"Those patients who have not been able to vocalize or come to terms with their conceptions of the afterlife are consistently glummer, grimmer, and gloomier than those who speak with conviction about looking forward to meeting the Buddha Amida, their relatives, or other saints in the world to come." — Carl Becker, "Aging, Dying, and Bereavement in Contemporary Japan"
For some time I have held a repressed belief that "I" will be reborn in the Pure Land to receive further instruction in preparation of rebirth in the human realm. That "I" is not the ego, since it fears death; rather, it is the Buddha-essence which is incarnated in my present form.
I too look forward to meeting with Amida Buddha, my father and relatives who died before me, or even Shinran, the founder of Jodo Shinshu!
However, that Buddha-essence could provide the answer to the Zen koan "What is the face you had before you were born?".
Since I am not an advanced student of meditation, it is impossible for me to answer this question as I have yet to encounter the Buddha-essence which has incarnated within my body.
As well, Jodo Shinshu provides no training in this respect since it was founded mainly to help settle the mind of the Buddhist practitioner regarding the afterlife. Once settled, the mind is able to accept death and not fear it. Without such a fear, all anxiety about death is forgotten. Being freed of this anxiety, the practitioner is able to carry on with life in a manner that is positive, happy and full of joy.
Thus is it possible for me to view death, not as the end of life, but as the gateway to the Pure Land.
Having said this, I feel that a separate blog entry is necessary for me to discuss Buddha-essence with respect to the koan I mentioned.
Reference:
Carl Becker: http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/EJPhilosophy/PDF/EJP4-Becker.pdf
Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incarnation. Show all posts
20121101
Belief in Buddha Nature Root of Transmigration
Sometimes I get asked, "Do Buddhists believe in an immortal soul?" by Christians.
As a Buddhist, "immortal soul" is like blasphemy. This is different from an afterlife in heaven eternally with Jesus. The eternal life Paul wrote of does not suggest an immortal soul. Rather, it appears to be a guarantee of living with Jesus in heaven eternally in the afterlife.
Except for the "eternal life" part, that afterlife is painted with similar elements in the Pure Land tradition.
Additionally, most Christians and all atheists find the tradition of Pure Land hard to swallow, because for Christians, the Pure Land is a benign Purgatory where every "soul" (a spark of Buddha Nature actually) is there to receive instructions before being reborn in the human realm. As for atheists, they cannot stomach religion, despite its influence on the body politic both now and in the past.
Yet the Buddhist heavens extend beyond a Buddha's Pure Land. In layman's terms, Pure Land refers to the state of mind a practitioner aspire towards, be it love, happiness, compassion, justified wrath, etc. Ergo, the Buddhas of Mahayana bring life to a Buddhist's emotions and feelings, and to the mind itself.
As I have written before on my blog, the word for God for most Buddhists is the Absolute. Some commentators mistake Heaven for it. Yet the Absolute too is a temporary thing. Most Buddhists believe that even their Buddhas have a finite lifespan, even in their respective Buddha worlds / Pure Land.
Indeed, the Buddhist afterlife extends from heaven down to hell. Our human realm (reality) is just one of those after-lives. This belief does not suggest the soul is immortal since that violates the non-self ideal i.e. self is impermanent with limited life span. A reborn "soul" evolves through successive life times. Ergo the original essence is but a part of the Buddha i.e. Buddha-essence. Thus, Buddha-essence replaces the soul for most Buddhists.
Buddha-essence is the sacred nature that is the inspiration for sentient beings becoming Buddhas. This is why Sokka Gokai call its members bodhisattvas, which means more than "angel". It also means "a person aspiring to be a Buddha".
Yet Buddha-essence has less to do with a soul and more to do with the nature of human consciousness and the means of spiritual awakening, i.e. becoming aware that one's purpose in life is to be of service to others.
To sum up, Buddhists do not believe in an immortal soul. They may have a belief in the Buddha-essence which is the fruit of the karma of the Buddha, freely given to all sentient beings at birth. Indeed, it is not the soul that transmigrates in a new incarnation, it is the karma that bears fruit in a new birth.
For all the actions of an infant's parents and their parents before them bear fruit in that child. As a Japanese person, this is important to me as my ancestors before me worshipped their ancestors, not due to pagan ideals, but out of respect to them. Thus ancestor worship is the ideal of respect for the dead.
Hopefully the gentle reader now knows that I do not believe in an immortal soul but in the Buddha-essence that incarnates first in a Pure Land and then returns to this human realm, despite being given the choice of the many heavens of Buddhist cosmology.
For Buddhists soon wish to be reborn in the human realm because it is the home of human suffering. Indeed, on this shiny blue planent is where we find the face before we, as bodhisattvas, were born.
As a Buddhist, "immortal soul" is like blasphemy. This is different from an afterlife in heaven eternally with Jesus. The eternal life Paul wrote of does not suggest an immortal soul. Rather, it appears to be a guarantee of living with Jesus in heaven eternally in the afterlife.
Except for the "eternal life" part, that afterlife is painted with similar elements in the Pure Land tradition.
Additionally, most Christians and all atheists find the tradition of Pure Land hard to swallow, because for Christians, the Pure Land is a benign Purgatory where every "soul" (a spark of Buddha Nature actually) is there to receive instructions before being reborn in the human realm. As for atheists, they cannot stomach religion, despite its influence on the body politic both now and in the past.
Yet the Buddhist heavens extend beyond a Buddha's Pure Land. In layman's terms, Pure Land refers to the state of mind a practitioner aspire towards, be it love, happiness, compassion, justified wrath, etc. Ergo, the Buddhas of Mahayana bring life to a Buddhist's emotions and feelings, and to the mind itself.
As I have written before on my blog, the word for God for most Buddhists is the Absolute. Some commentators mistake Heaven for it. Yet the Absolute too is a temporary thing. Most Buddhists believe that even their Buddhas have a finite lifespan, even in their respective Buddha worlds / Pure Land.
Indeed, the Buddhist afterlife extends from heaven down to hell. Our human realm (reality) is just one of those after-lives. This belief does not suggest the soul is immortal since that violates the non-self ideal i.e. self is impermanent with limited life span. A reborn "soul" evolves through successive life times. Ergo the original essence is but a part of the Buddha i.e. Buddha-essence. Thus, Buddha-essence replaces the soul for most Buddhists.
Buddha-essence is the sacred nature that is the inspiration for sentient beings becoming Buddhas. This is why Sokka Gokai call its members bodhisattvas, which means more than "angel". It also means "a person aspiring to be a Buddha".
Yet Buddha-essence has less to do with a soul and more to do with the nature of human consciousness and the means of spiritual awakening, i.e. becoming aware that one's purpose in life is to be of service to others.
To sum up, Buddhists do not believe in an immortal soul. They may have a belief in the Buddha-essence which is the fruit of the karma of the Buddha, freely given to all sentient beings at birth. Indeed, it is not the soul that transmigrates in a new incarnation, it is the karma that bears fruit in a new birth.
For all the actions of an infant's parents and their parents before them bear fruit in that child. As a Japanese person, this is important to me as my ancestors before me worshipped their ancestors, not due to pagan ideals, but out of respect to them. Thus ancestor worship is the ideal of respect for the dead.
Hopefully the gentle reader now knows that I do not believe in an immortal soul but in the Buddha-essence that incarnates first in a Pure Land and then returns to this human realm, despite being given the choice of the many heavens of Buddhist cosmology.
For Buddhists soon wish to be reborn in the human realm because it is the home of human suffering. Indeed, on this shiny blue planent is where we find the face before we, as bodhisattvas, were born.
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