Amida Buddha |
Thursday, September 8, 2016
The Name of Amida Buddha is the Great Practice
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Emotional instability does not mean absence of faith
My mind can never be at peace.
Since the Buddha and me both know this simple truth,
Namo Amida Butsu comes naturally on my lips.
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Thursday, June 9, 2016
Depend on Amida, not on your feelings
There is no need to create something
special into your mind.
By saying Namo Amida Bu in faith
you accept that everything necesary
to your salvation depends entirely
on Amida Buddha. |
Thursday, April 14, 2016
Do not associate shinjin (faith) with any special feelings or states of mind
There is no need to
create something special into your mind.
By saying Namo Amida Bu
in faith you accept that everything
necesary to your salvation depends entirely
on Amida Buddha.
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Saturday, October 17, 2015
Question and answer on intellectual obstacles to shinjin
Monday, August 31, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
The certainty of attaining Enlightenment in the Pure Land
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Shinjin: knowing not experiencing
Paul Roberts |
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Two kinds of impermanence
Many practitioners have the wrong impresion that spiritual evolution is a straight road to Enlightenment and that once they made the first steps on it they just need to keep walking until the blisfull goal is reached. But this is no different than the delusion that life will certainly end at 80 or 90 years old, and that nothing can interrupt it earlier.
Contrary to that vision, the right understanding of the Pure Land Path presupposes the awareness of two forms of impermanence: the impermanence of our phisical bodies and the impermanence of our so called, „spiritual evolution”. After we realize this simple, yet profound truth, we should not spend our time in vain, and quickly entrust to Amida Buddha. Untill we reach His Pure Land, we are never safe.
Monday, November 24, 2014
"Good" for birth in the Pure Land
Thursday, October 30, 2014
What is the meaning of faith and nembutsu?
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Shinjin is not mind-created
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Just say the Name in faith
There is no need
to create something special into your mind.
By saying Namo Amida Bu in faithyou accept that everything necesary to your salvation depends entirely on Amida Buddha |
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
How can the ego become a Buddha?
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Concentrate exclusively on Amida Buddha
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Those who deny the existence of Amida don’t have shinjin (faith) – some simple explanations
Check my new book on the topic of modern divergences |
Unfortunately, there are many false teachers in the international Jodo Shinshu community who support wrong interpretations of the nembutsu Dharma - the so called modern and progressive interpretations - but which are in evident contradiction with the teaching of the sutras and the sacred texts. One of the most widely distributed is the theory that Amida is a symbol, a metaphor or a fictional character.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Alaya (storehouse) consciousness and faith in Amida Buddha
1) consciousness of sight, 2) consciousness of hearing,
3) consciousness of smell, 4) consciousness of taste, 5) consciousness of touch, 6) consciousness of mind, 7) impure (mind) consciousness, 8) the alaya (storehouse) consciousness.
The meaning of the first five consciousnesses is easy to comprehend, so I will not dwell upon them.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Meaning of "True Disciple of Buddha"
Introduction
Shinran Shonin says in the Chapter on Shinjin in The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way.
“In the phrase “true disciple of Buddha,” “true” contrasts with “false and provisional.” “Disciple” indicates a disciple of Sakyamuni and the other Buddhas. This expression refers to a believer who has realized the diamondlike heart and mind. Through this Shinjin and practice, he will without fail transcend and realize great nirvana; hence, he is called a true disciple of Buddha.”①
Friday, April 8, 2011
Don’t misunderstand the idea that “all beings will eventually become Buddhas”
To think that all beings will eventually become Buddhas is a dangerous trap for ordinary, unenlightened people who thus might strengthen the reliance on their false ego. It is another delusory thought of those who “copy and paste” the words of Enlightened Beings without discrimination.
“But the Buddha said this”, someone can argue....
Yes, He said it, but the meaning is that He as a Buddha will never stop until all beings will also become Buddhas. It is not that ordinary people will become Buddhas by their own power at some time in the future, but that the Buddhas will do everything in their transcendental powers to make this aspiration come true. That sentence is the wish and aspiration of the Buddhas, not what people will actually do without their help.
Only if we give up trust in our self power (the power of our unenlightened ego) and entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha’s Power (Other Power) will we become Buddhas. Otherwise, no one can escape birth and death, with the exception of a few special beings who are already very close to perfect Enlightenment but who have struggled for this since timeless past.
Monday, September 27, 2010
What does "equal to Maitreya Buddha" means?
A unique teaching of Jodo Shinshu is that followers who received shinjin (faith) are equal to perfect Enlightenment, equal to all Buddhas and equal to Maitreya Buddha.
Maitreya, now residing in the Tusita heaven, was said by Shakyamuni to be a future great Buddha who will appear in this world after many billion years (5,670,000,000) from His time.
Shinran Shonin explained this in letter 3 of Mattosho:
“Since those who have realized shinjin necessarily abide in the stage of the truly settled, they are in the stage equal to the perfect Enlightenment. In the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life those who have been grasped, never to be abandoned, are said to be in the stage of the truly settled, and in the Sutra of the Tathagata of Immeasurable Life they are said to have attained the stage equal to perfect Enlightenment. Although they differ, the terms ‘truly settled’ and ‘equal to Enlightenment’ have the same meaning and indicate the same stage. Equal to the perfect Enlightenment is the same stage as that of Maitreya, who is in the rank of succession to Buddhahood. Since persons of shinjin will definitely attain the supreme Enlightenment, they are said to be the same as Maitreya.”