Taitetsu Unno's Articles on Lion's Roar

"The path is easy," it is said of Shin Buddhism, "but few are those who take it." From the Fall 2002 Buddhadharma, the late Taitetsu Unno explores the history of Jodo Shinshu and its core practice of reciting the Name of Amida Buddha. The question most frequently asked of a Shin Buddhist is, What is your practice? The obvious answer is the practice of compassion. As Buddhists, our task is to manifest compassion in everyday life, beginning with members of our own family and extending it to all of society. But when one really tries to practice compassion, expressing care, concern, empathy, and love, all the while respecting the autonomy and dignity of the other, one encounters a huge obstacle. And that obstacle is never the other but one’s own self-centered ego. This awareness is the starting point of the Shin Buddhist path. Among the many branches of Buddhism, the better-known ones in North America are today represented by various forms of Zen, Tibetan Buddhism, and Vipassana practices, but there are many other branches that are found in the Asian landscape. One of them is the Pure Land branch of Mahayana Buddhism, whose deep roots go back to the South Asian world that produced many scriptures, including the Pure Land scriptures, in the first century B.C.E. A major offshoot of this branch that emerged in thirteenth-century Japan is Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhism. While Theravada Buddhism venerates a single buddha, the historical Shakyamuni, Mahayana Buddhism has many buddhas who play principal roles in the different scriptures. They include such names as Akshobya Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Vairochana Buddha, Bhaishajyaguru Buddha, and Amitabha or Amitayus Buddha, who is the buddha in the Pure Land scriptures. The obstacle is never the other, but one’s own self-centered ego. This awareness is the starting point of the Shin Buddhist path. The two primary scriptures of Pure Land that originated in India are called the Larger Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra and the Smaller Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra. Sukhavati-vyuha means the “adornment of the realm of bliss.” A third scripture of Central Asian or Chinese origin, dating from about the fourth century C.E., is the Kuan wu-liang-shou ching, or the Contemplation Sutra. These three are called the Triple Sutra of Pure Land Buddhism. The Larger Sutra describes the career of a bodhisattva by the name of Dharmakara, who makes forty-eight vows before a buddha, known as the Sovereign Monarch of the World. The vows promise to relieve the sufferings of people and replace them with peace and comfort. When Dharmakara fulfills and completes all the vows, he attains buddhahood and becomes Amida Buddha. The Smaller Sutra is a highly imaginative portrayal of the realm of enlightenment in very concrete terms: bejeweled railings, nettings, trees; bathing pools lined with golden sands and with steps of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and crystal; pavilions covered with exquisite jewels built on the earth made of gold. The atmosphere is filled with celestial music, rare and exquisite birds, and a subtle breeze blowing through jeweled trees which produces a harmonious chorus. This rich and gaudy description is said to be a manifestation of emptiness (shunyata) that expresses itself freely in any way it chooses. Since reality is empty of permanent being and all things are in flux, it can take any form. The Contemplation Sutra begins with the tragedy of Rajagriha, which occurred during the time of the historical Buddha. Prince Ajatasatru, incited by Devadatta, a cousin and rival of Shakyamuni, imprisons his father, the king, and later his mother, the queen. In distress, the queen calls for Shakyamuni Buddha to counsel her. The Buddha shows countless Pure Lands, among which she selects the Pure Land of Amida and aspires to be born in that land. The Buddha describes sixteen forms of meditative and non-meditative contemplations by which birth in the Pure land is assured. The Pure Land scriptures were popularized in China and various lineages of practice evolved. Important commentaries and studies began appearing in the fourth century C.E. When these scriptures were introduced into Japan in the sixth century, they did not attract much attention, but gradually they inspired monks and nuns among the six schools of the Nara Period (710-794) to pursue Pure Land practices. It was in the Heian Period (794-1191), however, that Pure Land beliefs began to have a major impact on some of the monastic institutions and the general culture. It became an inspiration for art and architecture, as well as for poetry and literature, producing, for example, the major narrative The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki, in the eleventh century. The two Buddhist schools of Heian, known as Shingon and Tendai, also embraced aspects of Pure Land teachings, but it is the Tendai practice known as the Samadhi of Constant Practice that is significant for our purposes. This practice, originally conceived by Chih-I (538-597), the founder of the T’ien-t’ai school in China, was a ninety-day circumambulation of the image of Amida Buddha, constantly reciting the Name of Amida with almost no rest or sleep. In 1175 a charismatic figure by the name of Honen, a monk of the Tendai order, appeared and proclaimed the founding of a separate and independent Pure Land school, called Jodo-shu (Jodo means “Pure Land” and shu is “school”). His basic tenet is summed up in the phrase, “In the path of Sages one perfects wisdom and achieves enlightenment; in the path of Pure Land one returns to the foolish self to be saved by Amida.” The basic practice that Honen recommended was the single-hearted recitation of nembutsu, the Name of Amida Buddha: Namu-Amida-Butsu. Among Honen’s many followers, it was Shinran (1173-1263) who followed in his footsteps to penetrate the inner dynamics of intoning the nembutsu, rejecting mechanical repetition and clarifying its source as the boundless compassion that is Amida Buddha. Thus, the saying of nembutsu is received basically as a call from Amida, but simultaneously it is our response to that call. Being a devoted student of Honen, Shinran disclaimed any following, but his lineage kept alive his memory and teaching, which eventually became recognized as another Pure Land school, known as Jodo Shinshu (shin means “true and real” and shu here means “tenet”). Although Shinran used the term Jodo Shinshu to mean “the true and real tenet of Pure Land (as taught by Honen),” today it is used as the name of an independent school, widely referred to in the West as Shin Buddhism. Buddhism is a path of supreme optimism, for one of its basic tenets is that no human life or experience is to be wasted, abandoned, or forgotten, but all should be transformed into a source of vibrant life, deep wisdom, and compassionate living. On the everyday level of experience, Shin Buddhists speak of this transformation as “bits of rubble turn into gold.” This metaphor comes from Tz’u-min, the Chinese Pure Land master of the eighth century, who proclaims the working of boundless compassion called Amida, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life, as follows: The Buddha, in the causal stage, made the universal vow: When beings hear my Name and think on me, I will come to welcome each of them, Not discriminating at all between the poor and and the rich and well-born, Not discriminating between the inferior and highly gifted, Not choosing the learned and those upholding pure precepts, Nor rejecting those who break precepts and whose evil karma is profound. Solely making beings turn about and abundantly say the nembutsu, I can make bits of rubble change into gold. When we are made aware of the neglected aspect of ourselves, hidden in darkness, which hinders our practice of compassion on a consistent, thoroughgoing basis, we are already being touched by the light of boundless compassion that is Amida Buddha. This light not only illuminates our darkness, it transforms it, so that we try our best to be compassionate with a sense of humility and gratitude, mindful of our karmic limitations. We are grateful for the boundless compassion that inspires us to act with a new and vigorous appreciation for life. All this is contained in the saying of nembutsu: Namu-Amida-Butsu. It consists of two parts integrated as one: the being of self-enclosure and deep egocentricity, symbolized by namu, illuminated and transformed by boundless compassion, amida-butsu. The nembutsu is the flowing call of the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life, coming from the fathomless center of life itself, as well as our response to that call without any hesitation or calculation. Thus, it is not a petitionary act, a mindless, mechanical repetition, or a mantra with magical powers. This calling of nembutsu awakens us to a liberating power that sanctifies all life, because it comes from beyond the small-minded self that is always engaged in calculating life only in terms of gain or loss, winning or losing. Sooner or later we will respond to this call, if we are ever to know a sense of security and well-being. If I were to translate nembutsu into English, it would be the “Name-that-calls,” for it calls us to awaken to our fullest potential to becoming true, real and sincere human beings. The nembutsu path has no requirements except the recognition of an indisputable fact: The problems in our daily life can be ultimately transmuted into sources of self-knowledge and received wisdom. What is essential, then, is not the number of times voiced, nor even the purity of heart involved, but simply the deep hearing of the Name-that-calls to which we want to respond. The goal of deep hearing is to bring about a fundamental change in one’s life, such that one realizes liberation and freedom in the midst of worldly entanglements, daily responsibilities, and constant agitations. This path is for everyone, especially lay people, in our contemporary world, because the nembutsu path has no requirements except the...

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