| the altar of Amidaji temple |
- fragment from a letter to a friend -
Question: Is Amida a symbol or metaphor for Wisdom and
Compassion? Some scholars nowadays support this idea.
Answer: Those scholars are wrong. Amida Buddha is NOT a
symbol or metaphor for Wisdom and Compassion, but a real, existing
Enlightened Person possessing Infinite Wisdom and
Compassion.
I always insist on the actual, literal existence of Amida
Buddha and His Pure Land because without realizing and
accepting this existence, faith of unenlightened people becomes
abstract and false. There can be no real faith without a real
object of faith – in our case, Amida Buddha.
If you can’t say it to yourself and others that the object of
your faith is a real, living Buddha, then you don’t have faith. No
matter how great scholar you are, if your knowledge and study has
not simplified your faith, and if you can’t talk about faith in
simple terms, then you don’t have faith.
If you can’t simply say that Amida is a real Buddha and His
Pure Land is a real enlightened place then you are actually
entrusting in your own unenlightened mind and mind categories, so
you don’t have faith.
Always keep this teaching in your heart – Amida is NOT an
abstract concept, but a living Buddha with whom you can
communicate by saying His Name in faith.
Honen Shonin also said, and we must bow to his golden
words:
„Amida Buddha never fails to hear you, regardless of time
and circumstances”.
"When sentient beings constantly and reverently prostrate
themselves before Amida Buddha with their body, Amida Buddha will
see them. When they arouse themselves to practice and to always
recite with their lips the Name of Amida Buddha, Amida Buddha will
hear them. When they constantly think of Amida Buddha in their
hearts, Amida Buddha will think of them. In these three kinds of
karmic acts, Amida Buddha and sentient beings are not separate from
each other. Hence, they are called intimate karmic
relations.
Therefore, if you hold a rosary, Amida Buddha will see it.
If you think in your mind to recite the nembutsu, Amida Buddha
will, in His mind, think of you."
Please carefully study these articles carefully so that you
receive the true teaching on Amida Buddha and His Pure Land:
If Nembutsu is true and real
If Amida’s Primal is true
Amida is NOT an abstract concept, but a living
Buddha
Those who deny the existence of Amida don’t have shinjin
(faith) – some simple explanations
The so called “exclusion” in the Primal Vow: „excluded are
those who commit the five grave offenses and those who slander the
right Dharma."
A collection of passages on the true meaning of birth in
the Pure Land of Amida Buddha
Pure Land as a state of consciousness or a real
place?
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