Nembutsu

"[Shinran's] understanding of the path of deliverance begins with the recognition of one's ineradicable, passion-ridden nature, defiled by all kinds of evils, as the basis of conflict and violence.

This view is often considered negative and pessimistic, though Buddhism has always recognized the pervasiveness of egoism and ego-attachments. Shinran experienced it with an intensity that transformed the understanding of religious life and practice. I prefer to see his view as realistic as it is evidenced in my own life. Shinran called people to reflect upon themselves deeply and realize the chains that bound them spiritually. This self-reflection is stimulated by the Buddhist ideal of the absolute purity of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but supremely Amida Buddha whose foundational story is related in the "Larger Pure Land Sutra."

Shinran perceived a dialectic in spiritual life, that the more aware one becomes of the depth of evil in oneself, the more one also perceives the compassion and wisdom that nevertheless sustains and nurtures one's life. The darkness of evil is exposed by the light of the compassion that breaks through the engulfing clouds of that evil. Shinran's understanding permits us to recognize the shadow side of ourselves, not in order to repress it, but to displace it by being grasped by a deeper ideal.

There are several consequences resulting from his view of the way of deliverance. One is that it is absolutely Other Power, not meaning that there is a power outside the self- god- that bestows deliverance, but that the power becomes manifest within the self in a new view of life, taking seriously the principle of interdependence and one's solidarity with all beings. These principles are manifested within the story of Amida's 48 Primal Vows which express in dramatic form the interdependence, and indivisibility of deliverance.

The second consequence is Shinran's recognition that religion itself is a danger to one's spiritual development. The belief that one may achieve enlightenment through one's own practice leads to comparisons, self-righteousness and the elitism that infects all religions (including later Shin Buddhism). Shinran's view of Other Power altered the understanding of religious life by transforming it from a religion of self-perfection or self-benefit to a religion of gratitude and commitment. Religious faith became an end in itself and not a tool or means to some other end. For Shinran, one becomes religious because one is aware of the compassion that embraces one's life and expresses it in gratitude and sharing. The essence of religious faith is altruism. One lives to convey compassion to others."

Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom