Category: Lamp for the Latter Ages

The Sutra of the Treasure Name states: “The nembutsu of Amida’s Primal Vow is not our practice, it is not our good; it is simply keeping the Name of the Buddha.” It is the Name that is good, the Name that is the practice. When we speak of practice, we mean doing good. The Primal…

When a person has entered completely into the Pure Land of happiness, he or she immediately realizes the supreme nirvana; he realizes the supreme enlightenment. Although the terms differ, they both mean to realize the enlightenment of the Buddha who is dharma-body. As the true cause for this realization, Bodhisattva Dharmakara gave us the Vow…

I have received all the gifts from the various people as listed, and Myokyo-bo’s visit to Kyoto is truly welcome. Words cannot express my appreciation. Although scarcely unexpected, Myoho-bo’s attainment of birth still makes me deeply happy. Surely it is celebrated by all the people in Kashima, Namekata, and the remote districts who desire birth…

I have written you often, but I wonder if you have seen my letters. The fulfillment of Myoho-bo’s cherished desire to be born in the Pure Land is surely celebrated by those in Hitachi province who share the same aspiration. In no way is birth accomplished through the calculating of foolish beings; neither can it…

In answer to your question: at the moment persons encounter Amida’s Vow – which is Other Power giving itself to us – and the hearth that receives true shinjin and rejoices becomes settled in them, they are grasped, never to be abandoned. Hence, the moment they realize the diamondlike mind, they are said to abide…

I have been taught that within Other Power there is self-power. I have never heard of an other-power within Other Power. That there is self-power within Other Power means that there are people who seek to attain birth through sundry practices and disciplines and through meditative and nonmeditative nembutsu; such people are people of self-power…

I have heard that, knowing nothing of the scriptures or of the true foundation of the Pure Land teaching, you are telling people who are appallingly self-indulgent and lacking in shame that a person should do evil just as he or she desires. This is absolutely wrong. Were you not aware that I finally broke…

What you have written in inquiry is truly to the point. The Garland Sutra states that those who have attained true shinjin are already certain to become Buddhas and therefore are equal to the Tathagatas. Although Maitreya has not yet attained Buddhahood, it is certain that he will, so he is already known as Maitreya Buddha. In…

I respectfully submit the following letter. {The Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life} [note1] records the phrase, “the person realizes shinjin and joy,” and {one of the Hymns on the Pure Land based on the Garland Sutra} [note2] states: The person who attains shinjin and joyIs taught to be equal to the Tathagatas.Great shinjin is itself Buddha-nature;Buddha-nature is none other than…

You ask about “being grasped never to be abandoned.” Shan-tao’s Hymns [on the Samadhi] of All Buddhas’ Presence states that Sakyamuni and Amida are our parents of great compassion; using many and various compassionate means, they awaken the supreme shinjin in us. Thus the settling of true shinjin is the working of Sakyamuni and Amida.…

In answer to your question about the nembutsu: it is completely mistaken to look down upon people who believe in birth through the nembutsu, saying that they are destined for birth in the borderland. For Amida vowed to take into the land of bliss those who say the Name, and thus to entrust oneself deeply…

I have received your letter of the fourth month, 7th day, on the 26th of the fifth month and have read it carefully. As to the matter you raise, although the one moment of shinjin and the one moment of nembutsu are two, there is no nembutsu separate from shinjin, nor is the one moment…

I have read your letter very carefully. In your question about the teaching, you state that at the point of the awakening of the one moment of shinjin we are grasped and protected by the heart of unhindered light, and hence the karmic cause for birth in the Pure Land is established in ordinary times.…

I have read your letter very carefully. I fail to understand why your question should arise, for although we speak of Vow and of Name, these are not two different things. There is no Name separate from the Vow; there is no Vow separate from the Name. Even to say this, however, is to impose…

Further, in the expounding of all the various scriptures, there are not more than five kinds of exposition: first, the Buddha’s exposition; second, the exposition of holy disciples; third, the exposition of heavenly beings and hermit-sages; fourth, the exposition of demi-gods; fifth, the exposition of miraculous spirits. Among these five, take up the Buddha’s exposition…

As we say the Name, we become settled in the stage of nonretrogression, for we are grasped by the unhindered light of Tathagata’s compassionate mind. Since this is the case, I feel no personal need to inquire anew about “being grasped, never to be abandoned.” In addition, the Garland Sutra states, “The person who hears…

It is saddening that so many people, both young and old, men and women, have died this year and last. But the Tathagata taught the truth of life’s impermanence for us fully, so you must not be distressed by it. I, for my own part, attach no significance to the condition, good or bad, of…

[On Jinen-Honi] Concerning jinen [in the phrase jinen honi]: Ji means “of itself” – not through the practicer’s calculation. It signifies being made so. Nen means “to be made so” – it is not through the practicer’s calculation; it is through the working of the Tathagata’s Vow. Concerning honi: Honi signifies being made so through the working of the Tathagata’s Vow. It…

What you inquire about in your letter is a passage from a sutra that states: “Those who attain shinjin and joy are equal to Tathagatas.” This is from the Garland Sutra and means that the person who rejoices in shinjin is the equal of all the Tathagatas. This is also indicated in Sakyamuni’s statement about…

Since those who have realized shinjin necessarily abide in the stage of the truly settled, they are in the stage equal to the perfect enlightenment. In the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life those who have been grasped, never to be abandoned, are said to be in the stage of the truly settled, and in the…

According to Shin Buddhism, there are two kinds of people who seek birth in the Pure Land: those of Other Power and those of self-power. This has been taught by the Indian masters and Pure Land teachers. Self-power is the effort to attain birth, whether by invoking the names of Buddhas other than Amida and…

The idea of Amida’s coming at the moment of death is for those who seek to gain birth in the Pure Land by doing various practices, for they are practicers of self-power. The moment of death is of central concern to such people, for they have not yet attained true shinjin. We may also speak…