Pure Land Buddhism
This thread will be a series of excerpts from the many books now published on Pure Land Buddhism.
This from "The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition". The words refer to the recitation of the Nembutsu ( i.e. Namu-Amida-Butsu). In my own life, over about 20 years, the words have slowly morphed into "Thank You" and those words themselves into an instinctive gratitude towards all experience as it unfolds in each moment of time.
Shinran (Japan, 13th century) was one of the "fathers" of Pure Land Buddhism. Shin Buddhism is simply another name used.
[i]Shinran declared that the nembutsu was neither a practice nor a good deed. He rejected the meritorious character of nembutsu recitation. It was not a monastic-meditation practice such as monks might use to gain enlightenment, nor was it a good deed which lay people might employ to gain merits for birth in the Pure Land, or worldly benefits such as health, wealth, or spiritual protection. It was not a mantra to dispel disasters or ward off evil as practiced in other sects. While many earlier teachers are recorded as reciting nembutsu as many as 70,000 times a day as a badge of their virtue, there is no record of Shinran’s reciting it in that manner. There is no set time or number for reciting. For him the only reason to recite it is to express gratitude for the deliverance we have already been assured.[/i]
This from "The Shin Buddhist Classical Tradition". The words refer to the recitation of the Nembutsu ( i.e. Namu-Amida-Butsu). In my own life, over about 20 years, the words have slowly morphed into "Thank You" and those words themselves into an instinctive gratitude towards all experience as it unfolds in each moment of time.
Shinran (Japan, 13th century) was one of the "fathers" of Pure Land Buddhism. Shin Buddhism is simply another name used.
[i]Shinran declared that the nembutsu was neither a practice nor a good deed. He rejected the meritorious character of nembutsu recitation. It was not a monastic-meditation practice such as monks might use to gain enlightenment, nor was it a good deed which lay people might employ to gain merits for birth in the Pure Land, or worldly benefits such as health, wealth, or spiritual protection. It was not a mantra to dispel disasters or ward off evil as practiced in other sects. While many earlier teachers are recorded as reciting nembutsu as many as 70,000 times a day as a badge of their virtue, there is no record of Shinran’s reciting it in that manner. There is no set time or number for reciting. For him the only reason to recite it is to express gratitude for the deliverance we have already been assured.[/i]
