This was a question asked at one of our sangha meetings

Answer: To seek to be born in the Pure Land through a false, deceitful and poisoned good means to aspire to be born in the Pure Land through transferring one’s personal merits. Shinran said that personal merits are always mixed with the poison of ego, ignorance and attachments, so he considered that we do not actually have genuine merits. In relation with this, we should remember the story of the meeting between Master Bodhidharma and Emperor Wu of Liang.

It is said that when Master Bodhidharma came to China, Emperor Wu called him and asked him: “I’ve built many temples and I’ve offered many lands to the path of the Buddha; now please tell me what merits have I gained? Bodhidharma’s answer came shocking but true: “None, not one merit.” Why Bodhidharma said that? It was because the merits the emperor described above were worldly merits gained with a mind full of attachments and lacking the wisdom of ultimate Reality.

In Buddhism we speak about two kinds of merits: worldly merits and supramundane or otherworldly merits.

The worldly merits are the effect of every good deed fulfilled with the purpose (conscious or unconscious) that there will be positive consequences: happiness in this life or in the next, a better rebirth, and so on. These good deeds don’t escape the subtle or gross forms of greed or wanting something for oneself, like recongnition by others, expectations for people to be grateful, or even other worldly recompenses. We always want something for ourselves or have some kind of conscious or unconscious expectation when we do good deeds. Shinran even said, in an effusion of sincerity that for fame and profit he enjoys teaching others:

I am such that I do not know right and wrong
And cannot distinguish false and true;
I lack even small love and small compassion,
And yet, for fame and profit, enjoy teaching others.

What Shinran meant here is that evil is always present deep down in us and although we all look good and virtuous on the outside, inside we are like snakes and scorpions. Even when we do the best actions for the benefit of others, including when we teach, deep inside we are never completely without ego. There is no Jodo Shinshu teacher and no lay person without a trace of ego. We are all doing our best of course, but until we are born in the Pure Land we can never escape the evil inside so we can never really do pure actions. One of the tenbenefits in this life of a person of faith is “practicing the great compassion”. At the level we are now as unenlightened beings, practicing the great compassion means that we encourage others to say the Nembutsu of faith, thus helping them to be born in the Pure Land, but even while doing this it does NOT mean that we are selfless and truly have the Compassion of a Buddha!

The supramundane good represents an action done without selfish goal or personal interest, that is, without any trace of ego, aiming naturaly at the well being of others. Only this of good is the materialization of genuine Compassion and may be considered true virtue leading to the Supreme Enlightenment. In the Larger Sutra we have a description by Shakyamuni of true supramundane or otherworldly merits gained by Dharmakara Bodhisattva on His Path towards becoming Amida Buddha:

“He did not harbour any thought of greed, hatred, or cruelty; nor did He allow any ideas of greed, hatred, or cruelty to arise. He was unattached to any form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or idea. Possessed of the power to persevere, He did not avoid undergoing various afflictions. Having little desire for His own sake, He knew contentment. Without any impure thought, enmity, or stupidity, He dwelled continually in tranquil samadhi. His wisdom was indestructible and His mind free of falsehood and deceitfulness. With expressions of tenderness on His face and with kindness in His speech, He spoke to others in consonance with their inner thoughts. Courageous and diligent, strong-willed and untiring, He devoted himself solely to the pursuit of the pure Dharma, thereby benefiting a multitude of beings. He revered the Three Treasures, respected His teachers and elders, and thus adorned His practices with a great store of merit. By so doing, He enabled sentient beings to partake of them.

He dwelled in the realization that all dharmas are empty, devoid of distinctive features, and not to be sought after, and that they neither act nor arise; He thus realized that all dharmas are like magical creations.”[1]

When the word “dharma” is used with small “d” it refers to all existence and phenomena in general. When it’s used with "D" like in "Dharma" it means the Buddha's teaching. So, in this case, the passage makes reference to the fact that Bodhisattva Dharmakara realized ultimate reality and dwelled constantly in it, which made Him understand that dharmas or phenomena of samsaric existence are “empty, devoid of distinctive features, and not to be sought-after, and that they neither act nor arise; He thus realized that all dharmas are like magical creations.”

This aspect is extremely important, because it shows that Dharmakara was doing all kinds of good deeds for the benefit of others while having access to the ultimate Reality beyond ego and beyond samsaric phenomena. That is indeed the absolute way to do good deeds as that means He was truly without any selfish reasons. When one’s Compassion is rooted in Infinite Wisdom that understands the emptiness of all phenomena then one’s actions are truly without any trace of false self, thus generating real supramundane infinite merits. Such supramundane infinite merits He invested in His Name when He became Amida Buddha.

Among other practices Bodhisattva Dharmakara engaged in, Shakyamuni mentioned:

”He avoided all wrong speech that would bring harm upon himself or others or both; He engaged in right speech that would bring benefit to himself or others or both. He abandoned His kingdom and renounced the throne, leaving behind wealth and sensuous pleasures. Practicing the six paramitas himself, He taught others to do the same. During innumerable kalpas, He accumulated merit and amassed virtues.

Wherever He was born, an immeasurable store of treasure spontaneously appeared as He wished. He taught countless sentient beings and guided them on the path of highest, true Enlightenment. He was reborn as a rich man, a lay devotee, a member of the highest caste or of noble family (brahman), a ksatriya king, a wheel-turning monarch (cakravartin), a king of one of the six heavens in the world of desire, or even higher, as a Brahma king. He revered and worshiped all Buddhas by making the four kinds of offerings to them. The merit He thus acquired was indescribably great. Fragrance issued from His mouth as from a blue lotus flower, and every pore of His body emitted the scent of sandalwood, which permeated innumerable worlds. His appearance was majestic and His physical characteristics and marks were truly wonderful. From his hands, inexhaustible treasures, clothes, food and drink, rare and exquisite flowers and incense, silken canopies, banners, and other ornaments were produced. In such manifestations, He was unrivalled among all heavenly and human beings. He thus attained command of all dharmas (phenomena).”[2]

Emperor Wu is representative for all of us who have the pretention that by our deeds we are clean and pure without even realizing that the true virtues are in fact far away from our tiny actions fulfilled under the influence of the false self. What the Emperor had accomplished represented mere mundane merits: that is why Bodhidharma told him: “not one merit”. We cannot seek to be born in the Pure Land through such a false, deceitful and poisoned good, but instead we rely on Amida Buddha’s transference of merits because only He has true otherworldly and supramundane merits as we have seen above.