I've been a lay follower of Sōtō Zen for a good number of years now and practice mostly solo (as there are no sangha's near me). In the past 3 years or so I have developed a real affection for Pure Land Buddhism and have informally been chanting the Nembutsu as well as the Pure Land Sutras - which I find to be stunningly beautiful. This created no sense of dissonance for me as after all Uchiyama Roshi himself (and the wonderful Sōtō monk/poet Ryōkan) chanted the Nembutsu too! My understanding of Amida Buddha & the Nembutsu have up until recently been exclusively Zen, drawn from Kōshō Uchiyama Roshi and to a lesser extent Kōdō Sawaki Roshi's writings on the subject, for example:
In recent weeks however, I've been looking into the writings of the Pure Land schools themselves and I have become very impressed and moved in particular by the teachings of Shōkū Shonin (who might have been Dōgen's adopted elder brother!) and the Seizan branch of Jōdo Shū as well as the ideas found in the Anjin Ketsujō shō - which I believe itself originated from the Seizan branch and which is fast becoming one of my favourite Buddhist texts. So much of what I have read (which to be fair isn't a huge amount as resources are not so common in English and my Japanese isn't good enough to fully access the Japanese materials) seem strikingly similar to Dōgen Zenji's completely non-dualistic approach that so defines Sōtō Zen practice. For example Dōgen's comment that:In other words, this small I is embraced by the immeasurable and boundless Amitabha Buddha. This has nothing to do with my small, limited thoughts of whether I think it is so or not. It does not depend on whether I believe it or not. I am, in fact, embraced and saved by the immeasurable and boundless Amitabha. Being thankful for this, I chant Namu Amida Butsu. When we say this with our mouths, we are expressing our deep sense of gratitude. When we perform it with our whole body, it is zazen as the activity of the reality of life, the zazen of believing and sitting. When people of the Pure Land school chant Namu Amida Butsu, they are doing zazen with their mouths, and when we do zazen, we are performing Namu Amida Butsu with our whole body.
reminds me very much of Shōkū Shonin's teachings about the settled mind (anjin) that results from letting go of all self-power actions and realising that Amida's Buddhahood and one's own awakening are absolutely identical etc. Likewise Dōgen's view that Zazen is the natural expression of Buddha Nature seems so similar to Shōkū's view that the Nembutsu is the very realisation of Amida's and thus our own, enlightenment.When you let go of your body and mind and forget them completely and you throw yourself into the Buddha’s abode, then everything is done from the side of Buddha and you just follow along without effort or anxiety – you break free from life’s suffering and are Buddha yourself. How can you then have any hindrance in your mind
As I view Amida Buddha the way Dōgen views Buddha Nature i.e the total functioning of all reality, and the Pure Land as synonymous with awakening (and not so much a 'place' where we go) that can be realised right now (similar to sokuben ōjō perhaps?) and perhaps even more so after death (similar to Tōtoku ōjō perhaps?), I feel that my understanding would probably be outside of what Jōdo Shū - either the Chinzei or Seizan branches' - would view as acceptable understandings on the subject. That and the fact that I struggle with Pure Land teachings about 'loathing this world' etc mean that I think I more naturally fit with Sōtō Zen, but nevertheless I really want to continue to deepen my knowledge of Jōdo Shū, I think by reading Hōnen Shonin next, and increase my engagement with Nembutsu.
However I am feeling conflicted somehow, as if drawing more on Pure Land teachings themselves is somehow incompatible with my following Sōtō Zen and that perhaps it isn't right of me to not commit exclusively to one thing or another.
What I guess I'm asking is: 1) are my views way outside the Pure Land mainstream? And 2) Has anyone else got experience either as a Jōdo Shū (Seizan or Chinzei) follower (or as a Pure Land follower more generally) of incorporating teachings and practices from other schools of Buddhism, and if so how do you integrate them in an organic and not disjointed way?
I'm really sorry for this very long post and especially for the rambling nature of it. I guess writing this was, in part, to help me try and make sense of what I've been thinking and contemplating which is still rather jumbled in my mind
Thank you for your patience if you read through all of this and thank you in advance for any responses. Gassho. Namu Amida Butsu.