"God is like three-in-one oil." — Eldridge Cleaver
Unlike trinitarianism, modalism is a complex way of saying that the Godhead has three faces (guises?): God, the Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Consider God to be an actor.
As a deity, He is. As the Christ, he is Messiah and all that implies. Yet as the Holy Spirit, we get into the supernatural since he is also known as the Holy Ghost.
After much thought on this topic, I asked myself: "What is God when he's not acting as a deity or as the Christ or as the Holy Spirit, remote from humanity?" To me the answer is obviously: God is the Absolute.
It serves no purpose for God to exist as a physical being in the physical world when the supernatural world is his domain.
Yet God is on the minds of his believers since it is through belief of his existence that he exists. Outside of that context, and for most people who don't believe in him, he does not exist.
As for his pre-existence, that is a wholly monotheistic supposition and may lead to endless debate on his existence.
If God exists as a belief, then the Buddha exists as fact. For the Buddha's existence is verifiable while God's existence is based on faith in the Bible alone. In contrast, the Buddha's existence is not only based on the sutras but also on historical records.
Though, no one can compare a man known as the Buddha, formerly the prince Siddhartha Gotama, to God, a monotheistic deity, since the Buddha is not a deity.
Yet Amida Buddha is almost a deity, though he exists as a metaphor for the boundless life of compassion and the boundless light of wisdom. In this context "boundless" means "transcending human limitations" and especially, "beyond mere sentience."
Because of the limitations that monotheism places on such philosophy, the discussion of God becomes moot in light of Buddhism. In some ways it is like comparing apples to oranges. For the Buddha is not another face of God. Rather, Buddhism is outside the realm of monotheism.
Even so, there are elements of modalism in the many Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Buddhism. In the example of Amida Buddha, it is said there was a prince named Dharmakara who meditated for a long time and envisioned the Pure Land. After making a series of 48 vows, he fulfilled them all and was reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss as Amida Buddha.
In the case of Amida, the Absolute is the refined essence of Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Pure Land is a reflection of the Absolute. As well, Dharmakara might be considered the incarnate form of the Absolute as a human of high standing (a bodhisattva) who was reborn as Amida Buddha.
Such an interpretation regarding Amida Buddha stretches the truth that Buddhism cannot be seen through the filter of Christian philosophy because the divine is viewed differently within Buddhist philosophy. For the deities of the God Realm are limited beings who live long lives but eventually die.
Indeed, the God Realm is one of the Six Realms of Desire. Thus the gods of Buddhism suffer.
Hence the birth of Siddhartha was the birth of the future Buddha who even the Hindu gods and goddesses would adore because he transcended the cycle of rebirth and became the Buddha.
My interpretation of the Christ story is that the Absolute relieves the sufferings of a Hellenized Jewish people subject to the laws of Judaism by having the deity known as God reborn as a mortal named Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. This is revealed to her in a vision in which an angel named Gabriel tells her she shall conceive the Messiah through action of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus is born, he exposes Jewish ritualism as a fraud, makes enemies among the Jewish leaders, and is betrayed by one of the twelve of his beloved disciples. Then he is crucified, only to "die" and awaken as the Christ. Later he show himself to his disciples, and ascends to Heaven.
Thus, the story of the Christ is of God begetting the Christ in human form who is born to an unmarried woman named Mary as Jesus with his mortal father Joseph marrying her to legitimize his birth as "Son of Man". After his Crucifixion he arises as the Christ and eventually rises to Heaven. Thus he fulfills prophecy about himself.
In contrast, the Buddha's story begins with the dream by his mother of an elephant entering her womb. She dies shortly after childbirth, and Siddhartha is raised by his aunt. He is born into royalty. His father the King consults soothsayers, one of whom predicts that Siddhartha will either be a great king or a great wise man. Although his father tries to raise him as a prince, he learns all about suffering, abandons his royal status, and becomes the Buddha.
After his Enlightenment, he teaches not only his fellow seekers about the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, but also forms a religious order that challenges the ritualism of early Hinduism. He helps change Indian life in the process, and lives a long life, only to die due to an unspecified illness. After his death, the blooming of flowers on a tree out of season in the midst of the winter monsoons leads to other stories of miracles. However, the evolution of the Buddhist society that follows helps transform Indian society in a positive way.
Thus the story of the Buddha only vaguely echoes the Christ story. The ritual of law in Hebrew society of Jesus' time contrasts with the ritualism in Hindu society where the priestly caste has become intercessor between the people and the Indian gods.
Additionally the Hindu gods and goddesses may be seen as a complex form of modalism. In the case of Hinduism, each and every god and goddess represents the different faces of God but are aspects of the Godhead so complex making a single deity the only god to worship seem restrictive and thus oppressive to freedom of worship. Thus, the gods and goddesses of Hinduism might be considered as a gem with many facets, each one representing the bright and shining qualities of their worshipers in their perfect form.
In this way are the many faces of God revealed as aspects of human qualities of good called virtues. When I compare this to the qualities often ascribed to God, it becomes apparent to me that it is the good of humanity that is reflected in God. Though, it could also be said that it is the good qualities of a patriarchal society is emphasized by God. This is also true of the Hinduism but Buddhism critiques this truth while acknowledging that for that period of time, speculation about God was moot.
Indeed, the legacy of monotheism is a history of warfare by his chosen ones. Great suffering came at the cost of plagues and other miseries, as depicted in the Bible. in contrast, the story of Hinduism is not all peace and love for one's fellow man either.
It is not until the Indian king Ashoka that we see Hinduism being given sway to Buddhism. Ashoka wins a great battle but sees the truth about suffering revealed to him after being advised by a Buddhist monk about his responsibility regarding the war in which he lost friends. In response, he becomes a Buddhist king who spreads the message of Buddhism far and wide. As a Buddhist, he spread peace throughout India.
It isn't until the modern era that organized religion caused Buddhism to affect Sri Lanka and Burma, although in different ways. This is due to organized religion not Buddhism and it is not restricted to Buddhism either. It is because of organized religion that warfare has been the legacy of monotheism, be it Christian, Judaism or Islam.
Perhaps few people are patient enough to reflect on the deep spiritual meaning of their faith due to their belief in a higher power than themselves. Such humility has lost the respect of many people in the face of the distractions of every day life in the postmodern world. So many people have no time to consider the many faces of God for many reasons, be it a matter of convenience or an overall disbelief in God.
I as a Buddhist know that the belief in God and the associated faith in his existence should be tempered by knowledge. However, the limited knowledge of Christians is focused on the Bible. Thus the faces of God are limited to God, the Son and the Holy Ghost. In a way, each part of the Trinity are merely the many faces of God, limited and simplified by Christian dogma.
It's simpler to consider three aspects of God than a handful of gods and goddesses of Hinduism, even though the Godhead of both Christianity and Hinduism are roughly the same.
Though the Christian will dispute this, the Hindu might agree.
As a Buddhist, I lean towards a nondual concept of God as the Absolute, the closest of which is the Pure Land of Bliss. In my eyes, Heaven and the Pure Land are similar in that they are ideals of their respective faiths. However, I prefer Buddhism over Christianity mainly because I prefer not to stay ignorant about other faiths.
For knowledge is only dangerous when the little that you know leads you to ignore the consequences of your ignorance.
YMMV
Originally posted on February 28, 2014 at 02:02 AM
References:
Modalism - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalism
The Absolute - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy)
Showing posts with label Pure Land of Bliss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pure Land of Bliss. Show all posts
20140414
I Believe in a God Unlike the Christian, Jewish and Muslim God
I believe in a God devoid of anthropomorphic qualities that is called the Absolute.
If we have souls, then after death no soul is turned away from return to the Godhead.
For the universe has infinite capacity for these souls because they pass on to another dimension where no soul is limited physically.
Though no soul can have sex because souls can not get pregnant. There is also no need to eat because you are never hungry for physical sustenance.
However, you have to listen to a sermon until God calls to you, "Time to be reborn, pilgrim!"
This dimension is known as a Pure Land but is separate from the many other Buddha worlds called Pure Land of Bliss and their respective Buddhas.
On death, everything will be explained to you: the fallacy of good and evil is merely a tool to separate the monotheistic people who practice dualism from the believers in the Absolute who strive for the non-duality called Shunyata.
Indeed, the Christian Heaven is the closest monotheistic equivalent of the Absolute. For all Buddhists, the Absolute is the closest to God that the faithful attain.
Though Amida Buddha would urge the bodhisattvas reborn in the Pure Land in his sermon to return to the earthly plane to help other lost souls find their way to his Pure Land.
Note too that all souls are finite aspects of the Godhead which itself is almost infinite.
YMMV
Originally posted: October 26, 2012 1256H PDT
If we have souls, then after death no soul is turned away from return to the Godhead.
For the universe has infinite capacity for these souls because they pass on to another dimension where no soul is limited physically.
Though no soul can have sex because souls can not get pregnant. There is also no need to eat because you are never hungry for physical sustenance.
However, you have to listen to a sermon until God calls to you, "Time to be reborn, pilgrim!"
This dimension is known as a Pure Land but is separate from the many other Buddha worlds called Pure Land of Bliss and their respective Buddhas.
On death, everything will be explained to you: the fallacy of good and evil is merely a tool to separate the monotheistic people who practice dualism from the believers in the Absolute who strive for the non-duality called Shunyata.
Indeed, the Christian Heaven is the closest monotheistic equivalent of the Absolute. For all Buddhists, the Absolute is the closest to God that the faithful attain.
Though Amida Buddha would urge the bodhisattvas reborn in the Pure Land in his sermon to return to the earthly plane to help other lost souls find their way to his Pure Land.
Note too that all souls are finite aspects of the Godhead which itself is almost infinite.
YMMV
Originally posted: October 26, 2012 1256H PDT
20140205
Holy Anger is Righteous Anger
Holy anger is righteous because it does not affect rebirth in the Pure Land.
Suppose at service a heckler curses the priest loudly and disturbs the wa, the harmony during chanting of the Twelve Adorations.
Holy anger is when the priest stops the service and asks the heckler to leave immediately.
That kind of anger is warranted because a temple is for dharma practice, and hecklers are unwanted.
Though it is best that a member of the temple ask the heckler to leave first, because if the priest has to intervene then he'll need to calm down before carrying on with the service.
Holy anger does not affect rebirth.
Even if it is evil passion, because such anger is used to ask a heckler to begone or to awaken a napping member of the temple, it is justifiable.
As long as the priest or member does not curse or use violence, no harm or evil karma results.
Thus it is excusable, this holy anger.
20140202
Forgiveness the Economy of the Heart
Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... Forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits. — Hannah More
Moderation is encouraged by forgiveness. When for anger is spent, hatred is cast away, and the spirit is redeemed.
Just as gold is refined by fire, so too do we pass through the hells of life to transcend and encounter briefly the momentary joy due to the power of love, namely loving-kindness which is the wellspring of human compassion.
Due to the working of the Primal Vow, which is enabled through the power of love, it is said in Pure Land Buddhism that the Buddhist is truly assured of rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss.
With this mantra am I reborn there: Namu Amida Butsu.
Original posted: January 7, 2006 8:56 PM
Reference:
Primal Vow: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_Vow
Moderation is encouraged by forgiveness. When for anger is spent, hatred is cast away, and the spirit is redeemed.
Just as gold is refined by fire, so too do we pass through the hells of life to transcend and encounter briefly the momentary joy due to the power of love, namely loving-kindness which is the wellspring of human compassion.
Due to the working of the Primal Vow, which is enabled through the power of love, it is said in Pure Land Buddhism that the Buddhist is truly assured of rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss.
With this mantra am I reborn there: Namu Amida Butsu.
Original posted: January 7, 2006 8:56 PM
Reference:
Primal Vow: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_Vow
20140128
The Sexism of Pure Land Ideology
Vow 35:If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten quarters who, having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for the Enlightenment and wish to renounce womanhood, should after death be reborn again as women, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. — 48 Vows of Amida Buddha
In Pure Land Buddhism, I notice women who get reborn as women cause Bodhisattva Dharmakara not to attain perfect Enlightenment. They have to renounce womanhood, and subsequently be reborn as men.
This makes me wonder where women get reborn, because it is not any of the Buddhist heavens.
It is quite possible that lust may prevent both male and female Buddhists from finding true peace of mind. Yet gender differentiation itself is an impediment to spiritual growth and the eventual enlightenment of Nirvana.
Indeed, gender differentiation may lead to sexual temptation. This explains the need for the Buddhist vow regarding sexual misconduct.
In the Soma Sutta, the bhikkhuni Soma states:
"Anyone who thinks 'I'm a woman'
or 'a man' or 'Am I anything at all?' —
that's who Mara's fit to address".
Thus, gender neutrality is linked to the Buddhist concept of no-self, which is a strategy the Buddha taught to relieve suffering.
Indeed, the Pure Land Buddhist seeks to be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss, not as a man or woman but as a Bodhisattva.
48 Vows of Amida Buddha: http://venchinkung.com/48-vows-of-amitabha/
Women in Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Buddhism
In Pure Land Buddhism, I notice women who get reborn as women cause Bodhisattva Dharmakara not to attain perfect Enlightenment. They have to renounce womanhood, and subsequently be reborn as men.
This makes me wonder where women get reborn, because it is not any of the Buddhist heavens.
It is quite possible that lust may prevent both male and female Buddhists from finding true peace of mind. Yet gender differentiation itself is an impediment to spiritual growth and the eventual enlightenment of Nirvana.
Indeed, gender differentiation may lead to sexual temptation. This explains the need for the Buddhist vow regarding sexual misconduct.
In the Soma Sutta, the bhikkhuni Soma states:
"Anyone who thinks 'I'm a woman'
or 'a man' or 'Am I anything at all?' —
that's who Mara's fit to address".
Thus, gender neutrality is linked to the Buddhist concept of no-self, which is a strategy the Buddha taught to relieve suffering.
Indeed, the Pure Land Buddhist seeks to be reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss, not as a man or woman but as a Bodhisattva.
48 Vows of Amida Buddha: http://venchinkung.com/48-vows-of-amitabha/
Women in Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Buddhism
20140118
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
20140111
Japanese Buddhism: How to Ensure Nirvana in Pure Land for Departed Loved Ones
This article is a short guide to ensuring that departed loved ones will remain the Pure Land and eventually become Buddha.
First of all, they were True Pure Land School members and practised the Nembutsu, especially near death.
That guarantees them rebirth at the gate to the Pure Land. To open the gate to Pure Land for them, that is the purpose of the Buddhist funeral service and the memorial days. Yearly services ensure that he will stay in the Pure Land and become Buddha.
If this is but a superstition designed by Buddhist priests to ensure a livelihood, then it is a good livelihood since the Buddhist member who survives the death of a loved one are still taking care of him, even after death.
This is the epitome of filial piety. Sadly, Western society is sorely lacking in this kind of dedication to loved ones who are deceased due to superstitions about death, the dead, and dying itself.
Small wonder there are more people in the West who suffer needlessly yet admit to being Christian, Jewish, Muslim and even atheist.
=== translation: jp ===
日本仏教：ディパーテッド愛する人のために浄土に再生を確実にする方法
この記事は去っ愛する人が浄土に残り、最終的には仏になることを確実にするのショートガイドです。
まず第一に、彼らは真の浄土学校のメンバーであった、特に死の近くで、念仏を練習した。
それは彼らが浄土にゲートで復活を保証します。彼らのために浄土にゲートを開くには、それは仏教の葬儀や記念日の目的です。毎年のサービスは、彼が浄土に滞在し、仏になることを確認してください。
これはですが、愛する人の死を存続仏教のメンバーはまだ死の後、彼の世話をしているので、生活を保証するために僧侶によって設計された迷信は、それは良い生活であれば。
これは親孝行の縮図である。悲しいことに、西洋社会が痛んにより死、死んで、そして自分自身を死に約迷信に死亡している大切な人への献身のこの種のに欠けている。
小さな不思議不まだクリスチャン、ユダヤ人、イスラム教徒、さらには無神論者であることを認めるに苦しむ欧米の多くの人々があります。
=== transliteration: romaji ===
Nihon bukkyō: Dipāteddo aisuruhito no tame ni jōdo ni saisei o kakujitsu ni suru hōhō
Kono kiji wa sa~tsu aisuruhito ga jōdo ni nokori, saishūtekini wa Futsu ni naru koto o kakujitsu ni suru no shōtogaidodesu.
Mazu daiichi ni, karera wa shin no jōdo gakkō no menbādeatta, tokuni shi no chikaku de, nenbutsu o renshū shita. Sore wa karera ga jōdo ni gēto de fukkatsu o hoshō shimasu. Karera no tame ni jōdo ni gēto o hiraku ni wa, soreha bukkyō no sōgi ya kinenbi no mokutekidesu. Maitoshi no sābisu wa, kare ga jōdo ni taizai shi, Futsu ni naru koto o kakuninshitekudasai.
Korehadesuga, aisuruhito no shi o sonzoku bukkyō no menbā wa mada shi no ato, kare no sewa o shite irunode, seikatsu o hoshō suru tame ni sōryo ni yotte sekkei sa reta meishin wa, sore wa yoi seikatsudeareba.
Kore wa oyakōkō no shukuzudearu. Kanashī koto ni, seiyō shakai ga itan ni yori shi, shinde, soshite jibun jishin o shini yaku meishin ni shibō shite iru taisetsunahitohe no kenshin no kono tane no ni kakete iru.
Chīsana fushigi fu mada kurisuchan, yudayahito, Isuramu kyōto, sarani wa mushinronshadearu koto o shitatameru ni kurushimu Ōbei no ōku no hitobito ga arimasu.
Original post: April 15, 2013 2:39 PM PDT
First of all, they were True Pure Land School members and practised the Nembutsu, especially near death.
That guarantees them rebirth at the gate to the Pure Land. To open the gate to Pure Land for them, that is the purpose of the Buddhist funeral service and the memorial days. Yearly services ensure that he will stay in the Pure Land and become Buddha.
If this is but a superstition designed by Buddhist priests to ensure a livelihood, then it is a good livelihood since the Buddhist member who survives the death of a loved one are still taking care of him, even after death.
This is the epitome of filial piety. Sadly, Western society is sorely lacking in this kind of dedication to loved ones who are deceased due to superstitions about death, the dead, and dying itself.
Small wonder there are more people in the West who suffer needlessly yet admit to being Christian, Jewish, Muslim and even atheist.
=== translation: jp ===
日本仏教：ディパーテッド愛する人のために浄土に再生を確実にする方法
この記事は去っ愛する人が浄土に残り、最終的には仏になることを確実にするのショートガイドです。
まず第一に、彼らは真の浄土学校のメンバーであった、特に死の近くで、念仏を練習した。
それは彼らが浄土にゲートで復活を保証します。彼らのために浄土にゲートを開くには、それは仏教の葬儀や記念日の目的です。毎年のサービスは、彼が浄土に滞在し、仏になることを確認してください。
これはですが、愛する人の死を存続仏教のメンバーはまだ死の後、彼の世話をしているので、生活を保証するために僧侶によって設計された迷信は、それは良い生活であれば。
これは親孝行の縮図である。悲しいことに、西洋社会が痛んにより死、死んで、そして自分自身を死に約迷信に死亡している大切な人への献身のこの種のに欠けている。
小さな不思議不まだクリスチャン、ユダヤ人、イスラム教徒、さらには無神論者であることを認めるに苦しむ欧米の多くの人々があります。
=== transliteration: romaji ===
Nihon bukkyō: Dipāteddo aisuruhito no tame ni jōdo ni saisei o kakujitsu ni suru hōhō
Kono kiji wa sa~tsu aisuruhito ga jōdo ni nokori, saishūtekini wa Futsu ni naru koto o kakujitsu ni suru no shōtogaidodesu.
Mazu daiichi ni, karera wa shin no jōdo gakkō no menbādeatta, tokuni shi no chikaku de, nenbutsu o renshū shita. Sore wa karera ga jōdo ni gēto de fukkatsu o hoshō shimasu. Karera no tame ni jōdo ni gēto o hiraku ni wa, soreha bukkyō no sōgi ya kinenbi no mokutekidesu. Maitoshi no sābisu wa, kare ga jōdo ni taizai shi, Futsu ni naru koto o kakuninshitekudasai.
Korehadesuga, aisuruhito no shi o sonzoku bukkyō no menbā wa mada shi no ato, kare no sewa o shite irunode, seikatsu o hoshō suru tame ni sōryo ni yotte sekkei sa reta meishin wa, sore wa yoi seikatsudeareba.
Kore wa oyakōkō no shukuzudearu. Kanashī koto ni, seiyō shakai ga itan ni yori shi, shinde, soshite jibun jishin o shini yaku meishin ni shibō shite iru taisetsunahitohe no kenshin no kono tane no ni kakete iru.
Chīsana fushigi fu mada kurisuchan, yudayahito, Isuramu kyōto, sarani wa mushinronshadearu koto o shitatameru ni kurushimu Ōbei no ōku no hitobito ga arimasu.
Original post: April 15, 2013 2:39 PM PDT
Transcending the Imagination
Technically, a certain Amida Buddha might not have existed long ago as he only exists in the Buddha world Sukhavativyuha, hence called the Pure Land of Bliss.
All of the possible Pure Lands do not exist in material space-time as they are of a Buddhist metaphysical nature.
Indeed, it may become necessary to believe in the Pure Land and in Amida Buddha in order to implement Nembutsu practice faithfully, as belief in the Pure Land is based on what is called the Primal Vow, which might place them next to God and unicorns.
This is similar to the stigma of mental illness where "it's all in your head." If God and unicorns are made up and due to the wildness of one's imagination, then the same thing might be said of Amida Buddha.
However, this is like comparing apples to imaginary oranges. The apple of this world may exist, but imaginary oranges only exist in the mind. Even though you cannot taste the oranges, you can still have a mind's view of them.
Likewise, the mind's view of Amida Buddha and the Pure Land is but a metaphysical reality.
Belief in the Pure Land is based on faith in the Primal Vow and especially rebirth in the Pure Land.
While there has never been any proof that the Pure Land exists except as metaphysical reality, a Buddhist would have to suspend disbelief, believe in what the three Pure Land Sutras say about Amida, and — as a result of his studies — have faith in the Primal Vow.
Indeed, I sometimes try to transcend my imagination when chanting Nembutsu quietly. For I believe in what the three Pure Land Sutras says about Amida Buddha and the Pure Land of Bliss.
That is what metaphysics is about: transcending the physics of this reality for the higher goal of happiness and peace for all sentient being in the Six Realms of Desire!
For information on the Primal Vow and other Buddhist terms in this article, check the tags below.
Original post: June 24, 2013 1242H PDT
All of the possible Pure Lands do not exist in material space-time as they are of a Buddhist metaphysical nature.
Indeed, it may become necessary to believe in the Pure Land and in Amida Buddha in order to implement Nembutsu practice faithfully, as belief in the Pure Land is based on what is called the Primal Vow, which might place them next to God and unicorns.
This is similar to the stigma of mental illness where "it's all in your head." If God and unicorns are made up and due to the wildness of one's imagination, then the same thing might be said of Amida Buddha.
However, this is like comparing apples to imaginary oranges. The apple of this world may exist, but imaginary oranges only exist in the mind. Even though you cannot taste the oranges, you can still have a mind's view of them.
Likewise, the mind's view of Amida Buddha and the Pure Land is but a metaphysical reality.
Belief in the Pure Land is based on faith in the Primal Vow and especially rebirth in the Pure Land.
While there has never been any proof that the Pure Land exists except as metaphysical reality, a Buddhist would have to suspend disbelief, believe in what the three Pure Land Sutras say about Amida, and — as a result of his studies — have faith in the Primal Vow.
Indeed, I sometimes try to transcend my imagination when chanting Nembutsu quietly. For I believe in what the three Pure Land Sutras says about Amida Buddha and the Pure Land of Bliss.
That is what metaphysics is about: transcending the physics of this reality for the higher goal of happiness and peace for all sentient being in the Six Realms of Desire!
For information on the Primal Vow and other Buddhist terms in this article, check the tags below.
Original post: June 24, 2013 1242H PDT
20131223
Comments on Satanism versus satanism
Preamble: this article is about Satanism as the religionists view it, and how I use the term.
My use is to point to the truth of the possibility that Christians, Jews and Muslims might be "worshipping" Satan when their doctrines lead to hate crimes committed against gays and people "living in sin".
E.g. It is satanic for Jews to cheat Gentiles. Likewise it is satanic for Salafis to kill Coptic Christians while excusing their violence as "will of God".
A religionist who kills is only exercising the will of man. That in itself is not satanic. It is when a person who errs hides behind a deity who is apart from man most of the time.
Let's first turn to Wikipedia's definition of Satanism.
May 15, 2005 1403H: Satanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satanism is a religious and philosophical movement whose adherents recognize Satan as an archetype who all humans have some characteristics of, and Satanists celebrate aspects of human nature represented by the Satan archetype. Many Satanists do not worship a deity called Satan, or one by any other name. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes.
Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship in favor of more egoistic worldviews and practices such as magick. Groups or individuals described in some sense or another as Satanic can largely, though incomprehensively, be described as belonging to one of two unofficial sub-groupings: Philosophical Satanism or Religious Satanism.
Commentary: Satanism is more harmless than most Christian sects.
...To the Satanist, One is One's own God, and He disdains rationalist, secular humanistic beliefs which abhor the existence of the supernatural, only to promote a sterile life grounded in the 'real world' alone and in working towards the altruistic advancement of His fellow man while neglecting His own gratification and amusement. Obviously, philosophically Satanic thought has had a long history before LaVey's Church (indeed, self-centered egotism is probably as old as civilization itself), though it was the notion of Satan as the idealistic, self-seeking black sheep which inspired the title in spite of contemporary Christianity (which views him as evil because of these qualities).
Comment: Think of Satanism as magico-religious rationalization called by Ayn Rand, "selfishness".
...the Serpent in Genesis [encouraged] mankind to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, saying "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."*, with the clear implication, coinciding with the beliefs of all Satanists, that mankind should know what is better for itself than any God which would forbid knowledge and self-government. Because of the common position that their faiths are in fact very old, or the oldest, Religious Satanists sometimes refer to themselves as "Traditional Satanists" and Philosophical Satanists as "Contemporary Satanists".
Comment: This is symbolic of Truth.
...The existence of large networks of organized Satanists involved in illegal activities, murder, and child abuse is occasionally claimed, often by fundamentalist religious movements. Those claims have never been substantiated and are widely believed to be false. See conspiracy theories.
Comment: ritual sexual abuse however may occur within the institution of the healthcare system, along with ritual physical abuse not only by doctors and nurses, but also by people in authority. Thus, the conspiracy theory by fundamental Christians of ritual Satanic abuse is actually a repressed memory of abuse within their own denominations and within the Establishment itself.
Thus, Satanism is about the ego, rather than about rising above selfishness to try to get to know Truth in the form of Oneness with God.
The truth that Satan represents is God = Man, rather than the eternal truth that God = Man + "Life, the Universe and Everything."
While both Truths are valid, each in their own way, the Superior man will let his head be his guide on any matters of the heart arising from the synthesis of each of them.
Thesis = Truth of Oneness
Anti-thesis = Truth of Selfishness
Synthesis = Oneness and Selfishness are light and dark aspects of Truth
In various Gnostic sects, the Serpent was praised as the giver of knowledge. Sometimes Satan was also referred to, under the names Lucifer or "the light-bringer". Some Gnostics claimed that the being declared God by Christians and Jews was in fact Satan, known as the Demiurge.
Comment: this gives a less sinister view of Satan than Christians are wont to do.
The Confusion about "Satanic"
There are many groups which are commonly misconceived as Satanic. There are two common definitions of a Satanic religion:
* Any religion that does not follow the Christian religion or recognize Jesus Christ as explained in Christian dogma.
* Any religion that consciously recognizes and worships "Satan," usually referring either to a "dark" deity (similar to the Christian Satan, though usually lacking the evil or unnaturalness associated with it) or a conceptual Satan, often referring to a so-called "true" nature of Mankind.
The first definition is most commonly used by fundamentalist Christians, and is the source of much disagreement about whether a religion should be considered Satanic or not. The most common targets of these claims are Neo-Pagan religions, such as Wicca and Ásatrú.
It is also common to see Christian denominations or even Judaism and Islam referred to as Satanic based on interpretations of the first definition. Among these Christian groups are usually the less traditional ones, such as the Mormons and other smaller sects. Also, it is not unheard of for Catholics to refer to Protestants as Satanic, and vice versa, though this is more uncommon.
Comment: Ignorance is used as a tool to misuse a term out of fear. In the case of Christians using the term "satanic", this has led to a lot of really stupid things like witch hunts.
Within the limited Christian definition, I practice a New Age Satanism by calling my religious beliefs, "Shinto-Buddhist-Hindu-Christian New Age philosophy".
Update March 12, 2013 0716H
What I actually practice is a layer of traditions, none of which are Christian, Jewish or Muslim.
Update December 23, 2013 2120H
Comment: I define satanism as behavior which leads to evil karma e.g. people expressing anti-gay sentiments are behaving like homophobes. This leads to a backlash where pro-gay activists, both gay and heteronormative criticize monotheists who are conservative about sexual mores.
However, my use of the term "satanism" is actually the closest Christian term for evil karma, which arises when confusion and conflict result from actions we do.
My use of the term "satanism" is inaccurate since Buddhists do not believe in satan or God.
Indeed the closest Buddhists get to the archetypes of good and evil is with respect to karma. A person is not inherently evil to a Buddhist. Rather, what we create determines whether the karma is evil or good. Ultimately this is not a judgement call that determines one's path in the afterlife.
Evil karma does not doom a Buddhist to the Hell Realms, nor does good karma lead to the Pure Land. Why? Because one would also have to include the karmic seeds stored in the Alaya Consciousness.
According to Buddhist folklore, a tally of good and evil karma is made by Yama or a representative he chooses to determine the destination of a person after death. However, because each of us does not know the amount of good and evil karma which came with each of us at birth, it would be impossible to determine what awaits us at death.
Speculation about one's destination in the afterlife is moot. It might even keep us from attaining rebirth in a Pure Land, if we cling to the idleness of such speculations.
Hence the term "satanism" refers not to satan or God but to the evil resulting from actions which harm oneself and/or other people. Karma is not such a big deal, be it evil or good. It is more satisfying to meditate on karma than to worry about one's destiny in the afterlife.
This is why for me as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, my destination in the Pure Land of Bliss is guaranteed when I confirm that destination through Nembutsu practice.
Thus the use of "satanism" and "satanic" is to make it easier to understand that evil karma is not sin but the potential confusion and conflict due to the actions a Buddhist creates that harm self and/or others, such as lying, theft, hating someone, and other acts which range from childish to downright vile.
In contrast, good karma is not due to luck but rather, to the potential understanding and "good vibes" arising from moral act such as helpfulness and giving charity.
Thus it is possible for monotheists to act in a satanic manner when their proselyting against homosexuality and common-law marriage leads LGBTIQ people of the rainbow to abandon their religion of birth for a more humanistic lifestyle free of the hangups of religion i.e. conservatism.
My use is to point to the truth of the possibility that Christians, Jews and Muslims might be "worshipping" Satan when their doctrines lead to hate crimes committed against gays and people "living in sin".
E.g. It is satanic for Jews to cheat Gentiles. Likewise it is satanic for Salafis to kill Coptic Christians while excusing their violence as "will of God".
A religionist who kills is only exercising the will of man. That in itself is not satanic. It is when a person who errs hides behind a deity who is apart from man most of the time.
Let's first turn to Wikipedia's definition of Satanism.
May 15, 2005 1403H: Satanism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satanism is a religious and philosophical movement whose adherents recognize Satan as an archetype who all humans have some characteristics of, and Satanists celebrate aspects of human nature represented by the Satan archetype. Many Satanists do not worship a deity called Satan, or one by any other name. Unlike many religions and philosophies, Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes.
Many contemporary Satanists eschew traditional religious beliefs, attitudes and worship in favor of more egoistic worldviews and practices such as magick. Groups or individuals described in some sense or another as Satanic can largely, though incomprehensively, be described as belonging to one of two unofficial sub-groupings: Philosophical Satanism or Religious Satanism.
Commentary: Satanism is more harmless than most Christian sects.
...To the Satanist, One is One's own God, and He disdains rationalist, secular humanistic beliefs which abhor the existence of the supernatural, only to promote a sterile life grounded in the 'real world' alone and in working towards the altruistic advancement of His fellow man while neglecting His own gratification and amusement. Obviously, philosophically Satanic thought has had a long history before LaVey's Church (indeed, self-centered egotism is probably as old as civilization itself), though it was the notion of Satan as the idealistic, self-seeking black sheep which inspired the title in spite of contemporary Christianity (which views him as evil because of these qualities).
Comment: Think of Satanism as magico-religious rationalization called by Ayn Rand, "selfishness".
...the Serpent in Genesis [encouraged] mankind to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, saying "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."*, with the clear implication, coinciding with the beliefs of all Satanists, that mankind should know what is better for itself than any God which would forbid knowledge and self-government. Because of the common position that their faiths are in fact very old, or the oldest, Religious Satanists sometimes refer to themselves as "Traditional Satanists" and Philosophical Satanists as "Contemporary Satanists".
Comment: This is symbolic of Truth.
...The existence of large networks of organized Satanists involved in illegal activities, murder, and child abuse is occasionally claimed, often by fundamentalist religious movements. Those claims have never been substantiated and are widely believed to be false. See conspiracy theories.
Comment: ritual sexual abuse however may occur within the institution of the healthcare system, along with ritual physical abuse not only by doctors and nurses, but also by people in authority. Thus, the conspiracy theory by fundamental Christians of ritual Satanic abuse is actually a repressed memory of abuse within their own denominations and within the Establishment itself.
Thus, Satanism is about the ego, rather than about rising above selfishness to try to get to know Truth in the form of Oneness with God.
The truth that Satan represents is God = Man, rather than the eternal truth that God = Man + "Life, the Universe and Everything."
While both Truths are valid, each in their own way, the Superior man will let his head be his guide on any matters of the heart arising from the synthesis of each of them.
Thesis = Truth of Oneness
Anti-thesis = Truth of Selfishness
Synthesis = Oneness and Selfishness are light and dark aspects of Truth
In various Gnostic sects, the Serpent was praised as the giver of knowledge. Sometimes Satan was also referred to, under the names Lucifer or "the light-bringer". Some Gnostics claimed that the being declared God by Christians and Jews was in fact Satan, known as the Demiurge.
Comment: this gives a less sinister view of Satan than Christians are wont to do.
The Confusion about "Satanic"
There are many groups which are commonly misconceived as Satanic. There are two common definitions of a Satanic religion:
* Any religion that does not follow the Christian religion or recognize Jesus Christ as explained in Christian dogma.
* Any religion that consciously recognizes and worships "Satan," usually referring either to a "dark" deity (similar to the Christian Satan, though usually lacking the evil or unnaturalness associated with it) or a conceptual Satan, often referring to a so-called "true" nature of Mankind.
The first definition is most commonly used by fundamentalist Christians, and is the source of much disagreement about whether a religion should be considered Satanic or not. The most common targets of these claims are Neo-Pagan religions, such as Wicca and Ásatrú.
It is also common to see Christian denominations or even Judaism and Islam referred to as Satanic based on interpretations of the first definition. Among these Christian groups are usually the less traditional ones, such as the Mormons and other smaller sects. Also, it is not unheard of for Catholics to refer to Protestants as Satanic, and vice versa, though this is more uncommon.
Comment: Ignorance is used as a tool to misuse a term out of fear. In the case of Christians using the term "satanic", this has led to a lot of really stupid things like witch hunts.
Within the limited Christian definition, I practice a New Age Satanism by calling my religious beliefs, "Shinto-Buddhist-Hindu-Christian New Age philosophy".
Update March 12, 2013 0716H
What I actually practice is a layer of traditions, none of which are Christian, Jewish or Muslim.
Update December 23, 2013 2120H
Comment: I define satanism as behavior which leads to evil karma e.g. people expressing anti-gay sentiments are behaving like homophobes. This leads to a backlash where pro-gay activists, both gay and heteronormative criticize monotheists who are conservative about sexual mores.
However, my use of the term "satanism" is actually the closest Christian term for evil karma, which arises when confusion and conflict result from actions we do.
My use of the term "satanism" is inaccurate since Buddhists do not believe in satan or God.
Indeed the closest Buddhists get to the archetypes of good and evil is with respect to karma. A person is not inherently evil to a Buddhist. Rather, what we create determines whether the karma is evil or good. Ultimately this is not a judgement call that determines one's path in the afterlife.
Evil karma does not doom a Buddhist to the Hell Realms, nor does good karma lead to the Pure Land. Why? Because one would also have to include the karmic seeds stored in the Alaya Consciousness.
According to Buddhist folklore, a tally of good and evil karma is made by Yama or a representative he chooses to determine the destination of a person after death. However, because each of us does not know the amount of good and evil karma which came with each of us at birth, it would be impossible to determine what awaits us at death.
Speculation about one's destination in the afterlife is moot. It might even keep us from attaining rebirth in a Pure Land, if we cling to the idleness of such speculations.
Hence the term "satanism" refers not to satan or God but to the evil resulting from actions which harm oneself and/or other people. Karma is not such a big deal, be it evil or good. It is more satisfying to meditate on karma than to worry about one's destiny in the afterlife.
This is why for me as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, my destination in the Pure Land of Bliss is guaranteed when I confirm that destination through Nembutsu practice.
Thus the use of "satanism" and "satanic" is to make it easier to understand that evil karma is not sin but the potential confusion and conflict due to the actions a Buddhist creates that harm self and/or others, such as lying, theft, hating someone, and other acts which range from childish to downright vile.
In contrast, good karma is not due to luck but rather, to the potential understanding and "good vibes" arising from moral act such as helpfulness and giving charity.
Thus it is possible for monotheists to act in a satanic manner when their proselyting against homosexuality and common-law marriage leads LGBTIQ people of the rainbow to abandon their religion of birth for a more humanistic lifestyle free of the hangups of religion i.e. conservatism.
20130421
The Primal Vow in Brief (poem)
With clear recitation,
let the Buddha within call out
the Name-that-calls
so that your voice and his are one.
Even if you recite his name
but once with sincerity,
you shall be reborn in
the Pure Land of Bliss.
For as long as you remember
the Buddha, rebirth in
the Pure Land is assured!
Namu Amida Butsu!
let the Buddha within call out
the Name-that-calls
so that your voice and his are one.
Even if you recite his name
but once with sincerity,
you shall be reborn in
the Pure Land of Bliss.
For as long as you remember
the Buddha, rebirth in
the Pure Land is assured!
Namu Amida Butsu!
20130417
Truth of the Name-that-calls
Calling out to Amida Buddha,
I hear Amida calling out to me
With each and every utterance
Of the Name-that-calls.
A foolish sentient being
such as this one cannot achieve
Nirvana in this Age of Decadent Hedonism.
All he can do is utter
The Name-that-calls
With the belief
that he shall be born
in the Pure Land of Bliss.
In the Pure Land
All who are born there
Sit listening to Amida Buddha
Preach his Buddhadharma,
And, according to his karma,
Aspire to become Bodhisattva.
With all the suffering
in Samsara, the Bodhisattva
vows to be reborn in
the realm where he is needed,
be it in the Hells to
rescue hell beings,
in the Hungry Ghost realm
to rescue hungry ghosts,
in the Animal realm to
rescue animals,
in the Human realm to
rescue human beings,
in the Demon realm to
rescue demons, and
in the Godly realm to
rescue the gods.
By rescuing all sentient beings
in the Realms of Desire — Samasara —
the Bodhisattva gains karmic merit
which aids his transformation
into Buddha, thus freeing him
from rebirth in the Realms of Desire.
This is why this one, devoted to Amida,
Calls out to him endlessly,
So that after this life, rebirth
in the Pure Land of Bliss is assured!
Namu Amida Butsu!
I hear Amida calling out to me
With each and every utterance
Of the Name-that-calls.
A foolish sentient being
such as this one cannot achieve
Nirvana in this Age of Decadent Hedonism.
All he can do is utter
The Name-that-calls
With the belief
that he shall be born
in the Pure Land of Bliss.
In the Pure Land
All who are born there
Sit listening to Amida Buddha
Preach his Buddhadharma,
And, according to his karma,
Aspire to become Bodhisattva.
With all the suffering
in Samsara, the Bodhisattva
vows to be reborn in
the realm where he is needed,
be it in the Hells to
rescue hell beings,
in the Hungry Ghost realm
to rescue hungry ghosts,
in the Animal realm to
rescue animals,
in the Human realm to
rescue human beings,
in the Demon realm to
rescue demons, and
in the Godly realm to
rescue the gods.
By rescuing all sentient beings
in the Realms of Desire — Samasara —
the Bodhisattva gains karmic merit
which aids his transformation
into Buddha, thus freeing him
from rebirth in the Realms of Desire.
This is why this one, devoted to Amida,
Calls out to him endlessly,
So that after this life, rebirth
in the Pure Land of Bliss is assured!
Namu Amida Butsu!
20130411
Ten Deeds of Merit
All sentient beings are potential Buddhas; all they are required to do is to realize Buddhahood is to cross over to the Middle Way, by abandoning their worldliness and following the Ten Virtues.
While this seems like a simple thing, few sentient beings are able accomplish it due to attachment to one or all of the Ten Evil Acts. In order to practice the Ten Virtues, the practitioner is encouraged to practice the Ten Deeds of Merit:
Reference:
Ten Evil Acts: http://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/156.htm
Ten Virtues: to not practice the Ten Evil Acts
While this seems like a simple thing, few sentient beings are able accomplish it due to attachment to one or all of the Ten Evil Acts. In order to practice the Ten Virtues, the practitioner is encouraged to practice the Ten Deeds of Merit:
- Charity (giving without expectation of reward)
- Morality (
- Mental culture (meditation and reading the sutras)
- Reverence or respect
- Service in helping others
- Sharing merits with others
- Rejoicing in the merits of others
- Preaching and teaching the Dhamma
- Listening to the Dhamma
- Straightening one's views
Reference:
Ten Evil Acts: http://www.budsas.org/ebud/whatbudbeliev/156.htm
Ten Virtues: to not practice the Ten Evil Acts
20130406
The Finest Place to Practice (poem)
It is because of attachment
to the many distractions of worldliness
that, despite decades of meditation,
many devotees of the Middle Way fail
to develop even a single siddhi.
Therefore, do not become attached at all
to anything in this world,
lest you give up meditation in haste
and return to worldliness,
only to obtain rebirth in the Hells.
However, even if you develop
a siddhi, try not to show off,
lest your attachment delude you.
It is better to take up Vajrayana,
and devote yourself to a Tibetan guru.
Yet, it is said that the Nembutsu
will surely lead to Amida
and his Pure Land of Bliss. O!
The Name-that-calls is
all that the Pure Land practitioner needs!
For the Pure Land is
the finest place to practice and decide
if you wish to return
to help others by being of service
to other sentient beings in Samsara.
to the many distractions of worldliness
that, despite decades of meditation,
many devotees of the Middle Way fail
to develop even a single siddhi.
Therefore, do not become attached at all
to anything in this world,
lest you give up meditation in haste
and return to worldliness,
only to obtain rebirth in the Hells.
However, even if you develop
a siddhi, try not to show off,
lest your attachment delude you.
It is better to take up Vajrayana,
and devote yourself to a Tibetan guru.
Yet, it is said that the Nembutsu
will surely lead to Amida
and his Pure Land of Bliss. O!
The Name-that-calls is
all that the Pure Land practitioner needs!
For the Pure Land is
the finest place to practice and decide
if you wish to return
to help others by being of service
to other sentient beings in Samsara.
20130405
The Bone Storage Hall (story)
Once Upon a Time...
In ancient Buddhist traditions, a spirit temple is a mausoleum containing the bones of countless sentient beings who have died.
It is a tall building with the Japanese characters ("霊廟", reibyō) for "mausoleum" above the doorway.
When the door of the mausoleum is open, it is like the Pure Land of Bliss inside.
Inside the mausoleum is a long dark hallway. High above me, the ceiling glistens with a soft glow when the door is closed.
On my left are twenty-four rooms with open access to the hall, and on the right, the same — a total of forty-eight rooms. Inside each room are shelves filled with drawers. Some rooms contain a lot of drawers; others contain very few drawers.
On each shelf are drawers containing the bones of the dead. Firmly affixed to the front of each drawer is the given name and Japanese Buddhist name of the deceased. Inside each drawer is an urn containing the deceased's bones.
A bright glow from Room Eighteen attracts my curiosity. Inside the room, I recite the Nembutsu ten times until the bright glow becomes a brilliant light that slowly dissipates. Softly I hear a sweet melodious voice sing:
"The Primal Vow is fulfilled," I thought myself. "That glow which turned into brilliant light is Amida Buddha."
Having seen this miracle, I felt humbled so I bowed and exited the room.
As I walk down the hallway, a sign appears on the wall in the distance. On it appears the Chinese characters:
堂
納
骨
納
骨
Not only is this spirit temple a mausoleum, it also is a bone storage hall where the bones of dead sentient beings are stored.
Then I turn around, and slowly walk back to the door of the mausoleum.
When I open it, the brilliant light of the setting sun almost blinds me. After I close the mausoleum door, the sun has painted the sky with a rapidly fading red glow.
As I wander home in the rapidly fading dusk, my path takes me due east where the moon shines brightly in the sky.
My thoughts return to my visit to the mausoleum and the shelves within its rooms filled with drawers containing the bones of the deceased collected after cremation. While walking the path alongside the pond near my home, I reflect on death and the brevity of human life.
When I was a child, my first exposure of death happened when my grandmother died. As I grew older, my first contemplation on nonexistence left me anxious and afraid of death. Once, when I had caught the flu as a child, my own life had almost been taken from me. So my mother bought medicine from the local pharmacy. The next day, my fever broke.
From that moment on, my fear of death became worse. As a result of that fear, the stress caused the allergic reaction of hay fever to arise.
Then one day, at the Buddhist temple near my parents' home, I requested the Three Pure Land Sutras central to the Jodo Shinshu faith to read at my leisure. As I read about the Pure Land of Bliss being described, it seemed a wonderful place.
Once I grasped the concept of the Pure Land as the afterlife, my belief in it increased as my faith in Amida's Primal Vow grew.
ReflectionsIn a pond near my home, I gaze on the moon's reflection in it while seated comfortably in a wicker chair.
As it glistens in the water, my thoughts turn inwards in meditation, visualizing the Buddha Amida with eyes closed. From time to time, my eyes open as I gaze on the moon's image reflected on the still surface of the pond. Then I look up at the moon.
At some point during meditation, my inner vision of the Buddha merges with the sight of the bright moon in the sky. It is as though the light of the moon is the light of Buddha Amida.
My meditation is over. So I rise to stretch my legs and raise my arms as if to embrace the moon.
In an instant I feel solemn as I stand before the glistening Boundless light of Buddha Amida, assuring me that Amitabha is nearby.
Thus assured, all fear of death fades from my mind. It is replaced by a greater appreciation of life.
King Emma or Yama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yama_%28Buddhism_and_Chinese_mythology%29
Buddhist funeral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_%28Buddhism%29
Pure Land Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Land_Buddhism
Pure Land Rebirth Dharani: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Land_Buddhism#Pure_Land_Rebirth_Dh.C4.81ra.E1.B9.87.C4.AB
20130403
The Name-that-calls
Integral in the Pure Land tradition is Amida Buddha.
In the True Pure Land School of Japanese Buddhism are Jiriki (self-power) of the devotee and Tariki (Other-power) of Amida Buddha.
By self-power, the Pure Land devotee calls to Amida Buddha. By other-power, Amida Buddha calls to the devotee.
The calling of Amida Buddha's name is known as Buddha Recitation or Nembutsu.
Amida Buddha's promise of my rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss is affirmed by Buddha Recitation.
When I call to Amida, it is but Amida calling to me.
This is why Nembutsu known as the Name-that-calls.
Namu Amida Butsu.
In the True Pure Land School of Japanese Buddhism are Jiriki (self-power) of the devotee and Tariki (Other-power) of Amida Buddha.
By self-power, the Pure Land devotee calls to Amida Buddha. By other-power, Amida Buddha calls to the devotee.
The calling of Amida Buddha's name is known as Buddha Recitation or Nembutsu.
Amida Buddha's promise of my rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss is affirmed by Buddha Recitation.
When I call to Amida, it is but Amida calling to me.
This is why Nembutsu known as the Name-that-calls.
Namu Amida Butsu.
20130312
Homage to Great Wisdom, Great Compassion, and Great Meditation
If I no longer am attached to self,
then being attached to reward
in the Pure Land of Bliss
through Buddha Recitation
is the working of the Dharma.
Homage to Amida Buddha!
For the Pure Land arose
because of Dharmakara's Vows,
and his promised rebirth
as Amida is fulfilled
by all sentient beings
who remember his Name.
Homage to Amitayus Buddha!
Homage to Infinite Light and Life!
Homage to the Light of Great Wisdom,
Homage to Amida Buddha!
Homage to the Life of Great Compassion,
Homage to Kuan Erh Yin!
Homage to the Great Meditation,
Homage to Mahasthamaprapta!
then being attached to reward
in the Pure Land of Bliss
through Buddha Recitation
is the working of the Dharma.
Homage to Amida Buddha!
For the Pure Land arose
because of Dharmakara's Vows,
and his promised rebirth
as Amida is fulfilled
by all sentient beings
who remember his Name.
Homage to Amitayus Buddha!
Homage to Infinite Light and Life!
Homage to the Light of Great Wisdom,
Homage to Amida Buddha!
Homage to the Life of Great Compassion,
Homage to Kuan Erh Yin!
Homage to the Great Meditation,
Homage to Mahasthamaprapta!
20130310
Samsara and the Buddha Worlds
In this article the six realms of samsara and the Buddha worlds will be defined. Once this is done, I will describe the six realms and what quality of the mind each realm represents. Then the Buddha world will be described, using Sukhavati (the Pure Land of Bliss) as the example. This will be followed by the references used in this article.
The Six Realms of Samsara
Samsara is represented by the Buddhist Wheel of Life, which depicts the traditional view of samsaric existence. It is the third layer found on the picture of the Buddhist Wheel of Life.
In Samsara — this world of birth-life-death — there are six realms of existence. They are divided into the three higher realms and the three lower realms. The higher realms consist of the god realm, the demi-god realm and the human realm. The lower realms consists of the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realm.
From a psychological aspect, in Tibetan Buddhism, the six classes of beings who dwell in the six realms and the qualities of the mind they represent are:
hell beings — anger
hungry ghosts, or pretas — miserliness
animals — stupidity
human beings — desire
demi-gods, or asuras — jealousy, and
gods — pride.
In the Abhidharma literature, the six realms are also know in Buddhism as the Desire Realm, which is the first of the Three Realms (Trailokya).
Above the Desire Realm is the Form Realm, where the Seventeen Heavens are. They are only populated by gods
Above the Form Realm is the Formless Realm, where gods without any form dwell in four types of perception spheres.
Within context of this article, the Form Realm and the Formless Realm will not be described.
Buddha World
In contrast to the six realms, the Buddha worlds (Pure Lands) are where the various Buddhas and their Pure Lands exist.
Each of the Buddhas lives for an almost infinite number of years.
Sakyamuni Buddha does not have a Buddha World and may appear to the residents of a particular Buddha world i.e. in the Pure Land of Bliss.
However, the Buddha worlds are not found in the three realms of the Abhidharma. They exist outside of Samsara.
References:
Six Realms of Samsara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavacakra#Third_layer:_the_six_realms_of_samsara
Six classes of beings: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Six_realms
Three Realms: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Three_realms
Three Worlds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail%C3%B5kya
Form Realm: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Form_realm
Formless Realm: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Formless_realm
Wheel of Life: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Wheel_of_Life
Abhidharma: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Abhidharma
Abhidharma is the third collection of the Buddha's teachings, which holds the special knowledge of Buddhism, and teaches the Higher Training of Wisdom.
Tripitaka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka
Three pitakas: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Three_pitakas
The Six Realms of Samsara
Samsara is represented by the Buddhist Wheel of Life, which depicts the traditional view of samsaric existence. It is the third layer found on the picture of the Buddhist Wheel of Life.
In Samsara — this world of birth-life-death — there are six realms of existence. They are divided into the three higher realms and the three lower realms. The higher realms consist of the god realm, the demi-god realm and the human realm. The lower realms consists of the animal realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the hell realm.
From a psychological aspect, in Tibetan Buddhism, the six classes of beings who dwell in the six realms and the qualities of the mind they represent are:
In the Abhidharma literature, the six realms are also know in Buddhism as the Desire Realm, which is the first of the Three Realms (Trailokya).
Above the Desire Realm is the Form Realm, where the Seventeen Heavens are. They are only populated by gods
Above the Form Realm is the Formless Realm, where gods without any form dwell in four types of perception spheres.
Within context of this article, the Form Realm and the Formless Realm will not be described.
Buddha World
In contrast to the six realms, the Buddha worlds (Pure Lands) are where the various Buddhas and their Pure Lands exist.
Each of the Buddhas lives for an almost infinite number of years.
Sakyamuni Buddha does not have a Buddha World and may appear to the residents of a particular Buddha world i.e. in the Pure Land of Bliss.
However, the Buddha worlds are not found in the three realms of the Abhidharma. They exist outside of Samsara.
References:
Six Realms of Samsara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavacakra#Third_layer:_the_six_realms_of_samsara
Six classes of beings: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Six_realms
Three Realms: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Three_realms
Three Worlds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail%C3%B5kya
Form Realm: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Form_realm
Formless Realm: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Formless_realm
Wheel of Life: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Wheel_of_Life
Abhidharma: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Abhidharma
Abhidharma is the third collection of the Buddha's teachings, which holds the special knowledge of Buddhism, and teaches the Higher Training of Wisdom.
Tripitaka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka
Three pitakas: http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Three_pitakas
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.
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.
20130217
Be Mindful of Your Mind! (poem)
Be mindful of your mind in your daily practice.
With all sincerity, serenity is what you find
When breath leads to the single-mindedness
Of samadhi so pure that Nirvana is but
A heartbeat away from a walk in the Buddha Field
leading towards bliss and the non-abiding Nirvana.
With all sincerity, serenity is what you find
When breath leads to the single-mindedness
Of samadhi so pure that Nirvana is but
A heartbeat away from a walk in the Buddha Field
leading towards bliss and the non-abiding Nirvana.
20130212
The Virtue of Gullibility
I believe in Amida's Pure Land of Bliss, and have faith in the Primal Vow.
Even if this was just another Jataka Tale then I would still believe in the Teaching.
For were I to not believe and lose faith, I would suffer the deluded doubt,
and my mind would become confused. That kind of suffering leads me to mindful practice of meditation and Buddha Recitation, so that I remember Amida Buddha and his Forty-Eight Vows.
To an outsider who will never study the True Pure Land School and its three Nembutsu Sutras, this appears to be a superstition proselyted to a truly gullible old fool.
However, if my mindful practice leads me to hell, then I will surely follow the True Pure Land School's founder Shinran to hell.
For his faith, and the Pure Land Sangha's faith are the same as my faith in the Primal Vow.
Indeed, Pure Land Buddhism is no superstition.
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