The four misconceptions concerning the Nembutsu, presented by Master Seikaku in the Essentials of Faith Alone, refers to the wrong understanding of impermanence, bad karma, good karma, and the matter of once calling and many callings of the Name of Amida Buddha.

If we wish to understand a certain object we look to its qualities, to the elements that make it up. What are the elements and fundamental qualities of life? A body and mind which are subject to an inexorable cycle of birth, growing, maturity, decay and death.

Decay and death …. Especially these two must attract our attention in the same way we analyze a certain object: some qualities distinguish themselves from others and lead to the definition of the object.

In the case of life, impermanence is the fundamental characteristic. So, what shall we do with an object that has impermanence as its main quality? That is as slippery as an eel and...