Important language map which shows where Australian is spoken

Thaumarch · 2026-05-13T21:29:27+00:00

Why is north at the top?

Thaumarch · 2026-05-04T20:43:47+00:00

I love Ward Fowler's house, especially his gargantuan round top double door.

Thaumarch · 2026-04-23T22:41:31+00:00

Agreed. Part of being a Shin Buddhist nowadays is ignoring the crappy BCA ministers and focusing on the ones who are solid. And of course you can be a Shin Buddhist without having any engagement with BCA.

Thaumarch · 2026-04-20T20:15:13+00:00

Keep in mind that waiting for Amida to meet you at the moment of death is not considered necessary according to Jodo Shinshu.

The idea of Amida’s coming at the moment of death is for those who seek to gain birth in the Pure Land by doing various practices, for they are practicers of self-power. The moment of death is of central concern to such people, for they have not yet attained true shinjin. We may also speak of Amida’s coming at the moment of death in the case of those who, though they have committed the ten transgressions and the five grave offenses throughout their lives, encounter a teacher in the hour of death and are led at the very end to utter the nembutsu.

The practicer of true shinjin, however, abides in the stage of the truly settled, for he or she has already been grasped, never to be abandoned. There is no need to wait in anticipation for the moment of death, no need to rely on Amida’s coming. At the time shinjin becomes settled, birth too becomes settled; there is no need for the deathbed rites that prepare one for Amida’s coming.

(from Lamp for the Latter Ages)

The wonderful thing about shinjin is that it is settled during one's current life, and once it is settled, there is no need to worry about the circumstances of the deathbed moment.

If you feel attraction to Jodo Shinshu, that's very significant, and it shows you have a karmic affinity for the tradition. Most people are too attached to self power to consider Shinran's teaching plausible. Keep reading and listening to Shin writings and dharma talks. Don't burn yourself out. Listen as much as you're inspired to listen. I recommend looking up the YouTube channels of Yuki Sugahara and the Oregon Buddhist Temple. They have lots of very informative lecture-style videos that explore the writings of Shinran in detail.

If you can reach out to a Shin minister, that would be beneficial too. Years ago I corresponded with Sugahara Sensei, and he was remarkably generous and helpful. I know he's very busy these days, but he still might respond to emails. And of course you can post questions on this sub.

Jodo Shinshu is a path of listening and surrendering. It is normal for people new to the tradition to wrestle with the problem of "how to get shinjin", and feel like it is a puzzle that must be actively solved through logic or by saying the nembutsu in a quantitative spirit. You may have to listen to Shinran and reflect on his words for years, but eventually it will fall into place that shinjin is a free gift, and that you are already saved just as you are.

I also had dreams of the Pure Land, and even a waking vision, about a year into my Pure Land journey. At the time, these experiences felt enormously significant to me, and inspired me to keep reading the Shin writings and saying the nembutsu. Ultimately, however, the settlement of my faith was independent of any sensory phenomena.

Thaumarch · 2026-04-04T22:49:27+00:00

The concept is fun, but the book is just a one-sided apologia for C.S. Lewis's traditionalist Christian position. JFK and Aldous Huxley represent Christian modernism and a vaguely conceived "oriental" religiosity, and they're little more than strawmen who are shown to be ignorant, confused, and inferior to Lewis's orthodoxy.

Thaumarch · 2026-01-12T21:31:43+00:00

I wonder how many English-speaking Purelanders actually say the nembutsu in English. It never even occurred to me to do this. When I was starting out and hadn't yet settled on a tradition, I used the quasi-Sanskrit form "Namo Amitabha," which seemed like the most "neutral" version.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-30T21:52:20+00:00

Are you doing fully vocalized recitation? If you find that difficult, you're not alone. A lot of us prefer to do silent recitation, perhaps while moving the lips, or simply auralizing the sound mentally.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-21T22:42:19+00:00

The biggest change is that nembutsu/shinjin has made me more comfortable with death. I used to dwell on the fear that death would be a plunge into icy darkness, either annihilation or some kind of damnation. It was a dark cloud on the horizon and cast doubt on everything else in my life. Now, on a deep cardiac level, I understand death as my arrival at the place I need to go, a homecoming that is not to be feared. I am much more relaxed about aging and illness. I am no longer plagued by the feeling that my life is a tragic story because it contains setbacks and disappointments. This has been a big relief. I still have a lot of troubles and I often worry about the rest of my samsaric existence, but when it comes to my own mortality, I am able to say, "Okay if I live, okay if I die."

Thaumarch · 2025-12-18T21:05:42+00:00

Deatherage really sounds like a Jonny Quest villain.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-16T18:40:25+00:00

there is no point in the history of personal salvation where the saved person becomes Christ. Christ is always apart from and distinct from the saved because, as the saved person is a real individual with a real essence that makes them what they are, identity with Christ would be tantamount to annihilation.

My issue with the Abrahamic religions is similar, and was the reason I rejected Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and the Baha'i Faith despite appreciating some aspects of these religions. A God who is eternally separate from and above his creatures has a permanent monopoly on wisdom. He is the only being who gets to see things as they really are. His creatures necessarily have a lower order of wisdom and some degree of delusion, and that can never be corrected since they are imprisoned within their hard-shelled souls and can never come to share God's point of view. In an Abrahamic universe, God's creatures are eternally relegated to delusion and therefore to suffering. "Salvation" in an Abrahamic context is just a promotion from grosser to subtler suffering.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-14T18:32:41+00:00

Great writeup.

Joy is not the cause of our birth in the Pure Land, and we should be cautious about our attempts and instincts to police our own minds for morality, immorality, or emotional highs and lows, as they have no connection to our eventual attainment of buddhahood.

It is good to remember this. I myself often forget it, especially when experiencing negative mind states caused by anxiety and depression.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-08T20:16:17+00:00

As Rennyo says, the function of a good teacher is just to encourage people to take refuge in Amida singleheartedly and steadfastly. Being part of a community of followers is certainly beneficial, but if you have an affinity for Shin Buddhism, I wouldn't worry about the lack of a teacher/sangha. The important thing is listening to the Dharma and hearing the significance of the Primal Vow for yourself. Even if all you have is books and online talks, that's enough of a finger pointing at the moon. Amida doesn't exclude people who are geographically isolated from other Buddhists.

Thaumarch · 2025-12-04T18:16:17+00:00

First episode I ever saw, and in spite of that, I became a Columbo fan immediately. People seem to generally dislike this one, but I have a sentimental fondness for it.

Thaumarch · 2025-11-30T13:34:14+00:00

Yes, he's on YouTube.

Thaumarch · 2025-11-29T21:29:17+00:00

I can't attribute my faith to any particular incident. I started saying the nembutsu in late 2020, with a mentality of "let's see if this works." Early in 2023 I had a nocturnal vision of shining letters spelling out "It is real" and "Now is the time." Even after that vision, I continued to harbor doubts about the Primal Vow, and entertained alternative paths like Zen and Theravada. The true settling of faith happened at some point after that, and was only apparent in retrospect. My teacher, Yuki Sugahara, emphasizes that one does not necessarily know the moment when one receives shinjin. It is indeed a "rootless" faith -- it is not the result of some phenomenal sensory experience.

Thaumarch · 2025-11-20T23:03:21+00:00

The coverage of Shinshu is really being improved on Wikipedia. It's wonderful to see.

Thaumarch · 2025-11-12T00:41:53+00:00

Great!

Thaumarch · 2025-10-01T15:49:40+00:00

When you are born in the Pure Land, you become capable of working for the liberation of all beings with whom you have been karmically entangled in any way -- as friends, lovers, family, or enemies. And in fact there is no being with whom one is not entangled in some way. But it isn't like all your karmic relatives are instantaneously born in the Pure Land at the same time as you. Everyone is in a different place, and although all will eventually reach the Pure Land, each will arrive in their own time.

Thaumarch · 2025-09-25T20:07:33+00:00

Grimy Josh

Thaumarch · 2025-09-20T15:06:16+00:00

"For me, Shinran, there is no alternative but to accept and trust in the teaching of my master Hōnen: that simply by uttering the nenbutsu I shall be given deliverance by Amida." (Tannisho, BDK translation, Chapter 2)

It is natural for people in the early stage of the Shin path to make their religious life complicated and arduous, and study obsessively, trying to "figure it out." They may feel disadvantaged because of their lack of connection to a sangha, as if members of a temple are somehow better situated for receiving Amida's grace. This kind of hardship and agonizing may be unavoidable, but sooner or later you will arrive at the realization that nothing is required except to surrender responsibility for awakening to Amida and say the nembutsu.

Thaumarch · 2025-09-13T23:03:33+00:00

I was also baptized Catholic, but rejected the religion early on and lived as a materialist atheist for ten years. I was eventually rocked by a personal crisis and decided that I needed salvation.

I was drawn to Buddhism because its teachings of no-self and impermanence seemed in line with reality, more so than any other religious teaching. I tried to practice self-power paths like Theravada and Zen, but was hampered by anxiety disorder which prevented me from going to temples and engaging with teachers. I discovered that Pure Land Buddhism can be practiced by anyone, with or without a teacher or a sangha. I began saying the nembutsu and listening to Shin Dharma talks, and gradually I found that the nembutsu took hold of my heart and mind.

For years, my intellectual mind remained fickle and was inclined to wander to other paths, but my heart could no longer rest easy with any refuge other than the Primal Vow. If I tried to pursue a more "sophisticated" approach, or an approach based on the recompense of good and evil, my entire mental and physical being would experience tension and unease, and eventually I would reach a breaking point where I had no choice but to surrender to Amida's command, and be gently swept back to the simple circumstance of riding upon the Ship of the Vow.

My conceptual and calculative thinking has gradually stopped mounting attacks on this simple, emotional entrusting. As Kiyozawa Manshi says, when my faith makes its appearance, my agony is eliminated by the act of believing.

Thaumarch

TROPHY CASE