Gateway To Eastern Philosophy & Religion (May 2014)

From the book Gateway to Eastern Philosophy & Religion, excerpted and reprinted with permission from Good Karma Publishing, and available on www.gkpub.com.

~ You Can’t Escape Yourself ~

A woman announced that since every day was such nonsense, she was going to leave her children and husband and go off to India and be with a Master. She couldn’t stand this rat race anymore. “Have you ever met a Master?” I asked. “No,” she answered. “Before you leave,” I said, “you better meet a Master. I’ll take you to meet one.” When she met Roshi, every thing she said to him, he’d pull the rug out from under her. For example, she told Roshi that she went to the races and picked five winners. (She was sure it was some supernatural skill she had.) He knocked that down right away. Afterward, she was crying, and she went home and cooked dinner for her family, and there was no more nonsense of her going off to India. I think Zen training would be good for anybody of any religion. It will take that person deeper in one’s own religion and he or she will learn a lot from it.

To study Indian Buddhism, you’re going to have to be a member of a sangha, a spiritual community… You’re going to have to be able to give up your routine life… But you can learn from studying Indian Buddhism… What the Buddha was telling you is the truth. How you apply it is going to be up to you. Maybe it’ll cause you to take a few steps in a different direction. For those of you who meditate, maybe it will strengthen your practice. Essentially, your karma will take you along the lines you’re supposed to follow.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

~ Shin Buddhism ~

Shin Buddhism is called “Pure Land” Buddhism. Shin Buddhism is quite different from Zen because Shin Buddhism is devotional. Pure Land Buddhism has to do with Amida Buddha. Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, is also called Amitayus. The Buddha of Infinite Light originated in India and came to Japan through China. In China he was known as Amitabha. When I gave the heightened awareness classes, we used Amitabha as a word to chant because of its powerful vibration.

The story of Amitabha is very beautiful. Amitabha, when he was a mere man, eons ago, when he was a Bodhisattva, made forty-eight great vows, one of which was to save all sentient beings. He said, “If you will think of me, and remember me, I will bring you to the Pure Land, the Western paradise where conditions are ideal for enlightenment.” He didn’t say “If you will be pure, I will bring you to the pure land.” He didn’t say that because he is not a judge. “If you will think of me,” he said, “I will bring you to the Pure Land, the Western paradise where conditions are ideal for enlightenment.” A member of the Amitabha sect might say, “I am a poor suffering man, I am weak, I can’t do Zen meditation. But Amitabha Buddha promised to save all sentient beings. I’m a sentient being. All I have to do is get myself out of the way and I’ll be saved.”

Consequently, families sit around late in the day and, as you walk along on the street, you’ll hear the family chant, “Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu, Namu Amida Butsu, hail to the Buddha of Infinite Light.” It has the effect of getting the self out of the way. When the self is gotten out of the way, as all the Buddhist sects say, then you are in the Pure Land…

Shin Buddhism is called the Buddhism of Other Power whereas Zen is Self power. In Zen, you’ve got to do it yourself. In Shin Buddhism the belief is, “I can’t do it, but I’ll let Amida Buddha do it for me.” Zen and Shin Buddhism appear to be diametrically opposed to each other. But the meditation and the stringent practices of Zen Buddhism bring you to selflessness, lack of self-attachment, don’t they? Similarly in Shin Buddhism, giving up and saying, “I can’t do it; I turn it over in great faith, entirely to the Buddha of Infinite Light,” isn’t that giving up your self too? Zen and Shin Buddhism come to the same point by different roads. I told you the story of the man who said he doesn’t do the Namu Amida Butsu chant any more, but that it’s going on in his heart all the time.