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| 念仏者は無碍の一道 |
The Nembutsu is the great path free of hindrances. I am now
walking on this great path, which is the great path of the Primal Vow and of
great compassion. The great path is calling to me—the calling sound is the
great path. This sound resonates and keeps resounding until it penetrates my
body and mind. It is the great mind of compassion; therefore, it can penetrate.
It is the Vow-power of the Buddha; therefore, it certainly can penetrate. It is
the Buddha-wisdom; therefore, it can inconceivably make one entrust and accept
it.
Faith (shinjin) is the great mind of compassion; therefore,
it certainly can bring about the great benefit of attainment of birth [in the
Pure Land]. This faith is the great Bodhi-mind (great compassion); therefore,
even the heavenly gods and earthly deities venerate the practitioners [of
shinjin], while maras and non-Buddhists present no obstruction. Neither evil
nor karmic retributions come into effect. Though we are children of evil, we
are unaffected by evil. Though we live in the seas of karma, we are unaffected
by karmic retributions. Some people sigh as follows: ‘I exist as the result of
cause and effect, so what sort of karmic evil did I create in my previous
life?’ People who sigh thus have not tasted the wonder of the Buddha-Dharma. We
suffer in the seas of suffering as a matter of course. Think further: this body
of ours has been entrusted with the mind of great compassion, and joined in the
activities of the Tathagata. Is there anything more fortunate than this? Is
there anything more enjoyable than this? Haven’t we been liberated from the
cycle of birth-and-death? Haven’t we broken away from reincarnation? After
resolving birth-and-death, what happiness could we still ask for? After
attaining birth in the Pure Land, aren’t we disclosed the mind of great
compassion (through the Vow-power) and return as a manifested body to the world
of suffering to cross over the sentient beings? Such being the case, this body
that begins to perform the practices of the Tathagatas, while practicing
diligently our own, should we not propagate the Buddha Dharma even if life is
distasteful? Don’t our eternal activities take place within the world of
suffering (kugai)? This world of suffering is rightly the great place of the way
(dojo) for propagating the great compassion. This great dojo is a dojo
beginning from time immemorial, and it will extend to the endless future, ad
infinitum. In this case, however distasteful this world of suffering may be, we
should feel fun and nostalgic at the same time, shouldn’t we? Conversely, those
who want to escape alone hastily from the world of suffering make us feel that
they have not yet joined in the wonderful practices of great compassion.
The seven calamities, come on! The eight sufferings, come
on! You can be aptly revealing the majestic force (anubhāva) of the Primal
Vow-power. The mind of propagating the great vehicle—if not as hard as the iron
rock, what use is it? We spend our day
in reading samadhi, every single word is Nembutsu, and every verse is burning
with the mind and heart of great compassion and vows. To recognize and repay
this kindness—that’s beyond my knowledge and ability. However, I am grateful to
be endowed with such great benefit! In this present life, when condition
allows, three days are not short, and 3,000 years are not long. Regardless of
what we have been born as, be it a horse or a cow, if we can spread the great
compassion expediently, isn’t it good?
In this present mind, we forget about suffering while living
in this world of suffering, forget about poverty while being in poverty, forget
about birth-and-death while floundering in birth-and-death, and forget about
being good or evil while living in this filthy world. Enjoying the bliss of the
Dharma, we can gain the bliss of enlightenment that Buddha himself enjoys
(jiju-horahu), which is not the privilege of the bodhisattva. Isn’t this the
state of “No evil act can bring about karmic results”?
Open your living eyes and behold the extensive waves of the
activities of great compassion! These waves are spreading throughout the entire
Dharma realm, extending toward the unending future. What is there but the
sounds calling continuously to sentient beings? While listening to the sounds,
involuntarily we merge into the sound; the two are merged into one another.
Together with the sounds we are spreading and reverberating to the ten
quarters, on board the unlimited time machine (vehicle) to transmit the sounds.
The taste of ‘The Nembutsu is the path free of hindrances’ lies in this.
(Please also read: The Single Path Free of Hindrance by George Gatenby)
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