JODO SHINSHU – THE
ONLY EFFECTIVE PATH IN THIS LAST DHARMA AGE
Rev. Josho Adrian Cirlea (Romania
Jodo Shinshu Temple)
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
based on some verses in the Shozomatsu Wasan of Shinran Shonin
(my speech at the last spring meeting in Jiko-ji temple (Antwerp,
Belgium)
Buddhism has spread a lot in Europe in the last fifty years and this is
indeed, very fortunate. But in this spreading and in the image that
Buddhism has in the West a very important element is missing or is not
so well understood. Too many voices are heard in Western Buddhism that
support some already established preconceptions like: “Buddhism is a
path of Liberation by oneself” and “Buddha is only a teacher or the
finger showing the moon”, etc. The established image of a Buddhist is a
forever calm and smiling Buddhist monk or practitioner, following a
path of self liberation and improvement. This for many is Buddhism, but
for Shinran, this is exactly what Buddhism is no more…
His life story and teaching shows another aspect of Buddhism which he
considers it to be the real Buddhism: the true Pure Land Teaching or
Jodo Shinshu in which Amida Buddha is not the finger showing the moon,
but a Savior, - in fact, the best Savior of all the three worlds, with
Shakyamuni being His messenger, guiding sentient beings to entrust in
Amida. What a dramatic difference in the vision of what the Dharma
truly is between Master Shinran and all other schools of self power
Buddhism!
We can say that in Shinran’s terms, Buddhism will not be well
established in the West until the teaching about Amida’s salvation will
be known. In fact, in the West only the provisional and accommodated
teachings of Shakyamuni have spread until now, but not the teaching of
His true intent of coming into this world. Thus, it is our mission to
understand and transmit correctly the only Dharma of Shakyamuni that is
still functioning in this world of the last age. The more we become
aware of this truth, the better it is for all sentient beings.
The possibility of attaining Buddhahood in this very life is the
essence of the Buddhist schools that are so well spread in Europe. News
about famous Buddhist masters and their realizations are many and the
number of disciples is growing. Who will not want to see, touch and be
around somebody about whom it is said he is an incarnation of an
ancient Master or even a living Buddha…
But I myself cannot abstain not to look with suspicion at all the so
called spiritual achievements of today’s important figures of Buddhism.
Seeing all these “modern realizations” with the eyes influenced by the
teaching of Shinran Shonin about the true capacities of beings in the
last Dharma age, I think there are two possibilities about those who
seem to attain Buddhahood in our times:
1) They might be Bodhisattvas in disguise who already became Buddhas in
the past and come here to keep on the Buddhist path those who can’t yet
have faith in Amida but continue to follow other Dharma teachings, or
2) because we are deluded, we think that somebody who shows more calm
than us, already attained Buddhahood.
But to become a Buddha means a lot more than always showing a calm face
and saying beautiful words of wisdom. Shinran mentioned in Tannisho a
few aspects of what it is to become a Buddha and what those smiling
Buddhist faces of his day and today, don’t have:
“Do those who speak of realizing Enlightenment while in this bodily
existence manifest various accommodated bodies, possess the Buddha's
thirty-two features and eighty marks, and preach the dharma to benefit
beings like Shakyamuni? It is this that is meant by realizing
Enlightenment in this life…”
A true Buddha knows all His previous births and the previous births of
all sentient beings, He knows all the causes and their possible
effects, thus being able to predict the possible future of any being;
He knows perfectly which method is better to be applied to every one
meeting Him, and the list of the Enlightened capacities of a Buddha can
go on and fill many pages… I think it is very important to understand
that a Buddha is not a human being, as the human condition is just one
of the many unenlightened states of existence(1).
Inside Enlightened qualities of a Buddha manifests outside and
impregnates on His physical body, so both physically and mentally, a
Buddha is an extraordinary person, beyond and superior to any being. To
become a true Buddha, possessing such capacities as those enumerated
above, is something that cannot be done in this age, according to
Shinran Shonin. But unfortunately, people often don’t read carefully in
the sutras what a Buddha truly is, and instead become easily impressed
by anyone who shows more calm than them.
When I myself look to the various Buddhist magazines that are so
popular nowadays, I always have the feeling of futility.
So many smiling monks, sophisticated articles, Zen talks about
emptiness and how we are already Buddhas and don’t need to worry about
anything, practitioners talking about how to overcome anger or
jealousy, and many other bla, bla things….I read all those articles and
feel like they talk for aliens, but surely not for me.
Who are all those good Buddhists and how can their nice talks be of any
help to me? Did the Buddhas came into this world only to teach these
nice guys who are always calm and have such fulfilled lives through
meditation? Then what am I doing here?
Before coming to Jodo Shinshu I felt like in school when the teacher
always talked with the good children and sent me in the back of the
classroom with the bad children.
And then…, I found Jodo Shinshu…. which is the only reason why I am a
Buddhist. Without Jodo Shinshu, Buddhism is just another nice discourse
for the smart and good guys but with no relevance for the real people,
living in the real world. I truly understand now why Shinran Shonin
considered that preaching the Larger Sutra was the main reason for
Shakyamuni coming into this world. He had the courage to abandon his
mask of a good smiling monk and looked deeply into himself and the true
human capacities. Shinran didn’t chose to teach the nice discourses of
other sutras, but carefully selected the passages that were truly
beneficial for himself and this world.
There are teachings and practices preached by Shakyamuni that Shinran
chose not to speak about and he did this NOT because those practices
are bad, but not truly useful for our attainment of Buddhahood, given
our real capacities. He said in his letters that some Buddhist
teachings are of limited relevance while others are of universal
relevance and that the teaching of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is of
universal relevance. To be of universal relevance means to be useful
and effective either for the good and virtuous and also for the evil
beings filled with blind passions. Saints and stupid people can be
saved equally. It is “the teaching in accord with the times and with
beings” as he also said in Shozomatsu
Wasan.
Some might think (and I heard such a statement at one of the European
meetings) that we should not be so radical as Shinran who says that
only faith in Amida can make people attain Buddhahood, because in this
way we might offend other Buddhist schools with whom we are engaged in
ecumenical talks.
So what can we do? Why should they feel offended when so many other
schools also claim they have the best practices and methods? Just look
to the statements of the Tibetan schools when they speak about their
specific teachings!
My opinion on this matter is that it is extremely important to keep
strictly to the explanations of Shinran Shonin and expound them as they
were truly said without adding anything to them so as to satisfy the
expectations of unenlightened people from other schools, or other non
Buddhist religions of this deluded world. This is because in Shinran’s
explanations we find the true reason for the existence of Jodo Shinshu.
This wonderful teaching on the absolute reliance on Amida Buddha is not
just another Buddhist method in the 84,000 Buddhist teachings (2), but
the most important teaching among all Shakyamuni’s teachings.
Shinran said in the second verse of Shozomatsu
Wasan:
“…the teachings that Sakyamuni left
behind
Have all passed into the naga's palace.”
This means that all other Buddhist teachings are no more effective
during these times. To “pass into the naga’s palace” means exactly this
– not being effective or being as non-existent.
Shinran is even more clear:
“Although we have the teachings of
Sakyamuni,
There are no sentient beings who can practice them;
Hence, it is taught that in the last dharma-age,
Not a single person will attain enlightenment through them.”
“Not a single person will attain Enlightenment through them” is a very
strong statement! Not a single one – this should be very well heard and
understood. Not a single person can effectively practice the Buddhist
teachings other than the reliance on Amida Buddha.
Shinran said it clearly for those who are ready to hear it:
“Without entrusting themselves to the
Tathagata's compassionate Vow,
No sentient beings of these times - the last dharma-age, and
The fifth five-hundred year period since Sakyamuni's passing -
Will have a chance of parting from birth-and-death.”
Shinran’s words leave no trace of doubt about what we have to do.
There is no other Buddhist method which can guarantee Buddhahood so
quickly without asking anything from the practitioner. All the nice
discourses and practices of other schools through which they claim that
everybody can become a Buddha in this very life are good in themselves,
but they are not effective for this age and people living in it. So
they are as good as non-existent – “gone into the naga's palace”.
In this age, any true spiritual practice, (by “true” I mean any
Buddhist practice and not the practice of other religions), which asks
even a merit as little as a particle of dust from the practitioner is
not an effective practice. So we should abandon them because we can’t
become Buddhas through them.
If we should abandon all other Buddhist teachings and practices as
being as good as non existent or gone into the naga’s palace, so much
more we should never follow non Buddhist teachings and practices about
which Shinran Shonin talks in greater detail in his KyoGyoShinSho where he states, for
example, quoting the Great Nirvana Sutra:
“Good sons, there are two kinds of
enlightenment: eternal and impermanent…. The enlightenment of
nonbuddhist ways is called impermanent, Buddhist enlightenment is
called eternal….. The emancipation of nonbuddhist ways is called
impermanent, the emancipation of Buddhist ways is called eternal.”
He makes reference again on non Buddhist teachings in Shozomatsu Wasan about which we are
talking now:
“The ninety-five nonbuddhist teachings
defile the world(3);
The Buddha's path alone is pure.”
These words are immediately followed by the verses:
“Only by going forth and reaching
Enlightenment can we benefit others
In this burning house; this is the natural working of the Vow.”
which if they are compared with the statement about the two types of
Enlightenment (eternal and impermanent) quoted by Shinran in his KyoGyoShinSho and presented above,
we can easily draw the conclusion that not through non Buddhist
teachings, but through the Buddha’s path which is pure, is one made
capable to attain Enlightenment.
So, if we live in this last Dharma age with all its defilements and
difficulties, we should follow only the path of the Buddha and not the
various non Buddhist teachings which are themselves manifestations of
this defiled world. More than this, among all Buddhist methods we
should select only the teaching of the Primal Vow and abandon the rest
as being as good as non existent.
I especially think that these statements of Shinran Shonin about the
non Buddhist teachings and other Buddhist practices, are very useful in
our days when it became a custom to mix things and find so called
synthesis of various religious beliefs. Many spiritual soups are
prevalent in our days, mixing elements of Christianity with Buddhism
and Hinduism. But also in the Buddhist world mixing things is often met
and even in Jodo Shinshu there is for example, the tendency among some
followers to make Jodo Shinshu more Zen like in order to accommodate to
their personal visions and incapacity to be open to a salvation and
faith oriented teaching.
In rejecting non Buddhist views as not leading to Enlightenment and
also other Buddhist teachings as ineffective, Shinran Shonin shows he
is not interested in satisfying everyone’s ideas or in having a nice
and politically correct talk with all doctrines and religious views,
but is concentrated in saving people from birth and death, which is the
most important thing in this life. In front of the two rivers of fire
and water with death and danger waiting to strike at every moment, and
the rare chance of having another human life so hard to find, Shinran
is interested only in showing us the path to escape. And he clearly
sees no other way than entrusting in Amida Buddha. All other methods
are not real or they are ineffective.
Shinran calls us to awaken and do not lose the precious time we have.
This is a burning house and not a place for unimportant talks and
doctrines. He is clear in his explanations like a doctor who prescribes
exactly what a patient needs to save his life.
He says something like: “Do you want to escape birth and death? If you
do, then this is the way to follow and no other. Entrust in Amida
Buddha and in no one else”. It is Shinran’s message to a terminally ill
world in the last Dharma age, a world who needs the best medicine ever
to be found in the religious history.
For those who come to Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu only for intellectual
delights or interesting discussions, the radical attitude of Shinran
will always be embarrassing or not so politically correct. But for
those whom birth and death is the most important matter and realize
their true capacities, the clear message of Shinran and his way of
rejecting that which is not true or effective and selecting that which
is true and useful, is all they needed to hear.
So, dear friends, make a choice: escape this burning house or remain
inside it, spending your time with false or futile practices.
Its your decision.
Namo Amida Butsu
______________________________________
NOTES:
(1) A brahman called Dona encountered the Buddha shortly after his
enlightenment and, struck by the Buddha’s serenity, asked Him:
“Sir, are you a god?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you an angel?”
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a yakkha?
“No, brahman.”
“Are you a human being?”
“No, brahman.”
“When asked, ‘Are you a god?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked,
‘Are you an angel?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman..’ When asked, ‘Are you a
yakkha?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ When asked, ‘Are you a human
being?’ you answer, ‘No, brahman…’ Then what sort of being are you?”
“Brahman, the defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I
would be a god: those are abandoned by me, their root destroyed, made
like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future arising. The
defilements by which — if they were not abandoned — I would be an
angel… a yakkha… a human being: those are abandoned by me, their root
destroyed, made like a palm tree stump, no longer subject to future
arising.
“Just as a blue or red or white lotus born in water, grows in water and
stands up above the water untouched by it, so too I, who was born in
the world and grew up in the world, have transcended the world, and I
live untouched by the world. Remember me, brahman, as a Buddha.”
(2) Shinran said in Letter 8 of his Lamp
of the Latter Ages: “Of the conceivable and the inconceivable
dharma, the conceivable comprises the 84,000 kinds of good of the Path
of Sages. The Pure Land teaching is the inconceivable dharma-teaching”
- so he clearly separated the Pure Land teaching from other Buddhist
teachings and practices.
(3) "Ninety-five non Buddhist teachings" (kujugoshu ) originally appear
in the Nirvana Sutra and
others.
It is said that at the time of the Buddha there were ninety-five kinds
of wrong teachings. They are views of the six philosophical masters
(rokushi gedo) and those of their disciples, fifteen under each master
(Zuio Sensei explanations).
I also think that any nowadays spiritual teaching that contradicts the
law of karma as explained by the Buddha, denies rebirth, affirms the
existence of a Creator and supreme judge of the world, etc, can be
considered in the category of non Buddhist teachings that should be
rejected. One cannot be a Jodo Shinshu follower and believe in God,
deny rebirth and the law of karma.
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Last modified: 4 January 2010.