Silly old me

It’s been a good while since I wrote a post on Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, but yesterday I was looking for something else on the Internets when I somehow found a copy of the famous Tannisho, which records some saying by Shinran by his disciple Yuien-bo. A couple things stood out in section XIV:

XIV

Some people say that one should believe that heavy evils of eight billion kalpas can be extinguished in the single utterance of nembutsu. This view refers to an evil person, guilty of ten vices and five transgressions, who has never said the nembutsu throughout life but who for the first time at the moment of death is told by a good teacher:1 nembutsu uttered once shall extinguish the evils accumulated in eight billion kalpas, and nembutsu uttered ten times shall extinguish the evils accumulated in eighty billion kalpas, thus leading to birth in the Pure Land. Is the single utterance or ten utterances meant to suggest the relative weights of ten vices and five transgressions? if so, this refers to the utility value of nembutsu in extinguishing evil. This is far different from our understanding. The reason is that in the awakening of one thought-moment, having been illuminated by Amida’s light, we are endowed with true entrusting which is firm as a diamond; thus, we are already included in the stage of the truly settled. When our life comes to an end, all the blind passions and evil hindrances are immediately transformed into the realization of the “wisdom of non- origination.”

I had to quote the whole section as it all goes together. This section reminds me how silly it is to calculate the relative value of our Buddhist practice. It’s a trap we all fall into. We calculate and contrive how we can maximize our Buddhist prcatice, so we can attain enlightenment that much faster. If you recite the nembutsu, you think that be reciting it more often, or by adding visualization it will work that much better, or maybe if you add some sutra recitation before and after. If you meditate, you think to yourself that if you meditate 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes, you’ll get there that much faster, as if Enlightenment was just a matter of collection 10,000,000 Buddha experience points.2

In Jodo Shinshu and Jodo Shu Buddhism, this is known as self-power, where ego and contrivance come into play. In Zen, this would be the “small mind”, caught up in discriminating between ignorance and enlightenment. Whatever you call it, it’s the same thing: the grasping and craving of the mind. Whether it’s craving for sense pleasure, or for a better sense of self (i.e. fantasies of enlightenment) it’s the same grasping. Ajahn Brahm of the Thai Forest Tradition talked about it in his talk on “Is Nibbana Guarenteed?

Elsewhere, I found a famous letter by Shinran himself in a collection of letters called the mattōshō (末灯鈔) or “Lamp for Latter Age”. This is letter 5 where he explains jinen hōni (自然法爾) or “made to become so”:

Honi signifies being made so through the working of the Tathagata’s Vow. It is the working of the Vow where there is no room for calculation on the part of the practitioner. Know, therefore, that in Other Power, no working is true working.

Jinen signifies being made so from the very beginning. Amida’s Vow is, from the very beginning, designed to bring each of us to entrust ourselves to it – saying “Namu-amida-butsu” – and to receive us into the Pure Land; none of this is through our calculation. Thus, there is no room for the practicer to be concerned about being good or bad. This is the meaning of jinen as I have been taught.

Rev. Kosho Uchiyama talks about the need to trust the zazen posture, rather than contriving to accomplish some state of mind, and here Shinran teaches the same thing with regard to the nembutsu. Instead of contriving a result from one’s Buddhist practice, trust in the Dharma, trust in the Buddha, and trust in one’s practice. The rest will be made to become so by itself. In Shinshu speak, Amida works through us.

Later in the letter, Shinran says:

As the essential purport of the Vow, [Amida] vowed to bring us all to become supreme Buddha. Supreme Buddha is formless, and because of being formless is called jinen. Buddha, when appearing with form, is not called supreme nirvana. In order to make it known that supreme Buddha is formless, the name Amida Buddha is expressly used; so I have been taught. Amida Buddha fulfills the purpose of making us know the significance of jinen.

This is a very profound view of Amida Buddha, and breaks us again from this notion of what the Buddha is and isn’t, does the Pure Land exist or doesn’t it? Rather than grasping and trying to discern the Truth, just trust in the Dharma, the Buddha and allow ourselves to be carried along by it. Until we do that, we’re still relying on self-power, on the calculating mind and so on.

Namu Amida Butsu

1 Found in the Contemplation of Amitabha Sutra, the lowest grade of the lowest level followers.

2 Been playing Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition with co-workers lately. Quite fun. :D


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