Shin Ugly Blog

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: (more…)

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… (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (more…)

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. (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…)

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? (more…)

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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: (more…)