Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
by Paul Roberts
This E-book has been published
for Free Distribution
provided it is not altered in any way
Dharma Friends,
2
than my mundane little life with all its problems. And that led me
to start seeking.
I read books about Him, and also His own teachings, both as
explained by others, and in His own words. Over time, as I read
and contemplated, I became convinced that He was - and is -
THE UNIQUE TEACHER in our world. I became convinced that
He was different than all the other teachers I had encountered -
Jesus, Lao-Tzu, Ramana Maharshi, and many, many others,
including all the modern teachers alive today both within
Buddhism and in other schools of enlightenment. I became that
He was, indeed, “the World Honored One”, the “Turner of the
Wheel of the Dharma”.
3
Said another way, I became convinced that He is the smartest
guy in the room.
>>>
Only the Buddha did that. That is why (to my ears) He sounds so
different than all these other teachers. He, and he alone, has
truly “gone beyond”.
4
When Gotama the monk was still travelling with his friends, he
finally decided to leave them all. He found the Bodhi Tree, sat
down beneath it, and resolved that it was “enlightenment or bust”.
And when enlightenment came (don’t ask me how), he arose as
the Buddha of this world.
And so they became His first disciples. And so, I have become
one of His disciples, too.
>>>
And is it TRUE that if you want to find the great prize that you are
seeking for - the prize of ENLIGHTENMENT - that you should
leave leave other teachings and teachers behind - whether from
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, New Age thought
or WHATEVER - and become a disciple of Shakyamuni’s, too?
>>>
5
I realize that it’s not very popular to talk this way in our “modern”
world. It seems very narrow minded to the “modern” mind. But I
really don’t care what the “modern” fashion might be, or what
might be “politically correct” in the world of religion and
spirituality.
Really, I couldn’t care less. The stakes are way too high to worry
about anyone else’s opinion.
If, in the end, you don’t bear witness inside to the Dharma
proposition I’m sharing, that’s OK with me. You can pick up your
matrix of ideas and beliefs, and continue on your own path. We
can still be friends. You can still be a member of our Sangha, for
as long as you like. You can still listen - or half listen - to what
we are talking about from day to day.
6
2
What Is Buddhism About?
I began by talking about Shakyamuni Buddha as THE world
teacher for our age.
>>>
Shakyamuni taught that all sentient beings - all beings with any
sort of individuated consciousness - are on an IMMENSE journey
of countless lives. That journey takes each sentient being
through various realms of existence. He tells us that there ten of
these realms: six lower realms, collectively called SAMSARA,
and four higher realms, known also as NOBLE realms. And the
highest of these realms is the realm of the BUDDHAS.
7
So...what is Buddhism about? Buddhism is about figuring out
some sort of way to complete this journey of countless lives
through the various realms of existence, and come at last to the
end point of the journey.
Now...for the first 2400 years since Shakyamuni left the planet, it
was not necessary to make this point so forcefully. Everyone
who practiced Buddhism and called himself (or herself) a
Buddhist, took this as axiomatic. This was what Buddhism was
about - and everybody knew it.
Yes, there were (and are) many, many different paths within
Buddhism - different ideas about HOW to get to the end point of
our long and difficult journey. But no one questioned what the
end point might be - or what might be the point of being a
Buddhist.
But that has changed - radically - over the past 100 years, which
is why we need to talk about it right up front.
Now, people are certainly entitled to believe that. I once did. But
the question, as always, is this: IS IT TRUE?
8
Why am I asking this question of you all, as members of the
Sangha? Because many of you have been like me. Your
introduction to Shin Buddhism has come through popular
modernist teachers who don’t accept Shakyamuni’s fundamental
premise here. Some of them are strict materialists. And some
of them have simply decided that Shakyamuni’s teachings about
reality are irrelevant, a sort of myth, no better and no worse than
any other.
For these sorts of teachers, whether they are originally from the
Shin school, or the Zen school, or the Tibetan school, or some
other school - Buddhism is about a set of mental exercises that
have some sort of beneficial and therapeutic effect. For them,
Buddhism is simply a set of tools to help cope with fear, anger,
sorrow, greed, lust, pain management, etc,etc, etc. that we all
experience in this lifetime.
I can promise you this: Becoming a Buddhist will NOT solve all
your problems. It will not heal all your pain, whether mental or
physical.
9
But becoming a BUDDHA will. Becoming a BUDDHA will bring
you - finally - to the END of suffering.
Do you want some some sort of temporary fix, that leaves you
vulnerable to more lifetimes of experience that will be as painful -
or perhaps MORE painful - than the experience you have had in
this life? Or do you want to come to the END of this endless
experience of birth, life, suffering and death?
>>>
But (and here’s the important part) he left them all behind,
because as he himself LISTENED DEEPLY to what each of them
was saying, he just couldn’t bear witness that their teaching was
the right stuff.
>>>
I hope that as you read this message today, it stirs up the desire
in your own heart and mind to become a BUDDHA, and nothing
less. I hope that you are saying, deep inside, YES, THAT IS
WHAT I WANT...I WANT TO BECOME A BUDDHA.
11
If you don’t yearn for Buddhahood, it just means your karma has
not yet ripened. Sooner or later, in one life or another, this
primal, holy desire arises, for each and every sentient being.
Sooner or later, each and every being, wants to come to the end
of suffering and the beginning of Buddhahood.
If you do that (and you can, because it comes from the Buddha
within), it will put you on the path to Buddhahood. and it will
KEEP you on the path to Buddhahood, until your aspiration is
finally fulfilled.
And if you’re not sure about this message, I invite you once again
to listen deeply. Be humble, be patient. Simply lay aside all your
own ideas and opinions, and ask the Buddha within whether I am
speaking the TRUTH...or something less.
If I’m speaking something less than the truth, you shouldn’t listen
to a word I say. You deserve the truth, the whole truth, and
12
nothing but the truth when it comes to this most important subject
of our existence.
13
3
How Do We Find Freedom for Ourselves?
So...once we’ve established that fact and that attitude, the most
basic and fundamental question becomes HOW? How do we do
that? How do we find freedom from the perennial and universal
problems of suffering, sickness, death, ignorance and endless
rebirth in samsaric existence?
14
THAT is “Bodhi Mind”. THAT is authentic aspiration for
enlightenment.
You will fail to attain Buddhahood, until you let go of them all -
and devote yourself to listening EXCLUSIVELY to Shakyamuni
Buddha’s Dharma.
15
Of course, I don’t expect you to believe me...or believe Master
Shinran...or even believe Shakyamuni Buddha. What I do expect
is that you will be willing to empty your cup - to temporarily let go
of your own ideas and preferences - to inquire from the Buddha
within whether my Dharma words here are TRUE...or FALSE.
It may take you a long time. You may have to read this teaching
from Shakyamuni Buddha, or from Master Shinran, or from
Master Rennyo, many times before it really sinks deep into your
head and heart...and you simply KNOW it is the right teaching for
your own life. But once you KNOW, you will abandon all non-
Buddhist teachings and teachers forever, because you will only
want the pure milk of the Dharma that saves all beings
everywhere.
So if you’re not sure whether you should abandon all the non-
buddhist teachers and teachings that you might have been
cultivating - do yourself the biggest favor possible: Empty your
cup, and then ask the Buddha within whether this teaching is
really TRUE...or not. And then be patient, and humble, until you
receive a DEFINITE answer from the Buddha within.
>>>
16
choices about what teaching and teachers he (or she) should
follow within the big tent of the Buddha-dharma.
>>>
18
But...here is the TRUTH: Shakyamuni Buddha taught the non-
dual view of emptiness AND He also taught the dualistic view as
well.
19
to hear from the Buddha within whether Shakyamuni’s teachings
here are TRUE.
And by being humble and patient, and doing this singular work of
LISTENING DEEPLY, we have each and all received the faith-
mind consciousness called SHINJIN that ONLY Amida Buddha
can give. This is the consciousness that KNOWS that Amida
Buddha is a real Buddha and the Pure Land is a real place.
Anyone who doesn’t KNOW those Dharma facts, simply hasn’t
received that SHINJIN yet - even if they say that they have.
>>>
For those who are still struggling with this, and who, by definition
are NOT people of the same SHINJIN as Master Shinran,
because they still have DOUBT rather than faith in the teaching
of Shakyamuni in the Larger Pure Land sutra, let me close this
post by offering some thoughts that might help you to open your
mind and your heart to the TRUTH.
20
The first thought is the parable that Shakyamuni Buddha taught
about the six blind men and the elephant. Most of us know it
already, but I’ll re-tell it anyway.
The problem is, of course, that they are BLIND. And that’s our
problem as well. We are BLIND. We simply can’t see the whole
elephant. We simply can’t see the transcendental nature of
reality the way a Buddha can. And we live in an age that
reinforces our blindness, our ignorance, by creating a strong
argument for strict materialism - and many many Buddhists have
fallen into that ignorance by accepting that argument as part of
getting an “education”.
21
called Dharmakaya in the Dharma teaching of TRIKAYA - the
teaching about the three forms (bodies) of Buddha.
This is what the modernist Shin teachers have not done, and will
not do. Speaking bluntly, I must declare that their ignorance here
is WILLFUL, with severe karmic consequences according to both
Master Shinran and Master Rennyo. Why? Because by
propagating their ignorance for money, or fame, or position as
they have done, they not only harm themselves, but harm
COUNTLESS people besides.
Our Sangha has been, through the years, like a virtual hospital
for many people who were terribly damaged by listening to these
false Shin Buddhist teachers. There are many people here who
were called by Amida Himself - but were tragically and
needlessly filled with DOUBT rather than FAITH, because of the
pernicious influence of these false teachers. I was one of them,
for the first several years of my exploration of Shin Buddhism.
I know that there are some folks here in that category...so I’m
spending a lot of time talking about this subject, hoping that they
22
will recognize themselves in what I’m sharing, and make a
conscious and deliberate choice to listen deeply to the Dharma
for themselves.
>>>
23
And so it is with the nature of reality, as defined and described in
the Buddha-dharma, by Shakyamuni Buddha Himself. And this
recognition is CRITICAL, if you have come to the Sangha from
any sort of non-dual teaching, whether from a Buddhist or a non-
buddhist teacher.
24
4
Amida Is a Real Buddha
>>>
>>>
Here is the CRITICAL passage from the Larger Sutra that really
settles the issue concerning the existence of Amida Buddha as a
real Buddha in a transcendental body. PLEASE read it for
yourself, so that you know that just like Shakyamuni Buddha
exists as a REAL Buddha, Amida Buddha also exists as a REAL
25
Buddha:
>>>
The Buddha asked, “Have you also heard the great voice of
Amitayus expound the Dharma to all the worlds, guiding sentient
beings to the Way of the Buddha?”
The Buddha further asked, “Have you also seen the inhabitants
of that land move freely, riding in seven-jewelled airborne
palaces as large as a hundred thousand yojanas, to worship the
Buddhas of the lands in the ten quarters?”
“Have you also seen that some of the inhabitants are in the
embryonic state?”
>>>
Now, we’ll talk about “those in an embryonic state” later on. But
for now, I want YOU to see and hear the Dharma CLEARLY:
The monk Ananda, and ALL those assembled there on Vulture
27
Peak that day, had a direct, visual experience of seeing Amida
Buddha AND the Pure Land for themselves.
The fact that they saw the Buddha Amida and His Land is the
central, critical fact that makes the Dharma of True Shin
Buddhism the most important Dharma teaching ever delivered by
Shakyamuni Buddha. Again, we’ll explain why in detail as we
continue on.
But for now, please know that ANY teacher, no matter how
famous or well-regarded by his students - whether Alfred Bloom,
Nobuo Haneda, Takamaro Shigaraki or anyone else - who says
Amida is not a real Buddha is simply not teaching TRUE Shin
Buddhism. Rather, he (or she) is teaching some ideas of his own
devising, for his own personal reasons, because of his own
ignorance.
>>>
While the Buddha was here among us, and even after He had left
his fleshly body, He established many different Dharma
teachings to help people escape this difficult human life, which
He Himself found was UNSATISFACTORY, because it is marked
so deeply by both mental and physical suffering.
28
And there are also some people who are whole-brained, who
often combine both kinds of talents and aptitudes.
29
Those in the hell realms are there for gross violations of karmic
morality. Because of those violations, they can’t even hear the
Dharma clearly, much less respond to it. They must remain in
those realms until their karma has been expiated, and then they
can take birth in one of the three favorable realms.
These four higher realms are the realms of those who are
consciously climbing up the mountain of enlightenment -
consciously seeking Buddha-hood, and have truly made some
progress on their journey.
NOBLE REALMS
- Buddha
- Bodhisattva
- Pratekya-buddha
- Sravaka
SAMSARIC REALMS
- Favorable realms
- Devas
- Humans
30
- Asuras
Unfavorable realms
- Animals
- Hungry Ghosts
- Hell
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/bdoor/archive/nutshell/teac
h4.htm
Now...here’s the KEY Dharma fact you need to know about the
ten realms: Assuming you self-identify as a disciple of
Shakyamuni Buddha, and you’re committed to becoming a
Buddha yourself as soon as possible, this attempt to climb the
mountain of enlightenment by doing various disciplines, practices
and studies is doomed to FAIL.
You are doomed to fall down the mountain, sooner or later. And
then, after you brush yourself off and try climbing the mountain
again - after however many days, weeks, months, years or
lifetimes - you will (at best) get part way up the mountain and fall
down AGAIN.
You WILL repeat this process of trying and failing again and
again and again. You WILL fail to achieve your goal of
Buddhahood. And sooner or later - in some lifetime - you WILL
do something really bad to cause suffering for yourself, and
others, because of the persistence of your egocentrism, a.k.a.
your monkey mind, that thing that Gotama finally discovered
31
and then identified as “the builder of this house of suffering” in his
final sit under the Bodhi Tree.
And it’s critical that you understand the reason WHY you (and I
and everyone else) are so terribly and tragically STUCK in this
way.
>>>
We’ve seen this problem happen over and over again, since
Buddhism has come to the West. We’ve seen teachers from all
the major schools of Buddhism succumb to selfishness in one
way or another and bring real and lasting harm to their own
spiritual communities. Using others for selfish and uncaring sex,
treating others like servants and worse, collecting vast amounts
of money from disciples - these are kinds of karmic events that
actually bring so many of these teachers down. But before that
happens (as we hear so often) there are always problems of
pride, lack of compassion, lack of wisdom and so on.
32
I’ve been paying attention to the global Sangha - and other
spiritual communities - for 40 years...and I’ve seen it happen over
and over and over again.
The reason you do karmic good rather than karmic evil is simply
because of past karma acting in your present life. And for the
person who does karmic evil - such as a wayward teacher - the
reason he does it is the same: past karma acting in his present
life.
34
5
Self-Power
In Part 4, I talked about the incredibly important Dharma truth
about how DIFFICULT it is to actually become a Buddha. Using
the metaphor of “climbing the mountain of enlightenment”, I
discussed how human beings are subject to RETROGRESSION
– i.e. falling down the mountain entirely, until they reach the
advanced state of an 8th Stage Bodhisattva.
It’s like those early rockets fired into space, in the beginning of
the space programs of the 1960s. They just didn’t have enough
35
power in their engines to escape the pull of the earth’s gravity.
So, ultimately, they’d just fall to earth once again. And that’s
what happens to us.
The time was ripe, karmically speaking, for the Buddha we know
as Shakyamuni to fully inhabit a fleshly body. Now, there’s a
mystery about this event that clearly is beyond our capacity to
understand properly or completely. Too many Buddhists have
gotten caught up in arguing about the metaphysical mechanics -
which is a real waste of time and energy.
But the fact is, that all of a sudden, after snuffing out “the builder
of this house” as he sat beneath the Bodhi Tree, Gotama
experienced the final transformation - the transformation into
Buddhahood. Now, He was the great World Hero. Now He was
the great turner of the Wheel of Dharma.
>>>
38
In other words, this was the time in which various “good acts and
practices” were actually HIGHLY EFFECTIVE. Fully dedicated
people had the spiritual empowerment of Shakyamuni Buddha to
enable them to practice perfectly as prescribed.
After this second 500 year period has passed, and the power of
Shakyamuni’s buddha-field had continued to decline, we entered
the period we are in today, called The Age of Dharma Decline.
Said another way, we are truly lost in the vast ocean of birth and
death, paddling our little rafts, without any hope of getting to the
far shore of full and final enlightenment. Even though we have
aspirations for enlightenment, our self-directed efforts are NOT
empowered, and thus NOT able to release us from this endless
cycle of birth, life, suffering and death - over and over again - ad
nauseam, and ad infinitum.
39
That (Master Shinran declares) is the predicament we are ALL in
today. He says, very explicitly, that not one person in a billion
can achieve his (or her) aspiration for Buddhahood by his own
efforts anymore.
When you hear for yourself that it is, in fact, TRUE - then you will
know for yourself that self-powered Buddhist practices - whether
from the Hinayana, the Mahayana or the Vajrayana schools - are
ultimately and essentially a WASTE OF TIME AND EFFORT.
Such practices cannot give you what you truly want. On the
contrary, they leave you stranded, in your own little Dharma raft,
on the ocean of birth and death. They doom you to failure, in
your quest to come to the end of suffering, and the beginning of
Buddhahood.
40
6
The Solution to the Problem
of Endless Suffering
Does this mean that if you have adopted one or more of the
precepts as the rule for your own life, does becoming a Shin
Buddhist require that you give them up?
>>>
It means that that you are counting on these good acts and
practices to help you clean up past karmic evil - whether from
dark deeds done in this life, or in some prior life you can’t
remember right now.
It means that you are counting on these good acts and practices
to create karmic merit - spiritual brownie points - for your own
benefit or the benefit of others.
And of course, that’s just not true...not in this Age, when the
empowerment of Shakyamuni Buddha just isn’t what it once was.
And, as we’ve learned from watching so many Buddhist teachers
fall so ignominiously down the mountain of enlightenment, a
lifetime of good acts and practices can easily be wiped out by
44
behaviors that violate not just Buddhist morality, but common
morality.
- If you feel like giving, then give - and do it just like people who
do it who aren’t Buddhists, or even spiritual, at all.
Simply detach whatever you do (or do not do) from any explicitly
Buddhist context, knowing (as Master Shinran knows) that not a
single one of these practices or good acts will accomplish the
singular goal that Buddhism defines - the goal of becoming a
Buddha.
That’s why the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism begins with the
Larger Sutra of Amida Buddha. Master Shinran declares that the
reason Shakyamuni came into this world was - first and foremost
- to deliver this Sutra to the human race, and specifically the
global Sangha - all those who call themselves His disciples.
This is it, Dharma friends. This is the Dharma door that has
already been opened for YOU, and for ME. This is the way - the
ONLY way - for us to escape the terrible karmic wheel to which
we have all been chained.
47
7
The Larger Sutra on Amida Buddha
I really, REALLY want to urge each and every person who reads
this: Please make time in your life to read the Larger Sutra for
yourself. It is the foundational document of True Shin Buddhism,
and indeed ALL the various Pure Land schools of Dharma. And
in case you didn’t know (as most western people don’t), the Pure
Land schools are BY FAR the most widely embraced schools
among the world’s 300 million Buddhists - not Zen, not
Theravada, not Tibetan Buddhism - or any other variant of the
Buddha-Dharma.
Why should you read it for yourself? One reason is that it will
help INNOCULATE you against the post-modern nonsense that
is being propagated by so many false teachers in the Shin
Sangha today. You will hear, for yourself, how Shakyamuni
describes the history and biography of Amida Buddha - and you
will be able to decide, for yourself, whether you’re going to
believe Shakyamuni, or some modernist false teacher who
asserts that Amida Buddha is simply a mythic construct.
>>>
>>>
They will die (as we all must), and their false teachings will end
up in the dustbin of history. Meanwhile, the TRUE teaching will
continue to work, not just in our world but in countless worlds, to
bring those who are karmically ready to the place where they can
partake of Amida’s salvic plan.
>>>
>>>
And here, at this time, in this place, the game changing moment
came, as the monk Ananda noticed something different about his
cousin, Shakyamuni Buddha, that he had never noticed before.
>>>
51
At that time all the senses of the World-Honored One radiated
joy, his entire body appeared serene and glorious, and his august
countenance looked most majestic.
>>>
>>>
53
With just one meal, he is able to live for a hundred thousand kotis
of kalpas, or an incalculable and immeasurable length of time, or
beyond.
Even after that lapse of time, his senses will still be radiant with
joy and show no signs of deterioration; his appearance will not
change, and his august countenance will look just the same.
The reason for this is that the Tathagata’s meditation and wisdom
are perfect and boundless and that he has attained unrestricted
power over all dharmas.
>>>
What did Ananda say in response? And what can YOU say?
>>>
>>>
Okay, I’m going to stop here. And the reason I want to stop here
is because I want YOU to stop here. I want you to stop - stop
your own intellectual chattering that comes from your monkey
mind - and ask the Buddha within: IS THIS TRUE? Did this
really happen? Or is it all a bunch of made up stuff?
55
8
The Fundamental Intent for which
the Buddha Appeared in This World
>>>
51
52
54
>>>
The answer is very simple (and we will be going over it again and
again): All the other teachings about all the other so-called
84,000 Dharma doors to enlightenment are PROVISIONAL
truth...rather than absolute or ultimate truth.
58
The Dharma door of Master Shinran, on the other hand, works in
a FULL way:
That is why the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism truly is the ONE
VEHICLE - the UNIVERSAL VEHICLE. As Master Shinran puts
it, on the Path of the Sages (the 84,000 self-powered Dharma
doors) not one person in a BILLION will achieve the ultimate
liberation of Buddhahood. But on the Path of the Pure Land
(True Shin Buddhism) 10 out of 10, 100 out of 100, 1000 out of
1000, will each and all achieve birth in the Pure Land and
immediate transformation to Buddhahood, simply by entrusting
themselves and their karmic destiny completely, utterly and
entirely to the person and work of Amida Buddha.
Should you believe any of this this because I say it? Because
Master Shinran says it? Because Shakyamuni Buddha says it?
No, absolutely not. There is no such thing as “second hand”
59
believing the Dharma. But because there is such a great cloud of
witnesses that bear witness to this Dharma - including ALL of the
Buddhas - you would be wise not to dismiss it too quickly, or too
easily.
Take the time, and put in the mental energy, to LISTEN DEEPLY,
so you can discover for yourself - as Master Shinran discovered,
as I have discovered, that THIS Dharma is ultimate TRUTH - the
truth that finally and fully sets each and all of us FREE.
>>>
60
just a concept, rather than a real Buddha, and the Pure Land was
just a concept to describe Pure Mind.
>>>
>>>
>>>
65
The Bhiksu [Dharmakara] said to the Buddha [Lokeshvararaja],
‘That is far too vast and deep for my comprehension. I sincerely
beseech you, World-Honored One, to explain in detail the
practices by which Buddhas, Tathagatas, established their pure
lands. After I hear that, I wish to practice as instructed and so
fulfill my aspirations.’
>>>
67
9
The Primal Vow
And finally - after all this work - and all this contemplation - for an
unimaginably long period of time during which he took birth in
countless forms, and helped countless beings - he was ready to
make his own personal VOWS.
68
Dharmakara actually made 48 different vows. If we were doing a
more advanced study here, we might discuss each one of them
in detail, and how they interact with one another, and what their
relative and absolute importance is. But this Dharma discourse
is specifically and deliberately offered in a way that is as simple
as possible. It is “Shin Buddhism 101”. It is targeted, just like so
many discourses of our Dharma masters were, at the very least
among us - people like the unlettered peasants who were such a
big part of the early Sangha.
On the contrary, most people were (and are) beset by all sorts of
blind passions, cravings and aversions, delusions and
obscurations. Most people were (and are) truly unable to quiet,
much less purge, the monkey mind that is the builder of this
house of suffering. Most people were (and are) entirely bound to
the wheel of birth and death by the chains of their own karma.
>>>
>>>
70
>>>
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 are learned in the scriptures but 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.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
The first part (in bold) is the vow itself. The second part is known
as the “exclusion clause”. Let’s talk about each part separately:
And please notice that he talks about other sentient beings like
you and me, sentient beings in the countless Buddha-lands in the
ten directions, “who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves
to ME”.
73
that Amida Buddha is absolutely a real Buddha - not a principle,
or a myth, or a metaphor, or a symbol.
I stress this point over and over, looking both to the Sutra AND
the witness in my own heart, in order to correct the FALSE
teaching that has taken over so much of the Shin Sangha in the
past 50 years or so. I have spoken with and counseled so many
people who came to me confused and disheartened, because
they had believed the FALSE teachers in the Shin Sangha who
have propagated only their own doubts and disbelief.
And it’s not just me who teaches this critical Dharma teaching.
Nagarjuna is widely considered by many the second great
teacher of the Dharma, after Shakyamuni Buddha Himself.
Shakyamuni Buddha actually prophesied about Nagarjuna birth
and influence on the Sangha.
But Nagarjuna was one of the few who was able to practice
effectively. He actually reached the beginning stages of
Bodhisattva-hood on the Bodhisattva path. And his influence and
intellectual understanding remains critical for self-power
Buddhists from the Mahayana and Vajrayana (Tibetan and
Japanese Shingon) Buddhist schools.
74
Nonetheless, Master Nagarjuna SWITCHED from the old
paradigm of self-power Buddhism to the new paradigm of
entrusting himself and his karmic destiny ENTIRELY to Amida
and His Primal Vow. He recognized and declared that this was
simply the SMART thing to do. Why? Because he could see that
old paradigm Buddhism was the path of DIFFICULT practice,
with most practicers FAILING to make significant PERMANENT
progress up the mountain of enlightenment...while the new
paradigm Buddhism was the path of EASY practice, giving ALL
sentient beings the opportunity to leave birth and death behind,
and become Buddhas once and for all.
>>>
JUNIRAI
75
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.
>>>
I will continue next time with more review of the Primal Vow, and
the creation of “new paradigm” Buddhism by Amida during His
pre-Buddha life as the Bodhisattva Dharmakara. Once again, my
goal is to make this Dharma discourse so simple that ANYONE
can understand what I’m talking about - because that has always
been the will of Amida, the greatest of all the Buddhas.
78
10
The Primal Vow Is Universal
Here is the Vow, once again (we’ll discuss the exclusion clause
later on):
>>>
>>>
The Vow includes the wisest and most foolish. It includes the
most learned, and the most ignorant. It includes people who
have tremendous spiritual capacity, and those with no spiritual
79
capacity whatsoever. It includes those with a background and/or
an intuitive grasp of eastern, oriental culture and thought - and
those with an background and/or an intuitive grasp of western,
occidental culture and thought.
If you are not yet entrusting yourself to HIM, it doesn’t mean that
you are a worse person (from our human perspective) than
someone who is truly entrusting himself and his karmic destiny to
HIM. But it does mean that your karmic destiny at the end of this
life is UNCERTAIN and UNSETTLED, in contrast to the person of
true entrusting, whose karmic destiny is CERTAIN and
SETTLED.
81
IMMEDIATELY experience the final transformation - the
transformation to Buddhahood.
>>>
Or you can simply say the Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) ten
times.
It’s all so simple that ANYONE - even someone who suffers from
lack of education AND lack of basic intelligence - can easily fulfill
Amida’s simple, simple, simple requirements for birth.
84
11
How Does a Person Go to Amida’s Pure Land
and Become a Buddha?
>>>
The educated will probably find this writing peculiar and may
ridicule it. But paying no heed to such criticisms, I write only that
ignorant people may easily grasp the meaning.
>>>
85
I deeply feel what Master Shinran is saying here. His words, his
attitude, and his method are all an inspiration to me in my own
efforts to share this incomparable Dharma message. I remember
- painfully and all too well - how confused I was in the first years
of my own delving into the Dharma of Master Shinran - and I had
plenty of background in Buddhism! Nonetheless, so much of
what I read was hard to understand, obscure or (worst of all)
contradictory to what Master Shinran himself said. So many of
the teachers I read tried to show off their scholarly prowess by
speaking loftily about the esoteric ideas of Mahayana Buddhism,
which Master Shinran said explicitly to avoid in explaining the
Dharma of True Shin Buddhism. And so many - TOO many -
flatly denied the Dharma reality that Master Shinran devoted
himself to for sixty years.
>>>
86
To have this discussion, we need to begin by talking (again, in
simple terms) about Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching about
KARMA. I have found that pretty much everybody I’ve ever
spoken with has a fairly clear intuitive understanding of what the
term KARMA means and implies. The concept has become part
of our own language and understanding.
87
wonderful metaphor in this teaching to describe how rare our
human birth is:
>>>
“He did not harbor any thought of greed, hatred or cruelty; nor did
he allow any ideas of greed, hatred or cruelty to arise. He was
unattached to any form, sound, smell, taste, touch or idea.
Possessed of the power to persevere, he did not avoid
undergoing various afflictions. Having little desire for his own
sake, he knew contentment. Without any impure thought, enmity
or stupidity, he dwelt continually in tranquil samadhi. His wisdom
was unobstructed, and his mind free of falsehood and
deceitfulness. With an expression of tenderness in his face and
with kindness in his speech, he spoke to others in consonance
with their inner thoughts. Courageous and diligent, strong-willed
and untiring, he devoted himself solely to the pursuit of the pure
Dharma, thereby benefiting a multitude of beings. He revered
the Three Treasures, respected his teachers and elders, and
thus adorned his practices with a great store of merits. By so
doing, he enabled sentient beings to partake of it.
“He dwelt in the realization that all dharmas are empty, devoid of
distinctive features, and not to be sought after, and that they
neither act nor arise; he thus realized that all dharmas are like
magical creations. He avoided all wrong speech that would bring
harm upon himself or others or both; he engaged in right speech
that would bring benefit to himself or others or both. He
89
abandoned his kingdom and renounced the throne, leaving
behind wealth and sensuous pleasures. Practicing the Six
Paramitas himself, he taught others to do the same. During
innumerable kalpas, he accumulated merits and amassed
virtues.
>>>
90
That’s what the old paradigm, self-power path requires to attain
Buddhahood - the full and final liberation all real Buddhists aspire
to.
Can you do that? I know that I certainly cannot. I just don’t have
what it takes to practice perfectly in any one (or more) of the self-
power paths. I know myself well enough. I couldn’t do such
perfect practice even for a year - never mind a lifetime, or a
series of lifetime.
And as I look with open eyes at others, I don’t see them able to
do such perfect practice either - including those who are called
“teachers”, “masters” or “gurus” by their own followers. I’ve seen
this for many years. But now I understand, because of the
teaching of Master Shinran, that this is not just a function of their
individual faults alone, but also a function of samsaric life in the
Age of Dharma Decline.
So let’s talk more about karma and this new paradigm of Other
Power Buddhism that Amida created and unleashed in the 10
91
directions over 60 billion years ago, for the sake of all beings
everywhere.
>>>
So what makes this Dharma door open for us, anyway? This
door opens, fully and easily, when we listen to this unique
Dharma message contained in the Primal Vow, and make a
decision to entrust ourselves and our karmic destiny
COMPLETELY, ENTIRELY and UTTERLY to Amida Buddha.
92
When we’ve heard this Dharma message CLEARLY, and
answered ALL our questions, and resolved ALL our doubts, we
are (finally) ready to entrust ourselves in that UNCONDITIONAL
fashion. And at that point, what happens is both miraculous and
(to use Master Shinran’s word) INCONCEIVABLE.
For those who have cut their teeth on the teachings of the Path of
the Sages, it is EXTREMELY difficult to let go of the idea that
Buddhism is basically a bootstrapping operation - where you lift
93
yourself up spiritually by doing the right sorts of things for a long
enough period of time.
The plain fact is that most people who are on a path towards
enlightenment (Buddhahood) have WAY too much confidence in
their own ability to make good moral choices and ethical
decisions over a long period of time. But Master Shinran knew
that this is not the case. He knew that the reason people do
good, and the reason people do evil, has a lot more to do with
the ripening of karma from past lifetimes than one’s current
power to make choices in one’s present lifetime.
>>>
94
This is a statement of one who doubts the Primal Vow and
fails to understand the influence of good and evil karma of
past lives.
Further, the Master once asked, “Yuien-bo, do you accept all that
I say?”
“Then will you not deviate from whatever I tell you?” he repeated.
“Then why did you say that you would follow whatever I told
you?”
95
Thus he spoke of how we believe that if our hearts are good,
then it is good for birth, and if our hearts are evil, it is bad for
birth, failing to realize that it is by the inconceivable working of
the Vow that we are saved.
There was, in those days, a person who had fallen into wrong
views. He asserted that since the Vow was made to serve the
person who had committed evil, one should purposely do evil as
an act for attaining birth. As rumors of misdeeds gradually
spread, Shinran wrote in a letter, “Do not take a liking to poison
just because there is an antidote.” This was in order to put an
end to that wrong understanding. It by no means implies that evil
can obstruct one’s attainment of birth.
For those who make their living drawing nets or fishing in the
seas and rivers, and those who sustain their lives hunting beasts
or taking fowl in the fields and mountains, and those who pass
their lives conducting trade or cultivating fields and paddies, it is
all the same. If the karmic cause so prompts us, we will
commit any kind of act.
>>>
97
both recommended without reservation, and commented on in a
series of notes:
>>>
In my school, the act that is the cause of birth has been settled in
Amida’s Primal Vow as the ten utterances; Shan-tao deliberated
and determined that the only qualification is the three minds.
Even for a person lacking wisdom or diligence, solely saying the
Name is truly easy to perform. Even though a person lacks
knowledge and broad learning, why should he or she not
possess the capacity for trust?
98
weak intellect and shallow capacity fervently direct
themselves to the gate of the Pure Land teaching.
>>>
99
12
The Exclusion Clause in the Primal Vow:
What Does It Mean?
>>>
>>>
But, Master Shinran also said that the hardest thing in the world
was for someone to actually hear this Dharma message, and
receive this Dharma message, with a mind of true entrusting.
For example, in the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, he quotes the Larger
Sutra:
>>>
101
It is difficult to hear of the excellent dharma of bodhisattvas, the
paramitas. It is also difficult to meet a true teacher, hear the
dharma, and put it into practice.
(KGSS 6:57)
>>>
And then, in the same passage, Master Shinran quotes the Pure
Land Master Shan-Tao, who says this:
>>>
(KGSS 6:63)
>>>
102
experience mirrors Shan-Tao’s words about how DIFFICULT it is
to even encounter this teaching.
We’ll talk about WHY that happens later on. But for now, please
be aware that it DOES happen, and it happens VERY often -
even among those who are immersed in the Shin Sangha - as
teachers, as priests, as scholars, as well as laypeople.
Let’s re-read the Primal Vow once again, just to get oriented:
>>>
>>>
103
So...to understand the Exclusion Clause, we must first
understand what are “the five gravest offense”.
The Five Grave (or gravest) Offenses are a teaching that comes
from both the Hinayana and Mayayana schools of Buddhism.
104
The first observation is that most of these Five Great Offenses
(from either school) are obviously EXTREMELY serious acts acts
of karmic evil. It’s not hard to understand that anyone who kills
his (or her) parents, or deliberately injuring a monk or a Buddha
would be taking on immense karmic burden.
Someone who had done these acts, and didn’t care, and was not
repentant, would obviously be excluded from birth in Amida’s
Pure Land.
But notice the fifth of the Five Grave Offenses in the Mahayana
compilation. Thinking that there is no such thing as karmic
payback for doing any one of the Ten Transgressions, or
teaching that idea to others, is also one of the Five Great
Offenses.
105
But thinking that there is no such thing as karma (as many
modernist Buddhists do) totally excludes those people who think
such thoughts from taking birth in the Pure Land.
Now let’s talk about the other part of the Exclusion Clause:
Slandering (or abusing) the Right Dharma.
>>>
How is this known? A sutra states that the person who has
committed the five grave offenses falls into great Avici hell and
106
fully undergoes their recompense for one kalpa. The person who
slanders the right dharma falls into great Avici hell, and when that
kalpa has run out, he passes on into the great Avici hell of
another quarter. In this way he passes through a hundred
thousand great Avici hells one after another.
The Buddha does not indicate any time when it is possible for
him to emerge. This is because slandering the right dharma
is an evil act of extreme gravity.
>>>
>>>
107
>>>
>>>
Such mundane good would all be cut off, and the sages of the
supramundane would all perish.
You know only the gravity of the five grave offenses, and not
that they arise from the absence of the right dharma.
>>>
108
Now...let me stop here for a moment and speak personally - of
my own life as a confused Shin seeker, and of the lives of so
many people who I have counselled and taught after FINALLY
receiving Amida’s gift of SHINJIN - people who were just as
confused as I was, for the same reasons.
They asserted (and still do) that Amida is not a real Buddha, but
just a myth, metaphor or symbol. One such scholar (Nobuo
Haneda) actually writes that Amida is a mythic figure, like
Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
They also asserted (and still do) that the Pure Land is not a real
place, but simply a state of mind - a metaphor for Buddha-
consciousness.
For me, this confusion lasted for two years, until I stumbled upon
the writings of Eiken Kobai Sensei, who I have mentioned before.
For some of my Dharma friends, it lasted for five years, or 12
years, or 23 years! It is wrong - so very wrong - that any of us
had to live in such a state of confusion, when we were each
being called by Amida Buddha in this life to take full and final
refuge in Him.
So...if you are reading this, and are yourself being called by
Amida in this body, and in this life - I urge you in all seriousness
to listen ONLY to those teachers who present the Dharma of the
Pure Land Way accurately, in accordance with the original
teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Seven Pure Land Masters,
along with Master Shinran himself (the FOUNDER of Shin
Buddhism) and Master Rennyo (the RESTORER of the Shin
Sangha when it was failing and falling into obscurity some 200
years later).
And, for the record, this slander of the Dharma is not just
occurring within the confines of the Shin Sangha. I have read the
same sort of DENIALS of the reality of the Buddhas, the
Bodhisattvas, the Dharma of karma and rebirth from Buddhists
who are not Shin Buddhists at all.
What they all have in common is that they have REJECTED the
Dharma of Shakyamuni and the sages of their own traditions,
thinking and teachingthat we live in a merely material universe,
rather than a transcendental one.
110
OK...this is a good place to stop, once again. In the next section,
we are going to talk about the fact that even those who have
committed these Five Grave Offenses and/or have slandered the
right Dharma, are not outside the great tent of Amida’s
compassion.
111
13
Am I Excluded from the Primal Vow?
In the last section, we talked about the Exclusion Clause of the
Primal Vow - in which Dharmakara/Amida explains that people
who have committed great karmic evil are unable to be saved.
I’ve had people come and talk to me, who have been concerned
that they might be barred from birth because of this Exclusion
Clause. And yet, when we talk, it doesn’t appear that they have
committed the Five Grave Offenses. They haven’t killed their
parent(s), they haven’t destroyed Buddhist structures, they
haven’t denied the existence and working of karma.
This is a mistake.
112
anxiety and despair. Please realize that the entire intent of
Amida’s Primal Vow, and His great work done over countless
ages, is to save you and bring you to Buddhahood DESPITE
your lack of qualifications as a plain person, or a BOMBU.
>>>
(KGSS 2:102)
>>>
114
It truly is INCONCEIVABLE from our limited, human point of view
- a point of view so often steeped in prior understandings of old
paradigm, self-power Buddhism, as well as the requirements of
human justice.
The great and magnificent truth of the True Teaching of the Pure
Land Way is this: The Bodhisattva Dharmakara made his
vows...and most particularly the Primal Vow...because He was
thinking about “the EVIL person first, and then also the GOOD
person”.
115
understanding of the meaning, the import, and the purpose of the
Primal Vow.
So...if you recognize yourself as the EVIL person - even the EVIL
person who has committed the Five Grave Offenses - even the
EVIL person who has slandered the right Dharma - Dharmakara
made his Primal Vow THINKING ABOUT YOU WITH ENDLESS
THOUGHTS OF INFINITE COMPASSION.
>>>
116
Therefore, there is no Pure Land birth of any ordinary living being
apart from Amida’s Perfect Enlightenment.
118
in Samsara - the final attainment of TRUE, REAL, AUTHENTIC
BUDDHAHOOD?
>>>
I hope you realize that this has all been done for YOU - just as I
realize it has all been done for ME, as if I was the only one left
who was languishing and laboring in darkness. That’s what
Master Shinran means when he says that “The Primal Vow was
made FOR ME ALONE”.
119
Now...this listening deeply is a PROCESS, and for most of us it
takes TIME. Very few people hear this Dharma message the first
time, and immediately recognize it for the TRUTH that it is, and
embrace it wholeheartedly. Most people have questions and
doubts - whether about the Dharma message itself, or about
Buddhism generally, or (very often) about their own lives. Some
of these questions and doubts are objective and intellectual, and
require an intellectual explanation. But other questions and
doubts are more subjective and emotional - coming from the
karmic baggage that we carry around that weighs us down, and
the delusions and obscurations that prevent us from ourselves as
the Buddhas see us.
>>>
>>>
In the next section, we’ll speak briefly about the description of the
Pure Land given by Shakyamuni to all those gathered at Vulture
Peak, as recorded in the Larger Sutra of Amida Buddha. And
then I will share what I personally consider the single most
important experience that the Sangha has ever experienced
since the beginning of Shakyamuni’s ministry to the world...and
why I think it is that significant.
121
14
What Dharmakara Accomplished:
The Great Practice
He was thinking about the poor - the physically poor, but even
more, the SPIRITUALLY poor - those people Shin Buddhism
calls BOMBUS, or spiritual idiots.
He was thinking about people who could not overcome their blind
passions, or detach from their many cravings and aversions, or
see through their delusions and obscurations. He was thinking
about people burdened with vast ignorance about the world
within, and the world without. He was thinking about people who
simply had no way to effectively silence the endless chatter of
their intractable monkey minds.
122
Let’s listen to Shakyamuni as He recounts what Dharmakara said
directly after making His vows:
>>>
>>>
124
And then...as he finishes with these statements of his intention
(called the Juseige), Dharmakara says this next statement...and
then something amazing happens:
>>>
>>>
When Dharmakara made his Vows, and then followed them with
his statement of intention confirming his vows - the universe itself
was LISTENING. And the universe itself RESPONDED with a
palpable and intelligent response.
125
This isn’t my idea at all. I’m a BOMBU just like everyone else,
and I don’t have anything original to say about how things really
are.
He’s not trying to EXPLAIN the universe. He’s not getting stuck
in the endless debate about whether or not there is such a thing
as GOD, as the western mind understands the word to mean.
In my own life, and in the lives of many others who I have spoken
with and counseled over the years, I have seen, again and again,
that Amida DOES reveal His light to us. We DO get the sense of
His very own presence deep inside. And as we sense
His presence and continue to listen to this wonderful Dharma, at
some point we become ready to entrust ourselves entire to Him.
We really do become ready to take refuge in Amida Buddha,
once and for all.
>>>
Then the Bhiksu Dharmakara kept all those great vows which
were sincere, unfailing and unsurpassed in the whole world,
and intensely aspired to attain Nirvana.
>>>
127
Please notice (once again) that in the words and narrative and
understanding of Shakyamuni Buddha, this is a REAL Buddha-
land - not just a state of Buddha-consciousness, but a REAL
place, “vast in extent”, “unsurpassed”, “supremely wonderful”,
“always present”, and “subject netierh to decay or change”.
>>>
128
- He revered the Three Treasures, respected his teachers and
elders, and thus adorned his practices with a great store of
merits.
129
- He revered and worshipped all Buddhas by making the four
kinds of offering to them.
>>>
The great practice in TRUE Shin Buddhism is not ours - not even
a little bit. Rather, the great practice in Shin Buddhism is
COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY the PERFECT practice of
Dharmakara.
132
15
Amida’s Pure Land
In the last section, we talked about Darmakara Bodhisattva's
perfect practice over the course of many kalpas (1 kalpa = 6.7
billion years). Once again, I want to stress the core Dharma
proposition here - given by Shakyamuni Buddha Himself, and
expounded upon most completely by Master Shinran: Those of
us on the path of TRUE Shin Buddhism don't depend at all upon
our own small, inconsistent and defiled efforts to do any sort of
practice and good acts - nor any small bits of merit we might
generate from such practices.
But the first thing I want to say here is what Shakyamuni Buddha
actually said Himself. Here is Master Shinran recounting
Shakyamuni's own words, from his wonderful "Hymns of the Pure
Land".
>>>
>>>
In short, despite all our technology, all our intelligence, all our
progress - we're still dumb as a stump really. We have a small,
finite amount of knowledge and, at the same time, seemingly
infinite ignorance. This is true for the best of us, as well as the
rest of us.
Once again, this shows how the idea of Amida's Pure Land is not
the same thing as the idea of Pure Mind. Shakyamuni Buddha
dwelt among us for 80 years, and as a Buddha, He certainly has
a pure mind. But as a Buddha, He also was intimately familiar
with evil, and with the words for evil, and (even as a Buddha), the
experience of evil, as He suffered with what He described as "the
five burnings" here as a fully enfleshed Buddha in a Nirmanakaya
body.
136
Pure Land is NOT the same as Pure Mind. That's just a distorted
and false idea of some Pure Land teachers who don't know what
they're talking about.
>>>
137
The Buddha's light is supreme in radiance;
Thus Amida is called "Buddha, Lord of Blazing Light."
It dispels the darkness of the three courses of affliction,
So take refuge in Amida, the great one worthy of offerings.
>>>
139
All the practices, all the good acts, all the noble aspirations of the
various self-power teachers on their various self-power paths
CANNOT do that for us...no matter how diligent we are (or think
we are) on the path of self-power.
Both the evil person and the good person fail to attain liberation
by their own efforts - and then, finally, both attain liberation when
they finally entrust themselves to Amida Buddha, receive His gift
of SHINJIN in this life, and then arrive at the Pure Land of Amida
when this life is over.
Please listen deeply, so you can hear for yourself from the
Buddha within.
>>>
But His ultimate goal here is not to get us into some new form of
self-power meditation practice - not at all. His ultimate goal is to
point us to Amida's Primal Vow, in which we entrust ourselves
141
utterly, whether or not we have the capacity, the time, the energy
to do Buddhist visualization practices at all.
All these beings are in these partial birth states because despite
their aspiration to be born in the Pure Land, they never resolved
their DOUBTS about Amida and His Primal Vow. They therefore
felt that they needed to ADD their own practices and good acts to
the work of Amida - rather than simply entrusting their karmic
destiny ENTIRELY to Him.
>>>
I'm not going to discuss any more about the adornments in the
Pure Land right now. You can (and you should) read the Larger
Sutra for yourself, and you will hear Shakyamuni Buddha's
discourse. It is filled with wonder, and beauty and great mystery.
>>>
143
and surpassed, and only the Buddha's light remained
shining bright and glorious.
>>>
>>>
Excepted are those who wish to teach and guide sentient beings
in accordance with their original vows. For they wear the armour
144
of great vows, accumulate merits, deliver all beings from birth-
and-death, visit Buddha-lands to perform the bodhisattva
practices, make offerings to Buddhas, Tathagatas, throughout
the ten quarters, enlighten uncountable sentient beings as
numerous as the sands of the River Ganges, and establish them
in the highest, perfect Enlightenment.
>>>
It was Amida's grace that I was FINALLY led to one of the great
TRUE teachers of our age - Eiken Kobai Sensei. Once I began
corresponding with him, I was able to share my doubts, asking
these essential questions: Is Amida a REAL Buddha? Is the
Pure Land a REAL place?
145
His spoke with the conviction and assurance that only a person
of SHINJIN can speak with. He assured me that indeed, Amida
is a real Buddha - and indeed, the Pure Land is a real place.
And this is how I finally was able to let go of my own doubts, and
fully embrace this Dharma message once and for all. And so I
received that same inconceivable gift of SHINJIN that Eiken
himself had received some four decades earlier when he was a
young man.
Ultimately, we are all links in Amida's Golden Chain, and one day
even those who slander this Dharma will see Amida in their
hearts and their minds, and come to worship Him and trust
Him...and thus receive His gift of SHINJIN, too.
146
16
Difficulties
>>>
The Buddha further said, "I have expounded this teaching for the
sake of sentient beings and enabled you to see Amitayus and all
in his land. Strive to do what you should. After I have passed
into Nirvana, do not allow doubt to arise.
>>>
So...in this section (and perhaps the next as well) we will talk
about the Dharma of Obstacles to SHINJIN.
>>>
149
Once again...the whole purpose of the Shin Sangha is to lead
people being called by Amida to the same exact state of settled
SHINJIN as our own Dharma masters. Everything else that the
Sangha might be or do is dessert...helping sincere seekers come
to SHINJIN is the main course. If the Sangha is not being led by
people of SHINJIN, who are working to teach the Dharma
accurately and leading its members to SHINJIN, it has no real
meaning or purpose.
The purpose of the Sangha was, is, and always will be to teach
the Dharma that leads people to become Buddhas.
>>>
One of the most difficult obstacles that people struggle with is the
obstacle of thinking that they cannot be saved, because they are
just too wretched, too evil, too endarkened by their own blind
passions, delusions and obscurations, attachments, ignorance
and egocentricity.
150
At the same time, they struggle with immense feelings of self-
hate, self-contempt, self-loathing. They are furiously angry at
themselves, or completely disgusted with themselves, or totally
despairing of their own foolishness and darkness. They reject
themselves utterly - and because they do they can't imagine how
a Buddha would not only accept them, but embrace them, just as
they are.
The truth is, most (all?) of us, by the time we've lived to the age
of adulthood, have said and done many evil things. We've been
plagued with many evil thoughts. We're carrying karmic burden
from unknown past lifetimes - and these can create waves of
blind passions in our lives.
All we need to do is look at the world, and read the news, to see
the presence of human darkness, and the suffering it creates.
That human darkness is the work of our individual egotism writ
large. So when someone finally experiences his own darkness, I
can't legitimately say to him that it's not so bad, and he should go
easy on himself. What he is experiencing is true: It IS so bad...in
him, in me, and in everyone else.
151
We have to begin by acknowledging that deep and difficult truth.
Our primal, atavistic, reptilian urges - our egocentric tribalist
based thinking - our selfishness and self-centeredness - these
are all part of who we are. The reason we got onto a spiritual
path in the first place - whether as Buddhists or something else -
is that we got sick and tired of being who we are, and felt this
holy urge to become what we can one day be. And then, as we
listen deeply to the Dharma, we hear that the reason we cannot
conquer those parts of ourselves by the various self-power
practices of old paradigm Buddhism is that we live in the Age of
Dharma Decline, where the empowerment of Shakyamuni and
His Buddha-field just isn't available to us as it once was.
>>>
>>>
>>>
152
It is by the power of Dharmakara's Vow
That we realize the nembutsu that is wisdom;
Were it not for the wisdom of shinjin,
How could we attain nirvana?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
Amida wants to give YOU His own infinite merit. Of course you
don't deserve it - and neither do I. But the question is: Will you
153
accept Amida's gift? That's all you need to do. Just accept His
gift with a grateful heart.
>>>
>>>
>>>
155
teaching what they taught in their day, to those of us who are
alive in our day.
We'll talk more about this next time. For now, I want to
encourage you to listen deeply to this Dharma message with the
profound and sacred desire to become a Buddha as soon as
possible. Listen deeply to this Dharma, and don't accept
anything else, or anything less, in its place.
156
17
Emotional Obstacles to Shinjin
Upon reading over the last section, and reflecting based on some
current pastoral counseling I am doing with one of the members
of our online Sangha, I wanted to add to what I wrote concerning
emotional obstacles to SHINJIN.
Many people live small lives of quiet desperation. Their sins and
evil deeds, while very real, are at the same time rather petty.
But there are also many people who come to the spiritual path
after having done truly terrible deeds - whether sins of
commission, or sins of omission. The example that comes to
mind is the serial killer Angulimala, who was unable to kill
Shakyamuni Buddha, but instead became one of His monks.
And then there's the case of Benno, who came to Master
Shinran's dwelling in order to assassinate him - but then was
struck by the light and life of Amida emanating from Master
Shinran, and repented on the spot, becoming one of Master
Shinran's fellow travellers.
So...if you fall into that category, where you really are carrying
the burden of past failures, misdeeds, hurting yourself and
others, and so on - or if you are trying to help someone else who
is in that hellish place - this passage I am about to share is
GOOD Dharma medicine.
>>>
This is a statement of one who doubts the Primal Vow and fails
to understand the influence of good and evil karma of past
lives.
158
Good thoughts arise in us through the prompting of good
karma from the past, and evil comes to be thought and
performed through the working of evil karma. The late
Master said, "Knowing that every evil act done- even as
slight as a particle on the tip of a strand of rabbit's fur or
sheep's wool- has its cause in past karma."
Further, the Master once asked, "Yuien-bo, do you accept all that
I say?"
"Then will you not deviate from whatever I tell you?" he repeated.
"Then why did you say that you would follow whatever I told
you?"
For those who make their living drawing nets or fishing in the
seas and rivers , and those who sustain their lives hunting beasts
or taking fowl in the fields and mountains [Paul's note: these are
forbidden acts in self-power Buddhism], and those who pass their
lives conducting trade or cultivating fields and paddies, it is all
the same. If the karmic cause so prompts us, we will commit
any kind of act.
160
Even the evil we commit while "presuming" upon the Vow
occurs through the prompting of past karma. Thus, Other
Power lies in entrusting ourselves wholly to the Primal Vow
while leaving both good and evil to karmic recompense.
The Essentials of Faith Alone states: "Do you know the power
Amida possesses, when you say that because you are a
being of karmic evil you cannot be saved?"
Since you have a heart that presumes upon the Primal Vow, the
mind of entrusting yourself to Other Power becomes all the more
firmly settled.
>>>
161
The evil thoughts and the evil deeds are the fruition of past
karma in your life, just as Master Shinran says. You could not,
and you would not, have thought, said or done such evil if not for
the influence of past karma in your life.
But I am saying that your evil thoughts and deeds are NOT the
only fruits that have matured from karmic roots from the
inpenetrable past. Indeed, if you are reading along here, it is
only because you have OTHER karmic roots, hidden in the past
as well. These are GOOD karmic roots - roots that have causal
effect in this life because you had some sort of relationship with
Amida Buddha in some past life. Without such good roots,
Master Rennyo tells us, you would not be listening to this
Dharma. You would not be responding right now to Amida's call.
So...how do you deal with this terrible obstacle (if you have it) of
burden from your past thoughts and deeds in this life? I'll tell
you.
Simply ACCEPT that your karmic roots are what they are. We
ALL have been wandering in Samsara for endless lives, rising
and falling in the six realms, doing good and doing evil, creating
good karma and evil karma. We ALL bring these karmic roots
into this present life - and these karmic roots have powerfully
directed us - both to do evil AND to aspire for Buddhahood.
Accept your past. It is what it is. You thought what you thought.
You did what you did.
162
And now, you are thinking differently than you did before. You
are doing differently than you did before.
>>>
32
163
33
34
35
36
The directing of virtue for our return to this world is such that
We attain the resultant state of benefiting and guiding others;
Immediately reentering the world of beings,
We engage in the compassionate activity that is the virtue of
Samantabhadra.
37
38
39
40
>>>
165
powerfully, it was conceived of and fulfilled by Amida for the evil
person FIRST...and then also for the good person.
166
18
>>>
60
62
63
64
66
67
68
69
169
70
71
72
73
74
>>>
So...first of all, let's talk about who Master Shinran is referring to:
172
- If you're choosing to be celibate, or abstain from drinking
alcohol, so that you will become a "better" Buddhist, you're
involved in a self-power attempt to climb the mountain of
enlightenment.
173
At the very best, Master Shinran declares, this focus on self-
power practices and good acts will leave a person stranded in
one of the states that collectively are described as "the
transformed lands". These transformed lands include the
Borderlands to the Pure Land, the Lotus Buds in the Pure Land
that do not open, and the womb-palace described in the Larger
Sutra where people are shut up, as if they were in a prison.
Now...these are very very NICE prisons - much nicer than the
prisons we experience here in Samsara - but they are prisons
nonetheless. People end up taking birth in one of these prisons,
missing the full birth in the Pure Land leading to immediate
Buddhahood, because on some level they DOUBT Amida's
Primal Vow.
174
But that is simply not the truth. All of our good acts and practices
are inevitably stained with our egocentric desire for
aggrandizement in gross or subtle form. That is why the larger
Sangha (including the Shin Sangha) is so riven with problems,
scandals and general foolishness. The foolishness is in us all -
as BOMBUS, or spiritual idiots. We simply can't scrub out the
stain of it, no matter what we do...nor how long we do it.
Finally, at some point, our karma ripens. Our eyes and our ears
open. We become able to look deep within ourselves, and see
that there is nothing truly GOOD there inside of us. Our
mindstreams are polluted by poison, and we cannot remove that
poison no matter what we do.
But Amida Buddha CAN remove that poison, and DOES remove
it, for anyone and everyone who abandons self-power Buddhism
once and for all - entrusting his (or her) karmic destiny
ENTIRELY to Amida and His Primal Vow.
Said another way, over the course of many years, and indeed
many lifetimes - we finally come to have that life-changing
negative epiphany which leads us to look to Amida, rather than
ourselves. Finally, we understand that however good we look or
smell, we really are not good deep inside. Our egotism - our
175
monkey mind - is intractable, implacable, unstoppable. We are
helpless and hopeless when it comes to escaping birth and
death, and achieving the goal of our lives - which is Buddhahood.
Then, and only then, can we come to the realization about what
the Primal Vow really means. Then, and only then, can we get
past the obstacle of "the offense of doubting the Primal
Vow"...because at last we recognize the offense for what it is.
>>>
One day, someone in our Sangha (I'll call him "Joe") brought a
question to me that was troubling him. He told me that he had a
difficult life as a young man, and even did some time in prison.
After release, he straightened out his life, and had made good
money over the years. Now, as a spiritually minded person, he
really enjoyed blessing others with his financial wealth.
176
Now, in Buddhism, giving money is one of the basic six
paramitas, called DANA. Giving DANA is the act of giving one's
money as a way of acquiring and/or sharing karmic merit. And
so he asked me directly: Does being a Shin Buddhist mean that I
can't give money to anyone any more? Is DANA forbidden for
Shin Buddhists?
Just do it, as you feel led - without feeding your ego with thoughts
and feelings about what a good, spiritual Buddhist you are.
THAT is the problem - not the giving of money, per se.
Someone (call him "Joe" once again), will come to me and ask
me if meditation is forbidden if he follows the path of True Shin
Buddhism. Perhaps he has read Master Shinran's remark that
mediation "is not appropriate" in our Dharma age.
Yes, you MAY take birth in one of the transformed lands Master
Shinran speaks of. And that is a far, far better birth than any birth
you could have in the six realms of Samsara. But you will still
suffer, because of your karmic doubt, until you have had the
necessary purgative experience. And then, finally after every last
178
shred of doubt in Amida and His Primal Vow is gone, you will be
ready, at long last, to take FULL birth in Amida's Pure Land and
become the totally blissful, totally wise, totally compassionate,
totally competent Buddha that you were always meant to be.
>>>
>>>
180
Dharmakara Bodhisattva after many ages of profound thought,
and consultation with countless Buddhas in the ten directions.
But - as I have seen over and over again - in my own life, and in
the life of so many others, that when a person's karma finally
ripens, the veil falls away from the eyes of their heart, and this
pristine Dharma FINALLY makes total sense. Then the person
receives it. Then the person truly and finally takes refuge in
Amida. Then the person is ready, at long last, to receive Amida's
incomparable and inconceivable gift of SHINJIN.
181
18
Intellectual Obstacles
We've been talking about the kinds of obstacles to SHINJIN people encounter
in the last several sections of this document. Specifically, we talked about how
there are INTELLECTUAL obstacles, and also EMOTIONAL obstacles.
Now...just to set the context, once again: Why is this subject of obstacles so
important?
It's important because the great purpose of our existence is to complete our
journey of endless lives wandering in samsaric existence, and become True
Buddhas at long last. In fact, that is the whole point of authentic Buddhism:
Not MERELY to become a little more calm, or a little more peaceful, or a little
more compassionate, or a little more self aware – as useful as developing
those qualities are. Those are incremental steps and states of consciousness
on the journey to full and final enlightenment, but they are not full and final
enlightenment in and of themselves.
Let's be honest: You don't need the Buddha, or the Buddha's teachings, to
become an incrementally better, more conscious, and happier person. There
are all sorts of non-Buddhist things you can do – everything from yoga to
psychotherapy to physical exercise to playing with a puppy.
But none of those activities will cause PERMANENT change, and lead to the
END of suffering – either for you, or for anyone else. You will still be subject to
continued rounds of birth and death. You will still be subject to suffering and
sickness. You will still be prone to causing harm, to yourself and/or others,
because of the persistence of your own blind passions, your own cravings and
aversions, your own delusions and obscurations, your own ignorance – and
finally your own intractable and incurable egotism.
182
In this Dharma age – called the Age of Dharma Decline (MAPPO in Japanese)
– all of the old paradigm ways of becoming a Buddha as described in the
many Hinayana and Mahayana teachings simply don't work anymore. Yes,
those who practice them can receive incremental benefits – but they cannot
escape the terrible wheel of birth and death, no matter what they do, nor for
how long they do it.
This difficult Dharma truth – the BAD news, so to speak – is a unique teaching
of TRUE Shin Buddhism.
But of course, we're not just limited to the BAD news, here. There is GOOD
news – WONDERFUL news – ASTOUNDING news – about an entirely
different paradigm created by a Buddha named Amida, for helpless sentient
beings like us living in this Age of Dharma Decline.
This good news states that we don't have to concern ourselves with the
Hinayana and Mahayana anymore. We don't have to understand it in a
scholarly, intellectual way – and we don't have to engage in the myriad
practice of these old paradigm paths, either.
In this section of Shin Buddhism 101, I want to focus on the biggest, single
INTELLECTUAL obstacle that has prevented people from coming to settled
Shinjin ever since the founding of our school. This particular obstacle has not
only prevented, inhibited and hindered countless individuals from receiving
183
Amida's inconceivable gift of SHINJIN, it has actually DEBILITATED the entire
Shin Sangha, causing it to fall into precipitous decline, more than once.
Indeed, it is the singular great cause of the decline of the Shin Sangha today –
even as other schools of Buddhism are flourishing, not just in the East, but in
the West as well.
To examine this obstacle more closely, I want to start with the last words of
Master Shinran's personal Dharma mentor, Master Honen. Master Honen's
last words – his final statement of his own understanding of Dharma truth –
were given just days before his death, and are known today as “The One
Sheet Document” or “The One Page Document” (“Ichimai Kishomon” in
Japanese).
Here it is:
>>>
In China and Japan, many Buddhist masters and scholars understand that the
nembutsu is to meditate deeply on Amida Buddha and the Pure Land.
However, I do not understand the nembutsu in this way.
Reciting the nembutsu does not come from studying and understanding
its meaning. There is no other reason or cause by which we can utterly
believe in attaining birth in the Pure Land than the nembutsu itself.
Reciting the nembutsu and believing in birth in the Pure Land naturally gives
rise to the three minds (sanjin) and the four modes of practice (shishu).
Even if those who believe in the nembutsu deeply study all the teachings
which Shakyamuni taught during his life, they should not put on any airs
and should practice the nembutsu with the sincerity of those untrained
followers ignorant of Buddhist doctrines.
I hereby authorize this document with my hand print. The Jodo Shu way of the
settled mind (anjin) is completely imparted here. I, Genku, have no other
184
teaching than this. In order to prevent misinterpretation after my passing away,
I make this final testament.
>>>
Listen to that last bit again: Even if those who believe in the nembutsu
deeply study all the teachings which Shakyamuni taught during his life,
they should not put on any airs and should practice the nembutsu with
the sincerity of those untrained followers ignorant of Buddhist doctrines.
Here, in Master Honen's plain spoken words, is his warning about the greatest
and most pernicious intellectual obstacle to SHINJIN: It is that so many people
simply will not let go of what they THINK they know and understand about
Buddhism because of their prior exposure to the old paradigm teachings of the
Hinayana and the Mahayana. So many of them simply do not realize that their
knowledge is their greatest impediment, and that “untrained followers ignorant
of Buddhist doctrines” actually have a great advantage when it comes to
listening deeply to the Dharma, and receiving Amida's gift of Shinjin.
The first reason is that they don't understand the difficulty we ALL have, living
in the Age of Dharma Decline:
In the First Age of the Dharma (aka the Age of Right Dharma), because of the
empowerment of Shakyamuni's Buddha-field, many people were able to both
understand the old paradigm teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana – AND
leverage their understanding into successful practice.
In the Second Age of the Dharma (aka the Age of Semblance of the Dharma),
the power of Shakyamuni's Buddha-field was diminished. So while many
people were still able to correctly understand the old paradigm teachings of
the Hinayana and Mahayana, very few were able to leverage their
understanding into successful practice.
Now we are living in the Third Age of the Dharma (aka the Age of Dharma
Decline). In this age, people are neither able to understand the old paradigm
teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana properly, nor leverage their
misunderstandings into successful practice.
That is why Master Shinran declares so emphatically that not a single solitary
185
human being will be able to become a True Buddha by studying and practicing
old paradigm Hinayana and Mahayana teachings.
That is the intellectual difficulty we ALL have in this age. We simply can't
understand the Hinayana and Mahayana correctly. That's why Master Honen
says so plainly, “Just let it go, and listen deeply to the new paradigm Dharma
of TRUE Shin Buddhism instead”.
But there is also a second reason why the attempt to use our intellectual
understanding fails us so badly here.
But none of these methods work in a permanent way. All of them leave us
subject to retrogression – if not in this lifetime, then in some lifetime to come.
Shin Buddhism – TRUE Shin Buddhism – doesn't work that way at all. It is not
rational – it doesn't depend on our consciously trying to think a certain way
about ourselves and our problems. It is not non-rational – it doesn't depend on
our trying to break the power of our rational mind by contemplating the non-
rational koans, or by stopping our thoughts, or even trying to watch our
thoughts.
186
convince us that this is OUR Dharma truth – and that for us, there simply is no
other.
Let's listen to Master Shinran talk about the exact same intellectual obstacle,
in a letter written when he was 88, two years before his death, after he had
been sharing this incomparable Dharma for 58 years:
>>>
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.
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 Pure Land
tradition attain birth in the Pure Land by becoming their foolish 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."
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
187
become settled will continue to drift, even without being misled by anyone, for
he does not abide among the truly settled.
>>>
Master Shinran remembers so vividly what Master Honen had said to him
almost 60 years before: We obtain birth by simply becoming our foolish
selves. We drop our attachments to the complicated and esoteric teachings,
we drop our intellectual pretensions. We just let it all go, because none of it
can save us in this Age of Dharma Decline.
If and when we do that, then we are standing in a place where Amida's grace
can actually touch us directly. We are in a place where we can actually receive
Amida's incomparable gift of Shinjin, simply by being our foolish selves, and
listening to the Dharma the way an illiterate peasant - the proverbial village
idiot - would listen.
People who continue to depend upon their intellect – their ability to use their
rational minds to parse the new paradigm Dharma of True Shin Buddhism by
applying their (very flawed) understanding of old paradigm Buddhism – will
continue to drift through yet more unsatisfactory lifetimes of birth and death in
Samsara. They will not come to abide among those who are truly settled in
Shinjin.
Now, these thoughts from our Dharma masters are so clear, and so
unambiguous. They are literally impossible to misunderstand. But too often,
they have been ignored. Why? Because human egotism is PERVERSE, as
Master Shinran said, speaking about himself first of all, and about all of the
rest of us, as well.
Now, when I first began speaking about how the Shin Sangha has gone so
horribly astray by ignoring these plain directives from our Dharma masters,
and creating all sorts of controversy in the global Shin Sangha as people read
my criticism, one of the leading modernist Shin teachers, Alfred Bloom,
actually wrote me privately. He asked me if I really thought it was necessary to
be a “know-nothing” (his words) in order to be a Shin Buddhist.
And I answered him then, and I answer today, by declaring YES – it is really
necessary to be come a “know-nothing” in order to become a person of settled
SHINJIN in this life, and then a Buddha in the life to come.
Does that mean there's no room for AUTHENTIC scholarship in the Shin
Sangha? Of course not. My own Dharma mentor, Eiken Kobai Sensei, is
surely one of the leading Shin scholars alive today – and I am grateful for his
scholarship, just like I am grateful for the scholarship of Master Shinran
himself.
But look at the trajectory of Master Shinran's own life: After 20 years of study
and practice in the leading Japanese monastery of his day, he was told in a
dream to leave and seek out Master Honen. He obeyed the call, and sat at
Master Honen's feet for 100 days, just listening to the same basics of True
Shin Buddhism that Master Honen taught to the simple, illiterate people who
kept coming to visit him, just as Master Shinran describes in his letter above.
And then, AFTER receiving Amida's gift just like “those untrained followers
ignorant of Buddhist doctrines”, young Shinran was able to take up the
mantle of a TRUE scholar, being led by Amida to understand the sacred
writings – the Sutras and the commentaries – as only a person of TRUE
Shinjin can.
>>>
There are some who are learned of the scriptures, but are ignorant of them,
while there are others who are ignorant of the scriptures but understand them.
189
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 do not read them with depth and
sincerity, without appreciating the Dharma, you are one of those who are
learned in the scriptures but are ignorant of them.
>>>
Could anything be more clear? Without Amida's SHINJIN, all efforts to read
and understand the Hinayana and Mahayana will be doomed to failure, and
will not lead the person – nor those who might listen to him – to settled
SHINJIN, which is the whole purpose of teaching the Dharma in the Shin
Sangha.
And we have seen this play out, over and over again, in the teachings of
Alfred Bloom and the other modernists who have had such an influence over
the Sangha in recent times. It is precisely because they are not people of
SHINJIN that they end up saying such things as “Amida is not a real Buddha,
but a metaphorical figure, like Hamlet”, or “The Pure Land is not a real
Buddha-land, but a state of enlightened mind”...and on and on and on.
Now – you would think that having lived sixty years as a person of SHINJIN
and a Dharma teacher, that this understanding of Master Shinran's would
190
have become deeply embedded in the hearts and minds of his listeners. But
we know that this was not the case.
And that's exactly what happened. Even though the Dharma of True Shin
Buddhism had spread like wildfire throughout Japan, these divergences were
destroying the Dharma. By the time Master Rennyo took over the stewardship
of the now depleted and moribund Shin Sangha, it certainly looked like Master
Shinran's Dharma message would be nothing but an artifact of history.
His efforts to limit his presentation to the SIMPLE Dharma did not bear fruit
right away. It was, for a long time, like trying start a fire with wet wood. But he
persevered with the K.I.S.S. approach – because he KNEW from Amida
Buddha that it was the correct approach to teaching the Dharma that leads
plain people to Buddhahood. And eventually, his approach paid off in a way
that changed the course of history – both in Japan and around the world – and
in my own life as well.
By limiting himself to SIMPLE Shin Buddhism – to plain talk for plain people
about suffering and the end of suffering – countless people came to settled
191
SHINJIN. Shin Buddhism went from being a dying school of Buddhism, to
being the dominant school of Buddhism in Japan.
My hope is that each and every person who is reading this words will take the
directive of our Dharma masters to heart: If you are still a seeker of SHINJIN,
but not yet a finder, just let go of EVERYTHING you know, and EVERYTHING
you think you know, and everything you HOPE you know, about Buddhism.
“The fox knows many things...but the hedgehog knows ONE THING”. Give up
your desire for the intellectually complex and crafty life of a fox, and embrace
the simple, unadorned life of a hedgehog. Forget about being a person of
"many things" - many bits and pieces of Buddhist knowledge and thought.
Instead, devote yourself ENTIRELY to becoming a person of the "one thing" -
the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way in all it's pristine simplicity, until you
have that one thought-moment of SHINJIN which then becomes a life of true
entrusting that only a person of settled SHINJIN can know.
>>>
Around the beginning of the fourth month of the third year of Bunmei, I just
slipped away, without any settled plan, from a place near the Miidera’s
southern branch temple at Otsu, in the Shiga district of Omi province, and
travelled through various parts of Echizen and Kaga. Then, as this site—
Yoshizaki, in the Hosorogi district of [Echizen] province—was particularly
192
appealing, we made a clearing on the mountain, which for many years had
been the habitat of wild beasts. Beginning on the twenty-seventh day of the
seventh month, we put up a building that might be called a temple. With the
passage of time from yesterday to today and so on, three years have elapsed
with the seasonal changes.
In the meantime, priests and laypeople, men and women, have flocked here;
but as this appears to have no purpose at all, I have prohibited their
coming and going as of this year. For, to my mind, the fundamental reason
for being in this place is that, having received life in the human realm and
having already met with the Buddha-Dharma, which is difficult to meet, it is
indeed shameful if one falls in vain into hell. Thus I have reached a judgment
that people who are unconcerned about the decisive settling of nenbutsu faith
and attainment of birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss should not gather at this
place. This is solely because what is fundamental for us is not reputation
and personal gain but simply a concern for enlightenment (bodhi) in the
afterlife. Therefore let there be no misinterpretation by those who see this or
hear about it.
>>>
Paul's comment: Just look how Master Rennyo knocked all the Buddhist
knick-nacks entirely out of people's hands - including Shin Buddhist knick-
nacks. He did it out of Amida's compassion, knowing our all too human
tendency to look for SOMETHING religious that we can take ownership of.
Only when we let it all go, can we finally listen deeply to the Dharma, with
open hearts and open minds, depending ENTIRELY upon Amida and His
Primal Vow - and not our efforts or understandings or practices or good acts.
>>>
For years, the followers at the Choshoji have been seriously at variance with
the Buddha-Dharma. My reason for saying this, first of all, has to do with the
leader of the assembly. He thinks that to occupy the place of honor and drink
before everyone else and to court the admiration of those seated around him,
as well as that of others, is really the most important aspect of the Buddha-
Dharma. This is certainly of no use for birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss; it
appears to be just for worldly reputation.
193
Now, what is the purpose of monthly meetings in our sect?
Laypeople, lacking wisdom, spend their days and nights in vain; their lives
pass by meaninglessly, and, in the end, they fall into the three evil paths. The
meetings are occasions when, even if only once a month, just those who
practice the nenbutsu should at least gather in the meeting place and
discuss their own faith and the faith of others. Recently, however,
because matters of faith are never discussed in terms of right and
wrong, the situation is deplorable beyond words.
>>>
Paul's comment: I have seen, so many times, how people want to get
together to discuss an endless number of Buddhist and non-Buddhist ideas
and ideologies - as if these had any ability whatsoever to save us from yet
more endless rounds of birth and death.
You hear modernist Shin Buddhists talking about Paul Tillich, or Carl Jung, or
Karl Marx, or what some Zen teacher might have said. It goes on and on and
on - and simply leaves those who listen utterly confused and totally unable to
listen deeply to the TRUE Teaching of the Pure Land Way.
>>>
In recent years, the import of the teaching of our tradition’s Master Shinran
has been presented in various ways in the provinces, with a lack of uniformity.
This is a most deplorable situation.
For, to begin with, although the birth of ordinary beings [in the Pure
Land] through other-power faith has been of primary importance in our
tradition, [some] brush aside the matter of faith and do not consider it.
They propose that “faith is not forgetting that Amida Tathagata settled
our birth at the time of his perfect enlightenment ten kalpas ago.” What
is completely lacking in this is the element of taking refuge in Amida and
realizing other-power faith.
194
Therefore however well they may know that their birth has been settled since
the time of [Amida’s] perfect enlightenment ten kalpas ago, unless they fully
know the significance of other-power faith, through which we attain birth, they
will not attain birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss. There are also some people
who say, “Even if we take refuge in Amida, this is to no avail without a good
teacher. Therefore, there is nothing for us to do but rely on a good teacher.”
These are their words. They, too, are people who have not properly attained
our tradition’s faith.
>>>
How tragic that is, for him, for those he teaches, and for the Sangha at large,
which is awash in this sort of nonsense!
>>>
195
deliberately brought to others’ notice what our school is all about; they have
thought that this would enhance the reputation of our school and, in particular,
they have sought to denigrate other schools. Nothing could be more absurd.
Moreover, it deeply contradicts Master [Shinran]’s intention. For he said
precisely, long ago, “Even if you are called a ‘cow thief,’ do not give the
appearance of [being a participant in] our tradition.” We must keep these
words very carefully in mind.
Next, those who seek to know in full what settled mind means in our
tradition need no wisdom or learning at all; they do not need to be male
or female, noble or humble. For when we simply realize that we are
wretched beings of deep evil karma and know that the only buddha who
saves even such persons as this is Amida Tathagata, and when, without
any contriving, but with the thought of holding fast to the sleeve of this
Buddha Amida, we entrust ourselves [to him] to save us, [bringing us to
buddhahood] in the afterlife, then Amida Tathagata deeply rejoices and,
sending forth from himself eighty-four thousand great rays of light,
receives us within that light.
The light shines throughout the worlds of the ten directions, and sentient
beings mindful of the Buddha are embraced, never to be abandoned
(Kanmuryojukyo, T.12:343b).
Yet now, prompted by the condition of this light, good from the past comes into
being, and we assuredly attain other-power faith. It is immediately clear,
however, that this is faith granted by Amida Tathagata. Thus we now know
beyond question that this is not faith generated by the practitioner but that it is
Amida Tathagata’s great other-power faith. Accordingly, all those who have
once attained other-power faith should reflect deeply on how gracious Amida
Tathagata’s benevolence is and repeat the nenbutsu, saying the Name of the
Buddha always in gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence.
196
Respectfully. Written on the third day of the seventh month, Bunmei 6 (1474).
>>>
Paul's comment: How much more clear could our Dharma master be? To
come to the settled mind of SHINJIN in our tradition, we need NO LEARNING.
We need NO WISDOM at all.
Alll we need is the wisdom of our own foolishness - the wisdom that
recognizes that we have no chance of saving ourselves by our own efforts - or
by our own intellectual understandings. Then, recognizing our spiritual
poverty and powerlessness, we are able to respond to the call of Amida and
His Primal Vow.
>>>
Today being the [monthly] anniversary of Master [Shin]ran’s death, there are
few people who do not intend by all means to repay their indebtedness and
express their gratitude for his benevolence. What everyone must
understand, however, is how difficult it will be for people to conform to
the intention of our Master if (as in the case of practitioners who have
not attained true and real faith through the power of the Primal Vow and
in whom the settled mind is yet to be realized [mianjin]) they make the
visit perfunctorily, for today only, and think that what is essential in the
Shinshu is just filling the members’ meeting place. Nevertheless, it is probably
good for those who are not concerned about the thanksgiving services to be
here, even if they attend reluctantly.
Those who intend to come without fail on the twenty-eighth of every month
[must understand that] people in whom the settled mind is yet to be realized
(mianjin) and for whom the customary ways of faith are not decisively
established should, by all means, quickly attain other-power faith based on the
truth and reality of the Primal Vow, thereby decisively settling the birth that is
to come in the fulfilled land. It is this that will truly accomplish their [own]
resolve to repay their indebtedness and express their gratitude for the
Master’s benevolence. This also means that, as a matter of course, their
objective of birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss is assured. It is, in other words,
entirely consistent with what is expressed in [Shandao’s] commentary (Ojo
raisange, T.47:442a):
197
To realize faith oneself and to guide others to faith is the most difficult of
all difficulties; to tell of great compassion and awaken beings
everywhere is truly to respond in gratitude to the Buddha’s benevolence.
Although more than a hundred years have already passed since the Master’s
death, we gratefully revere the image before our eyes. And although his
benevolent voice is distant, separated from us by the wind of impermanence,
his words of truth have been directly transmitted by his descendents; they
resound with clarity deep in our ears. Thus it is that our school’s faith,
grounded in the truth and reality of other-power, has been transmitted until
today without interruption.
Therefore, given this present occasion, if there are people who have not
realized the faith that is the truth and reality of the Primal Vow, we must
indeed conclude they have not received the prompting of good from the past.
If there were not people for whom good from the past had unfolded, all would
be in vain and the birth that is to come [in the Pure Land] could not be settled.
This would be the one thing to be lamented above all else.
And yet, although it is now difficult to encounter the one way of the Primal
Vow, we are, on occasions, able to meet this supreme Primal Vow. This is
indeed the joy of all joys—what could compare with it? We should revere [the
Primal Vow]; we should entrust ourselves to it. People who thus overturn the
evil delusions that have persisted in their minds over time and are then and
there grounded in other-power faith, based on the ultimate truth of the Primal
Vow, will truly conform to the Master’s intention. This in itself will surely fulfill
our resolve to repay our indebtedness and express our gratitude for the
Master’s benevolence today.
>>>
Worse yet, those who are responsible for teaching these priestly candidates
and for defining the Dharma clearly for this organization are THEMSELVES
not people of Shinjin either, even though they are eminent scholars of the
Hinayana and the Mahayana.
198
It is literally impossible for the Shin Sangha to thrive under such conditions.
Indeed, Eiken worries that even though the Nishi (the largest of the Shin
sects) has just formally celebrated the 750th anniversary of Master Shinran's
birth, there will be no people of TRUE Shin left in that organization to celebrate
the 800th, at the rate the organization is decaying.
Truly, Master Rennyo's words speak to us today: "To realize faith oneself
and to guide others to faith is the most difficult of all difficulties; to tell of
great compassion and awaken beings everywhere is truly to respond in
gratitude to the Buddha’s benevolence".
>>>
(excerpt)
The right understanding of our school’s settled mind is that, without any
striving, we rely singleheartedly and steadfastly on Amida Tathagata and
recognize how inconceivable it is that, although we are wretched beings
burdened with evil deeds and blind passion, the working of Amida’s Vow—the
strong cause [of birth]—is directed toward saving such worthless beings; and
when just a single thought free of doubt becomes firm, Amida unfailingly
sends forth his unhindered light and embraces us. People who have
undergone a decisive settling of faith in this way will all, each and every one,
be born in the fulfilled land—ten people out of ten. What this means, in other
words, is that these are people in whom other-power faith is decisively settled.
Above and beyond this, what we should bear in mind is that it is indeed
[through] Amida Tathagata’s gracious and vast benevolence [that birth in the
Pure Land is settled]; and with this realization, sleeping or waking, we simply
say “Namu amida butsu” in gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence. What
else, then, do we need besides this for [birth in] the afterlife?
>>>
Paul's comment: Once again, could our Dharma master be any clearer? He
calls it DEPLORABLE that the pristine Dharma of True Shin Buddhism is
being DEBASED by talking about false teachings of uncertain origin which are
unknown to him as a TRUE teacher of the True Teaching.
How common this debasement of the Dharma is today! No wonder the Shin
Sangha is dying in so many places, including right here in the USA.
>>>
(excerpt)
Besides that, on the strength of their own ability, they read texts that are
not authenticated in our tradition and then talk about unknown, false
teachings. Wandering among the followers of our [sect] and others, they
make up lies and, finally, under “orders from the head temple,” they
deceive people and take things [from them], thereby debasing the
fundamental principles of our tradition. Is this not truly deplorable?
Therefore, unless each of these people repents and confesses his evil
ways and turns to the right teaching during the seven-day thanksgiving
services [commemorating] the anniversary of the Master’s death on the
twentyeighth of this month, [their coming will be to no purpose]; and if
they attend these seven-day thanksgiving services just in imitation of
others, though they say that they come to repay their indebtedness and
express their gratitude for the [Master’s] benevolence, [their coming] will
amount to nothing at all.
200
Hence it is precisely those people who have attained faith through the
working of Amida’s Vow who will return the Buddha’s benevolence in
gratitude and respond gratefully to their teacher’s virtue. Those who
thoroughly understand this and come to pay homage to the Master are
the ones who are truly in accord with [Amida’s] intention; they, in
particular, will be deeply possessed of the resolve to repay their indebtedness
and express their gratitude for his benevolence during this month’s
anniversary.
>>>
Paul's comment: Once again, please notice what Master Rennyo finds
deplorable: "...on the strength of their own ability, they read texts that are
not authenticated in our tradition and then talk about unknown, false
teachings. Wandering among the followers of our [sect] and others, they
make up lies..."
This is exactly what is going on far too often in the Shin Sangha today. Too
many priests and scholars are reading texts that are NOT authenticated in our
tradition (whether they be the Hinayana or Mahayana texts, or various non-
Buddhist texts) and then talking about unknown, false teachings. These
include teachings that were suitable at one time for Buddhists, but are not
suitable for us - and non-Buddhist teachings as well. Thus, when they "teach",
they inevitably make up lies, confusing the naive and unwary who are called
by Amida, yet cannot distinguish between TRUE teaching and FALSE
teaching.
Thus they create terrible intellectual obstacles in the minds of people whose
karma is ripe, and who would be ready to respond to the PRISTINE Dharma -
if only they could hear it, untainted by distortions and lies.
>>>
(excerpt)
...among the followers of our tradition in various provinces, there are many
who confuse the meaning of the Dharma by propounding obscure
teachings not prescribed in the scriptures designated by our founder.
This is indeed ridiculous.
201
...Those who are pillars of the Buddha-Dharma and hold the position of
priest in accord with the tradition are said to have told others about false
teachings that are unknown to us and of obscure origin and, recently, to
have actively engaged in this far and wide in order to be considered
learned. This is preposterous.
>>>
That is why I try to convince all these "educated" Buddhists who come to our
Sangha as seekers to just let go of EVERYTHING they know, or think they
know. Just empty your cup ENTIRELY, so that Amida can pour you some of
His tea. If your cup is full, or half full, or a quarter full, you simply cannot listen
deeply to the Dharma - which is the ONLY practice in True Shin Buddhism.
It is only our perverse human egotism that makes us what to ignore the
profound counsel of our Dharma masters. It is only because we haven't yet
taken the measure of what Master Rennyo calls our own "wretchedness" - our
foolishness and our inability - that we think we can drag in the Hinayana, the
Mahayana and various non-Buddhist teachings, and still become people of
settled SHINJIN.
But the truth is, we cannot. We really and truly have to empty our cup and
give Amida a chance to speak to us in the deepest part of our being.
Yes, it takes patience. Yes, it takes humility. Often (not always) it takes being
broken on the wheel of life, before we are FINALLY ready to let go of all our
ideas, all our opinions, all our ideological understandings - all those things that
are intellectual obstacles to listening deeply to the Dharma as an unlettered
peasant would listen.
>>>
202
(excerpts)
...In regard to those on pilgrimage from the provinces, however, it seems that
few dwell in the same faith (anjin). The reason for this is that their
aspiration is not truly for the Buddha-Dharma—and if they are simply
imitating others or following social convention, it is indeed a lamentable
situation.
For when those in whom the settled mind is yet to be realized (mianjin)
do not even discuss their doubts, they betray the utmost lack of faith
(fushin). And so, although they endure a journey of thousands of ri and
undergo great hardship in coming to the capital, it is to no purpose at all. This
is utterly deplorable.
>>>
Paul's comment: I have seen, over and over again, how many people who like
to call themselves Shin Buddhists have an utter disregard for what our
Dharma Masters - starting with Shakyamuni Buddha Himself - actually say.
Even though Shakyamuni Buddha teaches that Amida is a Buddha, and those
with Him on Vulture Peak actually get to SEE Amida and His Pure Land
directly - these modernist teachers and their followers say that Amida is not a
Buddha, and this event on Vulture Peak never happened.
>>>
There are many humble followers who hear the truth of other power faith
[without seeking instruction through the temples], and it is said that priests
203
have been angry about this. This is preposterous.
>>>
Paul's comment: How misguided, how off course, how PERVERSE things
have become when the very people who should be the true CUSTODIANS of
the Dharma are the last ones to hold any discussion whatsoever of faith - and
instead becomes SLANDERERS OF THE DHARMA?
And how terrible is it that when laypeople actually get together to try to
understand TRUE Shin Buddhism, these false priests actually become angry
with for doing so?
What these false priests did not realize was that Eiken had been fearlessly
committed to doing this exact same work of challenging false teachings and
correcting errors in Japan for decades. So he just ignored these false priests,
and shared their letters with me...telling me to continue speaking out
passionately and in great depth for the sake of the whole Sangha - particularly
the Sangha in the English speaking world.
>>>
Master Rennyo continues: Even if you feel that you understand the
significance of the Buddha-Dharma—having listened through sliding
doors or over a hedge— faith will be decisively settled [only] by your
repeatedly and carefully asking others about its meaning. If you leave
things to your own way of thinking, there will invariably be mistakes. It
has been said recently that there are such instances these days.
Item: You should ask others, time after time, about what you have
understood of faith until other-power faith (anjin) is decisively settled. If
you listen but once, there will surely be mistakes.
204
>>>
>>>
(excerpt)
Master Rennyo: In various places, there are many who praise rarely
encountered teachings that we do not discuss at all in our tradition; similarly,
they use strange phrases not found in our sect’s teachings. This is seriously
mistaken thinking. From now on, it must definitely stop.
>>>
Paul's comment: Yet again, could anything be more clear? Praising rarely
encountered teachings that we do not discuss at all in our tradition is a TOTAL
mistake. Using strange phrases not found in our sect's teaching is a TOTAL
mistake.
I've seen this over and over again. For example, there are those who are
actually TEACHERS who want to talk about the self-power Mahayana concept
of "Bodhicitta", even though it is NEVER mentioned by our Dharma masters -
and surely they knew about this concept. I've seen people be confused by
trying to compare "Bodhicitta" with Shinjin. I've seen people try to assert that it
is somehow necessary to understand Mahayana teachings that we do not
discuss at all in our tradition.
All this creates confusion and obstacles to SHINJIN for seekers who should be
ABANDONING the old paradigm teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana,
so that they can listen deeply to the one True Teaching that can bring them to
the end of birth and death at last.
205
So please, listen - not to me, but to Master Rennyo. This sort of confusion in
the Shin Sangha MUST STOP.
>>>
Master Rennyo continues: There are some people who have not yet
undergone any decisive settling of faith (anjin) and should for this
reason raise their doubts.
However, they keep these things to themselves and do not talk openly
about them.
When we press and question them, they just try to evade the point,
without saying frankly what is on their minds. This is inexcusable.
>>>
Paul's comment: Once again, Master Rennyo stresses how CRUCIAL sincere
and honest Dharma dialogue is in order for people to finally be grounded in
true and real faith. Those who lack SHINJIN, who still have doubts and
questions of any sort, should speak UNRESERVEDLY with others who can
served as GOOD teachers - whether they be scholars, priests or laypeople -
so they can FINALLY be grounded in the true and real faith that comes when
we receive Amida's gift of SHINJIN.
>>>
Master Rennyo continues: In recent years, priests who are pillars of the
Buddha-Dharma have been seriously lacking in faith while followers [of
the tradition], companions, have, on the contrary, undergone a decisive
settling of faith. When they then talk about the priests’ lack of faith, [the
priests] become very angry. This is absurd. From now on, both priests
and disciples must abide in the same faith.
206
>>>
Tragically, this is even more true today than it was when Master Shinran wrote
these words. I, and others, have been on the receiving end of a LOT of anger
from priests, who were not people of the same SHINJIN as our Dharma
masters, but thought us presumptuous for challenging their false
understandings and false teachings.
It is critical that those who are being ordained as priests - and those who have
been ordained - abide in the same simple faith as the most uneducated people
of settled SHINJIN. ABIDE - as in go there and STAY there. Don't put on airs.
Don't introduce esoteric teachings. Don't set up any sort of intellectual
obstacle course that will make even one person befuddled and confused.
If the priests don't do that, they are not worthy of support. Period. And if you
are listening to a priest who doesn't KEEP IT SIMPLE, then go find someone
else to listen to who does. That is the only way you will be able to resolve
your intellectual obstacles, and truly receive the incomparable benefits of Shin
Buddhism 101 - plain talk for plain people about suffering...and the END of
suffering.
>>>
>>>
There is nothing I love more than hearing other members who have received
Amida's incomparable gift sharing their faith with others. Their sharing
nourishes ME. It fills ME with joy and gratitude. It gives ME strength for this
difficult journey we are each and all on, here as BOMBUS in Samsara.
207
And I see, over and over again, how the simple sharing of our true and real
faith affects those who are still seekers, but not yet finders of Shinjin. Every
time we share the simple Dharma truth of our tradition, Amida Himself wears
down the obstacles in the mind of those who are listening...until the obstacles
are dissolved entirely, and the water of Amida's grace can flow in the heart
and the mind of the person who is finally ready to receive the priceless gift of
SHINJIN.
>>>
Amida Tathagata has declared that he will unfailingly save those sentient
beings who singleheartedly rely on him—ordinary beings in the last
[Dharma] age and people like ourselves, burdened with evil karma,
however deep the evil may be.
>>>
The EVIL person - the person who is profoundly and incurably IGNORANT -
the person who entirely lacks the mental capacity to even UNDERSTAND the
Hinayana or the Mahayana, much less devote himself to right practice in any
of those old paradigm traditions.
Let go, completely and entirely, of your addiction to those old paradigm
understandings. Embrace, fully and completely, the truth of your ignorance
and your inability. Don't let your nickel's worth of understanding remain an
intellectual obstacle that prevents you from LISTENING DEEPLY to the
Dharma that can and will save you - if only you open your mind and your heart
to it like a simple, unlettered BOMBU.
>>>
Let all women living in the present age deeply entrust themselves with
singleness of mind to Amida Tathagata. Apart from that, they must realize,
they will never be saved in [regard to] the afterlife, whatever teaching
they may rely upon.
How, then, should they entrust themselves to Amida, and how should they
aspire to the afterlife?
Once [they have understood] this, they should just say the nenbutsu in
gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence, recognizing it as [an expression of]
thankfulness [for the fact] that there will assuredly be deliverance.
209
>>>
The truth is that in this Age of Dharma Decline, we're ALL in the same boat -
men as well as women, monks as well as householders, priests as well as
laypeople. None of the Dharma doors of the Hinayana or the Mahayana
remain open to ANYBODY today - not if your goal is Buddhahood.
Thus, once again, Master Rennyo calls upon women as well as men to just lay
it all down. Just let go of any and all other teachings, practices, methods,
activities. Just entrust yourself and your karmic destiny ENTIRELY to Amida
Buddha. Don't get stuck in the intellectual obstacles of the 84,000 self-power
teachings.
>>>
(excerpt)
...The meaning of our tradition’s settled mind is that, regardless of the depth of
our own evil hindrances, there is no doubt whatsoever that [Amida] will save
all sentient beings who simply put a stop to their inclination toward the
sundry practices, singleheartedly take refuge in Amida Tathagata, and
deeply entrust themselves [to him] to save them in [regard to] the most
important matter, [the birth] that is to come in the afterlife.
Those who thoroughly understand in this way will indeed be born [in the
Pure Land], one hundred out of one hundred.
>>>
210
Paul's comment: How many times does Master Rennyo repeat the same
thing? He repeats himself over and over again - because us human beings
are slow to understand, and slow to respond even when we do.
We take this simple, pristine Dharma message and add layers of complexity to
it.
I am going to the trouble of sharing all these extracts from Master Rennyo's
letters in the hope that doing so will be a Dharma sword for even ONE person,
who will experience his own attachments to the old paradigm teachings of the
Hinayana and the Mahayana fall away.
Master Rennyo says the same thing, over and over - and I repeat them over
and over - so that this pristine Dharma can finally cut through the endless
layers of delusion and obscuration that prevent someone being called from
receiving Amida's incomparable gift of SHINJIN right now, in this very
moment, as he or she reads along.
>>>
It has been said that those who do not know [the importance of] the
afterlife are foolish, even though they may understand eighty thousand
sutras and teachings; those who know about the afterlife are wise, even
though they may be unlettered men and women who have renounced the
world while remaining in lay life.
The import of our tradition is, therefore, that for those who do not realize
the significance of the one thought-moment of faith— even though they
may diligently read the various scriptures and be widely informed—all is
in vain. This you should know.
Therefore, as the Master [Shinran] has said, no men or women will ever be
saved without entrusting themselves to Amida’s Primal Vow.
Hence there should be no doubt at all that those who abandon the sundry
practices and, with [the awakening of] the one thought-moment, deeply entrust
themselves to Amida Tathagata to save them in [regard to] the afterlife will all
be born in Amida’s fulfilled land, whether ten people or one hundred—
whatever sort of [men or] women they may be.
211
>>>
Paul's comment: Once again, could anything be more clear than these words
from Master Rennyo. Diligently reading the various scriptures, being widely
informed, understanding 80,000 teachings - all this is IN VAIN without having
the simple faith of unlettered men and women.
But for those same unlettered men and women of simple faith, ALL will be
born in Amida's Pure Land. All will become Buddhas immediately upon
arriving there - whatever sort of men and women they may be.
>>>
[In realizing] the settled mind expounded by Master [Shinran] of our tradition,
we first, without any calculating, cast off our wretchedness and the
depth of our evil and dismiss any inclination toward the sundry practices
and disciplines.
And then, with [the awakening of] the one thought-moment, we entrust
ourselves singleheartedly and deeply to Amida Tathagata to save us, [bringing
us to buddhahood] in the afterlife.
All those who do this will be saved without exception, ten out of ten, or one
hundred out of one hundred. There should not be the slightest doubt about
this. Those who fully understand in this way are called “practitioners of faith.”
Once [we have realized] this, when we then think of the joy of being saved in
the afterlife, we should—sleeping or waking—say “Namu-amidabutsu, Namu-
amida-butsu.”
>>>
212
If it was necessary, or even helpful, to have that sort of scholarly
understanding, wouldn't our Dharma master simply say so?
But in fact, the OPPOSITE is true. For all those who are still seekers, but not
yet finders, of Amida's gift of SHINJIN, he tells them to let go - to lay it all down
- to literally turn their backs on old paradigm Buddhism UNTIL they have come
to SETTLED Shinjin.
The question is: Who will listen deeply to what Master Rennyo is saying, over
and over again?
THAT is not a rhetorical question at all. It is a question that each one called
by Amida Buddha must answer for himself, or herself.
Of course, AFTER you have received Amida's incomparable gift, you can go
back to the Hinayana and the Mahayana with FRESH EYES - eyes illuminated
by the wisdom of TRUE Shinjin which only Amida can bestow.
>>>
Those who wish to know in full what settled mind means in our tradition
need no wisdom or learning at all.
- and know that the only buddha who saves even such people as these is
Amida Tathagata,
- and when, without any contriving but with the thought of holding fast to
the sleeve of this Buddha Amida, we entrust ourselves [to him] to save
us, [bringing us to buddhahood] in the afterlife,
- then Amida Tathagata deeply rejoices and, sending forth from himself
eighty-four thousand great rays of light, receives us within that light.
213
Hence this is explained in the [Contemplation] Sutra: The light shines
throughout the worlds of the ten directions, and sentient beings mindful of the
Buddha are embraced, never to be abandoned (Amidakyo, T.12:343b].
Prompted by the condition of this light, and with the ripening of good from the
past, we assuredly attain other-power faith now. It is immediately clear,
however, that this is faith granted by Amida Tathagata. Hence we know
now, beyond question, that this is not faith generated by the practitioner,
but that it is Amida Tathagata’s great other-power faith.
Accordingly, all those who have once attained other-power faith should reflect
gratefully on Amida Tathagata’s benevolence and repeat the nenbutsu, saying
the Name of the Buddha always, in gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence.
>>>
Paul's comment: Again and again, Master Rennyo makes the same points in
his wonderful letters. How is it possible that so many who are called by Amida
would be blind to what he says?
Amida doesn't want even a single one to be blind. And that is why He Himself
led Master Rennyo along this path as a Dharma teacher. And because
Master Rennyo followed the leading of Amida Buddha here, the Shin Sangha
EXPLODED with the life and light of Amida - with COUNTLESS people
becoming people of SETTLED SHINJIN.
214
And that's what will restore the Shin Sangha in our day, too. Not endless,
useless scholarship - but plain talk, for plain people, about suffering and the
END of suffering.
There are countless people in the world today who have been doing their best
to both understand and practice in the various schools of the Hinayana and
the Mahayana - and yes the Vajrayana as well. Many of them - and perhaps
you as well - are totally burnt out from trying to understand what cannot be
understood, and practicing what cannot be practiced - in order to free
themselves from birth and death.
If only the Shin Sangha will commit itself to KEEP IT SIMPLE - as Master
Rennyo did in his day - so many will be able to take refuge in the one Dharma
door that leads EVERYONE infallibly to Buddhahood at the end of this life.
What an amazing thing it is when even ONE person comes to settled Shinjin.
But I am convinced - just as Master Rennyo was convinced - that Amida is
calling, not just one, but MANY, in our day and age.
Let's listen deeply to that call - and to what Master Rennyo says - so that our obstacles
to Shinjin might be removed, rather than reinforced.
>>>
Let all evildoers and women of the last [Dharma] age deeply entrust
themselves with singleness of mind to Amida Buddha. Apart from that,
whatever Dharma they may rely upon, they will never be saved in [regard
to] the afterlife.
How, then, should they entrust themselves to Amida Tathagata, and how
should they aspire to the afterlife? They should have no doubt at all that
there will unfailingly be deliverance for those who simply rely
singleheartedly and firmly on Amida Tathagata and deeply entrust
themselves [to Amida] to save them, [bringing them to buddhahood] in
the afterlife.
>>>
215
So, Dharma friends, with these final words of Master Rennyo, I bring this
discussion to a close. I am confident that it will be of TREMENDOUS benefit
to many people who actually get to read it - not because of what I have
written, but because of the pristine and perfect words of our Dharma masters.
In the next section of Shin Buddhism 101, I'll continue this discussion of
obstacles by talking about EMOTIONAL obstacles, rather than the intellectual
obstacles we have been talking about here.
216