Shinjin (True Faith) purifies our faculties, makes them clear and sharp;
Its power is firm and steadfast, nothing can destroy it.
Shinjin sunders forever the root of blind passions;
Shinjin alone leads one to seek the virtues of Buddha alone.

- Garland Sutra ( CW, p. 100)

Osono, the well-known Myokonin (the person of deep faith as illustrated in the tradition of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism), lived in rural Nagoya, which was heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu. Her engaging conversation with a Zen priest who lived in the same village sparkles with joy and spontaneity of faith. The dialogue centers on the Zen priest's curiosity to understand Osono's awareness of her Nembutsu faith.

One day, after meeting her, he asked, "What is the name of the Buddha you worship?"

Amida Buddha", she answered.

He then asked, "Where is that Amida Buddha?"

My spiritual parent (Oya), Amida Buddha, is far, far away in the Pure Land in the west", she replied.

He then remarked, "Is that right? Your spiritual parent, Amida Buddha, is really far away then, right?"

Oh, no!" She replied. "Though Amida Buddha is far away, right now, at this very moment, Amida is out of the Pure Land."

The priest was surprised to hear this. "If Amida Buddha is out, where is Amida right now?"

Osono broke out into a wide smile. "Oh, you ask really good questions! Amida Buddha is right here! Right here! Namu-amida-butsu, namu-amida-butsu!" as she invoked her joyful faith.

The priest later remarked that Osono was truly remarkable and clear in her understanding of the Buddha's way. She manifested her awareness and understanding in a spontaneous and instantaneous way as questions were asked of her. Her fluidity and inner freedom was fully manifest in their exchange.

What makes a person like Osono function in her way? Why is she so seemingly free and at ease with her responses? Is she normal or what?

My sense is that Osono is unburdened with our conventional ways of thinking and judging our religious life. She doesn't struggle in compartmentalizing her religious life from her everyday life. She is spiritual (with spirit) in that her daily conventional and dualistic life is completely at one with an unconventional, non-dualistic awakened dharma life. She lives in an inspired (in spirit) way in a fluid relationship with Amida Buddha. She lives an active Nembutsu faith. She lives wholly in the paradox of a true religious life. While she is fully aware of her limited and defiled life, she simultaneously lives freely in heart and mind within the boundless circle of Amida Buddha's penetrating wisdom and intimate compassion.

For Osono, the relative and seemingly distant far-ness of Amida Buddha in the West as described in the sutras and commentaries are penetrated in an instant, and Amida actively lives near and closely, in this moment,, in the very calling of Namu-amida-butsu. No barrier of doubt hinders her clear and direct faith.

Osono's awareness and movement are spontaneous and natural. No pretensions. No calculation or contrivance. No deliberation or manipulation of thought. Her being freely manifests her heart and spirit. True and real life manifests itself fully in her spontaneity and naturalness.

Osono is, in the words of the Tannisho, "the person of nembutsu walking the path of unobstructed freedom". There is great delight and play in her spontaneity. Her clear faculties weave the relative constructs of far and near, of Amida Buddha and her life, into a coherent spiritually fluid life. No dogma, rituals or ceremonial trappings hinder her boundless spirituality. Her Buddha-nature, i.e., shinjin/true faith is fully engaged in the moment, here and now.

Whenever I visit this dialogue between Osono and the Zen priest, I too am drawn to the openness and rapidity of their illuminating exchange. The depth and breadth of Osono's heart and mind is freely sustained by another power, a power which is "free and steadfast, nothing can destroy it." I too feel captured by the Other and wish to move consistently in this dimension in which "shinjin/true faith alone leads one to seek the virtues of Buddha alone." Namu-amida-butsu.