Let the one who seeks to abandon the defiled and aspire for the pure; who is confused in practice and vacillating in faith; whose mind is dark And whose understanding deficient; whose evils are heavy and whose karmic obstructions manifold - let such persons embrace above all the Tathagata's (Buddha's) exhortations, take refuge without fail in the most excellent direct path, devote themselves solely to this practice (of nembutsu), and revere only this shinjin (true faith).

- Shinran Shonin

We cling to our past, grasp at our future, ignore and resist our present so that there is in fact no space within ourselves to connect with the suchness of all life. We are often encapsulated in our blind karmic life in which selfishness, anger, and ignorance in one form or another reign. Our fears and sorrows, grief and sadness, loneliness and anxiety have no real means of release and healing from our rigid ego-centered heart and mind. Perhaps this is the reason so many of us often insist on controlling whatever we do, because the act of letting go and letting be in sharing the power of life may create a disaster to our sense of self. Doubt and lacking trust in self and others are key to the further grasping and clinging, resisting and controlling.

This condition of blind ego-centeredness allows no room for real compassion, no space for wisdom, and therefore no time for forgiveness and repentance for our personal sufferings and the sufferings we impose on others. Letting go and letting be in accepting the suchness and otherness of each life may appear counterproductive to a person who is deeply locked into his/her self-imposed ego-centered world.

Strangely, however, and even paradoxically, this deep-seated egotistic person is the primary focus of unending compassion emanating out of the great heart of Amida Buddha. Amida's wisdom-light penetrates the wall of our ego and showers us with the rain of compassion and loving-kindness. Illuminating experiences such as this transforms our ego-self and gives us a new perspective - to see as the Buddha sees life as it is.

The clarity of the Buddha's eyes nullify's our notorious ego, readjusting our view of reality to correspond to the eyes of the Buddha. Our reality center now shifts from the ego-self to the Buddha's light of wisdom and the life of compassion. A miracle indeed for our notorious ego!

"The unhindered light is the sun of wisdom dispersing the darkness of ignorance".

- Shinran

To be born in the Pure Land when we die is not a decision we make or try to intellectually prove to our satisfaction. It is not the result of self-calculation or self-contrivance; nor is it the result of our spiritual agony and angst. To be born on the Pure Land is a spiritually fulfilling act of entrusting born of Amida's fundamental vow and promise, reaching our heart and mind. It is the very pulse and rhythm of timeless and boundless life and reality we are fully in. It is not the end of some self-induced and narrow fear-ridden life. It is like an act of chrysalis - a transformation from karmic bondage to creative freedom.

No amount of mental gymnastics or emotional bargaining is satisfactory in bringing about our birth into the Pure Land of Enlightenment. It is astonishing when we finally get "it", and realize the meaning of the vow and promise of Amida Buddha was fulfilled five kalpas ago so that all beings may enter the Pure Land just as they are. Our awakening (shinjin) to the fullness of Amida's Name which contains all virtues and fulfillment for enlightenment humbles our egos in ways hitherto unknown. How powerful is the awareness that our ego need not add to nor subtract from Amida's vow and promise for its ultimate spiritual liberation! Here the meaning of the Other Power strikes our life profoundly and Shinran's words from the Tannisho resonates deeply: " The meaning of Other Power is by awakening to Amida's Primal Vow and saying the Nembutsu - Namu-amida-butsu - we become Buddhas".

Amida's self-benefit and benefit of others have been perfectly fulfilled as the Pure Land,
The compassionate means skillfully adorned to lead us to take refuge
It cannot be grasped by the (conventional) mind or by words,
So take refuge in the Honored-one beyond conceptual understanding.
Shinran, Hymns based on Gathas in Praise of Amida Buddha, 37
(reprinted from April 2005 Sangha Guide)