“The reason for the Buddha's appearance in the world
Is, above all, to expound the Primal Vow of Amida, wide and deep as the ocean.
All beings in the evil age of the five defilements
Should believe in the truth of the Buddha's words."
-SHINRAN SHONIN
In the Jodo Shinshu School, the principal sutras we rely upon are the Three Pure Land Sutras and the most important of these is the Larger Sutra of the Buddha of Infinite Life, but as Master Shinran states above, we also consider that this sutra was the REAL reason for Shakyamuni’s presence in our world.
In this sutra, Shakyamuni tells the story of Amida Buddha and His Pure Land to a vast assembly at Vulture Peak.
There is an aspect which seems significant to me which is how Shakyamuni Buddha gives lengthy and detailed descriptions of all the enlightened qualities of Amida’s Pure Land in carefully chosen terms that all those present could relate to, as reverend Josho explains,
The many wonders and enlightened manifestations of the Pure Land are explained with words and concepts that are familiar to us here in samsara, like jewels, precious stones, trees, ponds, etc, so that we can have a clue about what awaits us there and which cannot be understood by our limited minds.
Shakyamuni Buddha describes trees, Amida’s Bodhi tree, rippling, meandering streams, sacred pentatonic sounds, flowers scattered by the breeze, the homes and palaces of those who live there and even fragrances, all have enlightened aspects of ultimate purity, serenity and bliss.
Because these are enlightened, their reality goes beyond what we, as unenlightened beings, can conceive, yet Shakyamuni shares these details in carefully chosen words so that, even at our unenlightened level, they will be familiar to us. We know what trees are, we all have paused in rapture, listening to a babbling brook, and even music composed with pentatonic scales has existed throughout all cultures throughout the world for thousands of years.
When reading this sutra, it is a wonder to why Shakyamuni Buddha would go to so much trouble and explain in such detail the story of Amida Buddha if it were not of the utmost importance to Him.
Here, I wish to take a moment to tell you a little more about myself and my life.
I’ve been living in Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands for about 15 years now. You probably never heard about Rarotonga or the Cook Islands, nor have you any idea where they are. A quick search will tell you they are a small group of islands scattered across a vast expanse in the South Pacific, somewhere between New Zealand and French Polynesia.
My husband is a stone carver and I’m an aromatic formulator, distiller, a mixed media artist. You can check us out on Instagram and Facebook at @bedrock.ck and @manongiaromatics. It is my husband who has carved the stone sculptures of Amida and Shakyamuni Buddhas that are regularly featured on this website and in my posts.
The Cook Islands are often referred to as paradise on Earth. Rarotonga is a beautiful volcanic island with steep mountains and lush vegetation sweeping down to soft white sandy beaches and the sparkling turquoise lagoon, bustling with colourful tropical fish, eagle rays and sea turtles. Less publicized is the recurring seasonal risk of tropical disturbances causing frequent storms, floods and cyclones, already 3 in the last month, a sobering reminder that we are well and truly in samsara.
The images in this post will give you an idea about the beautiful scenery and vegetation here and if you visit the links above you will be able to get a fair idea of who we are and what we do.
Some of the images you may be familiar with others, you may wonder what they are. For instance, I’m sure you know the taste of bananas, watermelons, passionfruit, coconut, lychees and mangoes but you may be unfamiliar with other fruits which we grow here such as soursop, Malay plum, star fruit, custard apple, dragon fruit, paw paw. You may also not know that instead of potatoes we grow and eat taro, maniota, kumara and breadfruit. Nor may you know of the seaweed delicacy we call rimu. Still, as I mention or show you photos of them, you know I’m talking about fruit and vegetables.
So, dear reader, have I shared enough details about my life for you to believe me?
Are you satisfied with my being a real person living in a real place who makes soursop smoothies, eats seaweed and cooks mashed maniota?
And I know your wondering, YES I DO WEAR FLOWERS IN MY HAIR!
Also, fundamentally, as a follower of the Nembutsu,
I know clearly, and with a fair amount of remorse, how I am too lazy, spineless, physically and mentally incapable of sustaining let alone practising any of the necessary Buddhist practices or complying to any of the precepts and rules that would lead me to become a Buddha.
Yet, I imagine that after all I shared with you above, you would tend to believe that what I say about myself and my life is true.
To put it plainly, I’m a stupid bombu, if you believe my story, how could there possibly be any doubt about the words of an enlightened Buddha?
Just to be clear, even when I believe that the Larger Sutra is the principal reason for Shakyamuni’s presence in our world, that doesn’t mean I discount all the other teachings which He so painstakingly expounded.
The Dharma is always valid and unchangeable, it’s this Dharma age of Mappo, that is the problem.
Shakyamuni, with His transcendent wisdom, knew what the future held for our world, and He knew that, very quickly, after his passing, there would be a decline in the spiritual capacities of sentient beings to achieve enlightenment from any form of self-powered practice. This is the age of Dharma decline also known as mappo.
No matter what we try to do, how much time and energy we dedicate, there is no longer in this age, any hope for any of us to become Buddhas either in this lifetime or any time soon through our own effort.
In the words of Master Shinran:
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.
Shakyamuni Buddha knew that the ONLY hope we would have to escape from the unending cycle of birth and death is through entrusting ourselves to Amida Buddha and the Power of His Primal Vow. For this reason, Shakyamuni needed to have those present at the assembly believe the story of Amida and His Pure Land exactly as He told it in the larger Sutra and uphold it in faith, as Revrend Josho explains:
...we also acknowledge the testimony of Ananda and all those gathered on Vulture Peak to hear this sutra and who literally saw Amida Buddha and His Pure Land in a vision, thus attesting of their existence. Shakyamuni Buddha even said that we must accept this sutra in faith, so we should do this, and not criticize nor change it according to our likes or dislikes
It is saddening to witness the progressive decline in faith in the words of Shakyamuni Buddha within Buddhism. From all different branches or schools, including Jodo Shinshu, some believe that it is possible, as unenlightened beings, to decide, pick and choose and even make alterations to what they accept as true or not in Buddha Dharma.
This is the conceit that is symptomatic of doubt. Heng Ng explains this well,
The persistence of doubt overwhelmed our minds and hearts in this defiled world. Yet, doubt itself, is just a natural mechanism and manifestation of the ego. It is our arrogant, self-centered tendency, to dismiss anything we cannot see or perceive with our eyes and to construe as false, transcendental existences that are absolutely true but beyond the limited sphere of knowledge of us humans. Unaware that our strong attachment to samsaric life, has been solidly hardened through countless trillions of previous experiences in our past lives, we automatically accept as real, the relative knowledge of science, technology and the huge overload of materialistic information. These are the illusive fetters that further strengthen, the sense of our own intelligence and arrogance, that certainly cause us to be spiritually blind to the presence of the Great Compassion of the Buddhas.
For those who have received shinjin,
the acceptance of Shakyamuni's Buddha's words comes naturally,
but for those who are still uncertain, I recommend listening deeply to the Dharma. If reading passages from the Larger Sutra and our Masters seems daunting, I recommend you read Reverend Josho's book The Meaning of Faith and Nembutsu in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, from which I conclude with this quote:
You really have nothing to lose if you accept Amida's salvation. On the contrary, you gain everything! You will be born in the Pure Land at the end of this life and become a Buddha! Your suffering in the repeated births and deaths will be over and you will be capable of truly helping others, especially your dear ones.
NAMO AMIDA BU
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