Buddhism : On a Hymn in Three Verses by Master Rennyo (1415-1499) As fall and spring slip away, the months and years go by; yesterday is spent, and today draws to a close. Little did I know that I would grow old before I was aware of it, with the unnoticed passage of the years. Yet, on occasion during that time, I must have known the beauty of flowers and birds, the wind, and the moon; I must also have met with the joy and sorrow of pleasure and pain. But now there is not even a single instance that I remember in particular. How sad it is to have grown gray with age, having done no more than pass nights and days to no purpose! But when I deeply reflect on the apparent soundness of my own existence, not yet having been called away by the relentless wind of impermanence, it seems like a dream, like an illusion. As for now, there is nothing left but to aspire to the one way of getting out of birth and death. And so, when I hear that it is Amida Tathagata’s Primal Vow that readily saves sentient beings like ourselves in this evil future age, I feel truly confident and thankful. When we simply take refuge in this Primal Vow with sincere mind, with the [awakening of the] one thought-moment in which there is no doubt, then, without any anxiety, birth [in the Pure Land] is assured if we die at that time. Or, if life is prolonged, then during that time, we should say the nenbutsu in gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence and await our lives’ end. As I have indeed heard that this is precisely what is meant by “completing the cause [of birth] in ordinary life,” this teaching of decisively settled faith continues to sound in the depths of my ears even now. How grateful I am—and how inadequate it is to say only that! And so, in overwhelming awe and thankfulness for Amida Tathagata’s Primal Vow of other-power, I shall express what is written above as a hymn, [simply] giving way to what rises to my lips: The mind that even once relies on Amida: that mind is in accord with the True Dharma. When, deeply burdened with evil karma, we come to rely profoundly on the Tathagata, by the power of the Dharma, we will go to the West. When our minds are settled in the path of hearing the Dharma, let us simply say “Namu-amida-butsu.” I write this in spite of myself, in response to the incomparable single teaching of the Primal Vow. The meaning of the three verses is as follows: The first tells what it is for faith to be decisively settled through the one thought-moment of taking refuge. The next verse gives the meaning of “unfailingly attaining nirvana,” the benefit of “entering the company of those [whose birth is] truly settled.” The intent of the next is to explain what it is to “know Amida’s benevolence and express gratitude,” once we have rejoiced in diamondlike faith. I felt, then, that even such a quiet voicing as this, since it is based on the awakening of other-power faith, might at least serve as an act of devotion in grateful return for Amida Buddha’s benevolence. I also thought that those who hear, if they have [the necessary] past conditions, might come to the same mind. I am, however, already in my seventh decade and feel it ridiculous, particularly as one who is both foolish and untalented, to speak of the teaching in this inadequate and uninformed way; yet at the same time—simply filled with awe at the single path of the Primal Vow—I have written down these poor verses, letting them flow from the brush without further reflection. Let those who see them in days to come not speak badly of them. Indeed, they may serve as a condition leading to praise of the Buddha’s teaching and as a cause leading to the turning of the Dharma wheel. By all means, let there never be any disparagement of them. Respectfully. I have written this down in a short time by the fire, in the middle of the twelfth month, the ninth year of Bunmei. The above letter was picked up in the road and brought back to this temple by [a priest of] the Bussh?ji who was out on an errand and walking from Hari-no-kihara to Kuken-zaike. Bunmei 9 (1477), 12.2 Fantastic ! Namo Fukashigiko Nyorai ! _()_
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 09:56:05 +0000
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