Shin Buddhism 101

by Paul Roberts
This E-book has been published
for Free Distribution
provided it is not altered in any way

© 2013 Paul Roberts

 Introduction

Dharma Friends,

What I assume is that all of us are here because we experience

suffering, and we would like to come to the end of suffering, if it is
at all possible. Regardless of what we believe or don’t believe,
what we know or think we know, this is the common denominator
for all of us. Suffering is not our only teacher, and it is certainly
not our best teacher, but it surely is our first teacher. It was
Gotama’s first teacher.

It is the experience of suffering that makes us want to look for the

end of suffering, at last.

Now...here’s something I DON’T assume: I don’t assume we’re

all Buddhists. And I don’t assume that we all even agree on what
the word “Buddhist” means, or what “Buddhism” is. So that’s
where I’m going to begin...and I’m going to begin by talking in
personal terms, about my own life.

As a teen, I had been a staunch materialist. I scoffed at anything

spiritual or religious. I thought that if you couldn’t weigh it or
measure it, it had no meaning at all.

And then, as I came to adulthood, I began to get “wake up” calls

from “the universe”. I began to have numinous moments -
moments of spaciousness and clarity - moments when I could
sense that there was something much, much bigger happening

  2  
than my mundane little life with all its problems. And that led me
to start seeking.

In the beginning, I didn’t even know exactly what I was seeking

for...but now I know I was seeking for ENLIGHTENMENT. I’m
sure many others here have the same sort of story.

My search took me on a long journey through space and time.

We each have our own journey, based on our own karma...and
everyone’s journey is worthy of respect, and even
honor...because really it is the universal journey of all sentient
beings everywhere, at any time.

I listened to a lot of teachers - both ancient and modern - from

the West and from the East. I took a deep dive into Christianity,
and stayed there for ten years. Finally, my unresolved questions
and doubts led me away from that path. It was then that I turned
to the East - and once I did, I found myself meeting the one we
call Shakyamuni Buddha.

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”.

Said another way, I became convinced that He, and He alone,

had ascended to the absolute pinnacle of the Mountain of
Enlightenment (a metaphor I will be using again and again).

  3    
Said another way, I became convinced that He is the smartest
guy in the room.

>>>

That realization is the beginning of the teaching of True Shin

Buddhism. That’s how Master Shinran begins. He introduces
himself: “I’m bald-headed Shinran, a disciple of Shakyamuni
Buddha”.

So I want to tell you that for Shin Buddhism to make sense to

you, you have to hear the Dharma in THIS context. It’s a specific
set of teachings - or Dharma propositions - that exist inside the
teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha - which I accept as axiomatic,
because Shakyamuni is the smartest guy in the room...the one
who really has RIGHT thought, RIGHT view, RIGHT
understanding, RIGHT awareness, RIGHT action - as only a
FULLY enlightened being can.

Everyone else you’ve ever listened to was PARTLY enlightened.

He (or she) had a view from part way up the mountain of
enlightenment. He had some experience of nondual
consciousness, or cosmic consciousness, or emptiness - or
whatever he might have called it in his language.

But he wasn’t the Buddha. He wasn’t completely and entirely

enlightened. He hadn’t ENTIRELY jettisoned the monkey mind
of egotism - that very last thing that Gotama found under the
Bodhi Tree, and then somehow removed - that thing he called
“the builder of this house”.

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.

He was walking down the road, and encountered his former

companions. The power of His Buddhic energy - His Buddha-
field - was so intense that His fomer companions were blinded by
it. “Are you a God”, they asked Him.

“No”, he answered. “I am AWAKE”.

And so they became His first disciples. And so, I have become
one of His disciples, too.

>>>

So...this is the first place for everyone here to do the only

practice of True Shin Buddhism - which is to LISTEN DEEPLY,
as I described the other day.

Is what I just said TRUE? Is it TRUE that Shakyamuni is the

smartest guy in the room? Is it TRUE that He is the one - the
ONLY one - who has reached the very pinnacle of the mountain
of enlightenment in our recorded history? Is it TRUE that He
knows more about REALITY - more about TRUTH - more about
ENLIGHTENMENT - than anyone and everyone else?

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.

What I care about is coming to the END of suffering, and the

beginning of life as a Buddha - and helping others to do the
same. I’m not interested in short term fixes, or spiritual highs, or
the view from halfway up the mountain. It’s Buddhahood or bust.
That’s why we’re here. That’s why we do this. That’s why we
have a Sangha.

So...if you’ve got that sort of visceral negative reaction to hearing

me talk this way, that’s a good example of you having your own
pre-existing thoughts and beliefs - your own matrix of ideas - your
own cup full of your own tea.

In order to LISTEN DEEPLY, you must empty your cup. You

must lay your thoughts and opinions aside TEMPORARILY, in
order to hear from deep within whether my words about
Shakyamuni being THE world teacher are TRUE...or FALSE.

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.

That leads to my second Dharma proposition for you to consider

as you listen deeply to this Dharma message of Master Shinran,
known as Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhism.

Here’s the deceptively simple question: What is Buddhism

about?

>>>

Now, in order to answer this question, we need to understand

Shakyamuni’s view of reality. I’m not going to try to prove His
view is correct. As I’ve said before, I’m here to DECLARE, not to
debate. I DECLARE what Shakyamuni taught, not because I’m
special, but simply because I’m one of His disciples. And so I try
to help others understand what He said. It’s up to each person to
decide whether or not His words are TRUE.

So what did Shakyamuni teach, in simple terms that anyone

(including an illiterate with no prior knowledge of Buddhism) can
understand?

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.

Buddhism is, in a word, about becoming a BUDDHA - and

nothing less.

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.

Today, there are many teachers who call themselves Buddhists,

who don’t accept that we are on a journey of many lives. Like
modern atheists, and other nihilists and materialists, they think
that our sentience is limited to this one life we are living now.
Once we die, it’s over. It’s done. Our bodies return to their
chemical components, and that’s all there is.

Now, people are certainly entitled to believe that. I once did. But
the question, as always, is this: IS IT TRUE?

Or...is the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha true instead?

  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.

Now...Buddhism really does help with those perennial and

universal problems of our human existence. But to think
reduction of suffering is all Buddhism is about is a terribly
reductionist view. Teachers who have that view, and teach it to
other, are like quack doctors who treat symptoms, but do not
treat the disease, because of their own ignorance.

Shakyamuni Buddha said this: “Everything I teach is about

suffering...and the END of suffering”.

The end of suffering does not come...CANNOT come...until we

somehow find a way off the terrible karmic wheel of birth and
death, and meet our true and final destiny by becoming
BUDDHAS at long last.

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.

So...I invite everyone listening in to think deeply about this

question: “What do you really want?”.

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?

Do you want to keep climbing the mountain of enlightenment with

your heavy burden of egotism, only to fall down over and over
again, like Sisyphus who was condemned eternally by the Greek
gods to climb a mountain with a heavy rock, only to fall down to
the bottom, ad nauseum, and ad infinitum?

Or do you want to be DONE...once and for all...with suffering?

>>>

Dharma friends, it took me a LONG time, and a LOT of personal

suffering, to come to the point where I actually understood what I
have just written above. It took me a long time in THIS life...and I
have no idea how many lifetimes before this.

But finally - FINALLY - I recognized that this was the

FUNDAMENTAL teaching that Shakyamuni was offering, in so
many different and skillful ways.

And once I understood this, I had no more patience whatsoever

for the quack doctors - the false teachers - who were so ignorant
that they didn’t get this most basic Dharma idea. I never
considered them to be deliberately BAD people - but I came to
realize that they were profoundly IGNORANT people - even
  10  
though they were acclaimed by many, and parading their
“knowledge” around.

And, just to make the point, this happened to Gotama as well,

during his own journey to Buddhahood. He lived in India - the
world’s most religious country - with countless gurus and so-
called holy men of all sorts. Over the course of his seven year
journey as a monk, he actually listened to 110 of them.

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.

And for me, after my own personal tragedies, which destroyed

my life utterly, that’s just how I felt. I didn’t need, nor want, any
half-baked religious, spiritual or metaphysical stuff when it came
to this most important of topics for us in the human realm of
existence. I wanted to hear the RIGHT stuff - teaching that would
lead me, a plain person, to the end of suffering as quickly and
directly as possible.

>>>

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.

Because that’s what Buddhism is really all about...not just Shin

Buddhism, but ALL true schools of Buddhism. Each honest
seeker, in each true Sangha, whether of the Hinayana,
Mahayana, or Vajrayana - is there because he or she YEARNS
FOR BUDDHAHOOD.

  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.

When I first had my “wake up” calls, as a young adult, I didn’t

have these words. But from the very beginning, I DID have this
yearning.

This yearning, called BODHI MIND, is the beginning for all

seekers on the path.

For that reason, I’ve described it as THE FIRST PILLAR OF

TRUE SHIN BUDDHISM. It declares (unapologetically),
“Awaken your aspiration for Buddhahood”....”Awaken Bodhi
Mind”.

So if you’re here as a new person - or not even a member, but

just lurking - or you’re someone who’s been here a long time,
that’s what I want to say to you: AWAKEN YOUR ASPIRATION
FOR 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?

We’ve talked about how the whole purpose of our existence

across the boundaries of many, many lives is to complete our
journey and finally become Buddhas. And the first purpose of the
Sangha is to be a place where we can hear that for ourselves,
over and over again, so that we awaken and re-awaken our own
individual aspiration for BUDDHAHOOD, and nothing less.

That’s the correct attitude for anyone who self-identifies as a

Buddhist: Buddhahood, or bust. That was Gotama’s own
attitude when he left his life as a prince, and went on his own
journey seeking the truth that would set him free - and eventually
set EVERYONE free - from endless rounds of birth, life, suffering
and death, as ignorant beings in Samsaric existence.

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?

How do we find freedom for ourselves...and for those we

love...and ultimately for EVERYONE?

And when I say “freedom”, I definitely and explicitly mean

PERMANENT freedom and COMPLETE freedom...not temporary
and/or partial freedom. I’m talking about making it to the very
TOP of the mountain of enlightenment, not half way up, or 99%
of the way up, or 99.99999% of the way up. I’m talking about
becoming a Buddha...and nothing less.

  14  
THAT is “Bodhi Mind”. THAT is authentic aspiration for
enlightenment.

Now...in discussing the HOW question, here’s the first Dharma

proposition for each person to consider. Shakyamuni Buddha
and all the great teachers of our school are VERY explicit: Non-
Buddhist paths cannot and will not get you the results you want.

So...if you’re following a teacher from Taoism, or from Hinduism

(including Advaita), or from transpersonal psychology (like Ken
Wilber), or some current New Age teacher (like Eckhart Tolle or
Byron Katie or Gangaji or a thousand others), or academic
understandings from mythos teachers (like Karen Armstrong or
Joseph Campbell, or his own teacher Carl Jung), or modernist
western theologians (like Paul Tillich), I need to tell you bluntly
and directly:

YOU WILL FAIL.

You will fail to attain Buddhahood, until you let go of them all -
and devote yourself to listening EXCLUSIVELY to Shakyamuni
Buddha’s Dharma.

I’m not saying this to be mean, or sectarian. I’m saying it

because it’s TRUE.

At some point, each person who is following a non-Buddhist

teaching or teacher is going to do what Gotama did with the 110
teachers he spent time with. Each person is going to walk away
from these non-Buddhist teachers, knowing that their teaching
cannot truly liberate him (or her).

That’s why we hear Master Shinran telling people to abandon

entirely the 95 non-Buddhist paths.

  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.

This KNOWING - and this CHOOSING - is a sign that your own

personal karma is ripening, and that you are coming closer to the
end of suffering, and the beginning of Buddhahood.

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.

I’m writing all this EXPLICITLY and AUTHORITATIVELY,

because I know that many here are the same as I once was: I
had a head full of all sorts of thoughts and ideas from all sorts of
sources that, in the end, did me no good whatsoever.

>>>

Now...having abandoned entirely all non-Buddhist teachers and

teaching, a sincere seeker is still left with a vast number of

  16  
choices about what teaching and teachers he (or she) should
follow within the big tent of the Buddha-dharma.

The common phrase we hear is that there are 84,000 paths to

enlightenment within the Buddha-dharma. The number is, of
course, a literary device. What it means is that there are many,
many teachings and teachers of different sorts of Buddhism, all
having the same goal of attaining Buddhahood.

There have been many and various schemes proposed - various

taxonomies - to classify the teachings, illuminating how they differ
from one another, and also what they might have in common,
and why the different teachings are appropriate for different sorts
of people with their many and various personality structures.

Because we live in an age where everybody has so much

information at their fingertips from the internet, we can all suffer
from information overload - the opposite problem of illiteracy -
concerning these many and various teachings.

So I want to help each person understand the essentials of what

makes the various teachings work (or not work) with a few
observations that are simple, and easy for anyone to understand
- even if he (or she) has no prior intellectual understanding of the
various teachings at all.

This understanding is an essential component of Shin Buddhism

101. You really need to understand this information in order to
“get” Shin Buddhism the way our Dharma masters intended.

>>>

The first distinction I want to make is distinguishing between

Buddha-dharma that reflect a non-dual, or monistic, kind of
awareness versus those those Dharma teachings that reflect a
dualistic kind of awareness.
  17    
Many westerners who come to Buddhism are attracted to the
non-dual, monist Dharma messages that Shakyamuni gave his
monks, in Sutras such as the Diamond Sutra and the Heart
Sutra. In these Sutras (sermons) Shakyamuni pointed to the
essential emptiness of all phenomena and the presence of one
unitive sort of consciousness that one could experience as a
Buddha. In those sorts of teachings, you hear Him talk about the
fact that Samsara is Nirvana - or that there is no one to save, and
no one to be saved - or the fact that all distinctions of thought and
ideas are really non-existent, and so on.

Many of us have been drawn to these teachings because we

have had our own numinous moments of such non-dual, monistic
consciousness already. And many of us have been drawn to
these teachings as well, because we come from a belief matrix of
the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam -
where there is a permanent separation from their concept of God,
and God’s creation, including us.

Now - listen carefully here. If you have had an emotional

AVERSION to that dualistic A =brahamic religious matrix as part
of your own experience, that aversion creates KARMA in your
life. You will likely be drawn to teachings that do not stress, or
even acknowledge a dualistic view.

That’s one of the biggest reasons why so few westerners have

embraced - or even been willing to listen to - Pure Land teaching,
including Shin Buddhist teaching. Their first response to hearing
about a salvic Buddha like Amida is an emotionally aversive one:
“Eeewww, it sounds like Jesus”.

This is something I have experienced myself, and heard from

others, over and over again.

  18  
But...here is the TRUTH: Shakyamuni Buddha taught the non-
dual view of emptiness AND He also taught the dualistic view as
well.

In the dualistic view, He teaches that we live in a transcendental

universe, where there are countless individual Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas that exist in non-physical form. There are
countless worlds, with countless sentient beings, with many (not
all) of these worlds ruled over by these countless Buddhas.
There are also other transcendental beings - like Gods, Devas
(angelic beings), Maras (demons) who inhabit the six realms of
Samsara - some of them helpful to us, and some of them
malevolent, doing whatever they can to discourage, confuse and
sidetrack us on our quest for Buddhahood.

These teachings and observations made by the Buddha have

been a part of the Buddha-dharma from the very beginning. In
the narrative of Gotama’s own ascension to buddhahood under
the Bodhi Tree, the King of the Maras does everything he
possibly can to prevent Gotama from reaching his goal.

So...if you are an authentic disciple of Shakyamuni, or want to

become one, then you need to embrace His dualistic view,
regardless of the fact that you can’t “see” these beings, or “prove”
that the Buddha is right about their existence, using the tools of
modern science.

Once again, I don’t expect you to believe me, or believe

Shakyamuni Buddha, just because we DECLARE it. Once again,
you have the holy privilege and responsibility of doing what
Shakyamuni told the Kalama people to do: Evaluate the Dharma
for yourself, first listening with the mind to make sure you
understand the content of the message. Then, once you do, you
need to TEMPORARILY set aside your own biases and
emotional aversions (if you have them) and listen with the heart,

  19    
to hear from the Buddha within whether Shakyamuni’s teachings
here are TRUE.

I know for a FACT that so many who are influenced by the

modernist Shin Buddhist teachers - who deny that Amida is a real
Buddha, and deny that the Pure Land is a real place - have
simply not done this singular work of LISTENING DEEPLY as I
have described, over and over again.

How do I know that? Because I HAVE done this work...and

many of our members here HAVE done this work...and my
Dharma mentor Eiken Kobai Sensei HAS done this work...and
our Dharma masters Shinran and Rennyo HAVE done this
work...and the Seven Pure Land masters HAVE done this work.

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.

And - as I will stress shortly - receiving that gift of SHINJIN in this

life is the singular reason that the Shin Sangha exists.

>>>

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.

There are six blind men, gathered around an elephant. One is

feeling the elephant’s ear, another the tusk, another the tail,
another the leg, another the trunk, another the body. Each blind
man gets a different impression about what the elephant is, and
they end up arguing with themselves, endlessly and fruitlessly,
about it.

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”.

The only answer to that problem is to humbly acknowledge our

blindness, and look to Shakyamuni Buddha - who is uniquely not
blind at all. In Shakyamuni Buddha, we have the singular figure
who has left ignorance behind COMPLETELY - who sees
COMPLETELY - who knows COMPLETELY.

So...even though we have had our temporary experiences of

non-dual realization, as we got part way up the mountain of
enlightenment before falling down once again - we can absolutely
rely on Shakyamuni Buddha’s testimony about the dualistic
nature of reality as well as the monistic nature of reality we may
have experienced before in times of meditation, or in having a
spontaneous “oceanic experience” of consciousness.

So...yes, there is one Buddha - the original formless Buddha,

  21    
called Dharmakaya in the Dharma teaching of TRIKAYA - the
teaching about the three forms (bodies) of Buddha.

And yes, there are MANY Buddhas - Buddhas in transcendental

form, called Sambhogakaya, in that same TRIKAYA teaching.

And yes, very very rarely, one of those Buddhas in

transcendental form will choose to entrap Himself as Shakyamuni
did in a fully enfleshed body, called Nirmanakaya, allowing
Himself to experience all the physical pains of growing old in that
body just like the rest of us do.

Read the teaching for yourself. Google TRIKAYA if you need to

find it, or look in our archive. Allow yourself to contemplate it.
Listen deeply - which is the ONLY practice in True Shin
Buddhism. Stay humble, and stay patient, and ask the Buddha
within to tell you whether or not this teaching is actually TRUE.

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.

>>>

Now...here is my second illustration about the nature of the

Buddha-dharma, which I think is so wonderful because it
dovetails so beautifully with what we have heard from modern
physics.

If you’ve studied any physics at all, you’ve no doubt heard that in

the 20th century physicists discovered an AMAZING property of
LIGHT.

Before this discovery, there was a big argument between those

physicists who thought that light was a continuous WAVE, versus
those who thought that light was a series of discrete
PARTICLES. Sound familiar? Can you say “six blind men and
an elephant”?

Finally, these physicists discovered that it’s not an either/or

situation. The experience of light in the lab is that it is BOTH a
continuous wave function AND a series of discrete
particles...depending how you measure it.

It is both a non-dual and a dualistic phenomena. It reflects

PRECISELY the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha about the
nature of the universe as both monistic AND dualistic.

So at this point, anyone who would assert that light is ONLY a

nondual, continuous and unitive wave function would sound like
an ignorant and foolish person. We know that the dualistic vision
of light - where it is observed as a series of discrete, individuated
particles, is just as true, and just as real.

  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

In Part 3, we covered two basic Dharma propositions. The first

Dharma proposition is that to come to full and final
enlightenment, we must abandon all non-Buddhist teachers and
teachings. Here’s Master Shinran, speaking about that in his
“Hymns of the Dharma Ages #12”:

>>>

The ninety-five nonbuddhist teachings defile the world;

The Buddha’s path alone is pure.
Only by going forth and reaching enlightenment can we benefit
others
In this burning house; this is the natural working of the Vow.

>>>

The second Dharma proposition we talked about was the fact

that Shakyamuni taught two different kinds of teachings: One
was a non-dual, or monistic, view of reality, which stresses
emptiness of all phenomena and unitive Buddha-consciousness.
The other was a view dualistic view of reality, which stresses the
fact that there are individuated Buddhas in either transcendental
form like Amida Buddha (Sambhogakaya body) or fully enfleshed
form like Shakyamuni Buddha during his earthly life
(Nirmanakaya body).

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 said to Ananda, “Rise to your feet, rearrange your

robes, put your palms together, and respectfully revere and
worship Amitayus. Buddhas and Tathagatas in the lands of the
ten quarters always praise with one accord that Buddha’s virtues
of non-attachment and unimpeded activity.”

Ananda stood up, rearranged his robes, assumed the correct

posture, faced westward, and, demonstrating his sincere
reverence, joined his palms together, prostrated himself on the
ground and worshipped Amitayus. Then he said to the Buddha
Shakyamuni, “World-Honored One, I wish to see that Buddha, his
Land of Peace and Bliss, and its hosts of bodhisattvas and
shravakas.”

As soon as he had said this, Amitayus emitted a great light,

which illuminated all the Buddha-lands. The Encircling
Adamantine Mountains, Mount Sumeru, together with large and
small mountains, and everything else shone with the same
(golden) color. That light was like the flood at the end of the
period of cosmic change that fills the whole world, when myriads
of things are submerged, and as far as the eye can see, there is
nothing but a vast expanse of water. Even so was the flood of
light emanating from Amitayus. All the lights of shravakas and
bodhisattvas were outshone and surpassed, and only the
Buddha’s light remained shining bright and glorious.

At that time Ananda saw the splendor and majesty of

Amitayus resembling Mount Sumeru, which rises above the
whole world. There was no place which was not illuminated
by the light emanating from his body of glory. The four
groups of followers of the Buddha in the assembly saw all
this at the same time. Likewise, those of the Pure Land saw
  26  
everything in this world.

Then the Buddha said to Ananda and the Bodhisattva Maitreya,

“Have you seen that land filled with excellent and glorious
manifestations, all spontaneously produced, from the ground to
the Heaven of Pure Abode,?”

Ananda replied, “Yes, I have.”

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?”

Ananda replied, “Yes, I have.”

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?”

“Yes, I have,” replied Ananda.

“Have you also seen that some of the inhabitants are in the
embryonic state?”

“Yes, I have. Those in the embryonic state dwell in palaces as

high as a hundred yojanas or five hundred yojanas, where they
spontaneously enjoy pleasures as do those in the Heaven of the
Thirty-three Gods.”

>>>

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.

>>>

So...moving forward in the discussion: We’re talking about HOW

a person can become a Buddha, once his (or her) aspiration for
Buddhahood has been awakened.

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.

Why so many Dharma teachings? Because different people

have different temperaments, different personality types, different
abilities and inabilities. Just to over-simplify, based on our own
sciences, we know that there are people who are left-brained,
who tend to make good engineers and accountants, and people
who are right brained - who tend to make good artists and poets.

  28  
And there are also some people who are whole-brained, who
often combine both kinds of talents and aptitudes.

Another axis of differentiation educators have found is that some

people learn best with visual aids, others with aural aids, and yet
others with somatic aids. And some people benefit from having a
mix of such aids as they learn.

So...it’s SKILLFUL AND COMPASSIONATE MEANS for the

Buddha to not only recognize these differences (which of course
He did), but to design different kinds of practices, and different
kinds of explanations of the Dharma, to suit different people’s
karmic conditions.

That’s why there are three major branches in Buddhism - the

Hinayana, the Mahayana and the Vajrayana - and many sub-
branches within each of the three. ALL of the branches have the
same goal - helping people to come to Buddhahood by different
kinds of discipline, practice and study.

But - make no mistake - ALL of them require that the individual

practice as instructed with great diligence over a long, long
period of time. I’m not talking about many years here - but
rather many LIFETIMES.

Let’s go deeper into understanding just how long, and how

difficult, the climb to the top of the mountain of enlightenment
REALLY is.

As we said before, Dharma of Shakyamuni Buddha declares that

there are ten levels, or realms, of existence: There are six lower
realms (including our human realm), also known as Samsaric
realms (collectively SAMSARA). These samsaric realms are
further divided into three favorable realms, and three unfavorable
realms, also known as hell realms.

  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.

It’s important to say that no one - not even Adolph Hitler - is

condemned to remain in the Hell realms forever. Sooner or later
every sentient being WILL hear the Dharma, WILL respond to it,
and WILL become a Buddha at long last.

Those in the favorable realms have the sort of conscious

awareness that enables them to actually hear the Dharma of
Shakyamuni Buddha and respond to it, thus getting the
opportunity for a good re-birth, either in one of the favorable
realms again - or perhaps even in one of the higher, noble
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.

From highest to lowest, the ten realms look like this:

NOBLE REALMS
- Buddha
- Bodhisattva
- Pratekya-buddha
- Sravaka

SAMSARIC REALMS

- Favorable realms
- Devas
- Humans
  30  
 - Asuras

Unfavorable realms
- Animals
- Hungry Ghosts
- Hell

Different Dharma teachers in different schools sometimes have

slightly different understandings of the ten realms, but this is not
a concern for us. Our map of the karmic territory is useful
enough for us to talk about the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism
effectively. If you want to read more about the ten realms, this
link has some useful details:

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.

>>>

The explanation of this karmic problem begins with

understanding a pair of Buddhist technical terms called
RETROGRESSION and NON-RETROGRESSION.

RETROGRESSION refers to our vulnerability to fall down the

mountain of enlightenment, even if we’ve climbed up a good part
of the 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.

And when such retrogression happens, members of the teacher’s

community are not only terribly dismayed, but all too often terribly
DISILLUSIONED.

“How could this happen? His teaching was so wonderful! He

was like a spiritual father to me! I feel cheated and betrayed!”.

  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.

So that’s RETROGRESSION. It happens to teachers of the

Dharma, and of course it happens to students of the Dharma,
too. We are all terribly vulnerable here.

And, Master Shinran tells us, the REASON that it happens is

because of karmic causes from past lifetimes. Indeed, he
declares, the fact that you don’t do something terrible to cause
great suffering in this lifetime has NOTHING to do with what you
think of as your current goodness or disposition to be an ethical
person.

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.

That’s Master Shinran’s Dharma proposition here: Karma from

our past lifetimes has a much, much bigger effect on our moral
and ethical disposition (or lack thereof) than we think. We’re not
living our lives entirely based on our free will at all. Determinism
- the determinism of KARMA - has more to do with who we are
and how we behave than we can possibly know.

Now let’s talk about NON-RETROGRESSION.

Nagarjuna, considered by many to be the second greatest

Dharma teacher of all, after Shakyamuni Buddha Himself, wrote
a treatise about the realm of the Bodhisattvas - the realm right
below Buddhahood. In that treatise, he broke down the
Bodhisattva realm into 10 major stages, and further into 52 minor
stages. The most important thing he taught is that a being
  33    
does not reach the place of non-retrogression until he has
attained the 8th level.

If you use the metaphor of “the mountain of enlightenment”, you

can think of the 8th level as a plateau. Once you reach that
plateau, you’re no longer in danger of falling all the way down the
mountain anymore. But until you do reach that level, you are
ALWAYS in danger of falling part way, or all the way, down the
mountain - again and again and again.

Now...Bodhisattvas at the 8th level and above are incredibly

powerful and wise transcendental beings. They can take on a
physical form, and they can travel at the speed of thought
throughout the ten directions of the Buddha-verse, and they can
co-locate in different forms in different places at the same time.
They can do things that we would call “miraculous”. Their
wisdom and compassion and power is certainly not equal to a
Buddha’s...but are still far greater than any of us are capable of.

But to actually get to that exalted state takes MANY, MANY

lifetimes - lifetimes of PERFECT practice.

And in order to do this PERFECT PRACTICE, a sentient being

would need to be able to access and avail themselves of the
great POWER that emanated from Shakyamuni, when He
became a fully enfleshed Buddha - a Buddha in a Nirmanakara
Buddha Body. Without that empowerment from Shakyamuni, we
just can’t make the climb.

  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.

Now...there MAY be some 8th stage Bodhisattvas floating around

in human bodies in our world. Followers of the Dalai Lama (for
example) believe he is an incarnation of Avalokeshvara. Of
course, I have no idea whether that is the case, or not. But for
me, the issue is moot. An advanced stage Bodhisattva, whether
fully enfleshed in human form, or shape-shifting in transcendental
form, really can’t lead me, a plain person, to the END of suffering.

Please remember the larger context here: The whole purpose

and point of Buddhism – a.k.a. the Dharma (teachings) of
Shakyamuni Buddha - is to enable others to become Buddhas as
well.

It’s not simply to feel better, or be more calm and peaceful, or

more loving and compassionate, or more wise or insightful. All
those transformations in consciousness are wonderful, of course.
But they are not wonderful enough. As states of consciousness,
they are NOT ultimately stable. They are subject to
IMPERMANENCE. And we see that impermanence all the time,
not just in our own lives, but in the lives of so many gurus and
teachers, who - given the right karmic circumstances - revert
back to being dominated once again by the monkey mind.

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.

That’s why, in the OLD paradigm, so few sentient beings ever

became Buddhas. Out of millions (billions, trillions, gazillions?) of
sentient beings who started on the arduous climb up the
mountain of enlightenment, rarely did one break free of the
gravitational pull of his (or her) own monkey mind, and the
unfolding of past negative karma.

Then something VERY important happened, back 2500 years

ago.

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.

He was now a NIRMANAKAYA Buddha - a Buddha who was not

in transcendental form, but in a fully enfleshed form. This
enfleshment, Shakyamuni tells us, is an EXTREMELY rare event.
And the spiritual byproduct of this event was the release of a
tremendous amount of spiritual energy into the world, energy that
emanated from Him personally, and affected countless people.

There are many wonderful stories about how Shakyamuni’s

Buddha-field enabled people to enter one of the Four Noble
  36  
Realms, who otherwise would never have a chance to do so. I’ll
share two, just so you can sense how important a Buddha’s
Buddha-field really is.

The first story is about a deranged serial murderer named

Angulimala. He lived in the forest, and would waylay people who
travelled there. He’d kill them, and then cut off one of their
fingers and add it to a necklace of fingers he wore.

One day, Shakyamuni Buddha was walking in that same forest.

Angulimala saw Him and decided to make Shakyamuni his next
victim. He came up behind Shakyamuni and tried to catch him,
but no matter how fast he walked, he just couldn’t catch up with
the Buddha.

“Why are You moving?”, he shouted in frustration.

Shakyamuni turned to him, and replied, “Why is your mind

moving?”

At that point, Angulimala fell to the ground, his inner darkness

overwhelmed entirely by the light of Shakymuni’s Buddha-field.
He worshipped Shakyamuni as the World-Hero, and arose as
one of His disciples.

That’s the power of the Buddha-field of an incarnate Buddha –

i.e. a Buddha in a Nirmanakaya Buddha body.

Another story is about two brothers who decided to join

Shakyamuni’s company of monks. The older brother was
intelligent, but the younger brother was intellectually slow.

One day, the younger brother came to Shakyamuni in tears, and

told Him he was leaving the company of monks and going back
home. Shakyamuni asked him why he was giving up on his
quest for enlightenment. He responded that he simply couldn’t
  37    
remember the various things Shakyamuni was teaching, day by
day.

So...Shakyamuni took the young man to a hut, where an old

monk lived by himself. He instructed the young man that from
now on he should take care of the old monk, and sweep out his
hut every day. And as he swept (Shakyamuni instructed), he
should simply say, “Sweep away the dirt. Sweep away the dust”.
He asked the young man if he could remember that, and the
young man said he could.

So he moved in with the old monk, and followed Shakyamuni’s

simple instructions - and before long he attained the first of the
Four Noble realms, before his older and more intelligent brother.

Again...it was the power of Shakyamuni’s buddha-field that

enabled the young man to climb the mountain of enlightenment in
a way he would never have been able to do otherwise.

>>>

So...why is this Dharma of the Buddha-field so essential to really

understanding Master Shinran’s message?

It’s because the power of Shakyamuni’s buddha-field was critical

for His own disciples to escape the pull of “karmic gravity” and
make progress up the mountain of enlightenment, getting them to
one of the Four Noble realms over the course of one lifetime.

This power lasted - in full strength - during Shakyamuni’s lifetime,

and for five hundred years after. This first five-hundred year
period is called THE AGE OF RIGHT DHARMA. It was a time
where seekers, empowered by the buddha-field of Shakyamuni,
could both UNDERSTAND the Dharma, AND leverage their
understanding to create great SHIFTS in their consciousness.

  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.

As Shakyamuni Buddha receded in time and space, after leaving

this Nirmanakaya body behind, the power of His Buddhafield
began to decline. In the second 500 year period after His death,
many were still able to understand His teachings, but few were
able to leverage that understanding into proper practice.

This second period was called the Age of Semblance of the

Dharma.

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.

In this Age of Dharma Decline, we aren’t able to truly understand

the teachings properly, much less leveraging our faulty
understandings by proper practices done correctly over the
course of a lifetime.

And THAT (Master Shinran says) is the essence of our problem

today. We cannot achieve our aspiration for enlightenment by
our own efforts, no matter what we do...nor for how long we do it.

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.

Now...as always...I don’t expect anyone to believe what Master

Shinran says here, just because he says it.

As always, in order to know the TRUTH, you need to temporarily

set aside your own personal beliefs and biases, and then ask the
Buddha within to tell you whether this Dharma idea is true...or
false.

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

In Part 5, I shared the critical Dharma teaching about the AGES

OF THE DHARMA, which I had never heard before I
encountered Master Shinran’s teaching. He taught me that we
live in the Age of Dharma Decline (called “Mappo” in Japanese,
in case you ever see this term).

But when I heard this teaching, it made such incredible sense to

me. It explained why no one today becomes a Buddha, or even
gets to a level of stabilization on the long path to Buddhahood. It
explained (to me) what were otherwise inexplicable failures in
various gurus and teachers who should know better - who should
have had a grasp of basic morality - and yet got carried away,
just like so many high profile religious leaders from other religious
traditions.

As I listened to Master Shinran - and later on Master Rennyo -

and other true teachers like Master Shinran’s own personal
Dharma mentor Master Honen, I could see why all the various
practices and good acts were simply a waste of time and energy
(and all too often, money as well).

Now...many people have gotten confused by the statement

above, and I have had many conversations, both public and
private, to clarify what it means to say that various practices and
good acts are a waste of time and energy, and do not lead
beings to enlightenment.

Let me use a number of examples to make this 100% clear.

Example #1: The Practice of Meditation (of whatever sort)

  41    
Buddhism is identified by most people as being a religion based
largely on the practice of meditation. Certainly, Gotama sat in
meditation many times, including that final time beneath the
Bodhi Tree, where he arose as a Buddha. And after He became
a Buddha, He meditated still. The beginning of the Larger Sutra
is all about Shakyamuni’s meditation on Vulture Peak - and how
the monk Ananda observed Him being illuminated - giving off a
golden glow - as he had never seen Him before - and then asking
Him WHY.

In addition, meditation has seeped into our secular society.

Some of our greatest scientists and researchers (like Dr. Herbert
Benson of Harvard) have spent a lifetime studying the
measurable effect of meditation on the body, including changes
in brain waves, autonomic nervous system functions,
psychological states, and so on. Meditation has been proven
extremely useful in helping people who are suffering from chronic
pain to manage their condition more effectively that pain killing
drugs - without the terrible side effects of drug addiction. And a
LOT of people have found that a short period of meditation once
or twice a day just makes them feel and function better -
regardless of whether or not they contextualize their meditation
practice in Buddhism, or spirituality in general, or not in
spirituality at all.

So...with all that positive, documented, and scientifically verified

benefit, does Master Shinran (or me) say to people who are
benefiting from meditation that they should stop - or worse - that
they MUST stop, in order to become people of SHINJIN in this
life, and attain Buddhahood in the next life?

Example #2: The Precepts

The precepts were developed by Shakyamuni Buddha as a guide

to living for the monastic community that grew up around Him.
  42  
They included a list of do’s and don’ts regarding certain
behaviors. For example, monks made a pledge to abstain
entirely from intoxicants like alcohol. No wine, or beer, or
cocktails allowed with meals...that was the rule.

Another precept concerned sex. Monks were expected to remain

celibate. No marriage, no dating, no romance or sex of any kind
- including masturbation.

Another precept concerned what was lawful to eat. The Buddha

Himself was an omnivore, eating whatever was placed in His
beggar’s bowl. But monks were to abstain from any direct
actions that would requiring killing an animal - so no fishing or
hunting, no butchering, no involvement in actions preparing
animals for human consumption.

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?

Example #3 - The Paramitas

Depending on your source, there are six or ten paramitas, or

good acts, on the Path of the Bodhisattvas. Let’s talk about the
one called DANA - which means charitable giving.

If you’re a person who gives gives to a charitable organization

like the Red Cross, or your local Humane Society (to save
animals, particularly stray dogs and cats), or some local
organization like a soup kitchen - does becoming a follower of
Master Shinran require you to stop giving?

>>>

The answer to all these questions (and others like them) is OF

COURSE NOT. Yes, Master Shinran tells us that all the various
  43    
and sundry good acts and practices are NOT going to lead a
person to Buddhahood. And further, he explains that any
Buddhist who is ATTACHED to his good acts and practices can
not receive Amida’s gift of SHINJIN in this life - and thus will
continue to take birth in Samsaric existence - again....and
again...and again.

What does it mean to be ATTACHED to one’s own good acts and

practices?

It means, simply enough, that you are counting on these good

acts and practices to make you a BETTER Buddhist, and
ultimately a Buddha.

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.

It means that are DEPENDING on these good acts and practices

in one way or another...and THAT is the real problem. Because -
in this Age of Dharma Decline - our idiotic monkey minds
INEVITABLY try to take ownership of the various good acts and
practices - deluded that our small efforts are somehow enough to
insure ourselves at least a favorable birth in the next life.

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.

So...what to do...or not to do?

Listen...it’s really so simple:

- 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.

- If you feel like remaining celibate, then just be celibate - and

do it just like people who do it who aren’t Buddhists, or even
spiritual, at all.

- If you feel like abstaining from killing or eating animals, than

just abstain - and do it just like people who do it who aren’t
Buddhists, or even spiritual, at all.

- If you feel like abstaining entirely from alcoholic beverages -

then (once again) just abstain - and do it just like people who
do it who aren’t Buddhists, or even spiritual, at all.

- If you enjoy meditating, or it gives you physical and/or

emotional benefits, or helps you manage your pain better -
then then (once again) just do it - 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.

“Giving up” on ALL Buddhist practices (in the sense I’ve

described above) is ESSENTIAL for anyone to truly understand
Shin Buddhism, and truly respond to Amida’s grace, as
  45    
manifested in His Work and His Vow (which we will review next).

So...the Dharma of TRUE Shin Buddhism actually throws out

entirely the paradigm employed by ALL the Buddhas in all the
many Buddha-worlds for endless ages - saying that the old
paradigm of doing good acts and practices in order to climb the
mountain of enlightenment is both inefficient AND ultimately
ineffective in helping people to become Buddhas.

Now...speaking as a person who spent his adult life in the

business world, I can tell you that when the old way of doing
business - the old paradigm - is both inefficient and ineffective,
the business must change, or die. Certainly, in the realm of the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, they could theoretically have
continued with the old paradigm into the endless future. But
doing that would doom COUNTLESS sentient beings - including
plain people like you and me - to suffer ENDLESSLY over the
course of countless lives, as we climb the mountain of
enlightenment and then fall down again - ad nauseam and ad
infinitum.

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.

Why? Because this Sutra - like no other - describes the

biography and the history of a man who, ages ago, became
Amida Buddha. It defines what He did, as a great Bodhisattva,
who took birth MANY times in MANY forms, to truly understand
how ineffective and inefficient the old paradigm was, when it
came to the Buddhic goal of freeing countless beings from
endless rounds of birth, life, suffering and death. And it defined
what He came up with, as the great solution to this perennial
problem.
  46  
In the next installment, we’ll discuss what Shakyamuni taught us
about this other figure, and why this teaching initiated our
awareness on this planet of the NEW paradigm - a paradigm
which made the goal of Buddhahood accessible to ALL -
including plain people like you and me - and illiterate people -
and deeply troubled people - and people burdened with all
manner of ignorance and foolishness - and people with terribly
heavy karmic burdens, whether from this life, or earlier lives.

This biography and history that Shakyamuni Buddha describes in

The Larger Sutra is THE game changer in history - not just the
brief history of our little planet - but the unimaginably vast history
of countless universes that goes back WAY before the seminal
event that we know as “the big bang”.

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 finished up Part 6 by introducing the Larger Sutra on Amida

Buddha, which is without question the most important spiritual
document in existence. Indeed, Master Shinran declares that the
reason Shakyamuni Buddha came into the world was to give the
message we find in that Sutra.

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.

This is exactly what LISTENING DEEPLY - the only practice in

TRUE Shin Buddhism - is about. Like the monk Gotama, who
spent time studying with 110 different teachers and rejected them
all before emerging as Shakyamuni Buddha, you and I have the
opportunity to listen to many different teachers - both Buddhist
and otherwise. And when we are deliberately on the path of
  48  
awakening, our opportunity is also a profound spiritual obligation.

Just as Shakyamuni Buddha told the Kalama people in the

Kalama Sutra, we shouldn’t simply believe ANY teacher
(including Him). Rather, we should set aside our own personal
biases temporarily, and take the time to deeply ponder what the
teacher says - listening deeply to that still, small voice that
speaks to us in the deepest part of our being. Then and only
then, when we are fully CONVINCED that the teacher is
speaking truth, should we actually accept that teacher, and make
that truth our own.

If someone - ANYONE - will simply do that one simple practice,

he (or she) will be led to the TRUTH - the Dharma that finally
brings sentient beings everywhere to the END OF SUFFERING -
and the BEGINNING OF BUDDHAHOOD.

Whether you’ve been studying Buddhism for 20, 30 or 40 years -

or you have no background in Buddhism at all - Amida Buddha
and Shakyamuni Buddha will LEAD you to both UNDERSTAND
and ultimately EMBRACE the Dharma message that begins in
the Larger Sutra, and finds its full and final expression in the
teachings of Master Shinran and Master Rennyo.

It happened to me...and I’ve seen it happen again and again with

others - even others who had come to the point of despair,
thinking that they were hopeless cases, who couldn’t ever be
saved by Amida. Amida’s desire to save you and make you a
Buddha is FAR greater than your own desire to be saved.

So let’s start talking about what happened one day at a place

called Vulture Peak...the scene at which the Larger Sutra takes
place. I’m going to do my best to KEEP IT SIMPLE - because
Amida’s grace is extended FIRST to those who are deeply
ignorant - people long ignored by Buddhism as being
ICCHANTIKA - illiterate peasants impossible to save in this life,
  49    
and this body.

The Sutra begins with this:

>>>

Thus have I heard.

At one time the Buddha was staying on the Vulture Peak in

Rajagriha with a large company of twelve thousand monks. They
were all great sages who had already attained supernatural
powers.

>>>

Clearly, these monks were making TREMENDOUS progress on

the self-powered Path of the Sages because of Shakyamuni’s
fully manifested Buddha-field. The power of that Buddha-field
empowered them, enabling them to follow Shakyamuni Buddha’s
instruction on how to do various practices properly and perfectly,
in order to climb the mountain of enlightenment by their own holy
efforts.

And please note how these monks had attained

SUPERNATURAL POWERS. So, any modernist teacher -
whether from Shin Buddhism or Zen or some other path - who
denies that we live in a supernatural, transcendental universe is
just talking through his (or her) skeptical hat.

Here’s the TRUTH: modern day materialists, who include any

number of false Buddhist teachers as well as a whole lot of
professional and amateur skeptics in the media and academia,
are simply blind to realities that exist outside the realm of
empirical verification via the tools of science. They are just
CLUELESS because of their own delusions and obscurations.
  50  
They influence many who share their delusional views (and I was
once one of those so influenced), but their influence is both
pernicious - and ultimately TEMPORARY.

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.

Returning to the Larger Sutra: It wasn’t just the company of

monks who were there that day. The Sutra continues with this:

>>>

Mahayana bodhisattvas also accompanied the Buddha, including

all those of this Auspicious Kalpa (Dharma age)... There were
also the sixteen lay bodhisattvas...

>>>

So what I want you to hear and understand is that this was no

ordinary gathering - no ordinary day in the life of the Sangha.
Great, transcendental Bodisattvas were in attendance.
Something HUGE was about to happen - something that would
change the karmic destiny of countless people in OUR
world...including me.

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.

Let’s listen together, as the Sutra continues:

>>>

  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.

Having perceived the Buddha’s holy intention, the Venerable

Ananda rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, prostrated
himself, and joining his palms in reverence, said to the Buddha,
“World-Honored One, today all your senses are radiant with joy,
your body is serene and glorious, and your august countenance
is as majestic as a clear mirror whose brightness radiates
outward and inward. The magnificence of your dignified
appearance is unsurpassed and beyond measure. I have never
seen you look so superb and majestic as today.

With respect, Great Sage, this thought has occurred to me:

‘Today, the World-Honored One dwells in the rare and marvelous
Dharma; today, the World-Hero dwells in the Buddha’s abode;
today, the World-Eye concentrates on the performance of the
leader’s duty; today, the World-Valiant One dwells in the
supreme Bodhi; today, the One Most Honored in Heaven realizes
the Tathagata’s virtue. The Buddhas of the past, present and
future contemplate each other. How can this present Buddha not
contemplate all other Buddhas?’ For what reason does his
countenance look so majestic and brilliant?”

Then the World-Honored One said to Ananda, “Tell me, Ananda,

whether some god urged you to put this question to the Buddha
or whether you asked about his glorious countenance from your
own wise observation.” Ananda replied to the Buddha, “No god
came to prompt me. I asked you about this matter of my own
accord.”

The Buddha said, “Well said, Ananda. I am very pleased with

your question. You have shown profound wisdom and
subtle insight in asking me this wise question out of
compassion for sentient beings.
  52  
As the Tathagata, I regard beings of the three worlds with
boundless great compassion. The reason for my appearance in
the world is to reveal teachings of the Way and save
multitudes of beings by endowing them with true benefits.

Even in countless millions of kalpas it is difficult to come upon

and meet a Tathagata. It is as difficult as seeing an udumbara
flower, which blooms very rarely.

Your question is of great benefit and will enlighten all

heavenly and human beings.

>>>

Dharma friends, this one simple question posed by Ananda was

the great game changing moment for our Saha world.

It signaled that THIS was the moment for Shakyamuni Buddha to

introduce the NEW PARADIGM - the Dharma teaching He had
never given before - the Dharma teaching that would completely
open up this NEW DHARMA DOOR - a Dharma door that would
ultimately bring ALL HEAVENLY AND HUMAN BEINGS to a
state of full and final enlightenment - aka BUDDHAHOOD.

Let’s listen to what happened next, as Shakyamuni Buddha

continued speaking:

>>>

Ananda, you should realize that the Tathagata’s perfectly

enlightened wisdom is unfathomable, capable of leading
innumerable beings to emancipation, and that his penetrating
insight cannot be obstructed.

  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.

Ananda, listen carefully. I shall now expound the Dharma.”

>>>

What did Ananda say in response? And what can YOU say?

>>>

Ananda replied, “Yes, I will. With joy in my heart, I wish to

hear the Dharma.”

>>>

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?

You have an AMAZING opportunity here - an opportunity to hear

THIS one Dharma message - this message that can bring you
from your terrible and truly HOPELESS position, drifting in the
middle of the vast ocean of birth and death, to the far shore of full
enlightenment at long last.
  54  
Please take the time, and make the effort, to TRULY listen
deeply - until you know whether this is all a bunch of ancient
nonsense, or the one Dharma door that can TRULY open for
you.

  55    
 8
The Fundamental Intent for which
the Buddha Appeared in This World

In Part 7, we talked about the beginning of the Larger Sutra -

THE critical document that informs us of the history and the
spiritual biography of Amida Buddha, and the work He did to
create His unsurpassed Pure Land. To sum up the discussion,
let’s listen to Master Shinran’s wonderful short poems on the
subject, found in his HYMNS OF THE PURE LAND. (Please
note that I have included the translator’s comments in
parentheses):

>>>

51

Venerable Ananda, rising from his seat,

Beheld the majestic radiance of the World-honored one;
Amazed, with a rare feeling of wonder emerging in him,
He realized he had never witnessed such radiance before.

(he had never seen: he had never beheld such a countenance

before.)

52

Sakyamuni’s splendor was rare and auspicious;

Ananda, rejoicing immensely,
Asked its meaning, whereupon the Buddha revealed
The fundamental intent of his appearance in the world.

(Sakyamuni’s splendor: the Tathagata’s light and especially

wondrous features are rare and magnificent.
  56  
53

Having entered the Samadhi of great tranquility,

The Buddha’s countenance was wondrous in its radiance;
Observing the depth of Ananda’s discernment,
He praised him for his insightful question.

(Samadhi of great tranquility: the reason for the Buddha’s inner

stillness and quietude, which is now more excellent than usual, is
that he has appeared in the world solely to teach the Name of
Amida; thus, his particularly excellent and auspicious features.)

54

The fundamental intent for which the Buddha appeared in

the world
Was to reveal the truth and reality of the Primal Vow.
He taught that to encounter or behold a Buddha
Is as rare as the blossoming of the udumbara.

(Udumbara: The udumbara is called “the mysterious, auspicious

flower.” The udumbara tree always bears fruit, but the flower
blossoms very rarely. Since a Buddha’s appearance in the world
occurs only with extreme rarity, it is likened to the udumbara
flower.)

>>>

So...once again...this was a day in history like no other, for two

reasons:

First, the very act of a Buddha appearing in the world in a

Nirmanakaya (fully enfleshed) body is EXTREMELY rare. The
next Buddha who will fully manifest in that way is currently the
Bodhisattva Maitreya - and (Shakyamuni tells us) he will not
  57    
assume that fleshly body until another SIX BILLION years have
passed!

And second, during the 45 years that Shakyamuni dwelled

among us, this one day was UNIQUE - because in all His other
moments He had never been so full of divine radiance - divine
effulgence - as He was that day.

And then, Master Shinran makes an incredibly BOLD statement:

“The fundamental intent for which the Buddha appeared in
the world was to reveal the truth and reality of the Primal
Vow.”

Why is that? Why would Master Shinran declare so boldly, and

so provocatively, that THIS was Shakyamuni’s fundamental
reason for manifesting in this world of ours, in a Nirmanakaya
body?

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.

Why are they PROVISIONAL? Because all these other Dharma

doors work in a PARTIAL way:

- They work TO SOME EXTENT, not completely

- They work FOR SOME PEOPLE, not for everybody

- They work SOME OF THE TIME, not all the time

- And they work in SOME PLACES, not in all of the countless

Buddha-realms in the ten directions.

  58  
The Dharma door of Master Shinran, on the other hand, works in
a FULL way:

- It works COMPLETELY, delivering people completely from

samsaric existence DIRECTLY to Buddhahood in Amida’s
Pure Land.

- It works for ALL PEOPLE, including the most illiterate, and

those who know nothing about old paradigm, self-power
Buddhism - not just for Buddhist sages and scholars and
those with superior abilities to practice some sort of self-
cultivation.

- It works ALL THE TIME - not just when a Buddha is physically

present, or in the Age of Right Dharma, but also in the Age of
Dharma Decline that we are living in right now.

- It works in ALL places - just as well for someone who spends

his life living in the West as it does for someone living in the
East - and just as well for sentient beings living in some far
away Buddha-land as it does for us here in this Saha world.

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.

>>>

Let’s continue by following Shakyamuni’s narrative in the Larger

Pure Land Sutra - listening closely to understand the content -
since Master Shinran asserts so directly that His fundamental
intent in manifesting as a fully enfleshed (Nirmakayana) Buddha
in this world was to benefit countless beings by sharing this
narrative with us all.

Shakyamuni declares that, in the unimaginably distant past,

“innumerable, incalculable and inconceivable kalpas ago” (one
kalpa, or cosmic age = 5,670,000,000 years), the first of 53
different Buddhas that appeared in fullly enfleshed form...way
before the emergence of King Dharmakara, who would ultimately
become Amida Buddha.

Now...why is this important to mention?

It’s important because one of the false teachings that has

emerged from a number of schools of Buddhism asserts that the
Pure Land is simply a metaphor for Pure Mind. In the imperfect
understanding of these teachers Pure Land = Pure Mind.
Indeed, when first began writing about TRUE Shin Buddhism,
and declaring that the modernist revisionism was simply wrong,
that was one of the arguments people made to me: Amida was

  60  
just a concept, rather than a real Buddha, and the Pure Land was
just a concept to describe Pure Mind.

But clearly, according to Shakyamuni Buddha Himself, that is not

so at all. These 53 Buddhas He names ALL had Pure Mind - that
is the very definition of what a Buddha is, and what distinguishes
a Buddha from even the most advanced Bodhisattva. A Buddha
has TOTALLY eradicated the false self - the monkey mind - the
egotistical mind - that Shakyamuni/Gotama identified and
eradicated as He sat beneath the Bodhi Tree 2500 years ago.
That recognition and subsequent eradication of what He calls
“the builder of this house” is what allowed Him to rise from his
seat as the Buddha of this World - the World Honored One - the
Turner of the Wheel of Dharma.

So...these 53 Buddhas ALL had pure minds - and yet (as we

shall see) Amida’s Pure Land had yet to be created. Thus, it is
OBVIOUSLY a mistake to assert that the two are equivalent.

After naming these 53 Buddhas, Shakyamuni then ZONES IN on

the Buddha who was extant when Dharmakara appears on the
scene. Let’s listen together to Shakyamuni, as He teaches
HISTORY and BIOGRAPHY, for the benefit of all beings
everywhere:

>>>

“Then appeared a Buddha named Lokeshvararaja, the

Tathagata, Arhat, Perfectly Enlightened One, Possessed of
Wisdom and Practice, Perfected One, Knower of the World,
Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Men, Master of Gods and Men,
Buddha and World-Honored One.

At that time there was a king, who, having heard the

Buddha’s exposition of the Dharma, rejoiced in his heart and
awakened aspiration for the highest, perfect Enlightenment.
  61    
He renounced his kingdom and the throne, and became a
monk named Dharmakara.

Having superior intelligence, courage and wisdom, he

distinguished himself in the world. He went to see the
Tathagata Lokeshvararaja, knelt down at his feet, walked
round him three times keeping him always on his right,
prostrated himself on the ground, and putting his palms
together in worship, praised the Buddha with these verses:

(Sanbutsuge - Verses praising the Buddha)

The shining face of the Buddha is glorious;

Boundless is his magnificence.
Radiant splendor such as his
Is beyond all comparison.
The sun, the moon and the mani-jewel,
Though shining with dazzling brightness,
Are completely dimmed and obscured
As if they were a pile of ink-sticks

The countenance of the Tathagata

Is beyond compare in the whole world.
The great voice of the Enlightened One
Resounds throughout the ten regions.
His morality, learning, endeavor,
Absorption in meditation, wisdom
And magnificent virtues have no equal;
They are wonderful and unsurpassed.

He meditates deeply and directly

On the oceanic Dharma of all the Buddhas.
He knows its depth and breadth
And penetrates to its farthest end.
Ignorance, greed and anger
Are forever absent in the World-Honored One.
  62  
He is the lion, the most valiant of all men;
His glorious virtue is unlimited.

His meritorious achievements are vast;

His wisdom is deep and sublime.
His light, with awe-inspiring glory,
Shakes the universe of a thousand million worlds.
I resolve to become a Buddha,
Equal in attainment to you, O holy king of the Dharma,
To save living beings from birth-and-death,
And to lead them all to emancipation.

My discipline in giving, mind-control,

Moral virtues, forbearance and effort,
And also in meditation and wisdom,
Shall be supreme and unsurpassed.
I vow that, when I have become a Buddha,
I shall carry out this promise everywhere;
And to all fear-ridden beings
Shall I give great peace.

Even though there are Buddhas,

A thousand million kotis in number,
And multitudes of great sages
Countless as the sands of the Ganges,
I shall make offerings
To all those Buddhas.
I shall seek the supreme Way
Resolutely and tirelessly.

Even though the Buddha-lands are as innumerable

As the sands of the Ganges,
And other regions and worlds
Are also without number,
My light shall shine everywhere,
Pervading all those lands.
  63    
Such being the result of my efforts,
My glorious power shall be immeasurable.

When I have become a Buddha,

My land shall be most exquisite,
And its people wonderful and unexcelled;
The seat of Enlightenment shall be supreme.
My land, being like Nirvana itself,
Shall be beyond comparison.
I take pity on living beings
And resolve to save them all.

Those who come from the ten quarters

Shall find joy and serenity of heart;
When they reach my land,
They shall dwell in peace and happiness.
I beg you, the Buddha, to become my witness
And to vouch for the truth of my aspiration.
Having now made my vows to you,
I will strive to fulfill them.

The World-Honored Ones in the ten quarters

Have unimpeded wisdom;
I call upon those Honored Ones
To bear witness to my intention.
Even though I must remain
In a state of extreme pain,
I will diligently practice,
Enduring all hardships with tireless vigor.”

>>>

So...what are we hearing from Shakyamuni Buddha here?

We are hearing about a great king, who awakened his own

aspiration for Buddhahood. Having done that, he gave up his
  64  
kingdom, and became a monk named DHARMAKARA. As a
monk, he visited the living, incarnate Buddha of his time and
place, and shared his own holy and blessed intention - his own
Bodhisattva vows - to become a Buddha himself. And, he
declared, when he had finally become a Buddha, his own
POWER would be “immeasurable”, and his own Buddha-land
would be the “supreme” seat of enlightenment.

And finally, he vowed to endure all the pain, suffering and

hardships that were inevitable as he took birth over and over
again in samsaric existence - diligently practicing and “enduring
all hardships with tireless vigor.”

Shakyamuni Buddha then continued His history/biography lesson

for the benefit of Ananda, and all those gathered there that day
on Vulture Peak - and indeed for all of us as well. Let’s listen
together once again:

>>>

The Buddha said to Ananda, “Having spoken these verses, the

Bhiksu (monk) Dharmakara said to the Buddha Lokeshvararaja,
‘Respectfully, World-Honored One, I announce that I have
awakened aspiration for the highest, perfect Enlightenment.
I beseech you to explain the Dharma to me fully, so that I can
perform practices for the establishment of a pure Buddha-
land adorned with infinite excellent qualities. So please teach
me how to attain Enlightenment quickly and to remove the roots
of afflictions of birth-and-death for all.’”

The Buddha said to Ananda, “At that time the Buddha

Lokeshvararaja replied to the Bhiksu Dharmakara, ‘You yourself
should know by what practice you can establish a glorious
Buddha-land.’

  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.’

“At that time the Buddha Lokeshvararaja recognized the Bhiksu

Dharmakara’s noble and high aspirations, and taught him as
follows: ‘If, for example, one keeps on bailing water out of a great
ocean with a pint-measure, one will be able to reach the bottom
after many kalpas and then obtain rare treasures. Likewise, if one
sincerely, diligently and unceasingly seeks the Way, one will be
able to reach one’s destination. What vow is there which cannot
be fulfilled?’

“Then the Buddha Lokeshvararaja explained in detail the greater

and lesser aspects of two hundred and ten kotis of Buddha-
lands, together with the good and evil natures of heavenly and
human beings living there. He revealed them all to the Bhiksu
just as he had requested. Then the Bhiksu, having heard the
Buddha’s exposition of the glorious pure lands and also
having seen all of them, resolved upon his supreme,
unsurpassed vows. His mind being serene and his
aspirations free of attachment, he was unexcelled
throughout the world. For five full kalpas he contemplated
the vows, and then chose the pure practices for the
establishment of his Buddha-land.”

>>>

So...what are we hearing from Shakyamuni Buddha here?

We are hearing that the monk Dharmakara needed the insight of

the Buddha Lokeshvararaja to fully understand the IMMENSE
scope of his holy undertaking on behalf of all beings everywhere.
  66  
The Buddha Lokeshvararaja describes this immensity by
comparing it to the task of bailing out a great ocean with a pint-
measure.

We are hearing that the Buddha Lokeshvararaja explained to the

monk Dharmakara the good and evil qualities of 210 kotis (an
incomprehensibly large number) of Buddha-lands, along with the
transcendental and human beings inhabiting them.

We are hearing the monk Dharmakara restate his resolve with a

serene and unattached mind of aspiration - unexcelled
throughout the world.

And finally, we are hearing from Shakyamuni Buddha that

Dharmakara spent FIVE KALPAS - that’s 33.5 BILLION YEARS -
contemplating the final vows he would make, and choosing the
pure practices for the establishment of his own pure land.

Can you hear, Dharma friends, that this is - in Shakyamuni’s own

speaking - the TRUE story of a REAL sentient being? Can you
hear, Dharma friends, that this sentient being vowed to create a
REAL pure land - a land that would be greater than all the other
pure lands that already existed?

Now...once again...it is up to you whether or not to actually

BELIEVE that what Shakyamuni has said here is the TRUTH. I
cannot convince you. I cannot convince anyone. You can only
be convinced by embracing the singular practice of True Shin
Buddhism - which requires that you temporarily set aside ALL
you pre-existing thoughts, ideas and beliefs, so that you can ask
the Buddha within whether this narrative of history/biography
from Shakyamuni Buddha is actually TRUE...or not.

  67    
 9
The Primal Vow

In Part 8, we spent time listening to Shakyamuni Buddha speak

to all those gathered that day on Vulture Peak - and by extension
to us as well - about Dharmakara. He was a king, who
renounced his kingdom and became a monk. As a monk, he
awakened his own aspiration for Buddhahood - just as we are
called to awaken ours. And then, he visited with the extant
Buddha of his time and place, and expressed his aspiration, not
just to become a Buddha - but to save ALL BEINGS
EVERYWHERE from the endless cycle of birth and death in
samsaric existence.

When I listen to Dharmakara speak, through Shakyamuni

Buddha’s narrative, I hear the very embodiment of the great
Bodhisattva Vow: BEINGS ARE NUMBERLESS. I VOW TO
SAVE THEM ALL.

So, the monk Dharmakara did what he needed to do to

understand what creating a Pure Land would entail. He visited
countless Buddha-lands, consulted with the Buddhas who ruled
over them, and found out about the beings in them. He learned
from all those Buddhas what spiritual practices they had done to
create their lands. He observed and considered the “old
paradigm” for leading others to Buddhahood - and he
contemplated all these things for billions of years, as he sought to
create a “new paradigm” for fulfilling the great Bodhisattva vow,
and saving all beings everywhere.

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.

Why is this? Why is it so important to follow the K.I.S.S. (Keep It

Simple, Sangha) principle?

It is because of the fundamental INTENTION of Dharmakara. He

grew to understand, throughout his many rebirths, and his
countless experiences of helping others, how unsuited most
sentient beings were for anything complicated when it comes to
the Dharma. Even today, in the USA where I live - the richest
country in the history of the world - only one in five have a college
degree. And in so many parts of the world, people are (and
always have been) truly uneducated - functionally illiterate -
incapable of grasping so many of the conceptual formulations of
self-power Buddhism - whether from the Hinayana, the
Mahayana or the Vajrayana.

Many Buddhist teachers have historically said that such

uneducated people were impossible to help. Many Buddhist
teachers also have historically said that WOMEN were
impossible to help. Many Buddhist teachers have said that such
people were ICCHANTIKA - beings without the seed of
Buddhahood.

Of course, this is entirely untrue. ALL sentient beings have the

seed of Buddhahood. The life of Shakyamuni, and the
conversion of people who were both horrible and insane (like
  69    
Angulimala) shows that, indeed, there isn’t a single ICCHANTIKA
in the entire universe! Every sentient being CAN be saved, and
ultimately WILL be saved.

It’s just that old paradigm Buddhism - the Buddhism that

depended upon the exercise of self-power - was not a reliable,
suitable vehicle for so many, many people. Most people were
(and are) totally unsuited to commit themselves to TRUE self-
power based practices - practices that would be continual, and
perfect, and therefore truly TRANSFORMATIVE.

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.

So...rather than talk about all the 48 Vows, or even 10, or 5, or 2

of them - we are going to talk about ONE vow - the 18th Vow,
called the PRIMAL VOW. We’re going to follow the vision here of
Master Honen (Master Shinran’s own Dharma mentor), who said
this just a few days before he died:

>>>

Even if those who believe in the nembutsu study the teaching

which Shakyamuni taught his whole life, they should not put on
any airs and should sincerely practice the nembutsu, just as an
illiterate fool, a nun or one who is ignorant of Buddhism.

>>>

And Master Rennyo, the second great teacher of True Shin

Buddhism, said this:

  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 do not know a single character of the scriptures,

if you get someone to read the scriptures to others and then
you lead them to acquire SHINJIN (saving faith), 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 in
depth and sincerity, without appreciating the Dharma, you are
one of those who are learned in the scriptures but are ignorant of
them.

From Master Rennyo’s Goichidaiki-kikigaki (THUS HAVE I

HEARD FROM RENNYO SHONIN)

>>>

And Master Shinran himself said this, concerning the utter

uselessness of what passes for Buddhist scholarship so often, in
the Tannisho:

>>>

These days however, people seem to engage in learning to put a

stop to criticism by others, making ready to devote themselves
wholly to debate and argument.

If one studies, more and more one realizes Amida’s

fundamental intent and grows in awareness of the
immensity of the compassionate Vow, so that one can
explain, to those who anxiously wonder how birth is
  71    
possible for the wretched people like themselves, that the
Primal Vow does not discriminate as to whether one’s mind
is good or evil, pure or defiled. Only then is there meaning in
being a scholar.

But to intimidate a person who happens to say the nembutsu in

accordance with the Primal Vow without any forethought-
insisting that one must have learning- is the act of a demon
obstructing the dharma, of a foe of the Buddha.

Not only do such people themselves lack shinjin of Other

Power, but further they confuse others with mistaken
thoughts.

>>>

So we’re going to limit our discussion to THE PRIMAL VOW, as if

you and I were ignorant and illiterate Buddhists, incapable of
deep intellectual study.

We’re going to focus our discussion on the Primal Vow, because

it is the very HEART of the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism.

Here it is, as shared by none other than Shakyamuni Buddha in

the Larger Sutra:

>>>

If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of

the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust
themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my
Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.

Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest

offences and abuse the right Dharma.
  72  
>>>

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:

First, please notice that this vow is being made by a sentient

being - a monk named Dharmakara. He lived in a far distant time
and place, before the big bang that supposedly created the
universe we are living in, and ultimately our own planet. So I
can’t say that he had the same sort of shape that we do. Maybe
he had four legs rather than two...or a big eye where we have a
belly button.

But what I can say is that he had the same sort of

CONSCIOUSNESS we have...just like the incarnate Buddha he
was speaking with had the same sort of CONSCIOUSNESS as
Shakyamuni Buddha has.

Please notice that he was talking in a way all TRUE Buddhists

talk, about the eventuality of one day attaining Buddhahood. He
wasn’t saying (as so many modern Buddhists do) that attaining
Buddhahood was not really possible, and making Buddhism into
some sort of mental health program with real, but very limited
benefits.

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”.

So...any teacher of Shin Buddhism who is actually PAYING

ATTENTION to what Shakyamuni Buddha taught (to understand
the content) AND has listened deeply in his or her heart and
realizes that Shakyamuni’s words here are TRUE, would tell you

  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.

Nagarjuna lived in the Second Age of the Dharma, when

Shakyamuni’s buddha-field had diminished greatly. In this age,
the power of Shakyamuni’s buddha-field still empowered many to
UNDERSTAND self-power, old paradigm Buddhism correctly.
But most of those who did understand were simply not able to
leverage their understanding into the kind of right practice that
would enable them to transcend their blind passions, their
cravings and aversions (attachments), their delusions and
obscurations, their ignorance, or the continual chatter of the
monkey-mind. which the Buddha called “the builder of this house”
of suffering.

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.

And (most important for this discussion), he recognized that

Amida Buddha was a REAL Buddha - as real a Buddha as
Shakyamuni - and he joined the countless Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas in the ten directions in worshipping and adoring this
Buddha directly.

Let’s listen together to some verses he composed, expressing his

own worship of Amida:

>>>

JUNIRAI

THE TWELVE ADORATIONS

By Nagarjuna

(Translated by Hisao Inagaki)

1. With reverence I bow my head to Amida, the Sage,

The Most Honored One, who is revered by humans and devas.
You dwell in the wonderful Land of Peace and Bliss,
Surrounded by innumerable children of the Buddhas.

  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.

4. You reside in the crown which Kannon wears on his head;

Your excellent features are adorned with jewel-ornaments;
You destroy anti-Buddhist views, devilish thoughts and conceited
ideas.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

5. Incomparable, spotless, broad and pure

Is your virtue; it is serene and clear like space.
You have attained freedom in giving benefit to beings.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

6. Bodhisattvas in your Land, renowned everywhere in the ten

directions,
Are always glorified even by innumerable maras;
You dwell with the Vow-Power for the sake of all sentient beings.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

7. In the jewel-pond strewn with gold sands grows a lotus;

  76  
The excellent throne on its dais has been produced by your acts
of merit;
On the throne you are seated like the king of mountains.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

8. From the ten directions the Buddhas’ children come in flocks;

Manifesting supernatural powers, they reach the Land of Peace
and Bliss.
They look up at your august face adoringly and worship you
without interruption.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

9. All things are impermanent and selfless,

Like an image of the moon in the water, lightning or morning dew.
Your sermons to the multitudes are, in reality, wordless.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

10. In the Revered Buddha’s Land exist no evil names,

Nor are there beings in the female form, nor fear of evil realms.
All worship the Honored One in sincerity of heart.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

11. In the Buddha’s Land accomplished with innumerable skillful

devices,
There are no samsaric realms, nor evil teachers;
Upon attaining birth there, one reaches Bodhi without falling
back.
Hence, I prostrate myself to the ground and worship Amida, the
Holy One.

12. I have extolled the Buddha’s excellent virtue,

Thereby acquiring boundless merit like the ocean.
  77    
The roots of pure good I have thus acquired
I wish to share with other beings, aspiring together to be born in
his Land.

>>>

So...as we listen to the GREATEST of the great Sages -

Shakyamuni Buddha Himself, AND the great sage Bodhisattva
Nagarjuna - we are hearing them BOTH bear witness to the fact
that Amida is a real Buddha indeed.

Please, as you contemplate the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism,

consider who you want to listen to when it comes to this central
teaching: Some modernist scholars who simply DON’T KNOW
what they’re talking about, despite their scholarship and
erudition, or the great sages and teachers who have had such a
profound influence on the global Sangha for so many
generations.

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

Let’s continue our discussion and exploration of The Primal Vow

- the 18th of the 48 vows made by Dharmakara, which is at the
very heart of the true and authentic Pure Land Teaching
delivered first by Shakyamuni, and finally brought to full fruition
and revelation in the teachings of Master Shinran.

Here is the Vow, once again (we’ll discuss the exclusion clause
later on):

>>>

If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of

the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust
themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my
Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not
attain perfect Enlightenment.

>>>

Let’s notice several things about the Vow:

- The Vow is ALL-INCLUSIVE. Every single sentient being, in

every corner of the sentient universe - including our universe and
any other universe that came before this one or will come after
this one - or existence in some other dimensionality - an alternate
universe other than the one that we can currently perceive - is
included in this Primal Vow.

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.

This Primal Vow is UNIVERSAL. It is ALL-INCLUSIVE.

- The Vow calls us all to HAVE FAITH IN THE SENTIENT BEING

WHO MAKES THIS VOW. It calls us to ENTRUST ourselves -
which means, to entrust our individual karmic destiny - to this
sentient being. It calls us to entrust ourselves SINCERELY. It
calls us to entrust ourselves JOYFULLY.

It calls us to entrust ourselves - not to a principle, not to an idea,

not to an ideal, not to a mythic story, not even to the syllables
contained in the Nembutsu - but to HIM, HIM, HIM -
Dharmakara/Amida.

The converse is necessarily true as well: If you are NOT

entrusting yourself to HIM, HIM, HIM - but only to a principle
(however noble), or an idea (however brilliant), or an ideal
(however lofty), or to a mythic story (however inspiring), or even
to the syllables contained in the Nembutsu itself - you are simply
not yet under the umbrella of the Primal Vow.

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.

It focuses on those WHO DESIRE TO BE BORN IN HIS PURE

LAND. As we said before, the Pure Land is NOT just an
enlightened state of mind. It is a CREATED ENVIRONMENT -
  80  
an environment created by Dharmakara to fulfill His own Vows to
save all beings everywhere. Not everybody will be born in that
Pure Land after this life is over...but ONLY those who actually
DESIRE to be born there...because they are entrusting
themselves and their karmic destiny ENTIRELY to HIM.

So...why do I desire to be born there...and why should you desire

to be born there as well? The answer is very simple.

My deepest, most heartfelt desire is to become a true Buddha.

Said another way, I really and truly want to STOP taking birth
again and again in Samsara as an ignorant, foolish being, pulled
back and forth by my blind passions, my cravings and aversions,
my delusions and obscurations. I want to be DONE with all that,
once and for all. I want to fulfill my karmic destiny - the karmic
destiny of COMPLETING my journey through Samsaric
existence, and becoming at last what I was always MEANT to be.

I don’t want to be a little bit enlightened. I don’t want to have

transitory moments, hours, days or even weeks of expanded
consciousness. As sweet and precious as those moments are
(and I have had them, as have countless others), they are
IMPERMANENT. They just don’t last. At some point,
consciousness contracts, and my intractable egotism re-asserts
itself, and the inevitable cycle of suffering begins again.

I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want to be a little bit

enlightened, or even A LOT enlightened. I want to be FULLY
enlightened...a Buddha, and nothing less.

And I know that to fulfill my aspiration for enlightenment, the best

and the quickest and most sure way to do that is to be born in
Amida’s Pure Land. Sentient beings who entrust themselves
fully and without reservation to Amida, are brought to Amida’s
own Pure Land at the end of this life - and once there, they

  81    
IMMEDIATELY experience the final transformation - the
transformation to Buddhahood.

That’s what I want.

Conversely, if you don’t want to be born in Amida’s Pure Land,

you simply cannot achieve that transformation to Buddhahood,
no matter what else you might do to improve yourself on the
spiritual path. You can do all sorts of complicated and
demanding practices. You can keep 5 precepts, or 10, or a
hundred. You can practice the 6 paramitas, or the 10 paramitas.
You can study until you know as much as the greatest Buddhist
scholar. But you will not become a Buddha...you will not be
covered by the umbrella of the Primal Vow.

In the Primal Vow, the requirements for birth are SIMPLE,

SIMPLE, SIMPLE. All we need to do is ENTRUST ourselves and
our karmic destiny to Amida Buddha, and call His Name...even
as few as 10 times...with a heart of sincere faith that is free of
doubt:

>>>

Namu Amida Butsu (that’s one)

Save me, Amida Buddha (that’s two)
Namu Amida Butsu (that’s three)
I take refuge in You, Amida Buddha (that’s four)
Namu Amida Butsu (that’s five)

Now...do it once again:

Namu Amida Butsu (that’s six)

Save me, Amida Buddha (that’s seven)
Namu Amida Butsu (that’s eight)
I take refuge in You, Amida Buddha (that’s nine)
Namu Amida Butsu (that’s ten)
  82  
>>>

Or you can simply say the Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) ten
times.

Of course, when you say the Nembutsu, you have to

UNDERSTAND what you are saying, and you have to have
FAITH in the one Buddha you are calling out to. The words
themselves are not a magic formula.

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.

Dharmakara/Amida is TOTALLY SERIOUS ABOUT HIS

COMMITMENT to fulfilling the promise of His Primal Vow. He
says that if even ONE person who has fulfilled these SIMPLE
requirements should fail to be born in His Land - He Himself
would not want to attain full enlightenment...and of course that is
EXACTLY what He wants to attain. He too...like all true seekers
on the path of awakening, YEARNS to become a Buddha, too.
And as He makes His Vow, He puts his OWN karmic destiny on
the line. If any sincere follower, who follows His simple
instructions, fails to attain Buddhahood in the Pure Land, then
(he says) he should not attain Buddhahood either.

So, Dharma Friends - this is what the Primal Vow of

Dharmakara/Amida is all about.

Now, an obvious question arises at this point: HOW does a plain

person, who has NOT severed his own blind passions, who has
NOT eliminated his own cravings and aversions (attachments),
who has NOT completely seen through his own delusions and
obscurations, who has NOT replaced his own ignorance with
Buddhic wisdom, and who has NOT extinguished that
  83    
egocentric monkey mind that Shakyamuni called the builder of
this house - HOW, HOW, HOW does such a person end up going
to Amida’s own Pure Land, and immediately complete His own
journey to Buddhahood???

How is such a thing even POSSIBLE?

I’ll continue next time with the answer to that question.

  84  
 11
How Does a Person Go to Amida’s Pure Land
and Become a Buddha?

We stopped last time by stating how EASY it is to become a

Buddha, by simply entrusting oneself to Amida Buddha and His
Primal Vow, and saying the Nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) as
little as 10 times. And we ended that segment by asking - as so
many have asked before - HOW is such an amazing thing
possible?

So...in this segment of Shin Buddhism 101, we’re going to

answer that question. And we’re going to answer it in a way that
is SIMPLE - that ANYONE can understand - whether he (or she)
is learned in Buddhism already, or is totally ignorant of Buddhism
- as so many of Master Shinran’s original listeners, who were
illiterate peasants in Northern Japan, were ignorant.

In case you think I’m exaggerating, Master Shinran said the

following, in a postscript to his Notes on ‘Essentials of Faith
Alone’:

>>>

That people of the countryside, who do not know the meanings of

written characters and who are painfully and hopelessly ignorant,
may easily understand, I have repeated the same things over
and over.

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.

I have nothing against scholarship at all. Indeed, my own

Dharma mentor Eiken Kobai Sensei is one of the most renowned
scholars of Shin Buddhism alive today, with a national reputation
in Japan. But although he is such a great scholar, when I read
his books, they were written in a way that a plain person can
understand. He had no need to draw upon the esoteric
teachings of the Path of the Sages. Because of that, I understood
Master Shinran’s message for the very first time - and then easily
came to SHINJIN once my intellectual confusion had been
cleared up by Eiken’s skillful and simple words.

So...let’s discuss, in SIMPLE terms, how it is possible that a

person could become a Buddha so EASILY as Shakyamuni
Buddha, the Seven Pure Land Masters, Master Shinran and
Master Rennyo (the second great teacher of Shin Buddhism) all
declare.

>>>

  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.

The Dharma of Karma says that somehow, there is a moral

ledger being kept in the universe. When we do good deeds, we
create karmic merit. And when we do evil deeds, we create
karmic debt. Karmic merit and karmic debt accumulate because
of the willful, volitional actions we take in this life.

Now...some people think that if (for example) a person does

some terrible deed, he will experience karmic retribution or
payback during the course of this lifetime. But we can see, by
countless examples, that this is not necessarily true. There are
plenty of people who do huge evil deeds, and die peacefully in
their beds. In the same vein, there are plenty of people who
spend their lives doing truly good deeds, and yet have very
difficult lives in one way or another.

So...from the perspective of Shakyamuni Buddha, karmic

payback (whether positive or negative) often occurs in some
future lifetime, and not simply in this lifetime. Karmic payback is
responsible for the kind of birth that a sentient being will have in
his next life. Shakyamuni teaches that those who do terrible evil
deeds will suffer greatly, taking birth in one of the hell realms,
unless they deeply and sincerely repent. And those who devote
themselves to doing good deeds will correspondingly have a
favorable birth in their next life.

Just to be clear, Shakyamuni Buddha declares that having a

human birth (as we all have) is an EXTREMELY favorable birth.
He says that to have such a birth is extremely rare. He uses a

  87    
wonderful metaphor in this teaching to describe how rare our
human birth is:

Imagine (Shakyamuni says) that there is a giant turtle living at the

bottom of the ocean. Once ever 10,000 years, it rises to the
surface to take a giant gulp of air, and then returns to the bottom
again. Now imagine that there is a huge wooden ring floating
somewhere in that same ocean. How rare would it be for that
turtle, when coming up for air, to find his head sticking through
that wooden ring?

Very rare, indeed! That’s how rare it is for us to have a precious

human birth - according to Shakyamuni Buddha.

Now, old paradigm, self-power Buddhism is based on the

working of karma I have described above. The paradigm is all
about deliberately and continually generating karmic merit, by
practicing perfectly in one or more of the 84,000 self-power paths
to Buddhahood. This practice must continue, not just for one life,
but for many lives, in order to gradually accumulate a vast store
of karmic merit that ultimately leads to becoming a Buddha.

There’s a powerful description of such a life in Shakyamuni’s

biographical discourse about Dharmakara, in the Larger Sutra.
Let’s listen to it together:

>>>

The Buddha said to Ananda, “As soon as the Bhiksu Dharmakara

spoke those verses, the entire earth shook in six ways, and a rain
of wonderful flowers fell from heaven, scattering everywhere.
Spontaneous music was heard, and a voice in the sky said,
‘Surely you will attain the highest, perfect Enlightenment. “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.
  88  
“Then, Ananda, after proclaiming and establishing those
universal vows in the presence of the Buddha Lokeshvararaja
before the multitude of beings, including the eight kinds of
superhuman beings, such as devas and dragon-spirits, and also
Mara and Brahma, the Bhiksu (monk) Dharmakara was solely
intent on producing a glorious and exquisite land. The Buddha-
land which he sought to establish was vast in extent,
unsurpassed and supremely wonderful, always present and
subject neither to decay nor change. During inconceivable and
innumerable kalpas, he cultivated the immeasurable
meritorious practices of the Bodhisattva Path.

“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.

“Wherever he was born, an immeasurable stock of treasure

spontaneously appeared as he wished. He taught countless
sentient beings and guided them on the path of the highest, true
Enlightenment. He was reborn as a rich man, a lay devotee, a
member of the highest caste or of a noble family, a ksatriya king,
a wheel-turning monarch, a king of one of the six heavens in the
world of desire, or even higher, as a Brahma-king. He revered
and worshipped all Buddhas by making the four kinds of offering
to them. The merit he thus acquired was indescribably great.

Fragrance issued from his mouth as from a blue lotus-flower, and

every pore of his body emitted the scent of sandalwood, which
permeated innumerable worlds. His appearance was majestic,
and his physical characteristics and marks were truly wonderful.
From his hands, inexhaustible treasures, clothes, food and drink,
rare and exquisite flowers and incense, silken canopies, banners,
and other ornaments were produced. In such manifestations he
was unrivaled among all heavenly and human beings. He thus
attained the command of all dharmas.

>>>

So...what is Shakyamuni saying here? He’s saying that the

Bodhisattva Dharmakara was able to persist, over the course of
MANY long ages (kalpas) in the proper practices of the self-
power path. Doing so, he created an IMMENSE, indeed
IMMEASURABLE, store of karmic merit as he blessed and
benefitted countless sentient beings.

  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.

That is Master Shinran’s contention: In this age, not one person

in a billion can create the kind of karmic merit needed to actually
attain Buddhahood by his (or her) own efforts. And this is
EXACTLY what Dharmakara found out, during his long period of
meditation, and his visits to countless Buddha-lands, and his
discussions with countless Buddhas. He found out that old
paradigm, self-power Buddhism was both INEFFICIENT and
INEFFECTIVE as a method and a system for bringing even the
best of sentient beings to Buddhahood.

And thus, as Dharmakara completed his own Pure Land, and

then transformed into Amida Buddha, and took rulership over that
land, he created this entirely NEW paradigm of “Other Power
Buddhism” to make a way for us, who had no way.

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.

>>>

The Other Power approach of Amida Buddha does NOT - I

repeat, does NOT - depend on our practice whatsoever. It does
NOT - I repeat, does NOT - depending on you or me generating
any karmic merit at all. Indeed, one of the fundamental axioms of
this Other Power approach is that in order to partake of it, we
actually need to ABANDON our attempts to improve our spiritual
state by any practice whatsoever.

Let me say that again, in a different way: If you are depending -

a little bit or a lot - on your own practice, on your own taking of
precepts, on your own cultivations of the paramitas, on your own
study, on your own meditation - to create karmic merit, you
simply cannot receive the blessing of this EASY PATH to
Buddhahood. Until you give up, completely and entirely, on
trying to climb the mountain of enlightenment by your own efforts,
the Dharma door of Amida Buddha will NOT - I repeat NOT -
open for you.

This Dharma door to Buddhahood ONLY opens for those who

recognize their complete spiritual inability to create PERMANENT
and MEANINGFUL change in their lives, even as they YEARN
for Buddhahood. It only opens to those who recognize (often
after trying and failing over and over again) that they simply don’t
have the right stuff to become enlightened by their own efforts.

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.

In that one thought moment of complete and utter entrusting,

Amida gives us the gift of SHINJIN - the gift of His own faith-mind
consciousness. And that gift includes the gift of His own infinite
karmic merit, created by him over those countless ages as a
Bodhisattva as He continued His perfect practice as Shakyamuni
described above.

It is that gift of Amida’s own INFINITE karmic merit that makes us

ready and eligible to go to His Pure Land DIRECTLY at the end
of this life, and experience IMMEDIATE transformation into
Buddhahood.

That is why, in Master Shinran’s writings, when he talks about

PRACTICE, he is NOT (I repeat NOT) referring to our puny,
imperfect practice at all. He is referring to Amida’s PERFECT
practice over the course of countless ages, which created
INFINITE merit, which Amida now shares READILY with anyone
willing to entrust himself and his karmic destiny COMPLETELY,
ENTIRELY and UTTERLY to Him.

Now...this is EASY to explain (I just did it). And it is EASY to

understand (many plain and unlearned people have understood
it).

But for MOST people it is NOT easy to believe.

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.

Indeed, when Master Shinran taught, and for centuries after,

many self-power Buddhists honestly thought that Shin Buddhism
wasn’t really Buddhism at all. That’s why Master Shinran spent
20 years of his own life writing his major work - the Kyo-Gyo-
Shin-Sho aka The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the
Pure Land Way. He was writing a grand APOLOGIA for True
Shin Buddhism - showing how this precious Dharma thread
began with Shakyamuni Buddha Himself, and then winded its
way over the course of many centuries through India, then China
and Japan, carried along by the successive insights of the Seven
Pure Land Masters.

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.

Let’s listen, as he explains this to his student Yuien-Bo, in the

Tannisho:

>>>

On the assertion: People who are unafraid of committing evil

because of the inconceivable working of the Primal Vow are in
fact impudently presuming upon the Vow and therefore will not
attain birth.

  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.

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?”

“Yes I do,” I answered.

“Then will you not deviate from whatever I tell you?” he repeated.

I humbly affirmed this. Thereupon he said, “Now, I want you to kill

a thousand people. If you do, you will definitely attain birth.”

I responded, “Though you instruct me thus, I’m afraid it is not in

my power to kill even one person.”

“Then why did you say that you would follow whatever I told
you?”

He continued, “By this you should realize that if we could always

act as we wished, then when I told you to kill a thousand people
in order to attain birth, you should have immediately done so. But
since you lack the karmic cause inducing you to kill even a
single person, you do not kill. It is not that you do not kill
because your heart is good. In the same way, a person may not
wish to harm anyone and yet end up killing a hundred or a
thousand people.”

  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.

He also said, “If it were only by observing precepts and upholding

rules that we should entrust ourselves to the Primal Vow, how
could we ever gain freedom from birth-and-death?” Even such
wretched beings as ourselves, on encountering the Primal Vow,
come indeed to “presume” upon it. But even so, how could we
commit evil acts without any karmic cause in ourselves?

The Master further stated:

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.

>>>

As Master Shinran says, it is a FACT that we are ALL carrying

immense and unseen karmic burden from countless past lives
that are hidden from our view. When I finally read and
understood this profound Dharma truth, I understood at last how
  96  
so many priests, monks, and spiritual teachers in Buddhism and
all other religions as well could possibly act in evil and despicable
ways. And my own moral failures and ongoing inability to simply
live as my “best self” finally made sense to me as well.

It finally made sense to me that I simply could not save myself,

no matter what I did, nor how long I did it. My own efforts were
(and are) too weak, too puny, too easily destroyed by karmic
burdens from the past. That is why you and I cannot free
ourselves ffrom attachments, from blind passions, from delusions
and obscurations, from ignorance, and from intractable egotism.
That is why we are doomed to continue the endless cycle of
birth, life, suffering and death - despite our desire to be free -
despite our practice - despite our study - despite our good deeds
- and despite our best intentions.

We just can’t get there from here because of our KARMA.

I am so grateful, as a person who as received Amida’s gift of

SHINJIN, to know that my karmic burden, my karmic debt, and
my lack of karmic merit is not an impediment ANYMORE.

I am so grateful to KNOW that I have received the full store of

Amida’s own karmic merit, given to me in a way that is truly
inconceivable - but truly real.

I am so grateful that now, having received Amida’s gift, I can now

RELAX in His arms, knowing that I am grasped by Him - just as
Master Shinran was...and will NEVER be abandoned...and will
SURELY take birth and become a Buddha in His own Pure Land
as soon as this life is over.

Here is a wonderful passage from a Tendai monk named

Seikaku, who was a contemporary of Master Shinran’s. He wrote
a tract called “Essentials of Faith ALONE”, which Master Shinran

  97    
both recommended without reservation, and commented on in a
series of notes:

>>>

In capacities, there are keen and dull; among teachings, those of

gradual attainment and sudden attainment. Among people, there
are slow and quick; among practices, difficult and easy.

Know that the gates of the Path of Sages are teachings of

gradual attainment; they are difficult practices. The Pure Land
teaching is that of sudden attainment; it is the easy practice.

The esoteric practices of Shingon or Tendai meditation are hard

to master with a mind like a monkey’s; the Sanron or Hosso
teachings easily bewilder the eyes of cows and sheep.

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?

Thus our great teacher, as the messenger of Sakyamuni

Tathagata, spread the nembutsu teaching; as the incarnation of
Master Shan-tao, he urged people to perform the single practice
of saying the Name. The act of single practice and single-
mindfulness of Amida will spread gradually from now; the
religious act uninterrupted and universal now has come to be
known.

Thus it is that those fundamentally evil who break precepts

ardently enter the path of birth in the Pure Land. Those of

  98  
weak intellect and shallow capacity fervently direct
themselves to the gate of the Pure Land teaching.

Truly we know: It is a great torch in the long night of

ignorance; why should we sorrow that our eyes of wisdom
are dark? It is a great ship on the vast ocean of birth-and-
death; why should we grieve that our karmic hindrance is
heavy?

>>>

Though our karmic hindrance is HEAVY, there is no need to

grieve anymore. Amida Buddha has created a NEW paradigm
for turning plain people into BUDDHAS. The supreme and
universal Dharma Door is OPEN. All we need to do is listen to
this Dharma, and entrust ourselves to Amida and His Primal
Vow.

In the next segment, I’ll talk about the second part of

Dharmakara’s Primal Vow - the exclusion clause. As always, if
you have any questions, please don’t keep them to yourself. It’s
ESSENTIAL that we ask all our questions so we can resolve all
our doubts, and thus become ready to receive Amida’s
incomparable gift of SHINJIN.

  99    
 12
The Exclusion Clause in the Primal Vow:
What Does It Mean?

In Part 11, we talked about HOW it is possible that plain people

like us can be saved, and transformed into Buddhas, even
though we are still afflicted by blind passions, cravings and
aversions (attachments), delusions and obscurations, ignorance
and intractable egotism. It is because in this new paradigm
created by Dharmakara/Amida, we do not depend on our good
works at all - but rather we depend ENTIRELY upon HIS good
work. When we entrust our karmic destiny ENTIRELY to Him,
and receive His gift of SHINJIN (faith-mind consciousness), He
also bestows upon us His own infinite karmic merit. This is what
allows us, at long last, to complete our endless journey of
repeated birth, life, suffering and death - and instead be born in
His own Buddha-land, where we immediately become Buddhas.

This is what Master Shinran is referring to when he says that the

Primal Vow of Amida allows us “to attain Nirvana (aka
Buddhahood) WITHOUT SEVERING BLIND PASSIONS”. Here
he is, in his great “Hymn of True Faith and Nembutsu” (KGSS
2:102). Let’s listen together:

>>>

Sakyamuni Tathagata appeared in this world

Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida;

We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements,

Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth.

When the one thought-moment of joy arises,

  100  
Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions;

>>>

“The one thought-moment of joy” is the moment when we

actually receive Amida’s gift of SHINJIN (faith-mind
consciousness) along with Amida’s infinite karmic merit.
Therefore, even though we still struggle with our blind passions,
cravings and aversions (attachments), delusions and
obscuration, ignorance and intractable AS PLAIN AND FOOLISH
PEOPLE, our foolishness is no obstacle to enlightenment any
more. The gift of SHINJIN is the assurance of NIRVANA - aka
BUDDHAHOOD - which we will attain in Amida’s Pure Land
when this life is over.

And notice, please, that Master Shinran clarifies, just as the

Seven Pure Land Masters did before him, that Shakyamuni
Buddha appeared in this world as an incarnate, Nirmanakaya
Buddha “solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida”.

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:

>>>

The Larger Sutra states:

It is difficult to encounter a time when a Tathagata has appeared

in the world and to meet one.

It is difficult to meet with and difficult to hear the teaching of the

Buddhas.

  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.

But the most difficult of all difficulties is to hear this sutra

and accept it in shinjin (faith unmixed with doubt); nothing
surpasses this difficulty...

(KGSS 6:57)

>>>
And then, in the same passage, Master Shinran quotes the Pure
Land Master Shan-Tao, who says this:

>>>

Extremely difficult is it to encounter an age in which a Buddha

appears,
And difficult indeed for a person to realize the wisdom of shinjin.

To come to hear the dharma rarely met with

Is again among all things most difficult.

To realize shinjin oneself and to guide others to shinjin

Is among difficult things yet even more difficult.

(KGSS 6:63)

>>>

It is a rare and marvellous opportunity even to HEAR this

Dharma. I was a Buddhist for years, and have many books
about Buddhism still on my bookshelf, and most of them didn’t
mention this new paradigm teaching about becoming a Buddha
even ONCE. I don’t know why that is...but certainly my own

  102  
experience mirrors Shan-Tao’s words about how DIFFICULT it is
to even encounter this teaching.

But even more difficult than hearing this Dharma message is

REALIZING the experience of SHINJIN in one’s own life. And
that matches my own experience as well. I have shared this
Dharma message with many people for years - and it’s incredible
(and tragic) how few people realize that I (like Master Shinran)
am speaking pure and unadulterated TRUTH about how to come
to the END of suffering and the beginning of existence as a
BUDDHA.

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.

So...now we want to continue with the next part of the Primal

Vow - the EXCLUSION CLAUSE. What’s that all about, anyway?

Let’s re-read the Primal Vow once again, just to get oriented:

>>>

“If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the

ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me,
desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times,
should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.”
(The Vow itself).

“Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest

offences and abuse (slander) the right Dharma.” (The Exclusion
Clause).

>>>

  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.

In the Hinayana school, the Five Great Offenses are:

(1) killing one’s mother

(2) killing one’s father
(3) killing an arhat
(4) causing blood to flow from the body of a Buddha
(5) disrupting the harmony of the assembly of monks.

In the Mahayana school, the Five Great Offenses are:

(1) destroying stupas and temples, burning sutras and Buddhist

images, or plundering the three treasures, causing others to do
these acts, or being pleased at seeing them done
(2) slandering the disciples, solitary Buddhas, or the Mahayana
teaching
(3) harassing the practice of a monk or causing his death
(4) committing any of the five grave offenses of the Hinayana
tradition
(5) committing the Ten Transgressions with the conviction that
there will be no karmic recompense and without fear for the next
life, or teaching others such an attitude.

And finally, the Ten Transgressions are the Buddhist precepts

against (1) destroying life, (2) theft, (3) adultery, (4) lying, (5)
harsh words, (6) speaking ill of others, (7) idle talk, (8) greed, (9)
anger, (10) wrong views.

Let’s make a few observations first of all:

  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.

Similarly, it’s not hard to understand that anyone who deliberately

sets out to destroy Buddhist structures, or who deliberately
slanders any of the 84,000 teachings of the 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.

The truth is that we ALL violate some or all of the Ten

Transgressions during the course of our lives. Master Honen
(young Shinran’s personal Dharma mentor) called himself
“Honen of the Ten Evil Ways”...after having an existential crisis
when he was already hailed of as one of the greatest Dharma
teachers Japan had ever seen. He realized deeply that, in truth,
he had not REALLY kept even one precept over the course of his
life. That’s what set him on a search through the libraries of the
great monasteries, seeking for a way for him to become a
Buddha IN SPITE OF his failures.

Finally, he found the sacred writings, and recognize that such

failure in and of itself does not exclude us from the promise of the
Primal Vow.

  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.

Why? Because the very essence of Amida’s own thought, during

the long ages while he met with countless Buddhas, looking for
and finally finding a new paradigm to enable plain people like us
to become Buddhas REQUIRES that we have a rudimentary
understanding of karma (as I explained earlier). This
understanding leads us to a profound awareness that we are all
doomed to endless rebirths in samsaric existence because of the
evil karma we have created - not just in this life, but in countless
lives before.

Now let’s talk about the other part of the Exclusion Clause:
Slandering (or abusing) the Right Dharma.

However bad we might think the Five Grave Offenses, in Master

Shinran’s view, slandering the right Dharma is far, far worse.
Let’s listen together:

>>>

Question: Suppose a person has committed the five grave

offenses but has not slandered the right dharma. In the sutra, it is
granted that such a person can attain birth. Further, suppose
there is a person who has only slandered the right dharma but is
free of the five grave offenses and other evil acts; if he aspires for
birth, will he attain it or not?

Answer: Although he has only slandered the right dharma and

has not committed other evil acts, he will definitely be unable
to attain birth.

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.

Further, the right dharma is the Buddha-dharma. Such a

foolish person has already slandered it; how can it be
reasonable to think that he would aspire to be born in the
Buddha-land?

Suppose the person aspires for birth merely because he

craves to be born into happiness; this is like seeking ice that
is not water or fire without smoke. How can it be deemed
reasonable that he attain it?

>>>

Master Shinran then goes on the describe what “slandering the

right Dharma” means. Once again, let’s listen together:

>>>

Question: What are the characteristics of slandering the right

dharma?

Answer: Saying there is no Buddha, no Buddha-dharma, no

bodhisattva, no bodhisattva-dharma. Deciding on such
views, whether through understanding thus in one’s own
mind or receiving the ideas from others, is called slandering
the right dharma.

  107    
>>>

And then Master Shinran explains WHY slandering the right

Dharma is the gravest of all karmic evils. Once again, let’s listen
to what he has to say:

>>>

Question: Taking such views only concerns the person himself.

What pain and suffering does his act inflict on other sentient
beings, that it should exceed the evil of the five grave
offenses in seriousness?

Answer: If there were no Buddhas and bodhisattvas to expound

the mundane and supramundane good paths and to teach and
guide sentient beings, how could we know of the existence of
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and
sincerity?

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.

Thus, the person who slanders the right dharma is involved

in the gravest karmic evil.

>>>

These passages are all found in KGSS 3:120. The Complete

Works of Shinran (CWS) are available online, and you should
absolutely READ THESE STATEMENTS FOR YOURSELF.
Don’t take my word for any of it - because it is THAT serious.

  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.

What happened to me, and so many of my Dharma friends, is

that we were trying to understand the Dharma of authentic Shin
Buddhism by reading the books and tracts written by modernist
Shin scholars who were (and still are) slandering the right
Dharma just as Master Shinran describes.

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.

These FALSE teachers have large numbers of followers in the

Shin Sangha, who publish, promote and believe their teachings
to be true.

And so...whether from ignorance, intellectual pride, delusion or

unbridled egotism (or some combination thereof), these teachers
and their students are confusing themselves, and others -
shutting down the one Dharma door that remains open today,
giving people clear and direct passage to Buddhahood in our Age
of Dharma Decline.

It is, in Master Shinran’s opinion (and mine as well), the greatest

possible karmic tragedy - because accepting these false
teachings dooms countless people to yet MORE endless rounds
of birth and death again, rather than providing a way for them to
  109    
respond to the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way, and be
SAVED according to the will of Amida, in accordance with His
Primal Vow.

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).

Please don’t DISQUALIFY yourself from the Primal Vow by

swallowing the false teachings that have become so popular in
the Shin Sangha over the recent past.

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.

And then, we will continue our discussion by describing the Pure

Land created by Amida Buddha, according to the testimony of
Shakyamuni Himself. Remember, please, that in my view as a
very poor and imperfect disciple of Shakyamuni, I have come to
the conclusion that He is THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM.

When it comes to the ultimate subject about which humans are

concerned - the subject of suffering and the END of suffering -
there is no one in any of the world’s spiritual and religious
traditions to match Shakyamuni’s understanding, or even come
close. He, and He alone, is the Buddha of our age. He, and He
alone, has reached the pinnacle on the mountain of
enlightenment. He, and He alone, has the true Dharma view.

That is my own conclusion, after contemplation and studying and

LISTENING DEEPLY to the Dharma, reading about His life, and
also studying the writings of other well-known spiritual teachers.

You, of course, will need to draw your own conclusions by

LISTENING DEEPLY for yourself. There really is no such thing
as second-hand Buddhism.

  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.

Their concern, rather, often comes from a deep and pervasive

sense of unworthiness. For whatever reason they are not just
conscious of their blind passions, cravings and aversions,
ignorance and egotism - but HYPER-CONSCIOUS. They have a
problem called “religious scrupulosity” - they are OVERLY
scrupulous about their own shortcomings and the workings of
their monkey mind.

This is a mistake.

While our various shortcomings as BOMBU - foolish beings, or

spiritual idiots - are very real, becoming conscious of them is not
supposed to drive us underground in shame, self-hate and self-
contempt. That is not the intent of Amida Buddha at all. Rather,
the recognition of our karmic limitations and burdens is meant to
drive us into the arms of our perfect mother-father, Amida.

So, please...if this is something you struggle with personally,

don’t let the blind passion of religious scrupulosity drive you to

  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.

And if somehow you doubt this, please listen to what Master

Shinran says in his wonderful “Hymn of True Faith and
Nembutsu”, which covers even those who have committed the
Five Grave Offenses, and thus think they are outside the infinitely
big tent of Amida’s grace:

>>>

From Master Shinran’s “Hymn of True Shinjin and the

Nembutsu”:

I take refuge in the Tathagata of Immeasurable Life!

I entrust myself to the Buddha of Inconceivable Light!
Bodhisattva Dharmakara, in his causal stage,
Under the guidance of Lokesvararaja Buddha,

Searched into the origins of the Buddhas’ pure lands,

And the qualities of those lands and their men and devas;
He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow;
He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing.

In five kalpas of profound thought, he embraced this Vow,

Then resolved again that his Name be heard throughout the ten
quarters.
Everywhere he casts light immeasurable, boundless,
Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance,

Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom,

Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond speaking,
Light excelling sun and moon he sends forth, illumining countless
worlds;
  113    
The multitudes of beings all receive the radiance.

The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true

settlement,
The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth;
We realize the equal of enlightenment and supreme nirvana
Through the fulfillment of the Vow of attaining nirvana without fail.

Sakyamuni Tathagata appeared in this world

Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida;
We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements,
Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth.

When the one thought-moment of joy arises,

Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions;
When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and
slanderers of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin,
They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one
in taste with it.

(KGSS 2:102)

>>>

So...even if you HAVE committed one or more of the Five Grave

Offenses, or (worst of all) been a slanderer of this Dharma
message, it does not exclude you from the Primal Vow. As soon
as you repent sincerely (“turn about in heart”), and yearn for
Buddhahood, you are once again INCLUDED as someone
covered by Amida’s Primal Vow.

And this is part of what self-power Buddhists find so incredible,

and so difficult to believe. How (they wonder) could the simple
act of True Entrusting save a person who has done grave karmic
evil from paying the price of his (or her) deeds?

  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.

But we need to remember (once again) what Amida’s

inconceivable gift of SHINJIN - His own faith-mind consciousness
includes. It not only includes the CERTAINTY that we will be
saved completely by Amida, brought to His own Pure Land after
this life is over, and immediately experience the final
transformation into Buddhahood.

It ALSO includes the full store of Amida’s INFINITE karmic

merit. So even if we have committed the worst sort of evil
deeds, and created a massive amount of karmic debt because of
what we’ve done, all that karmic debt is NOTHING compared to
the INFINITE karmic merit of Amida, given to us so freely, when
finally we hear this Dharma, receive it with gratitude, and take full
and final refuge in Him.

Think of a really big number - like a billion. Compared to

INFINITY, a billion is nothing at all. Indeed, compared to infinity,
a billion is not really much bigger than the number 10, or 100. A
billion units of karmic demerit are INSTANTLY washed away by
the INFINITE number of units of karmic merit that Amida bestows
so freely upon each and every sentient being who fully and finally
takes refuge in Him, entrusting Him to save us.

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”.

These are Master Shinran’s own words, expressing the fullest

  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.

For that very reason, ALL sentient beings are necessarily

included in the statement of, and the outworking, of the Primal
Vow. The only thing that remains is for us to REALIZE the extent
of the Dharma gift already given to us - and to EMBRACE that
gift with a simple heart of gratitude.

So the question for each and all of us is not IF we shall each be

saved - rather the question, the ONLY question, is WHEN we
shall each be saved.

Let’s listen together to a wonderful answer to that question, from

an anonymous document written by someone early on in the
development of the Shin Sangha. It is called ANJIN KETSUJO
SHO, which means ON THE ATTAINMENT OF TRUE FAITH:

>>>

...Amida has already accomplished our Pure Land birth by

fulfilling for each of us our vow and its attendant practices.

As the requirement of the vow and practices has been fulfilled,

thereby securing Pure Land birth for every living being
throughout the ten directions, Amida has thus consummated
the “Perfect Enlightenment of the Namuamidabutsu” in
which those to be saved (ki) and Amida himself (ho) are one.

  116  
Therefore, there is no Pure Land birth of any ordinary living being
apart from Amida’s Perfect Enlightenment.

Amida entered Perfect Enlightenment when the Pure Land

birth of every living being was accomplished, and thereby
Amida’s Perfect Enlightenment and our Pure Land birth were
achieved simultaneously.

This birth of every living being was accomplished at the hands of

Amida but, as each one of us comes to realize it at different
times, some attained birth in the Pure Land in the past, some
are attaining it now and some will attain it in the future.

Although within these three categories of time each of us

has to have his own moment for attaining birth, there is
nothing for us to add to the absolute consummation Amida
achieved on behalf of all living beings at the moment of his
Perfect Enlightenment.

It can be compared to the sun which, once having risen, dispels

the darkness everywhere, and to the moon that rises in the sky
and casts its image on the waters everywhere at the same
moment. The moon casts its image on the waters whenever it
rises, and also the sun never fails to dispel the darkness when it
rises. Therefore just ask whether the sun has risen or not. We
need not argue whether the darkness has cleared up or not. We
might as well ask whether Amida has already attained
Enlightenment or not, instead of arguing whether ordinary beings
will be born in the Pure Land or not.

Amida, when he was the Bodhisattva Dharmakara, vowed that he

would not enter Buddhahood unless all living beings attained
Pure Land birth and he has been a Buddha now for ten kalpas’.
We have been vainly repeating the round of mortality
without realising that Amida has already brought it to an end
for us by establishing our birth in the Pure Land.
  117    
>>>

So...our birth in the Pure Land has ALREADY been

accomplished, when Dharmakara fulfilled his practice, created
His Pure Land, and took full possession of it 10 kalpas (1 kalpa =
6.7 billion years) ago. That’s when new paradigm “Other Power”
Buddhism came to be, replacing and displacing old paradigm,
self-powered Buddhism.

ALL OF US HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED. The only question

left is, “When, when, when will we finally REALIZE it?”.

All of us - ALL OF US - have been wandering endlessly in

Samsara, strapped fast to the terrible wheel of karma, going
through endless cycles of birth, life, suffering and death. And
each of has his or her time - in a particular body, in a particular
moment, when our karma ripens, and we are finally ready to
LISTEN DEEPLY to the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way.
For some of us (like Master Shinran) that moment has already
come, and their journey is now complete. For some of us (like
myself) it has come in this life - and my journey will be complete
when this life is over. And for some of us, that moment will come
in some future life.

But it will come...it MUST come...for each and every sentient

being in the vast universe. Why? Because Dharmakara has
fulfilled his practice, has attained enlightenment as Amida
Buddha, and has taken His place as ruler of His Pure Land.

When, when, when will we finally RESPOND to this Dharma

message with a simple and humble heart - a heart of TRUE
ENTRUSTING, so we can receive Amida’s gift of SHINJIN, along
with His infinite karmic merit, and thereby fulfill the karmic destiny
we have had all along - the final endpoint of our endless journey

  118  
in Samsara - the final attainment of TRUE, REAL, AUTHENTIC
BUDDHAHOOD?

That is really and truly the only question that remains.

>>>

OK...this is a good place to stop once again. I hope that at this

point, you have a clear and simple understanding of The Primal
Vow, and the Exclusion Clause. I hope that you can recognize
that this vow was made by Dharmakara just for YOU...as if you
were the only person in the universe who is stuck in Samsaric
existence, taking birth over and over again - experiencing
suffering, sickness and death, struggling with your own blind
passions, your own attachments (cravings and aversion), your
own delusions and obscurations, your own ignorance, and your
own intractable egotism.

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”.

It’s a totally PERSONAL realization. It comes ONLY when a

person is ready to let go of his preconceived notions and ideas
TEMPORARILY, and listen deeply, in the depth of his heart, just
the way the Buddha instructed the Kalama people to do.

Listen DEEPLY to this Dharma - listen as if your life depended

upon it. Listen until you know, beyond the shadow of any doubt,
that this Dharma is the TRUTH for us - the TRUTH that will set us
free - the TRUTH that will allow us to reach our full potential, our
potential for Buddhahood.

  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.

To receive Amida’s grace - the gift of SHINJIN in your own life - it

is essential that you talk to someone who can serve you as a
good teacher - someone who is himself (or herself) a person of
SHINJIN - someone who KNOWS what our Dharma Masters
teach so they can give you good, solid answers to your
questions, and help you resolve your doubts.

Asking questions and sharing doubts is an ESSENTIAL part of

Dharma Transmission in True Shin Buddhism. Listen to what
Master Rennyo (the second great teacher of True Shin
Buddhism) says in one of his letters to the Sangha:

>>>

For what purpose have there come to be meetings twice each

month? They are held for the sake of realizing one’s own
faith which leads to birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss and for
nothing else.

Although there have been “meetings” everywhere each month,

from the past up until now, there has never been anything at all
that might be called a discussion of faith. In recent years in
particular, when there have been meetings (wherever they have
  120  
been), everyone has dispersed after nothing more than sake,
rice, and tea. This is indeed contrary to the fundamental
intent of the Buddha-Dharma.

Although each of those lacking faith should by all means

raise their doubts and discuss what it is to have faith or be
without it, they take their leave without coming to any
conclusions. This is not as it should be. You must carefully
reflect on this matter. In brief, it is essential that each of
those lacking faith have discussions of faith with one
another from now on.

>>>

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

In the last section, we completed our discussion of the Primal

Vow - the most important of Dharmakara’s 48 Vows. If I can
convey one idea to everyone about this amazing Dharma
message, it would be the idea that you would truly
UNDERSTAND the mind and the heart of Dharmakara/Amida in
making this Vow...and all his vows.

He was thinking about how to bring plain people, average people,

and BELOW average people to Buddhahood. He was thinking
about how to empower those who were DIS-empowered. He
was thinking about how to help those who were helpless, and
those thought to be beyond help by all the other Buddhas.

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.

In other words...He was thinking about you...and He was thinking

about me.

  122  
Let’s listen to Shakyamuni as He recounts what Dharmakara said
directly after making His vows:

>>>

The Buddha said to Ananda, “The Bhiksu [monk] Dharmakara,

having thus proclaimed those vows, spoke the following verses:

I have made vows, unrivaled in all the world;

I will certainly reach the unsurpassed Way.
If these vows should not be fulfilled,
May I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

If I should not become a great benefactor

In lives to come for immeasurable kalpas
To save the poor and the afflicted everywhere,
May I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

When I attain Buddhahood,

My Name shall be heard throughout the ten quarters;
Should there be any place where it is not heard,
May I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

Free of greed and with deep, perfect mindfulness

And pure wisdom, I will perform the sacred practices;
I will seek to attain the unsurpassed Way
And become the teacher of devas and humans.

With my divine power I will display great light,

Illuminating the worlds without limit,
And dispel the darkness of the three defilements;
Thus I will deliver all beings from misery.

Having obtained the eye of wisdom,

I will remove the darkness of ignorance;
I will block all the evil paths
  123    
And open the gate to the good realms.

When merits and virtues are perfected,

My majestic light shall radiate in the ten quarters,
Outshining the sun and the moon
And surpassing the brilliance of the heavens.

I will open the Dharma-store for the multitudes

And endow them all with treasures of merit.
Being always among the multitudes,
I will proclaim the Dharma with the lion’s roar.

I will make offerings to all the Buddhas,

Thereby acquiring roots of virtue.
When my vows are fulfilled and my wisdom perfected,
I shall be the sovereign of the three worlds.

Like your unhindered wisdom, O Buddha,

Mine shall reach everywhere, illuminating all;
May my supreme wisdom
Be like yours, Most Excellent Honored One.

>>>

So...you can hear CLEARLY the intention of Bodhisattva

Dharmakara, to save all of us who are afflicted, who are
suffering, who yearn for freedom and peace and joy and bliss -
but who cannot find it for ourselves via the old paradigm
Buddhism of self-powered practices. He, and He alone, will open
the Dharma-store of virtue for all of us, and endow us all with the
treasure of His own karmic merit. And, he declares, he is going
to continue to do this work until ALL his vows are fulfilled, and all
his wisdom is perfected. His wisdom will reach everyone,
everywhere - illuminating us all with his infinite and immeasurable
light.

  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:

>>>

“If these vows are to be fulfilled,

Let this universe of a thousand million worlds shake in response
And let all the devas in heaven
Rain down rare and marvelous flowers.”

The Buddha (Shakyamuni) said to Ananda, “As soon as the

Bhiksu Dharmakara spoke those verses, the entire earth
shook in six ways, and a rain of wonderful flowers fell from
heaven, scattering everywhere. Spontaneous music was
heard, and a voice in the sky said, ‘Surely you will attain the
highest, perfect Enlightenment’.”

>>>

Now...here’s what I want to point out to you. Please listen

carefully to this:

We are living in an inconceivable, marvelously transcendental

universe that is ALIVE with Buddha-consciousness, and
countless transcendental beings that we cannot see - and can
barely even imagine.

Buddhahood – a.k.a. full and final enlightenment - is a state in

which a sentient being is fully aware - not just of emptiness - but
of the fullness that this transcendental universe is and contains.

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.

But Shakyamuni isn’t a BOMBU - he’s a Buddha. And in this

narrative, He’s peeling back the curtain of darkness that hangs
over our eyes and letting us see what HE sees, and know what
HE knows.

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.

But He IS telling us how the entire sentient universe

RESPONDED to the singular vows of this singular Bodhisattva,
who is destined to become the singular Buddha who saves every
single sentient being in the universe, by virtue of His own virtue.

So...if you’ve found your way here as a refugee from the

DEADNESS of the modern re-interpretations of Buddhism that
DENY the personhood of Amida Buddha, or the reality of the
Buddha - you don’t have to believe those false ideas anymore.
You can reject those false ideas, because Amida Buddha is
ALIVE...and there is more to Buddha life than emptiness.

You can recognize that there is no comparison between what

some modernist scholar might say, when compared to what a
true Buddha such as Shakyamuni Buddha says. If you simply
put aside any and all of your pre-existing beliefs and ideologies,
and ask deep within, you will KNOW who to believe as the teller
of TRUTH, and who to reject as a teller of something LESS than
the truth.

You can actually ask directly: ”Amida, if your light is infinite,

shining EVERYWHERE in the ten directions like Shakyamuni
  126  
says, will you allow me to see it - not with my outer eyes, but with
my inner eye. Please show me YOUR light.”

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.

Shakyamuni Buddha then goes on to say this to the monk

Ananda:

>>>

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.

Then, Ananda, after proclaiming and establishing those universal

vows in the presence of the Buddha Lokeshvararaja before the
multitude of beings, including the eight kinds of superhuman
beings, such as devas and dragon-spirits, and also Mara and
Brahma, the Bhiksu Dharmakara was solely intent on
producing a glorious and exquisite land.

The Buddha-land which he sought to establish was vast in

extent, unsurpassed and supremely wonderful, always
present and subject neither to decay nor change. During
inconceivable and innumerable kalpas, he cultivated the
immeasurable meritorious practices of the Bodhisattva Path.

>>>

  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”.

Shakyamuni goes on to describe Dharmakara’s PERFECT

practice over countless ages:

>>>

- 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.

  128  
- 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 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.

- Wherever he was born, an immeasurable stock of treasure

spontaneously appeared as he wished.

- He taught countless sentient beings and guided them on the

path of the highest, true Enlightenment.

- He was reborn as a rich man, a lay devotee, a member of the

highest caste or of a noble family, a ksatriya king, a wheel-turning
monarch, a king of one of the six heavens in the world of desire,
or even higher, as a Brahma-king.

  129    
- He revered and worshipped all Buddhas by making the four
kinds of offering to them.

The merit he thus acquired was indescribably great.

- Fragrance issued from his mouth as from a blue lotus-flower,

and every pore of his body emitted the scent of sandalwood,
which permeated innumerable worlds.

- His appearance was majestic, and his physical characteristics

and marks were truly wonderful.

- From his hands, inexhaustible treasures, clothes, food and

drink, rare and exquisite flowers and incense, silken canopies,
banners, and other ornaments were produced.

In such manifestations he was unrivaled among all heavenly

and human beings. He thus attained the command of all
dharmas.

>>>

Dharma friends, when Master Shinran and Master Rennyo talk

about abandoning our own small and imperfect efforts at
Buddhist practice, so we can depend instead ENTIRELY on on
the PERFECT practice of Amida Buddha, THIS is what we are
talking about.

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.

In Master Shinran’s own words: ”The practice of the Pure Land

way is the great practice that embodies Amida’s perfect
benefiting of others.”
  130  
Your practice, and mine, is simply to LISTEN DEEPLY to this
Dharma message, until we have verified for ourselves that it is
the TRUTH. Once we do that, we can simply avail ourselves of
His practice, and receive His benefit - the benefit of His infinite
store of karmic merit given freely to us - JUST AS WE ARE.

In that moment, we are able to FREELY and FULLY entrust

ourselves to Him, we receive not just His infinite karmic merit -
but His own faith-mind consciousness - the mind of SHINJIN.

In that very moment, as we receive His faith-mind

consciousness, we come to KNOW - immediately - the reality of
His salvation. We come to know - IN THAT MOMENT - that we
are grasped by Amida Buddha, and that He will not let us go,
despite the fact that we so often have a bad case of “Buddhist
attention deficit disorder”. In that moment, we come to know that
our birth in His Pure Land is 100% assured at the end of this
life...and that THIS moment of our birth is indeed THE moment of
our final transformation into Buddhahood.

We listen...and we take refuge...and then we receive His

inconceivable gifts.

And in the very moment we receive those gifts - and that

diamond-like certainty about our salvation - we REJOICE,
because we are FULL OF GRATITUDE.

“NAMU AMIDA BUTSU...THANK YOU AMIDA BUDDHA”

We are not TRYING...we are TRUSTING.

And because we are trusting rather than trying, we can simply be

grateful: Not just grateful for Amida’s light, however brightly we
may see it with our inner eye. Not just grateful for Amida’s life,
even when we can feel His life coursing through our very heart.
  131    
 But also - and most of all - grateful for our FAITH - for
KNOWING about the reality of our imminent deliverance from
samsaric existence into the glory and power and wisdom we shall
know shortly, once we become Buddhas at the end of this life.

“NAMU AMIDA BUTSU...THANK YOU AMIDA BUDDHA”

Once we come to truly KNOW, our hearts leap up in gratitude,

because we can FINALLY see that our great wish and desire -
our aspiration for Buddhahood - is on the verge of becoming our
reality.

The door is open - WIDE OPEN - for women as much as for

men, for gays as much as for straights, for the uneducated as
well as the educated, for the westerner as well as the easterner,
for the lowest as well as the highest, for the evil person as much
as the good person.

“NAMU AMIDA BUTSU...THANK YOU AMIDA BUDDHA”

  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.

Rather, we depend, completely, entirely and utterly on the

practice of Dharmakara Bodhisattva, during which he acquired
INFINITE karmic merit on the way to becoming the greatest of all
the Buddha. He didn't just acquire this infinite karmic merit for
Himself - but for ALL sentient beings EVERYWHERE. And when
a sentient being - in this world or any other - comes to the point
where his (or her) karmic conditions are MATURE, then (and only
then) he abandons the old self-power paradigm which is about
his practice, and embraces instead the new Other Power
paradigm which is all about Dharmakara/Amida's practice.

For those of us embracing Amida's Other Power paradigm, our

only practice is LISTENING DEEPLY to this unique Dharma
message. We listen with our heads (intellects) to understand the
intellectual content correctly, and then we listen with our hearts to
verify for ourselves that this Dharma message is, in fact, TRUE -
and the right Dharma message for us, living in this Age of
Dharma Decline.

So...now let's talk a little about the RESULTS of Dharmakara's

perfect practice over countless ages.
  133    
The first and most obvious result is the creation of His own Pure
Land. Shakyamuni Buddha tells us that there are countless
Buddhas presiding over countless Buddha-lands. He also tells
us that some of those Buddha-lands are themselves pure lands.
But there is none that compare to the Pure Land of Amida. It is,
in a word, incomparable to any land that had been in existence
before its creation and completion by Dharmakara Bodhisattva.

(We'll talk a bit about WHY it is so much greater than other

Buddha-lands shortly.)

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".

>>>

Sakyamuni Buddha states

That even with his unhindered eloquence,
The adornments of the land of happiness cannot be fully
expounded;
So take refuge in Amida, the inexpressible Buddha.

>>>

Shakyamuni says this, even as He DOES expound on the

adornments and features of Amida's Pure Land. So all these
words He uses in the Larger Sutra are necessarily
impressionistic, rather than complete. He is giving the assembly
there on Vulture Peak a SENSE of what the Pure Land is like -
speaking to them in terms they would understand - rather than in
terms that would be beyond their capacity, or ours.

Let's talk about that for a minute.

  134  
The truth is that we are beings of tremendous limitations.
Everything we experience of the world "out there" is mediated by
our five senses. We've come far enough in our science that we
know that we can only see a small part of the spectrum of light,
and that other animals can see things that we only know about
indirectly. It's the same with our senses of sound, and smell, and
taste, and touch.

We are able to experience three dimensions of space, plus one

dimension of time. The idea that there may be 11 dimensions, as
current string theory asserts, or multiple alternate universes, as
some physicists postulate, are all beyond our ability to know.

We are profoundly limited in how much we can understand about

time. Our most brilliant thinkers can only reach back a mere 13.7
billion years, to what they think was a "big bang" that created our
current universe. 13.7 billion years is NOTHING to a Buddha.

We are equally limited in our ability to consider what our universe

will be like going forward billions of years, as well - nor do we
have a clue about how many planets there may be in our
universe (or any other) with sentient beings of their own.

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.

That is why the testimony and declarations of a true Buddha are

so important. A true Buddha really is the smartest guy in the
room. He leaves our greatest thinkers - Albert Einstein, Stephen
Hawking, and everyone else - totally in the dust. So...to ignore or
downplay or dismiss what Shakyamuni declares in the Larger
Sutra is a not just Dharma slander (as Master Shinran defines
  135    
it). It is the greatest possible strategic mistake for anyone who
truly seeks to come to the end of suffering, and the beginning of
Buddhahood.

Now...having said that, let's talk about the most important

characteristic of Amida's Pure Land. The MOST important
characteristic is the presence - and the FULLNESS - of Amida's
LIGHT.

Here in our Samsaric Buddha-land, we still can experience

Amida's light. But the experience we can have of that light is
partial at best. As Master Shinran says so eloquently in his
HYMN OF TRUE FAITH AND NEMBUTSU, in our world, and
thus our experience, the light of Amida is dimmed by the clouds
of fear, hatred, anger, greed and other poisons that cloud all our
minds. Even the best and the brightest among us live with the
darkness of the intractable egotism of the monkey mind. We
simply cannot eradicate it from our lives, as much as we want to
do so.

But...as Shakyamuni Himself declares, in Amida's Pure Land, the

brightness of His own Pure Light shines unimpeded, as the most
powerful spiritual disinfectant EVER. In Amida's Pure Land, not
only is there no evil whatsoever - there are not even WORDS for
evil.

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.

So...as we read the wonderful Hymns of the Pure Land, we see

how Master Shinran first and foremost talks to us about Amida's
LIGHT. Let's listen together:

>>>

Amida has passed through ten kalpas now

Since realizing Buddhahood;
Dharma-body's wheel of light is without bound,
Shining on the blind and ignorant of the world.

The light of wisdom exceeds all measure,

And every finite living being
Receives this illumination that is like the dawn,
So take refuge in Amida, the true and real light.

The liberating wheel of light is without bound;

Each person it touches, it is taught,
Is freed from attachments to being and nonbeing,
So take refuge in Amida, the enlightenment of
nondiscrimination.

The cloud of light is unhindered, like open sky;

There is nothing that impedes it.
Every being is nurtured by this light,
So take refuge in Amida, the one beyond conception.

The light of purity is without compare.

When a person encounters this light,
All bonds of karma fall away;
So take refuge in Amida, the ultimate shelter.

  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.

(three courses: hell, hungry spirits, animals.)

The radiance of enlightenment, in its brilliance, transcends all

limits;
Thus Amida is called "Buddha of the Light of Purity."
Once illuminated by this light,
We are freed of karmic defilements and attain emancipation.

The light of compassion illumines us from afar;

Those beings it reaches, it is taught,
Attain the joy of dharma,
So take refuge in Amida, the great consolation.

The light dispels the darkness of ignorance;

Thus Amida is called "Buddha of the Light of Wisdom."
All the Buddhas and sages of the three vehicles
Together offer their praise.

The light shines everywhere ceaselessly;

Thus Amida is called "Buddha of Uninterrupted Light."
Because beings hear [and apprehend] this power of light,
Their mindfulness is enduring and they attain birth.

The Buddha's light cannot be fathomed;

Thus Amida is called "Buddha of Inconceivable Light."
All the Buddhas, in acclaiming a person's attainment of birth,
Extol Amida's virtues.

The majestic light, transcending form, is beyond description;

Thus Amida is called "Buddha of Inexpressible Light."
All the Buddhas praise this light -
  138  
The cause by which Amida's Buddhahood was fulfilled.

The light is more luminous than the heavenly bodies;

Thus Amida is called "Light that Surpasses the Sun and the
Moon."
Even Sakyamuni's praise cannot exhaust its virtues,
So take refuge in the one without equal.

>>>

Dharma friends, please listen carefully here, to understand

Master Shinran's words about Amida's light:

What Master Shinran is saying is that when when we each finally

take birth in Amida's Pure Land, because we have has entrusted
ourselves and our karmic destiny ENTIRELY to Amida's Primal
Vow, we each experience the FULL EFFECT of Amida's infinite
light.

Experiencing that FULL EFFECT instantly and immediately

removes ALL our karmic defilements. Nothing in us that is dark
and evil, nothing in us that causes suffering for ourselves and
others, nothing in us that binds us to the wheel of birth and death,
nothing in us that causes delusions and obscurations, nothing in
us that causes us to experience blind passions, nothing in us that
drags us into so many and various cravings and aversions (aka
attachments) - NOTHING OF THAT CAN SURVIVE DIRECT
EXPOSURE TO AMIDA'S LIGHT.

It is in THAT moment that we finally experience the nonduality of

defilement and enlightenment. It is in THAT moment that
Samsara finally becomes Nirvana. It is in THAT moment that the
ice of our blind passions is alchemically transformed into the
water of enlightenment.

  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.

Amida's light, infinite and pure, DOES do that - INSTANTLY - for

ALL of us. That's why our Dharma masters continually stress
how it doesn't matter one bit whether you're a "good" or a "bad"
Buddhist. It doesn't matter whether you're able to be constantly
mindful, or (like most of us), you can hardly remember where you
put your keys from day to day. It doesn't matter whether your life
is marred by emotional difficulties of one sort or another - or
whether you dwell in serenity most of the time.

In the new paradigm of Amida Buddha, none of that matters any

more. As Shinran says, so movingly and so tellingly, Amida's
Primal Vow, and His unsurpassed work, has been done FOR
THE EVIL PERSON FIRST...and then also for the good person.

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 read those Hymns above AGAIN, right now...and you'll

see clearly Master Shinran's thought: In each stanza he says,
that because of the INFINITE POWER of Amida's INFINITE
LIGHT, that is the reason that we should take full and final refuge
in Him - right now - in this defiled body, in this defiled life.

It's just the most amazing Dharma message EVER...the ONLY

message with the POWER to free beings from the endless, and
ultimately fruitless cycles of birth and death. Even those who
have become the most advanced Bodhisattvas - reaching the
8th, 9th, or 10th stages on the Bodhisattva path - ultimately
  140  
ABANDON the self-power paradigm that has brought them so
far, and embrace instead the Other-Power of Amida Buddha to
complete their journey.

As I have said so often...that's what Buddhism is REALLY about.

It's not about being a Buddhist, even an advanced Buddhist. It's
about becoming a BUDDHA.

That aspiration should be yours, and mine - and everyone's. And

sooner or later, it WILL be everyone's aspiration, when each
being's karmic conditions have matured. But now - right now as
you're reading this - you have the capacity to LISTEN DEEPLY to
this message about having TRUE aspiration, just as you are, and
just where you are.

You have the capacity to UNDERSTAND this Dharma call to

awaken your aspiration for Buddhahood. And - you have the
capacity to BEAR WITNESS to whether or not this Dharma call is
TRUE - true for YOU, and true (ultimately) for each and every
sentient being.

Please listen deeply, so you can hear for yourself from the
Buddha within.

>>>

In the Larger Sutra, Shakyamuni describes many more

adornments in the Pure Land. And in the Contemplation Sutra,
He also talks about these adornments as He teaches Queen
Vadehi how to meditate on some of these adornments, and
visualize them.

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.

Here's the bottom line: Someone who wants to go to the Pure

Land, and performs various practices and good acts, will
(perhaps) be born there. But if he is...it is a partial birth. There
are countless beings in the Pure Land who are in what
Shakyamuni calls "the lotus buds that do not open". There are
beings who experience partial birth in what Shakyamuni calls
"the borderlands" of the Pure Land. There are beings who
experience partial birth in what Shakyamuni describes as the
"golden palace" where they are on lockdown for 500 years.

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.

As a result, they did not receive Amida's inconceivable gift of

SHINJIN in this life - and thus they could not immediately
experience the FULLNESS of Amida's life as soon as they took
their next birth in (or near) Amida's Pure Land.

Don't make that mistake...please.

>>>

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.

I want to close this section with what I consider to be the very

apex of the Larger Sutra. It occurs AFTER Shakyamuni Buddha
  142  
has explained the virtues and adornments of the Pure Land, and
the experience that the Buddhas and advanced stage
Bodhisattvas have there.

Let's listen together, once again:

>>>

The Buddha said to Ananda, "Rise to your feet, rearrange your

robes, put your palms together, and respectfully revere and
worship Amitayus. Buddhas and Tathagatas in the lands of the
ten quarters always praise with one accord that Buddha's virtues
of non-attachment and unimpeded activity.

Ananda stood up, rearranged his robes, assumed the correct

posture, faced westward, and, demonstrating his sincere
reverence, joined his palms together, prostrated himself on the
ground and worshipped Amitayus.

Then he said to the Buddha Shakyamuni, "World-Honored

One, I wish to see that Buddha, his Land of Peace and Bliss,
and its hosts of bodhisattvas and shravakas".

As soon as he had said this, Amitayus emitted a great light,

which illuminated all the Buddha-lands.

The Encircling Adamantine Mountains, Mount Sumeru, together

with large and small mountains, and everything else shone with
the same (golden) color. That light was like the flood at the end of
the period of cosmic change that fills the whole world, when
myriads of things are submerged, and as far as the eye can see,
there is nothing but a vast expanse of water. Even so was the
flood of light emanating from Amitayus.

All the lights of shravakas and bodhisattvas were outshone

  143    
and surpassed, and only the Buddha's light remained
shining bright and glorious.

At that time Ananda saw the splendor and majesty of

Amitayus resembling Mount Sumeru, which rises above the
whole world. There was no place which was not illuminated
by the light emanating from his body of glory.

The four groups of followers of the Buddha in the assembly

saw all this at the same time. Likewise, those of the Pure
Land saw everything in this world.

>>>

At some point, Master Honen (young Shinran's Dharma mentor)

came to the realization that he had acually been there on Vulture
Peak, in some other body, that day. And he came to the
realization that he had ALREADY been born twice in the Pure
Land, and that when he reached the end of this life, birth would
be especially easy because of his prior births.

Why hadn't he become a Buddha already? Because he had

taken Bodhisattva vows, to put off his own transformation, while
he would take form again to help us in a human body, as a great
Bodhisattva. This is in accordance with Dharmakara's 22nd
Vow:

>>>

If, when I attain Buddhahood, bodhisattvas in the Buddha-lands

of other quarters who visit my land should not ultimately and
unfailingly reach the Stage of Becoming a Buddha after One
More Life, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

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.

Such bodhisattvas transcend the course of practice of the

ordinary bodhisattvas, manifest the practices of all the
bodhisattva stages, and cultivate the virtues of Samantabhadra.

>>>

Master Honen was one of those Bodhisattvas.

So...here you have it, Dharma Friends: the testimony of the

Buddha of our age AND the testimony of one of the Seven Pure
Land Masters - all bearing witness to REALITY.

When I first became an inquirer about Shin Buddhism, in my

ignorance I absorbed the teachings of false teachers from our
current age, who assert that Amida is not a real Buddha, nor the
Pure Land a real place.

So even though I read these amazing words in the Larger Sutra

about Amida showing Himself and His Pure Land to all those at
Vulture Peak that day, I couldn't believe those words because I
had swallowed the poison of their doubts - and their doubts
became MY doubts.

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.

Since then, Amida has called me to be a teacher of this Dharma

message, even though I am a plain person with (literally) no
formal Buddhist education whatsoever. And so I have been able,
by Amida's grace, to share the Dharma with others - and see
many of them come to settled SHINJIN - just as Eiken shared
this same Dharma with me.

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.

NAMU AMIDA BUTSU

NAMU AMIDA BUTSU
NAMU AMIDA BUTSU

THANK YOU AMIDA BUDDHA.

  146  
 16
Difficulties

In the last section, we talked about Shakyamuni's description of

the Pure Land very briefly, and particularly how that land is filled
with Amida's all encompassing LIGHT. We talked about how,
when people take birth in that land in accordance with Amida's
Primal Vow, the power of Amida's light transforms them
immediately into Buddhas - for in that Pure Land there is no evil,
nor even a word for evil.

And then, after Shakyamuni described - in brief and

impressionistic terms - the adornments and qualities of Amida's
Pure Land - and the bodies of naturalness, emptiness and infinity
of the inhabitants of the Pure Land - Amida showed Himself and
His Pure Land to all those assembled on Vulture Peak that day.

Now, I want to go down to the very end of this Sutra - to

Shakyamuni Buddha's final words to the assembly at Vulture
Peak, which included not only his own disciples, but many great
sages and Bodhisattvas who had joined them there that day.

Let's listen together to what Shakyamuni said:

>>>

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.

In the future, the Buddhist scriptures and teachings will perish.

  147    
But, out of pity and compassion, I will especially preserve this
sutra and maintain it in the world for a hundred years more.
Those beings who encounter it will attain deliverance in
accord with their aspirations.

The Buddha said to Maitreya, "It is difficult to encounter and

behold Tathagata when he is in this world. Difficult of access,
difficult to hear are the Buddhas' teachings and scriptures. It is
also difficult to hear the excellent teachings for bodhisattvas, the
Paramitas. Difficult too is it to meet a good teacher, to hear the
Dharma and perform the practices. But most difficult of all
difficulties is to hear this sutra, have faith in it with joy and
hold fast to it. Nothing is more difficult than this. Thus have I
formed my Dharma, thus have I expounded my Dharma, and
thus have I taught my Dharma. You must receive it and
practice it by the method prescribed."

>>>

So, Dharma Friends, what I want to discuss next is the great

DIFFICULTY that so many people have:

- Difficulty even HEARING this Dharma message

- Difficulty RECEIVING this Dharma message
- Difficulty HAVING FAITH in this Dharma message
- Difficulty HOLDING FAST to this Dharma message
- Difficulty PRACTICING this Dharma message BY THE
METHOD PRESCRIBED

These difficulties are intellectual and emotional OBSTACLES to

SHINJIN - and thus obstacles to becoming a BUDDHA. And
(once again) the whole point of Buddhism is to become a
Buddha. So I want you to understand these obstacles, and
follow the instructions of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Seven Pure
Land Masters, Master Shinran and Master Rennyo in order to
  148  
remove them from your life - so that you too may respond to
Amida's call, receiving the gift of SHINJIN in this life, and
Buddhahood in the next.

In teaching the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism, this is SUCH an

important topic, that it deserves our time and our attention in
order to understand how to respond to the Dharma, and help
others respond as well. I continually think of the words of my
own Dharma mentor, Eiken Kobai Sensei, who described the
Three Jewels of Buddhism of Buddha, Sangha, Dharma with this
one remarkable phrase:

"The purpose of the SANGHA is to teach the DHARMA that

leads us to become BUDDHAS".

So...in this section (and perhaps the next as well) we will talk
about the Dharma of Obstacles to SHINJIN.

>>>

Basically, there are two types of obstacles to SHINJIN that

people encounter: intellectual obstacles and emotional
obstacles. Those obstacles manifest themselves as various
questions and/or doubts. Sometimes the person understands
exactly what his (or her) questions or doubts are all about. But
sometimes the roots of of those questions or doubts are hidden -
true obscurations, below the level of the person's conscious
awareness, determined by the person's karma.

When the Sangha is functioning properly, good teachers who are

people of settled SHINJIN can help one who is still a seeker to
uncover, understand and resolve those questions and doubts -
so that the seeker can take refuge fully and finally in Amida and
His Primal Vow, and thus be able to receive Amida's gift of
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.

And if everybody in the local Sangha is ALREADY a person of

SHINJIN (a rare thing, indeed!) then the purpose of the Sangha
is to be there for the NEXT seeker who Amida will bring.

The purpose of the Sangha was, is, and always will be to teach
the Dharma that leads people to become Buddhas.

So let's look at some obstacles, and the Dharma response to

them.

>>>

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.

It's paradoxical, really - because in so many cases people find

themselves drawn to Shin Buddhism precisely because they
have come to know something of the true depth of their karmic
problems. They have come to recognize that old paradigm, self-
power Buddhism is absolutely not going to work for them. And
so they come to the Shin Sangha to hear about Amida's Other
Power.

  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.

Now...for many people, their self-rejection comes from

psychological problems like clinical depression, or the neurosis of
religious scrupulosity. But some feel unsavable because they
have committed real crimes - and all of us, in one way or another,
have committed crimes of the heart - sins of omission and sins
of commission both.

One of the primary axioms of our Dharma masters is that most, if

not all of us, are people of the lowest of the nine grades of beings
described by Shakyamuni Buddha. Certainly, Master Shinran
considered himself among the lowest of the low...and so did his
own Dharma mentor, Master Honen.

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.

So...with this being the situation - and for many, a critical

emotional OBSTACLE, let's listen to some wonderful words from
Master Shinran from his HYMNS OF THE DHARMA AGES.
These pure words are being spoken directly to YOU, for YOUR
benefit (and of course, to me as well for mine):

>>>

Entrust yourself to Amida's Primal Vow.

Through the benefit of being grasped, never to be abandoned,
All who entrust themselves to the Primal Vow
Attain the supreme enlightenment.

>>>

Master Shinran is saying: Entrust yourself to Amida's Primal

Vow, and you WILL attain the supreme enlightenment. It doesn't
matter that you are failure as a Buddhist, or a failure as a human
being. Just entrust yourself to Amida, and you will be saved.

Master Shinran says this:

>>>
  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?

>>>

It is not by your power, or my power - that we realize SHINJIN.

Truly, when it comes to actually FREEING ourselves from birth
and death, our power is weak, or even non-existent. We attain
SHINJIN by the power of Dharmakara's Vow.

Look to the Vow...and to the Vow Maker...not to yourself,

anymore.

>>>

Master Shinran says this:

>>>

It is a great torch in the long night of ignorance;

Do not sorrow that your eyes of wisdom are dark.
It is a ship on the vast ocean of birth-and-death;
Do not grieve that your obstructions of karmic evil are
heavy.

>>>

Don't be full of sorrow because you're such a bombu - such an

evil person. Don't grieve because your karmic evil is such a
heavy burden.

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.

Of course it is inconceivable that Amida would still want to give

you this gift. But He really and truely DOES want to give it to
you. Will you simply and humbly accept it...NOW?

>>>

The power of the Vow is without limit;

Thus, even our karmic evil, deep and heavy, is not oppressive.
The Buddha's wisdom is without bounds;
Thus, even those of distracted minds and self-indulgence are not
abandoned.

>>>

The power of Amida's Vow is greater than the power of darkness

that you have experienced in your life. Please, just allow this
power to be YOURS.

The wisdom of the Buddha is LIMITLESS - so when it comes to

your foolishness, your darkness, your evil - please allow yourself
to see how small it is in comparison.

Allow yourself to receive the gift of Amida's LIMITLESS

goodness - even though you have no goodness within yourself at
all.

>>>

When we reflect on the establishment of the Vow,

We find that the Tathagata, without abandoning sentient
beings in pain and affliction,
Has taken the directing of virtue to them as foremost,
Thus fulfilling the mind of great compassion.
  154  
>>>

Yes, we are in pain. Yes, we are afflicted. Yes, we live in

Samsara and are creatures of Samsara - pulled by the darkness
of the false egocentric self in one direction, and by the light and
life of Amida Buddha in the other.

Amida understands that. Amida understands YOU. Just open

your heart and your mind to Him - His light, His life, His love, His
compassion.

Simply allow yourself to receive it ALL...just as you are.

That, Dharma Friends, is Amida's medicine for your self-hate,

your self-contempt, your self-rejection. Not having some well
meaning person speak words of sympathy, or even empathy, as
lovely as such words can be. The truth is, for those locked down
in this emotional obstacle, that medicine just isn't strong enough
to remove the poison arrow of self-rejection that is killing us.

But the medicine of Amida's unconditional love, compassion,

wisdom and acceptance - the medicine of the Primal Vow - really
IS strong enough. I have seen it work - where the Dharma is
taught properly and correctly - over and over again.

But that is KEY: The Dharma must be taught properly and

correctly. If it is not - if those who teach are teaching wrongly or
falsely - whether deliberately or from sheer ignorance - Amida's
medicine does not work as it should.

And that brings me to the next set of obstacles, which are

basically INTELLECTUAL obstacles. These are the obstacles
that arise when the Dharma is not taught correctly by authentic
teachers - people of the same SHINJIN as our Dharma masters,

  155    
teaching what they taught in their day, to those of us who are
alive in our day.

I'll continue, in the next section, by discussing one of these

intellectual obstacles that I encounter over and over again, in
speaking with members of the Sangha who are sincere seekers,
but are not yet persons of SHINJIN. It is, in its essence, the
obstacle of having some doubt about the power and efficacy of
the Primal Vow - leading such people to continue to depend on
self-power practices JUST IN CASE Amida's Other Power is not
sufficient.

Of course, having that thought - even if it is one a person is not

yet conscious of - will keep a person from entrusting himself and
his karmic destiny fully, completely and entirely to Amida
Buddha. And of course, by not entrusting oneself fully,
completely and entirely, SHINJIN cannot be attained.

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...sometimes when I work with someone, he (or she) has such

a dark background in thought, word or deed that the darkness
really blots out Amida's light. The person listens to the Dharma,
and even (perhaps) understands it intellectually. But somehow
he cannot receive it EMOTIONALLY, because he can't stop
obsessing over his own dark thoughts, words and/or deed.

I went through this myself, after the death of my beloved

daughter. No matter how often people said to me - directly or
through various books, blogs, meetings etc - that I was not
responsible for the death of my daughter, it didn't help me. I
  157    
FELT responsible. I felt (rightly or wrongly) that I was the
"general" in my house, and thus responsible to secure and
defend my "country". And because I clearly did not do this, every
time I thought about her death (which was constantly, for the first
several years), I was VERY overwhelmed with depression, self-
hate and self-contempt - in addition to the feelings of grief that I
would have had, in any case.

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.

It comes from THE TANNISHO ("Lamenting the Divergences"),

written by a longtime student of Shinran named Yuien-Bo, after
Shinran had died. In it, Yuien-Bo pleads for the Sangha to return
to the true teachings of Amida, fearing that if divergences
continue, the Sangha will collapse, and be a shell of itself at best.

Here's what Master Shinran taught, for people in the grip of

obsessive self-recrimination, for their evil deeds. It comes in
context of Yuien-Bo rejecting an assertion about some people not
attaining birth:

>>>

On the assertion: People who are unafraid of committing evil

because of the inconceivable working of the Primal Vow are in
fact impudently presuming upon the Vow and therefore will not
attain birth.

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?"

"Yes I do," I answered.

"Then will you not deviate from whatever I tell you?" he repeated.

I humbly affirmed this. Thereupon he said, "Now, I want you to

kill a thousand people. If you do, you will definitely attain birth."

I responded, "Though you instruct me thus, I'm afraid it is not in

my power to kill even one person."

"Then why did you say that you would follow whatever I told
you?"

He continued, "By this you should realize that if we could

always act as we wished, then when I told you to kill a
thousand people in order to attain birth, you should have
immediately done so. But since you lack the karmic cause
inducing you to kill even a single person, you do not kill. It is
not that you do not kill because your heart is good. In the
same way, a person may not wish to harm anyone and yet
end up killing a hundred or a thousand people."

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.
  159    
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.

He also said, "If it were only by observing precepts and upholding

rules that we should entrust ourselves to the Primal Vow, how
could we ever gain freedom from birth-and-death?" Even such
wretched beings as ourselves, on encountering the Primal
Vow, come indeed to "presume" upon it. But even so, how
could we commit evil acts without any karmic cause in
ourselves?

The Master further stated:

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.

These days, however, one finds people making a show of

themselves as "seekers for the afterlife," posting notices at
nembutsu practice halls saying that those who have committed
such and such acts may not enter, as though only good
persons should say the nembutsu. Are not people who do this
indeed "outwardly expressing signs of wisdom, goodness, or
diligence, while inwardly embracing falsity"?

  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.

If you entrusted yourself to the Primal Vow only after

completely ridding yourself of karmic evil and blind
passions, then there would be no presuming upon the Vow.
But to rid yourself of blind passions is to become a Buddha, and
for one who is already a Buddha, the Vow that arose from the
five kalpas of profound thought would be to no purpose.

People who admonish others against presuming upon the

Primal Vow themselves appear to be possessed of blind
passions and defilements. Does not this condition itself
imply presuming upon the Vow? What kind of evil is meant
by "presuming upon the Vow" and what kind is not? Rather,
is not this entire line of argument the product of immature
thinking?

(TANNISHO Chapter 13)

>>>

So...this is what I want to say to YOU, if you are burdened with a

great obstacle because you have committed some sort of terrible
evil deeds in this lifetime, or thought some terrible evil thoughts:

  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.

I am NOT saying that you don't bear moral responsibility and

accountability for whatever you might have done (or not done).
And I am NOT saying that you shouldn't do whatever you can to
make honest amends. Of course you should - not just for your
sake, but for the sake of those who might have been harmed by
what you did.

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.

Then, you were entirely dominated by your monkey mind, your

blind passions, your cravings and aversions, your delusions and
obscurations, and your ignorance. But now...by Amida's grace,
your good karmic roots have matured. Now...by Amida's grace,
you have awakened your own aspiration for Buddhahood. Now,
you have become like Angulimala, who left his old ways behind,
in order to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the
Sangha.

So...simply accept this great and powerful truth, this Dharma

medicine, that can salve the ache in your heart and in your
mind...if only you will be open to the light and life of Amida,
shining right now into the dark places within.

There is nobody...NOBODY...who is left outside the door. The

door is open...OPEN...to everyone, and (amazingly enough)
especially to those who are ESPECIALLY burdened by the
weight of their evil karma.

Listen deeply to these words, from Master Shinran's Hymns of

the Pure Land Masters:

>>>

32

Knowing truly that the Primal Vow -

The perfect One Vehicle that brings about sudden attainment -
Grasps those who commit grave offenses and
transgressions,
We are quickly brought to realize that blind passions and
enlightenment are not two in substance.

  163    
33

Of the five inconceivabilities taught in the sutras,

The inconceivability of the power of the Buddha-dharma is
supreme;
The inconceivability of the power of the Buddha-dharma
Refers to Amida's universal Vow.

34

Amida has fulfilled the directing of virtue,

Which has two aspects: that for our going forth and that for our
return.
Through these aspects of the Buddha's directing of virtue,
We are brought to realize both mind and practice.

35

The directing of virtue for our going forth is such that

When Amida's active means toward us reaches fulfillment;
We realize the shinjin and practice of the compassionate
Vow;
Then birth-and-death is itself nirvana.

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

Vasubandhu speaks, in his Treatise, of "the mind that is single";

Master T'an-luan, in his commentary, explains that
  164  
This is shinjin - itself Other Power -
That we who are possessed of blind passions attain.

38

The unhindered light filling the ten quarters

Shines on the beings in the darkness of ignorance
And unfailingly brings to attainment of nirvana
The person who realizes the one thought-moment of joy.

39

Through the benefit of the unhindered light,

We realize shinjin of vast, majestic virtues,
And the ice of our blind passions necessarily melts,
Immediately becoming water of enlightenment.

40

Obstructions of karmic evil turn into virtues;

It is like the relation of ice and water:
The more the ice, the more the water;
The more the obstructions, the more the virtues.

>>>

So...to the person who has terrible obstacles based in terrible

karmic thoughts and or deeds, please know this: the
obstructions of your past karmic evil actually, and miraculously,
turn in to virtues. Indeed, the more karmic evil you have had in
your life, the greater the virtues you experience, as you simply
receive that inconceivable light and life that Amida is shining
upon you...even as you read this.

That is the wonder of the Primal Vow. As Master Shinran said so

  165    
powerfully, it was conceived of and fulfilled by Amida for the evil
person FIRST...and then also for the good person.

Simply open your heart and your mind...listen deeply to this

Dharma...and you too will experience Amida's light shining upon
you. You too will come to have that one thought-moment of True
Entrusting. You too will come to know the reality of settled
SHINJIN in this life - and Buddhahood in the life to come.

  166  
 18

More about Obstacles to Shinjin

In this section I'm going to continue on with the discussion we've

been having about various OBSTACLES to Shinjin.

Why is this discussion so important? Because in TRUE Shin

Buddhism, coming to settled Shinjin is EVERYTHING. Those
aren't my words. They are the words of Master Rennyo.

So all the talking we do in the Sangha, both publicly and

privately, is focused around helping people to define and
deconstruct whatever obstacles they have to SHINJIN. Master
Rennyo calls that "clearing the channels of faith, so that the
waters of Amida's Dharma can flow".

So, in this section we're going to look closely at what Master

Shinran calls "The Offense of Doubting the Primal Vow". He
wrote a series of Hymns about this subject, which are part of his
"Hymns of the Dharma Ages". Let's listen to them together to
understand what he's talking about:

>>>

60

As a mark of not apprehending Buddha-wisdom,

People doubt the Tathagata's various kinds of wisdom,
Believe in the recompense of good and evil, rely on their practice
Of the root of good, and hence remain in the borderland.
  167    
61

Doubting the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom,

People devote themselves to saying the nembutsu in self-power;
Hence they remain in the borderland or the realm of indolence
and pride,
Without responding in gratitude to the Buddha's benevolence.

62

Practicers who believe in the recompense of good and evil

Doubt the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom,
And therefore remain in the city of doubt or the womb-palace;
Hence, they are separated from the three treasures.

63

Because of the offense of doubting the Buddha-wisdom,

They remain in the realm of indolence and pride or the
borderland;
Because the offense of doubting is grave,
They pass long years and kalpas there; thus it is taught.

64

They are like the prince of the cakravartin king

Who, for offenses committed against the king,
Is placed in a prison,
Fettered in chains of gold.

Prison: the person who says the nembutsu in self-power is

likened to a prince who, for serious offenses, is put in prison.

Chains of gold: because he is a prince, chains of gold are used to

fetter him.
  168  
65

People who say the Name in self-power

All fail to entrust themselves to the Tathagata's Primal Vow;
Because the offense of doubting is grave,
They are chained in a prison of seven precious materials.

66

No less than people of shinjin,

Practicers of doubt who cling to self-power should
Awaken to the benevolence of Amida's great compassion
And endeavor in saying the nembutsu.

67

People who perform various good acts in self-power

All doubt the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom;
Hence, by the law of receiving the results of one's acts,
They enter a prison made of the seven precious materials.

68

People who, doubting the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom,

Rely on their practice of the root of good and the root of virtue
Are born in the borderland or the realm of indolence and pride;
Hence, they fail to realize great love and great compassion.

69

Practicers who doubt the Primal Vow

Are born within lotus buds from which they cannot emerge,
Or are born in the borderland, or fall
Into the womb-palace; so Shan-tao admonishes.

  169    
70

Doubting Amida's various kinds of wisdom,

They do not entrust themselves to the Buddha,
And yet they deeply believe in the recompense of good and evil,
And they diligently practice the root of good.

71

Those who have been born in the womb-palace

Because of their doubt of the Buddha-wisdom
Lack wisdom; to be destined for birth in the womb-palace
Is likened to being in prison.

72

They are born in a palace made of seven precious materials,

And there pass five hundred years;
Being unable to see or hear the three treasures,
They are wholly incapable of benefiting sentient beings.

73

For five hundred years they do not emerge

From the palace of seven precious materials or the borderland;
Having themselves committed offenses,
They suffer all forms of adversity.

Adversity: destruction and danger.

74

Those who practice the root of good

While believing deeply in the recompense of good and evil
Are good people whose minds are possessed of doubt;
Hence, they remain in the provisional, transformed lands.
  170  
75

Because they have not entrusted themselves to Amida's Primal

Vow,
Even though born within lotuses while possessed of doubt,
Their blossoms do not open immediately;
This is likened to remaining in the womb.

>>>

So...first of all, let's talk about who Master Shinran is referring to:

- Clearly, he is referring to Buddhists, rather than non-Buddhists.

He is referring to those who accept the basic moral teachings of
the Buddha - indeed those who are able to distinguish between
good and evil.

- He's not talking about nihilists or materialists (that is a whole

other level of doubt and disbelief). He's talking about Buddhists
who believe in karmic recompense for both good and evil deeds,
who believe that there is an AFTERLIFE, just as Shakyamuni
Buddha taught.

- He's talking about Buddhists who RELY ON THEIR PRACTICE.

These Buddhists are depending on their practice (whatever their
practice might be) to create karmic merit for them, so that they
can have a favorable birth in their next life.

- He's talking about Buddhists who RELY ON THEIR OWN

ROOT OF GOOD. These Buddhists are assuming that their own
inner goodness - whether you call it Buddha nature or something
else - will continually propel them forward o the spiritual path,
helping them to climb the mountain of Buddhahood until they
reach the very top.
  171    
- He's talking about Buddhists who say the Nembutsu in self-
power - depending upon their own practice of Nembutsu
recitation to (once again) help them climb the mountain of
enlightenment.

- And in particular, he is talking about Buddhists who doubt or

deny certain aspects of the Buddha's wisdom - in particular the
wisdom found in The Larger Sutra that opens a Dharma door to
Buddhahood to the most unlikely beings...if only they will repeat
the Nembutsu as little as ten times WHILE ENTRUSTING
THEMSELVES ENTIRELY TO AMIDA AND HIS VOW.

- He's also talking about Buddhists who do various good acts

(such as the six or ten PARAMITAS) in self-power - once again
hoping to create karmic merit and eliminate karmic debt.

Master Shinran says that all these Buddhists - regardless of

whether they are from the Hinayana, Mahayana or Vajrayana
schools, commit the offense of doubting the Primal Vow - if
indeed they even know about it.

So let's give some examples of what it means to "doubt the

Primal Vow, in practical terms, so it is absolutely clear what
Master Shinran is talking about - and what he is NOT talking
about:

- If you're doing meditation practice so that you will become a

"better" Buddhist, you're involved in a self-power attempt to climb
the mountain of enlightenment.

- If you're committing yourself to being a vegetarian, so that you

will become a "better" Buddhist, you're involved in a self-power
attempt to climb the mountain of enlightenment.

  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.

- If you become a monk, or a priest, or a nun, so that you will

become a "better" Buddhist, you're involved in a self-power
attempt to climb the mountain of enlightenment.

- If you're donating money to the Sangha, or some other

charitable cause, so that you will become a "better" Buddhist,
you're involved in a self-power attempt to climb the mountain of
enlightenment.

- If you are deliberately taking precepts, or practicing one or more

of the paramitas, so that you will become a "better" Buddhist,
you're involved in a self-power attempt to climb the mountain of
enlightenment.

- If you're chanting some Buddhist phrase - whether the

Nembutsu or some other phrase - so that you will become a
"better" Buddhist, you're involved in a self-power attempt to climb
the mountain of enlightenment.

All of these activities - which Master Shinran collectively refers to

as the "various and sundry good acts and practices" - are self-
power attempts to climb the mountain of enlightenment - IF
YOUR UNDERLYING MOTIVE IS SPIRITUAL IMPROVEMENT
OF ANY KIND.

Master Shinran's Dharma truth is that this underlying motive - the

motive to improve one's spiritual life by self-power practices and
good acts - will actually PREVENT a person from achieving his or
her goal of Buddhahood.

  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.

Because they DOUBT, they feel (sometimes below the level of

their own awareness) that they can't depend on Amida's
INCONCEIVABLE work and the gift of His INFINITE merit. They
feel they have to add their two cents, so to speak - helping Amida
out somehow by whatever they do as a spiritual good act or
practice.

As we listen deeply to the Dharma of True Shin Buddhism, we

hear our Dharma masters say so very clearly: All our good acts
and practices are spiritually perverted. Everything that we do is
polluted by our own self-interest, coming from our intractable and
ever-present monkey minds. In this Age of Dharma Decline,
nothing that we put our hands to is marked by purity of thought,
word or action.

This is a bitter, bitter pill for many Buddhists to swallow. Indeed,

until a person's karma has ripened, he (or she) cannot even
begin to hear this message. As human beings, we are deluded
by what we think of as our own goodness, and our own ability to
leverage that goodness into karmic goodness for our future.

  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.

This Dharma friends, is what I am pointing to in what I call "The

Second Pillar of True Shin Buddhism". It says that we cannot
achieve our aspiration for Buddhahood, no matter what we do,
nor for how long we do it.

Devote years of your life - or decades - or entire lifetimes - to

spiritual improvement on the self-power path. You will simply not
attain your great and glorious goal of actual Buddhahood.
Instead, sooner or later you will fall prey to the workings of the
monkey mind, losing whatever ground you have gained - or think
you have gained.

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.

This is such a profound truth, and most of us need to hear it

many, many times before it REALLY sinks deep into our
consciousness, and we finally bear witness to the TRUTH of this
part of Master Shinran's Dharma message. But at some point -
when our karma has finally ripened - we DO bear witness. Then
our hearts open up, as we realize how unable we are to save
ourselves. Then, like the traveller in the parable of Two Rivers
and the White Path, we finally reach out unencumbered by
egotistic presumption - and ask Amida to save us, as a little child
would ask to be carried by his perfect parent.

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.

>>>

Now, I want to address some confusion I have seen many times

about what is and what is NOT the offense of doubting the Primal
Vow. I'll give two real world examples from counseling I have
done, both publicly and privately, to (hopefully) make this 100%
clear to everyone reading along.

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?

I replied to him that of course giving money wasn't forbidden for

Shin Buddhists - not in the least! But when you DO give money,
just give it because you FEEL like giving it - as part of you living a
natural life. Don't give it because you're a religious person, or a
spiritual person. Don't give it with thoughts of SELF-
CALCULATION, thinking about how much good karma you are
(hopefully) going to acquire - or the expressions of gratitude you
will hear from those you helped.

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.

Here's a second example - one that has come up many times

over the years.

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.

He'll tell me that he learned meditation in some other spiritual

path - either within Buddhism or in some other religious tradition.
He'll tell me that it has been helpful for him - perhaps to quiet his
chattering monkey mind. Or perhaps he learned it as a tool to
help him deal with chronic physical pain.

My answer to Joe is the same as in the example about Joe giving

money.
  177    
There is nothing wrong with a seeker on the path of True Shin
Buddhism doing meditation. Indeed, our scientists have been
studying meditation for decades now, and have verified that it
can have real physical and psychological benefits for some (not
all) people.

So...if meditation helps to alleviate some of the physical or

psychological pain you are enduring here in Samsara, there's
nothing wrong with meditating for those benefits. If someone can
control his chronic pain using meditation, that's a much better
option than taking addictive pain killers. Similarly, if someone
can calm their anxiety using meditation, that's a much better
options than taking psychological meds, which all have serious
known side effects.

What Master Shinran is talking about is that meditation is not

appropriate AS A TOOL TO ATTAIN BUDDHAHOOD.
Meditation will not - I repeat WILL NOT - lead you to liberation,
even if you become a "meditation master". You will STILL be
subject to blind passions, to cravings and aversions, to delusions
and obscurations, to ignorance - and, most of all, to intractable
egotism.

The ONLY solution to our common human problem is TRUE

ENTRUSTING in Amida and His Primal Vow. And (this is the big
point here) as long as you are entrusting yourself to anything or
anyone else - you will not be able to receive Amida's gift of
SHINJIN. You will continue to suffer, not just in this life, but in
the life to come.

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.

This is such a critical Dharma truth that Master Shinran and

Master Rennyo repeat it over and over again. So before we
leave this particular obstruction - the obstruction of doubting the
Primal Vow and depending (even a little bit) on our own self-
power good acts and practices - let me share a letter from Master
Rennyo.

>>>

Fascicle 2:9 - On “The Loyal Retainer and the Faithful Wife”

Why is it that, in relying on Amida Tathagata, we completely

reject the myriad good deeds and practices, designating them as
the sundry practices? It is [because of] the great Vow, in which
Amida Buddha has promised to save sentient beings who rely on
him singleheartedly and steadfastly, however deep their evil
karma may be.

Therefore, “singleheartedly and steadfastly” means that we take

no other buddha as peer to Amida Buddha. This is the same as
the rule in human society that one relies on only one master.
Hence, in the words of an outer [non-Buddhist] text, “a loyal
retainer will not serve two masters; a faithful wife will not take a
second husband.” Since Amida Tathagata is the original teacher
and master of all the buddhas of the three periods, how can all
the buddhas who are his disciples not rejoice when we rely on
that buddha who is the master? You must understand the
grounds for this very thoroughly.

Since the substance of practice, “namu-amida-butsu,”

encompasses all the kami, buddhas, and bodhisattvas and,
  179    
besides these, each and every one of the myriad good deeds
and practices, what could be lacking that would necessitate
our putting our minds to the various practices and good
deeds? The Name “namu-amida-butsu” completely embodies all
the myriad good deeds and practices; hence it is surely
trustworthy.

Then how do we rely on Amida Tathagata and how do we entrust

ourselves and attain birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss?

There is no need for effort on our part.

When we just realize deeply that Amida Tathagata himself

graciously made the Vow to save those of us who, as
wretched beings burdened with the most deeply rooted evil,
can only go to hell, and when faith is awakened in the one
thought-moment of taking refuge, then—surely prompted by
the unfolding of past good as well—other power faith is
granted through the wisdom of the Buddha.

Consequently, the Buddha’s mind and the mind of the

ordinary being become one; the person who has attained
such a state of mind is called a practitioner who has attained
faith.

Beyond this, we must bear in mind that, simply by saying the

nenbutsu, sleeping or waking, no matter where or when, we
should express our gratitude for the benevolence of the
universal vow of great compassion.

>>>

Dharma friends, as I have said so often, this unique Dharma

message - this new paradigm leading to Buddhahood - is so
SIMPLE, SIMPLE, SIMPLE. It was made that way by

  180  
Dharmakara Bodhisattva after many ages of profound thought,
and consultation with countless Buddhas in the ten directions.

It was made SIMPLE because so many people are simply not

able to comprehend anything that is NOT simple. That's why the
early Shin Sangha had so many people of no learning, and no
capacity to understand complicated teachings - or do
complicated self-power practices.

And yet - as so many people of SHINJIN can attest to - that very

simplicity has made the message of Shin Buddhism "the most
difficult of all difficulties" - the most difficult Dharma message for
human beings to cling to, and truly believe in.

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.

Ultimately, you, me and every other sentient being comes to this

realization...and thus awakens the pure and holy desire to end this endless
cycle of karmic suffering once and for all. Ultimately, each and every one of us
awakens our aspiration to become a True Buddha, and nothing less.

  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.

Instead, if we truly yearn for Buddhahood, all we need to do is entrust our

karmic destiny entirely to Amida Buddha, who has vowed that He Himself will
save anyone who does so. For the person who entrusts himself and his karmic
destiny ENTIRELY to Amida – without any intellectual or emotional
reservations whatsoever – He will bestow His unique gift of SHINJIN, the faith-
mind consciousness of His own salvic plan, and it's absolute efficacy in our
lives.

SHINJIN in this life equals Buddhahood in the life to come.

So...as Master Rennyo said so plainly, SHINJIN is EVERYTHING in our

school. And as I read the writings of our Dharma masters, I see plainly that
one of their key functions as GOOD teachers of the Dharma was to help
remove OBSTACLES from the minds and hearts of seekers who had been
called by Amida, and were seeking to become people of SHINJIN in this life,
so they could become Buddhas in the life to come.

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).

If I am withholding any deeper knowledge beyond simple recitation of the

nembutsu, then may I lose sight of the compassion of Shakyamuni and Amida
Buddha and slip through the embrace of Amida's original vow.

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.

Why is their knowledge such a great impediment? For two reasons:

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.

In old paradigm Buddhism – the Buddhism of the Hinayana and Mahayana –

different schools use different mind techniques in order to create spiritual
breakthroughs. These include all sorts of meditative practices involving both
thought (such as visualizations and study) and no-thought (such as the koans
of Zen Buddhism. Some depend on shaping the rational mind, and others
depend on breaking the rational mind. These methods are rational, or non-
rational.

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.

Rather, TRUE Shin Buddhism depends ENTIRELY upon the REVELATION

that ONLY Amida Buddha Himself can give us. We listen to the simple
message of True Shin Buddhism to understand it – something even the most
illiterate and untrained person can easily do. And then, having understood it,
we listen with our hearts, to find out whether it is really TRUE. Is there really
such a Buddha as Amida? Is He really committed to saving us, just as we are,
with all our flaws and foibles? It is really true that the only thing we need to do
is entrust ourselves entirely to Him?

Answering these questions definitively is NOT a function of our rational minds.

It is NOT a function of our attempts at non-rational mind, either. Rather, it
requires the TRANS-RATIONAL voice of the Buddha, deep within us, to

  186  
convince us that this is OUR Dharma truth – and that for us, there simply is no
other.

So...people who come at Shin Buddhism from an intellectual perspective,

because of their prior study and training, cannot receive Amida's gift of
SHINJIN that the village idiot in medieval, rural Japan receives so easily.

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.

I, for my own part, attach no significance to the condition, good or bad, of

persons in their final moments. People in whom shinjin is determined do not
doubt, and so abide among the truly settled. For this reason their end also -
even for those ignorant and foolish and lacking in wisdom - is a happy
one.

You have been explaining to people that one attains birth through the
Tathagata's working; it is in no way otherwise.

What I have been saying to all of you from many years past has not
changed. Simply achieve your birth, firmly avoiding all scholarly debate.

I recall hearing the late Master Honen say, "Persons of the 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."

To this day these things come to mind.

Each of you should attain your birth without being misled by people and
without faltering in shinjin. However, the practicer in whom shinjin has not

  187    
become settled will continue to drift, even without being misled by anyone, for
he does not abide among the truly settled.

Please relay what I have written here to the others.

(Lamp for the Latter Ages #6)

>>>

Like Master Honen's One Sheet Document, this is an incredible piece of

pastoral writing, from a TRUE teacher who wanted nothing else than for
people to come to settled Shinjin in this life...so they could come to the END
OF SUFFERING, once and for all.

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.

I'm reminded on an incident from my childhood, back in the 1950's. My

parents had one of those old fashioned electric broilers, where you put the
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meat on a rack, and the heating element was in the metal lid which went on
top. Of course, they told me in no uncertain terms not to touch the lid – and I'm
sure you can guess what the end of this story was.

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.

Master Rennyo later described this phenomenon PRECISELY, in one of his

many collected sayings:

>>>

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.

So...please don't anybody mistake my words or intentions to be that I am

against scholarship, and those who are called to be scholars. Nothing could
be further from the truth. I am simply saying that you have to become a know-
nothing FIRST...and then, after receiving Amida's incomparable gift, you can
become a know-something (aka a scholar) if that is your calling as a person of
settled SHINJIN.

Ignoring this simple, straightfoward direction is the #1 intellectual obstacle in

the Shin Sangha for so many individuals – and it is the #1 cause of decline for
the global Shin Sangha as well. For each of us as individuals, and for all of us
as the global Shin Sangha, it is absolutely essential that the very first thing we
do in response to Amida's call is “become our foolish selves”, and drop the
intellectual pretensions, assumptions and presumptions we acquired through
any previous contact with the old paradigm Dharma paths of the Hinayana and
Mahayana.

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.

How do we know? Because one of Master Shinran's original students wrote a

compelling and tragic tract after Master Shinran's death. The author was
Yuien-Bo, and the tract was called “Lamenting the Divergences”. He wrote
movingly, and specifically, about how common it was becoming for people to
change the simple Dharma – to insert all sorts of divergences in it. And with
prescient vision, Yuien-Bo shared his fears that over time this problem would
become worse and worse – to the point the the dilution and pollution of the
pristine Dharma would make it totally ineffective. He said that he was weeping
as he wrote, thinking of all those people who would be called by Amida, and
yet would not be able to come to settled SHINJIN, because of the terrible
confusion that these divergences were causing.

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.

When Master Rennyo took the reins of leadership, he accurately diagnosed

the problem. He saw clearly how scholasticism and divergences from the
SIMPLE Dharma were RUINING the Sangha. He saw clearly that mixing in the
esoterica of Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism was making it impossible for
people to understand Master Shinran's Dharma message, much less respond
to it with simple, true entrusting.

And so Master Rennyo decided to follow the K.I.S.S. Principle – KEEP IT

SIMPLE, SANGHA.

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.

So...I'm going to finish up this discussion of our intellectual obstacles by

sharing from Master Rennyo's letters. As you read them, you will see – again
and again – how he insisted on keeping the Dharma message simple – and
insisted on not mixing in any of the old paradigm Hinayana and Mahayana
teachings.

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.

Listen like an illiterate person, with no training whatsoever in Buddhism, would

listen. Become a know-nothing, until the living Buddha Amida causes you to
actually KNOW the one thing in this universe of ours that is TRULY worth
knowing.

“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.

So...here are some of Master Rennyo's thoughts. Please LISTEN DEEPLY to

them, so you can respond with the wisdom of foolishness. - the wisdom Amida
gives foolish people who know they have no wisdom of their own:

>>>

Facsicle 1:8. On Building at Yoshizaki

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.

>>>

Facsicle 1:12. The Choshoji’s Past

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.

In conclusion, there must definitely be discussions of faith from now on

among those at the meetings. For this is how we are to attain birth in the
true and real Land of Utmost Bliss.

>>>

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.

>>>

Facsicle 2:11. On the Fivefold Teaching

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.

The function of a good teacher is just to encourage people to take refuge

in Amida singleheartedly and steadfastly. Therefore a fivefold teaching has
been established [giving the conditions necessary for birth]: first, [the unfolding
of] good from the past; second, [meeting] a good teacher; third, [encountering
Amida’s] light; fourth, [attaining] faith; and, fifth, [saying] the Name [of the
Buddha]. Unless this fivefold teaching is realized, it is evident [in the received
texts] that birth is impossible. Thus the good teacher is the messenger who
tells us to take refuge in Amida Buddha. Without meeting a good teacher
through the unfolding of good from the past, birth is impossible. Bear in mind,
however, that to abandon Amida, in whom we take refuge, and to take only
the good teacher as essential is a serious error.

>>>

Paul's comment: In the modern Shin Sangha, so many of the so-called

"leading" teachers and scholars simply brush aside matters of faith. I
remember reading the words of one of these so-called teachers admitting that
it was "OK" if people of little education believed in the Dharma of Shakyamuni
and Shinran, even though it was a "less sophisticaed" understanding than his
(superior) philosophical, academic understanding was.

How tragic that is, for him, for those he teaches, and for the Sangha at large,
which is awash in this sort of nonsense!

>>>

Facsicle 2:13. On the Reputation of Our School

Fully observing the regulations established in our tradition means acting in

such a way toward other sects and toward society that we do not draw public
attention to our sect; we take this as fundamental. Recently, however, there
have been some among the nenbutsu people in our tradition who have

  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.

This is clearly 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
(Kanmuryojukyo, T.12:343b).

This you should know.

There is, then, no worry about becoming a buddha. How incomparable is

the all-surpassing Primal Vow! And how gracious is Amida Tathagata’s
light! Without encountering the [receptive] condition of this light, there can be
no cure at all for the fearful sickness of ignorance and karma-hindrance which
has been ours from the beginningless past.

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.

>>>

Facsicle 3:9. On the Anniversary of Master Shinran’s Death

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.

>>>

Paul's comment: My own Dharma mentor, Eiken Kobai Sensei, recently

published an article lamenting the fact that in his sect, the Nishi Hongwanji, so
many of those who are stepping forward to receive ordination as priests are
simply not people of Shinjin.

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".

Without realizing this faith, it is truly impossible to guide others. Without

realizing this faith, it is impossible to tell of Amida's great compassion. Without
realizing this faith, it is impossible to awaken beings everywhere, in
accordance with Amida's will.

>>>

Fascicle 3:10. On Six Items, Including “Kami Manifestations”

(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?

Is it not truly deplorable that [some people] confuse others by talking

about false teachings that are of uncertain origin and are unknown to us,
  199    
and furthermore that they debase the transmission of the Dharma? You
must reflect on this very carefully.

>>>

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.

>>>

Facsicle 3:11. On the Services Held Every Year without Exception

(excerpt)

...recently, although people these days act as if they knew the

BuddhaDharma, [it is clear] from what I have observed that while they give an
outward appearance of relying on the Buddha-Dharma, there is no decisive
settling of faith (anjin), the single path in our tradition.

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.

>>>

Facsicle 4:6. On Three Items

(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.

>>>

Paul's comment: I realize that I am starting to sound like a broken record...but

it is actually Master Rennyo who repeats these points over and over again - as
an act of great compassion - to remove the obstacles of confusion and doubt
that people have because of false teachers who are propounding obscure
teachings from various scriptures (including Buddhist scriptures) that are not
part of our tradition.

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.

>>>

Facsicle 4:7. On Six Items

  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.

These people aren't actually discussing their doubts as Master Rennyo

recommends we do. Rather, they're PROCLAIMING them as Dharma truth.
And thus, all their scholarship, all their reading and study, all their attendance
at various Shin temple services, all their titles, all their reputations, all their
honorariums, are worth NOTHING.

Again, Master Rennyo calls this DEPLORABLE.

>>>

Master Rennyo continues: Although it seems that the Buddha-Dharma has

been flourishing in recent years, we hear that those who hold the position of
priest are indeed the last ones to hold any discussion whatsoever of faith. This
is a deeply lamentable situation.

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?

Like Master Rennyo says, this is DEEPLY LAMENTABLE.

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?

I remember this happening to me, personally. I began to share the TRUE

teaching on a blog, and at the same time exposing and deconstructing the
FALSE teachings and the FALSE teachers propagating them. There was a
HUGE backlash on the internet...and at least two of these false priests wrote
to Eiken Kobai Sensei threatening him and his reputation if he would not
repudiate his support of me.

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  
>>>

Paul's comment: Here Master Rennyo addresses DIRECTLY the problem of

intellectual obstacles. He talks, so clearly, about the problem of leaving things
to our own way of thinking. Once again, in our day, this is a HUGE problem,
because everybody is literate, and has so much access to so much material -
both Buddhist and non-Buddhist - that it makes mistakes almost inevitable for
most people who are called by Amida in this body, in this life.

>>>

Facsicle 4:8. On Eight Items

(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.

They should speak unreservedly and thus ground themselves in true

and real faith.

>>>

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.

To remove the many intellectual obstacles we face, it is CRITICAL to speak

up, with an open heart and an open mind, with others who can serve as
Amida's voice here on earth - whether in a temple, or a home meeting, or over
a cup of coffee, or on the internet.

>>>

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.

>>>

Master Rennyo continues: If those in whom faith is decisively settled have

frequent discussions of faith with each other when there are meetings
for fellow practitioners, this will provide the basis on which the Shinshu
will flourish.

>>>

I am privileged to serve a global Sangha that meets on the internet. We have

members from, literally, all over the world. And, led by Amida, we have
"frequent discussions of faith with each other". Why do we do that? Because
we know, that by having these frequent discussions, individuals will be led by
Amida to settled SHINJIN. They will flourish, and the entire Sangha will
flourish.

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.

>>>

Fascicle 4:9. On an Epidemic

Recently, people have been dying in great numbers, reportedly from an

epidemic. It is not that they die primarily because of the epidemic. It is
[because of] determinate karma that has been settled from the first moment of
our births. We should not be so deeply surprised by this. And yet when people
die at this time, everyone thinks it strange. It is really quite reasonable.

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.

At such a time as this, we should entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha all

the more deeply and, realizing that we will be born in the Land of Utmost
Bliss, relinquish every bit of doubt, steadfastly and singleheartedly
acknowledging how gracious Amida is.

Once we have understood this, our saying “Namu-amida-butsu, Namu-

amida-butsu”—sleeping or waking—is an expression of gratitude
conveying our joy and thankfulness [that Amida] really saves us in this
way. This, in other words, is the nenbutsu of gratitude for the Buddha’s
benevolence.

>>>

Paul's comment: Once again, listen to Master Rennyo's SIMPLICITY in

declaring and explaining this unequalled Dharma message. It is so simple
that anyone and everyone can understand it. It does not depend even a little
bit on familiarity, much less scholarly understanding, of the old paradigm
esoterica of the Hinayana and the Mahayana.
  208  
It's a Dharma message tailored EXPLICITLY by Amida Buddha for ordinary
people like us, living in darkness in this Age of Dharma decline, burdened by
more evil karma than we can possibly understand.

As Master Shinran says so powerfully: This Dharma message, and this

Dharma path to Buddhahood, was made deliberately by Amida Buddha after
AGES of thought and consultation with countless Buddhas, for the EVIL
person FIRST, and then also the good person.

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.

>>>

Facsicle 4:10. On the Present Age

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?

They should have no doubt at all that there will unfailingly be

deliverance for those who, without any worry, simply rely
singleheartedly on Amida and entrust themselves [to him] to save them,
[bringing them to buddhahood] in 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    
>>>

Paul's comment: In traditional, old paradigm Buddhism, it was thought that

women could simply not become Buddhas because of their gender. They
were considered to be too emotional and too attached to their families, to
really go through the spiritual renunciation and intense practice that all the
self-power schools require.

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.

>>>

Facsicle 4:12. On Semimonthly Meetings

(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.

Once [they have understood] this, if they recognize the holding of

meetings each month as a repayment of indebtedness and expression of
gratitude, they may indeed be called practitioners endowed with true and
real faith.

>>>
  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.

>>>

Fascicle 5:2. On the Eighty Thousand Teachings

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.

>>>

Facsicle 5:8. On Master [Shinran] of Our Tradition

[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.”

>>>

Paul's comment: Once again, is there ANY mention in Master Rennyo's

words of becoming students of the old paradigm teachings of the Hinayana or
the Mahayana?

It's a rhetorical question, of course.

  212  
If it was necessary, or even helpful, to have that sort of scholarly
understanding, wouldn't our Dharma master simply say so?

That's another rhetorical question. Of course he would 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.

>>>

Facsicle 5:12. On the Sleeve [of Amida]

Those who wish to know in full what settled mind means in our tradition
need no wisdom or learning at all.

For when we simply realize:

- that we are wretched beings of deep evil karma

- 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].

This you should know.

There is, then, no anxiety over becoming a buddha. How incomparable is

the all-surpassing Primal Vow! And how gracious is Amida Tathagata’s
light! Without encountering the [receptive] condition of this light, there can be
no cure at all for the fearful sickness of ignorance and karma-hindrance, which
has been ours from the beginningless past.

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.

It is because of Master Rennyo's strategy as a Dharma teacher that you and I

are actually able to hear this pristine Dharma today. Because of his decision
to KEEP IT SIMPLE, SANGHA - the Shin Sangha came back from the brink
of "death by scholasticism", as countless plain people heard the Dharma
clearly, and responded to it.

  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.

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Facsicle 5:19. On Evildoers of the Last [Dharma] Age

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.

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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.

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