By Gansen John Welch Sensei
Birds leave no trace as they fly
High up in the vast space of the sky
Human flesh also disappears completely
When we inevitably age and die
We do leave skeletal remains
(With almost indelible traces or stains)
That together with every thought, word and deed
Have karmic consequences that need
Expression in future samsaric states
Caused by greed, grasping, folly, ignorance and hate
History is mainly the record of the follies, crimes
And misfortunes of humans in all times
(To paraphrase the great historian, Gibbon)
But unenlightened humans have not even begun
To find a way out of this hellish circumstance
Where we repeatedly struggle for bodily sustenance
And death, always lurking in the shadows
Seeks out every opportunity that death knows
To destroy our ephemeral body and our unstable mind
So fragile but all too often very unkind
Only Amida, so infinitely compassionate and kind
Can help us to seek and to find
The best and only way,
(In this dreadfully dark day
And Age - that the Lineage Masters define
-As one of profound Dharma Decline),
Out of suffering samsara
And into blissful nirvana
Amida’s realm of wisdom, compassion, bliss and peace
That will never cease
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Namo Amida Butsu
Thank you Amida Buddha
Homage to Amida Buddha
I take refuge in Amida Buddha
The above verses were inspired by the following passages from the excellent book, The Path of Acceptance: commentary on Tannisho, by Reverend Josho Adrian Cirlea
“We are in delusion, knowing nothing at all of the depths of our karmic evil or the vastness of Amida’s benevolence”
says Yuien-bo in the postscript of Tannisho.
Who is ready in this world filled with “how great we are” kind of visions, to see himself or herself in the words of Master Shan-tao, quoted by Yuien-bo:
“Know yourself to be a foolish being of karmic evil caught in birth-and-death, ever sinking and ever wandering in transmigration from innumerable kalpas in the past, with never a condition that would lead to emancipation.”
This is exactly the starting point in Jodo Shinshu, when you realize your failure in reaching spiritual emancipation. If in other Buddhist methods you start with acknowledging that every being has Buddha nature and is a potential Buddha (which is true), in Jodo Shinshu you start with the realization that for you it is actually impossible to become a Buddha by yourself. That awareness is strong and definitive, knowing deeply that there is no condition, ever, for you that will lead you to emancipation. Once you have this strong and profound conviction about yourself, just like an alcoholic recognizes his present situation and accepts help, you no longer need to dwell in thoughts of self-power and personal evolution, but you become ready to receive the hand of Amida Buddha that has been extended to you.
Superficial talk about good or evil can be left to those who wish to busy themselves with them, but for you, the helpful hand of Amida is all that matters.
I often have the feeling of living in a world I don’t really understand, which if I am to describe it in only one word I would choose “chaos”. My mind is chaotic and so are the minds of others.
For example, I couldn’t understand, no matter how much I tried, why some dear persons have left me, until I finally realized there is nothing to understand. There can be an understanding of why some people do this or that if they have a clear and stable mind, but what can one understand from a chaotic mind led by unknown and unstoppable karmic impulses?
In chaos you cannot see a clear path with a beginning and an end, with reasons why some actions were done and others were not done. In fact, the majority of people act without knowing why, led by strong impulses like madmen, and you are also crazy if you imagine you can somehow find an explanation of their deeds.
Of course, people give a lot of explanations to their actions, especially when they hurt another one, but my advice that, for example, I often give to those who pass through the suffering of a divorce, is to not care about these explanations, just as you wouldn’t take seriously the explanations coming from mentally disturbed persons. People instinctively hurt one another because they are mentally ill and the power of their evil karmic tendencies is so overwhelming that there is no chance to stop them. It is like living in the same house with persons who have been mentally sick from birth. You are crazy if you imagine that you can find some long lasting peace or warmth or reason in this place.
To me the words of Shinran: “... in this fleeting world - this burning house - all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity” illustrate best what I wrote above, which are my own personal experiences and thoughts about the world I live in.
I often repeat to myself these words of Shinran in times of great sorrow when the chaos, misery and stupidity of this world hits me hard, so that I renew my awareness of the true nature of the place I am forced to live in due to my past karma.
I sometimes encourage myself with the thought that for a person living in the Amazon jungle is normal and natural to be bitten by mosquitoes and is stupid to wish things would be otherwise. In the same way, this being the nature of this world, it is normal that I suffer.
Living in the middle of so much suffering with various adverse circumstances coming to us every day, driven as we are by unconscious karmic impulses, how can we truly know what is good or bad? How can we truly see with calm eyes how things really are?
If one is in the middle of a narrow street with very high buildings on his left and right, how can he have a general survey of the entire city? He in fact sees only the street he walks on and where he spends his entire life, but without flying above the city with an airplane he will never have a complete vision of the city.
It is the same with the vision of ordinary unenlightened people and the vision of the Buddhas. The first is limited by ignorance, blind passions and karmic tendencies, while the latter is free and unrestricted by anything. This is, I think, the meaning of Shinran’s words:
“I know nothing at all of good or evil. For if I could know thoroughly, as Amida Tathagata knows, that an act was good, then I would know good. If I could know thoroughly, as the Tathagata knows, that an act was evil, then I would know evil...”
In fact, for “a foolish being full of blind passions, in this fleeting world - this burning house - all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity.”
Nothing can be truly understood by an unenlightened mind, living a life full of suffering resembling fire, in an impermanent world where he cannot rely on anything stable, be it physical or mental.
Only one thing is true and trustworthy here in this unending chaos and nightmare – the helpful hand of Amida extended to us in the form of the nembutsu of faith, as Shinran assures us at the end of this true description of life and the world:
“the nembutsu alone is true and real.”
This quote from Shinran helps me to pass through this life with a clear awareness of its true nature and the path I need to follow. I do hope it will have the same effect on you, dear friend. (pages 95 to 98)