This is a commentary of a poem written by the 19th century Shin Myokonin, Saichi, that reads the following:

 

“I may be in possession of 84,000 evil passions,

And Amida too is 84,000, --

This is the meaning of oneness of Namu-Amida-Butsu.”

 

In living the life of Namu-Amida-Butsu, I am granted an intimate and unifying relationship with life itself. This relationship is an organic, real and on-going mutual transformation between me and reality. Amida and I are one; when I hurt, the Buddha hurts too; When the Buddha hurts, I hurt too; when I cry, the Buddha cries too; when I smile the Buddha smiles back at me, when I say the nembutsu, it is the Buddha calling herself. The Buddha is within everyone and is everything; thus everyone and everything is within the on-going process of transformation with me. We are one, Amida and I, and as I am slowly transformed, I notice that the world around me too is evolving with me. Life and I are in a constant flow of creation and evolution but we remain just as we are, within the grasp of Great Compassion.

 

I sense a deep interdependence with and inevitable responsibility for my daily relationships of work, play, family, and friends, and even for the greater picture of the recent Presidential election and on-going Middle East war.  This feeling and this awareness has been given to me through no act of my own but through the natural unfolding of Life itself. Namu-Amida-Butsu!