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dookie On December 16, 2023
Foolish Bombu





, United Kingdom
#31New Post! Aug 02, 2020 @ 08:18:12
Luther has come up within this thread, as it meanders along, beyond all calculation. Or at least, the way of being he intitiated.

I implied that there was a comparison to be made between Luther and the Japanese Buddhist Shinran. Both were confronted with an elitist form of their own Faith which each perceived as having become divorced from those things that perhaps matter far more than anything else.

The Pure Land way was not initiated by Shinran, but he looked at it afresh from his own particular place in time and space. In the Pure Land way, prior to him, it was said that to be "saved" one must entrust themselves fully to the Vow of Amida. Such entrusting was seen to have three aspects, i.e. sincerity, trust itself, and aspiration - these also known as sincere mind, deep mind, and the mind that aspired for birth (in the Pure Land) and for the directing of virtue. These conditions needed to be "fulfilled."


Shinran (13th century) fundamentally altered this understanding by taking "sincere mind" not as the devotees "sincerity", but rather the true and real mind of Amida. Thus, a person does not "sincerely" entrust themselves, but rather the "sincere mind" of Amida is given - by grace - to the person, and this manifests as the person's entrusting and aspiration. Simply put, a Pure Lander trusts the "nature" of Amida (Reality-as-is), not their own, however directed or understood, within or without.


(Or, in Christian terms, one trusts/surrenders to Grace, not in the strength of ones own belief. And this is within the context of realising that which is eternally , of recognising the unchanging nature of the Divine. Such recognition grants us nothing for it is already the reality in which we "live and move and have our being." We just did not know it.)


"Faith does not arise

Within oneself.

The Entrusting Heart is itself

Given by the Other Power" (Rennyo)

Anyway, the above for anyone interested. It is the bread and butter of inter-faith dialogue, which many today find life affirming.
dookie On December 16, 2023
Foolish Bombu





, United Kingdom
#32New Post! Aug 02, 2020 @ 09:36:22
@dookie Said

from his own particular place in time and space.



Maybe the most important words from the last post. We are all unique however "common" our humanity. "There is nothing new under the sun" except ourselves.

(Oh, and if you wish, read "her" rather than "his". This said to ward off a possible rebuke from Jennifer..... )
Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#33New Post! Aug 02, 2020 @ 17:41:17
@dookie Said

Maybe the most important words from the last post. We are all unique however "common" our humanity. "There is nothing new under the sun" except ourselves.

(Oh, and if you wish, read "her" rather than "his". This said to ward off a possible rebuke from Jennifer..... )



No rebuke forthcoming. Do not fear.

For me it's an easy thing to type his / hers as a matter of routine. I do it fairly frequently but don't expect others to do likewise as some sort of 'disclaimer'.

However.... people who neglect to take account of the female aspect of any given situation, if I think it is necessary / relevant to do so, can expect to be challenged and I think that's fair enough.
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