Category: nembutsu
Right Effort – Dharma Talk November 24th
Right Effort Dharma Talk by Christopher Leibow November 24th 2o13
Our Sangha is growing!
Our Sangha is growing! and how lovely it is. We are growing and sharing more of the Dharma, more of the joy, light and compassion that is symbolized by Amida Buddha. It is amazing to see the fellowship deepen with each passing week as we share our practice and start to truley wake up the the Oneness of Life and Compassion that calls out us each day.
Over the past few weeks we have been learning about the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, and this coming week we will be going over the Five Precepts. The Discussions have been open, free and full of caring and insight as we learn the practice together. I am astonished at how each member of our fellowship is willing to be open, and share fully and willing to invest in our gathering. Here is a great quote about the Pure Land and the Sangha by Rev Rijin Yasuda
“People say various things about birth in the Pure Land. But could there be any greater ‘birth in the Pure Land’ than the fact that we are now sitting and learning sitting and learning the Dharma together? This place where we are listening to the Dharma together is the Pure Land. Our being allowed to be part of this place, of this Sangha, is ‘birth in the Pure Land.’
Together we are working to make the Pure Land here and now. We look forward to see you at any one of our Sunday Gatherings.
Related articles
- The Pure Land a Place or a Symbol or Both? (saltlakecitybuddhistfellowship.wordpress.com)
- ‘Going for Refuge’ as Idiom and Metaphor (dhivanthomasjones.wordpress.com)
- The Color Gold (saltlakecitybuddhistfellowship.wordpress.com)
- How to recite the Buddha’s name – An Introduction to Pure Land Buddhism (essenceofbuddhism.wordpress.com)
The sea is just full of water: Asahara Saichi Poem
The sea is just full of water;
there is the seabed that sustains it.
Saiich is just full of evil karma;
there is Amida that sustains it.
How happy I am!
Namu-amida-butsu, Namu-amida-butsu.
(Myokonin Saichi no Uta Vol.1, p.188)
Dharma Talk 10.13.13 Right Intention.
The Color Gold
The Color Gold – excerpt for River of Fire River of Water by Taitetsu Unno
Though Shin Buddhism improvised a radically new form of practice, its goal is one and the same with that of Mahayana Buddhism The goal is to awaken to the true self as a manifestation of dharma or “reality-as-is.” What this means may be illustrated by some popular metaphors in the Pure Land tradition.
The lotus flower, the second metaphor, reveals the distinctive meaning of suchness or thatness. The lotus has been an important religious symbol in the Asian world for more than five thousand years with different signilications. In the Pure Land tradition it represents the uniqueness of each person, or each reality-as-is, distinct from all others each with its own uniqueness.
The multiple colors of the lotus blossoms, each radiating its distinctive luster, creates the glory of the enlightened realm. This is the realm of the Pure Land, the world of enlightenment. But this world is not a given; it is to be realized through undergoing a radical transformation.
This transformation is suggested in the third metaphor of transformed rubble, based on scripture that reads: “We who are like bits of rubble are transformed into gold.” All-embracing and nonexclusive, this path accepts everyone, even the lowliest who are considered nothing more than “bits of rubble” in the eyes of society. But no matter who or what one is, everyone is transformed through the power of compassion to become authentically real as an awakened person. “Bits of rubble” is the realization of those who, illuminated by Immeasurable Light and Immeasurable Life that is Amida, are made to see their essential finitude, imperfection, and mortality. This realization may not sound too inspiring, but affirming one’s basic reality is the crucial factor in the transformative process. To bring about such a transformation is the sole purpose, of the Primal Vow of Amida, the working of great compassion that courses through the universe.
This metaphor of alchemical transmutation is based on the Mahayana teaching of the nonduality of samsara and nirvana, delusion and enlightenment, rubble and gold. This is not a simple identity, for it involves a dialectical tension between the two poles, between limited karmic beings and unbounded como passion. The two remain separate, yet they are one; they are one, yet always remain separate.
The Metta Karuna Prayer
Oneness of Life and Light, Entrusting in your Great Compassion,
May you shed the foolishness in myself, Transforming me into a conduit of Love.
May I be a medicine for the sick and weary, Nursing their afflictions until they are cured;
May I become food and drink,During time of famine,
May I protect the helpless and the poor,
May I be a lamp,For those who need your Light,
May I be a bed for those who need rest, and guide all seekers to the Other Shore.
May all find happiness through my actions, and let no one suffer because of me. Whether they love or hate me, Whether they hurt or wrong me,
May they all realize true entrusting, Through Other Power, and realize Supreme Nirvana.
Namo Amida Buddha
The Four Noble Truths
When the Buddha rose from the Bodhi tree he arose awakened. He discovered the Four Noble Truths of existence, which are:
1. The Truth of Suffering
The Buddha declared that this world if full of suffering; that actual existence including birth, decrepitude, sickness and death is suffering and sorrow. This is called the Truth of Suffering.
2. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering.
The cause of human suffering lies in ignorance and Karma. Ignorance and its resulting Karma have often times been called “desire” or craving. The Buddha declared:
Verily it is this thirst or craving, causing the renewal of existence, accompanied by sensual delight, seeking satisfaction now here, now there – the craving for gratification of the passions, for continual existence in the worlds of sense.
3. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.
The extinguishing of all human ignorance and Karma results in a state known as Nirvana. This is the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.
4. The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering
The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering is the Noble Eight-fold Path.
Some have said that Buddhism is rather negative since the FIrst Noble Truth is that Life is Suffering. I would whole heartedly disagree. During our next Dharma gathering we will discuss as a group we will discuss our engement with this truths and how they inform our daily practice.
The Path of Foolish Beings
Here is a great article in the magazine Buddhadahrma about the Shin Buddhist path. Who are the foolish beings? According to the Shin tradition of Pure Land Buddhism, we all are. Mark Unno explains that only by becoming aware of our limited self and acknowledging our fundamental foolishness can we realize the oneness of all beings and the limitless flow of compassion.
One of the implications of the Mahayana Buddhist idea of emptiness is that the important question is not “What does it mean to be a buddhist?” It is “What does it means to be a human being?” That’s because emptiness applies to Buddhism itself as much as it does to ordinary objects of attachment. It is only when one has been “emptied” of all preconceived categories, including those of Buddhism, that the deepest reality of being human becomes apparent. As the Zen master Dogen states, “To study the buddhadharma is to study the self. To study the self
is to forget the self.”
The Great Compassion of Amida Buddha
“Although I too am within Amida’s Buddha’s grasp, Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him;
Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always.”
-Shinran Shonin