Dharma
Dialogue with a Seeker
about the Easy Path to Buddhahood
about the Easy Path to Buddhahood
with Paul Roberts
Seeker: There
is something which restricts my mind. You said: “It does NOT
require great study and great discipline - mental or physical -
to become a person of SHINJIN in this life and a Buddha in the
next.” I think this is the hard point to overcome; this is the
historical observable point where people in their soteriological
perspectives diverge.
Paul: It's
not hard to overcome at all. I've overcome it, and so have many
plain people whom I have been privileged to help come to settled
SHINJIN, too.
And the same has been true
ever since the beginning of the Shin Sangha in Master Shinran's
day (and even before, actually). Many people who had no real
Buddhist qualifications or aptitudes or excellence in terms of
any self-power practice were able to receive Amida's gift of
SHINJIN, simply because they were karmically READY to receive
it.
Master Shinran tells the
story of such a person in one of his letters:
What I have been saying
to all of you from many years past has not changed. Simply
achieve your birth, firmly avoiding all scholarly debate. I
recall hearing the late Master Honen say, “Persons of the Pure
Land tradition attain birth in the Pure Land by becoming their
foolish selves.” Moreover, I remember him smile and say, as he
watched humble people of no intellectual pretensions coming to
visit him, “Without doubt their birth is settled.” And I heard
him say after a visit by a man brilliant in letters and
debating, “I really wonder about his birth.” To this day these
things come to mind.
Seeker: Please
could you offer me your understanding concerning three or four
questions; perhaps
this will bring me closer to your thoughts on this.
Question no. 1) Who or what is Amida?
Paul: The
word AMIDA points to two aspects of Buddhic reality:
Aspect #1: AMIDA is DHARMAKARA BODY
- the Original Buddha - formless and indescribable and
incomprehensible - the Suchness that pervades the entire
universe with sentient consciousness.
Aspect #2: AMIDA is the greatest
of all the individuated Buddhas, whether we're talking about the
Buddhas in transcendental form (SAMBOGHAKAYA BODY) or the very
rare appearance of Buddhas in fully enfleshed physical form
(NIRMANAKAYA BODY), for example, the body of Shakyamuni Buddha,
when He walked the earth 2500 years ago.
Now...some modern Shin
scholars might have some other ideas, but I am not talking about
their ideas at all. I'm talking about Master Shinran's Dharma
ideas.
Seeker: Question no. 2) Who or what is the Bombu, the
evil person, the foolish person, and so on?
Paul: The EVIL
PERSON, in Master Shinran's thought, is the person who is unable
to utilize any of the many tools available on the many and
various “Paths of Sages” to lift himself up spiritually to a
state of non-retrogression, and then ultimately to Buddhahood.
And (again in Master
Shinran's thought), in this particular Dharma Age, known as
MAPPO (Japanese term), a.k.a. “The Age of Dharma Decline,” that
term includes ALL OF US. Why? Because (again in Master
Shinran's thought) not a single person in this Dharma Age is
able to use self-power practices and good acts to bring himself
or herself to the critical stage of non-retrogression and thence
to Buddhahood.
For that reason, each and
all of us are doomed to try to climb the mountain of
enlightenment, only to fall down to the bottom, over and over
again - ad nauseum and ad infinitum - just like the mythic
Sisyphus.
Now there is a vast
difference between something BEING true, and us RECOGNIZING it
is true. The earth has ALWAYS revolved around the sun, but it
took a long, long time for us to recognize that fact.
Similarly, each sentient
being who has our sort of human consciousness is actually a
BOMBU, but it can take a long, long time (i.e. many lifetimes)
to recognize that fact.
When a person's karma has
ripened, he recognizes several Dharma truths, or spiritual
facts:
First, he becomes conscious
that his deepest desire is to complete his journey of many lives
and become a Buddha, at long last.
Second, he recognizes that
he cannot achieve his aspiration for Buddhahood by his own
efforts, no matter what he does and how long he might do it for.
In other words, he recognizes that he is a BOMBU - an “evil
person” - incapable of completing the journey to Buddhahood.
At that point, the person is karmically ready to listen to the
True Teaching of the Pure Land Way – a.k.a. Shin Buddhism.
Seeker: Question no. 3) Who or what is the person of
shinjin?
Paul: SHINJIN
is a state of consciousness that is given to people as a GIFT by
Amida Buddha Himself. When a person receives this gift of
FAITH-MIND CONSCIOUSNESS, he (or she) becomes 100% certain of
several basic Dharma truths as the reality of his (or her) own
life:
First, he knows that he is
grasped by Amida Buddha, and will never be abandoned by Him.
Second, he knows that he
has been given the full store of Amida Buddha's infinite karmic
merit, thus making his own karmic debt a non-issue in terms of
his next birth at the end of this life.
Third, he knows that at the
end of this life, he will take birth in Amida's own Pure Land,
and will immediately experience the final transformation - the
transformation to Buddhahood.
For the person of SHINJIN
this faith-mind consciousness is certain - without
doubts of any sort - diamondlike - adamantine.
This is NOT a reflection on
such a person's personal moral excellence, wisdom, or character
development - but rather on the moral excellence, wisdom and
character development of Amida Buddha Himself.
Speaking personally, I
received Amida's gift of TRUE SHINJIN back in 2004. Since then,
I have had the usual ups and downs of life, like any BOMBU - but
I have never, not for one single moment, had a doubt about the
reality of my salvation.
Master Shinran calls this
recognition SALVATION IN THE PRESENT. This mindset of “salvation
in the present” is the mind of SHINJIN, the mind of true faith
that Master Shinran and Master Rennyo talk about so much.
As Master Rennyo said,
“In our school, SHINJIN is EVERYTHING.”
Seeker: Question no. 4) What/How is the
interplay/interdependence of these three questioned
existential components?
Paul: It is
actually very simple: We
need to be saved (i.e. brought to enlightenment or Buddhahood).
This is the great and overarching meaning and purpose of our
existence.
Amida is the One who saves.
It may take countless lives
for us to awaken to the reality of the Dharma, and the reality
of our own Buddha nature that yearns to fulfill its true and
hidden potential by us finally becoming Buddhas. But sooner or
later our karma ripens and we become conscious of our yearning
for enlightenment.
At that point, we start
actively looking at one path or another.
We continue looking, for
many years and/or many lifetimes. At some point, we find the
teachings of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, and we decide
that HE and not another is the great world teacher of our age.
And so, we become disciples
of Shakyamuni...just like Master Shinran was. And, as disciples
of Shakyamuni, most of us try to follow the directions on one or
more of the self-power paths of the Hinayana, the Mahayana
and/or the Vajrayana. Our experience(s) are mixed, at best. And
ultimately, we experience failure and often existential burnout
from trying and failing spiritually so many times.
At some point, we begin to
hear about ANOTHER Buddha...a Buddha named Amida, who created an
entirely different paradigm for attaining Buddhahood. And so,
when karmic conditions are ripe, we begin to LISTEN DEEPLY to
this Dharma message, looking for a way to achieve Buddhahood
that does not depend on us and our ineffective self-power
attempts.
It may take a long time of
simply listening deeply to the Dharma...but at some point, we
become convinced that Amida can and will do for us what we could
never do for ourselves. Then - and only then - will we actually
take full and final refuge in the real and true, living Buddha
Amida.
Gassho,
Paul
RETURN TO MAIN PAGE
