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True nembutsu basically cuts the blind thinking one does. False nembutsu does not cut, but merely helps inflate the ego, puffs it. In the case of nembutsu used merely as a prayer for one's own benefit, Shinran says that should a thousand persons do this nembutsu, not a single one will be born in the Pure Land. Likewise, the nembutsu recited only for the deceased - that too is false nembutsu. This is because the nembutsu is for those who are alive, to show the way to the Pure Land. Nembutsu is not ritual or ceremony. It is a teaching, a pathway towards Buddhahood, a pathway towards the Pure Land.
"Temporary" nembutsu is that condition which lies in between, which is neither false nor true. While this is not true nembutsu, it is however still directed towards it and is that process by which one arrives at true nembutsu. The technical expression used for this by Shinran, and in the Shin Buddhist tradition, is yomon - essential gate, Shinmon is the technical expression used for the true gate of true nembutsu.
Temporary nembutsu contains the two aspects of the essential gate and the true gate. It is through this that Shinran's process points to the essential and true gate of true nembutsu, through which the Great Vow is experienced. yomon is the kind of nembutsu expressed in the Meditation Sutra, one of the many good deeds which that sutra encourages. The Meditation Sutra does not express the completeness of nembutsu, but it does describe the process by which one moves through nembutsu towards the Pure Land, saying that the nembutsu is the essential step in moving in that direction.
In Shinmon, the true gate, there is no mixed practice, one stands on the nembutsu alone-sifting down to selecting this single choice as did Shinran. Nembutsu generally means, "I call the Buddha's name." In its fullest realization, nembutsu expresses cutting aside all roots, but still it is like a crutch, and "temporary" since it is still my addition. It becomes my good, my virtue, by my saying it. By throwing all aside however, we are able to meet the Buddha's compassion in our life, to encounter the transformative power of the nembutsu that is true and real, the nembutsu that is Gugan - Great Vow. In this, the Buddha is calling me, and because he is calling me, I am able to utter his name!
My father is eighty-eight years old and yet, he writes to me. Even if I forget, my father is constantly thinking of me. Thus, often our calling as a child is a response to that which comes from a parent. In this way, to be able to accept the heart of the Buddha-to know the Buddha who is constantly calling us, ceaselessly thinking of us, focusing on us-is the "turning over," the transformation of true nembutsu in which my calling of the Buddha's name is to hear at that very same moment the Buddha calling me. This kind of turnabout or transformative experience is what is called shinjin, and therefore we can say that true nembutsu equals shinjin which in turn equals awakening.
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