Comments for Echoes of the Name

Comment on “Is just hearing enough?” by Kyōshin

Kyōshin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:05:56 +0000

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.

Comment on “Is just hearing enough?” by Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:27:04 +0000

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

Comment on Zazen Notes #11 by Kyōshin

Kyōshin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:25:43 +0000

I wrote: "From the point of view of Dogen-zenji’s Genjokoan (paragraph 2) it is perhaps more that in zazen the arrow of suchness can shoot us." Yes but ...

Comment on Zazen Notes #11 by Jon

Jon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:44:19 +0000

i wouldn’t say i strongly recommend it but i am trying to shed books as i’m in much the same predicament as yourself :-)

Comment on Zazen Notes #11 by Kyōshin

Kyōshin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:50:10 +0000

Thanks Jon that is kind. I think I probably have enough reading on my hands already unless that is you strongly recommend it? Anyway I appreciate the generous offer.

Comment on Zazen Notes #11 by Jon

Jon — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:57:47 +0000

hi Kyōshin, i have a copy of “Zen and the Art of Archery” that’s yours if you want it. i read it several years ago and while i am aware that a question hangs over the authenticity of Herrigel’s experience nonetheless found it helpful where i was at the time.

Gassho
Jon

Comment on “Is just hearing enough?” by Kyōshin

Kyōshin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:35:55 +0000

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:

In Shandao’s “Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra”, he explicitly states that the “West” is used as a metaphor for sentient beings to concentrate their minds on when contemplating the Pure Land of Amida.

『定善義』（『真聖全』一・五一九頁）
「今此観門、等唯指方立相、住心而取境。総不明無相離念

It should be understood that the direction West is not from a geographical stance, but from a religious stance.

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.

Comment on “Is just hearing enough?” by Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:34:30 +0000

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)

Jodo-shu bases itself in Shan-tao’s (Jp. Zendo) understanding of Pure Land, in which from the standpoint of the common person, the Pure Land is a place of definite direction and an actual physical realm, from which we go and return (shiho-riso 指方立相). In this way, Amida is also seen as sambhogakaya. However, it appears that Honen spent little time talking about such things and the topic of ultimate truth. Indeed, when Rev. Tomatsu once asked the eminent Jodo Shin scholar Taitetsu Unno about these different understandings of Amida, he was told, “Tomatsu, you are still calculating! It’s just NamuAmidaButsu.”

Just sharing! Stephen

Comment on “Yes” by Pete Levesque

Pete Levesque — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:35:20 +0000

This post resonated. For me Amida’s Vow is the unconditional and all-pervasive Yes- the unconditional affirmation of life. Faith is simply hitching my boat to the Ark of the unconditional and all-pervasive Yes.

Comment on “Amida is a phase of shunyata itself” by Kyōshin

Kyōshin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:34:47 +0000

from Kenryo Kanamatsu’s Naturalness:

“In the one aspect he [Amida] is essence, in the other, manifestation – both together at the same time, as is the song and the act of singing.”

(p.63 World Wisdom Edition)