Shin Ugly Blog

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.

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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…)

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”.

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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…)

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…)

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…)

This post is a continuation of a dharma dialogue that began with this post of August 21. In that dialogue a dharma friend named Woody, a sincere seeker who is already a self-described Pure Land Buddhist, asked me a critical question:

What about the vinaya pitaka? What about the 5 and 8 precepts? Is there no call to morality and goodness? Is there no room for these things in true entrusting”?

In order to provide good ground for an answer that is in accord with Shinran’s teaching, I asked Woody (and everyone who might be reading this blog) to consider deeply with me this most fundamental question in return:

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE DHARMA?

Let’s listen deeply together, and see where Amida Buddha is leading us to, each and every one. (more…)

My dharma friend Jason writes:

Paul:

Your recent blog quotation of Shinran’s order to Yuien-bo to kill a thousand people in order to attain birth brings to mind a question I’ve often wondered about. (more…)

Sujeewa (Suki): I was wondering if I should say this or not, but I think its better said than not said. The Budda said …”One shall not harm any other living being nor Harm oneself.” It creates great Negative Karma. It was his first precept and a very important one to be put as the very first one too. It only takes one away from the path to Nibbana or Salvation or in becoming a Budda, or Arahanth.

I hope you knew about this.

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Hi Suki -

Yes, indeed I did know about the Buddha’s first precept. This comment of yours strikes right to the heart of YOUR existential dilemma as much as mine, and my daughter’s – even though she took her own life, and you have not done such a thing.

Let me explain – because this is exactly the point of Shin Buddhist teaching. (more…)