"...one who is sincerely in love will say "I love you" often or seldom, and wish to be with the person he loves. Similarly, a person who sincerely entrusts to Amida Buddha will express this faith by saying His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land. How often or seldom one says "I love you" to the person he loves is of no importance, as long as love is there, in his heart. In the same way, any number of Nembutsu is equally good as long as genuine faith in Amida Buddha is present. We should not be obsessed with the number of recitations, but simply entrust to Amida Buddha for our birth in His Enlightened Realm, and enjoy the Nembutsu in a relaxed way."
-Reverend Josho Adrian Cirlea,
The Meaning of Faith and the Nembutsu
in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
With a circumference of only 32 kilometres and only one main road going around the island of Rarotonga, there are only two bus routes, one clockwise and the other anticlockwise.
Catching the bus here is like being offered a lift by a friend. You begin the journey with an exchange of bright smiles and a 'Kia orana' (hello) with the driver. You then settle down into a seat to watch the beautiful mountain scenery on one side and glimpses of the ocean on the other. Sometimes there is a stranger or acquaintance who you can chat or catch up with. Sometimes you're busy scrolling messages and news on your phone. Whatever it may be, you are relaxed and confident that the driver and bus will get you to your destination in a safe and timely manner. When arriving, and descending from the bus each passenger says "Meitaki maata" to thank the driver.
The journey to the Pure Land is as simple as catching a bus with Amida Buddha at the driving wheel. As passive passengers, it doesn't come to mind to doubt the capacity of the bus driver to get us to our destination, nor do we concern ourselves about the mechanical condition of the bus, so it follows that we can easily have faith in the competence of a Buddha and His mechanism of salvation, the Primal Vow, to take us to His Pure Land.
Faith in Amida Buddha is truly that simple and is that ORDINARY.
For 500 kalpas Amida Buddha strove to create a mechanism of salvation that was as simple and accessible as possible for ordinary beings, knowing that we would be incapable of attaining Enlightenment through any meagre capacities of our own.
In the same way that we wouldn't doubt a bus driver, because we know we don't need to, why then would we second guess Amida Buddha's competence in taking us to His Pure Land? All we need to do is to get on His bus, sit back and relax in gratitude as we realise that, if it weren't for Him, it would be challenging, impossible even, for us to get to our destination. If it weren't for our trusted bus driver, we would have to walk several tedious hours and kilometres to reach our destination. How much easier it is to catch the bus and how grateful we are that this bus route exists!
Reverend Josho explains,
"When one has faith (shinjin), one is convinced that Amida Buddha and His Pure Land exists, and that the Promise He made in His Primal Vow is true, so he simply entrusts to this Buddha and wishes to go to His Pure Land (Buddha-field of Amida) after death. Saying Namo Amida Bu[1] often or seldom means exactly this – “I entrust to Amida Buddha/I take refuge in Amida Buddha and I wish to go to His Pure Land”. It also means, “Thank you Amida Buddha for saving me and taking me to your Pure Land at the end of this physical body”.
The genuine saying of Amida's Name comes automatically after entrusting to Him. Thus, the Nembutsu is both an expression of faith and gratitude that you are saved as you are by Amida Buddha. "
The only fare we need to pay is to earnestly wish to go to His Pure Land (knowing that we are despicable bombus, incapable of getting there through any effort of our own), to say Amida's Name in faith and gratitude for His Compassionate Vow Power in creating such an easy route!
NAMO AMIDA BU
This comes as naturally as when we say kia orana/hello and a meitaki maata/thank you to our bus driver!
We may say it once or maybe several times as our spontaneous thoughts of gratitude arise and reach towards Amida during our busy lives. This gratitude arises in the same natural way as when we thank someone who is offering us a helping hand and is as ordinary as waving and smiling to a friend who is passing by.
To understand the natural, unpremeditated nature of the Nembutsu we should listen deeply to Master Shinran's words.
"In the Primal Vow are the words:
'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times'.
Know from the words 'ten times' that appear from the beginning in the Vow itself that saying the Name is not limited to one utterance. And the word 'perhaps even' makes it clearer still that there is no set number of times one should say the Name"[1]
"'Saying my Name perhaps even ten times': In encouraging us to say the Name that embodies the Vow, the Tathagata added 'perhaps even' to the words 'ten times' to show that there is no set number of times the Name must be said, and to teach sentient beings that there is no determined hour or occasion for saying it. Since we have been given this Vow by the Tathagata, we can take any occasion in daily life for saying the Name and need not wait to recite it at the very end of life.."[2]
and also those of Master Seikaku in his Essentials of Faith Alone,
"Some[falsely] say: 'The essence of the path to birth in the Pure Land is a trusting mind. Once this mind of trust has become settled, it is not always necessary to recite the nembutsu. The sutra teaches: 'say it even once'; hence, one utterance is understood to be sufficient. When one seeks to accumulate many utterances, it is, on the contrary, a failure to trust in the Buddha's Vow."[3]
To completely trust in Amida Buddha's Primal Vow is to surrender every thought or inclination of self-powered practice or merit to be gained in saying the Nembutsu. This is why there is neither a set number of times nor a special moment for saying the Name and, additionally, why it necessarily must remain a natural, spontaneous[4] response of simple gratitude, faith and aspiration. In this Age of Mappo, our best intentions retain the indelible stains of self-powered calculation that can only be cleansed by Amida Buddha by completely entrusting ourselves to His Vow Power.
Such naturalness, such simplicity are difficult to conceive when we consider the magnitude of Amida Buddha offering His gift of enlightenment to such wretched beings as ourselves. I recommend reading and listening deeply to Master Ryukan's words in The Clarification of Once-calling and Many-calling, to gain a tiny bit of insight into this inconceivable reality of saying the Nembutsu simply, in whatever situation we are in or whenever we feel the need,
"Many-calling is nothing but the accumulation of single callings, for human life is such that a person should consider each day that this may be his last, each minute that this may be the end. From the very moment of our birth, this realm of impermanence is merely a fleeting and temporary dwelling; our lives may be compared to a lantern flame before the wind, or likened to dew upon a blade of grass, and there is no escape anywhere for even a single person, whether wise or foolish, from the extinction of breath and the draining away of life. If our eyes may close forever even in this present instant, then we say Namu-amida-butsu, aspiring to be saved by Amida’s Primal Vow and welcomed into the Pure Land of perfect bliss, based on our trust in the supreme virtues embodied in a single calling and our reliance on the great and vast benefit of that one calling."[5]
Lastly, I wish to end with these encouraging words by Reverend Josho from his article, Enjoy the taste of the Nembutsu,
"The most important thing in nembutsu recitation is to be relaxed and enjoy it. You are the child of Amida and every mother likes to give beautiful presents to her child. Nembutsu of faith is indeed the gift of Amida to you. So, enjoy it. Play with it. Don't become a serious guy who thinks too much: " this is not good, today I recited nembutsu too many times, now I have to reduce the number because it is said that nembutsu is tariki (other-power), not jiriki(self-power)".
To a guy like this, I would say: "Hey, give up this mature and serious thinking! You are ruining all the fun of nembutsu! :)
We also abandon any idea of merit in our recitation, because what personal merit can we have from enjoying a free gift given by our mother? It is clear that the merit belongs to her, while we are just tasting and enjoying it.
In fact, not allowing yourself to enjoy the nembutsu as much as you like is itself jiriki, because you are opposing the irresistible taste of the Primal Vow expressed through it. You are tensioned and immobilized by your own personal calculations and not allowing yourself to be grasped by Amida and enjoy his gift to you."
Namo Amida Bu
Thank You Amida Buddha
Meitaki maata Amida Buddha
Further reading and other things,
On Youtube:
There is no set number for saying the Name of Amida Buddha
Several articles on this subject by Reverend Josh Adrian Cirlea:
References
[1] Shinran Shonin, Notes on Once-Calling and Many-Calling, The Collected Works of Shinran
[2] Shinran Shonin, Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls, The Collected Works of Shinran
[3] Essentials of Faith Alone, Master Seikaku, The Collected Works of Shinran
[4] By spontaneous I mean unpremeditated and free from self-powered intent, as Reverend Josho further explains:
"I often explain that Namo Amida Bu is to say "thank you", even if one does not always feel great gratitude. Namo Amida Bu itself is to say "I have faith in Amida Buddha/I take refuge in Amida Buddha/Homage to Amida Buddha and Thank you Amida Buddha". Just saying the Nembutsu means all that. To feel or not to feel great gratitude is not important as a samsaric mind cannot be required to feel special things. Spontaneous gratitude may arise, but this does not mean that a person of faith needs to always have spontaneous gratitude when saying the Name of Amida. This is a subtle thing but very important."
[5] Clarification of Once-Calling and Many-Calling, Master Ryukan, The Collected Works of Shinran