Expert: Judy - 6/22/2010

Question
Are there any disjuncture between textual studies of Buddhism and Buddhism as it is practiced in Shin Buddhist communities?

Answer
I wouldn't say that there is a disjuncture between textual studies of Buddhism and the practices in Shin Buddhism.  Everything between them is inter-related, although they do have different paths.

For example, the major emphasis in Buddhism in general and especially Zen is developing the eye of wisdom, whereas in Shin is to open the compassionate heart and cultivates entrusting faith.  The realization of emptiness and the aspiration for enlightenment that allows true compassion to grow is major part of studies in general Buddhism; whereas Shin emphasizes the realization of oneness with boundless compassion of Amida that opens the mind of faith and wisdom and the aspiration for rebirth in the Pure Land. A Buddhist tries to become one with the purified or Buddha mind, whereas a Shin practitioner totally relies on the Primal Vow (the Will for Life) of Amida Buddha. Enlightenment is not dependent in any way on one's own efforts in the latter case.

Shin Buddhism absolutely negates the self by extinguishing it and by uniting it with Amida Buddha. This union, however, does not dissolve one into Amida Buddha. Rather, by 'entrusting oneself' to Amida Buddha, one enters into a relation of absolute dependence, a relation in which there is an absolute gap between the base and evil self on the one hand and Amida Buddha on the other; and nevertheless there is a union of the two. This union, as an element essential to holiness, has the gap as its prerequisite. No order of holiness is possible without this separation. Precisely because it is transcendent and separate from us, holiness can be revered, worshiped, trusted, and believed in.

Dogen was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher.  He said, "to understand the Dharma is to understand the self. To understand the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things (dharmas)."  In Shin Buddhism/Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, it is understood: to understand the Dharma is to understand the self. To understand the self is to abandon the self. To abandon the self is to be embraced by Other Power. To be embraced by Other Power, which enlightens all things, is to recite the Amita Buddha's name in gratitude.