The Way of Jodo Shinshu

Koso Wasan 18

The mind aspiring for Buddhahood
Is the mind seeking to save all sentient beings.
The mind seeking to save all sentient beings;
Is the True Faith of the Other Power.

Parinama

The phrase 'the mind seeking to save all sentient beings' is not actually found in the Jodo Ron but it seems that Shinran was developing upon the following quotation:

How do we trasfer merits? Not forsaking all the suffering beings, we aspire in our mind continually. We realise the great compassionate mind in order to transfer merits as a principal purpose.

The transfer of merits (eko, Sk. parinama) is a very strong theme in the Jodo Ron; and with good reason. It is quite central to the Mahayana world view; in fact, it is utterly integral to it. Indeed, transfer of merits is ubiquitous in the Buddhist world. It is true that some modern purists within the Sthaviravada tradition seek to repudiate the idea, but this is an essentially schismatic inclination because the truth of parinama is thoroughly consistent with the underlying truths that are upheld in the Buddha Dharma.

More significantly, the entire structure of Mahayana thought rests on parinama. Our sacred story, told by Shakyamuni in the Larger Sutra, depends entirely on its veracity. The main thrust of the Avatamsaka Sutra is parinama. In Theravada countries it is accepted as broadly true and in Thailand all monks and lay people end sutra recitation and times of practice with these unforgettable and wonderful words:

May the merits made by me
now or at some other time:
be shared among all beings here,
infinite, immeasurable.
By the merits of this cause
may beings all forever live
a happy life -
Be free from hate -
and may they find the path secure
and their good wishes
all succeed.

This is no pious hope: it is the playing out of deep principles from within the Dharma. Firstly, anatman, no self. There are two consequences of this immutable truth. The first is that because we are all qualified by this same reality - and because anatman attests to the fact that our sense of isolation is illusory - all things are inextricably inter-connected. In other words: the underlying reality of existence which anatman supports - is compassion. The person who is entering upon the first stage of Enlightenment begins to experience a collapse in the illusion of self, and a concommitant rise in compassion, whereby he or she sees as others see, feels as others feel, and knows as others know.

The second aspect of anatman is its practical manifestation, which is unconditional generosity. Merits made in the course of Buddhist practice benefit both the practicer of the Dharma and all other beings - no matter how unworthy they may be. This is maitri, loving-kindness. Conditional generosity is not generosity at all; and it is not based on prajna or emptiness (Sk. shunyata) - as the prajñaparamita literature repeatedly reminds us.

Even at a mundane level separation and isolation is impossible; our actions always impinge on others and we are dependent on myriad contributors for our survival - from the microbes that help to digest our food to the parents who gave us life. The idea of individualism is a shallow illusion. While each of us, of course, is utterly unique, paradoxically we all participate in an order characterised by mutual inter-dependence. Even the most heroic post-modern epitome of individual self-sufficiency is not free from this reality.

Adding force to parinama is the seminal insight of the Dharma - the one which begins the Dharmapada - that Mind is the driver of all things:

Everything is led by the mind; mind is the head; everything is made up of mind.

It is, of course, the school of metaphysics to which Vasubandhu belonged that developed this principle to its zenith. His sense of rightness in transferring merit would have been completely assured.

Shinran Shonin saw the Larger Sutra of Infinite Life as the 'True Teaching'. This, of course, is principally due to the expression of the Primal Vow which it reveals. Nevertheless, the entire sutra is built upon the solid foundation of parinama and is indispensible for our entry into an appreciation of the true depths of the Dharma. We learn in it that Amida Buddha is, perforce, pure merit; that as a fully Enlightened being his perfection of wisdom is complete; that he is free of all defilement and delusion; that, as a result, his compassion is perfect, too. His 'transfer' of merits then - to all, even the 'undeserving' - is inexorable. The only way that we can evade it is to deliberately resist it.

Heartfelt Nembutsu arises, when we give in to its overwhelming power.

May 7, 2003.

An autumn lily.