CHAPTER 16 “Excluded, However…”

Revised 8 July, 2017

Bonbu are filled with ignorance and blind passions from head to toe; there isn’t a bit that could become a Buddha. Body and mind are as dark as “the real pitch-blackness.”

“Since light can disperse the darkness, leave the darkness the way it is.”

“Birth [in the Pure Land] is not possible in any case. [There’s no way you can be saved.] Birth becomes possible thanks to the Primal Vow.”

From the angle of the true object [of salvation], “Bobu do not stand a chance of deliverance.”

From the angle of the Primal Vow, “It delivers because it has the power to deliver.”

Question: What did the fellow traveler Mr. Kanazawa mean when he said, “I am saved right at the point where I am forsaken by Amida Buddha”?

Answer: “You are forsaken by Amida Buddha” refers to the fact that Amida Buddha sees through [the fact] that “there’s no way you can be saved!” From the existence of an all-pervasive Buddha-wisdom, Amida Tathagata sees through [the fact] that “there’s no way you can be saved.”

“It is impossible for us, who are possessed of blind passions, to free ourselves from birth-and-death through any practice whatsoever. How sorrowful…” (Tanissho)

“…The Buddha, knowing this beforehand, called us ‘foolish beings possessed of blind passions…’” (Tanissho)

“Because they know true reality, they know the characteristics of the false state of sentient beings of the three realms. Because they know the false state of sentient beings, they awaken true and real compassion.” (Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the Pure Land, Part 2)

However, the Tathagata does not just leave it at that. The Tathagata says, “Note that I have a pair of eyes! One eye sees through [the reality] that there’s no way you can gain emancipation (you have been given up), while the other penetrates [the reality] that you gain emancipation. I have the Primal Vow-power and I penetrate [the reality] that you place reliance on the Primal Vow for emancipation!”

The “excluded, however” in “Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest offences and abuse the right Dharma,” implies that the Buddha is so compassionate that He wants us to realize, “You ought to know [the fact] that you have been ‘excluded’ and abandoned, and that there’s no way you can gain emancipation.” The Tathagata sees through the fact that “There’s no way you can gain emancipation in any case!” and abandons us. This [abandonment] is rare and should be appreciated. That all Tathagatas have abandoned us is something we should regard as precious. By discerning that “the Tathagata sees through the reality that there’s no way sentient beings can gain emancipation regardless, and ‘sentient beings’ refers to nobody but me”—only then do we come to realize that “excluded, however” is to make known the compassion of Amida Buddha.

So this is now in agreement with the “sincere mind, entrusting, and aspiration for birth,” namely the “three faiths” or “three minds” that we discussed earlier. This can be seen as an analogy of a disclaimer made by a father who drives his own children out of his house, hoping that his unfilial children will return and reunite with his parents again (anticipate the homecoming of his children).

“No matter how I hear the Buddha Dharma, my Buddha-nature remains unmoved.” This alarmed me and I woke up to the fact that Amida has forsaken and disclaimed me. I was truly hedged all about and had come to the end of my tether. It was only then I came to realize the inconceivability of the Primal Vow－it is meant to rescue such a being as me (object)! If I had accepted with reverence the Primal Vow and the Buddha-mind earlier, I would not have asked about this and that.”

(Narrated by the Dharma traveller Mr. Kanazawa)