Listen to the teaching of the vow
Make hearing the Dharma — how the vow arose and was fulfilled — the ground of practice, as Shin Buddhism does.
Por qué funciona
The Larger Sutra’s fulfilment passage speaks of beings who, “having heard his Name, rejoice in faith.” Shinran glosses that word in the Chapter on Shinjin: “hear” means that beings, “having heard how the Buddha’s Vow arose – its origin and fulfillment – are altogether free of doubt. This is to hear.” In this reading, entrusting is not manufactured by willpower but awakened by hearing. Rev. Marvin Harada of the Buddhist Churches of America describes Shin Buddhism as “a path of listening to the teachings in one’s everyday life,” in which anyone can recite the Name and listen to the Dharma.
Cómo hacerlo
- Find a Dharma talk, a temple service, or a study class in the Shin or Jōdo-shū tradition, in person or recorded.
- Listen for the story itself — Dharmākara’s vows and their fulfilment — rather than for techniques.
- Notice the doubts that come up, and let them be part of what you bring back to listen again.
- Read a short passage of Shinran or the Tannishō slowly, and return to the same passage on another day.
- Talk about what you heard with a minister or fellow listeners; in Shin communities the teaching is shared.
Evidencia
The fulfilment passage is section 22 of the Larger Sutra in the Inagaki translation; Shinran’s gloss on “hear” is in the Chapter on Shinjin; the description of Shin Buddhism as a path of listening is from a Buddhist Churches of America overview by Rev. Marvin Harada. The support is textual and community-based. (anecdotal)
Not studied. Shin communities have their own terms and customs for listening to the teaching, which a local temple can explain better than a general page.
Fuentes
- Inagaki, H. (trans.), in collaboration with Stewart, H. The Three Pure Land Sutras: The Larger Sutra on Amitāyus, The Sutra on Contemplation of Amitāyus, The Smaller Sutra on Amitāyus. Revised second edition. BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. Berkeley/Moraga: BDK America, 2003 (first edition 1995).
- Shinran. The True Teaching, Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way (Kyōgyōshinshō), Chapter on Shinjin, in The Collected Works of Shinran. Kyoto: Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha, 1997.
- Harada, M. (Center for Buddhist Education, BCA). The Buddhist Churches of America (BCA): Jodo Shinshu Churches or Temples in America. Buddhist Churches of America, Southern District Ministers’ Association.
- A Record in Lament of Divergences (Tannishō), in The Collected Works of Shinran. Kyoto: Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha, 1997. Shinranworks online edition.
Error común
Listening as if to collect information, then trying to produce faith from it — in Shinran’s gloss, hearing is complete when doubt falls away, which is something that happens in the hearing, not something added afterwards.
Practica esto con IX Coach
Más prácticas para Pure Land Buddhism and the Nembutsu: Entrusting to Amida’s Vow
- Say the nembutsu: Namu Amida Butsu
Call Amida Buddha to mind by saying his Name — “Namu Amida Butsu,” I take refuge in Amida Buddha — as the heart of Pure Land practice.
- Recite the jūnen: ten nembutsu in one breath-cycle
Use the basic Jōdo-shū form of ten recitations, as taught at its head temple, to give the Name a simple shape you can return to.
- Hold the juzu: prayer beads with the nembutsu
Use the Buddhist beads as Pure Land lineages do — originally to count the nembutsu, and in Shin Buddhism as an expression of reverence rather than a counter.
- Visualise the Pure Land as the Contemplation Sutra describes
Begin the sutra’s sequence of contemplations — the setting sun, then water turning to ice and beryl — as the meditative side of Pure Land practice.
- Entrust yourself to Other Power and let go of self-power
Stop trying to make yourself worthy of the vow, and let the nembutsu arise from entrusting (shinjin) rather than effort.
- Say the nembutsu in gratitude
Let the Name be a response of thanks for a vow already fulfilled, as Shinran teaches, rather than a request.
- Keep a daily service before the home altar
Mark the day with a short service — chanting a sutra and the nembutsu before Amida — as Pure Land households and temples do.
- Recite Amitābha’s Name as Chinese Buddhists do
Practise nianfo — “Namo Amituofo” — as part of Buddhist practice as a whole, as it has long been practised in China, Chan monasteries included.
Conceptos relacionados
- Práctica Zen (Zazen y Más Allá)
Zazen, shikantaza, koans y la mente de principiante — mecanismos y evidencia honesta
- Meditación de Mantra, en la Práctica
Japa, soham, mala, y la repetición secular de palabras — la mecánica de la práctica de mantra
- The Six Pāramitās: How the Bodhisattva Trains
Six trainings, each aimed at one obstacle, and each made whole by wisdom
- Buddha-Nature (Tathāgatagarbha): A Buddha Hidden in Every Being
The Mahāyāna teaching that a buddha is already present in every being, and how practitioners work with it