Commentaries

Notes on 'Essenstials of Faith Alone' (2)

That Buddha, in the causal stage, made the universal Vow:
When beings hear my Name and think on me, I will come to welcome each of them,
Not discriminating at all between the poor and the rich and wellborn,
Not discriminating between the inferior and the highly gifted,
Not choosing the learned and those upholding pure precepts,
Nor rejecting those who break precepts and whose evil karma is profound.
Solely making beings turn about and abundantly say the nembutsu,
I can make bits of rubble change into gold.

That Buddha, in the causal stage, made the universal Vow

That Buddha refers to Amida Buddha.

In the causal stage indicates the time when Amida Buddha was Bodhisattva Dharmakara.

Universal means wide, to spread. Bhiksu Dharmakara established the supreme, unexcelled Vow and spread it widely. "Supreme" means that it goes beyond the vows of other Buddhas. It connotes transcendent, unequalled. The Tathagata's establishing of the universal Vow is explained in detail in Essentials of Faith Alone.

When beings hear my Name and think on me

Hear is a word indicating shinjin.

Name refers to the Name embodying the Tathagata's Vow.

Think on me instructs us, Hold this Name in mindfulness! This is implied in the compassionate Vow that all the Buddhas pronounce the Name. "Hold in mindfulness" means that people of true shinjin constantly recall the Primal Vow without interruption.

I will come to welcome each of them.

Each of them means all inclusive, everyone. Welcome means to receive, to await, expressing Other Power. Come means to return, to be made to come. Thus, we are made to come and return to the city of dharma-nature. Since there is coming from the city of dharma-nature into this Saha world to benefit sentient beings, come has the sense of "to arrive from"; since there is attainment of the enlightenment of dharma-nature, it means "to return."

Not discriminating at all between the poor and the rich and wellborn

Not discriminating means not choosing, not rejecting.

Poor means impoverished and in need. At all is for emphasis, meaning "not at all"; it also means "with" and to lead. Rich and wellborn indicates the wealthy and the people of rank. Thus, without in the least differentiating among such people, Amida leads each and every person to the Pure Land.

Not discriminating between the inferior and the highly gifted

Inferior refers to those whose knowledge is shallow, limited, and slight.

Highly gifted indicates those with great ability for learning. Amida does not choose between the two.

Not choosing the learned and those who uphold pure precepts

Learned means to hear and believe in numerous and diverse sacred teachings.

Upholding means to maintain. "To maintain" means not to lose or dissipate what we learn.

Pure precepts indicates all the various Hinayana and Mahayana precepts - the five precepts, the eight precepts, the ten precepts of morality, all the Hinayana codes of precepts, the three-thousand regulations of deportment, the sixty-thousand regulatory practices, the diamondlike one-mind precepts of the Mahayana, the threefold pure precept, the fifty-eight precepts expounded in the Brahma-net Sutra, and so on - all the precepts for monks and for laypeople. To maintain these is "to uphold" and to violate them is "to break." Even saintly people who observe these various Mahayana and Hinayana precepts can attain birth in the true fulfilled land only after they realize the true and real shinjin of Other Power. Know that it is impossible to be born in the true, fulfilled Pure Land by simply observing precepts, or by self-willed conviction, or by self-cultivated good.

Nor rejecting those who break precepts and whose evil karma is profound

Break precepts applies to people who, having received the precepts for monks or laymen mentioned earlier, break and abandon them; such people are not rejected.

Evil karma is profound: evil people who have committed the ten transgressions or the five grave offenses, people of evil karma who have reviled the teaching or who lack seeds for Buddhahood, those of scant roots of good, those of massive karmic evil, those of shallow inclination to good, those of profound attachment to evil - such wretched men as these, profound in various kinds of evil karma, are described by the word profound. Profound means bottomless. Good people, bad people, noble and low, are not differentiated in the Vow of the Buddha of unhindered light, in which the guiding of each person is primary and fundamental. Know that the true essence of the Pure Land teaching (Jodo shinshu) is that when we realize true and real shinjin, we are born in the true fulfilled land.

Come and welcome each of them means making all beings of true and real shinjin return to the Pure Land by welcoming and leading them there.

Solely making beings turn about and abundantly say the nembutsu

Solely making beings turn about instructs us, Single-heartedly make your heart turn about!

Turn about means to overturn and discard the mind of self-power. Since those people who are to be born in the true fulfilled land are without fail taken into the heart of the Buddha of unhindered light, they realize diamondlike shinjin. Thus, they "abundantly say the Name."

Abundant means "great" in the sense of great in number, "exceeding" and "supreme" in the sense of excelling and surpassing all good acts. This is because nothing excels the Primal Vow embodying Other Power.

"To abandon the mind of self-power" admonishes the various and diverse kinds of people - master of Hinayana or Mahayana, ignorant beings good or evil - to abandon the conviction that one is good, to cease relying on the self; to stop reflecting knowingly on one's evil heart, and further to abandon the judging of people as good and bad. When such shackled foolish beings - the lowly who are hunters and peddlers - thus wholly entrust themselves to the Name embodying great wisdom, the inconceivable Vow of the Buddha of unhindered light, then while burdened as they are with blind passion, they all attain supreme nirvana. "Shackled" describes us, who are bound by all our various blind passions. Blind passions refers to pains which torment the body and afflictions which distress the heart and mind. The hunter is one who slaughters many kinds of living things; this is the huntsman. The peddler is one who buys and sells things; this is the trader. They are called "low." Such peddlers, hunters, and others are none other than we, who are like stones and tiles and pebbles.

I can make bits of rubble change into gold

This is a metaphor. When we entrust ourselves to the Tathagata's Primal Vow, we, who are like bits of tile and pebbles, are turned into gold. Peddlers and hunters, who are like stones and tiles and pebbles, are grasped and never abandoned by the Tathagata's light. Know that this comes about solely through true shinjin. We speak of the light that grasps because we are taken into the heart of the Buddha of unhindered light; thus, shinjin is said to be diamondlike.

Although I have not set forth the meaning of this passage as fully as I would like, I have presented a rough explanation. I hope the reader will ask good teachers about its profound implications.

The passage is the exposition of Tz'u-min, master of the Tripitaka, who studied in India. In China he is known as Hui-jih.