Archive for November, 2005

KGSS Preface: Nembutsu Thanksgiving

Thursday, 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

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KGSS Preface: Realizing the Inconceivable

Sunday, 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.

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KGSS Preface: Shinran’s Humble Contemplation

Saturday, 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: (more…)

Shinran Shonen - Shin Buddhism’s Dharma Master

Thursday, 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. (more…)

Dharma Challenge to a Dharma Friend

Thursday, 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: (more…)

Two Year Anniversary

Tuesday, 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. (more…)