Nembutsu

Your radiant face,
Like a mountain peak
Catching the first burst
Of morning light
Has awesome and
Unequalled majesty.
Like black ink by comparison
Are the sun, the moon, or the "mani" treasure.
Tathagata,
Such is your incomparable face.
The melody of your enlightenment
Fills the world
Rare and precious
Are your precepts,
Learning, energy, meditation,
Wisdom and amazing virtue.
The oceanic Dharma
Of all Buddhas
Which you fathom
To its deepest depths
Dispels the 3 poisons
From the heart -
You are like a lion:
Valiant and divinely pure.

Great power!
Deep wisdom!
Awesome light!
Reverberation -
A prayer I make, a Buddha to become
Equal to you, my Dharma king,
To lead all beings to the other shore
Leaving none behind.
The six paramitas
To perfect
With prajna at their head.
Should I become Buddha:
I will fulfil
This prayer completely:
To everyone
I'll bring great peace.
To Buddhas countless
As sand grains
My offerings I make,
And do not flinch
From the trials
Of the incomparable Way,
Powerful,
Straight and true.

Though Buddha lands
And worldly realms
Be numberless
Like sand,
By sheer power
Of aspiration
I'll fill them all
With light.
Let me become a Buddha
And the multitude
Of beings
Will all enjoy
My primordial
Nirvana world.
By indiscriminate compassion
I will enlighten all.
Reborn here from no matter where
In my country their hearts
Will lighten and be joyful,
Happy and at ease.
Oh you Buddha, witness my vow,
My true aspiration,
Establishing my vow on you
Gives me the strength to fulfil it.
Buddhas throughout space and time
Of unimpeded wisdom
Always witness
My heart's practice.
No matter the obstacles, the hardships,
My practice will endure
Through all,
Without regret.

Tan Butsu Ge

" We can look at our self in its 2 different aspects. The self that dispays itself, and the self which transcends itself, and thereby reveals its own meaning. to display itself it tries to be big, to stand upon a pedestal of its accumulations, and to retain everything to itself. To reveal itself it gives up everything that it has, thus becoming perfect like a flower that has blossomed out of the bud.

The lamp contains its oil, which it holds securely in its close grasp and guards the least loss. Thus it is seperate from all other objects around it and is miserly. But when lit, it finds its meaning at once; its relation with all things far and near is established, and it freely sacrifices its fund of oil to feed the flame.

Such a lamp is our self. so long as it hoards its possessions it keeps itself dark, its conduct contradicts its true purpose. when it finds illumination it forgets itself in a moment, holds the light high, and serves it with everthing it has; for therein is its revelation. This revelation is the freedom that Shakyamuni preached. He asked the lamp to give up its oil. but purpose-less giving up is a still darker poverty which he never could have meant. The lamp must give up its oil to the light and thus be set free from the implicit purpose it has in its hoarding. This is emancipation. the path Shakyamuni pointed out was not merely the practice of self-abnegation, but the widening of love. Therein lies the true meaning of buddhism.

The naturalness (jinen) which shinran preached is nothing less than the emancipation of the self; a holy freedom through the melting of our self power (jiriki) in the other power (tariki), through the surrender of our self-will (hakarai) to the eternal will; a familiarity with Amida - the infinite light. this is what shinran meant by declaring the direct road to deliverance is absolute faith in Amida. "

From "Naturalness"  by Kenryo Kanamatsu

"[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