Buddhism (again): Again, a person asked: From long kalpas down to the present day, because Ive been generating the bad karma of the ten evils, five wrongs, four serious misdeeds, and have spoken ill of the Dharma, and so on, Ive returned over and over to this roost of mine in living death as I churn away in transmigration through the three periods of time, past, present, and future. If in this transient form I now take I say the nembutsu a few times, the churned up waves of my lust and passion defile that good heart, the flames of my anger and greed incinerate what merits I had. Once in a blue moon I might utter the nembutsu with a good heart, but the rest of the time its all empty nembutsu. Even if I wanted to put a stop to this, it never occurs to me that the nembutsu is the answer ought to do the trick. When others whose hearts are even more mixed up than ever say it, they wonder if this is really what theyre looking for. As were confused, please advise us as to what we should be doing here? The Master said: Here too you have yet to understand the Heart informed [by the Vow]. For this reason, in order for your troubled mind to follow your hearts wishes, it has to be tethered to the Heart issuing the Vow [to be Born in Pure Land] that has turned over merit to that end. In Zendos understanding, According to Shakyamunis teaching, if we turn to Amidas Vow-power, even though we have long kept the company of Lust and Desire, Anger and Greed, once we part from them we will never see them again (Sanzengi, I). Truly the White Path of the Original Vow will never be defiled by those waves of Lust and Desire. Nor shall the merit of Other Power ever be reduced to ashes by the flames of Anger and Greed. Although one may give rise to Lust or to Anger, that are difficult to make subside and hard to bear up to, if we simply call to the Buddha to help us, Amidas great compassion will surely come to our rescue and we will be swept up and definitely settled by the power of the Original Vow. Since we are swept up and definitely settled, we should realize that our Birth in the Pure Land has been definitely settled, and though there may be those whom we meet who will try to tell us otherwise, we remain unchanged in our understanding of our diamond-like heart. Thus this is regarded as our having already been swept up into the arms of the Nyorai. This is called the Heart issuing the Vow [to be Born in Pure Land] that has turned over merit to that end. This you should be careful to understand. - Master Ryukan from his Gose Monogatari Kikigaki (On the Life Hereafter) #Buddha #AmitabhaBuddha #AmidaBuddha #PureLandBuddhism #buddhism #Ryukan #ShakyamuniBuddha
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 19:40:59 +0000
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