Hello! I am a follower of Pure Land Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, and I really enjoyed your talk! Thank you for sharing it!

I am surprised at the perceptivity with which the teacher has understood Jodo Shinshu, despite not being a practitioner of its methods. Wonderful.

The talk is great, just one thing though, when we call Amitabha Buddha, we don't call that power of something outside of ourselves, we actually call or reminded ourselves that Buddha's nature that always within us, which everyone already have, so by the practicing of repeating Amitabha Buddha, what we actually do is to awaken this Buddha's nature more deeply, the more we practice, the more chance it is possible to enter a Samadhi state. However, for most layman, the practical purpose is to be rebirth in Buddha's land. Once we are there, then we can continue our Boddisatvas's training which is the path to Perfect Enlightment, becoming future Buddha without worrying about the danger of the discontinuous spiritual practice due to being rebirth repeatedly from 3 realms.

@gustavo28973

5 жыл бұрын

It's a different point of view, in Shinshu's practice we "prefer" the feeling from the heart in the chanting than the quantity, so we don't practice the nembutsu quantitative

In Japan and China, most people pray to Kwanyin/Kannon and Amida/Amituofo as the all-powerful Gods of Buddhism.

The Pure Land notion of "Sraddha" (Sanskrit) is not too dissimilar to the Christian notion of "Pistis" (Greek). I think that most Western Buddhists think that Christian "faith" (pistis) is identical to "blind faith" (or believing in the teeth of the evidence) but this is a radical misunderstanding. Faith does not involve believing something which involves an obvious contradiction; rather it involves believing something which goes _beyond_ reason but which is not contradicted by reason. If I say: "God is the reason there is something rather than nothing"- this is not something which can be contradicted by reason. One _might_ have reasons for or against the proposition but one cannot establish that it is certainly a contradiction (its not like believing in a square-circle, for instance). In that sense it is a rational belief. But if I say: "God is love but he is also equally hate" this looks like an obvious contradiction. "Faith that" is of the first kind, not the second. "I have faith that x, y, z..." cannot involve a contradiction; if it does it is blind faith.

I want to point out that Buddhists (but Western Buddhists in particular) tend to have a rather facile notion of the Christian understanding of God. It is somewhat like rejecting Buddhism because of the facile notion of Buddhism that a Thai farmer might have of it. If you want to know what Buddhism is then read the Pali Canon, read the greatest minds in Buddhism, etc. If you want to know what Christianity is don't rely on what you learned in Sunday school but read Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and more recently Rowan Williams and David B Hart. Buddhists tend to have a rather absurd notion of what Christian's call "God" and that should be remedied.

THESE ARE NOT JUST STORIES BEST TO LISTEN TO A PURE LAND MONK

Where the heart is. Sraddha. 26:45

There is nothing wrong with being RELIGIOUS! the Buddha himself as religious, the Buddha himself was a great prophet like any other. Jeus in any of his aspects was a great Buddha. and having beleifs in certain superstitions aren't neccesarily a bad thing. so long as you don't get to carrid away with them or toomany.

i was just wanting to watch anime..

why would it be scary christinaity and Buddhism have more in comman then most people think. and even though its not monotheistic in the usual conventional sense. ultimately it is just as monotheistic as the actual monotheistic religions. and amida Buddha it present in some form in all Buddhism shakyamuni discover him and his pureland, in his meditation under the Bodhi tree. also the worship and submidssion to the ONE is just as present in shin and all Buddhism as it is in the Abrahamic faiths. and the adibuddha adivayu primordial Buddha and wind is the originator of all things which exists at the centre on Nirvana the divine state. of beings which is the Buddhist equivalent of God the great spirit The ONE> also I need zazen meditaition I can do it for hours regardless of any faith I practice zazen is what I need the most even if I was Christian of shin Buddhist. And Amitabha and his pureland in correlation to our own shakyamuni is like an access way to Nirvana/the father in paradise. he is the rough Buddhist equivalent of Christ. Christ and amida and very much very very similar.

KRISHNA IS TRUTH. AMITABHA IS FICTION.

@brandon637

2 жыл бұрын

Amitabha is your own ability to wake up, if Amitabha is false then you are in a very bad situation.

British Buddhists have great respect for Buddhism when they teach which is why they are far better than American Buddhist teachers who have no real respect or love for the Dharma.