The Way of Jodo Shinshu

Jodo Wasan 67

Those aspiring for the Pure Land of Peace and Bliss,
Yet failing to attain the Faith of the Other Power,
Doubt the Inconceivability of the Buddha-Wisdom,
And stay in the Border Land, the Realm of Sloth and
    Pride.

Namo-amida-butsu is Everything

Shinran Shonin goes to considerable lengths in his marginal note to this verse to explain the term 'border land' and makes it clear that mere recitation of the nembutsu as a ritual act in the hope of birth in the Pure Land is very unlikely to result in final release from samsara. Very few, he suggests, are able to realise buddhahood in this way and doubt is essentially incompatible with the way of Jodo Shinshu. This is not something of Shinran's invention but he is drawing upon a quite lengthy passage in the Larger Sutra.

Shinran implies that the way of awakening to tariki no shin - Other Power's entrusting heart - is not the 'easy way'. Instead, the lazy way is the way of self-power and leads to the realm of sloth and pride. This is for the kind of reason we explored when considering the previous verse, as we watched Shakyamuni's progress towards enlightenment, in which he relinquished his attachment to false views and came to terms with his demons. Similarly, the true way of nembutsu - the way of Other Power - is difficult, sometimes painful, yet resulting in ultimate nirvana - entry into the realm of peace and bliss. It is difficult simply because it 'runs against the stream' - to use a metaphor coined by Shakyamuni when speaking of the dharma. It is difficult because we want to live according to false views, prejudices and assumptions; because 'seeing things as they really are' is hard to do.

The lazy way is, ironically, to focus on the practice rather than the Name. It is ritualistic (and, therefore, basically out of step with the Buddha dharma) rather than penetrative and reflective. In Shinran's historical context, it is to be concerned about, for example, the number of times one says the nembutsu rather than opening oneself to its call. It is to be concerned with quantity in preference to quality.

The Name - namo-amida-butsu - throws up questions for us; it sends us out seeking for teachers; it encourages us to think about ourselves and our relationship to the dharma. If we take up the way of nembutsu for ourselves, we come eventually to see how it is that it is spoken of as the form of the Buddha and our teacher.

Amida's Vow is, from the very beginning, designed to bring each of us to entrust ourselves to it - saying namo-amida-butsu - and to receive us into the Pure Land; none if this is through our calculation.¹

So the Pure Land way begins and ends in nembutsu. It is not a ritual act but something with which we develop a relationship and a dialogue. Ultimately this is mysterious but we are told throughout the Pure Land tradition that the Name was the form chosen by Amida Buddha in which to act upon us and to open our hearts to hear the dharma. Those who follow nembutsu testify to its veracity and it is by far the most popular form of Mahayana Buddhism in east Asia.

All our questing and searching focusses on the Name. Tariki no shin discovers us in the process. The quality of nembutsu changes from quest to celebration when the time is ripe - and often it is both; it may be repentance (turning from self-power) and it may be joy. We shall see this more fully when we come to explore the section on Shan-tao in the Koso Wasan. The Name itself is all-important.

Because life is short and the quest urgent it seems to me that when it comes to our spiritual life, it is unwise to waste our time in peripheral concerns. It is through the Name that we hear the Vow, and awaken to the entrusting heart, which is the cause of birth in the Pure Land. In no other way can it be heard and we cannot be born without it. It seems to me that the value of teachings outside that of Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin especially are of use only to the extent that they throw light on the Name, or assist us in discussing it with others.

Let us turn to wise nembutsu teachers - especially Honen, Shinran and Rennyo - and sit at their feet ... and listen to the call of the Vow in namo-amida-butsu. There is no more joyous thing that we can do.

For my part; I am perfectly happy with nembutsu alone. Listening the the dharma as expounded by our cherished teachers we can entrust everything to Amida Buddha in the Name - and be ourselves, naked before whatever truths confront us. What is there but, with nembutsu, a joyous journey with the Buddha?

  Shi mo shi mo
    Hotoke to tomoni
      Tabi no sora

  In life or death
    with the Buddha
      the journey continues

- Anjin, Zuiken's Sayings, Inagaki 1988.

Just trusting in the Name and travelling with the Buddha! How much more wonderful than making the nembutsu our own creation and realising only the realm of sloth and pride! For the happiest and yet hardest thing we can do is to relinquish control; since, in point of fact we have none, anyway. And there is only one thing that can be trusted - the unconditioned.

- 13 August, 2002; revised 23 April 2009.

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1: CWS, p. 427.

Bermuda buttercups.