"To avoid evil, do good and purify one’s mind" according to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism

A reader asked Shingyo Sensei of Amidaji: “The most succinct definition of any school of Buddhism made by the Buddha himself is the sentence ‘Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind, this is the teaching of the Buddhas’. Is this to be found in the teachings of Jodo Shinshu?”


Shingyo Senseigave him a very simple and direct answer:
“This was said in the context of the self-power Path. However, it is possible to reinterpret these words in accordance with the Path of Other Power (Jodo Shinshu Buddhism/the Path of total reliance on Amida’s Power):


“Not to do any evil”- wish to be born in the Pure Land. (Samsara is evil).
“To cultivate good” - say the Name of Amida Buddha (no good is higher than His Name).
“To purify one’s mind”- entrust yourself to Amida Buddha.”

My commentary:
I think Shingyo Sensei’s words are golden and from now on they will remain Amidaji’s official reading of the above saying by Shakyamuni recorded in Dhammapada 183. However, I think a few more details are needed to better understand his explanation.


First, let me state that Jodo Shinshu or the teaching of Amida’s indiscriminative salvation is NOT an encouragement to do evil as I often explained in many of my articles based on Shakyamuni’s own words in the Larger Sutra and the various sayings of our lineage Masters. However, we believe that true purity of mind can be attained only after birth in the Pure Land when we become Enlightened Ones. This might have been one way to answer that reader, but Shingyo Sensei pointed out directly to the Primal Vow. His simple explanations are not actually a re-interpretation of Shakyamuni's words but a correct reading of them through the eyes of the Primal Vow and the perspective of the Pure Land Dharma Gate which was also taught by Shakyamuni Buddha.
Thus, as long as we are in samsara and our minds are samsaric minds we cannot avoid evil. Because samsara itself is the illusory emanation of our unenlightened minds, we cannot stop being evil while we are prisoners of our own dream. Yes, there are better realms in samsara than our human plane of existence or the lower realms, but even the world of the gods is still infected by ignorance and subtle attachments. As long as the smallest grain of ignorance and attachment remains within us we are still evil, so the only way of totally avoiding evil is to wish to be born in the Pure Land because only in that enlightened realm our blind passions and ignorance are melted like ice meeting fire and our innate Buddha nature with its myriad qualities will reveal itself automatically. Only as Buddhas in the Pure Land we can naturally avoid evil, do good and have pure minds.


Also, here in this samsaric world or collective dream, which is itself the effect and manifestation of our unenlightened minds and evil deeds, the Nembutsu alone is true and real. Although it is said in this world and with our lips, the Name of Amida Buddha does not belong to us, but to the world of Awakening and to Amida Buddha himself. This Name is the highest good because it contains the infinite merits of Amida and all Buddhas, and to say it in faith is the only good thing we can do in this life.


The only method to purify our minds, avoid evil and do good that is available to low level beings like us who cannot attain liberation by themselves, is to accept the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha where He asks us to entrust to Him, say His Name and wish to be born in His Pure Land.Because faith is the base of the saying of the Name and the wish to be born in the Pure Land where we automatically attain perfect Enlightenment (Nirvana/Buddhahood), we can say that faith is the Path to real purification. On the Pure Land Dharma Gate faith (shinjin) is the cause of Nirvana and only Nirvana is purity:


"Those who attain true and real shinjin (faith)
Immediately join the truly settled;
Thus having entered the stage of non-retrogression,
They necessarily attain Nirvana"[1]


The Pure Land reading of Shakyamuni’s words “not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind” that I and Shingyo Sensei presented in this article is “the teaching of the Buddhas” because all Buddhas praise the Name of Amida and thus encourage us to say it in faith. We do not pretend to know what all Buddhas think and do, but Amida himself promised in His 17th Vowthat all Buddhas will praise His Name, and Shakyamuni confirmed it by telling us about this vow when He taught the Larger Sutra:


“If, when I attain Buddhahood, innumerable Buddhas in the lands of the ten directions should not all praise and glorify my Name, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment” [2]
(the 17th Vow of Amida Buddha).


He also said in the same sutra:


“All Buddha Tathagatas in the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges River, together praise the inconceivable, supernal virtue of Amitayus (Amida).”[3]
[1] Shinran Shonin, Hymns of the Pure Land (Jodo Wasan), The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p. 341
[2] The Three Pure Land sutras, translated into English by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, revised second edition, BDK English Tripitaka12-II, II, IV, Numata Center for Buddhist translation and Research, 2003, p.15
[3] The Three Pure Land sutras, translated into English by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, revised second edition, BDK English Tripitaka12-II, II, IV, Numata Center for Buddhist translation and Research, 2003, p.35

Adrian Cirlea
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