Showing posts with label Words among Travelers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Words among Travelers. Show all posts
Honen's One Sheet Document
On January 23, 1212, Honen wrote the One Sheet Document (Ichimai-Kishomon) at the request of Genchi, his close disciple...
"My O-Nembutsu is not a meditation that has been advocated by wise masters of China and Japan. My O-Nembutsu is not the meditation of Amida's name after mastering the profound meaning through studying it. My O-Nembutsu is just to recite Amida's name - Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amida Bu - without any other reason than faith that I will be received into his pure land of ultimate bliss without fail. Even the Three Minds and the Four Cultivations are all decisively enveloped in believing one will be received into his pure land by reciting Namo Amida Bu. If you hold to deeper knowledge besides the recitation of Amida Buddha's name, you will miss the compassion of the two honourable ones (Amida Nyorai and Shakyamuni Buddha) and you will be left out of the supreme vow of Amida Buddha. If you believe in my O-Nembutsu, even if you master the whole teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, just recite Amida Buddha's name with all your heart, as though you had no knowledge and no intelligence at all"
He passed away two days later on January 25, 1212 at the age of eighty.
Copied from an email from Amida_friends@amidatrust.com :
"My O-Nembutsu is not a meditation that has been advocated by wise masters of China and Japan. My O-Nembutsu is not the meditation of Amida's name after mastering the profound meaning through studying it. My O-Nembutsu is just to recite Amida's name - Namo Amida Bu, Namo Amida Bu - without any other reason than faith that I will be received into his pure land of ultimate bliss without fail. Even the Three Minds and the Four Cultivations are all decisively enveloped in believing one will be received into his pure land by reciting Namo Amida Bu. If you hold to deeper knowledge besides the recitation of Amida Buddha's name, you will miss the compassion of the two honourable ones (Amida Nyorai and Shakyamuni Buddha) and you will be left out of the supreme vow of Amida Buddha. If you believe in my O-Nembutsu, even if you master the whole teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, just recite Amida Buddha's name with all your heart, as though you had no knowledge and no intelligence at all"
He passed away two days later on January 25, 1212 at the age of eighty.
Copied from an email from Amida_friends@amidatrust.com :
Immerse Your Broken Pot
A disciple came to the master and said: Sir, I am like a leaky pot. I listen to the Dharma and it all goes in easily, but within half an hour nothing remains.
A second disciple said: Sir, I am like an up-side-down pot. I cannot let anything in.
A third disciple said: Sir, I am a dirty pot - I take it all in and keep it, but I am already corrupt and soon what has been poured in is contaminated by the greed, hate and delusion that was in there before.
The three disciples each asked: How can I make my pot perfect?
The master replied: Once there was a potter who made good pots. But in the process there were many faulty ones as well. The good pots were sold and each carried good water now and again. Each got clean and dirty many times. In the end they all got damaged one way or another and became faulty pots in their turn. The faulty pots he threw in the river beside where he worked. The pots that were in the river were always full of pure fresh water direct from the mountain. They were never thirsty. They were always clean, never contaminated, and nobody worried if they had cracks and holes any more. Sometimes customers waiting to buy new pots waited by the river and, looking down into the water, would muse, ‘How wonderful it is that this fine potter has even created here a shimmering mosaic floor.’
A second disciple said: Sir, I am like an up-side-down pot. I cannot let anything in.
A third disciple said: Sir, I am a dirty pot - I take it all in and keep it, but I am already corrupt and soon what has been poured in is contaminated by the greed, hate and delusion that was in there before.
The three disciples each asked: How can I make my pot perfect?
The master replied: Once there was a potter who made good pots. But in the process there were many faulty ones as well. The good pots were sold and each carried good water now and again. Each got clean and dirty many times. In the end they all got damaged one way or another and became faulty pots in their turn. The faulty pots he threw in the river beside where he worked. The pots that were in the river were always full of pure fresh water direct from the mountain. They were never thirsty. They were always clean, never contaminated, and nobody worried if they had cracks and holes any more. Sometimes customers waiting to buy new pots waited by the river and, looking down into the water, would muse, ‘How wonderful it is that this fine potter has even created here a shimmering mosaic floor.’
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