Hymns in Japanese
Hymns of the Dharma-Ages
Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance, and
Last Dharma-Ages
28
Having immediately entered the stage of the truly
settled
On realizing true and real shinjin, a person will,
Being the same as Maitreya of the rank of succession
To Buddhahood, attain supreme enlightenment.
Supreme enlightenment: great, complete nirvana.
29
Even the wise who lived during the semblance dharma-age
Put aside the various teachings of self-power
And entered the gate of the nembutsu,
For it is the teaching in accord with the times and with beings.
30
Persons who truly realize shinjin
As they utter Amida's Name,
Being mindful of the Buddha always,
Wish to respond in gratitude to the great benevolence.
31
When sentient beings of this evil world of the five
defilements
Entrust themselves to the selected Primal Vow,
Virtues indescribable, inexplicable, and inconceivable
Fill those practicers.
32
The Buddha of Unhindered Light declared:
"To benefit the sentient beings of the future,
I entrust the nembutsu of wisdom
To Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta."
33
Full of compassion for the sentient beings of this
defiled world,
Mahasthamaprapta encourages us to say the nembutsu;
He embraces the people of shinjin
And brings them into the Pure Land.
Embraces: takes in and holds.
34
Through the compassion of Sakyamuni and Amida,
We have been brought to realize the mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood.
It is by entering the wisdom of shinjin
That we become persons who respond in gratitude to the Buddha's
benevolence.
l.1: know that we receive true shinjin through their guidance.
Mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood: the mind that entrusts
to [Amida's] Vow to become Buddha; the aspiration for supreme enlightenment
in the Pure Land path.
Wisdom of shinjin: know that since Amida's Vow is wisdom,
the emergence of the mind of entrusting oneself to it is the arising
of wisdom.
35
It is by the power of Dharmakara's Vow
That we realize the nembutsu that is wisdom;
Were it not for the wisdom of shinjin,
How could we attain nirvana?
Nembutsu that is wisdom: this is said because one attains
Buddhahood through Amida's Vow.
Attain nirvana: become true Buddha.
36
It is a great torch in the long night of ignorance;
Do not sorrow that your eyes of wisdom are dark.
It is a ship on the vast ocean of birth-and-death;
Do not grieve that your obstructions of karmic evil are heavy.
Great torch: Amida's Primal Vow is likened to a torch.
37
The power of the Vow is without limit;
Thus, even our karmic evil, deep and heavy, is not oppressive.
The Buddha's wisdom is without bounds;
Thus, even those of distracted minds and self-indulgence are not
abandoned.
l.1: the Buddha's power is without limit.
l.2: we should not think the obstructions of our karmic evil
to be too deep and heavy.
l.3: know that the Buddha's wisdom is vast and without limit.
l.4: we should know that we will go to the Pure Land regardless
of the distraction and evil of our minds.
38
When we reflect on the establishment of the Vow,
We find that the Tathagata, without abandoning sentient beings in
pain and affliction,
Has taken the directing of virtue to them as foremost,
Thus fulfilling the mind of great compassion.
Establishment of the Vow: Amida Tathagata's establishing
of the compassionate Vow.
l.4: know that Amida has attained the mind of great love
and great compassion.
39
The saying of the Name arising from true and real
shinjin
Is Amida's directing of virtue to beings;
Therefore, it is called "not directing merit,"
And saying the nembutsu in self-power is rejected.
Not directing merit: this expression means that we are to
realize that it is not the practicer's directing of merit. This
matter is explained in Essentials for Attaining Birth.
40
When the waters - the minds, good and evil, of foolish
beings -
Have entered the vast ocean
Of Amida's Vow of wisdom, they are immediately
Transformed into the mind of great compassion.
l.1: good and evil minds are likened to [river] waters.
Transformed: the mind of evil is transformed into good.
l.4: Just as the various waters enter the ocean and immediately
become seawater, so the waters of the minds, good and evil, become
the mind of great compassion.
41
"Among my disciples, who will give themselves
to doing evil,
Wrong views and self-indulgence will flourish,
And in the last age they will destroy my teaching."
Thus Sakyamuni foretells in the Lotus Face Sutra.
42
Sentient beings who slander the nembutsu
Fall into Avici hell
And suffer great pain and affliction without respite
For eighty thousand kalpas; thus it is taught.
Avici: "uninterrupted" hell.
43
Receiving the true cause of birth in the true fulfilled
land
Through the words of the two honored ones,
We dwell in the stage of the truly settled;
Thus, we will unfailingly attain nirvana.
Nirvana: great, complete nirvana.
44
Through the words of the witness and protection
Of the countless Buddhas throughout the ten quarters,
We should realize that the mind of self-power aspiring for supreme
enlightenment
Is incapable of reaching fulfillment.
45
Realization of true and real shinjin
Is rare in the defiled world of the last dharma-age;
The witness of Buddhas countless as the sands of the Ganges
Reveals how difficult it is to attain.
46
If we had not encountered
Amida's directing of virtue for going forth and returning,
Our transmigration in birth-and-death would have no end;
What could we do then, sinking in this sea of pain?
l.2: the two aspects of Amida's directing virtue.
47
When we entrust ourselves to the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom,
We dwell in the stage of the truly settled.
Those who are born transformed [in the Pure Land] are of superior
wisdom,
And they realize the supreme enlightenment.
48
Entrusting ourselves to the inconceivable Buddha-wisdom
Is taught to be the cause of birth in the fulfilled land.
Realization of shinjin, which is the true cause,
Is among all difficulties even more difficult.
49
Casting off the pain of birth-and-death since the
beginningless past,
We are certain of attaining supreme nirvana.
This is through Amida's directing of virtue for going forth and
returning;
Our gratitude for the Buddha's benevolence is truly hard to fulfill.
50
Those born in the fulfilled land - practicers of
shinjin - are few;
Those born in transformed lands - practicers of self-power - are
many.
Since enlightenment cannot be attained through self-power,
We have been transmigrating for innumerable kalpas.
51
The directing of virtue embodied in Namu-amida-butsu
Is, in its benevolent working, vast and inconceivable;
Through the benefit of the directing of virtue for going forth,
We enter the directing of virtue for returning to this world.
52
Through great love, which is Amida's directing of
virtue for our going forth,
We attain great compassion, which is Amida's directing of virtue
for our return;
If not for the Buddha's directing of virtue,
How could we realize enlightenment in the Pure Land?
53
Amida, Avalokitesvara, and Mahasthamaprapta
Ride on the ship of the great Vow;
Going out on the ocean of birth-and-death,
They call to beings and bring them on board.
54
Those who deeply entrust themselves
To Amida's Vow of great compassion
Should all say Namu-amida-butsu constantly,
Whether they are waking or sleeping.
55
Those who follow the Path of Sages
All take the mind of self-power as essential;
On entering the inconceivable working of Other Power,
They truly realize that no working is true working.
56
Although we have the teachings of Sakyamuni,
There are no sentient beings who can practice them;
Hence, it is taught that in the last dharma-age,
Not a single person will attain enlightenment through them.
57
Eminent Pure Land teachers of India, China, and Japan!
Out of pity and compassion, embrace us,
And guiding us to realization of true and real shinjin,
Bring us to enter the stage of the truly settled.
l.4: please bring us to enter the stage of unfailing attainment
of Buddhahood.
58
Those who realize shinjin, which is Other Power,
"Revere [the dharma] and greatly rejoice in it,
And therefore are my true companions." Such is the praise
Of the World-honored one, the master of the teaching.
59
Such is the benevolence of Amida's great compassion,
That we must strive to return it, even to the breaking of our bodies;
Such is the benevolence of the masters and true teachers,
That we must endeavor to repay it, even to our bones becoming dust.
Here ends the Hymns on
the Right, Semblance, and Last Dharma-Ages
Fifty-eight hymns
|
