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February 2013
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
Dharma Message
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima, Resident Minister
"What Will Happen To Us At The Moment of Death?"
In my Dharma message last month, I took the opportunity to write about receiving Shinjin. Some of you
might have managed to understand my message but there were likely some who were even more
confused by it!
Shinjin cannot be fully understood intellectually through lectures. It is the awakening which one
experiences by living daily with the Nembutsu teaching. As the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha has always
been working on each one of us as the Nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu,” I sincerely hope that you will
continue to listen steadfastly to the Nembutsu teaching so that you may awake to the Shinjin of Other
Power.
As I mentioned last month, Jodo Shinshu tells us we will be born in the Pure Land and attain Buddhahood
not through our own power (Self Power), but by the workings of Amida Buddha (Other Power). Whether we
become a Buddha or not depends entirely on the power of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow. That is why our
founder, Shinran Shonin, assures us that by simply encountering the teaching of the Primal Vow, our birth in
the Pure Land and the attainment of Buddhahood are no longer our problem. Our calculation (Self Power)
is simply not necessary anymore.
On a deeper level, because we are assured birth in the Pure Land, thanks to Amida’s Primal Vow (Other
Power), even the fact that we must someday die ceases to be a problem. This is because dying means to
be born in the Pure Land owing to the great working of Amida Buddha. What a great relief! For regardless
how long we live, eventually we must surely die. Although, nobody wants to die nor can we escape the
reality of death. This is life’s biggest dilemma.
But Jodo Shinshu teaches us that to die means to be born. Amida Buddha regards death in the same
light as birth. That is why we call Amida Buddha’s wisdom, “Oneness of birth and death.” It is the world of
enlightenment which sees that dying and being born are inseparable.
The moment we are truly born in the Pure Land is the moment that life ends. In “The True Teaching,
Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way,” Shinran Shonin expresses it this way: “Sentient beings of the
Nembutsu transcend and realize great, complete Nirvana on the eve of the moment of death.” Great,
complete Nirvana means the greatest Buddha’s enlightenment. It is the best enlightenment and nothing is
better. Transcend and realize means to attain greatest enlightenment.
Then when can those who embrace the Nembutsu teaching attain the great, complete Nirvana?
Shinran Shonin clarified that it is “on the eve of the moment of death.” And the moment which Shinran
refers to is that there is no duration of time. To explain what “there is no duration of time” means, let me ask
you to suppose that you live with your wife or husband and your spouse passes away. From that point, you
have to start a single life. Because you were with your spouse for a long time, when they die, you suddenly
feel lonely because you are alone. It is not that life as a single starts after the funeral. Your life as a couple
ended at the moment your partner died. Your life with your spouse ended and your single life then started.
There is no duration of time in this truth: One state ends as another begins.
Therefore our lives, full of blind passions, will end at the exact moment of death when Buddha’s life of
enlightenment in the Pure Land begins. And because there is no duration of time between life and death,
when our time comes, we immediately attain great Nirvana. Although death is inescapable, if we embrace
the Nembutsu teaching, we are assured the attainment of enlightenment and birth in the Pure Land.
In Buddhism, we call the world we live in the Defiled Land. It is a world full of the blind passions of greed,
anger, dishonesty, deceit, and so on. On the other hand, the world of enlightenment which severs the blind
passions is called the Pure Land. Therefore, to exit the Defiled Land means to enter the world of
enlightenment, the Pure Land. So the ultimate enlightenment will surely happen to us at life’s end.
Shinran Shonin teaches us that the death which nobody can escape is actually the time to be born in
the Pure Land and attain Buddhahood by using the world, “Sentient beings of the Nembutsu transcend
and realize great, complete Nirvana on the eve of the moment of death.”
I should stress that we really don’t know the exact point in time when our life will end for each of us, but
we should know that we will attain Buddhahood with our blind passions intact. Shinran Shonin says this in
the Shoshinge: “Nirvana attained without severing blind passions.” We live with the mind of blind passions
and we die with the mind of blind passions. Without severing the blind passions, we are allowed to attain
enlightenment.
Although there are so many schools in Buddhism, it is the ultimate teaching which exists only in the Primal
Vow of Amida Buddha. Rennyo Shonin, the eighth head abbot of Jodo Shinshu, said at the end of his letter,
“Attaining the Entrusting Heart”: This teaching is unique to our tradition. Therefore, we shouldn’t discuss it
with followers of other schools proudly so that we don’t make others misunderstand it. Namely, the teaching
where one becomes a Buddha without severing the blind passions, only exists in the teaching of the Primal
Vow of Other Power as handed down by Shinran Shonin. This teaching, of course, is not taught in the Path
of Sage nor even in the other schools of the Path of the Pure Land.
All of us live with the blind passions and die with them. However, through the great working of Amida
Buddha’s Primal Vow, on the moment of death, we will be born in the Pure Land without severing the blind
passions. No matter how hard we look for any kinds of religions throughout the world, it cannot be
accepted in their religions. However, because such an impossible thing happens, the working of Amida
Buddha is called “Inconceivability.”
Therefore, my encounter with the Primal Vow means to be guaranteed birth in the Pure Land and
become a Buddha on the moment of my death. That’s why we recite the Nembutsu with the deepest
feelings of joy and gratitude. Is there any doctrine for which we are filled with more gratitude than this? It is
not a teaching that we must wait for till death to find out what awaits us. Our lives have already been
embraced in the workings of Amida Buddha. To encounter the Primal Vow means to receive a profound
sense of security. To have the biggest mystery of life—the problem of death—settled for us by the Nembutsu
teaching, is our greatest security. Nothing is more joyful for us than this.
Human existence means we sometimes have to experience unbearable sadness and hardships as part of
this precious life which we have received. But because we are guaranteed Buddhahood, we are free to
take the great Nembutsu path and try to do our best to live our lives to the fullest with strength, joy, and
gratitude.
The most important thing in the life of a Buddhist is that when our life here ends, we will surely be born in
the Pure Land. And to be born in the Pure Land at the moment of death shows that our life is a journey to
the Pure Land. Therefore, we can truthfully say that the mind of those who receive the true Shinjin has
already lived in the Pure Land in spite of being in the Defiled Land.
The Pure Land is the world of enlightenment without the defilement of the blind passions; a world that
transcends love and hatred; a world where all life shines, for all life is revealed to be precious.
Living daily in a defiled land, we live selfishly, consuming that which we desire and excluding from our lives
those things that are inconvenient. We hurt others and may even hurt ourselves. To live with the Pure Land
as our destination, Shinran Shonin teaches us to live humbly while reflecting seriously upon our true selves,
who only can live in such a way. We can only see our own lies and self-delusions when we are illumined by
the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom. In other words, a Nembutsu follower who truly sees his ego-nature by
receiving Shinjin has already begun to live in the Pure Land which transcends his own calculation.
As Rennyo Shonin said, “Simply listening to the Buddha Dharma ends in Shinjin.” We are able to only
receive Shinjin of Other Power when listening.
Have you, who come to our services, ever noticed that after you leave the temple, a sweet incense smell
has permeated your clothes without your being aware of it? As I have always worn my minister’s robe at
the regular services and memorial services, this sweet incense scent remains in the cloth.
In Buddhism, we are taught that when performing the same action repeatedly, one can acquire it
without knowing it and it makes one build character. It is a teaching called kunju which means “repeatedly
impregnating with a scent.” In this way, when listening to the Nembutsu teaching week after week, even if
we cannot get rid of our calculation of Self Power, the warm mind of Amida Buddha will naturally color our
minds before we know it. We call this mon-kunju which means, “repeatedly impregnating with the Buddha’s
mind through listening.” By repeated listening, when Amida Buddha’s mind reaches our own, we become
aware that we don’t place our hands together by our calculation, but are led to recite the Nembutsu by
the working of Amida Buddha. This awakening is the very Shinjin of Other Power.
For the Nembutsu follower with true Shinjin who is permeated with Amida Buddha’s mind through
listening, the problem of impending death is settled by the working of Amida Buddha. The Nembutsu
teaching is the ultimate teaching that we will attain Buddhahood on the moment of death. Therefore, as
Shinran Shonin says, “The great path of unobstructed freedom opens up in the person of Nembutsu.” No
matter what might happen to us in everyday living, the true Nembutsu follower is able to take the steady
journey to the Pure Land filled with great joy and security, undisturbed, reciting the Nembutsu in gratitude
for the guidance of Amida Buddha. How steadfast and joyful we are!
In Gassho,
might have managed to understand my message but there were likely some who were even more
confused by it!
Shinjin cannot be fully understood intellectually through lectures. It is the awakening which one
experiences by living daily with the Nembutsu teaching. As the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha has always
been working on each one of us as the Nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu,” I sincerely hope that you will
continue to listen steadfastly to the Nembutsu teaching so that you may awake to the Shinjin of Other
Power.
As I mentioned last month, Jodo Shinshu tells us we will be born in the Pure Land and attain Buddhahood
not through our own power (Self Power), but by the workings of Amida Buddha (Other Power). Whether we
become a Buddha or not depends entirely on the power of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow. That is why our
founder, Shinran Shonin, assures us that by simply encountering the teaching of the Primal Vow, our birth in
the Pure Land and the attainment of Buddhahood are no longer our problem. Our calculation (Self Power)
is simply not necessary anymore.
On a deeper level, because we are assured birth in the Pure Land, thanks to Amida’s Primal Vow (Other
Power), even the fact that we must someday die ceases to be a problem. This is because dying means to
be born in the Pure Land owing to the great working of Amida Buddha. What a great relief! For regardless
how long we live, eventually we must surely die. Although, nobody wants to die nor can we escape the
reality of death. This is life’s biggest dilemma.
But Jodo Shinshu teaches us that to die means to be born. Amida Buddha regards death in the same
light as birth. That is why we call Amida Buddha’s wisdom, “Oneness of birth and death.” It is the world of
enlightenment which sees that dying and being born are inseparable.
The moment we are truly born in the Pure Land is the moment that life ends. In “The True Teaching,
Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way,” Shinran Shonin expresses it this way: “Sentient beings of the
Nembutsu transcend and realize great, complete Nirvana on the eve of the moment of death.” Great,
complete Nirvana means the greatest Buddha’s enlightenment. It is the best enlightenment and nothing is
better. Transcend and realize means to attain greatest enlightenment.
Then when can those who embrace the Nembutsu teaching attain the great, complete Nirvana?
Shinran Shonin clarified that it is “on the eve of the moment of death.” And the moment which Shinran
refers to is that there is no duration of time. To explain what “there is no duration of time” means, let me ask
you to suppose that you live with your wife or husband and your spouse passes away. From that point, you
have to start a single life. Because you were with your spouse for a long time, when they die, you suddenly
feel lonely because you are alone. It is not that life as a single starts after the funeral. Your life as a couple
ended at the moment your partner died. Your life with your spouse ended and your single life then started.
There is no duration of time in this truth: One state ends as another begins.
Therefore our lives, full of blind passions, will end at the exact moment of death when Buddha’s life of
enlightenment in the Pure Land begins. And because there is no duration of time between life and death,
when our time comes, we immediately attain great Nirvana. Although death is inescapable, if we embrace
the Nembutsu teaching, we are assured the attainment of enlightenment and birth in the Pure Land.
In Buddhism, we call the world we live in the Defiled Land. It is a world full of the blind passions of greed,
anger, dishonesty, deceit, and so on. On the other hand, the world of enlightenment which severs the blind
passions is called the Pure Land. Therefore, to exit the Defiled Land means to enter the world of
enlightenment, the Pure Land. So the ultimate enlightenment will surely happen to us at life’s end.
Shinran Shonin teaches us that the death which nobody can escape is actually the time to be born in
the Pure Land and attain Buddhahood by using the world, “Sentient beings of the Nembutsu transcend
and realize great, complete Nirvana on the eve of the moment of death.”
I should stress that we really don’t know the exact point in time when our life will end for each of us, but
we should know that we will attain Buddhahood with our blind passions intact. Shinran Shonin says this in
the Shoshinge: “Nirvana attained without severing blind passions.” We live with the mind of blind passions
and we die with the mind of blind passions. Without severing the blind passions, we are allowed to attain
enlightenment.
Although there are so many schools in Buddhism, it is the ultimate teaching which exists only in the Primal
Vow of Amida Buddha. Rennyo Shonin, the eighth head abbot of Jodo Shinshu, said at the end of his letter,
“Attaining the Entrusting Heart”: This teaching is unique to our tradition. Therefore, we shouldn’t discuss it
with followers of other schools proudly so that we don’t make others misunderstand it. Namely, the teaching
where one becomes a Buddha without severing the blind passions, only exists in the teaching of the Primal
Vow of Other Power as handed down by Shinran Shonin. This teaching, of course, is not taught in the Path
of Sage nor even in the other schools of the Path of the Pure Land.
All of us live with the blind passions and die with them. However, through the great working of Amida
Buddha’s Primal Vow, on the moment of death, we will be born in the Pure Land without severing the blind
passions. No matter how hard we look for any kinds of religions throughout the world, it cannot be
accepted in their religions. However, because such an impossible thing happens, the working of Amida
Buddha is called “Inconceivability.”
Therefore, my encounter with the Primal Vow means to be guaranteed birth in the Pure Land and
become a Buddha on the moment of my death. That’s why we recite the Nembutsu with the deepest
feelings of joy and gratitude. Is there any doctrine for which we are filled with more gratitude than this? It is
not a teaching that we must wait for till death to find out what awaits us. Our lives have already been
embraced in the workings of Amida Buddha. To encounter the Primal Vow means to receive a profound
sense of security. To have the biggest mystery of life—the problem of death—settled for us by the Nembutsu
teaching, is our greatest security. Nothing is more joyful for us than this.
Human existence means we sometimes have to experience unbearable sadness and hardships as part of
this precious life which we have received. But because we are guaranteed Buddhahood, we are free to
take the great Nembutsu path and try to do our best to live our lives to the fullest with strength, joy, and
gratitude.
The most important thing in the life of a Buddhist is that when our life here ends, we will surely be born in
the Pure Land. And to be born in the Pure Land at the moment of death shows that our life is a journey to
the Pure Land. Therefore, we can truthfully say that the mind of those who receive the true Shinjin has
already lived in the Pure Land in spite of being in the Defiled Land.
The Pure Land is the world of enlightenment without the defilement of the blind passions; a world that
transcends love and hatred; a world where all life shines, for all life is revealed to be precious.
Living daily in a defiled land, we live selfishly, consuming that which we desire and excluding from our lives
those things that are inconvenient. We hurt others and may even hurt ourselves. To live with the Pure Land
as our destination, Shinran Shonin teaches us to live humbly while reflecting seriously upon our true selves,
who only can live in such a way. We can only see our own lies and self-delusions when we are illumined by
the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom. In other words, a Nembutsu follower who truly sees his ego-nature by
receiving Shinjin has already begun to live in the Pure Land which transcends his own calculation.
As Rennyo Shonin said, “Simply listening to the Buddha Dharma ends in Shinjin.” We are able to only
receive Shinjin of Other Power when listening.
Have you, who come to our services, ever noticed that after you leave the temple, a sweet incense smell
has permeated your clothes without your being aware of it? As I have always worn my minister’s robe at
the regular services and memorial services, this sweet incense scent remains in the cloth.
In Buddhism, we are taught that when performing the same action repeatedly, one can acquire it
without knowing it and it makes one build character. It is a teaching called kunju which means “repeatedly
impregnating with a scent.” In this way, when listening to the Nembutsu teaching week after week, even if
we cannot get rid of our calculation of Self Power, the warm mind of Amida Buddha will naturally color our
minds before we know it. We call this mon-kunju which means, “repeatedly impregnating with the Buddha’s
mind through listening.” By repeated listening, when Amida Buddha’s mind reaches our own, we become
aware that we don’t place our hands together by our calculation, but are led to recite the Nembutsu by
the working of Amida Buddha. This awakening is the very Shinjin of Other Power.
For the Nembutsu follower with true Shinjin who is permeated with Amida Buddha’s mind through
listening, the problem of impending death is settled by the working of Amida Buddha. The Nembutsu
teaching is the ultimate teaching that we will attain Buddhahood on the moment of death. Therefore, as
Shinran Shonin says, “The great path of unobstructed freedom opens up in the person of Nembutsu.” No
matter what might happen to us in everyday living, the true Nembutsu follower is able to take the steady
journey to the Pure Land filled with great joy and security, undisturbed, reciting the Nembutsu in gratitude
for the guidance of Amida Buddha. How steadfast and joyful we are!
In Gassho,
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