My Street version of Japanese Buddhist History From Kukai to today

In this blog entry I'm going to write in my words what I learned about Buddhism in Japan on my own.

While I might meander a bit, you'll get a gist of why I might annoy people with my style of writing. >:)

You will also see why Japanese are born Shinto, live like Buddhists, and despite the current trend with those church weddings, are nominally Christian except for the whipping and the martyrdom. If you're Christian back in ancient times, you might meet up with a Buddhist or Shinto fanatic who might either beat you up or worse, force you to trample on Christian icons to prove you are Shinto.

While that does not happen anymore except when the far-right Shinto fanatic gets rowdy and so jealous of too many church weddings by gullible people who become Christianity.

So gaman, suck in your gut, and drink a bit of sake before you read this entry, because it's brutal. Man, sitting on your ass for the 99 minutes it might take you to read through it may be straight up brutal! Sorry, I kid. :)

Please note that this is a street version of Buddhism in Japan.

Due to my writing style, I am currently going to skip what I forgot and write of what I remember.

Bearing that in mind, Google "Japanese Buddhism" and look for the wikipedia entries. For the adventurous who are learning Japanese, I dare you to use the Japanese characters to find the hidden information on the Japanese version of Wikipedia. It will help you learn why we Japanese are religious, no matter whether it is Shinto, Buddhism and the occasional church weddings. :p

As for the less adventurous I have added a few references pointing to wikipedia articles used in updating this blog post.

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First, we begin with Kukai and Shingon, the Vajrayana gone K-town i.e. Kyoto for political reasons. Though East Asia practices Mahayana Buddhist, Vajrayana was sufficiently compatible with Mahayana to inspire its introduction to Japan by Kukai.

Kukai's inspiration began while learning to memorize Akasagarbha Memory Retention Practice in three months whilst hiding out in Shikoku.

In ancient times, Shikoku was popular for Shinto pilgrims being the most rural of all Japan over a thousand years ago. Today, it's for Buddhist pilgrims. However, that's because the Shinto of today aren't allowed oppress Buddhists. Back in ancient Japan, the Shinto had the right to oppress others if need be due to the divine Emperor dogma.

One day a long time ago, Kukai had a dream in which the Buddha Akasagarbha appeared to him saying: "Go read the Mahavairocana sutra. It is the mother of good magic, and can protect the Emperor."

When he checked out the temple that had a copy of the sutra, Kukai found it was written in Chinese so old that even he had a hard time understanding. Obviously, whoever copied it copied what they couldn't understand as is, even preserving the Sanskrit. So it had major mojo!

On realizing this, Kukai set sail for China to find the monk who knew this sutra to teach him to read Sanskrit and improve his Chinese.

By the time he arrive in China, the monk was on his deathbed. After realizing this man was the only one who could memorize the Mahavairocana perfectly, the old man made Kukai his Successor. Many Chinese monks helped Kukai learn Chinese & Sanskrit well. Then they let him read the Mahavairocana in the raw, in Sanskrit, preserved for centuries.

Thanks to the Tang emperor, who was a Taoist fanatic and a faithful Confucian, the old monk knew esoteric Buddhism was going to die out soon. This realization was contained in the concept of Mappo, which is the Japanese Buddhist term about the Buddhist End of Days, a time when few people will wish to know what the Buddha said, his Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. That dying monk realized that Kukai was the man destined to revitalize faith in Mahavairocana.

Then the monk achieved mahaparinirvana which happens when a Buddhist priest passes away and his body is prepared for cremation, while his consciousness is said to return to the Absolute. Right after succeeding as head monk, Kukai thanked all of remaining monks and left China with the Mahavairocana memorized leaving the country without any scrolls on him.

After the old monk's death, Kukai became head monk, and other monks asked him to wrote the old man's eulogy. It was so well done the other monks helped him learn Sanskrit to faithfully translate the Mahavairocana sutra into Chinese for them. Later, he also translated the sutra into Japanese when he came home.

After that was done Kukai sailed back to Japan, and introduced the Japanese emperor to esoteric Buddhism in the Buddhist sect known as Shingon. Being a superstitious man who believed in magic keeping the empire going, and the crops and women fertile, the Emperor willingly became his best pupil.

Overall though, Shingon Buddhism didn't find popularity among the people because it was for the elite. Its mojo just couldn't be learned overnight.

Later on, Shingon would become popular for accepting a devout nobleman's family's child to a nunnery or a monastery. Pretty soon, power brokers like shoguns and their samurai security guard guards were getting into this trend.

Isn't it amazing how the laws of karma can be abuse? ;)

In ancient Japan, the elites may have originally been foreigners themselves who needed to invent a class system to separate themselves from the common people, who originally may have been the conquered people, and were destined to remain peasants.

Above them were boss men called merchants. Usually they became bosses of villages because business leads to relations with samurai, the level above that. The samurai originally body guards of Emperor, later shogun and other nobles and later merchants.

It is said that noble families were of two kinds: originally they arrived from Formosa (today's Taiwan) and possibly Ryukyu Island. Later they came from Korea — most likely from Paekche. When Kukai was born, they came from Korea, and married into the Emperor's family and his first cousins.

That's Feudalism 9th century style.

If you mention this to a knowledgeable Japanese national, then he might reply "Korea never contributed to the lineage of our Emperor, and they never appreciated all we did for them when we occupied Korea before the war." That's true, but I never said they did. It would make sense for the Imperial bloodline pure "Even so," he'll add, "that's OK now since we give all Korean musicians their big break to fame and fortune by introducing them to JPOP fans all across Japan!" What he means is, "I don't believe your BS about Japanese emperor lineage because it causes cognitive dissonance to listen to your crackpot theory about the pure line of emperors who were Japanese first! You're dissing my main god and that's not right! Oh, and you just implied the shoguns were not native to Japan!"

At this point in the conversation, it is preferable to agree politely and not argue the point. A wise man lives a long life when he is tactful when in dialogue with learned men.

Moving right along...

Even though the peasants had to produce food for the needs of each fiefdom, according to the understanding of the noblemen, it is not acceptable for peasants to learn Buddhism due to their coarse nature. It was more appropriate for Buddhist priests — usually of the noble class, and sometimes of the samurai class, provided they gave up the sword — to perform Buddhist rites for the lower classes (peasant and merchant) after accepting their offering, be it produce, food, or even their children.

In the case of Shingon, it became a respected Buddhism due to the superstitious nature of the elite.

Even the Shinto priests learn some Buddhism while gossiping over sake. That might lead to a lot of trouble like wars due to professional jealousy since Buddhism was considered a foreign religion that was not good for anything but monks on a mountain.

See what happens when a religion becomes organized? ;)

Because a few of the Japanese nobility's sons who became monks were just biding their time until they became the new power brokers, Buddhist monks on a mountain made an army of sohei (warrior priests) to protect their interests from the rival Shinto priests, who had the backing of the oldest family of samurai.

Yet Shinto priests controlled a faction that led to the myth of divine emperor, and had originally tried to drive out Buddhism because the emperor lacked faith in the Buddha and lost face when a foolish Shinto priest who adopted Buddhism didn't know the magic words and couldn't stop a small plague or even keep crops and women fertile. In response, the Shinto faction took the bell donated to the Buddhist faction and threw it into a marsh.

And thus began a rivalry with Shinto, the way of the gods, and Buddhism, the way of the Buddha that was only ended when the shogun in later times made Buddhism a school of Shinto with the Buddhist pantheon of gods, buddhas and bodhisattvas being whittled down to a more manageable handful rather than the whole thing.


In time Shingon was followed by the adapting of T'ien T'ai Buddhism from China and making it their own as Tendai Buddhism. Yet the nobleman Buddhist priest still offered himself an intercessor in the form of Buddhist priest for the common people with the usual exchanging of offerings such as food, goods or child for much-appreciated assurances about afterlife.

Other forms of Japanese Buddhism also arrived, but those warrior priests were getting feisty.

Then it happened: a monk decided that Tendai Buddhism was good for nothing because the playboy sons of samurai were biding their time in the monastery during the day and sneaking out to enjoy the usual pastimes of rich kids.

His name was Honen. He formed Jodo Shu, which represent a Buddhism around a Buddha whose early worship originated in Gandhara Kingdom of western India (1500 BCE to 11th Century CE) called Amida Buddha.

This Buddhism states that if you chant the name of this Buddha Amida you get reborn in a land of bliss where you listen to the Buddha preach the dharma until it's time to be reborn again.

One of Honen’s star pupils was Shinran. He too was fed up with the shenanigans of Tendai opening the gates to rich kids who never learned the dharma but wanted to fight with you to the death just because you wanted to learn the dharma in earnest rather than sneak out, have a few brewskies and return to the temple before the head priest locked the gate.

One day Shinran had left his life at the Tendai on a retreat at a famous temple in Kyoto. It was a Shinto temple, but had a Buddhist monk running things, because the Shinto priests were out at Nara for their own safety to cater with the nobles who were their patrons.

One night, Shinran was allowed to sleep rest after helping out with cleaning the place and other work, like explaining that there's not much difference between Buddhism and Shinto practice, because the Buddha had conquered the Shinto gods and now they work for Buddha.

That night he dreamed of Prince Shotoku who is considered an incarnation bodhisattva (angel) of of Avalokiteshvara, who has a male and a female form due to his gender-free form. He was an interesting bodhisattva that might appeal to gay Buddhists and straight Buddhists today.

Overall, in ancient times, we might view Japanese noble men and women as pansexual with limited opportunity to be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and of course, transgender. Even so, they had Japanese terms for sexuality and gender that are less precise than the ones the modern world uses.

In Japan, Buddhism got in the way of all that because if you sent your kids to a nunnery and a monastery, they would only know their fellow gender kind and not marry, have kids and follow their father's wishes about a career.

Shinto is all about fertility - end of story. Hence all of the gossip by Shinto priests that sometimes led to war.

In the dream, Prince Shotoku said to Shinran, "Go talk to Honen. He knows the way to enlightenment to free the common people from ritual."

So he did that, got tutored and began preaching the Nembutsu cult's message.

when the monks of Tendai heard about it through their contacts, they instructed their warrior priests to talk to these potential rivals, who preached to commoners and nobles alike, about a novel approach to salvation by chanting the Nembutsu ten times rather than making an offering to priests of Tendai, thus assuring of rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss.

Each side of this battle claimed that the Pure Land is the land that all living beings go, but they differed in who gets to go there. Though the Nembutsu cults said that anyone can be reborn there in the afterlife if they recite Nembutsu ten times. Tendai said only a priest recite for a devoted peasant or merchant.

Most likely, they either read the sutras wrong or adapted the intercessor aspect of Tendai priest from the Shinto.

Eventually a couple pupils of Honen got executed because they were bad boys with slippery tongues, and annoyed the Tendai school and their political allies in Kyoto.

As a result of this tragic turn of events, Honen was banished mainly because by that time in Japanese history, the Buddhist precept of not killing a sentient being was considered a useful social more.

Additionally Shinran was banished because he didn't argue with the warriors priests either. There were also other students of Honen who didn't argue and thus they just carried on their own. Most of this latter group each formed their own separate schools of Nembutsu Buddhism, but later they were absorbed into both Jodo Shu and Shinran's Jodo Shinshu with most of them being absourbed into Shinran's.

Jodo mean Pure land School; Jodo Shinshu means Pure Land School of Truth or True Pure Land School. However, I think they were named much later than has been written because putting the schools' names on a temple might have annoyed the Tendai monks.

Additionally, a new rival of both Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu, the emperor-worshipping Nichiren became popular for his firebrand style of proselyting. After many trials with the noble court, Nichiren started to be critical of Jodo Shinshu, so the ruling elite reduced their persecution of him.

We now leave this history and segue into the modern era circa WW2.

Back then Japan's military government pressured the Japanese Buddhist community into compliance, except for the Nichiren lay Buddhist organization Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, whose leadership was jailed, including Soka Gakkai founders Makiguchi and Toda.

After the war, both men went on to make Soka Gakkai the strong humanistic Buddhism that shines around the world as Soka Gakkai International (SGI).

During the modern era, Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu leaders were pressured by military police to play by the rules during WW2 and not saying peace is better than war.

Anyone faithful to Amida and knew the truth about militarization (it steals boys from families and now the crops can't be picked so the elites, now secular militarists, can be well fed while the common people starve and are oppressed by the elites.

It is said the faithful Shin Buddhists had a woman who was arrested on trumped up charges for helping starving children and protecting her fellow Buddhists from paranoid military men who thought learning about Amida is a traitor's way because only Shinto would help them win the war against British India, and especially the Americans.

According to Shinto rhetoric, Buddhism might still be a foreign religion. You know how rabid fanatical military types can get in the Far East, like that communist leader Mao, who purportedly was of a son of a farmer.

So this lady suffered in prison, but survived and her followers of fellow Shin Buddhists welcomed her home. After all, by then Japan was occupied by the US.

I present the case of this lady because it shows that, contrary to propaganda in the Americas, some of the Japanese Buddhists were never enemies of peace in wartime Japan.

Returning to Buddhism proper, Mahayana in particular comes in different flavors, but it's the meditation that's been helpful when -simplified- the religious parts are filtered out, inspiring even psychotherapy such as cognitive behavior therapy & dialectic behavior therapy.

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Originally posted: October 29, 2012 10:14 AM PDT

Reference:

Japanese Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_Japan
Gandhara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara

Buddha Recitation as Mind Tool

With each breath I take, I let go of attachment, and cease constructing in my mind all conceptions detrimental to understanding the nature of reality as it is.

Thus, "I, me, mine" are pronouns that describe the person writing these words, yet this person is not attached to such words. For "I, me, mine" are empty of inherent permanent reality.

Then, being the practice to prepare the mind, Buddha Recitation is also empty of permanent reality.

Also, the desire to be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss is impermanent.

Thus the desire for rebirth inspires me to practice Buddha Recitation, a mindful practice.

Being a mindful practice, it settles my mind and helps me to prepare for meditation.

Thus Buddha Recitation ceases to be a pervasive mental construction, and becomes one of many tools in the Buddhist's tool kit to free the mind.

For it helps me to develop the Pure Mind that is pacified by the pure heart of compassion. This compassion is reflected in the idea that when I call out to Amida, it is actually him calling to me. Realizing this, I will continue to maintain the practice of Buddha Recitation before meditation.

Buddha Recitation helps me to remember the Buddha. As Buddha Remembrance is essential to my meditation, I practice daily.

As well, having realized the importance of always maintaining happy thoughts through understanding the essence of Master Hui-Neng's advice on the topic, I endeavour to remain in the present moment.

For all of this I am grateful to Amida Buddha.

Healing the Broken Heart Through Faith and Belief (poem)

I give thanks to the Buddha, for his role in helping us.
I give thanks to the Dharma for dependent arising explains the Four Noble Truths to us.
I give thanks to the Sangha who wrote the sutras that guide us.

When it feels like your heart has broken
free of your mind's gentle embrace,
make them whole again with breath meditation,
mantrayana and devotion to the Buddha.

May the comprehensive love of Amida tame the mind.
May the great compassion of Avalokiteshvara heal the heart.
May the active security of Mahasthamaprapta protect
one's Buddha Recitation and be mindful of Amida.

For the heart-mind, being the Bodhi Mind,
may only be formed from feelings and reason
being acted upon by one's sincere belief
that all sentient beings are our mothers!

Namu Amida Butsu

The Buddha is not a God but Inspiration for Buddhahood

Regarding Buddhism, the Buddha is not a god, yet Buddha-essence is like a gift given to everyone on birth. She who accepts this wisdom shall uncover the Buddha within.

It takes listening carefully to the Buddha's story to awaken this essence, and every Buddhist who keeps his own story a secret is turning the Buddha away. For everyone is free to become a Buddha, yet few of them are ready.

For they who are not ready have yet to understand what the Buddha means to them.

For me, the Buddha means peaceful bliss and the aspiration to be of service to anyone seeking the calm awakening that meditation provides.

If this is a turn-off to atheists, then that's their karma for confusing Mahayana Buddhism with monotheism.

In my opinion Zen Buddhists are closet atheists. They achieve their Buddha-hood by self-power.

Because self-power sometimes leads to ego delusion, this may explain why Zen Buddhists do not think much of chanting a mantra or Buddha Remembrance (repeating the Nembutsu (Nian-fo) until one reaches samadhi).

Yet the fathers of Zen and the Chinese Ch'an master before them praised the Nian-fo practice since it quickly hastens the practitioner's path to Buddha-hood due to intent to be reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Zen masters do not understand this as their self-power path blinds them, and thus prevents them from considering the easy way to Buddha-hood.

I on the other hand find zazen practice to only contribute to hemorrhoids rather than satori. YMMV

For Nian-fo practice quickly aids the mind-stream in achieving Buddha-hood, as the Pure Land that in which the practitioner believes he will be reborn is surely the optimal place to swiftly achieve Buddha-hood.

Any Zen master who doubts this is thus blinded by the ego delusion arising from his flavor of self-power.

Indeed, it is the Other-power of Nian-fo that helps the Nembutsu practitioner to achieve what the Theravada and Zen practitioners cannot: rebirth in a Pure Land that helps all Buddhists who have faith in Other-power to quickly help them achieve Nirvana and ultimately, Buddha-hood.

For the Pure Land is conducive to achieve Buddha-hood.

Thus it is by Buddha Remembrance that Nembutsu practitioners become Buddha.

My Buddhism is Unconditional Love in Action

Jodo Shinshu (True Heart of the Pure Land Way) shows how the Other Power of Amida is unconditional love put into action.

It led a Tendai monk to surrender to destiny and abandon the monk's life, marry and develop the easy practice which leads to enlightenment despite karma.

This easy practice is known as Buddha Remembrance, a mantrayana practicing the Nembutsu while viewing it as the Name-that-calls, that with every utterance of it is Amida Buddha calling to the practitioner.

Indeed, with every call to Amida, the practitioner is that much closer to the Pure Land of Bliss. Once there, he is assured to become a Buddha.

On realizing this to be true, the practitioner is full of joy, because faith in Amida relieves him of the anxiety over the afterlife.

There is no rebirth in this human realm. Most assuredly, there is only rebirth in the Pure Land for practicing this Buddha Remembrance earnestly.

Perhaps this is the easiest way to become a buddha since you do not need to waste self-power sitting in zazen on your hemmorhoids! Besides, it fulfills the Primal Vow.

For Nembutsu recitation is truly the working of the Other Power of Amida Buddha.

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The Primal Vow: http://buddhistfaith.tripod.com/beliefs/id10.html

Vairocana Mantra

Just as Amida is
compassion personified,
so too is Vairocana
wisdom personified.
As the Nembutsu is
Amida calling,
the Vairocana Mantra
is Wisdom calling.

Vairocana is a celestial Buddha being the Adi Buddha which represents that wisdom of transcendental reality, the True Reality of Being and Non-Beinng. This reality is non-dual because it is empty of ignorance and because samsara is the root of nirvana.

For it is suffering that motivates us to seek its cure through understanding of the Four Noble Truths and to engage in spiritual activities that result in the spiritual treasures of teaching the Dharma, humility, meditation, giving, and fearlessness to cure spiritual ignorance out of which craving arises, the destruction of anger and hate, eradication of selfishness, neutralizing pride and greed, and pacification of envy.

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Vairocana: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vairocana
Five Wisdom Buddhas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Dhyani_Buddhas

The Pure Land Explained

In this blog entry, I will first explain what a Buddha is and isn't. Next, the Pure Land of Bliss will be briefly explained. Then I'm going explain it in terms of the multiverse hypothesis.

Buddha is originally defined as a person who decides to become spiritually awakened out of compassion for the suffering in the world.

However, within certain Mahayana sects, a Buddha is also defined as the incarnation of a person who becomes a Buddhist monk of a spiritually high rank. He then vows to be reborn as a Buddha by making a series of vows to realize the Buddha world in which he is reborn.

In his meditations, he visualizes this Buddha world in detail. Then he reports it to his fellow Buddhists to help inspire them to reach the same spiritually high rank.

But is a Buddha a god? Not in the sense of a Creator since a Buddha is reborn in his Buddha world.

So is the Buddhist monk who realizes this Buddha world a god? Not at all, for the karma of his vow to be reborn as a Buddha resulted in that world being "created."

Yet that monk is still a man, who was born, sought to relieve suffering by becoming a monk, and reached parinirvana on his death.

Therefore a Buddha is not a god.

In the case of the Pure Land of Bliss, the Buddha reborn in it is Amida Buddha. In his previous incarnation, possibly in another system of worlds, he was the monk Dharmakara. Formerly a king, he learned of the Buddhist teachings through the Buddha Lovesvararaja and renounced his throne.

Resolving to become a Buddha, he came into the possession of a Buddha world, a world existing in the primordial universe outside of ordinary space time through the merit of his meditation practice, a world having many perfections.

Through his 48 vows, his resolutions were expressed. These vows described the type of Buddha world Dharmakara visualized in his meditations, the conditions for beings that might be born in that world, and the kind of beings that would be reborn there.

After many rebirths accumulating great merit, Amida achieved buddhahood and still dwells in the Buddha world called the "Pure Land of Bliss."

Suppose for a moment though, that Buddha worlds, Pure Lands and even other systems of worlds, are a part of a specific multiverse. Let's call that multiverse Buddhadharma.

In Buddhadharma, the Indian gods also come to visit a Buddha world of their choice. Once they appear there, the gods listen as the Buddha who resides there instructs the bodhisattvas on their mission before each one of them is reborn in anther part of the Buddhist multiverse. These bodhisattvas are Buddhist laymen, monks and nuns who aspired to be reborn in that Buddha world, and have yet to achieve Buddhahood.

As well, there are also many pesky demons which that Buddha has met in previous incarnations who wait outside the gate to this Buddha world, hoping to hear the Buddha as he instructs his disciples.

Furthermore, let's also imagine that the three worlds of existence (formless, form, and desire) of Buddhist cosmology also exist in the Buddhist multiverse.

Now, where do you suppose that multiverse exists? Why, in our imagination! Perhaps in our dreams, were we to aspire to be Buddhist, and in our lives, were we to dedicate ourselves to the Buddha.

Yet, I am of the opinion that the Buddhist multiverse exists in any sentient being's mind who learns the Buddha's teachings.

Amida Buddha not a god

Amida Buddha is a principle, like universal love, not a god.

For most followers of Jodo Shinshu, Amida represents compassion, which is the essence of the active form of universal love known as loving-kindness, and wisdom, which is the essence of the mind perfected through meditation.

Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, Amida points to the Buddha.

Buddhists do not worship the Buddha like a god. There is no idol worship in a Buddhist temple, for the objects of worship are symbols of reverence.

Through meditation, the quiet contemplation on compassion and silent reflection on loving-kindness helps the mind to understand the principle of compassion in daily life.

This understanding is known as wisdom.

When I meditate, I reflect on that love which represents compassion and wisdom in its purest form.

Meditation is like prayer in silence to reach our divine nature.

Indeed, meditation helps to calm the mind, to achieve clarity of mind.

For a clear mind is able to develop clear insights about the nature of suffering and how to relieve that suffering in daily life.

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Jodo Shinshu objects of reverence: http://www.moiliilihongwanji.org/object_of_reverence-amida_buddha.htm

Buddhism is not idol worship:

http://japanlifeandreligion.com/2008/03/31/our-buddhist-altar/

http://www.buddhanet.net/ans7.htm

Meditation like prayer in silence to reach our divine nature: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-richmond/do-buddhists-believe-in-g_b_859658.html

Buddhism with a Radical New Attitude

In America, Pure Land Buddhism is incorporating meditation so as to win new converts.

Indeed, each of the sutras have a new meaning, once the Buddhist Church of America priests adapt contemporary changes to meet the changing demographics of their members.

For me, I am adapting my view of the Buddha to widen my open-minded view of God. This is why panentheism appeals to me.

IMHO seeing the multiverse as divine implies that God is great because He created such diversity from the microscopic to the macroscopic level, from quanta to galaxies and every thing.

Although God is beyond oneself, and beyond being itself, in transcending every concept of what I think God is, He too imparts a divine spark to all life.

In my heart-mind, my view of God thus inspired by nature to be more than just the embodiment of the universe.

For God is both the Creator and created as one yet His essence is reflected in each and every creature under the sun. Though He is one, His works are many.

Yet, to be honest, the Godhead is the unknowable, and each of us knows only a small portion of knowledge.

Returning to Pure Land Buddhism, Amida Buddha is not a god but is an anthropomorphical representation of the boundless light of wisdom and the boundless life of compassion.

For it is both wisdom derived from experience which aids us in sharing our lives in a warm and loving way that promotes compassion. Likewise, compassion inspires us to share our spiritual experiences with others so that they too may be inspired to live a fuller life.

Thus I place my faith in Amida.

Never Alone (poem)

Just sitting serenely,
with Oya-sama nearby,
never alone is this heart-mind.

すぐ近くおやさまと、
穏やかに座って、
この心心であることだけ。

Sugu chikaku oya-sama to,
odayaka ni suwatte,
kono kokorogokorodearu koto dake.

First Noble Truth (Poem)

Suffering and sorrow is
all this floating world knows.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow,
we have no concept of Now.

In our delusion, we think
we are free, caught up
in strife, ignorant of history.
No one knows what, when,
where, who, why, or how.

Yet there is a Light boundless
from across the Ocean of Peace,
a bright and shining beacon,
where both gods and men confess:
"Boundless Life is He."

With open arms does He beckon,
offering compassion and mercy to all.
Cut through delusion, and become free.
Take a hold of your life, and abandon misery.
For there is a cure to
suffering, and here is how:

All we need to do to join
the land of Bliss is to say:
"Namu Amida Butsu."
Then truly are we assured,
and all our worries cured,
that Nirvana is our path.

Mindfulness

Aware of my own fragile mortality, sensitive to the suffering of all sentient beings, I make this offering out of gratefulness and the deep respect for all sentient beings.

At first, since most people find it difficult to practice patience, accepting life as-is takes great effort when they expect life to benefit them. Yet this effort becomes easy with practice.

Often people are ungrateful about what happens to them because they prefer what good happens to them over what evil befalls them.

Once we are honestly thankful for living, suffering becomes less painful with happiness nearby.

Tempering forgiveness prudently while not condoning what another person does out of ignorance, the happiest people tend to forgive what other people do to them.

Yet, out of concern for the well-being of others, even the happiest of people may condemn willful ignorance and malice.

Suffering is relieved when we act out of loving-kindness to help relieve the suffering of others. Just relieving our own suffering is the first step in preparation for the end of all suffering.

Though there is evil and good in life, one should not crave good out of fear of evil, nor should one turn to evil out of disrespect for good.

Thus, through mindful practice, one should strive to develop a deep abiding love that does not enslave but instead frees self and others.

If a simple person worships various passions in the form of projections of his mind, then harm is done when in the midst of his worship he sacrifices the happiness of other sentient beings needlessly.

In order to free oneself of projecting onto others, one clears the mind of these passions by training the mind through mindful practice and thoughtful meditation.

Sitting still often requires great sacrifices for people who are often in motion. A deeply wise person who thinks nothing of sitting still should strive to abandon clinging to or grasping after bliss, lest all mindful awareness is diverted from truth as-is and all concentration is blind to reality as-is.

When meditating, any thought of "I am meditating" indicates the difficulty in applying one-pointed concentration.

Just be as you are (thusness), thinking of nothing but things as they are (suchness). Once you realize your own thusness, it merges with the suchness of life.

In rarely mentioning the Buddha, bodhisattvas or even gods, the intent is to focus on the mind, rather than on symbols representing various activities of the mind; this is known as mindful awareness.

Mindful awareness is what the Buddha showed through his example that each and every one of us could achieve through mindful practice.

Mindful practice is meditation which consists of rightful action, deed and thought found through acceptance, forgiveness and thanksgiving.

When considering acceptance, forgiveness and thanksgiving, this is what the bodhisattvas contemplate before finding the joy which can be shared with other people out of compassion and the deepest yearning to help others attain a higher state of mind naturally.

When one attains a higher state of mind, it is necessary to be of service to ordinary people.

Hence the terms "gods" and "jealous gods" refer to holiness and piety yet inspire us to being morally upright yet have an abiding sense of humility.

May all people who meditate on these words be inspired by mindful awareness surpassing both limited intellect and self-powered mind.

May all people realize that mindful awareness embraces the ordinary mind, transforming it into the true and real mind which appreciates truth as-is, fully seeing reality as-is.

May all people fully seeing reality as-is come to realize the true, real and sincere mind that attains the psychic state of true and real happiness, Nirvana itself.

May all people upon attaining Nirvana in this way quickly return to help other sentient beings realize the true Buddha, enlightenment, Nirvana, and the Pure Land through proper cultivation of mindful awareness of the Buddha by the practice of Buddha Remembrance.

May this offering be an aid to achieve happiness through mindful awareness realized by cultivation of deep hearing.

Homage to the boundless compassion and wisdom of Amida Buddha!

Nembutsu Muzen

Muzen is no Zen, the emptiness of Zen.

Muga refers to emptiness of self; mushin refers to emptiness of mind.

Emptiness refers to the heart-mind being empty of ego through mindful practice of meditation.

In meditation, each breath brings together the body and mind as one.

Together, body and mind works as one without thought of the self as the body-mind.

Thus, muga mushin is when self and mind act as one until no-mind and no-self remain.

No-mind is the egoless state of mind when one is mindful of the Buddha. Though one is mindful of the Buddha, one is essentially at one with the world.

No-self is that selfless state of mind when one utters the Name-that-calls, the Nembutsu, as though Amida Buddha is calling.

This is the essence of muzen.

Nembutsu: Extraordinary, Ordinary and Mundane

The magick of
Nembutsu is that it is
easy practice!
How extraordinary!
Being easy practice, it is
called the non-magic of Nembutsu,
How ordinary!
Yet the Nembutsu practice
helps one to transcend
the ordinary as extraordinary,
and see as sacred
both non-magic and magick.
How mundane!

Commentary:
"Magick" and "non-magic" refers to the sense of awe arising when ordinary and mundane activity is revered as spiritual practice.

Within this context, "magick" refers to the ability of the devotee to experience the mundane life as deeply spiritually inspiring. He is to transcend the paradox of "magick as non-magic".

Indeed, everything in the world has a spiritual essence, especially the ordinary.

Furthermore, "non-magic" refers to the ordinary and mundane aspects of life whose spiritual essence felt not seen.

Indeed, Buddha Remembrance is revered as spiritual practice yet it consists of the ordinary and mundane activity of Nembutsu.

"Nembutsu" refers to all Buddhist practice related with Amida Buddha.

While the mundane world is mystified by the Nembutsu, the diligent practitioner remains in awe of it throughout his lifelong practice.

"Easy practice" refers specifically to the Nembutsu, be it meditation or chanting.

As the sublime spiritual activity, Nembutsu is mainly practiced in two different ways: chanting Amida's name and sitting meditation. It can vary from sincere recital of the Buddha's name to Nembutsu meditation to Vajrayana empowerment.

"Extraordinary" is related to mystery, to which most religious practices are to the untrained mind.

"Ordinary" is the complement of extraordinary. It refers to the commonly found qualities of life which are not exceptional in any way especially in ability, degree, quality or size. However, it can be pure and simple.

Like "mundane", it refers to this world. Indeed, in the context of this commentary, mundane itself describes the ordinary, while it tends to be found only in ordinary everyday life.

Thus, extraordinary refers to the unknown qualities of this world which are out of the ordinary and definitely far from mundane.

To the person inspired by Nembutsu practice who respects the ordinary and mundane as sacred, observing the sunset is as inspiring as seeing the Dalai Lama.

This sacredness is considered extraordinary in these modern times because it is very rare. Hence the term, "magick".

Yet ordinary everyday acts in that person's life may be seen as extraordinary when it has a positive influence on the mind.

In seeing the non-magic of Nembutsu as magick, the true devotee transcends its mystery.

For seeing the ordinary as extraordinary is to see the magick of Nembutsu.

Not Clinging (poem)

Not clinging to belief,
my heart-mind is embraced by Amida
whenever he calls through me.
Namu Amida Butsu.

Because it arises
from not clinging to Amida,
my faith is unwavering.
Namu Amida Butsu.

---

The above poem was inspired by reading "Reflections on the Religious Case Against Belief" by Carl von Baeyer of the Saskatoon Unitarian Church.

Through this poem, I am freeing my heart-mind of clinging to ideology with regard to my faith.

For each time one calls to Amida gives less fuel for belief to burn until all that is left is faith.

Many thanks for Mr. von Baeyer for inspiring me to study the Buddhist Upādāna.

---

References:
Reflections on The Religious Case Against Belief: http://www.ucsaskatoon.org/wp/guest-speakers/reflections-carse

Clinging or Upādāna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up%C4%81d%C4%81na#Buddhism
http://gandhara.blogspot.com/search/label/Up%C4%81d%C4%81na

Nembutsu Kōan (poem)

Whilst chanting the Nembutsu,
ask yourself carefully,
"Who is chanting?"

Since chanting the Nembutsu
is Amida calling through you,
then who is chanting but
Amida Buddha?

Namu Amida Butsu
Namu Amida Butsu

Buddha Nature (Visaya) and Nembutsu

In this text, I present a Buddhist heterodoxy of my own making based on commentary on the Nirvana Sutra, which is not my own. With it, I add what little I know of Nembutsu practice which I call "non-practice" and of Buddhism, which I consider a "non-religion". Both terms - non-practice and non-religion - are explained, and a vow not to make this heterodoxy a Buddhist sect teaching it is made.

---

Buddha Nature is present always, in all times and in all being.

Yet it is hidden (occulted) from view by tenacious negative mental afflections (kleshas) within each of us. The most notable of afflictions are greed, hatred, delusion and pride.

Once these mental states have been brought to rest, Buddha Nature shines forth unimpeded. Then the Buddha sphere (a state of mind called visaya) can be consciously "entered into", and deathless Nirvana attained. Thus, Buddha Nature is that Buddha sphere and another name for it is visaya.

Mahanirvana, contrary to being death and the end of life, is Eternal, Blissful, the Self and Pure. However, this state (sphere) of ultimate awareness and Knowing, is accessible only to full awakened Buddhas.

Not even the the highest of Bodhisattvas are able to clearly see the Buddha sphere. Indeed, they fail to see with clear mind that the immutable unfabricated Buddha Nature dwells indestructibly within all beings.

Because of Buddha Nature permeating all forms of life, absolutely all beings without exception, even the lowest of all, will eventually attain Liberation (Nirvana) and become Buddhas.

Thus, for a Nembutsu practitioner such as I, through the merit of Amida Buddha's name, this revelation inspires me to continue with Nembutsu whilst considering it a non-practice and Buddhism itself as non-religion to be consistent with the Buddhist ideal of non-self.

For Nembutsu practice is a non-practice in that, due to physical limitations, a practitioner cannot practice it forever yet a countless number of practitioners have uttered the Nembutsu since its practice countless æons ago.

Furthermore, Buddhism itself is a non-religion in that it arose because of dependent arising from time immemorial and will continue to be practiced due to the karma of a countless number of Bodhisattvas.

---

This is my interpretation of Buddhism and may be non-canon to Mahayana. Lest this belief leads anyone to the Buddhist Hell, I place this disclaimer and strive not to be dogmatic about this revelation nor to found a Buddhist sect which enshrines it.

Pure Land Sunset

Today I saw sunset approach, and was reminded of the glorious sunset I dreamt about the night before, which lit up the sky with its redness.

Rather than reach for my camera, I just looked at it, and reflected on my dream.

Why is it that that dream stays in my mind at that time, but I did not spend more time gazing at that glorious sunset?

If it is because reality pales before the monkey mind, then it is due to me treasuring my mind over the five senses.

For I value my mind because of the desire that it be prepared for the next life.

According to Vajrayana, the color red is associated with Amida Buddha and the Pure Land.

Thus my dream of the red sunset symbolizes the afterlife, and future rebirth in the Pure Land.

Amida Buddha is Buddha Nature (poem)

Amida Buddha is True Self;
True Self, Buddha Nature;
Buddha Nature is
essentially Amida Buddha.
Yet he isn't a deva
but the symbol of serenity,
the peace of mind found
through mindful practice.

Sincere Gratitude (poem)

out of gratitude
i read your poem,
and look past regret
to see how grateful you are.

spiritual blindness
leads to death of spirit,
yet an oasis can
be found in the desert.

thank you for reminding me
to be grateful with sincerity,
even though we each worship
different gods, we are One.

this Oneness applies to all faiths,
for when two or more of us worship,
it is as though the gods protect us.
so thank you once again.

thank you for being just as you are.