Nembutsu Muzen

Muzen is no Zen, the emptiness of Zen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the essence of muzen.

Nembutsu Meditations (poem)

Within my room, friendliness
towards my true self
results in serenity
of the heart-mind - Oh!
How precious is solitude!

Quiet and serene in the home,
happiness comes near
to celebrate the oneness
within the heart-mind,
a smile as its only trace.

Life is a celebration
precious and dear to all --
with yesterday's memories,
tomorrows awaits
as the Buddha calls us now.

No-thought, just breathing...
No-mind, no-self - only thanks
with sincerity.
Namu Amida Butsu!
Namu Amida Butsu!

Nembutsu Zen (poem)

Remembering the Buddha
is the Name-that-calls...
Mindful of the Buddha,
self and mind flow on...
Namu Amida Butsu!

Pure mindfulness rests
in the bosom of no-self
when peace is at hand!

Selflessness cannot rise
by calculation;
rather, no-mind clearly flows
in serenity...
Namu Amida Butsu!

Buddha Nature (poem)

In quiet meditation sits he who has lost belief
in self and its permanence, and sees the misconception
of self nature for what it is: mistaken opinion spread
like gossip which benefits no one and
only promotes suffering.
For no tiny, fully formed person is
present within each of us;
no self that is permanent lives in the heart;
and no soul lives after death.

With faith and determination, all doubts are cast aside
as he sits there in mindful practice.
Once his thoughts were like horses racing around the dusty track;
now they slow down, and almost stop -
it's as though his mind stands still.
In this stillness of mind, calm insight abounds.
Wisdom arises through quiet reflection on his experience .
The mind grows clear, all desire swept away like clouds
from the clear blue sky uncovering the sun.

Through mindful practice is this gem of truth revealed:
with clear mind sits he who has found faith
in the Buddha's Teaching of impermanence,
having once doubted, he tests and validates the Four Noble Truths,
to see self nature for what it is:
that the essential intrinsic being is the life essence of each person,
and that this essential being is none other than Buddha himself.
For radiantly luminous and indestructible
as a diamond is Buddha Nature, and its essence is the Buddha.

With calm insight, meditation on nothingness is abandoned
as the mindful one realizes that Buddha Nature is no-self,
for self is empty of inherent existence.
Since emptiness maintains the Buddha's purpose
to help sentient beings end their suffering,
the state of emptiness is devoid of its negative, unwanted condition.
For everything is interdependent due to dependent arising,
never fully independent of each other.
Thus is both mental and physical existence empty of nature or essence.

Buddha-Nature and the Pure Land

Since my goal in this life is not only to prepare for the Pure Land after death, but to affirm faith that Amida is Buddha, and that the Pure Land exists as both a psychological state of mind and as a spiritual place in the heartmind, for the Name-that-calls establishes faith that the Pure Land exists in the afterlife.

It would be spiritual delusion to pretend that a soul goes to the Pure Land.

Rather, in one sense, the spiritual essence, Buddha-nature, returns to the Absolute.

Actually, no returning occurs at all. For the physical body merely dies. Self-as-ego dies with the body. Yet the bodhisattva reborn in the Pure Land represents the karmic destiny of Buddha-nature which is erroneously mistaken for a soul.

For Buddha-nature is no-self.

Think of it this way: all my recitations of Nembutsu are like offerings to the bodhisattva representing my sincere desire to be reborn in the Pure Land. The more I recite and study the Pure Land sutras and commentaries, the greater is this bodhisattva's existence in the Pure Land.

If I were not to recite the Nembutsu, I would still be reborn near the Pure Land as a result of my desire to be reborn there.

Buddha-Nature (poem)

I. The Essence of Buddha-Nature

Tathagatagarbha simply is
that Buddha-essence which has come,
and having arrived, is not gone;
yet gone is previous spiritual ignorance.
For Tathagatagarbha is the Buddha womb,

Sugatagarbha simply is
incorruptible, uncreated, and indestructible;
yet, it is no-self, and is not a soul.
For Sugatagarbha is Buddha-Nature

II. Buddha-Nature in All Beings

Hidden by mental and behavioural negativities
in every single being,
even the worst of sentient beings,
is that timeless, and
inherently transcendental Buddha-essence.
Indeed, all of us have
within us Buddha-Nature,
but few of us are able to realize it.

III. Buddha-Nature and the Luminous Mind

Unstained is the Luminous Mind,
by nature brightly shining and pure
for it is originally and naturally pure.
Yet it is enveloped in the garments of worldliness,
and soiled with the dirt of
attachment, hatred, delusion
and false imagining.

That stillness of mind
uncovered by the calm insight
of breath meditation
develops too by mindful meditation
this purity of heart
to realize the Luminous Mind,
which sees the original edge of reality
known as Buddha-Nature.

References:

Tathagatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tathagatagarbha
Sugatagarbha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha-nature

"Garments of worldliness" refers to skandhas, dhatus and ayatanas, specifically:
the Five Aggregates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha
the Eighteen Dhatus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhatu, and
the Twelve Ayatanas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayatana

When the Buddha Calls, He Calls Through Me (poem)

When the Buddha calls,
All the Buddhas and sentient beings are as one,
Even the author of this poem.

When the Buddha calls,
All there is is the mindstream,
The continuum of awareness.

When the Buddha calls,
There is no sense of "I, me, mine" or even a physical self.
These are only concepts of the mind we use.

When the Buddha calls,
I remember the Buddha
Who is both mother and father to me.

When the Buddha calls,
It makes no difference which Buddha it is,
As long as I listen deeply.

When the Buddha calls,
It's all about the Name-that-calls.
Thus am I mindful of the Buddha.

When the Buddha calls,
I answer out of gratitude,
And hear Him say through me:
"Homage to Amida, Buddha of Boundless Light of Spiritual Wisdom!"

The Tao of Pu

Pu

Pu is translated as "uncarved block" or "simplicity". It is a metaphor for the state of wu wei and the principle of jian. It represents a passive state of receptiveness. Pu is a symbol for a state of pure potential and perception without prejudice. In this state, Taoists believe everything is seen as it is, without preconceptions or illusion.

Pu is seen as keeping oneself in the primordial state of tao. It is believed to be the true nature of the mind, unburdened by knowledge or experiences. In the state of pu, there is no right or wrong, beautiful or ugly. There is only pure experience, or awareness, free from learned labels and definitions. It is this state of being that is the goal of following wu wei.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism#Pu

Another term for pu is "the raw experience before one's mind reacts."

For it is the mind's reaction to experience which corrupts the mind, not the experience itself.

Therefore the practice of no-mind (by enjoying raw experience) begins by learning NOT to react with the mind but to act with the heart, out of love.

The Ego Prayer (poem)

If the very nature of Being
is to become "I am",
what a challenge for someone
who foolishly chooses
Ego over selflessness!
For this person would sooner
choose having No-mind
over all the suffering
that Ego has brought to life
on this good earth.
So let this person lose
his hold over all clinging,
if only to let go of Ego.