Shin Ugly Blog

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. (more…)

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: (more…)

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. (more…)

There is a vast gulf between the true teaching of a true teacher, and the divergent teaching being offered to many westerners today in the name of Shinran.

One of the core reasons I write the Shin Ugly Blog is to make people who are interested in the True Pure Land Way of Dharma Master Shinran MORE aware of just how vast that gulf really is. (more…)

Shinran Shonin, whose distinct karma is was to be THE Dharma Master for this singular “path of the foolish”, was all about coming to a state of deep receptivity to Amida’s call - a receptivity that opens the door to the mystery of SHINJIN.

Let’s listen deeply to his words - together: (more…)

It’s the fourth anniverary of the destruction of the Twin Towers - a place I used to work - a mile from where I grew up, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. My mother was still living there - and she actually saw the second plane go in. A few short weeks ago, it was the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima. And as we watch, the destruction of New Orleans unfolds before our eyes.

All are examples of what we call “The First Noble Truth” taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. It is the truth that life is, ultimately, not satisfactory - that it is marked by suffering. (more…)

My dharma friend Jason continues to dialogue with me about the True Teaching of Shinran. Here’s part of my response to his questions and comments on this whole MYTHOS question - which troubles and confuses the Shin Sangha so deeply in our day. (more…)

My dharma friend Jason, who has newly experienced SHINJIN, writes this:

Paul:

So there I am, walking to work early one morning last week, when out of a cloudy, depression-laced gray sky comes the thought: “I’m not sure I believe any of this at all. It’s all just too fantastic, too incredible to be literally real.”

Once again, I ask you: Is a person of settled shinjin capable of such a thought–a thought, I might add, that arose as spontaneously as the overwhelming gratitude that supposedly marks out those who are grasped, never to be abandoned? (more…)

I began this blog for ONE very compelling reason.

There is a profound need for Shinran’s teaching to be shared in English - in it’s original form, with it’s original intent and meaning.

(more…)

Hi Jason -

I just wanted to let you know that I have not forgotten our conversation, nor my promise to share with you some more - both about my own life’s journey, and about my thoughts on settled SHINJIN.

Please bear with me. I find that after I have written for the blog, I sometimes need to take a break for several days, even when I know exactly what I want to talk about next.

Blogging the dharma touches the deepest places in me, in opposite directions: (more…)

Before you read this WONDERFUL note from a dharma friend, you might want to read our dialogue in the prior post, which is HERE.

Then again, you might want to start with this post, and get the context later.

For anyone willing to listen deeply (like my dharma friend), Amida Buddha’s transmission of TRUE wisdom and TRUE compassion works just as well either way. (more…)

Following up on an earlier post Two Teachers - Compare and Contrast:

Ray writes:

You say teacher 2 is saying that we need a great capacity for deep introspection in order to sever the bonds of egocentricity. I don’t think he is saying this at all. He is saying we need to recognise we are unable to sever the bonds of egocentricity. That we need to call on Amida.

(more…)

Paul,

Larry

===

Hi Larry -

Here’s the short answer - a prelude of the divergences I am committed to examining on the SHIN UGLY Blog.

Doing this examination takes significant time and effort to unpack in blog articles, etc. So please bear with me.

Namu-Amida-Butsu,

Paul (more…)

This is the third of four posts that I am writing to answer a question posed by a dharma friend named Ray.

Ray asks why I think the view of modern Shin Buddhist scholars - that Amida Buddha is symbol and mythos rather than a real person - is such a lamentable diversion, and so harmful to the propagation of Shinran’s teaching.

These four posts are my answer to his question. This post, in particular is about his use of Karen Armstrong’s teaching about what’s wrong with fundamentalist theology and what’s right with modernist and post-modernist theology - an approach that Ray uses to provide him with tools for understanding Shinran and Shin Buddhism.

I call Ray’s approach - which is also the approach of modern Shin Buddhist scholars and clerics - “Shin Semiotics”.

In a broader context, these posts concerning “Shin Semiotics” offer a basis for an honest discussion around what I call “The Shinran Manifesto”: the call to RETURN TO THE TRUE TEACHING OF SHINRAN, OUR TRUE TEACHER . (more…)

The SHINRAN Manifesto says, “Return to the True Teaching of Shinran, our True teacher”.

Not everyone agrees that this is a good idea. In this conversation with “Joe”, his sincere reasons for disagreement becomes very clear.

I’ll give Joe’s entire message in one piece, so his position is clear in context. Then I’ll reply to what he says, point by point, to share my views, and compare them to his. (more…)

It is the position of many modern Shin Buddhists to deny the personhood of Amida Buddha.

I’ve said before, and say again, this is truly a lamentable divergence from the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way that Shinran has provided us all.

We know from his writing that such divergences gave Shinran fits - because it made it impossible for the hearers of such distorted dharma to come to the same settled Shinjin (true entrusting) that would guarantee their birth in the Pure Land at the end of this life.

That’s exactly why I’m pointing out these differences for what they are - and challenging modern and post-modern Shin Buddhist clerics and teachers with the Shinran Manifesto: RETURN TO THE TRUE TEACHING OF SHINRAN, OUR TRUE TEACHER.

For example, here’s an excerpt from a tract written by a modern Shin Buddhist teacher that is now appearing on the websites of several Shin Buddhist temples: (more…)

My goal of completing one straightforward exposition before beginning another sometimes gets diverted by people’s sincere questions and comments.

Right now, for example, I’m having a dialogue with a dharma friend named Ray, to answer his question about why I think Shin Semiotics - the idea that Amida Buddha is simply Mythos and Symbol rather than a real Buddha like Shakyamuni - is a major and lamentable diversion from Shinran’s True Teaching.

That dialogue is getting a bit diverted because he asked me a question about a book called Coffinman - the bio and Shin Buddhist ruminations of a Japanese mortician.

His question - as you will see below, provide me a chance to unpack an examination I was preparing to begin later, but will enter into now, in order to respond to him.

In it I discuss why simply talking about the mystical right brained experience of light and life - Shin Mysticism - is not, by itself, an adequate expression of Shinran’s True Teaching.

This is all part of the clarion call of The SHINRAN Manifesto, which encourages Shin Buddhists, whether Japanese, American, or otherwise, whether clerics, scholars or laypeople, to RETURN TO THE TRUE TEACHING OF SHINRAN, OUR TRUE TEACHER. (more…)

This is the second of four posts that I am writing to answer a question posed by a dharma friend named Ray.

Ray asks why I think the view of modern Shin Buddhist scholars - that Amida Buddha is symbol and mythos rather than a real person - is such a lamentable diversion, and so harmful to the propagation of Shinran’s teaching.

These four posts are my answer to his question. This post, in particular is about my PERSONAL encounter with Shin Semiotics, and its inadequacy in dealing with the suffering in my own life experience. Subsequent posts will be less personal, and more oriented to intellectually understanding of how and why “Shin Semiotics” - including the idea that Amida Buddha is a fictive mythos and symbol - is emphatically NOT the dharma of Shinran’s True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way.

In a broader context, these posts concerning “Shin Semiotics” offer a basis for an honest discussion around what I call “The Shinran Manifesto”: the call to RETURN TO THE TRUE TEACHING OF SHINRAN, OUR TRUE TEACHER . (more…)

Here’s the introduction Professor Kobai invited me to write to the next edition of his wonderful book, UNDERSTANDING JODO SHINSHU.

It’s not about Professor Kobai, ultimately. And it’s certainly not about me. It’s about the clarion call to the Shin Buddhist community, that I have called “The SHINRAN Manifesto”:

Return to the TRUE Teaching of Shinran, Our TRUE Teacher.

Here it is: (more…)

This is the first of four posts that I am writing to answer a question posed by a dharma friend named Ray on the Yahoo! egroup SHINLIST.

Ray asks why I think the view of modern Shin Buddhist scholars - that Amida Buddha is symbol and mythos rather than a real person - is such a lamentable diversion, and so harmful to the propagation of Shinran’s teaching.

This introductory letter, and the three that will follow it, are my answer to his question.

In a broader context, these posts offer a basis for an honest discussion around what I call “The Shinran Manifesto”: the call to RETURN TO THE TRUE TEACHING OF SHINRAN, OUR TRUE TEACHER . (more…)

The posts in the Shin Ugly blog have a common purpose - to serve as TRUE teaching, in plain English, of the basics of Shin Buddhism (or Jodo Shinshu) as taught by Shinran and his true students. Like it says in the title bar, they’re all about SHIN UGLY - plain talk, for plain people, about suffering and the end of suffering.

I started the Shin Ugly Blog because I found that few places on the web where Shinran’s TRUE teaching is shared in plain language - based on my own Google research for the past several years. (more…)

Rev. Al Bloom (of Shin Dharma Net): Your discussion sounds much like that of scholars and clerics. Why make a contrast between scholars and clerics who are trying to understand their faith and relating to the world they live in.

Is it necessary to be a know-nothing to have SHINJIN (true entrusting)? (more…)

Shin Ugly - Shinran’s plain teaching for plain people about suffering and the end of suffering - pivots around one central concept: there is only one way to END your suffering and become a TRUE Buddha in this age of Dharma Decline - and that is to become a person of SHINJIN (True Entrusting) in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha.

The teaching is not hard, intellectually - even for someone with no background in Buddhism at all, like my friend Anna. In fact, the very simplicity of it all is what makes it hard for sophisticated folks like us. (more…)

This blog is my personal legacy work. If I die tonight (no plans to do so) it is here for my daughter to read, so that she may find her way to the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way.

Of course, it’s not JUST for my daughter. It’s for her, her friends, Jessie’s friends, my friends - and anyone who is tired of suffering in life after life.

And it’s also for those who already have a deep and true aspiration to be able to help other people in a real and profound way.

Only when we are free of the chains and fetters of our endless delusions and obscurations can we REALLY help those we love - and those we don’t even know in this life - though (as Shinran teaches) we knew ALL of them from countless lives before. (more…)

To complete the three part discussion on The Easy Path to Buddhahood (see the menu for links to parts one and two), there are so many passages that I could quote from.

I’ve decided to choose a passage from an authentic Shin teacher from the 15th century named Rennyo. His writings have a lot to say to the Shin Buddhist community today. (more…)

Shoren: Thank you Paul.

Deepest Gassho to you for this. (more…)

Both before and after I entrusted myself to Amida’s Primal Vow, I spent a lot of time looking on the net for instruction that was in accord with Shinran’s Teaching.

In all my looking (and I did a bunch) I found precious little that lined up with the plain sense of what I had read in Shinran’s Collected Works, and a lot of teachings that were supposed to be Shin Buddhism, but were in fact something else. (more…)