Aspiration to become a Buddha – The Most Important Matter

December 7th, 2008

(Paul’s note: This outstanding article was written by Rev. Josho Adrian Cirlea, the only Romanian Jodo Shinshu Priest. It appeared originally on his blog, AMIDA-JI RETREAT TEMPLE ROMANIA.)

The goal of Buddhism is to become a Buddha.

Not to paint this life in different colors, not to become a smart or interesting kind of Buddhist, but to become a Buddha.

The Buddhist path is not a method of relaxation or a tablet for headache, something like “how can we become happier and calmer people” or a recipe for momentary happiness, but a road to Buddhahood or complete Freedom for us and all beings. Read the rest of this entry »

On Turning One’s Life Over To Amida Buddha

November 28th, 2008

On the True Shin Buddhism Yahoo! Group, we have recently been discussing the idea of Amida Buddha being our Higher Power. We’ve been examning several questions:

  • What prayer means for Shin Buddhists
  • What the “10 Protections” are all about
  • And what “turning one’s will and life over to Amida Buddha” is all about.

Here is a wonderful contribution to the Dharma dialogue from my friend Jason: Read the rest of this entry »

Two Visions of Reality

October 17th, 2008

If we’re going to speak of orthodoxy of the Mahayana, and the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way (Shin Buddhism) it is very important to say this: there is nothing that makes one body or manifestation of a Buddha any more or less “absolute” than another. The truth is, living as plain people in the Age of Dharma Decline, we have no direct experience of what “absoluteness” might be like from a Buddha’s perspective - or even the perspective of a Bodhisattva who has reached the stage of non-retrogression.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Most Fundamental Desire

August 25th, 2008

The aspiration for Buddhahood is the most fundamental desire for conscious sentient beings like us.

Often it’s hidden - “sublimated” is the word Freud would have used - so it appears as something else. But all beings yearn for freedom from the bondage of egotism - from fear, anger and sadness - from cravings and aversions - from blind passions.

Read the rest of this entry »

What is the meaning of NAMU AMIDA BUTSU?

August 8th, 2008

As Shin Buddhists - or inquirers looking for enlightenment and exploring Shin Buddhism as a possible path - it is good and useful to ask the question, “What is the meaning of NAMU AMIDA BUTSU”?

I have to be honest, that for a long time, I couldn’t answer that question clearly, because I was reading indiscriminately from many so-called teachers of Shin Buddhism who had all sorts of strange and esoteric ideas.

I tried - I sincerely tried - to understand what they were saying. But often what they said didn’t make sense - or one contradicted another - or seemed to contradict what I thought I was understanding from reading Master Shinran’s writings.

And I wasn’t alone. I’ve met a LOT of people who are just as confused as I once was. Read the rest of this entry »

Two Kinds of Enlightenment

July 25th, 2008

In his magnum opus, the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, Master Shinran quotes from many Dharma sources: from various sutras (sermons) of the Buddha, from the writings of the seven Pure Land Masters, and from various other Buddhist sages as well.

In fact, 90% of the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho (True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way) is actually quotes from other sources, strung together by Master Shinran’s vision as the supreme expositor of the True Teaching.

Here is a piece of a more extensive quotation by Master Shinran, from THE NIRVANA SUTRA. In it, Shakyamuni Buddha is speaking to his followers about two kinds of enlightenment: Read the rest of this entry »

Shinran Speaks: The Most Difficult of All Difficulties - Part 2

July 11th, 2008

We’ve been talking about Master Shinran’s observation that being able to truly hear and accept the True Teaching of the Pure Land Way is “the most difficult of all difficulties”.

Here (once again) is Master Shinran speaking about this in his HYMNS OF THE PURE LAND:

It is difficult to encounter a time when a Tathagata appears in the world,
And difficult to hear the teachings of the Buddha.
It is rare to hear the excellent dharma for bodhisattvas,
Even in a span of countless ages.

It is difficult to meet true teachers,
And difficult to instruct.
It is difficult to hear the teaching well,
And more difficult to accept it.

More difficult even than trust in the teachings of Shakyamuni’s lifetime
Is the true entrusting of the universal Vow.
The Sutra teaches that it is “the most difficult of all difficulties”,
That “nothing surpasses this difficulty”.

There are a number of reasons this teaching is so difficult to hear and accept. Read the rest of this entry »

Shinran Speaks: The Most Difficult of All Difficulties

July 6th, 2008

On July 2, I posted a passage from Master Yuan-chao - quoted by Master Shinran in his Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho - stating that the Dharma of Amida Buddha’s person and work was the most difficult thing in the world to accept by faith.

Here is Master Shinran - in his own words this time - speaking the same thing in his HYMNS OF THE PURE LAND:

It is difficult to encounter a time when a Tathagata appears in the world,
And difficult to hear the teachings of the Buddha.
It is rare to hear the excellent dharma for bodhisattvas,
Even in a span of countless ages.

It is difficult to meet true teachers,
And difficult to instruct.
It is difficult to hear the teaching well,
And more difficult to accept it.

More difficult even than trust in the teachings of Shakyamuni’s lifetime
Is the true entrusting of the universal Vow.
The Sutra teaches that it is “the most difficult of all difficulties”,
That “nothing surpasses this difficulty”.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Most Difficult Thing In The World To Accept In Faith

July 2nd, 2008

(Note: This is cross-posted from the True Shin Buddhism Yahoo! Group.

Master Shinran’s great work - the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho (True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way) is about 90% quotes from other sources, all held together with Shinran’s own exposition. As such, it is filled with Dharma Gems. Here is a profound passage from Master Yuan-chao, quoted by our Dharma Master Shinran (emphasis in caps is my own): Read the rest of this entry »

Why Enlightenment is Easy - But SHINJIN is Hard

June 21st, 2008

(Note: This is cross-posted from the online Sangha located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/true_shin_buddhism/)

Buddhism is not simply a prescription for mental health, intellectual aerobics or instruction on how to meditate.

No - to MERELY consider Buddhism on that level (as many modern Buddhist teachers do, unfortunately) is to trivialize the life work of the one we call THE BUDDHA - Shakyamuni - formerly Prince Gotama of the Shakya clan.

No - to understand Buddhism we must begin with the very CORE of Buddhism. A single idea which shines with the intensity and focus of a laser beam down through the ages: The very CORE of Buddhism is the idea, the hope, the dream of attaining enlightenment - or Buddhahood. Read the rest of this entry »

Eiken Kobai Sensei’s New Book Now Available!

October 8th, 2007

THE TRUE AND REAL WORLD OF SALVATION is Eiken Kobai Sensei’s new book on Shin Buddhism.

Eiken Sensei is - in the view of many - the greatest teacher of TRUE Shin Buddhism alive today. I am very blessed to call him my mentor and my friend.

The book is being published by Rev. Josho Adrian Cirlea, a Shin Buddhist Priest in Romania, through his publishing house, Dharma Lion Publications.

Copies will also be available within the next 10 days from the BCA Bookstore in San Francisco, CA.

We will, in the near future, also be making the book available online on Eiken Sensei’s Shin Buddhism Study Center website.

Thanks much to Adrian for his valuable service to the worldwide Shin Sangha.

Paul R.

Re-Publication of Eiken Kobai’s UNDERSTANDING JODO SHINSHU

September 18th, 2007

Dharma Friends -

Rev. Josho Adrian Cirlea of Romania runs a publishing house called DHARMA LION PUBLICATIONS.

He has decided to publish Eiken Kobai Sensei’s UNDERSTANDING JODO SHINSHU.

Here’s a link to his page:

http://www.dharmalionpub.com/NEWBOOKS.html

He is also in coversation with Eiken about publishing Eiken’s new English language book, THE TRUE AND REAL WORLD OF SALVATION.

In my view, Eiken Kobai is the foremost Shin Buddhist teacher of TRUE Shin Buddhism in the world today. He is absolutely committed to share Shinran’s Rennyo’s Dharma Teaching AS IT IS - without adding or subtracting anything from the pristine Dharma teaching of our primal teachers.

I have made it my business to make sure that Eiken was introduced to the Western World, by putting his English language teachings up on the net at www.trueshinbuddhism.com . Now, our friend Adrian is taking the next step, for those who want to add Eiken’s books to their own library.

Gassho,

Paul R.

Eiken Kobai’s Books In Downloadable Format

March 19th, 2007

A number of people have mentioned that they’d like to have hardcopy versions of Eiken Kobai Sensei’s two books, Understanding Jodo Shinshu and Misunderstandings of Master Rennyo.

I’ve created PDF versions of them both, which you can either read onscreen, or print off on a printer.

You’ll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available at www.adobe.com.

Here are the links:

Understanding Jodo Shinshu is in 3 parts.


Link for Misunderstandings of Master Rennyo

Honen’s Despair

March 8th, 2007

Modern people make the same mistake that people made in Shinran Shonin’s day, when it comes to the Dharma concerning Amida Buddha’s Vow to save all beings.

They approach it from an intellectual point of view first - which simply does not work. Period.

No - in order to gain the inconceivable benefit of SHINJIN - the faith-mind of Amida Buddha which is freely given to any and all who listen deeply to this dharma, and entrust their karmic destiny ENTIRELY to Amida Buddha - we cannot simply listen with the HEAD.

We must listen with the HEART.

The karmic preparation of the human heart for the dharma is twofold - and simple to explain. First, a deep and abiding desire arises for authentic enlightenment - the end of suffering - the end of delusion and obscuration - the end of the three poisons of greed, anger and fear - the deepest yearning of the human heart…the yearning for BUDDHAHOOD.

If that desire - that aspiration to Buddhahood - is still dormant, you can have all the understanding of all the scholars who ever studied the sutras - and it will mean NOTHING.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome Back To The Shin Ugly Blog

February 28th, 2007

To all my dharma friends and visitors from around the world - welcome back.

The Shin Ugly Blog was offline for awhile. One of those sad internet web hosting stories, no need for sordid technical details. You should know that posts after March 2006 were lost, however.

Bottom line: the blog has a NEW url: www.shinuglyblog.com/blog

So please update your bookmarks and links.

While the blog was offline, we’ve been having honest Shin Dharma dialogue on the Yahoo! Group TRUE SHIN BUDDHISM.

There, as here, Eiken Kobai Sensei has been both mentor and guide - so you can be sure that what’s written is really in accord with Shinran’s true teaching - and not just our own opinions.

Thanks for your patience,

Gassho,

Paul

KGSS Chapter 2: What Is Great Practice?

March 14th, 2006

I continue to say - because of Master Shinran’s own testimony, and Master Rennyo’s too - that there is nothing for us human beings to do in the True Pure Land Way to Buddhahood…except to listen deeply and humbly contemplate what is being taught by our dharma teachers.

The wonderful news is: the act of listening deeply is something any of us can do… Read the rest of this entry »

An Example of Authentic Shinjin

February 24th, 2006

The experience of authentic SHINJIN is the gift of Amida Buddha to those who listen deeply to the True Teaching of Shinran Shonin. It is without parallel in all of Buddhism.

Dharma Master Shinran calls it INCONCEIVABLE.

Here is the testimony of a man who has been given the gift of SHINJIN - a man of the very same SHINJIN as Shinran himself. Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Chapter 1: One Unequaled Moment

February 19th, 2006

Everything in the dharma teaching Shinran propagated for his entire life springs from something he heard about but never saw personally - something that occurred in one unequaled moment in space and time.

What moment was that? It was the moment when Shakyamuni Buddha shifted from one mode of being into another.

If you lack a strong background in Buddhist teaching, a bit of explanation is in order. Read the rest of this entry »

Which Sutra is Buddha’s Ultimate Truth? Which Is Not?

February 3rd, 2006

Dear Mr Kobai -

I would like to asked you some input about the disscusion I’ve been having with my friends about the teachings of Nichiren.

They tell me that I am following a provisional Buddhism (Jodo-Shinshu), and not following the lotus sutra which Nichiren said that is the right path (Dharma) for the Mappo time.

Please can you help?

in gassho with Respect and Makoto.

Sebastian. Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Chapter 1: The Jewel Amida Buddha Chose

January 21st, 2006

In Shin Buddhism, there is nothing else to do but LISTEN DEEPLY - which means listening with the left brain for the content, and with the right brain for the feeling - of what Shakyamuni Buddha is teaching.

There is no other practice.

Even saying Nembutsu is not a practice, as Master Shinran and Master Rennyo explain. True Nembutsu arises naturally as the expression of our gratitude. True Nembutsu is not something we do - it is something that is GIVEN - the gift of Amida Buddha in the hearts of those people who have been caused to hear because…

They have listened DEEPLY.

So let’s listen deeply, together, to Dharma Master Shinran as he begins to unfold the great mystery of the Pure Land Path to Buddhahood. Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Chapter 1: Let Us Be Clear About This

December 31st, 2005

As 2005 draws to a close, a small band of Shin Buddhists, including clerics, scholars and laypeople, look forward to 2006 with a firm sense of great purpose.

That purpose is nothing less than to restore the dying Shin Sangha by propagating, once again, the True Teaching of Shinran Shonin.

Authentic propgation of the True Teaching was no small task in Master Shinran’s day. It was no small task in Master Rennyo’s day. And it is no small task in our day either. Read the rest of this entry »

Kobai Sensei’s Shin Buddhism Study Center

December 21st, 2005

This message is being broadcast to those interested in the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, as expounded by both Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin.

Please forward it to anyone who you think would be interested.

Some of you know that several of us have been working on a project to make the True Teaching of Shinran more widely available on the net by providing a teaching website for Eiken Kobai Sensei - one of the world’s leading scholars of True Shin Buddhism.

I’m happy to say that project is now complete. The site URL is Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Preface: Shinran’s Joy

December 12th, 2005

So much of the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way (literally KyoGyoShinSho) is encapsulated in the few short paragraphs of Dharma Master Shinran’s preface to that document - his most important work.

I invite you to listen deeply with me as Shinran describes the reason for his his JOY - the JOY of a person of true SHINJIN - the true entrusting that is the gift of the compassionate Buddha Amida to the hungry heart: Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Preface: Shinran’s Rugged Universalism

December 4th, 2005

The Dharma thought of Dharma Master Shinran is at odds with the current fashion in thinking today. To discuss Shinran’s Dharma HONESTLY, we must first meet him on his own terms - rather than the terms we have been familiar with.

Then, once we have understood what he says - and what he means - we are each free to decide for ourselves whether we accept what he says as Dharma Truth. Do we believe Shinran saw clearly and spoke truly as a Dharma Master - or was he just foolish and deluded in his assertions about the most important subject of all: suffering and the end of suffering? Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Preface: Nembutsu Thanksgiving

November 24th, 2005

In the USA, today is the national holiday of Thanksgiving.

True Nembutsu is simply the Nembutsu of Thanksgiving.

Let’s listen deeply to Shinran, as he explains what Thanksgiving is all about for a person of the same SHINJIN

Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Preface: Realizing the Inconceivable

November 20th, 2005

As I said in the last post: if you miss the very first sentence of Shinran’s great work, the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, you miss Shinran’s Dharma Teaching completely.

Here he is, saying what most needs to be said.

It is the open book - the key to everything anyone needs to know - to come to the end of suffering at last.

Read the rest of this entry »

KGSS Preface: Shinran’s Humble Contemplation

November 19th, 2005

Dharma Master Shinran begins the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho with the sentence below.

If you miss this sentence, you miss Shinran’s Dharma Teaching completely. So to you who are fortunate enough to be reading this right now, I say this: Read the rest of this entry »

Shinran Shonen - Shin Buddhism’s Dharma Master

November 17th, 2005

Anyone who’s been following the blog knows that it has one purpose: to be a vehicle for Shinran Shonen’s Dharma teaching.

After he met his teacher Honen, the rest of Shinran’s life was dedicated to sharing the revelation that Amida Buddha had given to him. He called it SHINJIN - sometimes translated as FAITH, sometimes translated as TRUE ENTRUSTING.

Whatever word you use, Shinran was not a mincer of words, nor a code-talker. On the contrary, his calling as a Dharma Teacher was to speak PLAINLY. He offered plain talk, for plain people, about suffering - and also the END of suffering. Read the rest of this entry »

Dharma Challenge to a Dharma Friend

November 10th, 2005

Yueheng responded to my last post Two Year Anniversary with this comment:

I would like to humbly point out here that Shinran never indicated that his teachings were, to quote your words, “the ONLY dharma that can take people to the end-game”. While he was alive, Shinran classified the existing schools of Buddhism into the schools of transcendence, which promises swift results and schools that are departing which require lengthy practice with a further subdivision of lengthwise and crosswise. Shinran classified Shingon and Tendai as “lengthwise transcendence” and the Yogachara School as “departing lengthwise”. The Pure Land school naturally came under “crosswise transcendence”.

The point of this example is that if Shinran had thought that his teachings was the only true teaching, why would he have bothered to classify the other schools? While Shinran certainly thought that the nembutsu was the most appropriate dharma for this age, but he never adopted a “my way — the only way” stance.

Here is my response to Yueheng: Read the rest of this entry »

Two Year Anniversary

November 8th, 2005

Today is the two year anniversary of my daughter Jessie’s death on November 8, 2003.

Beginning exactly one year ago, on November 8, 2004, a series of manifestations began. Read the rest of this entry »