are you a yakkha?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked, ‘Are you a human being?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ Then what sort of being are you?”
“Brahman, the defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be a god: those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future arising. The defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be an angel… a yakkha… a human being: those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future arising.
“Just as a blue or red or white lotus born in water, grows in water and stands up above the water untouched by it, so too I, who was born in the world and grew up in the world, have transcended the world, and I live untouched by the world. Remember me, brahman, as a Buddha.”
(2) Shinran said in Letter 8 of his Lamp of the Latter Ages: “Of the conceivable and the inconceivable dharma, the conceivable comprises the 84,000 kinds of good of the Path of Sages. The Pure Land teaching is the inconceivable dharma-teaching” - so he clearly separated the Pure Land teaching from other Buddhist teachings and practices.
(3) "Ninety-five non Buddhist teachings" (kujugoshu ) originally appear in the Nirvana Sutra and others.
It is said that at the time of the Buddha there were ninety-five kinds of wrong teachings. They are views of the six philosophical masters (rokushi gedo) and those of their disciples, fifteen under each master (Zuio Sensei explanations).
I also think that any nowadays spiritual teaching that contradicts the law of karma as explained by the Buddha, denies rebirth, affirms the existence of a Creator and supreme judge of the world, etc, can be considered in the category of non Buddhist teachings that should be rejected. One cannot be a Jodo Shinshu follower and believe in God, deny rebirth and the law of karma.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Against Shigaraki's false teachings
I am presenting you here, a very good article written by my Dharma friend, Paul Roberts, in which he deconstructs some false statements made by one of the many false teachers of our international sangha - Takamaro Shigaraki.
Please have the patience to read it - I assure you it will be very helpful.
And also please read the discussions about Shigaraki that took place on true shinbuddhism yahoo group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/true_shin_buddhism/messages/1213?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1
and:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/true_shin_buddhism/messages/1228?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1
This group is indeed the most active and reliable online place for discussing and understanding the Jodo Shinshu Dharma.
In his essay entitled "The Problem of the True and the False in
Contemporary Shin Buddhist Studies: True Shin Buddhism and False Shin
Buddhism", Takamaro Shigaraki asks and answers the following three
questions:
1. Is Amida Buddha an Entity or a Symbol?
2. Is Shinjin in Shin Buddhism Non-dualistic or Dualistic?
3. Is Shin Buddhism a Religion of Power or a Religion of Path?
I assert that his answers are WRONG. By WRONG, I mean that his answers
are entirely different from the answers that Master Shinran, Master
Rennyo and the Seven Pure Land Masters give to us in their writings.
Since Shigaraki has a large sphere of influence in the Shin Buddhist
community today, let me get into a bit of detail as to why, where and
how his answers differ from those of our Dharma masters. In the end,
of course, it is up to each person to listen deeply to the Dharma for
himself or herself, and decide which memes (or beliefs) to embrace:
the memes of Professor Shigaraki or the memes of Master Shinran.
I'm not going to attempt to have a scholarly debate with Shigaraki on
the particulars of his academic arguments. Rather, I'm simply going
to look at Master Shinran's answers to Shigaraki's questions.
Question #1: IS AMIDA BUDDHA AN ENTITY OR A SYMBOL?
Anyone who approaches the core texts of Shin Buddhism with any
honesty, and without a pre-existing bias or an axe to grind, will
inevitably conclude that Master Shinran, Master Rennyo and the Seven
Pure Land Masters ALL recognized Amida as a True Buddha - an
independent entity - a Buddha of Reward Body who rules over a place we
know as The Pure Land.
I challenge anyone to find passages where our Dharma masters either
say or imply that Amida Buddha is an idea, a symbol, a "finger
pointing at the moon", or any sort of semiotic device, as Shigaraki
and other modernist Shin teachers assert.
I could easily write an entire book, if I had the time, filled with
nothing but quotations from our Dharma masters to prove my point ABOUT
WHAT THEY EACH AND ALL BELIEVE. But instead, I'll choose just one
quotation that sums up the position of all of them.
Here are the words of the great sage Nagarjuna, the first of the seven
influence in the Buddha-Sangha is so great that he is sometimes called
"the second Buddha".
===
JUNIRAI
TWELVE ADORATIONS
By Nagarjuna
Translated by Hisao Inagaki
1. With reverence I bow my head to Amida, the Sage,
The Most Honored One, who is revered by humans and devas.
You dwell in the wonderful
Surrounded by innumerable children of the Buddhas.
2. Your spotless golden body is like Sumeru, the king of mountains;
Your steps while you are absorbed in Shamatha are like an elephant's;
Your eyes are as pure as blue lotus-flowers.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
3. Your face is in perfect shape and serene like the full moon;
Your majestic light shines like a thousand suns and moons
put together;
Your voice sounds like a heavenly drum or a cuckoo.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
4. You reside in the crown which Kannon wears on his head;
Your excellent features are adorned with jewel-ornaments;
You destroy anti-Buddhist views, devilish thoughts and
conceited ideas.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
5. Incomparable, spotless, broad and pure
Is your virtue; it is serene and clear like space.
You have attained freedom in giving benefit to beings.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
6. Bodhisattvas in your Land, renowned everywhere in the ten
directions,
Are always glorified even by innumerable maras;
You dwell with the Vow-Power for the sake of all sentient beings.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
7. In the jewel-pond strewn with gold sands grows a lotus;
The excellent throne on its dais has been produced by your
acts of merit;
On the throne you are seated like the king of mountains.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
8. From the ten directions the Buddhas' children come in flocks;
Manifesting supernatural powers, they reach the
They look up at your august face adoringly and worship you
without interruption.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
9. All things are impermanent and selfless,
Like an image of the moon in the water, lightning or morning dew.
Your sermons to the multitudes are, in reality, wordless.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
10. In the Revered Buddha's Land exist no evil names,
Nor are there beings in the female form, nor fear of evil realms.
All worship the Honored One in sincerity of heart.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
11. In the Buddha's Land accomplished with innumerable skillful devices,
There are no samsaric realms, nor evil teachers;
Upon attaining birth there, one reaches Bodhi without falling back.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.
12. I have extolled the Buddha's excellent virtue,
Thereby acquiring boundless merit like the ocean.
The roots of pure good I have thus acquired
I wish to share with other beings, aspiring together to be born in his Land.
===
Over and over again, the great Dharma Master Nagarjuna says, "I
prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One."
He would never say that if he considered Amida to be a SYMBOL. He says
that because he has been given the faith-mind that KNOWS Amida to be a
real and true Buddha of reward body, "the Sage, The Most Honored One,
who is revered by humans and devas."
So we have two competing visions of truth here: Nagarjuna's vision,
and Shigaraki's vision. Which is true and real? Which is false and
delusional?
If you believe that Shigaraki sees more clearly into reality than
Nagarjuna, then of course you will want to follow him. But if you
believe that Nagarjuna was one of the great Dharma masters of all
time, and that is vision is truer than yours, or mine, or Shigaraki's,
then you'll be hungry to know the REAL and TRUE Buddha Amida, the very
same Buddha that Nagarjuna knew.
Ultimately, no one can decide this question for another. Each person
has the privilege and the responsibility to listen deeply, and wait
for the answer to arise from the deepest part of his or her being.
Question #2: IS SHINJIN IN SHIN BUDDHISM NON-DUALISTIC OR DUALISTIC?
Once again, I'm not going to make a point by point dissection of
Shigaraki's arguments that SHINJIN is a non-dualistic experience. One
can argue that 2 + 2 = 5, but that does not make it so.
Instead, I'm going to do what I did before, and simply show you what
Master Shinran believed, asserted and taught for 60 years of his life.
I'll also discuss why the understanding of Master Shinran - that we
come to the experience of settled SHINJIN while we are still very much
prisoners of dualistic view - is so central to understanding True Shin
Buddhism as a coherent Dharma teaching.
Although there are so many passages that can be cited, once again,
I'll choose just one. Here is Master Shinran's letter "Lamp for the
Latter Ages #6":
===
It is saddening that so many people, both young and old, men and
women, have died this year and last. But the Tathagata taught the
truth of life's impermanence for us fully, so you must not be
distressed by it.
I, for my own part, attach no significance to the condition, good or
bad, of persons in their final moments. People in whom shinjin is
determined do not doubt, and so abide among the truly settled. For
this reason their end also -even for those ignorant and foolish and
lacking in wisdom - is a happy one.
You have been explaining to people that one attains birth through the
Tathagata's working; it is in no way otherwise. What I have been
saying to all of you from many years past has not changed. Simply
achieve your birth, firmly avoiding all scholarly debate.
I recall hearing the late Master Honen say, "Persons of the
tradition attain birth in the
selves." Moreover, I remember him smile and say, as he watched humble
people of no intellectual pretensions coming to visit him, "Without
doubt their birth is settled." And I heard him say after a visit by a
man brilliant in letters and debating, "I really wonder about his
birth."
To this day these things come to mind.
Each of you should attain your birth without being misled by people
and without faltering in shinjin. However, the practicer in whom
shinjin has not become settled will continue to drift, even without
being misled by anyone, for he does not abide among the truly settled.
Please relay what I have written here to the others.
===
The simple determinant of SHINJIN for Master Shinran is those who "DO
NOT DOUBT", even if they are "ignorant and foolish and lacking in
wisdom".
It's obvious that anyone who is still "ignorant and foolish and
lacking in wisdom" is not living in any sort of state of non-dual
consciousness. So to make such a state of non-dual consciousness the
bar or the definition for settled SHINJIN would exclude countless
plain people and foolish BONBUS who are clearly INCLUDED by Master
Shinran and Master Honen - and, most importantly, by Amida Buddha's
Primal Vow.
As we read the rest of this letter we get a very clear example of just
what SHINJIN is and is not, from the perspective of Master Shinran and
his own teacher Master Honen. We're shown how simple, unlettered
people come to Master Honen, with no intellectual pretensions, with an
open heart and mind. They listen to the simple Dharma message and
accept it with gratitude because their karma is ripe. Right then and
there, they become people of SHINJIN...because (as Master Honen
declares) "without a doubt their birth is SETTLED".
Now, let's just use plain common sense. If this narrative account of
Master Shinran is to be believed, is there any possible way that these
simple peasants could have or would have come to the advanced state of
non-dual consciousness that is characteristic of beings who have spent
years, and even lifetimes, on the path of self-power?
Of course not.
There's nothing "non-dual" about these simple peasants' experience.
But even though they are still very much bound by dualistic reality,
they HAVE come to diamond-like faith in the person and work of Amida
Buddha, simply by listening deeply to Master Honen's Dharma teaching.
Because they have received the faith-mind of Amida Buddha, these
unlettered peasants KNOW that they are grasped by Amida Buddha and
will never be abandoned.
Because they have received the faith-mind of Amida Buddha, they are
grateful beyond words, as anyone is grateful who truly hears this
Dharma and is touched deep within.
And so, even though they are still the same simple, uneducated, easily
distracted and ignorant people they were the day before, everything
is different. Their SHINJIN is settled. They know the reality of
salvation in the present, anticipate it's full unfolding at the end of
their lives, when they will awaken in the
final transformation to Buddhahood.
Why is this so important - the FACT that shinjin is not held forth as
any sort of non-dual experience, but rather an experience that can be
apprehended by an BONBU still stuck in dualism like a fly stuck on
flypaper?
It's important - critically important - because while some of us may
have a lot of non-dual experiences, both before and after we become
people of SHINJIN, many of us will have very few such experiences - or
maybe none at all. And that doesn't disqualify ANYONE from partaking
of the inconceivable benefits of Amida's Primal Vow.
It can't be said too often: True Shin Buddhism isn't just for the best
of us, but for the rest of us as well. It's for the evil person FIRST,
and THEN also for the good person. It's for the poor mundane fool who
couldn't have a non-dual experience if you gift wrapped it for him,
and not just for the mystically inclined.
Any attempt, by Shigaraki or anyone else, to make some sort of high
bar that Master Shinran does not make, closes this singular Dharma
gate that Amida Buddha has opened wide to one and all. That is a
tragic error, and entirely contrary to the Dharma. Why? Because
Amida's Vow is the Primal Vow - the Universal Vow - the Vow that
embraces ALL and rejects none.
If you had to have some sort of non-dual experience to be a person of
settled SHINJIN, then Amida Buddha would no doubt have to reject a lot
of plain people who've gone to the Pure Land and become Buddhas
already - even though they had no non-dual experience whatsoever.
So, once again, we are presented with two competing visions of
SHINJIN: There is Master Shinran's vision, which requires nothing more
than simple faith that is Amida's gift to us - and then there is
Shigaraki's vision, which requires some sort of non-dual experience or
other. This is an experience that most people of SHINJIN don't have
right away, when all doubts are settled - and some might never have,
even though they are people of SHINJIN.
Which vision speaks to you, deep in your heart? Which do you bear
witness to...as Dharma TRUTH?
Shigaraki also declares that "Shin Buddhism should be understood from
the standpoint of the nondualism of Mahayana Buddhism."
Shigaraki's idea of understanding Shinjin is the kind of understanding
sought after by the academic or the scholar. But here's the most
important question: Is that kind of understanding central, or even
particularly relevant, to the understanding that Master Shinran and
our Dharma masters strove to instill in the minds and hearts of their
listeners?
Clearly, the answer to that question is NO. Understanding the
philosophical and intellectual underpinnings of Mahayana Buddhism is
clearly not a pre-requisite, nor even a co-requisite to coming to
settled SHINJIN - which, for our Dharma masters, is the kind of
understanding that really matters most.
Many of the followers of our Dharma masters were illiterate peasants
of medieval
"painfully ignorant". They were not men like Master Honen, or Master
Shinran. They were consumed 24/7 with the difficult business of making
ends meet in a hostile, dangerous world. They did not have the luxury
of TIME to study in the monastic environment, nor were they the object
of any sort of educational outreach from the Buddhist establishment of
the day. Indeed, they were called ICCHANTIKA - meaning people without
the seed of Buddhahood - hopeless cases for whom the Tripe Gem would
be useless.
Yet with all their limitations, including their lack of understanding
of Mahayana Buddhism - those very same men and women had it within
them to become people of deep and settled SHINJIN. That's why they
could bear witness to the person and work of Amida Buddha, and the
power of the Primal Vow. That was the source of their natural
gratitude and devotion.
So while Shigaraki is certainly entitled to his own opinions - he's
definitely not entitled to his own facts. And the life and witness of
these simple, often illiterate people who knew nothing of Mahayana
Buddhism - but did know the reality of Amida's salvation in their
lives - is a fact that is beyond dispute.
But we also have the direct words of our Dharma masters to assure us
that intellectual understanding of Mahayana Buddhism is neither a
pre-requisite nor a co-requisite for becoming a person of settled
Shinjin.
Just days before he died, Master Shinran's own teacher Master Honen,
one of the greatest scholars of Mahayana Buddhism, distilled his views
into his famous "One Sheet Document". In it, he declared that
regardless of how much Dharma knowledge a person thinks he has, when
it comes to this Dharma, he should approach it like an uneducated nun.
Master Shinran told his followers to avoid all scholarly debates and
arguments, and simply hold fast to the faith-mind given to them by
Amida Buddha.
And Master Rennyo declared that a scholar who was not a person of
SHINJIN could never teach the Dharma properly or effectively to
another - but an illiterate who was a person of SHINJIN could, if only
someone would read the texts on his behalf so he could expound them.
So once again, Shigaraki's thinking doesn't conform to the thinking of
our Dharma masters. More than that, it sets up yet another barrier -
the barrier of having a certain sort of education - that is counter to
the intention of Amida Buddha in His declaration and manifesting of
the Primal Vow - the UNIVERSAL Vow - the Vow that opens wide the door
to liberation for the illiterate just as much as for the scholar.
Question #3: IS SHIN BUDDHISM A RELIGION OF POWER OR A RELIGION OF PATH?
In asking this question, Shigaraki creates an "either-or" academic
religious framework that is neither accurate, nor useful. He defines
"religion of power" as a religion that is concerned with supernatural
powers and deity figures...such as Shinto with its KAMI (deities). And
he defines "religion of path" as a religion that is concerned with
gradual transformation and ennobling of character. Then he concludes
that Shin Buddhism is the latter, and not the former.
There's a term for this in computer science - GIGO...which means
"garbage in, garbage out". If you put in the wrong data, or ask the
wrong question, or start from an incorrect understanding, you can't
come up with the right answers, whether you use a computer or a human
being to do the processing.
So let's start by putting in the right data: The fact is that Buddhism
concerns itself with both path AND power. Anyone who denies that is
being reductionist in his thinking - and ignoring the Dharma truth we
have been give by Shakyamuni Buddha Himself.
PATH is the journey that all beings must walk, transmigrating for
countless lives, until each has arrived at the ultimate state of
Buddhahood, in one way or another. POWER is what enables beings to
undertake and ultimately complete this journey. And - it must be said
- authentic Buddhism is necessarily MOST concerned with the
possibility - or the certainty - of actually being able to reach the
end point of the journey. In other words, Buddhism is ultimately about
the path which ends in becoming a Buddha, and nothing less.
The question then becomes: What power is available to enable us to
complete the journey?
Any serious student of Master Shinran knows are two kinds of power
available: the power of our own efforts, known as self-power...and the
power that comes from some source outside of ourselves, known as
other-power. All the other schools of Buddha-dharma rely on one or
more forms of self-power. Only Shin Buddhism relies exclusively and
entirely on Other-power.
Our Dharma masters make so many statements of this most basic truth
that I could fill a book with them. But I'll just quote one or two
brief snippets from Master Shinran, offered by him right at the
beginning of the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho.
Here is Master Shinran quoting the Larger Sutra:
===
Boundless is the majestic power of the Buddha of immeasurable life.
This Buddha is praised by every one of the Buddha-tathagatas
throughout the worlds in the ten quarters, whose number, incalculable
and limitless, is beyond conception.
===
Master Shinran quotes from the Larger Sutra again:
===
The power of the Buddha's Primal Vow is such
That those who, hearing the Name, aspire for birth
All reach that land-
Their attainment of non-retrogression coming about of itself.
===
Is Master Shinran reticent about discussing POWER? Does he deny that
POWER is essential for those called to respond to his Dharma message?
Or does he declare, rather, that the power of Amida Buddha is as
necessary as it is boundless - and that it is this very power which
causes us to reach the
non-retrogression which comes about of it's own accord?
So - once again we are presented with two divergent views of Dharma
truth. Shigaraki rejects the idea of the enabling of OTHER-POWER for
people on the Shin Buddhist path, while Master Shinran declares that
the enabling of OTHER-POWER is essential in order for us to complete
the journey to Buddhahood.
Once again, each person must decide for him or herself who and what to
believe -what is true and (conversely) what is false, when it comes to
the Dharma of Shin Buddhism.
I have concluded that when it comes to the Dharma of Shin Buddhism,
Master Shinran's is the TRUE teaching, and that Shigaraki's is one of
many false teachings that have arisen in the Shin Sangha since it
began. What is most important - and the reason I wrote this essay - is
that everyone sees clearly that Shigaraki's assertions are in no way
congruent with Master Shinran's Dharma message to the world. Once you
see that, it is up to you to decide who you want to receive as a
Dharma teacher in your life: Professor Shigaraki, or Master Shinran.
I choose Master Shinran.
Gassho,
Paul Roberts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Back from Jiko-ji temple - Antwerp (pictures)
Here are some pictures from the spring meeting in Jiko-ji temple (1-3 May 2009) Antwerp, where I could attend due to a grant offered by Eko Haus der Japanischen culture to which I am deeply thankful.
 |
| Spring meeting Jiko-ji temple Antwerp (1-3 May 2010) |
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
About Amida Buddha and His Pure Land
I try to explain here again in easy terms who is Amida Buddha and how we should understand the Pure Land.
First of all, what is a Buddha or more exactly what a Buddha is not?
A Buddha is not somebody like us, although at some point in His history He was. In a well known dialogue a brahman called Dona asks Shakyamuni Buddha who He is:
“Sir, are you a god?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you an angel?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a yakkha?
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a human being?”
“No, brahman.”
“When asked, ‘Are you a god?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked, ‘Are you an angel?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman..’ When asked, ‘Are you a yakkha?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked, ‘Are you a human being?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ Then what sort of being are you?”
“Brahman, the defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be a god: those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future arising. The defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be an angel… a yakkha… a human being: those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future arising.
“Just as a blue or red or white lotus born in water, grows in water and stands up above the water untouched by it, so too I, who was born in the world and grew up in the world, have transcended the world, and I live untouched by the world. Remember me, brahman, as a Buddha.”
The state of human beings is limited and limited by various kinds of delusions, so we are mistaken if say, for example, that Buddha is a human being. This is because the state He attained is higher than the human state of spiritual evolution. Especially some Christians accuse Buddhism that its Founder is just a human or even some Buddhists say that Buddha was a human being in order to show that we don’t promote idol or gods worshiping.
Both methods of speaking about a Buddha are false, because although the physical appearance of a Buddha may be human, the state that which He attains and in which He dwels is supreme in the whole universe.
The ego’s permanent run, led by his desires and karma is followed by suffering, birth and death and does not end until Enlightement or Awakening is attained. A Buddha is one who escapes from this maddening run. The word “Buddha” means “The Awakened One”, that is awakened to the true reality, to the Absolute (or call it as you like). He goes beyound birth and death, escaping the chains of karma. His existence in the Universe is supreme and beyond our thinking which is still enslaved by illusions.
A Buddha has Infinite Wisdom and Limitless Compassion(1), helping the sentient beings to break free from birth and death.
Through Buddhism the Ultimate Reality, the Liberation or Nirvana is accesible to all beings who observe the path given by the Buddha.
A very important doctrine in Buddhism says that we can become Buddhas because we already have in us this possibility or potentiality. Thus, it is said that all beings, no matter their delusion or actual misery, have in themselves the Buddha nature and the potentiality to become a Buddha. It doesn’t matter if you are a worm, a cockroach, a dog, a human being, a hungry ghost or a god, etc you have in yourself, like an unknown jewel thrown in the mud, the Buddha nature and the possibility to become a Buddha.
This is a good news, but unfortunately it doesn’t keep us warm too much, because those who really come to liberate themselves from delusions and attain this state of a Buddha are extremely few and in our times, as Shinran said, they are completely non existent.
Therefore, only the Path of faith in Amida remains the most accessible method.
Any Buddha is completely free and continues to manifest himself in various ways and forms in order to guide others to Liberation. All Buddhas attain the same ultimate absolute reality, this is why it is said that all have the same essence or nature, often called the Dharma body of ultimate reality or Dharmakaya.
Further, every Buddha has multiple transcendent manifestations, visible only to those well trained in Samadhi or profound concentrated states of mind. This manifestations can take various forms to help unenlightened beings.
Various Buddhas create spheres or fields of personal influences, known as “pure lands” where the beings who entrust in them and create special links with them, can be born after physical death. In order to better understand how things are with these pure lands or spheres of influence, please try to remember how is it that in the presence of some people you suddenly feel better or worse or sometimes more excited or tired. Every man has something like his own sphere of influence – which is the natural manifestation of his own inside states of mind – and can influence more or less the others. Some people automatically change the atmosphere in a room by their presence, for example a beautiful woman will surely make many men to feel horny or a killer will create an atmosphere of fear and coldness. In the same way, the presence of a Buddha inspires and influences, but this influence is one which brings Enlightenment or positive states of mind.
When we are in the presence of a killer and we are influenced by him, we may say that we are in his “land” or his sphere of influence. Also, when we are born in the
Various Buddhas have different bodies of recompense, due to the vows they made when they engaged on the Path. Lets say that a person named Jim begins to follow the Buddhist Path and he makes a vow to save especially the beings with physical disabilities.
In the moment he becomes a Buddha, he automatically has access to the ultimate reality (Dharmakaya), which is the same for all Buddhas, but he will have different transcendent manifestations, especially made to help that category of beings for which he made specific vows – that is he will have a Sambhogakaya different from other Buddhas.
This body is named the “body of recompense” because it is the effect or the “recompense” of his practices and virtues, of the special vows he transformed through his Enlighetnement in effective methods of salvation.
Next, the physical body in which somebody becomes a Buddha is called Nirmanakaya or the body of transformation.
Thus, if Jim becomes a Buddha he will be called Buddha Jim :)) and he will have a body of flesh (Nirmanakaya), which has a visible beginning and a visible end, a transcendent body (Sambhogakaya), with a beginning in the moment of the attainment of Buddhahood, but without end, which is the result of his vows and virtues, different than those of other Buddhas and an ultimate “body” (Dharmakaya) – without beginning and without end which is the same with all Buddhas.
In the same way, the Buddha we call Amida, was long time ago, in another era than which we are now living, a monk named Dharmakara. He made the aspiration to become a Buddha, but what makes Him so different from other Buddhas, ist hat He made a special Vow which promises salvation (Buddhahood) not only for those capable of some hard practices and virtues, but to all and especially to those who are incapable of any practice. He promised the creation of a special Pure Land in which everybody can have access and once born there they will themselves become Buddhas, completely free of birth and death and capable to save other beings. In accordance with His Primal Vow, only faith is neccesary to become a Buddha in His Pure Land, this faith being manifested in the saying of His Holy Name.
Faith (shinjin) is not something complicated, but a simple entrusting in Amida, that is to consider His Primal Vow to be true and efficient.
In the moment Dharmakara became Amida Buddha, the vows and His Pure Land became real and effective in the salvation of sentient beings. Thus we may say that sambhogakaya of Amida Buddha is His Pure Land.
This is, in short, the story of Amida, said by Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha) to His disciples and which we, the true Jodo Shinshu followers, consider it real and trustful.
Any Buddhist teaching can be considered authentic if it was approved or presented by Shakyamuni Buddha himself. The teaching about the path of faith in Amida Buddha and His Pure Land, where all beings can attain supreme Enlightenment, no matter their capacities, is a part of these teachings taught by Shakyamuni.
a similar article - Some doctrinal explanations on the nature of Amida Buddha
_________________________________________________
Notes:
1. Amida comes from the sanscrit terms Amitabha and Amitayus, meaning Infinite Life and Infinite Light, which represent His Wisdom and Compassion.
photo: the statue of Amida Buddha from the altar of Tariki Dojo Craiova.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Words of Rennyo useful for meat eaters
Here is a passage from one of Rennyo Shonin’s letters, which is very useful for those of you who are incapable of abstaining from meat or who work in jobs that are directly or indirectly related with killing sentient beings:
“First, realizing the settled mind in our tradition does not mean that we put a stop to our mind’s evil or to the rising of delusions and attachments. Simply carry on your trade or position of service, hunt and fish. For when we realize deeply that Amida Tathagata ‘s Primal Vow promises to save such worthless beings as ourselves, confused morning and evening by evil karma when we single heartedly rely on the Compassionate Vow of the one Buddha Amida, and when sincere faith is awakened in us with the realization that Amida saves us – then, without fail, we partake of the Tathagata’s saving work. “
It is clear to me when I read this letter that Amida Buddha saves us all without taking into account if we are vegetarians or not, or even hunters and fishermen.
As you may know, the category of hunters and fishermen was considered to be the lowest of people, or “the worthless people”, lacking the seed of Buddhahood, without any hope to attain Nirvana.
“Position of service” might also refer to military service, which often leads to killing. “Trading” in Rennyo’s letter might refer to the trading of meat. All these evil activities are not an obstacle to our birth in the
People engage in all these activities because their mind is evil and full of delusions and attachments, greed for meat and other possessions --- “confused morning and evening” .
Because we are such beings, “worthless beings”, we are saved by Amida. In this confusing world we are fighting for survival every day and we always injure others, even without knowing it. There is nothing good in us which can save ourselves and others.
We need only to realize that we are worthless beings and that especially for us, Amida made His Vow. In that moment we receive “sincere faith” (shinjin) and partake of the Tathagata’s saving work, without fail.
Shinjin is the “settled mind in our tradition” which “does not mean that we put a stop to our mind’s evil or to the rising of delusions and attachments”. So, shinjin has nothing to do with our capacities or lack of any capacity. Not because we have compassion for sentient beings are we born in the
This letter of Rennyo is extremely important. It must not be understood in the sense that it encourages meat eating or other evil activities, from which if you can, you should try to abstain, but it shows the unconditional salvation of Amida Buddha who considers all beings to be his sick children in desperate need of help.
Jodo Shinshu doesn't take into account the so called good potential that is latent in human beings, in fact it doesn't believe at all in our good potential. It doesn't deny the importance of Buddhist virtues, but it says clearly that in this decadent age those virtues are unattainable in their true spirit. So, it doesn't lose its precious time with speaking and explaining Buddhist virtues and Buddhist virtuous practices, but applies the direct and most eficient medicine - faith in Amida Buddha and quick escape from our own eternal misery in samsara.
Jodo Shinshu is the religion of a Mother saving her children from themselves. She loves them all, no matter how evil they are and continuously call them.
------
This article may be read in connection with this one
Comments on the 13th chapter of Tannisho - influence of past karma
Friday, April 10, 2009
Don't worry about copyright
Dear friends,
Recently someone asked me if he can use the articles I published on this blog for a free Dharma magazine he has in mind to create. I said, "of course you can, do it".
I am also using this occasion to tell to all the readers of this blog, that I don't mind anybody using, transmitting, copying, sharing any articles written here. The same I say about all the books I published at DharmaLion. If you wish to copy any book printed by me and share it online, I don't mind. A copyright statement is written here on the website or on the books, but I am not a bad guy and don't complain if you share all I write and print without asking money for it. I have nothing against internet pirates, too :)) In fact, I think they are all good guys, sharing the Dharma for those who can't afford it.
Of course I need money for myself and my Dharma activities and I hope many rich guys will buy from me :))) especially in this hard period, but I will never complain or say something against someone who distributes something written or printed by me if he doesn't modify the content of the text.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Announcement - 30% discount for books printed by me
Dear friends,
This is an announcement for those who wish to support my Dharma activities in Romania especially in this hard period of economic crisis.
I am making a discount of 30% of the total price to those who buy a minimum of 5 copies of any book printed by me. And the shipment is included!
you can order the books here at http://www.dharmalionpub.com/NEWBOOKS.html
(donations can also be done on the same page or in the special section of this blog...)
Yours in Namo Amida Butsu
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Comentary on the Postscript of Tannisho (part2) – our shinjin and shinjin of the great Masters is the same
“As the late Master once related, in Master Honen's day, among his many disciples there were few who were of the same shinjin as Honen, and because of this, Shinran became involved in a debate with some fellow practicers. It happened in this way.
Shinran remarked, "My shinjin and the Master's are one."
Seikan-bo, Nembutsu-bo, and others among his fellow practicers strongly argued, "How can your shinjin be the same as the Master's?"
Shinran responded, "The Master possesses vast wisdom and learning, so I would be mistaken if I claimed to be the same in those respects, but in shinjin that is the cause of birth, there is no difference whatever. The Master's shinjin and mine are one and the same."
The others remained skeptical, however, asking how that could be. So finally they all decided that the argument should be brought before Honen to determine which side was right.
When they presented the details of the matter, Master Honen said, "My shinjin has been given by Amida; so has that of Zenshin-bo [Shinran]. Therefore they are one and the same. A person with a different shinjin will surely not go to the
My comments:
I often felt so little and insignificant in comparison with the great Buddhist Masters of the past and discouraged that I will never attain what they attained, no matter how much I work to improve myself. Buddhism seemed to me like a challenge in which some were better and more successful than others.
Images of calm Buddhists, sitting in good postures, speaking wise words are so often to be seen in Buddhist magazines and in Westerners opinions about Buddhism. Everybody wishes to be like great Masters of the past and some people often try to copy their words and actions, forgetting that they are not them, and their words and deeds do not arise from the same mind like the Masters.
Into my opinion, most of today Buddhists are juts monkeys which imitate the words and behavior of virtuous practitioners of the past, but lack their wisdom and compassion.
It’s a lot more easier to speak about emptiness by quoting for example, Nagarjuna’s writings on this topic, but to really dwell in the sunyata from which the true compassion arise, remains impossible for almost all Buddhist practitioners of today.
So, we can’t say that somebody has the same wisdom like Nagarjuna, only because he read his writings and is able to explain them to others.
In the same way, Master Honen was very well versed in all the Mahayana canon which it is said he read many times until he finally came to simply entrust in Amida Buddha. Very few could match his knowledge, if maybe nobody really did so.
Many of us can’t even have the same knowledge of sutras and the ordinary wisdom of a simple monk who passed the examinations at a University, so how much more can we compare ourselves with Honen or Nagarjuna! And what Buddhist monk of our days, can say he has the same wisdom like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Shan-tao or Honen!
Indeed, it would be a sign of self pride to consider oneself to match these great practitioners.
However, through this story related in Tannisho we clearly see that there is no problem with us lacking the wisdom and learning of the sages from the past. What a wonderful news indeed.
Imagine all those people who challenged Shinran, waiting for Master Honen’s answer, and their shock when he said to them:
"My shinjin has been given by Amida; so has that of Zenshin-bo [Shinran]. Therefore they are one and the same. A person with a different shinjin will surely not go to the
“What!??” – I am sure they said this in their minds while Shinran heard the exact answer he was expecting to receive.
He was respectful to his Master and was aware how much knowledge of Buddhist scriptures and wisdom he posses, but in the same time he knew that Amida makes no difference in His saving activity, asking no special quality from those He saves. The message of the Primal Vow was clear to him: those who entrust in Amida, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land, will go there. Nothing more is needed, no mentioning of special knowledge or wisdom can be found in the Primal Vow.
Just entrust in Amida and let Him take you to His Pure Land where you yourself will become a Buddha.
This simple faith which was itself caused by Amida to appear in our hearts is the only one that will make us be born in the
How wonderful it is! What a relief I feel when I realize that I don’t need to compare myself anymore with Buddhist Masters of the past and virtuous sages, falling in the discouragement that I will not be capable to attain the same realization like them, thus spending in vain this rare chance of being born as a human being!
I am now made capable to become a Buddha and finish once and for all with this perpetual misery and suffering. And for this I need nothing more than to entrust in Amida!
Do you, the reader of this blog really understand what a relief I feel and what chance we ordinary people have? We can’t be sages, we can’t even maintain a calm mind during a single day, we can’t follow precepts, we don’t know all the sutras and commentaries, and yet we will become Buddhas only by entrusting in Amida! What else do you want in this life? Why have you become a Buddhist if you don’t want to become a Buddha and finish your endless suffering and misery as well as the misery and suffering of others that you harmed or those you love? Why should you spend your life in vain, looking for a wisdom which you will never find because you are incapable, filling your head with wise Buddhist quotes about emptiness, Buddha nature, speaking about virtues that you will never have, etc when you can finish all your misery here and now by entrusting in Amida Buddha?
Just entrust now and at the end of your life you will become a Buddha in the
This promise of Amida Buddha is the only thing you need to know in the whole Buddhism. This simple faith, and not your knowledge or lack of knowledge, will make you become a Buddha.
It is a pity that Nagarjuna, the great sage, considered to be the second Buddha after Shakyamuni is known by many only by his complicated explanations on emptiness, while few know that he was also an Amida devotee, saying in his “Twelve Adorations”:
“With reverence I bow my head to Amida, the Sage,
The Most Honored One, who is revered by humans and devas.
You dwell in the wonderful
Surrounded by innumerable children of the Buddhas.”
“I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the Holy One.” – this is how he chose to end every verse in his “Twelve Adorations” (Junirai), finishing this hymn by aspiring to be born in the
So, he himself had a simple faith in Amida and through this simple faith he was born in the
Also, Vasubandhu, the great exponent of Yogocara teachings which explain all plains of existence in terms of consciousness and taught the meditation about the relationship between personal conscience and the universe, he entrusted in Amida Buddha by saying:
“O World-Honored One, with singleness of mind, I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Directions, And aspire to be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.”
This is all you need, too, and not the complicated Yogacara teachings he taught in other treatises.
Master Shan-tao, the one who successfully practiced contemplation techniques and visualizations in accordance with the Contemplation Sutra, had the same simple faith in Amida Buddha.
Master Honen, who knew by heart the many Mahayana sutras and kept the monk’s precepts all his life, said that the true Buddhist teaching he preached “is nothing but saying 'Namo Amida Butsu' with a conviction that by saying it one will certainly attain birth in the Pure Land……If your faith is based on other ground than this, you may not be received by the Compassion of the two Buddhas and may be left outside the Primal Vow.”
How close connected these words are with the ones recorded in Tannisho:
“A person with a different shinjin will surely not go to the
So, as you see, all these great Masters never considered their wisdom or knowledge of Buddhist scriptures to be the cause of their birth in the
“Those who accept the Nembutsu in faith, however well versed in the lifetime teachings of the Buddha, should consider themselves as illiterate, stupid persons, and without pretensions to wisdom, should single-heartedly recite the Nembutsu with ordinary devotees of Buddhism of little learning, whether men or women.”
By receiving faith in Amida Buddha we are all equally assured of birth in the Pure Land and attainment of Buddhahood, no matter we are wise or stupid, have many knowledge or we know only the words of the Primal Vow, we observe precepts or not.
Only because of Amida we become Buddhas. The cause of our Buddhahood is in Amida’s hands, not in ours. This is the ultimate teaching of Shakyamuni, the very reason for His appearance in this world and the goal of Shinran’s life.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Comentary on the postscript of Tannisho (part1)
Please read here the Postscript of Tannisho
Comments:
Yuien-bo begins this postscript by restating the reasons for writing Tannisho, which is to clear the doubts of his fellow practitioners and fight against divergences from the true teaching left to him by Shinran Shonin. Every one of the assertions discussed by him in the Tannisho appeared because people were not having the same shinjin (faith) like Shinran. The matter of having the same shinjin like Shinran was repeatedly said to be of utmost importance. This shinjin, which is the same shinjin of Master Honen, is always received from Amida, but it comes only after listening the true teaching. Without listening and accepting the true teaching, we can’t receive shinjin from Amida.
Yuien-bo said in the preface:
“For how is entrance into the single gate of easy practice possible unless we happily come to rely on a true teacher whom conditions bring us to encounter?” So, for listening the true teaching we need a true teacher and that teacher is Shinran Shonin. He is the one who clarified for us, all we need to know about Amida Buddha’s salvation. In doing this most important task he set aside the provisional and accommodated teachings of Shakyamuni’s lifetime, who were useful for a limited number of people, and showed His real intent of coming to this world.
In one of his letters, Shinran classified the Buddhist teachings according to “two forms of relevance: first, limited relevance; second, universal relevance.”
Then he said: “The
Shinran didn’t said that the rest of Buddhist practices and methods are bad, but if we take into account the true capacities of beings, faith in Amida Buddha is the only one accessible to all, because it requires nothing from the practitioner.
All the other methods presented by Shakyamuni, with the exception of exclusive faith in Amida Buddha, are good in themselves, but not all people are capable to practice and attain realization through them. This is why they are of limited relevance while the method of attaining Buddhahood through faith in Amida Buddha is of universal relevance.
When we meet with Jodo Shinshu teaching, we see that Shinran, or Rennyo Shonin didn’t talk about many Buddhist teachings or practices that are emphasized in a lot of Mahayana sutras or other schools. For example, they didn’t mentioned precepts, which are so emphasized in other schools or in sutras different than the Larger Sutra. Why they did so? Its simple – because teachings on precepts are not useful for such beings as ourselves, incapable to put them into practice or attain Buddhahood through them. They also didn’t recommended meditation or contemplation methods, not even the methods presented in the Contemplation Sutra and the reason is the same. On the contrary, Honen, Shinran and Rennyo took the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha to be of utmost importance. Shinran considered the Larger Sutra on Amida Buddha to be the main reason for Shakyamuni’s appearance in this world because in this sutra He told the story of Amida Buddha and His Primal Vow.
From all the Buddhist teachings, Shinran considered the words of the Primal Vow to be the most important in the whole Buddhism and nembutsu of faith to be the most important practice.
If we consider ourselves to be disciples of Shinran, we should follow his intent which is to abandon the reliance on other practices and teachings of Shakyamuni that do not accord with the words of the Primal Vow and the indiscriminative salvation of Amida. Yuien-bo told us to do so: “that we abandon the accommodated and take up the real, set aside the provisional and adopt the true is the Master's fundamental intent.” This is because the method of total reliance on Amida Buddha is of universal relevance, truly capable to save all beings, no matter their capacities.
He warns us that “in the scriptures in general, the true and real and the accommodated and provisional are mixed” and that we “must under no circumstances misread the sacred writings.” On the contrary, we should “read the sacred writings that accord with the late Master's thought and that he himself used to read”.
Shinran Shonin, like his Master Honen and like Rennyo too, was able to distinguish between the various practices and teachings presented by Shakyamuni and chose only the Larger Sutra which contains the Primal Vow and the nembutsu of faith (shinjin nembutsu). What he chose is enough for us to be born in the Pure Land of Amida and become Buddhas.
For us, Jodo Shinshu followers, is important to have the same shinjin like Shinran and Honen, and we can’t receive this if we follow other teachings and practices.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
No working is true working – comments on the 10th chapter of Tannisho
“Concerning the nembutsu, no working is true working.
For it is beyond description, explanation, and conceptual understanding.
Thus the Master stated.”
Tannisho, chapter 10
This chapter can be read in connection with the comments on the eight chapter - here.
“No working” refers to the fact that NOT through ourselves are we born in the
This practice has nothing in common to some special state of calm or concentration which we think we have or develop during recitation.
Without the infinite merits of Amida incarnated in His Name, Namo Amida Butsu (nembutsu) would be empty and inefficient. Also, if the recitation of the Name is not done on the basis of faith (shinjin), it has no effect. Faith is the acceptance of the Infinite Power of Amida – the only power capable to make us become Buddhas. When you have faith (shinjin) you are connected to this Power and to the merits of Amida, and the Name you recite is the expression of this connection. Name and faith are one and both come from Amida; they are the manifestation in you of the salvation Power of Amida. Only Amida Buddha is the one who truly works in your salvation through faith and nembutsu and not you, this is why it is said that “no working is true working” – that is, NOT through yourself are you saved.
When you recite Namo Amida Butsu with faith, you say: “I take refuge in Amida/Homage to Amida Buddha”, and not “I take refuge in myself/homage to myself” or “how good is my recitation and what a concentrated state of mind I have, so how much more I deserve to be born in the Pure Land”. The first means we don’t think to nembutsu as being our own working.
Also, our minds are limited, so the understanding of an unenlightened person is restricted to its mental categories, incapable to realize in detail the action of a Buddha. By listening to the words of Shakyamuni Buddha we hear about Amida Buddha and his Primal Vow, we accept it in faith or not, but until we ourselves become Buddhas we can’t understand everything about the salvation working of Amida. We hear that Amida Buddha saves us if we entrust in Him and recite His Name, but we can’t know in detail the mechanism of this salvation. Any description remain just a description, any conceptual understanding is just a conceptual understanding.
The salvation of Amida Buddha, manifested in the promise of His Primal Vow and placed in our hearts through faith and nembutsu is inconceivable and beyond understanding for our limited minds, but effective and real.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Donations can't influence birth in the Pure Land - comentary on the 18th chapter of Tannisho
“--On the assertion that the size of we become as Buddhas depends on the amount of our donations to the sangha.—“
This is totally absurd and nonsensical. To begin with, is it not impossible to determine the size of a Buddha? Although the height of Amida, the Master of the teaching in the
It is stated [in sutras] that in saying the nembutsu, one upholds a transformed Buddha. Concerning this, it is written [in scriptures] that with a great nembutsu one sees a great Buddha and with a small nembutsu one sees a small Buddha. Perhaps the above assertion has been wrongly linked to this idea.
Further, it may be possible to say that making offerings is the practice of the paramita of charity. But however precious a treasure one may offer before the Buddha or give to a teacher, it is meaningless if one lacks shinjin. And even though one may not make a donation of even a single sheet of paper or half a penny to the sangha, if one yields one's heart to Other Power and one's shinjin is deep, one is in accord with the essential intent of the Vow.
Is it not after all that those people seek to intimidate their fellow practicers, using the Buddha's teaching as a pretext and being moved by mundane desires?”
Tannisho, chapter 18th
My comments:
When I first read this chapter and its first sentence I smiled. How could someone possibly imagine that the more money he gives to the sangha, the greater his size will be when he becomes a Buddha in the
I didn’t imagine that such a wrong understanding could possibly be born in the heads of the people during Yuien-bo’s times. But, if I consider this matter more carefully, I realize that even in our days there have been many false teachers and gurus who took advantages on their followers, lying and cheating them with many promises in order to get their money or who abused them physically and mentally in many ways. Human mind is not so strong and smart as it seems and nobody knows when in a moment of weakness someone else will profit on us.
My opinion is that we can easily be safe from these kind of false statements and false teachers who just want our money or various mundane advantages from us, by seeing the funny and strange aspect of these statements and of course, by knowing the teaching ourselves. We should study ourselves the sacred texts and always compare what we read there with the bubble talk of such and such teacher or priest.
First of all, it is a matter of common sense that the state of Buddhahood is not the result of money. How can money determine something about our future birth in the
Amida is described in many ways in the sutras and sometimes he is indeed portrayed as having huge bodily manifestations. These ways of describing him refers to his Sambhogakaya form or the “fulfilled body of compassionate means”. This form or any forms that are taken by Amida Buddha are the effects in terms of cause and effect of his Vows and they are the manifestations of his Enlightenment in order to help and guide sentient beings. Also Amida Buddha has, as every Buddha has, an ultimate nature or “dharma nature”, which “has no form, long or short, square or round, and no color, blue, white, or black”.
When we are born in the
Also, a nembutsu practitioner may have some visions of Amida Buddha during his present life or he may not have any visions. These visions may be different from person to person, depending on many circumstances, but having visions is not at all a requirement for birth in the
Maybe some people, hearing that one may have various visions, they somehow relate this with giving donations, so they might think that by giving large amounts of money, they deserve to see a large Buddha or to become a large Buddha themselves in the Pure Land. It is strange how an unenlightened mind with no shinjin and who doesn’t understand that every true attainment comes from Amida, can make such strange connections and misinterpret the teaching.
Also, making offerings is indeed useful in order to help teachers and Shinshu centers to propagate the Dharma, but this is only to express gratitude. We can’t use offerings in order to add something to the working of Amida and become Buddhas in the
Donations and attaining Buddhahood in the
Donation is a worldly cause, while shinjin is the ultimate outer worldly cause – it is the cause planted in us by Amida Buddha’s transference of merit. The first can influence only this life, but has no effect in terms of ultimate freedom. Giving or not giving money to the Buddha’s image, teachers or Shinshu centers has no importance. Only shinjin is the true cause for our complete freedom.
Those who say otherwise are only “using the Buddha's teaching as a pretext” and are “moved by mundane desires”.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Year's end greetings
It is recorded in the Thus I have heard from Rennyo Shonin:
“….many people went to see the Shonin. The Shonin asked, "What brought so many people here?"
said, "I suppose they wish to express their gratitude for the inspiring sermons the other day (i.e., at the Hoonko service) and also to convey the year's end greetings and appreciation to you before you go to Tonda tomorrow."
The Shonin said, "The year's end greetings are totally useless. Tell them to gain shinjin and make this a token of appreciation for the year's end, will you?"
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The ten benefits in this life of a nembutsu follower (explanations and a few questions & answers)
Shinran Shonin speaks about the ten benefits a nembutsu follower receives in this present life. I already explained them in a recent discussion on true shinbuddhism yahoo group, when trying to answer to one of the member’s questions and I thought it will be better to present them here in a more reviewed form.
These ten benefits are:
1. Protected by unseen divine beings (myoshu goji)
This means that those who have shinjin are protected by various unseen and powerful beings. The sense of this protection is:
“maras and nonbuddhists present no obstruction” (Tannisho)
or ,
“The four great deva-kings together
Protect us constantly, day and night,
And let no evil spirits come near”.
(wasan)
No evil spirits can do us harm – actually I found that this was very important for some people I met, because many are afraid of sorcery, black magic or evil spirits. Although some modern guys don’t like to talk about this topic, evil spirits truly exists, and because of our deluded minds we can be influenced by them. But the good news is that because we received shinjin from Amida, we are protected from their harmful intents.
It is also said by Shinran in his wasans that Nanda, Upananda, and the other great nagas, the countless naga-gods, …. Yama, the king of the dead, the great king of maras, gods of the heavens and earth, the four great deva-kings, etc, also protects us.
There are many such passages in Shinran’s Kyogyoshinsho and other writings.
2. Possessed of the supreme virtue (shitoku gusoku)
It means that by entrusting in Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow we receive His merits and virtues which become like ours, and which make us attain birth in the
“When sentient beings of this evil world of the five defilements
Entrust themselves to the selected Primal Vow,
Virtues indescribable, inexplicable, and inconceivable
Fill those practicers.”
Shinran Shonin said in his work “Passages on the Two Aspects of The Tathagata's Directing of Virtue”:
“Concerning the directing of virtue through the power of the Primal Vow, the Tathagata's directing of virtue has two aspects: the directing of virtue in the aspect for our going forth to the Pure Land and the directing of virtue in the aspect for our return to this world.”
(1) The directing of virtue in the aspect for our going forth means that by receiving shinjin during this present life we are made to be born in the Pure Land where we become immediately Buddhas – this means to enter the stage of non-retrogression (see the 10th benefit)
(2) The directing of virtue for our return to this world, means that as soon as we become Buddhas in the
Both these aspects are the transference of merit from Amida Buddha to us which we receive in the form of shinjin (entrusting heart) and nembutsu (saying of the Name).
In fact, every one of the benefits presented here are the manifestation of Amida’s transference of merits to us; they are all the gifts of Amida.
Here it is a question about the merit transference from Amida and my answer:
Question:
”When I first experienced gratitude and said the Nembutsu, Paul wrote and said, "He (Amida) not only knows your name, but He has given to you His own store of infinite karmic merit."
Does that "karmic merit" only apply to what happens after this life?”
Answer:
In the moment you received shinjin, as Paul said, you also received Amida Buddha’s store of infinite karmic merit. This means that you have entered the stage of non-retrogression in this life (see the 10th benefit) and you became assured of birth in the
But this doesn’t mean that you are free of any suffering in this life as if you did only pure deeds yourself in the three kind of actions, by karma of thought, karma of speech and karma of body or action. You can’t always experience happiness in this world because your mind still remains unenlightened until you die and you are born in the
You ask questions like why you are not happy in this world because you have shinjin, but the answer is that you are not happy in this world because you are not a Buddha yet! An unenlightened mind cannot be happy, no matter what it has and what kind of pleasant circumstances it encounters. On the contrary, you can experience bliss and lack of suffering when you are born in the
Jodo Shinshu is not a path of becoming a Buddha in this life, so you cannot become perfectly happy here.
Only a Buddha can be perfectly happy in this world, but He can be happy here because His mind is a Buddha Mind, not an unenlightened mind like yours.
However, this unenlightened mind of yours is assured of birth in the
3. Having evil turned into good (tenaku jyozen)
It means that in the middle of our everyday life of suffering we can transform every bad event into an opportunity to understand life as it is and the Dharma. It doesn’t mean that we will no longer have bad events or lack of material things in our lives, but we can understand these unfortunate events as being the effects of our karma and we can use them in order to become more aware that this is samsara, the world of suffering and we need even more to entrust in Amida to escape it once and for all. Bad events in our lives can be thus transformed through the light of the Dharma into useful ones – useful for our understanding.
4. Protected by all Buddhas (shobutsu gonen)
This is again related with protection, like the first benefit.
It is said in the “Hymns of benefit in the present”:
“When we say "Namo Amida Butsu",
Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta,
Together with bodhisattvas countless as the
Accompany us just as shadows do things.
Countless Amida Buddhas reside
In the light of the Buddha of Unhindered Light;
Each one of these transformed Buddhas protects
The person of true and real shinjin.
When we say "Namo Amida Butsu",
The countless Buddhas throughout the ten quarters,
Surrounding us a hundredfold, a thousandfold,
Rejoice in and protect us.”
Also protection can be understood in the sense that shinjin can’t be lost once we receive it from Amida and we cannot be obstructed by non-buddhists. How many Christians tried to tell me that I will go to hell because of being a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist! Thus they tried to give me fear but with no success because my faith (shinjin) is not my creation, but the gift of Amida. This is why shinjin is called “diamond like shinjin” – because it is not my creation but the gift of Amida. It is strong like the diamond because it is what Amida planted in me, so nobody can take it from me or destroy it.
We may also say the Protection of the Buddhas means that since the moment you received shinjin, you are safely going into the direction of Nirvana. You can interpret the protection of the Buddhas in this sense, too. You definitely entered into the incomparable powerful stream that goes to the ocean of the
Also, the Protection of the Buddhas might mean that all Buddhas bear witness that you are safely carried to the
Here it is a question about the protection of the Buddhas in this life and my answer:
Question:
“I still don't understand how a person is "protected" by these various Buddhas (et al) if a person's karma can’t be changed in the present life”
Answer:
In the moment you entrust to Amida Buddha your karma has its roots cut of in the sense that it cannot plant its seeds into another life – that is you will no longer be subject to birth and death, but in this life it continues to have its remaining effects – that is you continue to experience the effects of your past deeds or the deeds of this life. So, we should not make any confusion and think that after we receive shinjin we should always be happy or always experience happy circumstances.
5. Praised by all Buddhas (shobutsu shyosan).
All Buddhas praise us because we entrust in Amida. They look to us as people who will become themselves Buddhas. It is wonderful that we have come to believe in a teaching so hard to be accepted in faith, this is why all the Buddhas praise us.
In the Larger Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha
“The one who hears and never forgets this Dharma,
But sees and reveres it and greatly rejoices in attaining it -
That person is my true companion.”
Also it is stated in the Contemplation Sutra:
“Know that the person who says the nembutsu is a white lotus among people.”
These passage clearly shows what being praised by all Buddhas means. There are also many more passages like these quoted in Shinran’s writings.
6. Protected by the Buddha's spiritual light (shinko jogo)
Here we see that the protection is a spiritual one. I relate it with what I said at the fourth benefit. Also it means that Amida is always illuminating us, making us understand more (than those who do not accept His light - don’t have shinjin) our limitations and our life’s events as they are explained by the Dharma or Buddhist teaching.
Amida’s Light makes us profoundly realize our limitations and how reliable the Primal Vow of Amida is. These twofold awareness never disappears from us because we are embraced in Amida’s spiritual Light.
It also means that we are protected from wrong understanding of the teaching. False teachers can’t influence us and we’ll never distort the essentials of the Jodo Shinshu Dharma in our presentations.
7. Having much joy in mind (shinta kangi)
In the moment we receive shinjin we feel relief, like escaping a great weight and problem. We know that we will become Buddhas no matter how we are now. We are able to feel this relief and joy many times in our life, no matter that sometimes it is covered by the everyday difficulties and sorrows. Imagine that you are in a prison and somebody in which you trust 100% assured you that you will be released in one year or a few years. That one year you are still in prison is of course difficult, but you also know for sure that your day of freedom will soon come. So you are able to feel relief and joy remembering your assurance, no matter how hard your everyday life in prison is.
8. Acknowledging His benevolence and repaying it (chion hotoku)
We become aware of what Amida does for us, freeing us from birth and death, and we feel gratitude. We express this gratitude by saying nembutsu and by doing many kind of activities in the benefit of the Dharma. For example, some people become teachers and teach the Dharma to others in order to help them receive shinjin from Amida.
Also, sharing Dharma texts or helping our dojos or temples, supporting our teachers and fellow practitioners are acts of repaying the benevolence of Amida Tathagata.
9. Always practicing the Great Compassion (jyogyo daihi)
This doesn’t mean that we act like Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in this very life, because if we relate this passage with other passages in Shinran’s teaching, we see that it is not possible for beings who still have blind passions to behave like Buddhas. If we are already Buddhas and have Great Compassion in this life then it means that we no longer need the Primal Vow. So, what is the benefit of always practicing Great Compasion in this life?
I think that although we are not acting like Buddhas in this life, but by receiving shinjin we become part of the working of Amida or a link in Amida’s Great Compassion chain and we can benefit others constantly in many ways, only by being in this Golden Chain of Amida’s Compassion. We can understand others limitations and realize everybody is accepted as they are, including ourselves, and especially benefit them by helping them to create connections with the Dharma of Amida.
If somebody is spreading the true teaching about Amida and transmits the message of the Primal Vow to others, then he is indeed practicing Great Compassion in the sense that he acts as a messenger of this Great Compassion.
In his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter 3, section on the true disciple of the Buddha, Shinran Shonin quotes this passage from “The Sutra of Great Compassion”:
“What is "great compassion"? Those who continue solely in the nembutsu without any interruption will thereby be born without fail in the land of happiness at the end of life. If these people encourage each other and bring others to say the Name, they are all called "people who practice great compassion."
This clearly shows that practicing Great Compassion in this life means to encourage others to say the nembutsu of faith in Amida Buddha.
10. Entering the Rightly-Established Group (shojyoju ni iru)
By receiving shinjin in this life we enter the rightly established group or those assured of birth in the
This benefit is the wonderful news that people like us, full of blind passions are saved as they are – assured of birth in the
At the end of these explanations I wish to present you another three very important questions related with the benefits in this life, and my answers. Please read them carefully.
Question:
“… that feeling of safety doesn’t seem to apply to how we live life in this realm of Samsara, nor even how we die (suffering, pain etc) but to the next life and rebirth in the
Answer:
The feeling of safety of a person of shinjin is that he feels assured he goes directly to the
But he knows also that the remaining part of this life is the life of an ordinary unenlightened being, so its normal that as long as he is not a Buddha, he can still suffer. I repeat, he still suffers because he remains an unenlightened being until his death.
To receive the merits of Amida is like entering in an infinitely powerful stream of water. You remain as you are, an ugly piece of wood but you are carried by the stream of water to the ocean. Maybe this image will be helpful to you. To received the merits of Amida in this life through shinjin and be protected by the Buddhas means that you are carried safely to the other shore, while you remain as you are.
It is like being a small and disoriented bee in the great hand of the Buddha. The bee still suffers but she is carried to her true home and when she reaches it, she becomes truly happy.
It is like a sick man carried by an ambulance. The sick person still experiences pain on the road to the hospital (the rest of the life you have until death and birth in the Pure Land), but when he reaches the hospital and meets the Doctor in person (birth in Amida Buddha’s Pure Land) he is healed for ever and he becomes a Doctor himself (becomes a Buddha and returns to this world to save others).
Question:
” I am just confused about the entire premise of Buddhism leading a person beyond suffering in this world. It sounds like your saying the only way out of suffering for a Shin Buddhist is death.”
Answer:
The only way out of suffering for a Shin Buddhist is to entrust in this life in Amida Buddha, which means to let himself being carried by the ambulance of Amida and be sure that when he reaches the Hospital (
Question:
”From what I understand in your post- I created all that happens in this life and that can’t be changed. I just gri and bear it until I die, go to the
Answer:
Yes you may alter your karma in many ways, you may arrange your time you still have here in samsara to be more pleasant, or you may not - this depends from person to person - but what is most important is that you can’t heal all your wounds here, that is to become perfectly happy in this life, because you can’t become a perfect Buddha while in this present body.
Jodo Shinshu doesn’t say you should do nothing to make your life more comfortable, but it
Friday, December 5, 2008
Aspiration to become a Buddha – the most important matter
The goal of Buddhism is to become a Buddha.
Not to paint this life in different colors, not to become a smart or interesting kind of Buddhist, but to become a Buddha.
The Buddhist path is not a method of relaxation or a tablet for headache, something like “how can we become happier and calmer people” or a recipe for momentary happiness, but a road to Buddhahood or complete Freedom for us and all beings.
It is vital for those who enter the Buddhist path to have the aspiration to become a Buddha. Without this aspiration there is no Buddhism. If we don’t want or don’t feel the urgency of complete freedom from the many sufferings of repeated births, then Buddhism will remain for us only an object of study, an interesting lecture of mythology or an intellectual delight.
There are, so to speak, two visions one can have about himself and the world.
One is the ordinary vision depending on his cultural education or his daily concerns and the other one is the Dharmic vision.
The first represents what is considered normal in various times, containing limited explanations of the world and without being interested on the sense of human existence or something which is beyond the life of the here and now. The immediate utilitarianism is fundamental in the non-Dharmic vision of the world.
On the other hand, the Dharmic vision perceives the world and personal life through the perspective of the Buddhist teaching (Dharma) where for example, everything is explained in terms of impermanence and the law of karma. Also what is truly important is defined in a different way than immediate utility and the need for Freedom is especially emphasized.
By reading, listening and always reflecting on the explanations and light that the Dharma throws on the world and human existence, one can come to understand why it is necessary to become a Buddha.
By engaging more and more in the study of the Dharma, you reach the point when you receive what we may call the “Dharmic vision” or “Dharma eye”. Then, many of your mental constructions you considered to be solid and unbreakable, will break down and the world will start to empty itself of the false colors projected on it and taken as the true reality.
Walking the Buddhist path with the aspiration to become a Buddha and having the Dharmic vision on your side, you become more intimate with your own karma, that is, you start to know yourself better and especially your spiritual limitations.
This stage – the awareness of your spiritual limitations in comparison with the effort of becoming a Buddha – is extremely important and especially emphasized in Jodo Shinshu.
About this I wrote in the article “Entering the Jodo Shinshu path”.
To aspire to become a Buddha is fundamental but this aspiration remains just an unfulfilled wish like many others if your personal capacities cannot lead you to this goal.
It is not necessary to become a saint or who knows what special kind of person in order to have the aspiration to become a Buddha, but to be successful in attaining Buddhahood you will need efforts and qualities infinitely great than your ordinary capacities.
So, in the moment when you realize not only that you cannot, but that it is impossible to attain this state through your own power, you are ready to hear the message of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha.
This message is not a sophisticated or a hard to understand one, but the only disadvantage it has is that few nice and full of themselves Buddhists are truly capable to recognize their limitations and incapacity to become a Buddha. In other words, who is ready to recognize himself as powerless?
Just it is very important to understand that Jodo Shinshu doesn’t require from people to consider themselves incapable in their daily activities, but only in matters of attaining supreme Liberation.
To become a Buddha is not the same thing with being a good electrician, business man or anything you are in your private life. These are two different things.
Walking path to Freedom from birth and death is not a hobby or an interesting cultural topic, but the only real activity in our lives. It means to escape from the endless sufferings of birth and death. If this is important to you, then you are indeed a disciple of the Buddha.
---read this article (Entering the Jodo Shinshu path)---
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Back from Eko-ji
I returned from Eko-ji temple in Dusseldorf last night and now I have to make a little more journey until I finally relax at home.
This meeting was one where I couldn't become bored and this was due to the teacher Eko Haus der japanischen kultur invited - Noriaki Matsuo Sensei - who I think was the best teacher ever came to Eko Haus since I attend this kind of meetings.
He gave a lecture on Shoshinge and as far as I understood from the passages translated by Marc and Chisho Frank(second picture), his commentaries were excellent and with no trace of that kind of sophisticated scholarship I don't like. Also I didn't find any distorsion of the teaching in his lecture, but only good explanations in accordance with the words of Shinran. This Sensei is rather young and unknown to the European public and I hope Eko Haus will continue to invite him at future meetings.
All the participants engaged in useful Dharma discussions on many topics related with Shoshinge, which into my opinion, made this meeting a true nembutsu meeting, one of the few that actually take place in the international sangha.
I was indeed satisfied with everything happened there, not only with the lecture and talks with old friends, but also because of the Dharma discussions I had with new members like David Cwila (last photo).
After the Hoonko ceremony I could give books to visitors who attended it and others that were present in the Eko Haus. Among these gifts were the two books of Eiken Kobai Sensei printed by me at Dharma Lion. In total I gave 18 books to visitors and members, including THUS I HAVE HEARD FROM RENNYO SHONIN.
Finally, I had a beautiful surprise from my German friends who invited me to be an official member of their sangha. I consider it to be a beautiful symbol of unity and a recognition of our friendship.
I give my thanks to all the people who made this meeting possible, and those who attended it, but especially to Aoyama Sensei(third picture) - the abot of Eko-ji temple and president of Eko Haus and to those who helped me to understand the lecture and discussions which were only in German: Marc Nottelman and Chisho Frank.
May the European Sangha grow and stay united in the true Jodo Shinshu teaching of our Masters!
Namo Amida Butsu
ps:
1)those who wish to see all the pictures I took, please enter here
Some pictures are almost identical so that European sanghas can chose which is the best to use for their magazines or websites.
Announcement:
In a few days I will able to answer my letters and post a new article here
Monday, November 24, 2008
Entering the Jodo Shinshu path
---read this article first (Aspiration to become a Buddha - the most important matter)---
I know that I repeat myself, but I wish to emphasize one basic thing about the teaching of my school, so that everybody and especially newcomers, can understand.
Entering the Jodo Shinshu path is like becoming a member of Alchoolics Anonymous and recognizing: “Hello, my name is Josho and I am an alcoholic”.
Jodo Shinshu doesn’t state something like: “My name is Josho and I can become a Buddha”, but “my name is Josho and I am full of blind passions, incapable to heal myself”.
While in other Buddhist schools, an important matter is the recognition of the possibility of every being to become a Buddha in this life, like Shakyamuni, the Jodo Shinshu path begins with the sense of failure. When you are 100% convinced that you cannot attain Buddhahood in this life, then you are ready for the Jodo Shinshu path. As long as you still harbor in your mind the smallest thought of personal merit or “maybe I can” kind of things, you cannot see and enter the Dharma gate of birth in Amida Buddha’s Pure Land.
Amida Buddha’s
Thus, the Jodo Shinshu sangha is like an “idiot’s club” or alcoholics anonymous, in comparison with the nice and good Buddhists, who are always calm and ready to become Enlightened and the same with Shakyamuni.
If you enter this blog and you hope to find here some interesting quotes about detachment or how capable people are for goodness, virtues and any kind of spiritual realizations, then this is not the right place. But if you recognize yourself more and more in the group of spiritual alcoholics or those incapable of any important practice which leads to perfection here and now, in the middle of sufferings and miseries of any kind, then this blog would be of much help and I wish to you a warm “welcome to the club!” :)
I repeat, Jodo Shinshu starts with the sense of failure..
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Spiritual friendship
It is recorded in the Samyuutta Nikaya, that one day, Ananda said to the Buddha:
“Venerable, I thought a lot and reached to the conclusion that spiritual friendship is half of the spiritual life!”
Buddha answered: “Don’t say like this, Ananda. Spiritual friendship is everything in the spiritual life!”
This passage made me to reflect more on the role of the sangha as part of the Three Treasures.
In the Sangha, with the help of our nembutsu friends who have the same shinjin like Shinran, we hear about the Dharma of Amida Buddha and we entrust to it (receive shinjin), thus becoming capable of attaining Buddhahood in the Pure Land.
We need to be part of a true Sangha, and a true sangha is the one who is concentrated only on the Dharma, without adding or distorting it. A true Sangha is the community of lay and ordained practitioners who accepts the Dharma as the medicine given to us by Shakyamuni and Shinran, who cling to their words as the only true words in the whole world, being aware that the only way to escape birth and death lies only in accepting in faith the words of the Masters.
Those who distort the Dharma and think they have something to add to the Dharma, replacing the words of Shakyamuni and the Masters with their own words and opinions, thinking the Dharma needs to be modified in order to accommodate to the fleeting ideas of our modern world or modern philosophies, are not true spiritual friends and do not represent the Sangha. Being a member of a false sangha will not lead you to any realization, but membership in a true Sangha will be of immense benefit. In fact, to be member of a true Sangha is everything, because only in the sangha one can hear the Dharma and receive shinjin from Amida.
The precious Jodo Shinshu Dharma will flourish or decay and disappear only because of the Sangha.
Be careful with whom you consider to be your spiritual friends....In a burning house, become friends with the firemen and those who know the exit, not with those who, unaware of the fire, are spending their time
philosophizing about this or that.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Reactions against Kobai Sensei's statement and my answers (part2)
This long post is for those of you who have enough patience to read :)) and are interested in the nowadays wrong understanding of Amida Buddha being a symbol, myth or a fictional character.
It is a second collection of fragments from my correspondence with many people (I keep their names anonymous) from Europe or USA who wrote to me (read first reactions here) after I presented and supported the clear statement of Kobai Sensei made at the 15th European Shinshu Conference. I will add more correspondence in time, as I receive new letters on this topic and answer to them. I just hope that people will stop arguing on this mater and just accept what Shakyamuni and Shinran preached in the sacred texts. I am tired of debates, and I hate debates, but sometimes I really have no other option than to stand up and fight against the wrong views that are prevalent in our international sangha which to my sadness, it often becomes a dangerous place where everything is accepted and labeled as Jodo Shinshu. Unfortunately, my attitude is often mistaken as being impolite and no matter how hard I try to explain to people that I am just doing my duty as a priest, a guardian and transmitter of the teaching we find in the sacred texts, many of them seem not to understand this. Well, although it saddens me, I have no other option than to go on without thinking too much about my image in the eyes of others.
Other articles related with this topic are:
1.Kobai Sensei's statement (video) - Amida is a true and real Buddha, not a fictional character
2.Reactions against Kobai Sensei's statement and my answers
3Amida as a Sambhogakaya Buddha
4Some discussions on the nature of Amida Buddha
You may also find all articles related with the true understanding (as we find in the sacred texts) of Amida Buddha here.
__________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“But especially scholars use the term "myth" in another sense: as a neutral word for the "talking about the numinal" [The Japanese word "shinwa" f.e. means God/deity/the numinal (shin)- talk (wa)]. In this sense the word is very useful for two reasons:
The first reason is that if people of different religious confession come together to talk about their relgious experiences, they can use this term as framework and bridge between their ideas. For example, if Christians and Buddhists talk about how they deal with suffering, Christians will say: by looking at the cruelsome suffering of Christ and his ressurrection, and Buddhists will f.e. say: by contemplation on the univerality of suffering within the cyclic existence. For Christian scholar of religious study is the cross and resurrection of Christ in the same way the mythological symbol for suffering as the cycle of existence is for the Buddhist scholar. “
Answer:
My friend, I don’t know what the word “myth” might mean in academic circles and do not really understand its usefulness there, but I know that using this word when preaching the Dharma is not at all a good upaya (suitable method) in explaining the reality of Amida Buddha. Religion has to address to all kind of people in order to awake faith in them, and it is normal for ordinary people to take this word “myth” in the sense that Amida is not truly real or 100% real (in his transcendental form or Sambhogakaya). Also I always see that these scholars who relate to Amida as to a myth are the same people who deny the reality, in terms of causes and effect, of the story of Dharmakara becoming Amida Buddha in the Larger Sutra, and go so far as to deny the authenticity of this sutra, things that Shinran or Rennyo never did. As I always stated, these scholars who deny the authenticity of the
And these terms are always related with one another in the minds of scholars who use them, like for example, Nobuo Haneda who says very clear that Amida is “a fictional character like Hamlet” .
They don’t use the word “myth” as you explained in your examples, related with suffering, but they always relate this word with what they say it is the not so real story of Dharmakara becoming Amida, or the
______________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“But this has nothing to do with the perception of reality the respective scholar has ("myth" is not the opposite of reality!). For a Shin Buddhist the Universal Vow is more real than even the keyboard on which I am typing now these lines, because the keyboard could just be one of my illusions, a fever fantasy created by Mara, but not the Universal Vow!”
Answer:
I doubt these scholars really have the understanding of Amida as being true and real and of the Primal Vow being true and real, when they doubt the authenticity of the Larger Sutra in which the story of Dharmakara making the Primal Vow and becoming Amida is taught by Shakyamuni. I, for example, can’t believe in this sutra if this sutra was not actually taught by Shakyamuni but imagined or created by some wise monks many centuries later, for whatever the reason. I believe in Amida because Shakyamuni talked about Amida – it is because a Buddha talked about Amida, I entrust in Amida.
As Shinran said in Tannisho:
“If Amida's Primal Vow is true, Shakyamuni's teaching cannot be false.” – so by Shakyamuni’s mouth and words we come to believe in the Primal Vow and Amida!
Also Shinran said in the Shoshinge:
“The reason for the Buddha's appearance in the world
Is solely to expound the Primal Vow of Amida, wide and deep as the ocean.
All beings in the evil age with five defilements
Should believe in the truth of the Buddha's words.”
“Myth” or “symbol” used in the explanation of the reality of Amida Buddha clearly takes the mind of the listener to the idea of something not 100% real, and opens subtle gates to many misunderstandings. These words will always make us think to something created or imagined by the human mind in order to explain something which is beyond our comprehension. And if something is in some way created or imagined by human beings, then this is not true and real, but the product of the human mind.
Why should we use such words as myth or symbol in relation with Amida Buddha and the story in the sutras of Dharmakara becoming Amida, and complicate our minds ?
Using these words in explaining the nature of Amida Buddha is dangerous and surely leading to misunderstandings.
We can’t use neutral terms when we speak about Amida in Dharma talks. Why should we do that? People have to feel they have a relation with Amida Buddha in his Sambhogakaya form, feel embraced and accepted by a true and real Buddha and words like myth or symbol are not at all helpful in this. Such language was never used by our Masters, so why should we use them in explaining the Dharma?
I will never agree with the use of such words in relation with Amida in the international sangha, because I know what lies beneath these words and where these words are leading the mind of the listeners. Amida has to be perceived exactly as it was described in the sutras and sacred texts, that is in accordance with the doctrine of the Three Buddha bodies, etc
All those scholars who use words like myth, symbol or fictional character, can’t accept 100% the sutras and the sacred texts, and they are not intellectually comfortable with Amida Buddha as a transcendent (Sambhogakaya) Buddha. They are indeed false teachers because they spread their misunderstandings among others and don’t help them in receiving simple faith from Amida. Because only by listening the true teaching we can receive shinjin from Amida.
The situation is too much complicated than you explain it and this complications didn’t appear if we would just explain the teaching as it is in the sacred texts and don’t try to change it or accommodate it with our own ideas or understanding of this or that concept.
Why not keep simple our Jodo Shinshu teaching because it was meant to be simple and easy to understand.
_______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“The second reason why many scholars, eypecially the deeply religious one, like using the word "myth", could be called relgious respect. Particularily we Buddhist should be aware of our limited human mind. A myokonin once said: "Between me and an ant is only one degree, but between Amida and me there are 52". If there were an ant crowling on my sleeve and asking me (it if could perceive me at all): What are you doing now?", do you think I could answer: "I am writing an e-mail now"? An ant has no idea of "writing" and "e-mail" and so on. I would answer (if I could at all) something like: "I am setting a scent mark." Buddha Shakyamuni was in the same situation, when he talked about the
............
“The sutra f.e. says that Amida attained buddhahood 10 kalpas ago, but indeed Amida is the eternal Buddha, who is Buddha since endless times (Look: Jodo Wasan 55). This is really beyond our reason.”
Answer:
When Shinran speaks about Amida as being “a Buddha more ancient than kalpas countless as particles”, he refers to the Dharmakaya or ultimate nature of Amida Buddha. But he never said we should entrust in the ultimate nature of Amida, which we cannot understand, but in Amida as the fulfillment of his Primal Vow, which is Sambhogakaya.
And in many parts of his writings, including the Shoshinge, he writes again the same teaching about Dharmakara becoming Amida as presented in the Larger Sutra, a sutra which these scholars who say Amida is a myth do not feel comfortable with it and say it was not actually preached by Shakyamuni.
Bodhisattva Dharmakara, in his causal stage,
Was in the presence of Lokeshvararaja, the Enlightened One.
He saw the pure lands of many Buddhas, observed how they had been established,
And examined everything, good and bad, about the humans and gods inhabiting them.
He then brought forth the unsurpassed and most excellent Vows..
He also said:
Amida, full of compassion for those lost in the great night of ignorance -
The wheel of light of dharma-body being boundless -
Took the form of the Buddha of Unhindered Light
And appeared in the land of peace.
This and other many quotes in the writing of Shinran clearly shows that he always related to Amida and adviced others to relate to him as to a Buddha in transcendental form, that is as the fulfillment of the practices and Vows of Dharmakara.
He also said:
“Amida, who attained Buddhahood in the infinite past,
Full of compassion for foolish beings of the five defilements,
Took the form of Sakyamuni Buddha
And appeared in
So, Shakyamuni was actually the manifestation of Amida. But if the
I repeat, those people who say Amida is a myth, symbol or fictional character are the same people who don't believe that the sutras were actually preached by Shakyamuni. Just ask them or read their writings and you will see.
______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“-Therefore some people speak about the "myth of Amida" because they deeply feel that Amida is beyond the range of human language.”
Answer:
Exactly because Amida is beyond the range of human language, we should not use language and terms in describing Amida that was not used by Shakyamuni in the sutras or Shinran himself!!
People who use terms like myth or symbol in describing Amida are in fact thinking that they can somehow explain Amida and put Amida in the framework of their intelectual ideas created by their limited minds . They don’t just listen and accept with humbleness the teaching as it was presented in the sutras and words of Shinran, but try to accommodate it with their minds. And they are labeling their ideas as being Jodo Shinshu. This is wrong and dangerous as I showed in many parts of this letter.
______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“Amida is also beyond what we call history: not, because he is not real, but because everything which is part of historical sciences does not reach to the era of Dharamkara and even our perception of what an era and time is, may be wrong in this dimension.”
Answer:
Our history is just an extremely little part of the cosmic history and we should not think that some things never happened because it was not happened in the history we know on this earth. In Buddhism it is always talked about “the beginningless past" and endless future. In this infinite interval of time, Buddhas will always appear. But what some scholars are doing is to accommodate the infinite dimensions to our limited visions, - exactly like in your example with the ant. These scholars are just unenlightened ants who wish to change something which they can’t understand, and more than this, they wish to change the medicine (Dharma about Amida) given to us, sick people by the doctor (Shakyamuni and Shinran) , as if they are themselves doctors. I find this very dangerous and not a good method in presenting the Dharma, and I will always be against any attempt to change the teaching on the basis of such and such personal opinion.
I am just a simple priest who wishes to be only a transmitter of the Dharma as I received it from the Masters and pass it to others. I will never let my ego to modify the teaching on the basis of my personal views. I can’t label as Jodo Shinshu something which was not actually taught by Shakyamuni and the Masters of our tradition.
________________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“In your last mails you used often the word "right and wrong views". It is true: there are rÃght and wrong views, and if I look at other people I am often very saddened. Most people on the world will never come into contact to the teaching of Buddha Amida, and the few one who did misunderstand it or even don't take it for serious. This applies even to the most of the Japanese Shin Buddhists. But what can I do: I am not a Buddha, I cannot see into their mind and how I should agitate that they will develop best. I even don't know whether my own understandnig of the teaching is absolutely correct. Even if I had some extraordinate teachers, how should I know that their understandnig is correct?"
Answer:
My friend, there is something we can do and what we should do, without the need to see in the minds of others. We have the intellectual capacity to read and study seriously the sacred texts and to understand them. By understanding with the head the CONTENT of the teaching in the sacred texts, we can receive shinjin in the HEART from Amida. If your understanding is in accord with what Shinran and Rennyo themselves taught, then you know that your understanding is true. Further, we should teach and transmit to others only what is presented in the sacred texts.
Also when we listen to other teachers presenting the teaching, we should compare their words with the words and explanations of Shinran and Rennyo and the sacred texts. If their words are in accord with these sacred texts, then what they say is true, if their words are not in accord with these sacred texts and words of our Masters, then their words are not true and they are false teachers.
My friend, Yuien-bo didn’t just stay aside and do nothing when he met with wrong understandings of his time, but took action. He had courage in refuting the false views on the basis of the words of his Master Shinran. This is exactly what we should do today in confronting the modern misunderstandings. If there was indeed no possibility for us to understand anything, then Yuien-bo would not write the Tannisho or Shinran and Rennyo didn’t write anything. We are intelligent human beings and we can understand what is written in the works of our Masters and we can compare them with what some scholars are saying about Amida.
______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“What I mean is: we should be cautious in judging the faith of others and not overestimate our own understanding.”
Answer:
We can judge and compare the words of others in relation with the sacred texts. We have the right to do this because some claim to be Jodo Shinshu teachers and they are preaching to us. And we can very well say that someone who don’t understand Amida as it was simply presented by Shakyamuni or Shinran, don’t have shinjin and the experience of salvation. Nobody who distorts the teaching can ever receive shinjin or be able to help others.
_______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“For example the idea that Buddha Amida is a fictional character is a clear misunderstanding, and - if taken in this way - the claim , that the story of Amida is a "mythos", or Amida is not "historically real" can also be typical wrong views.”
Answer:
As I previously said, the using of words like myth, symbol or fictional character are always related with the denial of the story of Amida and the authenticity of the Pure Land sutras – just read how X in my discussions with him on the shindo group said he can’t accept the story of Amida and that he and also others like Rev Unno and Rev. Bloom deny the fact that the Pure Land sutras were actually preached by Shakyamuni. All these people are acting like they understand everything related with Shakyamuni and the transmission of Mahayana sutras.
_____________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“Just imagine someone who strongly believes that Amida is "only" a mythos (in meaning 1) and that "religious imagination" as believing in a "story" like this is a good means to oppress the mortal fear. Suppose he continues his dharma studies only for purpose of interesting discussion or scientific achievments. If he really comes to die, then there will presumably the point of ultimate despair, in which he understands that Amida is not only a story. Then his nembutsu is ripe. - But if he meets a very strict Shin Buddhist at the beginning, who rebukes his "wrong views" and critizises him severely, may be he will feel discouraged and give up his studies in the Shin Buddhist teaching. When it comes to die, everything is forgotten, what he has learned about the teaching, and he dies without the nembutsu.”
Answer:
I can’t know exactly all the condition that may appear in the personal history of such and such person, but I have never seen to Rennyo, Shinran or Yuien-bo the attitude of letting a wrong understanding to prevail in their lifetimes because who knows, maybe somebody can somehow achieve something or even shinjin at the end of his life, like in the example you gave. We can imagine a lot of examples and specific situation, but we can’t, for no reasons, because nobody of our Masters did, to let some misunderstanding spread.
And I repeat, those false ideas about Amida are not talked only in academic levels, but in the temples, Dharma talks, introductions into Jodo Shinshu and many websites, and all these false ideas are labeled as being Jodo Shinshu. We just can’t stay aside and imagine various ideal situations of a misunderstanding turned into a good understanding by chance.
In the personal example of Shinran and Rennyo we see how they actually worked hard and wrote a lot of letters only to correct errouneous views. We should do the same. I will do the same, because I am priest ordained by Hongwanji, and I am loyal to all the Masters recognized by Hongwanji. I am in the same school with Master Rennyo who was never resting in matters of presenting the same teaching of Shinran in clear terms and with no such complications as some modern scholars use.
______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“I think we should be very aware that we live in mappo, and not only in mappo, but perhaps in the end of mappo. 99 percent of the people will not come into contact with the dharma in their life, 99 percent of people who do are not interested, and 99 percent of the few ones who are interested are interested for the wrong reasons. Therefore let's do our best and don't be harsh to the weak people.”
Answer:
I am not harsh with anybody. I repeatedly said that I do not attack somebody in his private life but only at the levels of ideas and opinions. I do not relate myself to the weaknesses of anybody, but to the ideas they present as being Jodo Shinshu. And I do this for the sake of the many people who have hard lives and difficulties and are feeling hopeless about their end of suffering. It is a great sorrow for me to think these people might never meet the actual teaching of Shinran and thus receive shinjin from Amida, but meet the various bubble of the many so called teachers of Jodo Shinshu.
And also those people who present wrong understandings are not weak, but have a lot of publicity on the internet and in Buddhist magazines and their books and articles are read by so many people as representing Jodo Shinshu teaching.
And nobody takes attitude, not even those who received the priest ordination and promised in the front of the Founder and Go Monshu sama to “help others receive shinjin”! This is truly sad. And if somebody tries to challenge those false teachers and ask them to relate in their expositions only to the words of the sutras and sacred texts, like I do and Kobai Sensei does, then he is considered to be an extremist and fundamentalist!
_________________________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“Nevertheless let us always be very humble and modest. It is true that throughout the history of Jodo Shinshu the critism against wrong understandings of the teaching is one of the main topics. But it neeeds a lot of experience really to say what it is a right and wrong interpretation of the dharma. One must learn the dharma for decades, and cultivate not only the listening to the dharma, but also to the people. Therefore all great teachers, you have mentionend, began to write, when they were over forty and developed their i-anjin theories usually very late, in their last years.”
Answer:
I understand the need to stay humble. And I also interpret the need to stay humble as always relating in our talks and writings and Dharma teaching activities only to the words of Shinran and Shakyamuni. This is humbleness and modesty – to always present and explain the words of the Masters, not our own interpretations. As long as we think we are only transmitters, we are humble.
Also I don’t think it needs a lot of experience to read the story of Dharmakara becoming Amida and to realize that Amida is not a fictional character, symbol or myth. We can read the words and understand them if we are sincere and humble seekers, wishing just to understand what Shakyamuni’s teaching about Amida is. Our Jodo Shinshu teaching is meant to be simple to understand and its message is clear, so one doesn’t need many decades to understand its essentials, and one essential thing in this teaching is that we entrust in Amida Buddha who is a true and real Buddha, not a fictional character. These kind of things we can understand and we can and have the right to go against views that say something else.
Life is very short and fragile, we even can die in a few days or hours. We have to struggle and read the Dharma texts and listen to the Dharma (reading is also listening) like this is the last day of our life. I can’t wait for decades until I am able to say that those who present Amida as a myth, symbol or fictional character (which are all terms related with one another in the minds of those who sustain such views) are false teachers and are presenting wrong views which were never taught by Shakyamuni and Shinran. Especially I am a priest and now my duty is to help others receive shinjin and I can’t do that if I don’t teach them the words of the Masters and show to them the wrong ideas that are prevalent in our days.
This is my duty. If I needed to wait a few decades until I can do this duty well, then I should close the gate of the dojo and close my blog and talk to nobody. But I can’t do that. So I will continue my own studies which are studies only of the sacred texts in Jodo Shinshu canon, asking advice when there is something I don’t understand, from truly wonderful teachers of our times like Inagaki Sensei, Kobai Sensei and George Gatenby Sensei and in the same time, continue my preaching activities. There is no time to wait. We need to act now.
_______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“We should also have deep respect for the scholars and their achievements (even if we not totally agree with their theories), because everything we know about the dharma we have received through their translations (or - if we are translators byself- through the tradition of translation).”
Answer:
I have respect for every human being and also for them, but this doesn’t mean that all the scholars are saying is true and in accord with the words of the Masters. Why is this tendency among some members of the international sangha, to think that if I disagree with some scholars and say they are spreading false ideas, it means that I don’t respect them? But lets be precise – not all the scholars who translated the sacred texts into English are false teachers. I know nobody in the Hongwanji translation committee to assert such views like Amida being a fictional character. I also enjoy Inagaki Sensei’s translations and he doesn’t speak about Amida in terms of myth, symbol or fictional character.
_____________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“You are saying that Shinran never used words like "myth", "symbol" etc., but did he use words like "true and real". This is a translation, but what words are in the background? And supposed the translation is the best possible, what connotations are translated and what connotations are lost? If you interpret texts, the connections you discover by reading the Japanese original are different to those you can find by only reading a translation. This is due to the fact, that the translation here is not only the translation between the same type of languages (German to English, or English to Romanian), it is a translation between two totally different linguistic universes. “
Answer:
My friend, Shinran used many words in which he CLEARLY talked about Amida Buddha as being a true Buddha on which we can rely. He also accepted and presented in his writings, like in Shoshinge, the story of Amida which we can find in the Larger Sutra. This can’t be denied. What words can be in the background of this?? He repeated the story of Amida and he entrusted in it. He spoke about Amida as a Sambhogakaya Buddha, which is not at all a myth or fictional character! It is clear for everybody who reads his words or the sutras with the story of Amida, and wishing sincerely to understand what Amida is, that Amida is a Buddha one can rely on, a real personal manifestation in terms of causes and effects of the ultimate Dharmakaya.
We don’t have here a problem of language! Why should we complicate our minds, inventing many theories and thinking to many complications when this Jodo Shinshu teaching is meant to be a simple path of entrusting to Amida Buddha!
Do we really want to escape this burning house and be born in the
There are many situations when we see that our masters wanted us to keep the teaching simple and not make it complicate. We can never really draw the conclusion from Honen’s “One sheet document”, or from Rennyo Letters or from Tannisho that Amida is a fictional character or a myth. The idea of Amida being a fictional character or symbol is in itself impossible to accept in the context of this simple, devotional and faith oriented school. There is no point in continuing the discussion on this theme, just if we wish to complicate ourselves.
_______________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“It is wise, if Christian churches demand of their priests that they have to learn old
Answer:
We don’t need to learn old Chinese to receive the simple message of Jodo Shinshu. The translations we also have here in English are good enough so that we can simply entrust in Amida Buddha and be born in his
But the minds of some scholars will always remain complicated and they will always find something to make it even more complicated for others to understand.
I believe that I will be born in the
I don’t know if I have enough time to study Japanese. I always have in the background of my study the thought of impermanence. All my Buddhist activities, be it study or translating or teaching, are based on the thought of impermanence. I am always happy that I am alive just one more month to help another one receive the simple message about Amida.
Shinjin and salvation is received only with the knees on the temple’s floor, with the eyes and ears in complete concentration to absorb the essentials of the teaching. This is a religious path, not a scientific path. Here we are talking about people’s salvation from suffering, and we can’t play with people’s salvation. Jodo Shinshu is not an academical object of study, like somebody studies chemistry, for example.
I am a priest in the front line, that is, in a country where Jodo Shinshu is at its very beginning. There are already people who are listening to the teaching and others will come also. I can’t leave all the people I have here and go to
My opinion is that few of those who follow academical studies are truly aware of impermanence and most of them, don’t live like me in a dojo and a country where Jodo Shinshu is at its very beginning.
There were others among my teachers who did academical studies, like Inagaki Sensei and Kobai Sensei. I think I can continue very well my Dharma work here and my studies while keeping close contacts with them and ask guidance from them. I don’t need to go to
But in time I will surely send a member of my sangha to
________________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“stay away from these hectic discussions! Develop awareness for the details!”
Answer:
I will never stay away and do nothing when I see divergences from the words of Shinran or the sutras, no matter those who support such divergences are scholars or not. Kobai Sensei, who has the academical rank of shikyo, is also very active in fighting with the same divergences like me. Why does he says the same words like me? He is a scholar and he fights the same “fight” like me, so I am not the only one and as you see, I have a great supporter. Also George Gatenby Sensei in
_____________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“F.e. you claimed. that there is a difference between some scholars who use the word "myth" and Shinran. Then you must first find out what the scholars mean by their term. And then you must find words in Kamakura Japanese which Shinran could have used expressing a similar idea. What is Shinran saying about them? Is there a contradiction between the modern scholars and Shinran? etc.”
Answer:
As I said, life is short. I clearly never seen, and my teachers to whom I am in correspondence, never seen a description of Amida in the sacred texts who can be similar with words like myth, symbol or fictional character. These are all modern human inventions, nothing else. And I repeat what I said in my previous letter: these scholars who are talking about Amida in terms of myth, symbol or fictional character are the same who don’t accept the Three Pure Land sutras as being actually taught by Shakyamuni and who don’t accept the story of Dharmakara becoming Amida.
I will never think there is something good in the bubble of these scholars when they don’t even recognize the
This is inacceptable to me and I clearly have nothing in common with somebody who doesn’t accept the authenticity of the
So, for me, this topic is closed. I don’t need to complicate my mind by going to Japan and study all the bubble of many scholars, while leaving alone my people in Romania, and do nothing for Jodo Shinshu here for many years in which who knows what might happened.
________________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“Maybe you will answer: I am a practioner and do not want to become a scholar. - This is okay, but then you must accept that you have not the right to write polemics against them. In this case, it is also okay if you say: "For me Amida is not a 'myth' for this and that reason." (As I already mentioned, I totally agree with this oppinion, if the term "myth" is just taken in an ordinary sense.) But you cannot claim it as the official doctrine of Shinran and the Honganji, because it is simply not true (insofar there are other understandigs of this term and they are even used by respected "theologists" of the Honganji.)”
Answer:
On the contrary, I have the right to write polemics, as Kobai Sensei who is a scholar, also does, against those ideas of Amida being interpreted as a myth, symbol or fictional character. And I have the right to do so because I am a Jodo Shinshu follower. In Rennyo’s time he encouraged even some lay followers to speak about the teaching and even praised their simple understanding – attention, he praised simple understanding! – while sometimes he criticized the wrong understanding of some priests. He encouraged simple people’s understanding even if they were not scholars. Also I don’t think that only the scholars have the right to speak about what is good or wrong understanding in Jodo Shinshu. I have this right too. Although I have only tokudo ordination, I was appointed by Hongwanji as representative of Jodo Shinshu in
Nobody can truly act as a messenger or missionary in a country or in any place if he says only words like “my opinion is this, but you can think or speak whatever you wish and say this is Jodo Shinshu”!A missionary with a full sense of his mission has to be very serious and have an uncompromising attitude in what is true and false teaching. He has to present the teaching exactly as it is written in the sacred texts and on the basis of the sacred texts he can say “this is wrong understanding, or this is good understanding”. It is exactly what we have to do in
And I repeat again, the word myth in every sense it is used (ordinary or not) is not useful in describing Amida Buddha and more than this, it is a danger. And all the scholars who use this term are the ones who don’t recognize
I will continue to criticize such views and say these views are not Hongwanji’s views, because as far as I know, Hongwanji’s official doctrine is expressed only in the texts from the Jodo Shinshu canon. Hongwanji also recognizes the
Then, maybe I will set my robes and my kesa in fire, and close myself in my temple.
_____________________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
“Just be as gentle as the water, that changes the side of this earth, just by flowing along gently. Amida Buddha needs no warriors, he does it all by himself or better already has done it all. To teach what Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin had to say, is our duty, whether or not the people follow or gain Shinjin is not up to us. It´s Amida, who grands it to the people, it´s a gift, that is not coming from us or through our effort. I believe strongly in remaining as calm as possible in any matter, it is not easy all the time of course, but one can always try and leave the things to Oya-Samma.”
Answer:
My friend, if we just remain calm and do nothing, don’t react clearly by saying “this is not the teaching of Shinran”, when misunderstandings arrive, then I think we don’t do our duty as priests or representatives of Jodo Shinshu.
In the working of Amida, the teacher is one of the five conditions for birth in the
If we just let things happen and say Amida does everything and we do nothing to prevent the spreading of the wrong understandings then how can people who come to the temples and dojos receive shinjin? Only when one listens the true teaching from a true teacher, then he can receive shinjin from Amida.
The working of Amida is spread through men and women of shinjin and with clear and right understanding of the teaching, and not through people of false views.
If by being gentle we mean “there is enough room or space in the sangha, for people who spread ideas that Amida is a fictional character”, then we are not gentle but foolish. And people with wrong understandings will use our foolishness and lack of strong reaction to destroy the Dharma. Shinran himself was not always “gentle”, you know the case with Zenran, and that case was not the only one. Master Rennyo also one time closed a temple because people there were losing time. And he was very strong in his attitudes during his entire life of reconstructing the sangha.
Sometimes here I refused people with wrong understanding and mixing practices from giving them the Three Refuges and recognizing them in my sangha. I also refused to recommend them for kikyoshiki because I don’t think their place is within the Jodo Shinshu sangha.
I also firmly believe that the place of those who spread wrong understandings is outside the sangha, because the sangha is not a place where everything can be said, but where only the true Dharma is taught. As Master Zuiken said: “Keep your mouth shut and let the Buddha Dharma speak”. Not everybodie's ideas, but the Dharma!
I am very sad that my clear statements and repeated statements (because I always react when I see somebody saying something false) are not understood in their real sense. But I prefer to stay like this, firm, clear and insisting on the difference between true and false, always relating to the sacred texts.
Of course, I never relate to the personal life or private life of those with whom I oppose, but in rest I will say everything I think that has to be said, especially that their place is not in the sangha as teachers.
__________________________________________________________
Anonymous:
"Namo Amida Butsu" what else is there to be explain?”
Answer:
Ok, then from now on, when somebody comes to your dojo or center, just tell them Namo Amida Butsu and if they ask you something don’t talk to them, just say Namo Amida Butsu. :)))
And if these so called “modern scholars” erase all their personal views from all the websites and all Buddhist magazines, I will also shut up and say only Namo Amida Butsu. :)))
Also I think, if there were no deviations from Shinran’s teaching, Yuien bo also would shut up or say only Namo Amida Butsu.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Comments of the 17th chapter of Tannisho - birth in the borderland of the Pure Land
“On the assertion that a person born in the borderland will in the end fall into hell.
In what authoritative passage do we find such a statement? It is deplorable that this is being maintained by people who pretend to be scholars. How are they reading the sutras, treaties, and other sacred writings? I was taught that practicers who lack shinjin are born in the borderland because of their doubt concerning the Primal Vow, and that, after the evil of doubt has been expiated, they realize enlightenment in the fulfilled land.
Since practicers of shinjin are few, many are guided to the transformed land. To declare, despite this, that birth there will ultimately end in vain would be to accuse Shakyamuni of lying.”
Tannisho, Chapter 17th
________________________________________________________________________
My comments:
Everything related with the Pure Land is the creation of Amida Buddha. It comes from his Enlightened activity and is the manifestation of it.
All the manifestations of Amida Buddha, especially his true Pure Land and the borderland of his Pure Land , are real and effective in helping sentient beings to achieve supreme Buddhahood.
Amida Buddha realized that it is easier for unenlightened sentient beings to have aspiration for birth in his perfect Pure Land upon hearing about its existence. So he created this place and made it in such a way so that both people who completely entrust in him and also those who cannot completely entrust, be born there and escape once and for all from samsara. Just there is a difference between these two categories of people. Those who completely entrust in Amida Buddha and let go of any clinging to any form of reliance on their personal power become themselves Buddhas in the very moment when they are born in the Pure Land, while those who entrust in Amida but still cling to some kind of personal power do not become immediately Buddhas when they are born in the Pure Land. People in this last category are in fact born in the so called borderland of the Pure Land . They do not attain the state of Buddhahood, but they are free once and for all from the suffering of birth and death in Samsara. They are safe, but still they are not liberated. In the same time, being in the special environment of this borderland of the Pure Land they have the opportunity to overcome their doubts and entrust completely in Amida Buddha.
Master Shan-tao said: “those born in the fulfilled Pure Land are extremely few; those born in the transformed Pure Land are many.”
This is because there are very few who completely renounce the reliance on their personal power and calculations and entrust 100% to Amida’s Power. It is also taught in this chapter: “Since practicers of shinjin are few, many are guided to the transformed land.” Transformed land and borderland are the same. Also there are many other names for the borderland, like “the realm of indolence and pride”, a term used by Shinran in his wasans: “…People devote themselves to saying the nembutsu in self-power;
Hence they remain in the borderland or the realm of indolence and pride…” or “the city of doubt”, “the womb-palace”, etc. This borderland of the Pure Land is also described like a luxurious prison “made of seven precious materials” where people who doubt the Power of Amida Buddha and recite nembutsu while relying on self power or are aspiring to be born in Amida’s Pure Land by relying on their personal merits and virtues are like princes who, because they committed offenses against the king, are imprisoned in a golden palace where they enjoy all pleasures but they are not able to see the king.
This comparison appears in the Larger Sutra:
“The Buddha said to Maitreya, "Consider the case of the noble cakravartin-king who possesses a prison embellished with the seven precious substances. It is adorned in manifold ways, furnished with a canopied bed, and hung with many silken banners. If young princes commit offenses against the king, they are imprisoned there….."
The Buddha said to Maitreya, "These sentient beings are precisely like that. Because they doubt the Buddha's wisdom, they are born in a womb-palace... If these sentient beings become aware of their past offenses and deeply repent, they desire to leave that place...”
To doubt the Buddha’s wisdom means to doubt that Amida created the perfect method for saving you and believing that there is still something you need to do or add to his enlightened activity in order to be born in his Pure Land . To doubt also means to doubt the Primal Vow of Amida in which is described the method and cause of direct birth into the fulfilled Pure Land – the total entrusting in Amida.
Amida Buddha has 48 Vows, among which the Eighteenth is called the Primal Vow. This Vow contains the direct cause of attaining complete Buddhahood in the moment of our birth in the Pure Land . Becoming a true Buddha, capable of benefiting sentient beings in the exact moment of attaining birth in the Pure Land is the consequence of receiving shinjin or complete faith in Amida Buddha during this present life, while to rely on Amida but entertaining doubts means to be born in the borderland of the Pure Land.
To deeply repent, means to realize how foolish the idea of adding something to the working of Amida is. Unfortunately, people who doubt Amida Buddha’s Power in the present life will have to expiate their doubts by realizing their stupidity in the borderland or this womb like palace. So they will have the change of heart we talked about when commenting the last chapter, and receive shinjin in the place called borderland of the Pure Land .
Then, in this chapter of Tannisho it is said, “after the evil of doubt has been expiated, they realize enlightenment in the fulfilled land.”
As we clearly saw in this chapter and in the quote I chose from the many passages one can find in the sutras about birth in the borderland, this place is not one from which one can fall back into the lower realms or the hells, but a place within the Pure Land where people who relied on Amida Buddha during their present life but couldn’t escape their doubts and were still clinging to their self power will stay until they overcome their doubts and completely entrust to Amida Buddha. It is like an emigrant who was received in the country of Amida but he is still kept at the border region, not being allowed to enter the main continent and meet the president. In fact, there are his own doubts who obstruct him to enter the main continent and his own clinging to himself, while the Power of Amida is the one who made him being born in that border region.
Only the Enlightened Power of Amida Buddha is the one who makes possible even birth in the borderland of the Pure Land , not to mention the birth in the true Pure Land itself. Amida Buddha has such an Infinite Compasion and such good methods of saving sentient beings so that he succeeds to offer salvation from samsara even to people who doubt and don’t rely completely on his Power. He brings sentient beings safely out of samsara, both those who entrust completely and those who still have an incomplete trust, while the latter will stay for a while in the borderland until they overcome their doubts. It is not the fault of Amida or some kind of punishment that some are born in the borderland, just they are kept in that region by their own doubts. They are the ones who are keeping themselves out of the main continent of the Pure Land , while Amida carried them out of samsara once and for all.
It is very important to understand that the Pure Land in both his aspects, the border land and the true Pure Land , is not a realm within samsara, but a creation of the enlightened activity of Amida which is situated beyond the reach of birth and death. There is no retrogression or falling back from the borderland of the Pure Land into hell or any other samsaric realms because this place has nothing to do with samsara.
One who entered the borderland of the Pure Land is already in the safe embrace of Amida Buddha, just he doesn’t completely entrusts in him. His journey in samsara is definitely over and there is not a single word in the sutras and the sacred texts saying a different thing.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Comments on the 16th chapter of Tannisho – changing of the heart
Read the 16th chapter of Tannisho here, before reading my comments.
What is the “change of heart” in Jodo Shinshu? If somebody who is not accustomed to the teaching of Other Power, hears about this expression, he will probably think it means the definitive decision not to do any wrong act in the three ways of action, mentally, verbally and physically. Like from this day on, I take the decision to always have pure thoughts, speak only good and useful words and do only virtuous actions with my body.
Well, this is not at all what Shinran had in mind when he used the expression “change of heart” and it was not because he encouraged his fellow travelers on the path to intentionally do evil deeds, but because of a simple and easy to understand reason – we can’t change our impure heart and evil tendencies and become good. As I said in my comments of the previous chapter of Tannisho, Jodo Shinshu path starts with the profound sense of failure, with accepting the impossibility to become pure in mind, in words and in one’s deeds and the absurdity for us of attaining Buddhahood in this life, like Shakyamuni did.
So, what is the “changing of heart” in Jodo Shinshu?
It is said in this chapter:
“People who have in ordinary life been ignorant of the true essence of the Primal Vow, which is Other Power, come to realize, through receiving Amida's wisdom, that they cannot attain birth with the thoughts and feelings they have harbored up to then, so they abandon their former heart and mind and entrust themselves to the Primal Vow. This is what is meant by "change of heart."
There is a time before this “changing of heart” and a time after. The time before is the time when we thought we can attain Buddhahood in this life by our own efforts or that we can be born in the various Buddha lands or in the Pure Land of Amida by becoming ourselves worthy of being born there. It is the time when we thought we can, no matter what we understand by these words in our spiritual life.
On the contrary, the moment we experience the changing of heart is the moment when we profoundly realize that we can not. It is the moment when we become aware (it is a moment of awakening) that we failed for ever and we have no chance of attaining something in our spiritual life, especially the true Liberation from suffering of birth and death or the state of Buddhahood. It is both a moment of complete realization of failure and a complete entrusting in the Primal Vow of Amida, in his salvation Power. From this moment on we rely exclusively on Amida Buddha to cause our birth in the
In exactly the moment when you have this change of heart, you are assured of birth in the
The statement that the change of heart or the complete entrusting in Amida Buddha while acknowledging our spiritual incapacity, occurs only once, means that in that very moment when we have this change of heart, we become assured of birth in the
But those who speak about the need to have many changes of heart are confusing the terms and are not speaking about the same change of heart that Shinran spoke about.
In fact, they think this change of heart is some kind of a moral change of heart or a change in the three types of karma, related with thoughts, words and deeds, like a purification of these three, when the change of heart in Jodo Shinshu is just a changing of reliance from one’s own limited power to the infinite power of Amida.
They are in fact people who although “claim with their lips that they entrust themselves to the power of the Vow”, yet they “harbor in their hearts the thought that, even though the Vow to save the evil is said to be beyond conceptual understanding, after all it saves the good person in particular; “
So, they are in fact “doubting the power of the Vow, they lack the mind of entrusting themselves to Other Power, and are destined for birth in the borderland.”
Only because they have this misunderstanding, they speak about the need to have a change of heart every time a person who entrusts in Amida, does or thinks something wrong. Their reliance on Amida’s infinite power is not complete or it doesn’t exist at all, and their so called “change of heart” is only a change at their personality level, like a personal purification, and as we know, any change in the ignorant personality of unenlightened beings is subject to impermanence. Every state of mind and even the so called good states of mind or virtuous states of mind one is trying to have, can change and perish, because nothing which relies on the personal power of an unenlightened person can last for long.
That is why Shinran said in this chapter:
“Suppose that attainment of birth were possible only by going through changes of heart day and night with every incident that occurred. In that case- human life being such that it ends even before breath exhaled can be drawn in again- if we were to die without going through a change of heart and without abiding in a state of gentleness and forbearance, would not Amida's Vow that grasps and never abandons us be rendered meaningless?”
But to switch the reliance from oneself to Amida Buddha means to enter for ever in the powerful karmic stream of this Buddha with no possibility of failure in attaining Buddhahood in his
Birth into Amida Buddha’s
“Our not calculating is called jinen. It is itself Other Power.”
In relation with using the term jinen in this chapter, I selected some other easy to understand explanations of Shinran of the same term:
“Ji means "of itself" - not through the practicer's calculation. It signifies being made so.
Nen means "to be made so" - it is not through the practicer's calculation; it is through the working of the Tathagata's Vow.
.......................
Jinen signifies being made so from the very beginning. Amida's Vow is, from the very beginning, designed to bring each of us to entrust ourselves to it - saying "Namo-amida-butsu" - and to receive us into the
(Shinran- “Hymns of the Dharma Ages – on Jinen Honi”)
Jinen is the natural and spontaneous working of the Vow and of the salvation of Amida and it means it has nothing to do with us. There is nothing good or essential we can add to Amida’s working.
Everything comes naturally and spontaneously from Amida – our entrusting to him and the saying of nembutsu. Even if some gentleheartedness and forbearance appear in our evil hearts, this is also due to the spontaneous working of Amida Buddha in us.
Nothing good or virtuous can come from an unenlightened mind, especially our birth in the
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Settlement of Birth
Amida’s name contains all things:
His Trikaya nature,
My bombu nature.
My taking refuge in Him,
His vows and practice on my behalf.
His perfect enlightenment,
My birth in the Pure Land.
That Amida truly abides
As Trikaya Buddha
Is not to be wondered at.
What is truly more wonderful?
NamoAmidaButsu
Is the living Buddha on my lips!
Like waves make sense of water!
Like chimes intone the wind!
_______________________________________________________
other poems by Tokujo Jason Ranek you can read here and here
Friday, October 3, 2008
Why do we need discipline in a dojo or temple?
Somebody who knows that I insist very much on discipline, recently asked me why do we need discipline in a dojo or temple.
I think the answer is very simple: Because we are crazy.
Being unenlightened persons, everybody has his or her level of sickness and madness. We have some rules of behavior in the dojo, because we must not allow our madness to enter it and influence the others.
At the dojo we don’t speak about our personal ideas or fantasies, we don’t express our everyday personalities, but concentrate on the single goal of listening the Dharma in order to receive shinjin and be born in the
It is not good to enter in a temple where people are fighting about their personal lives. That is not a suitable atmosphere in which we can concentrate on the Dharma.
Everybody’s life is difficult and everybody has his/her own problems. We never know what truly happens in somebody’s heart. This is why we should always try not to disturb anybody with our own personality, ideas and judgments. We should all concentrate on the Dharma and help each other to do the same. We should create an atmosphere in which everybody, no matter their difficulties and differences, can easily concentrate on the Dharma.