“Is just hearing enough?”
2009 November 3
Q. “Is just hearing enough?”
A. “Yes.”
Q. “Even then, I have fears as to my really hearing it. Did I hear or not? What shall I do with this?”
A. “That is not hearing but thinking. No thinking is needed here. Faith is awakened by hearing. Don’t be caught here.”- Gojun Shichiri (quoted in D. T. Suzuki’s Collected Writings on Shin Buddhism, Shinshu Otaniha, 1973)
Considering a few of your recent posts and this one I was reminded of this exchange with a Jodo Shu scholar and a Jodo Shinshu Scholar (copied from the Jodo Shu Research Institute website)
Just sharing!
Stephen
Hi Stephen, It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!
What Rev. Tomatsu says about Master Zendo is interesting as a while ago Rev. Dodatsu Ong (Shinshu priest) wrote on e-Sangha:
That said, for me the Pure Land is the fulfillment of Amida’s Vow, so when we encounter the reality of the fulfillment of the Vow then the Pure Land appears. (Though the way in which we encounter the reality of the Vow in the current life and how it will be encountered at the time of death must differ greatly in fullness and nature.) In other words our confidence in the veracity of the Pure Land comes about through ‘hearing-faith’ (jp. monshin), or as Unno-sensei puts it “just NamuAmidaButsu.”
Gassho in Dharma.
I suck at Chinese, but I am actually reading the commentary (SLOWLY), so decided to look it up. It is exactly this line Rev Tomatsu is refering to to prove that the Pure Land is in the west! They just seem to be reading it in different ways. There is a note in my commentary on the meaning of shiho-riso – 極楽は正しく西方にあり、四十八願を成就して功徳多い荘厳をもつ。
Or something like “Gokuraku is truely in the west, it has great merit as a result of the fulfulment of the 48 vows.
That is why I like what Unno-sensei said, two scholars can read the same line and come up with two completely different meanings, but he took one thing they had in common, and pointed out that they both agree to the most important thing.
Personally I am not a big fan of the whole discussion at all. Knowing a great deal about planes, and aero-dynamics and stastics has never changed the fact I hate to fly. My wife knows very little about such things, and loves to fly.
I’m not a scholar, and don’t know much about all this stuff, and it doesn’t bother me at all. I just want to enjoy the ride, spirital or literal. Your quote above sums up my thoughts “No thinking is needed here. Faith is awakened by hearing. Don’t be caught here.”
Of course someone has to be saying the Nembutsu to hear it.
Which reminds me of the Obaku Shu Koan used while saying and listening to the reciting the name, “Who is saying Namu Amida Butsu?”
Best not to let my thoughts wander to far (stupid monkey mind)
Namu Amida Butsu
Stephen
It is exactly this line Rev Tomatsu is refering to to prove that the Pure Land is in the west!
Fascinating!
Personally I am not a big fan of the whole discussion at all.
Nor I.
Your quote above sums up my thoughts “No thinking is needed here. Faith is awakened by hearing. Don’t be caught here.”
Namuamidabutsu.