Essay 16

Just Buddha and me –

Father and son,

Mutually dependent for life.

The “true and real mind” of the Tathagata is genuine yet weighty, weighty yet genuine. The “sense-perceptions” and “discriminations” of foolish beings (bombu) are false yet light, light yet false. You must not go without distinguishing between light and heavy.

When you think, design and calculate in that little mind of yours, neither Amida Buddha nor the Name of the Primal Vow will “be at home”! If they are “not at home,” your birth in the Pure Land will fail.

When your eyes are on the Buddha, Buddha-Power, and Buddha-Vow, forgetting not even for a second, this is called accepting the trusting heart (shinjin) reverently. “I have put down this body heavily bound by evil karma” is the feeling implied.

On my part, in any case it is just the home of muddy bombu. So there is no need to worry even if I am “not at home.”  The home of the Tathagata is the home of the Original Teacher, the Dharma-king; when the home of the Dharma-king is established, there is peace—there is great peace.

Zuiken Sama