My husband is the stone carver who created the above sculpture of Amida Buddha as well as the Moray eel behind it. Before, the eel was in another part of the yard but recently I asked my husband to place it behind the carving of Amida so that it could be a reminder of Shinran Shonin's words from his Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance and Last Dharma-Ages:
It is now more than two thousand years
Since the passing of Sakyamuni Tathagata.
The right and semblance ages have already closed;
So lament, disciples of later times!
Now, amid the five defilements in the last dharma-age,
Sentient beings are incapable of practice and realization;
Hence the teachings that Sakyamuni left behind
Have all passed into the naga’s palace.
During the right, semblance, and last ages,
Amida’s Primal Vow has spread.
At the end of the semblance and in this last dharma-age,
Good practices have all gone into the naga’s palace.
Shinran teaches us that we are at present in the Last Dharma Age where it is impossible for sentient beings to attain enlightenment through self-power practices or by following the teachings taught in the Right Dharma Age during Shakyamuni's and for the few years that followed lifetime.
This means that today, ordinary people like me, lack the necessary capacity so that the self-power Buddhist practices, such as meditation and visualisation, mantra chanting, are unsustainable and therefore neither useful nor appropriate for becoming enlightened beings in this life-time.
Amongst these practices, the most popular are those which are said to enhance our capacity for compassion. Indeed, compassion has always been the principal quality I have aspired to in my life.
Aware of my shortcomings I nonetheless want to be able to come back into this world with the compassion and wisdom to help those I love, those I hold near and even you, dear reader, who are reading these words. However, I equally know that because of my limitations and the heavy karma that weighs upon me, it is unlikely for me to become a Buddha anytime soon if it were not for entrusting myself to Amida'Buddha's Primal Vow as found in the Larger Sutra:
If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.
If I were to rely on my own abilities, even from the evil karma accumulated in this very lifetime, it would take me billions of lifetimes even to hope to be born again as a human being, let alone develop the necessary virtues for becoming a Buddha.
What do we choose? What is the most compassionate way forward?
To transmigrate through billions of years to work through the consequences of bad karma and hopefully be reborn a human being, aspire and practice the Dharma for another few billions of years in order to reach enlightenment, or
Entrust oneself to Amida's Vow Power that offers enlightenment at the end of this lifetime
When I think about how I want to help my loved ones, and the significant people in my life, those alive and those passed on, there are many unresolved issues where I wished I could have done better. I also feel that in this world of increasing uncertainty, time is of the essence, so it's clear to me that the quickest path, that of the faith in the Nembutsu, is the only true compassionate path available.
As Shinran says,
Through great love, which is Amida’s directing of virtue for our going forth,
We attain great compassion, which is Amida’s directing of virtue for our return;
In his Hymn, Shinran emphasizes several times that the only "great compassion" is to become Buddhas ourselves in order to return to this world of suffering in order to truly help sentient beings.
Concerning the aspiration for supreme enlightenment in the Pure Land path,
We are urged to realize the mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood;
The mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood
Is itself the mind that seeks to save all sentient beings.
The mind that seeks to save all sentient beings
Is directed to us through Amida’s Vow of wisdom.
Those who realize this true entrusting that is directed to us
Attain great, complete nirvana.
Persons who enter Amida’s directing of virtue to beings
And realize the mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood
Completely abandon their self-power directing of merit,
Thus benefiting sentient beings boundlessly.
and
When the waters – the minds, good and evil, of foolish beings –
Have entered the vast ocean
Of Amida’s Vow of wisdom, they are immediately
Transformed into the mind of great compassion.
and
The directing of virtue embodied in Namu-amida-butsu
Is, in its benevolent working, vast and inconceivable;
Through the benefit of the directing of virtue for going forth,
We enter the directing of virtue for returning to this world.
So considering my aspiration as well as taking stock of my loaded karmic situation, I really have no other choice than to rely on Amida Buddha's Wisdom and Compassion.
Namu Amida Bu
SHAKU HOKAI
Things you might find useful
Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance and Last Dharma-Ages, by Shinran Shonin
The 18th Vow of Dharmakara from the Larger Sutra on Amida Buddha, Translated from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki
Jodo Shinshu – the only effective path in this last Dharma age by Reverend Josho Adrian Cirlea
Self-power practices and teachings are not appropriate for our times by Reverend Josho Adrian Cirlea