Precisely because i practice Pure Land, that's why i think it is
simple and easy. A letter by Shinran, whose teachings i follow:
Response to an Inquiry from the Nembutsu
People of Kasama
According to Shin Buddhism, there are two kinds
of people who seek birth in the Pure Land: those of Other Power and
those of self-power. This has been taught by the Indian masters and
Pure Land teachers.
Self-power is the effort to attain birth, whether
by invoking the names of Buddhas other than Amida and practicing
good acts other than the nembutsu, in accordance with your
particular circumstances and opportunities; or by endeavoring to
make yourself worthy through mending the confusion in your acts,
words, and thoughts, confident of your own powers and guided by
your own calculation.
Other Power is the entrusting of yourself to
the Eighteenth among Amida Tathagata's Vows, the Primal Vow of
birth through the nembutsu, which Amida selected and adopted from
among all other practices. Since this is the Vow of Tathagata,
Honen said: "In Other Power, no working is true working." "Working"
[that is negated] is a term connoting calculation. Since the
calculation of the person seeking birth is self-power, it is
"working." Other Power is entrusting ourselves to the Primal Vow
and our birth becoming firmly settled; hence it is altogether
without one's own working. Thus, on the one hand, you should not be
anxious that Tathagata will not receive you because you do wrong. A
foolish being is by nature possessed of blind passions, so you must
recognize yourself as a being of karmic evil. On the other hand,
you should not think that you deserve to attain birth because you
are good. You cannot be born into the true and real fulfilled land
through such self-power calculation. I have been taught that with
shinjin of self-power a person can attain birth only in the realm
of indolence, the borderland, the womb-palace, or the city of
doubt.
Through the fulfillment of the Eighteenth Primal
Vow, Bodhisattva Dharmakara has become Amida Tathagata, and the
benefit that surpasses conceptual understanding has come to
transcend all bounds; to express this, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu uses
the words, "Tathagata of unhindered light filling the ten
quarters." Truly know, therefore, that without any differentiation
between people good and bad, and regardless of one's having a heart
of blind passions, all beings are certain to attain birth.
Describing the manner of entrusting in the nembutsu of the Primal
Vow, Genshin, Master of Eshin-in, states in his
Essentials for Attaining
Birth: "It makes no difference whether you are
walking, standing still, sitting, or reclining, nor is there a
choice to be made among times, places, or other circumstances." He
affirms beyond question that the person who has attained true
shinjin has been grasped by the compassionate light. And so,
Sakyamuni has taught, at the very moment that we, possessed of
ignorance and blind passions, are born into the Pure Land of peace,
we attain the supreme fruit of Buddhahood.
Yet, it is very rare that people of this corrupt
world of the five defilements embrace the teaching of the one
Buddha, Sakyamuni, alone, and for this reason al the Buddhas
throughout the ten quarters, countless as the sands of the Ganges,
have become witnesses to the attainment of birth through the
nembutsu that embodies Amida's Primal Vow; this Master Shan-tao has
written in his commentary. He explains that Sakyamuni, Amida, and
the Buddhas of the ten quarters, all with the same mind, are no
more apart from sentient beings of the nembutsu than shadows from
things. Hence it is that Sakyamuni rejoices in persons of shinjin,
saying, "They are my true companions." Persons of shinjin are the
true disciples of the Buddha; they are the ones who abide in
right-mindedness. Since they have been grasped never to be
abandoned, they are said to have attained the diamondlike mind.
They are called "the best among the best," "excellent persons"
"wondrous, excellent persons," "the very finest persons," "rare
persons." Such people have become established in the stage of the
truly settled and are declared, therefore, to be the equal of
Maitreya Buddha. This means that since they have realized true
shinjin, they will necessarily be born in the true and real
fulfilled land. You should know that this shinjin is bestowed
through the compassionate means of Sakyamuni, Amida, and all the
Buddhas in the quarters. Therefore you should not disparage the
teachings of other Buddhas or the people who perform good acts
other than nembutsu. Neither should you despise those who scorn and
slander people of nembutsu; rather, you should have compassion and
care for them. This was Honen's teaching.
Respectfully.
The depth of the Buddha's benevolence is such
that even with birth in the realm of indolence and pride, the
borderland, the city of doubt or the womb-palace, which is brought
about only through the compassion revealed in Amida's Nineteenth
and Twentieth Vows, we meet with a happiness that surpasses
understanding. Thus the depth of the Buddha's benevolence is
without bound. But how much more should we realize the benevolence
of the Buddha with birth into the true and real fulfilled land and
attainment of the enlightenment of the supreme nirvana. This is not
a matter that Shoshin-bo or I have decided ourselves. Not in any
way at all.
Kencho 7 [1255], Tenth month, 3rd
day
Gutoku Shinran
Written at age 83
[It is said that this letter was copied from
Shinran Shonin's own draft, found among the remains of the
venerable Shoshin-bo and circulated among the
followers.]