"....The Buddha said, "Well spoken, Ananda! Your question is excellent. You ask this insightful question having summoned up deep wisdom and true and subtle powers of expression, and having turned tender thoughts to all sentient beings. In his boundless compassion, the Tathagata is filled with commiseration for the beings of the three realms. I have appeared in the world and expounded the teachings of the way to enlightenment, seeking to save the multitudes of living beings by blessing them with the benefit that is true and real. Rare is it to encounter and rare to behold a Tathagata, even in countless millions of kalpas..."

 

                                             -- Kyogoshinsho I

 

When I read Chapter I of the Kyogoshinsho, I am struck by the passage that Shinran quotes from the Larger Sutra, chapter 3. Shinran gives emphasis on this scene because it depicts the historical beginning of the Pure Land tradition. However, on a more personal level, this scene symbolical illustrates my journey onto the Pure Land path.

 

Like Ananda, I was studying the dharma for well over a decade, absorbing the teachings and observing the practices. As a consequence, I had manifested a more harmonic and compassionate lifestyle.  On the other hand, my depth of realization was always deficient and self-centered. I never really got it; I never had a psycho-somatic realization. Likewise, Ananda who accompanied Shakyamuni for 25 years, still didnt get it either.  But one day, his karmic disposition was ready and Buddha truly spoke to him. He saw the Buddha more deeply, full of majesty, timelessness and light, which illumined into Ananda's consciousness and being.  I, too, had a similar experience. One day, after being already exposed and practicing to the Pure Land teachings, Buddha called unto me from the depths of my heart and I saw him in a different way, filled with immeasurable light and life. For the first time, I naturally listened to dharma, which spoke to me with inconceivable words. With my eyes closed, I was made to deeply listen with my entire being: mind and body. Then, at a certain moment, when I opened my eyes, a tear dropped from my right eye and I could only single-heartedly and trustingly articulate, Namu-Amida-Butsu. At this point, my religious path was reignited with deep trust and inspiration. My life's journey began anew.