Nembutsu

Shinran (1173-1262), who claimed to be Honen's true disciple, is regarded as the founder of the most important of all 'Pure Land' sects. Shinran's utter reliance on the power of Amida is emphasized by his reinterpretation of the Nembutsu. A single, sincere invocation is enough, said Shinran, and any additional recitation of the Name should merely be an expression of thanksgiving to Amida.

"Your aim in coming here, travelling at the risk of your lives through more than ten provinces, was simply to learn the way of rebirth in the Pure Land. Yet you would be mistaken if you thought I knew of some way to obtain rebirth other than by saying the Nembutsu, or if you thought I had some special knowledge of religious texts not open to others. Should this be your belief, it is better for you to go to Nara or Mt. Hiei, for there you will find many scholars learned in Buddhism and from them you can get detailed instruction in the essential means of obtaining rebirth in the Pure Land. As far as I, Shinran, am concerned, it is only because the worthy Honen taught me so that I believe salvation comes from Amida by saying the Nembutsu. Whether the Nembutsu brings rebirth in the Pure Land or leads one to Hell, I myself have no way of knowing. But even if I had been misled by Honen and went to Hell for saying the Nembutsu, I would have no regrets. If I were capable of attaining Buddhahood on my own through the practice of some other discipline, and yet went down to Hell for saying the Nembutsu, then I might regret having been misled. But since I am incapable of practicing such disciplines, there can be no doubt that I would be doomed to Hell anyway."

Tannisho

Quan Shi Yin Bodhisattva
Practises deeply "other shore wisdom",
Sees the five skandhas completely empty
Goes beyond the world of affliction.
Oh Shariputra,
This world and the Pure Land are not apart!
The Pure Land is not apart from here!
The Form World is the emptiness
The Emptiness World is this world of form.
All the skandhas: regard them like this.
Shariputra, See the Empty character of all:
Not the birth and death world;
Not the defiled and pure world;
Not the gain and loss world.
Be in the empty centre,
Where the five skandhas are absent;
Sensual attachments are absent;
Sensual delights are absent;
Sense made worlds are absent;
Radiance is not lacking,
Therefore no struggle darkness to destroy,
Nor any other of conditioning's chains.
Be free of decay and death.
No need to strive to destroy them.
No affliction, no arising,
No suppressing, no path;
Be not concerned with
Wisdom and attainment.
A bodhisattva relies
On the other shore wisdom
Where mind is no obstacle
So there is no fear.
Going beyond all troublesome states
Just practise nirvana
Like all the Buddhas, past, present and future,
Just rely on other shore wisdom
Thus attain supreme, perfect, enlightenment
Samyak-sambodhi,
Thus to know other shore wisdom
The great inexplicable mantra
The great radiant mantra
The unexcelled mantra
Incomparable mantra
Able to clear away every suffering
It is true. It is not false.
Proclaim the prajna paramita mantra
That is proclaimed and proclaimed like this:
Going, going, going beyond,
Always going beyond, awakening. Svaha!

(Dharmavidya, inspired by Honen Shonin’s Ichimai Kishomon)

For those with the karmic affinity with Amitabha Buddha, wishing to practice a religious life in truly simple faith, freeing themselves of sophistication and attachment to all forms of cleverness, the method of opening oneself to Amitabha’s grace is the practice of Nien Fo with body, speech and mind, particularly verbal recitation of “Namo Amida Bu”. This is not something done as a form of meditation, nor is it based on study, understanding and wisdom, or the revelation of deep meaning. Deep meaning is indeed there for the nembutsu is a window through which the whole universe of Buddha’s teaching can be perceived in all its depth, but none of this is either necessary or even helpful to success in the practice. Rather such study cultivates secondary faculties to be held separate from the mind of practice itself.

The primary practice requires only one essential; realise that you are a totally foolish being who understands nothing, but who can with complete trust recite “Namo Amida Bu”; know that this will generate re-birth in the Pure land, without even knowing what rebirth in the Pure Land truly is. This is the practice for ignorant beings and ignorance is essential for its accomplishment. This practice automatically encompasses the three minds and the mind of contrition as a fourth. To pursue something more profound or more sophisticated, or to have a theory, or to think that understanding will yield greater enlightenment than this is to be misled and to fall back into self-power whereby the whole practice is spoilt. However wise, learned or skilled you may be, set it aside and be the foolish being completely in the performance of the practice. Nothing else is required and anything else is too much. Faith and practice cannot be differentiated.

The Buddha-body is delineated by the precepts. How deficient we are in comparison! By our daily difficulty in the preceptual life, we awaken to the presence of the myriad karmic obstacles without which we would already perceive the land of love and bliss, we would be as the vow-body of Buddha. Thus we know in experience that we are foolish beings of wayward passion. This knowledge of our condition is part of the essential basis when it gives rise to contrition. Thus all obstacles become impediments to faith unless we experience contrition and letting go. Saving grace, as was made clear by Shan Tao’s dream and advice to Tao Cho, only comes through the sange-mon.

If you can perform the practice in this simple minded way, Amida will receive you and you may fear for nothing since all is completely assured. Dwelling in this settled faith you may then use your secondary faculties, your knowledge and skills and accumulated experience, as tools for helping all sentient beings. But do not then think that anything of relevance to your own salvation is thereby accomplished, nor that you are making something of yourself. Whatever merit there may be in your actions of this kind, immediately and totally dedicate it to the benefit of others, that they may enter the Pure Land and that you yourself may not be encumbered by consciousness of virtue which will only contaminate the practice. As Honen says, “without pedantic airs, fervently recite the Name.”

On January 23, Honen dictated the Ichimai Kishomon, a record of his essential teaching, to his disciple Genchi, and passed away two days later on the 25th at the age of 80. In a teaching style, he re-affirms the need to be aware of our fundamental ignorance and to single mindedly recite the nembutsu. The Ichimai-kishomon is used frequently in daily services given by Jodo Shu priests.


"In China and Japan, many Buddhist masters and scholars understand that the nembutsu is to meditate deeply on Amida Buddha and the Pure Land. However, I do not understand the nembutsu in this way. Reciting the nembutsu does not come from studying and understanding its meaning. There is no other reason or cause by which we can utterly believe in attaining birth in the Pure Land than the nembutsu itself. Reciting the nembutsu and believing in birth in the Pure Land naturally gives rise to the three minds (sanjin) and the four modes of practice (shishu). If I am witholding any deeper knowledge beyond simple recitation of the nembutsu, then may I lose sight of the compassion of Shakyamuni and Amida Buddha and slip through the embrace of Amida's original vow. Even if those who believe in the nembutsu deeply study all the teachings which Shakyamuni taught during his life, they should not put on any airs and should practice the nembutsu with the sincerity of those untrained followers ignorant of Buddhist doctrines.1

I hereby authorize this document with my hand print. The Jodo Shu way of the settled mind (anjin) is completely imparted here. I, Genku, have no other teaching than this. In order to prevent misinterpretation after my passing away, I make this final testament."

January 23, the Second Year of Kenryaku (1212)

The nembutsu has a long history in Buddhism. The word literally means "buddha in mind" and it has come to mean verbal recitation of the words "I take refuge in Amitabha Buddha" in one language or another. The form that we commonly use is "Namo Amida Bu". The nembutsu has been used as

an aid to meditation, visualisation or mindfulness or as a mind-protector (mantra). Most contemporary Japanese schools, however, reject such usage. There is, therefore, a variety of interpretation. Honen considered recitation of nembutsu the sole remaining efficacious practice. I would like here to elaborate the elements of a theory of nembutsu suitable for contemporary usage.

This theory of nembutsu has the following elements:
1. Faith is a primary element in the efficacy of nembutsu, but not an exclusive one.
2. Contrition is a necessary preparation for nembutsu
3. Good works spring naturally from nembutsu
4. Nembutsu is a shorthand for all of Buddha's teaching
5. Nembutsu brings us into the presence of the sacred
This theory contains elements of several Pureland schools but is not the orthodox teaching of any one school.

1. Faith is a primary element in the efficacy of nembutsu, but not an exclusive one
Jodoshu sees nembutsu as a practice guaranteeing salvation; Jodoshinshu see it as an expression of gratitude for salvation already achieved in which it is necessary to have faith; and most Chinese Pureland schools see it as an aid to attainment of a state of mind that is itself to be considered salvation. Against this background, I suggest that nembutsu is an expression of faith in as well as a declaration of one's position vis-a-vis the sacred. It is akin to the Christian Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer is "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me a sinner". The nembutsu could be rendered "Measureless Buddha, I pray you, be present in the life of this foollish being." Nembutsu expresses the sense of an encounter between the limited self and the Unlimited, the Unborn, the Deathless. While this is satisfactory philosophically, it is not necessarily sufficiently satisfying as religious praxis. Religious satisfaction requires at least some degree of embodiment, because we ourselves are embodied beings. For this reason Buddhism offers the theory of threefold embodiment (trikaya). In the most abstract embodiment - Dharmakaya - the Unconditioned is equated with reality itself. In the least abstract - Nirmanakaya - it is embodied in the person of Shakyamuni Buddha, preeminently, and in all sages and spiritual ancestors: in other words nirmanakaya is the lived holy life - or, to borrow another Christian term, "the Word made flesh". The intermediate level of embodiment - Sambhogakaya - is Amida Buddha, a spiritual being to whom we can relate as embodying all the virtues and powers of Buddhahood while being ever present. These three, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya correspond therefore to "the Word" (Dharma), "the Word as spirit" and "the Word made flesh" respectively. There is thus a quite close correspondence with the Christian trinity and it seems not at all impossible that the Christian and Buddhist conceptions have a common root historically. This framework of theology provides the devotee with different options in terms of practice and these will accommodate different temperaments. Those who tend toward abstraction may direct their nembutsu toward the Dharmakaya. Those who are concrete may direct it toward the person of Shakyamuni, or any other ancestoer, or their own spiritual guide. Those who are spiritual can direct it toward Amida or one of his attendant bodhisattvas - Quan Yin, Tai Shih Chi or any of the other great bodhisattvas. Faith is thus manifested as concrete devotional activity, employing any of a range of devotional forms - bowing, circumambulating, making offering, reciting sutras, etc., but preeminently in verbal utterance of nembutsu which both invokes the Presence and affirms one's stance in relation to It.

2. Contrition is a necessary preparation for nembutsu
In order to practise in the manner just indicated there needs to be a preliminary divesting oneself of the grosser manifestations of conceit. Nobody is going to call out for spiritual help while they continue to believe themselves to be the source of all good. It is only by gaining at least a preliminary insight into our own vulnerability, frailty and failings that the stanglehold of conceit or self-view can be weakened. The softening of heart that comes from seeing that one is a foolish being of wayward passion and so is in the same plight spiritually as others, is called contrition. It is the foundation of or gateway to all true awakening and makes it possible for a being to utter the nembutsu meaningfully.

3. Good works spring naturally from nembutsu
When we position ourselves in the manner expressed by nembutsu, good actions follow naturally. Good actions are those that benefit others. This is love and compassion and these are natural consequences of feeling oneself to be in just the same position as others spiritually, free from the blindness of superiority. At the same time, good acts are ones in which one acts as an agent or channel for the sacred influence, rather than acting as a form of self-assertion. All of this is amply expressed by nembutsu. "I, a foolish being, ask You to act through me".

4. Nembutsu is a shorthand for all of Buddha's teaching
All the teachings of Buddha can be found condensed in nembutsu. Namo expresses the first two noble truths and Amida Bu expresses the third and fourth. Namo is the twelve links of dependent origination and Amida Bu is their unravelling. Namo Amida Bu is the teaching of non-self in practical spiritual form and the encounter of impermanence with nirvana. All Buddha's teachings are nembutsu.

5. Nembutsu brings us into the presence of the sacred
Nembutsu is a relational spirituality. It is not a matter of laying claim to an elevated spiritual identity for oneself, but of being willing even in one's lost or troubled or unenlightened state, to turn toward the Unconditioned and let it into one's life. This is a matter of trust and entrustment. It abandons self-reliance as an ideal and expresses a willingness to rely upon the calling from the other shore.

Dharmavidya David Brazier

What is "Namo Amida Bu"? Namo Amida Bu is the Buddha prayer or nembutsu. "Namo" is the little, vulnerable, conditioned self calling out. "Amida Bu" is the Buddha on the Other Shore calling back. Whenever we conceptualise anything, there is always an "other shore", a beyond.

The act of conceptualising is a mental grasping that emcompasses something and thus puts a boundary upon it. Amida is the boundariless. Beyond the born is the Unborn. Beyond the self is the Measureless. Beyond our frailty is Amida. We have been born - we are here - how can we make sense of it? Human beings seek to make meaning out of their existence. A great meaning cannot be accomplished within oneself, however, but only by going beyond oneself. The religions in the world offer ways to try to conceptualise this "beyond-self" experience. Buddhism does so in a way that does not load us with dogma, guilt, or an undue metaphysical burden. Some metaphysics are an unavoidable dimension of any kind of spiritual reflection, but we should know that metaphysics grows out of the experience of existence. I exist. I see that I am a small and vulnerable being in vital need of help of all kinds. I call out. Namo Amida Bu. I call out to the unknown that lies beyond myself. It is the power that forms and supports me. In order to be a self, one must alienate oneself from the rest of the universe. With Namo Amida Bu we call to our other half - though, of course, the "halves" are disproportionate, since I am virtually nothing and it is everything. So by calling the nembutsu, I recognise my own self assertion: I recognise both the strength and the foolishness of my project to be somebody - and I celebrate the fact that the universe is always calling me back.

Dharmavidya David Brazier