|
|
|
| lotus flower is the symbol of the Buddhist Religion |
Love necessarily lends itself to endless gifts. The greatest of all gifts is the experience of Entrusting Faith (shinjin),
which is the awakening to the Oneness of Life itself and realizing our true purpose in this life. Out of compassion for us,
who suffer in the abyss of ignorance, lust and hate, Oneness gave his Faith and Blessed Name so that we may transcend the
Ocean of Samsara and realize birth in Universal Life.
What is Entrusting Faith? It is the gift of realization
of the Buddha's Threefold Mind constituting sincere mind, joyful faith and aspiration to be born in the Pure Land. Faith is
the gift of entrusting in Life itself, free of doubt, liberation, selfless in thought and action, pure love and joy. It manifests
the presence of Enlightened Reality in our hearts and minds through the power of the Primal Vow. When we are made to surrender
our limited and corruptible egos by the power of the Primal Vow, emptying (sunyata) ourselves of our I-ness, we naturally
feel the presence of great joy and fulfillment in our hearts, and as a result, we call out his Blessed Name in gratitude.
In the "Hymns of the Pure Land Masters, Verse 30," Shinran declared, "We realize true entrusting of vast, majestic
virtues, and the ice of our blind passions necessarily melts, immediately becoming water of Enlightenment." Therefore
Pure Faith is not a belief in a creed, scriptures, Supreme Being or believing in a Heaven or Pure Land but is a life transforming
experience granted to us, not because of our merits, but by the Loving and All-Compassionate Nature of the universe, Amida
Tathagata. Entrusting Faith is not the cause of our salvation but is salvation itself.
The reality of human
nature is stained by the bondage of relative existence, spiritual ignorance and blind passions; we are condemned to drown
in the Ocean of Samsara. By virtue of being relative karmic-bound entities, we are motivated by self-centered concerns, attached
to this transitory world, lacking real sincerity and truthfulness. However sincere and trustworthy we might try be, we can
never reach real sincerity and trust because of our attachments to ego. D.T. Suzuki wrote in "The Buddha of Infinite
Light," "As long as sincerity is conscious of itself, it is not genuine." Our stage of spiritual evolution
characterizes us as foolish, immature, and evil generating beings. The "Larger Sutra, Chapter 35" confirms that
humans, "are bent on doing evilnot knowing how to do good, they commit evil and do outrageous and unruly deeds."
Whatever good we do possess is overshadowed by our evil karmic captivity.
Shinran not only viewed human
nature as foolish and immature but also empty and transitory. In "Notes on 'Essentials of Faith Alone," Shinran
clarified thusly: "empty means not real and not sincere, transitory means not true." Since by nature of this ingrained
relativity, insincerity and untruthfulness, we are incapable of having Entrusting Faith in Amida Tathagata. On the other
hand, Amida is the only reality that is real, sincere and true and hence, the living embodiment of Entrusting Faith. This
is our hope. Because of his unconditional love for us, accepting us for who we truly are he freely grants this blessing through
his Vow.
In order to walk with Amida, one must accept truth as it is. The awakening to human reality as limited,
defiled, and suffering as opposed to the universal, pure and peaceful presence of Amida Tathagata engenders a radical shift
in our consciousness. Occurring in the depths of our being we awaken to the sufferings (dukkha) and evils in ourselves and
in the world, such as birth, sickness, injustice, distress, despair, aging, dying and death. We realize that we cannot endure
these ceaseless sufferings on our own. Therefore, we reach out to Other Power and ask for help. This sudden insight initiates
the fissure to Entrusting Faith. The hard-shell of ego finally cracks open, due to the pressure building from within, flooding
the consciousness with the rays of Light and Life. By grace of Buddha's Sincere Mind, we intuitively grasp the truth of our
foolish, empty and transitory nature; accepting this reality, we give up all self-power attitudes, and entrust ourselves to
Amida, receiving his compassion and wisdom, aspiring to the Pure Land and wishing to save all beings. In his essay, Journeying
Toward Faith, Reverend Tetsuo Unno wrote, "It is no longer 'someone like you and me' who has Absolute Faith, but rather,
it is Amida Himself who has Absolute Faith in me. We simply receive Faith." This wellspring of total trust gives rise
to joyous love for him like a child who loves his parent. We feel nestled in his fatherly embrace, secure and at ease. This
opening up to and entrusting in Other Power is the cause and impetus that drives us to recite the Blessed Name. In the instant
of Entrusting Faith, through the medium of the Name, Amida confirms to us, "It's ok, I'm here. You are safe now. I'll
never abandon you." Likewise, we respond back to him, "thank you for this gift of joy and peace. I love you too."
Professor Ryukyu Fujimoto, in his "Shin Buddhism's Essence: the Tannisho," quotes Shinran thusly,
"put aside any effort to dredge up sincerity of Faith within you, rather, hear and adore the cause and effect of the
wonder that is Amida. Then the Threefold Mind of joyous Faith, sincerity and the longing to be born in the Pure Land will
naturally flow out from the depth of your being." It is as if our self-centered ego falls away like an old cocoon, exposing
the long dormant butterfly of Buddha's Mind. His Joyous Faith dissolves the limitations of our limited samsaric existence,
invoking the universal Buddha nature within to paint our consciousness with his boundless love, eternal will and deep wisdom.
Through his Pure Faith, we become truly human and leap crosswise to a higher level of spiritual evolution.
The
famous Japanese sage, Saichi, wrote this poem and words regarding his experience and life of Entrusting Faith:
"Saichi this time is a happy man,
His self-power taken away,
Doubt taken away,
Everything taken away,
All my valuables taken away,
I just receive the Blessed Name,
Someone like me forever lost in dark and primeval ignorance, cannot enlighten himself; rather it is the Tathagata of
unobstructed Light who illumines my darkness."
|
