On September 13 we had our seventh session of discussing “Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls” (Songō shinzō meimon). We looked at the top section of CWS 504 where Shinran quotes Chinese monk Chih-yung praising Shandao. This is how Shinran shows the importance of Shandao by showing he was praised in his country.
Chih-yung comes out and says, “Shandao is an incarnation of Amida Buddha.” It is common to see great teachers described as being an incarnation of this or that bodhisattva, but Chih-yung goes to the ultimate. I said to imagine that you’re Amida Buddha looking at the development of Buddhism in China and seeing things were getting too elitist with teachers claiming you had to be advanced in meditation like them. You would want to go down and fix that situation by becoming Shandao and setting things straight – to remind people that Buddhism shows the path of enlightenment is open to all, regardless of abilities and skills (and who your father is). In chanting Shoshinge, the break comes with Zendo dokumyo bussho-i “Shandao alone clarified the Buddha’s intention,” meaning he had to be the one to burst through the gatekeeping that distorted the true teachings of Buddhism.
As Shinran comments on each phrase of the quote, he is making the point that Namu Amida Butsu is richly conveying a variety of deep expressions. It’s not just thanking the Buddha for things although throughout the propagation of Jodo Shinshu in the West, the nembutsu is said to be an expression of gratitude. Shandao points out that the nembutsu is also “to repent all the karmic evil one has committed since the beginningless past.” We confront the harmful things we did not only in our lifetime but how before we were born there were systems of oppression that we continue to benefit from and participate in.
But in addition to gratitude and repentance, there is awakening to the innermost aspiration and passing on virtues to all beings. Namu Amida Butsu is not a magic mantra but an expression so full of guidance and inspiration that we need to keep learning the Dharma to appreciate what is all contained in it.
In our discussions I have to give a lot of credit to Jim who reads the Japanese text and sees how the English translations in CWS are misleading. He pointed out that CWS in this passage and many others gives the reader the impression that “aspiration for birth in the Pure Land” means “I’m the one with the aspiration for my birth in the Pure Land.” But we should keep in mind Shinran’s reliance on the Larger Sutra – that the story of Dharmakara is showing us the true aspiration is for all beings to come alive in the realm of liberation and equality. In CWS the use of “our” going and coming to the Pure Land makes it look like we each are on our separate journeys but in true reality, we are included in the whole mass that Amida aspires to take to enlightenment. To me, it’s a shift that makes more clear the Ohigan message of going from this shore to the other shore. Shinran (and Shandao et al) are telling us to get out of our self-enhancing thinking and wake up to our actual interconnection with all lives.
Photo and caption from Ryan Lee Wong’s Substack
This month I’d like to highlight B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) because lately Buddhist activists are uplifting him as an inspiration. I didn’t know much about Dr. Ambedkar until years ago when I was invited to speak at a gathering of the Ambedkar Association of North America. I learned a lot of history from the people there as I heard their moving stories of coming to the U.S. to escape from the discrimination against Dalits in India. I was disappointed with the movie “Origin” (based on the book “Caste”) because it portrayed Dr. Ambedkar’s fight against the caste system without mentioning his Buddhist faith.
On Substack, Ryan Lee Wong discusses Dr. Ambedkar’s piece “Buddha or Karl Marx” where he argues that the Buddha would agree with much of what Marx said, particularly the sharing of resources instead of having power and wealth concentrated in one class. Although many Jodo Shinshu temple members would support the status quo, I think more and more serious followers of Shinran see that our country needs to move towards socialism and away from the rampant rule of oligarchs making material conditions worse for everyone who isn’t a millionaire. But also in the way Buddhism is practiced in the West, we need to listen to teachers such as Shandao and know that the teachings are meant to be accessible to all, not just to the people who can afford to attend long retreats or show up dressed nicely for Sunday services. Each of you have to find your own way of battling inequality but at least in Namu Amida Butsu we are made to see all beings as our fellow travelers on the path, not to be discarded or dismissed.
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