Those Who Deny the Existence of Amida
Don’t Have Shinjin: Some Simple Explanations
Unfortunately, there are many false teachers in the international
Jodo Shinshu community who support wrong interpretations of the
Nembutsu Dharma - the so called modern and progressive interpretations
- but which are in evident contradiction with the teaching of the
sutras and the sacred texts. One of the most widely distributed
interpretations is the theory that Amida Buddha is a symbol, a
metaphor, or a
fictional character.
Such interpretations demonstrate the absence of genuine Shinjin in the
hearts of those who support them. It is simply impossible to have the
experience of faith in Amida and at the same time to consider him a
fictional character or metaphor. On the contrary, such a shinjin is
false or fictional just as how the object of that faith is fictional.
I have never heard or read in the sacred texts about such presentations
of Amida Buddha. Not Shakyamuni, nor Shinran Shonin nor any other
masters of our tradition ever spoke in like that about Amida and his
Pure Land. This is why I always say that those who present Amida Buddha
as a
fictional character, metaphor, symbol or something similar to these
terms, don’t have the experience of faith and salvation.
The entrusting heart (Shinjin) is the cause of our birth in the Pure
Land and of our attainment of Buddhahood, but how can faith in
something fictional be called true faith? This is something easy to
understand even by children. Fictional is fictional no matter how you
present it, while the real is real. Only faith in something real and
alive can be a true faith and have results – i.e. birth in the Pure
Land.
If somebody says that you, the reader of these lines, are a fictional
character, I suppose he doesn't believe that you exist. It’s as simple
as that.
It is said that trees are known by their fruits. It’s impossible that
someone speaking and insisting in his entire work on such false
teachings can have a real experience of faith and can guide others to
faith.
It’s not that I judge the faith of others, but their own words speak
for themselves. They simply don’t know or don’t feel or don’t
understand or don’t want to accept who Amida Buddha is (that is, who
the sutras and
explanations of the Masters say he is): so how can they have faith in
him?
Master Honen was recorded in the postscript of Tannisho as saying that
some people don’t have the same Shinjin (faith) as his, so they will
surely not go to the same Pure Land where he goes after death.
His Shinjin and the Shinjin of Shinran came from Amida Buddha, the real
Amida Buddha, not the fictive Amida, the symbolic or metaphorical
Amida. This is the reason why they had the same Shinjin, although their
personal wisdom and knowledge of the Dharma were different.
Both Shinran and Honen, but also the other Masters, accepted the
teaching about Amida Buddha as taught by Shakyamuni in the Larger
Sutra on Amida Buddha. By listening to this teaching they
received Shinjin and became
Buddhas in the Pure Land. We, their disciples of modern times, are also
different in knowledge, experience and wisdom, but we too must accept
the same teaching they accepted in order to receive the same Shinjin as
they.
Birth, life and death are not fictive, symbolical or metaphorical. Also
our freedom from birth and death can’t be fictive, symbolical or
metaphorical. A Buddha who is not alive and active in the world of
suffering, cannot help and guide us to the supreme, unsurpassed
Enlightenment. Faith in a fictive character, in a symbol or metaphor
cannot free anybody.
Shinjin comes from Amida and is the cause of our Freedom: but for those
who do not entrust in Amida as being a living and active Buddha, what
kind of shinjin do they have? Please use your mind and simple logic, so
that you do not fall in such illusions and wrong understanding.
True Jodo Shinshu Buddhism is not a rambling metaphysical system filled
with symbols, metaphors and hidden meanings. Rather it is a set of
clear and precise teachings intended to free all beings from birth and
death through a simple faith in a living and active Buddha called
Amida.
Those who don’t like or cannot accept this path are free to leave it or
forget it, but they should never try to change it so as to accommodate
it to their personal ideas and lack of faith.
from Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Teachings
by Josho Adrian Cirlea. Complete e-text for free download at:
http://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.ro/2012/01/jodo-shinshu-buddhist-teachings-free.html