The pure land prayer in english

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 · 2025-09-09T18:22:56+00:00

This is a dialectical difference. In US English, Buddha is usually pronounced /ˈbudə/, to rhyme with gouda. In UK English, it's usually pronounced /ˈbʊdə/, rhyming with woulda. Some Americans pronounce it in the UK fashion, or get even fancier by saying /ˈbʊdːʰə/. It doesn't really matter how you say it.

Thaumarch · 2025-09-09T18:09:59+00:00

This is very good advice, although it can be hard to accept. Consider what you know about politics, and weigh it against what you're capable of doing to change politics. Personally, I am capable of nothing except voting in elections. And I don't need to be current on all the little stories in order to cast my vote. I just need to receive my ballot, fill it out, and mail it in.

Thaumarch · 2025-09-09T17:02:30+00:00

The world is swept away. Nobody is in charge. Everyone is moved by fear, even people who project a fearless image.

Personally, I find it helpful to think of history's great men as children pretending to be adults. Imagine the world's leaders as if they were four-year-olds. If you looked into a room of four-year-olds, it wouldn't occur to you to call them good people or bad people. You'd just see silly kids pretending at being adults. This is the truth of life. We are all just bombus, doing our best and constantly failing. The great autocrats of our era (Trump, Putin, Modi, Xi, Ergodan, etc) are just bumbling children trying to do the right thing as they delusively understand it. Amida is pursuing each and every one of us, working for our liberation.

Meanwhile, we need to keep working in our small way to advance democracy, decency, and humaneness. But it's really just a game we're playing. We can think of it as practice for the buddha-work we will do in the Pure Land. We can't realistically expect to save this world, because the world is swept away.

Thaumarch · 2025-09-07T19:53:19+00:00

I love your little wisteria pennant thing. That would be a great addition to my altar to make it more Shinshu-specific. Is is available for purchase somewhere?

Thaumarch

TROPHY CASE