The Way of Jodo Shinshu

Jodo Wasan 86

To the tainted, wicked and wrong-viwed sentient beings
Of the evil world in the evil period of five defilements,
The Buddhas, numerous as the Ganges' sands,
Give the Name of Amida Buddha and urge [them to trust it].

Many Voices

This verse continues the theme from the last paragraph of the Amida Sutra.

Shariputra, you must realise that I have accomplished this difficult task during the period of five defilements.

Inagaki &Stewart, 2000, p. 360.

The world-view expounded in the Abhidharma suggests that time has a wave motion, not quite cyclic, but involving peaks and troughs. In the peaks conditions are optimal and in the troughs there is extreme deterioration and disintegration. The optimal times support confident and easy Dharma practice and in the troughs it is either extinct or has degenerated beyond recognition.

There are time measurements (kalpas) included in this perspective but they are of indefinite length and are synonymous with 'an almost incalculable' duration. There are also mulitples of these time-spans and they are called great kalpas (mahakalpa). Shakyamuni emerged in the world more than 2 500 years ago and in a time of decline; the time of the decline of the ninth kalpa of the current great term. That is why the Amida Sutra concludes with this reference to the 'period of five defilements'.

Compounding this fluctuation in the Dharma's fortunes, there is the sunset, shadowy, dusk-like period of decline (mappo, Sk. is probably, saddharma vipralopa) as Shakyamuni retreats into the mists of history and his teaching becomes corrupted by confusion . Shinran was deeply conscious of this compounding tragedy and understood its suffusing nature whereby he and all of us are intractably infected. Without a sense of the all-pervasive influence of mappo, I think that it is very difficult to come to terms with a lot of Shinran's teaching.

Those who overlook the reality of mappo are either scandlised by Shinran Shonin's teaching or seek to re-interpret it in such a way as to cater to the consumerist prejudices, which prevail in our time. It seems to me to be correct that without an appreciation of mappo as the underlying context of Pure Land teaching, parts of Shinran's teaching will seem unduly troubling; but I am also convinced that we do indeed live in the age of mappo. Attempts to re-interpret Shinran with a view to encompassing the prejudices of our time are gallant but quite beyond my comprehension, since the underlying assumptions seem to me to be thoroughly invalid. We do indeed live in the time of mappo and it is accelerating and getting worse by the day; mappo pervades everything. I am not just speaking of any mooted collapse of civilization. I am quite sure that whatever world-view and way of life gains the ascendency during the next few generations, however fresh or exuberant it may seem to be, it will still be another step in an ongoing descent into mappo.

To my mind the evidence for mappo is a priori, incontrovertible and overwhelming; and explains why it is that I turned to the Pure Land Dharma in the first place. However, it is a shame to sully the Jodo Wasan with such considerations. We will have ample time to explore this subject fully when we come to the Shozomatsu Wasan in about January 2005! For now we may still rejoice in the resplendent effulgence of Amida Buddha - the basis of the Jodo Wasan.

The important feature of the last paragraph of the Amida Kyo - to which Shinran alludes in this verse - is that despite the obstacles, Shakyamuni did deliver it and all the Buddhas of the universe do encourage us to the Nembutsu Way. Amida Buddha's Light does fill the universe; and our hearts and minds.

Nirvana has innumerable names. It is impossible to give them in detail; I will list only a few. Nirvana is called extinction of passions, the uncreated, peaceful happiness, eternal bliss, true reality, dharma-body, dharma-nature, suchness, oneness, and Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is none other than Tathagata. This Tathagata pervades the countless worlds; it fills the hearts and minds of the ocean of all beings. Thus, plants, trees, and land all attain Buddhahood.

CWS p.461.

It is evening now and the day is coming to rest. The sun is about to set. The storms of early spring have now abated and the season has become balmy and warm. I can hear the excited squeal of children in the distance; and somewhere a violin. The air is filled with intoxicating scents which are overwhelming - damask roses, honeysuckle, gardenias, white cedars, mock orange and lilac; a silent concert celerating the beginning of a new annual cycle of birth, stability, decay and death. The air is filled with the chorus of birds and, skimming above all this, a gentle noiseless evening breeze is turning from the sea to inland and bearing the delightful news from the hills (which have escaped this year's drought) of ripenning wheat and barley.

Tonight these are the voices whispering, in enthralling accord, the resounding reassurance that the Way for us all at this time is namu-amida-bustu.

Remorselessly, darkness is falling; but still there is Light.

- 6 November, 2002.

Fresh leaves of chinars and flowering white cedars, Adelaide, 3 November 2002.