Vol. 3, Issue 4 (December 2023)

Jodo Shinshu International
A Buddhist Quarterly
Volume 3, Issue 4
2023
Take Refuge in the Ultimate Shelter

MISSION STATEMENT
Sharing with the world the deep and humbling joy of awakening to
Amida Buddha’s Universal Aspiration that enables each and every
person to live a spiritually fulfilled life.
ABOUT THE MISSION STATEMENT
This mission statement was articulated to convey a number of overarching
themes and goals that this founding committee wanted to share with its readers
through this quarterly journal. By introducing first-hand accounts of people
who have experienced the warmth of Amida Buddha’s embracing Compassion,
readers can be inspired by the message of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo
Shinshu Buddhism.
Through these religious experiences and accounts from people around the
world, it is our hope to spread the message of Amida Buddha’s Great Aspiration
for all beings—despite race, color, creed, or any other divisions among us—to
awaken to a life of spiritual fulfillment. When we awaken to this message of
Amida’s universal embracement, each person can live in the here and now,
with a sense of profound self-reflection, joy, and hope that will lead one to live
in deepest gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence.
We are excited to be a part of a movement that will spread a message of
unity and hope through Amida Buddha’s universal solidarity.
Namo Amida Butsu.

Volume 3, Issue 4, Published November 2023
Jodo Shinshu
International
A Buddhist Quarterly
IN THIS ISSUE
6 Finding Redemption Through Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
Tien Nguyen
8 Genshin: “I too remain in the Buddha’s embrace”
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
14 Shin Buddhism Today and the Road Ahead
Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji & Rev. John Paraskevopoulos

Jodo Shinshu International is published quarterly by the
Jodo Shinshu International Office, a not-for-profit religious
corporation.
Volume 3, Issue 4.
Content copyright © 2023 Jodo Shinshu International Office.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without written permission.
Editors-in-Chief: Rev. Kodo Umezu, Rev. Ai Hironaka
Committee: Rev. Yuika Hasebe, Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji
Contributors: Rev. Jérôme Ducor, Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji,
Tien Nguyen, Rev. John Paraskevopoulos.
Design & Layout: Travis Suzaka
Printing: Kousaisha, Tokyo, Japan
Support: Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara, Madeline Kubo
Image Sources: Upsplash, Wikipedia
Jodo Shinshu International Office
1710 Octavia Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
www.jsinternational.org
EXPLANATION OF CALLIGRAPHY
When you can feel the pain of your own existence,
your heart is opened to the pain of others.
Miyagi Shizuka
Rev. Miyagi said, “From having deep pain and accepting [the fact that] ‘this is who I am; I am nothing
other than this,’ one is able to see for the first time other people’s existence and the profoundness of life
itself, becoming open to coping with that deep pain.”
It is likely that what Rev. Miyagi meant by feeling the pain of one’s existence is that he felt pain of
his own existence.
It may be said that the first time you feel “pain” is when you come to realize your own malevolent
character. When is that? According to the Tannisho, Shinran Shonin said that for himself, “hell is
decidedly my abode whatever I do,” and it could be that he became aware of this because he had
encountered the true teaching of Amida Tathagata.
Just as we are unable to see our own image if we do not use a mirror, if there were no mirror to
reflect the teaching of truth for us, then it will be extremely difficult for us to see our own malevolence.
It might be that when we meet up with the teaching of truth, our self-existence comes under pressure by
basic introspection, thus enabling us to finally become aware of our own evil. That is why the Primal
Vow of the Tathagata was expounded for the sake of someone like me.
On the last day of the year, New Year’s Eve, the large temple bells are tolled one hundred eight
times. It is said that human beings possess this many bonno, or self-centered passions. However, as
Shinran Shonin wrote in Shoshinge, “(Foolish beings…) attain nirvana without serving blind passions.”
The teaching of gratitude, Jodo Shinshu, enables us to attain the stage of nirvana while still possessing
bonno. We, by repeatedly hearing the Dharma, are able to have the opportunity to encounter the
teaching of truth.
(Excerpt from the Hongwanji Shuppansha publication Daijō, December 2003.)

FEATURED ARTICLE
Finding Redemption Through
Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
A Journey of Compassion and Transformation
Tien Nguyen
Wesley Mukoyama, a mentor, spiritual advisor, confidant, and most importantly
someone who was free of judgment when I first met him. The story of my
journey with Jodo Shinshu would be inaccurate if I neglected to mention the
man who helped me to discover my own self-worth at a time where I was
experiencing great suffering. I was in the Santa Clara Main Jail facing a life
sentence for a murder that I was too cowardly to admit I had committed.
Swallowed by fear and despair I sought relief from my own torment. I was
attached to what life was before I had caused so much pain and suffering. My
unwillingness to let go of this idea consumed me for over three years as I resisted
the truth—a truth those I hurt deserved to hear. It was in this moment of my life
that Wesley had offered an open heart to my suffering, in the form of Pure Land
Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu.
6

TIEN NGUYEN
Chains encompassed my mind and the shackles
around my wrist and feet only served to drown me in
despair. Before, my encounter with Jodo Shinshu I was a
man running away from himself. My attempt to escape
from my self-created prison created more suffering for
myself. Face to face in a small, cramped room, I was
instructed to close my eyes. To take a breath through my
nose, and to release the breath through my mouth. It felt
strange to be concentrating on something I biologically
do instinctively. I tried for a second breath and instantly
notice the tension beginning to fade from my shoulders. It
was as if someone had just placed a heated blanket across
my shoulders in a cold winter night and my body relaxed.
I take a peek from closed eyes and see across from me a
smile racing across the face of the man who would become
my spiritual mentor and friend.
Hungry for more I wanted to know more and I wanted
to recapture that feeling. How sorely wrong I was, because
the act of chasing what is pleasant led to frustration and
disappointment. I read a multitude of books on Buddhism
and practiced relentlessly. Unsuccessful in my attempts
I thought of giving up and the external world pressures
began to pile on. In my frustration I discovered what it
meant to “let go”. What my mentor had taught me when
he would say, “Namu Amida Butsu”. To entrust myself to
the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life was a surrendering
of my own ego and desires in life. This included my desires
to meditate to return to a point of pleasure. I learned on
this day to distinguish between the suffering I created for
myself and the suffering that is naturally a part of life.
In 2017, my mentor had offered me a scholarship to
be part of the Jodo Shinshu Correspondence Course from
Berkeley. Filled with gratitude, I accepted. I waited each
month to receive the reading and essay topic. With each
one I was filled with knowledge and joy. I wrote from my
own experience; I used it as an outlet for my suffering in
the walls that surrounded me. My lens to life slowly and
continuously changed. I began to realize that I had been
limiting myself to the gamut of colors in the world. The
feedback I received from staff at the Jodo Shinshu center
enriched my life and added new pigments of color to my
lens. I noticed a peace inside that had not been there
before. This was especially true in situations that I felt
injustice was perceived. The practice of Metta that I had
been doing for the past couple years would be put into
overdrive and just as quickly as the moral judgment began
to arise, they dissipated.
The first time I practiced saying, “May X be happy
and well, may no harm or difficulties come to X, and
may X live in peace and harmony.” It worked. The anger
and hostile thoughts disappeared. I genuinely wanted
the best for this person. Whatever was going on with
them, I wanted to be part of the solution to alleviate
their suffering. Compassion sprang forth in me. It would
soon lead me to becoming an Alcohol and Other Drug
Counselor. I used the practice and philosophy I learned
from Jodo Shinshu Buddhism to connect with clients. It
allowed me to approach people with a curious mind that
was void of judgement as my mentor had approached
me on that memorable first day. With each interaction
with the world around me, I carry that memory with me.
Leaving judgment at the door and being curious about
the individual in front of me, holding that space with
compassion for the both of us.
About the Author
Tien Nguyen
Tien Nguyen was born in Chandler, AZ
and spent most of his life in the Bay Area
of California. He graduated from San
Jose State University with a B.S degree
in Industrial Technology and minor in
business management. He spent 10 years
in prison reflecting upon his past and
gaining insight to the choices he made in
his life that led to the suffering of many.
Behind prison walls he was presented with
the gift of the teachings of Shinran Shonin
by his spiritual mentor who later became
his greatest advocate and friend. He has
since returned to the community where he
engages with the world around him with
what he has learned and practiced while
he was incarcerated. And as it was behind
the walls, empathy and compassion is his
form of connecting.
7

FEATURED ARTICLE
GENSHIN
“I too remain in the Buddha’s embrace”
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
8
Author’s Note: Many thanks to Dr. Helen Loveday for checking my English.
Konpon Chudo, Enryakuji’s main hall.

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
Genshin (942-1017), the first of the two Japanese included
by Shinran in his list of Seven Eminent Masters, was born
around two and a half centuries after the death of the
Chinese master Shandao. During this time, Buddhism had
undergone a great persecution in China (842-845), and the
Pure Land tradition of Shandao would have disappeared
completely had the manuscripts of its texts not already
reached Japan in the 8th century.
The Fujiwara era (9th - 12th c.), during which
Genshin lived, is considered one of the most refined in the
Land of the Rising Sun, but also one of the most troubled,
not least because of the fear of the coming of the period of
the Vanishing Law (mappō), which had been calculated to
begin in 1051, and not in 551 as in China.
Genshin was the son of Urabe Masachika, while his
deeply Buddhist mother came from the Kiyohara family.
His parents’ surnames were those of families of officials in
the imperial administration, but nothing more is known
about them. It is also unclear whether it was his father’s
death that led Genshin, his mother and three of his four
sisters to embrace a religious life. Whatever the case, he
was ordained at a very young age at the Enryakuji, the
huge mother temple of the Tendai school on Mount Hiei
to the north-east of Kyōto, which could house thousands of
monks. There he was to become one of the main disciples
of Ryōgen (912-985), an important prelate who is regarded
as the restorer of the Enryakuji and of Tendai, of which he
was the 18th abbot from 966 until his death.
Genshin soon made a name for himself with his
eloquence and intelligence, even being invited to give
lectures at Court. But the rewards he won earned him
the opprobrium of his mother, and, when he was around
forty, he finally withdrew from the world to the Eshin’in
temple, in the Yokawa section of Mount Hiei, and he is
thus also known as the “ecclesiastical censor of Eshin’in”
(Eshin sōzu). He was also a member of the “Congregation
of Twenty-five samādhis” (Nijūgo sammaie), a kind of
brotherhood created in 986 to bring together monks
whose vocation was to help each other at the time of
death. This is how he died, surrounded by his disciples,
on the 10th of the 6th month of the 1st year of Kannin
(1017) at the age of 75. His memory remains attached to
the small chapel of Eshindō, in the Tosotsudani valley
of Yokawa, not far from his tomb. A renowned master,
he is considered to be the originator of the Eshin current
(Eshinryū), one of the two main traditions within the
Sanmon branch of the Tendai school. In Jōdo-Shinshū,
Genshin is generally depicted as a monk dressed in black
with a five-stripe kesa and seated on a meditation chair,
holding the beads (nenju) in his left hand and a sceptre in
his right one.
The Tendai school occupies a very important place
in Japanese Buddhism, not least because most of the great
masters of the Kamakura period, such as Hōnen and
Shinran for the Pure Land, Eisai and Dōgen for Zen,
and Nichiren, all trained on Hieizan before opening their
own schools. Genshin is known as a first-rate scholar, as
is made clear by the many works he wrote on subjects as
varied as logic or the classical scholasticism of Abhidharma,
not forgetting the Tendai doctrine itself, on which he
composed a particularly important book: The Essential
Definition of the One Vehicle (Ichijō yōketsu).
But the work for which he went down in history is
undoubtedly his Summa on Birth in the Pure Land (Ōjō-yōshū),
which he completed in the summer of 985, three months
after the death of his master Ryōgen. This book must
A renowned master,
[Genshin] is considered
to be the originator of the
Eshin current (Eshinryū),
one of the two main
traditions within the
Sanmon branch of the
Tendai school.
9

FEATURED ARTICLE - GENSHIN: “I TOO REMAIN IN THE BUDDHA’S EMBRACE”
have been of particular importance to Genshin, since he
took the trouble to send it to the Chinese headquarters of
the Tendai (Tiantai) school in China. It is a particularly
voluminous work, consisting largely of an anthology of
over 900 quotations from 160 different works.
Unfortunately, the Summa is most often known only
for the first of its ten chapters, which deals with the
six destinies within the cycle of births and deaths, and
includes an impressive description of the hells, although
this is not Genshin’s creation but a compilation of extracts
from the sūtras. In contrast to the suffering of the six
destinies within the cycle of births and deaths, Genshin
describes the joys of the Pure Land, which he summarizes
in a list of ten benefits: 1° the benefit of protection by the
invisible crowds (of bodhisattvas and divinities), 2° the
benefit of the endowment of supreme merits, 3° the benefit
of the transformation of evil into good, 4° the benefit of
protection by all the Buddhas, 5° the benefit of praise by
all the Buddhas, 6° the benefit of constant protection by
the spiritual light (of the Buddha Amida), 7° the blessing of
the multiplication of joy in the heart, 8° the benefit of the
recognition of benevolence (of the Buddha) and of homage
to His merits, 9° the benefit of the constant practice of
great compassion, 10° the benefit of entry into the group
of those fixed in truth.
The rest of the Ōjō-yōshū, however, is much more
important, particularly for its recommendation of the
nembutsu, its considerations on the thought of awakening
(bodhicitta), its advice to the dying, and its various methods
of contemplation. Genshin devotes an entire chapter to the
latter, setting out in succession:
Portrait of Monk Genshin. Painting hanging at
Shoju Raigōji Temple. Wikipedia.
1° the detailed contemplation of the forty-two bodily
marks, main and minor, of the Buddha Amida, which
combines no less than 1’344 distinct contemplations;
2° the global, phenomenal, and noumenal
contemplation, the latter being divided into two parts
according to the three bodies of the Buddha and the
three truths of Tendai (emptiness, provisional and
middle);
3° a mixture of simplified contemplations, i.e. three
methods of contemplation devoted to the tuft of silver
hair on the Buddha’s glabella, the third of these
contemplations being “extremely simplified”.
The white tuft (jap. byakugō, sanskrit ūrṇā) is the principal
of the thirty-two main bodily marks of a Buddha, for it
is from this tuft that the Buddha casts his spiritual Light.
In fact, its contemplation apppears to have been of great
importance to Genshin: four years before composing the
Ōjō-yōshū, he had already written a short text containing
a specific method for contemplating this mark. The
importance of this type of contemplation was already
apparent in Shandao’s Methods of Contemplation on the Buddha
Amida (Kannen bōmon), while some of Shinran’s autographs
suggest that he too was exposed to this practice, probably
during the twenty or so years he spent on Mount Hiei.
In his own teachings, Shinran was to abandon any
kind of meditative practice or contemplation. There
is, however, one passage from the description of the
simplified contemplations by Genshin that Shinran would
treasure and quote in several of his works. It is the one
referring to the Contemplations Sūtra, which says:
10

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
His Light fully illuminates the universes of the Ten
Directions and embraces the beings of nembutsu
without abandoning them.
And Genshin added:
I too remain in His embrace: even though my eyes,
obstructed by passions, cannot see Him, His great
compassion always enlightens me personally.
Finally, for those who are incapable of contemplative nembutsu
(kannen) according to these various methods, but who are
animated by the thought of taking refuge in the Buddha,
by the idea of his coming to welcome them at death,
or by the wish to be born in his Pure Land, Genshin
describes the vocal nembutsu (shōnen) of the pronunciation
of Amida’s name “with a single heart”. He returns to this
in more detail in his explanations of the nembutsu at the
moment of death. In this respect, Genshin is credited with
helping spread the theme of the Buddha Amida coming to
welcome the dying (raigō), whether in paintings or even in
reenactments by dressed-up monks staging His procession
with Twenty-five Bodhisattvas in a Ceremony of Welcome
(Mukaekō), a ritual still celebrated today in some temples.
The Tendai school to which Genshin belonged and
in which Shinran trained for twenty years is rich in
doctrine and practices. Saichō (767-822), its founder in
Japan, had brought back from China not only the doctrine
and practices of Tendai proper (chin. Tiantai), but also
esotericism, Zen (Chan) meditation, and the precepts of
the Great Vehicle. According to Genshin, however, in
terms of practice, nembutsu is the most appropriate:
Encouraging the nembutsu does not prejudge all
the other marvellous practices. But nembutsu is not
difficult to cultivate for men and women, nobles and
villains—whether they are walking or standing, sitting
or lying down—whatever the conditions of time or
place. If they aspire to be born in the Pure Land, even
if only at the moment of death, nothing compares to
nembutsu in terms of convenience.
And Genshin concludes, in no uncertain terms:
People with extremely serious bad deeds have no other
suitable means: by simply naming the Buddha in order
to commemorate Him, they will be born in the Land
Supreme-Happiness. (Ōjōyōshū, ch. 8, § 66)
As for the Tendai doctrine, it is highly sophisticated.
It could be summed up by saying that it is a Chinese
combination of Nāgārjuna’s system of the Middle Way
(Madhyamaka) and of the philosophy of the Flower Ornament
Sūtra (Avatamsaka). To put it briefly, all the elements of
reality exist only temporarily, in relative truth, insofar
as they are produced by a complex set of causes and
conditions, but without having a nature of their own that
would allow them to exist by themselves: in absolute truth,
everything is devoid of, or empty of, a nature of its own.
All elements therefore share the same common dominator:
emptiness (śūnyatā). As they all share the same common
denominator, all of the elements are equivalent, without any
of them being able to exclude another. In short, the cycle of
births and deaths is no different from nirvāna when viewed
on the level of absolute truth. This is also known as “the
solidarity of opposites.”
Genshin is credited with
helping spread the theme of
the Buddha Amida coming to
welcome the dying (raigō)
11

FEATURED ARTICLE - GENSHIN: “I TOO REMAIN IN THE BUDDHA’S EMBRACE”
While Shinran did not
display his knowledge
of Tendai doctrine in his
writings, he did find Genshin
to be a profound source of
inspiration.
All this has major ethical consequences. Genshin
quotes an opponent who said: “If passions and Awakening
(bodhi) are of one and the same entity (i.e. emptiness), I only
have to produce the acts of the passions as I please!”
Genshin calls this “the wrong grasp of emptiness” and
makes this point: “If, because passions are equivalent to
Awakening, you rejoice in producing the deeds of passions,
you must also rejoice in receiving the cruel sufferings of the
cycle of births and deaths, because the cycle of births and
deaths is equivalent to nirvāna!” (Ōjō-yōshū, ch. 4, § 39).
The Tendai master also draws pragmatic conclusions:
The eighty-four thousand passions with which my
corrupt heart is endowed and the eighty-four thousand
perfections with which this Buddha Amida is endowed
are originally empty and appeased: they are therefore
consubstantial and not mutually exclusive. (…) It is like
the nature of ice and water: they are not in different
places.
While Shinran did not display his knowledge of Tendai
doctrine in his writings, he did find Genshin to be a
profound source of inspiration, as evidenced by these hymns:
The unique, perfect and abrupt Vehicle
of (Amida’s) Primal Vow
Embraces the perverse and the evil:
knowing this with faith
Makes you realise immediately that
Passions and bodhi (Awakening) are not two in entity.
(Kōsō Wasan, 32)
However, to say that passions and Awakening are not
two does not mean that passions and Awakening are one.
Non-duality is not a kind of “monism”, a position alien
to Greater Vehicle. Over and above these technical and
somewhat dry discussions, Genshin also reveals himself in
a more personal way, which can still touch us today with
its sincerity when he declares:
But I, at present, do not yet have my share of the fire
of wisdom: that is why I cannot melt the ice of my
passions so that it becomes the water of merits. (Ōjōyōshū,
ch. 5, § 51).
And Shinran follows in his footsteps:
From the benefits of the [Buddha] Unobstructed-Light,
We receive the magnificent and immense faith and
Necessarily, the ice of our passions melts
And immediately becomes the water of bodhi.
The obstacles of our faults become
the substance of His merits.
It is like ice and water:
The more ice, the more water;
The more obstacles, the more merits.
(Kōsō Wasan, 39-40)
As one can see, it is not a static truth, but a process:
Buddhism is a path towards the goal of Awakening.
Other texts by Genshin dedicated to the Pure Land,
but not cited by Shinran, include an Abridged Memoir on
the Amida Sūtra in Chinese (Amidakyō ryakki), dating from
1014, as well as, in Japanese, Hymns of the Six Hours of
12

Supreme-Happiness (Gokuraku rokujisan). Many other works are attributed to him,
although their authenticity cannot be proven. Among them, the short “Sermon
on nembutsu” (Nembutsu hōgo) or “Yokawa’s Sermon” (Yokawa hōgo) still enjoys
popular success.
Finally, Genshin’s importance is historical. In the Ōjō-yōshū, he was in fact
the first in Japan to quote Shandao, and it was through this work that Hōnen
was to discover the Chinese master who was to mean so much to him, as we
shall see in a forthcoming article.
Want to learn more about JSIO?
FURTHER READINGS
Andrews, Allan A.: The Teachings Essential for Rebirth, A Study of Genshin’s Ōjōyōshū; Tokyo, Sophia
University, 1973.
Dobbins, James C.: “Genshin’s Deathbed Nembutsu Ritual in Pure Land Buddhism” (Ōjōyōshū,
ch. VI, 2); in Religions of Japan in Practice (ed. by Georges J. Tanabe, Jr.; Princeton Univ.
Press, 1999), p. 166-175.
Nasu, Eishō: “Genshin’s Development of the Contemplation on Amida’s byakugō and Its Influence
on Japanese Pure Land Practice”; Shinshūgaku / Journal of Shin Buddhist Studies, 148
(2023), p. 1-14.
Reischauer, August Karl: “Genshin’s Ojo Yoshu: Collected Essays on Birth into Paradise”
(Preface and Ch. I-II); The Transactions of The Asiatic Society of Japan, Second Series, Vol.
VII (Tokyo, 1930), p. 16-97.
Rhodes, Robert F.: Genshin’s Ōjōyōshū and the Construction of Pure Land Discourse in Heian Japan;
Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2017.
About the Author
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
Visit jsinternational.org
Rev. Jérôme Ducor is the minister in charge of the Shingyôji
temple (Geneva). He has been teaching Buddhism at McGill
(Montreal) and at the universities of Geneva and Lausanne,
besides being the curator of the Asia Department at the
Geneva Museum. He is the author of various Buddhist
publications, including a translation of Tanluan’s Commentary
and his own book, Shinran and Pure Land Buddhism.
Free Publications
Correspondance Course Info
View Past Journal Issues
13

INTERVIEW
Shin Buddhism Today and
the Road Ahead
(Part One)
Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji & Rev. John Paraskevopoulos
This is the first of a six-part interview with Rev. John Paraskevopoulos
from Australia, conducted by Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji in October 2023.
The discussion covers a host of issues facing Shin Buddhism, ranging
from doctrinal questions to the challenges that confront followers as they
attempt to live out their faith.
What features of Jōdo Shinshū do you think might
resonate with people today?
I believe that Jōdo Shinshū, a universal teaching that
goes to the heart of Buddhist truth, is wholly suited to
the challenging conditions of our times; especially for
those who are seeking genuine spiritual nourishment. It is
completely accessible to all, regardless of circumstances,
and does not insist on complex doctrines, demanding
practices or impractical cultural adaptations. Such
requirements are altogether unsuited to the busy and
distracted lives of most lay people.
Ours is also a tradition that accepts—without
condemnation—human beings in all their shortcomings,
frailty and confusion. Because of this, it avoids the anxiety
often caused by spiritual perfectionism, which is as
unrealistic as it is harmful.
In saying that the doctrines of Jōdo Shinshū are
within reach of everyone doesn’t mean they aren’t deep,
or that they don’t make any demands on us. Sometimes
we mistakenly believe that depth must always be
accompanied by intellectual difficulty, which certainly isn’t
the case.
The message of Shinran forges an approachable path
towards a wisdom that helps us to see the true nature of
the world and ourselves; not by mere book learning, clever
arguments or intricate rituals, but through a compelling
vision of reality as it is.
This way of seeing—shinjin (‘true heart and mind’)—
arises within us when our karmic conditions come to
fruition, so that we may entrust ourselves to Immeasurable
Light and Boundless Life; a reality that we know as Amida
Buddha. Yet, the very desire to seek this haven is but a
14

REV. DR. TAKASHI MIYAJI & REV. JOHN PARASKEVOPOULOS
summons from ‘Other-Power’ itself—a dynamic spiritual
energy that reaches out to us in the form of a ‘call’ which
(when properly understood) we respond to with a joyous
cry of recognition from the very depths of our being. This
is the nembutsu, the name of Amida as both heard and
uttered by us in faith and gratitude.
The light of transcendent wisdom, which comes
alive in us when we take refuge in the Buddha, is but
one side of the story. We must not forget, of course, the
crucial role that compassion also plays in our journey
to enlightenment. Jōdo Shinshū understands this as
a benevolent force at the core of existence that seeks
to reduce the mental suffering that accompanies our
everyday lives.
Our deep-seated ignorance and disturbed emotional
lives are so entrenched, that we cannot hope to repair
our broken humanity without a strong infusion of
transformative influence directed to us from that which is
‘true and real’ as Shinran describes it.
In the simplest possible language, the essence of Jōdo
Shinshū is this: At the heart of life abides a reality that is
resplendent and eternal. It is deeply involved in this world
of birth-and-death from which it forever seeks to unbind
us. It can do so because we intimately belong to that
reality, even though we often fail to see this. All it asks is
that we consent to have its liberating presence dispel our
spiritual desolation, so that we may rejoice in knowing
who we really are and where we are going.
We will then find ourselves naturally abandoning all
contrived attempts to quell our discontent. This becomes
possible through a willing surrender to the Buddha’s
working which imparts to us an unwavering peace and joy
in the Dharma, along with final deliverance in the Pure
Land—the ‘other shore’ of Nirvāṇa—when our fleeting lives
come to their inevitable end.
What makes Jōdo Shinshū unique in relation
to other teachings that are available to modern
seekers?
The tenacious hold that the self has over us is central to
Shinran’s assessment of our lives. He concluded that our
egocentric behaviour is so powerful, and all-consuming,
that it cannot be vanquished by this very same ego
desperately grasping at self-willed initiatives to overcome
itself. Even many advanced practitioners of meditation
today (including some who are considered ‘masters’) have
no doubt failed to eliminate the poisons of egoism and
hypocrisy within themselves. In this sense, we are all
flawed, brittle and vulnerable.
Jōdo Shinshū has a unique approach to spiritual
practice. It explicitly states that we are not capable of any
undertaking that will rid us of our fallibilities. Buddhism
often speaks of the disordered passions that plague our
lives. As long as we remain benighted creatures, we cannot
surmount the endemic limitations of our earthly existence.
The self-conscious cultivation of virtue or meditative
techniques can add nothing to Amida’s working—which is
practice in its purest form—but neither should conventional
Buddhist endeavours be disparaged. Much beneficial
activity in the world can arise, quite naturally, from a life of
shinjin (including kindness and concern for others) but these
are its spontaneous expressions, not strict conditions that
we have to meet as means to an end.
Given our deep-seated vanity and inordinate selfregard,
it may be difficult to admit the harsh truth that
At the heart of life abides a
reality that is resplendent and
eternal. It is deeply involved in
this world of birth-and-death
from which it forever seeks to
unbind us.
15

INTERVIEW - SHIN BUDDHISM TODAY AND THE ROAD AHEAD: PART ONE
no credit can be taken for whatever merits we display to
others, for these cannot be accomplished on our own.
Only the ‘Light of Purity’—from which we are never
separated—can bestow authentic virtue. Otherwise, we’ll
be caught up in our own working, rather than relying
on the Buddha’s. When this occurs, we become purely
reactive in the face of what’s happening around us;
helplessly tossed about here and there by the promptings of
our blind inclinations.
This must seem like we belong to a ‘do-nothing’ form
of Buddhism that’s entirely passive. But this only appears
so from our side. Jōdo Shinshū teaches that we are, are
in fact, the beneficiaries of Amida’s ‘great practice’ so
there’s actually a great deal of activity going on in our
spiritual lives. When we forgo trust in our own schemes or
in external things, and simply submit to the Tathāgata’s
working—like a lump of clay that is fashioned by a
potter—we receive ‘great faith’ which lifts us out of our
unlit minds and anguished hearts.
In this way, we are made to become new persons
who are illumined and strengthened by the Buddha’s
unrelenting action on us. Therefore, we must allow this
to happen without any resistance on our part; what’s
called for is a faithful yielding to an irresistible force of
compassion that wants to deliver us from this ‘burning
house’, as Śākyamuni characterised our evanescent world.
This alone can ease the unrest, sadness, craving and
hostility that we carry around like a suffocating burden
(the full extent of which can only be known to us when
we’re touched by Amida’s beneficent light).
When this happens, we naturally become ‘soft and
gentle in body and mind’ (Larger Sutra)—the only way in
which Shinran’s wish for ‘peace in the world’ can ever be
Amida Buddha is the personal
dimension of ultimate reality
that addresses us directly
according to our mortal
constraints.
fulfilled. We are also given a new understanding which
emerges in us as something we find to be truthful and
dependable.
Another outstanding feature of Jōdo Shinshū is the
notion of universal salvation. No other religious tradition is
as explicit in proclaiming that sentient beings, all of whom
are “embraced, never to be abandoned”, will eventually be
released from their current bondage to pain and ignorance.
Amida Buddha is the personal dimension of ultimate
reality that addresses us directly according to our mortal
constraints. It can do so because it’s our own intrinsic
essence or indwelling buddha-nature; therefore, by
liberating us as individuals, it also unshackles aspects of
itself that lie dormant in all beings. This is why no one can
ever be left behind.
In light of the above, it is easier perhaps to see how the
precarious nature of unenlightened beings is no obstacle
on the Jōdo Shinshū path. The very conditions that keep us
bound in chains of error, rage and selfishness are ingrained
in human nature, and in the fact that we inhabit terribly
unstable physical bodies riddled with endless desires and
infirmities.
It is for this reason that we find an emphasis on lay life
in our tradition; in other words, living fully in this world
with all our burdens and responsibilities, while accepting
the reality of our earthly plight honestly, through lives
of acceptance and humility, without the compulsion to
become something we can never be.
This teaching gives us a gift of wisdom and compassion
that conquers transience, suffering and doubt. Indeed,
there can be no more needful, relevant or universal
response to the ills of our time and the ills within ourselves.
16

REV. DR. TAKASHI MIYAJI & REV. JOHN PARASKEVOPOULOS
What can Jōdo Shinshū offer people today? What
advice do you have for those who are new to this
tradition?
The Dharma has always taught us to moderate our
expectations regarding the world and what it can give.
There is no naïve optimism about life, and its outlook
is thoroughly realistic, always informed by a close
observation of how things really are.
Shinran was perfectly clear-eyed about saṃsāra and
its limited ability to provide enduring satisfaction, peace
of mind or unfettered well-being. In fact, he distinguished
these states from a special kind of joy that’s grounded in
a spiritual realisation that the world cannot give. This is
true bedrock, immune from the ravages of fortune unlike
ordinary happiness.
The joy of shinjin enables us to tap into a greater
realm—beyond the experience of our senses—from
which we can draw sustenance to see us through the
unpredictability and disappointments of life. It is a vision
of great clarity and simplicity.
We mustn’t be misled by false hopes, and our candid
assessment of the world should be unflinching. This is
more than just being honest; it also implies looking at
things without self-deception, thanks to the eyes of wisdom
that are given to us.
If we are not interested in the truth, we can choose
to ignore it and just busy ourselves with the creation of
futile fantasies, or be distracted by superficial remedies
to the real problems that we face. Yet, the only response
from Amida Buddha—our ‘True Parent’ (Oya-sama)—
is compassionate regard and a desire to dispense the
required cure for our existential sickness.
The veracity of the Dharma can seem like bitter
medicine at times, but it may also lead us on a path to
spiritual maturity and self-awareness. Wisdom alone can
destroy our illusions and purge our ego—indeed, it yields
innumerable fruits for those who are guided by it. There can
be no greater practical consequence to these teachings than
this.
The great strength of Jōdo Shinshū is that it offers a
joyful foretaste of the Pure Land in this life (in rare moments
of grace and lucidity) while assuring us that our final destiny
is the Buddha’s realm of utmost bliss. We see this attitude in
Shinran’s remarkable declaration that “Although my defiled
life is filled with all kinds of desires and delusions, my mind
is playing in the Pure Land” (Jōgai Wasan).
However, many will not be satisfied when told that
complete emancipation cannot be experienced here and now,
and that they must wait till the end of their lives. But what
is this life that “clings like a dewdrop on a withered blade
of grass” (Tannishō)? It is, as the Diamond Sūtra reminds us,
nothing more than “a flickering lamp” and “a bubble in a
stream” that’s fated to impermanence. And yet, the Buddha’s
radiance shines through it all and shows us where our
journey must end.
Therefore, we can only challenge those who hesitate, or
feel that this path is somehow inadequate or superficial. The
only just response in light of this magnificent teaching should
be one of gratitude and celebration, not insecurity.
What other way is more suited to the needs of our
time and to the sober realities of the human condition? Its
insights are without peer as is its unconditional acceptance
of every being. This blend of breadth, depth and realism is
a precious gift and a lasting legacy for the spiritual benefit of
generations to come.
The Dharma has always
taught us to moderate our
expectations regarding the
world and what it can give.
About the Interviewer
Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji is an assistant
professor for the Institute of Buddhist
Studies in Berkeley, California and
a Kaikyoshi minister of the Buddhist
Churches of America.
About the Interviewee
Rev. John Paraskevopoulos is a
Jodo Shinshu priest from Australia.
His publications include Call of the
Infinite, The Fragrance of Light, and
Immeasurable Life.
17

EDITOR’S POSTSCRIPT
My wife and I were privileged to attend the 20th European Shin Conference in
September this year held at Eko Haus in Dusseldorf, Germany.
I can not express my feeling of joy of being around those who have
encountered the Light of Buddha through Shinran Shonin’s guidance. They
have found their ultimate home, the ultimate shelter and true friends in the
Nembutsu. The countenance of these people was so serene and glorious. They
were gentle in their words and manners just as expressed in the 33rd Vow of
Dharmakara Bodhisattva. I understood why Shinran Shonin praised people
who take refuge in the Nembutsu by calling them “rare people,” “white lotus,”
“the best among the best,” and “the very finest person.” People who truly live
within the shelter of the Nembutsu genuinely appreciate Shinran Shonin and
have found solid spiritual ground. I sensed that the people at the conference
all wanted to share the Dharma treasure of the Nembutsu with other people
around them. Those of us who attended the conference shared our deep sense of
joy and gratitude with one another, and we were all enthused and encouraged
to share Pure Land Buddhism known as Jodo Shinshu or Shin Buddhism
because they all knew from their own experiences that the world is waiting for
Shinran Shonin.
While I was there, I learned about some exciting developments that are
happening in Europe. One movement that struck me was that one of the
attendees has put together gatherings for a small group of followers in Spain.
They meet regularly and deepen their appreciation of Pure Land Buddhism
that was expounded by Shinran Shonin. Another development I learned about
was a renewed movement of a Jodo Shinshu group in Belgium whose temple
was closed after a wonderful leader passed away several years ago. Now under
new leadership, the followers have opened a new location for people who want to
listen to Shinran Shonin’s teaching.
Shinran Shonin’s Jodo Shinshu is, indeed, the essence of Buddhism. Jodo
Shinshu is the deep, sincere wish of Tathagata itself, as revealed by Shakyamuni
Buddha. However, this wish is not just any wish. This wish has been fulfilled
and embodied in the form of Namo Amida Butsu. As Namo Amida Butsu,
Amida Tathagata actively, compassionately calls on each and every one of us,
constantly urging us all to take refuge in the Unsurpassed Wisdom known as
Amida that is already enveloping us in its Wisdom-Light. When we come to
realize that the wisdom-light of Amida Tathagata has always been enveloping
us, it is then that we will discover a whole new way to experience the world;
We will find that we can walk the path of life with a deeply settled heart-andmind,
with a deep sense of joy and gratitude for this Unsurpassed Wisdom and
Compassion that is our unwavering foundation in life. Knowing that we have
this unwavering foundation in our lives is to be protected by a shelter of utmost
safety. When we take refuge in this ultimate shelter, we no longer have to jump
to reactions of panic regarding the world around us, and we can live our lives
with joy and confidence.
In this world of turmoil today, this Compassionate Call of Namo Amida
Butsu must be heard by each and every one of us. As exemplified by the
attendees of the European Shin Conference, Namo Amida Butsu can be
the true catalyst for us to be transformed, becalming us, and making us soft
and gentle in body and mind. The more of us who are transformed by the
Tathagata’s Wisdom and Compassion, the more of us who can bring deep joy
and tranquility to our community, society and the entire world, because the
world is me and I am the world.
Let us all respond to the calling of Namo Amida Butsu by turning our
hearts and minds to the Unsurpassed Wisdom and Compassion and taking
refuge in the ultimate shelter of Immeasurable Light and Life.
Palms Together,
Kodo Umezu, Co-editor
Rev. Kodo Umezu
Rev. Kodo Umezu is a retired minister and former Bishop of
the Buddhist Churches of America who currently serves as the
President of the Jodo Shinshu International Office.
18

19

Jodo Shinshu International Office