Amida do you hear me?

Amida do you hear me?

Sometimes I shout out your name and other times I can only manage a whisper.

Today is a shouting kind of day.

Today I shout "Namu Amida Butsu!" because the sun is shining and I feel great.

I feel great today because I am alive, healthy and able to appreciate the beauty of all that is around me.

Buddhism teaches that we are responsible for our own actions.  Buddhism teaches that all of the suffering we experience is created from within. My mind is full of delusion and blind passions.  I run after all the things I think that will make me happy and I run from all the things I don't want in my life.  Causes and conditions come together and I am confronted with situations that challenge my concept of "right" and "wrong" and "good" and "bad".

I believe there is no God to save me nor a Devil to tempt me.  Take those two concepts out of the equation and what I have left is:

me with a GIANT EGO, a fragile human body and a voice to shout

Namu Amida Butsu!

What I also have is a heart that entrusts in the teachings of Shinran Shonin.  Entrusting in the Vow power of Amida Buddha; the Vow of the Buddha to lead us to the Oneness.(1)  The great ocean of Compassion will carry me throughout my days.  I have to remember not to struggle and simply allow the soothing waters to carry me along my path.

Today, is a beautiful day and I don't feel the need to struggle with life's problems.  I am letting go and floating along.

It is a good day.

Yet, I must always remind myself that the great ocean of compassion surrounds me always, even on my dark days.  The darkness in my mind clouds my vision of what surrounds me.  So I shout out, call out, cry out Namu Amida Butsu!

Amida do you hear me?

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

Thank you,
Jishin






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(1) the Vow of the Buddha to lead us to the Oneness.

I made note of this phrase as spoken by Rev. Mark Unno during his seminar at the Oregon Buddhist Temple on January 19, 2013.