"Daimoku in the morning; Nenbutsu in the evening”

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ronnymarsh
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Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2019 2:52 am

Re: "Daimoku in the morning; Nenbutsu in the evening”

Post by ronnymarsh »

When talking about Nembutsu it is necessary to specify from which tradition one is speaking. Buddhists in China often recite the name of Amitabha Buddha in conjunction with other practices taught by Shakyamuni Buddha such as Ch'an meditation, so it would be no problem for them to practice Nembutsu and Daimoku. In fact, Shan Wu Wei composed a dharani/mantra in praise of the Lotus Sutra in which it is expressly "namas saddharma pundarika sutram", and it was precisely because of the Lotus esotericism in the Sino-Japanese Vajrayana schools. However, in the context of the Nembutsu of Japanese schools and Daimokuof Nichiren, this would be a school of schools because the doctrines of each school are based on the understanding that we are in Mappo.

The grounding in the Era of the End of Dharma has two fundamental factors:

1 - as capacities arising from the karma of each human being or impediment to achieving enlightenment by oneself;

2 - Due to the karma of the Mappo beings, they (us) did not living in a time when the Buddha's lineage is available.

Enlightenment begins with a relationship with a "good friend", who at first is the Buddha himself or an heir of this Buddha. Thus, Mappo's most obvious characteristic is the impossible to find a good friend. That is, neither you have the ability to achieve enlightenment nor have the conditions to acquire it.

What Honen Shinran and Nichiren were means to overcome this attempt. Honen, followed by Shinran, found the solution to this problem in Original Amitabha's Vow. In this way, Honen invites all the sentient beings of Mappo to express faith in Amitabha (reciting the name of the Buddha) in order to be born in Sukhavati, and thus initiate the relationship with the "good friend" and conquer the necessary condition. for lighting.

All other teachings in this context are useless and therefore it would be a waste of time to try to support them. Furthermore, more than that, it would also be an expression of lack of faith in Amitabha's vow, and it would be useless to recite Nembustu without having the proper frame of mind (faith).

Nichiren faced the same problem, but sought the solution at the Original Gate of the Lotus Sutra, in the event that Eternal Shakyamuni hands over the Dharma inheritance to Bodhisattva Jogyo. In this way, Nichiren assuming the role of Jogyo (or being the Buddha himself) makes it possible to establish this relationship with the "good friend", and make it possible to conquer the conditions for enlightenment. Thus, likewise, all other teachings besides the Original Gate of the Lotus Sutra become unnecessary, and the practices related there to become an expression of the absence of the proper frame of mind (faith).

In short, the teachings of Nembutsu and Daimoku each require that proper of mind called faith (Shinjin), and this can only be expressed in terms of exclusivity. What brings people to Sukhavati is not reciting the Buddha's name, and what makes enlightenment possible for Nichiren is not reciting Daimoku. If that were the case, people unable to speak would not be able to achieve any of the goals of every Buddhist school.

What leads to birth is Faith in the original vow, and what leads to enlightenment in Nichiren is Faith in the Buddha of the Original Gate. Reciting something, whether Nembutsu or Daimoku, is just the expression of each faith. And as each object of faith excludes the other when trying to recite the two formulas, one ends up expressing the absence of faith, either in the original vow or in the Lotus Sutra.
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