last week my good friend Kunga D wrote a piece over at his blog, Why are we amazed? myself being an admitted hopeless romantic, prone to burying my head in books of haiku, dreaming of misty-mountain revelations and deep sunyatic realisations awoken by the smell of falling plum blossom, i must admit the frankness of his squawking at first ruffled me. however, once i'd straightened out those feathers and had time to ponder his words with hopefully a bit of clarity i found myself thinking about two aspects of the Jodo Shinshu path.
the first is a word we all encounter in one form or another pretty early on when studying/practising the Pure Land schools. In Japanese it is rendered "Muryoju" - Eternal Life. bear with me here, as it might appear i'm running off in completely the opposite direction of what my friend is saying (really, i'm not lol). Amida Buddha has many names or titles if you like, all referring to his different aspects, but perhaps the two most well known are Amitabha - Infinite Light and Amitayus - Eternal Life. the former is symbolic of wisdom (light breaking through the darkness of ignorance) whereas the latter of compassion (so long as there are sentient beings unawoken to the vow he will be here, leading them to his Pure Land).
the reason i picked up on the latter aspect - muryoju - is in remembering an account mine and Kyoshin's sensei told our samgha one time. he had received a piece of calligraphy from the late DT Suzuki (of whom, he was his last student) to take back to his Dharma mother at the temple. it bore simply the character for Muryoju. realising he could not take it back without an explanation, he returned to Suzuki-sensei, asking what the character meant - "Sensei, regarding the calligraphy you did for Ekai-san, what does this 'Eternal Life' mean." He replied, "Well, see that cat moving over there and the daffodils blooming in the garden? All of it is Eternal Life. Yes, everything's the working of Eternal Life." http://bit.ly/fH4KrJ
the second thing i picked up on was the 'gyo' part of the Kyogyoshinsho, which most people are familiar with as meaning 'practice'. however, in a translation just short of complete before his death, Suzuki chose to translate this term instead as 'living' believing it closer to Shinran Shonin's intent. Great Practice becomes Great Living, placing it firmly in the midst of our lives, and thus resolving the tendency we often have to seperate the two.
following this musing then, i can acknowledge the danger Kunga mentions in sublimating or spiritualising everything that is meaningful. a common trap i've fallen into many a time is chasing after intense feelings of joy experienced on the path, believing that somehow if i can't get back to them then i'm missing out on the Vow. of course, this thinking fails to realise the Amitabha - light penetrates all corners - and also, while busy chasing, so distracted as to look past "everything's the working of Eternal Life."
that everything is the working, means not only those times we experience great joy but also those times we seem to be picking our way through the darkness. we'd like to seperate the two and place the former in the realm of Amida and the latter in the realm of suffering because to a self-orientated mind, the alternative seems perverse. but to do so is to deny the compassion which is itself muryoju. when we receive an awareness of this working, then our whole being is re-orientated and the dichotomy we might place between practice and living is nulled.
namu amida butsu
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ReplyDeleteJon reading your post and Kunga's I couldn't help thinking of the talk you gave at the temple in May. To me the problem of people 'spiritualising' the activity of 'saints' - for example - is not only that it can make them appear other-worldly and super-human; thereby having a discouraging effect on one's practice but that it misses the dynamic at the centre of their lives. For me what is lacking in Kunga's post is a sense of the way that those we now revere as saints and sages came to an awareness of all that supports them precisely trhough an initial sense of self-limitation. So I agree with him in that we have the resources that we need but I think that sensing the gap between what we see in the lives of 'saints' and our own awareness of our personal condition can be a very important stage in coming to appreciate the true nature of our existence and the support(s) of practice. cf: This and this.
ReplyDeleteThis is why Jodo Shinshu cannot flourish if it is transmitted in a church-like manner with priests talking down to people. It has to be about encounter between individuals within an introspective atmosphere. Otherwise talk of 'limitation' and so on will just sound overly negative.
hi Kyoshin, thanks for your comments. yes certainly i think encounter plays a pivotal point in the process. i do not think it need be the 'saint' necessarily, just someone who lives their entrusting day by day.
ReplyDeleteyour last point gave much pause for thought. by and large to you believe modern Shinshu is accomplishing this? also found one of Haneda's quotes in the link you provided very problematic...but that is another point for another time perhaps.
i do not think it need be the 'saint' necessarily, just someone who lives their entrusting day by day.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference in your mind?
your last point gave much pause for thought. by and large to you believe modern Shinshu is accomplishing this?
No I am not convinced that it is. I think that often this dynamic is not present and so the negative aspect rears it's head - and that pushes the temples toward a process of neutering challenging aspects of the teaching so as to make it more palatable to people.
also found one of Haneda's quotes in the link you provided very problematic...but that is another point for another time perhaps.
I can guess which one I think! Yes with this post and the last, plus some of my musings recently at Echoes, we seem to be headed toward a discussion of 'attainment(s)'.
What's the difference in your mind?
ReplyDeletenow if that doesn't feel like a loaded question, i don't know what does lol! i guess what i was reaching at is that it need not be an encounter (personal or otherwise) with what may appear initially as some kind of superhuman ideal. for example - in the mind of the noviate there may appear a world of difference between some crazy yogic saint performing siddhis and a humble farmer voicing the nembutsu.
I can guess which one I think! Yes with this post and the last, plus some of my musings recently at Echoes, we seem to be headed toward a discussion of 'attainment(s)'.
hmmm, yes it does keep cropping up doesn't it. and yet i can't help but feel a little...unqualified. still, if people haven't got the pointer in calling it 'blathering nonsense' by now...anyway, a weighty topic to address!
I guess what I was hinting at is that - whether the person has all the trappings of a 'saint' or a more mundane appearance - the 'noviate' senses the 'pure mind' through that person'; a mind that at that point they encounter as something 'other'. This then sets in play the reflective dynamic whereby they come to discover 'all that supports us'.
ReplyDeletewhether the person has all the trappings of a 'saint' or a more mundane appearance - the 'noviate' senses the 'pure mind' through that person';
ReplyDeleteabsolutely right. it shines through outward modes of distinction one might make so that ultimately saint or farmer it does not matter.
Very interesting. Viz. attainments: fitting somehow to recall that these are both mundane and supramundane - the mundane attainments are demonstrated in the miracles displayed by saints; the supramundane attainment - Mahamudra, the realisation of reality as it is - is displayed by Buddhas, whether these are farmers, princes, etc. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHey Kunga thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that different notions of attainment will shape the criteria for 'saint-hood'. In the Shinshu tradition I think the main definition of a saint ('shonin' in Japanese) is someone through whom we can glimpse the ultimate. And, as in Shinshu Buddha-hood is only achieved after this life is ended there can be no categorisation of the sort that you outline from the Tibetan tradition.
Haing said that I think that Shinran is sometimes called 聖人 (shonin = enlightened being) whereas subsequent leaders of the Jodo Shinshu tradition are termed 上人 (shonin = excellent person). So it seems that there is some distinction made at times though probably as a mark of respect rather than anything else.