In Pureland Buddhism there is no need for meditation in a formal sense because we have the nembutsu, which is all the mind training that we need. Nonetheless we have a system of meditation as an auxiliary practice - auxiliary in the sense that it deepens one’s understanding of, one’s feeling for, one’s intuitive grasp of the nembutsu. So, the practice of meditation here can deepen and make more real the nembutsu for the practitioner.
This meditation system consists of two categories of spiritual exercises:
- The first has to do with looking into one’s dependent nature. It corresponds to vipassanā.
- The second is to receive the grace of the Buddha, the peace of the Buddha. This corresponds to samatha.
If one does this kind of exercise, usually doing it in that order – first looking inward into one’s nature and then offering this to the Buddha and receiving in return the peace from the Buddha - then one concludes the exercise by an offering of the merit, giving away the love. Having offered everything and received infinite blessing, one gives this away.
All exercises in Pureland Buddhism are done as a form of grateful celebration. If we do these meditations, we are simply deepening, appreciation of the gift of the nembutsu, which has been given to us by the Buddha.
The inward-looking part of the exercise deepens one’s understanding of the Namo.
The offering and receiving part of the exercise deepens one’s feeling and understanding of Amida Bu.
The sequence of meditations deepens one’s feeling for the nembutsu as a whole.
We can also see this sequence of meditation as a reflection of the Three Minds, also a very important structural presentation of the mind of nembutsu:
- In the first part of the exercise one sincerely looks into one’s nature. Sincerity means: facing up to things, facing up to what one is. In Pureland we do not put great emphasis on how wonderful we are. We accept human nature as we find it: the good, the bad, the joy, the despair, the anguish and the ecstasy. We receive it all. It’s all part of human nature. So, in this sense, it’s a kind of non-judgmental examination of what constitutes one’s being. This is the mind of sincerity.
- And then, one receives the grace of the Buddha. One gives everything to the Buddha and the Buddha gives everything to you. This is profound. This is the profound mind. I’ll say more about the profound mind in another podcast.
- And then, finally, the third mind is to transfer the merit, so that all beings may enter the Pureland. We don’t need to hang onto our own merit. We don’t need to keep our merit, because we have received the infinite merit of the Buddha, which is far greater than anything we could generate by our own actions. So, we can happily and freely give all the merit away, which is to say, we can give away the love. We can radiate love into the world, which has come to us.
So, in the nembutsu we are receiving the love of the Buddhas and immediately giving it away. This is Namo Amida Bu.
Namo Amida Bu
Thank you very much
Dharmavidya
David
Overview - Auxiliary Meditations:
Nembutsu |
Category |
Three Minds |
Relevant Teachings |
Exercise |
NAMO |
Nei Quan Vipassana |
Sincerity |
Dependent origination |
Reflection upon what one has received and how one is supported |
AMIDA |
Chih Quan Samatha |
Profundity |
Other Power |
Offering what arises and receiving the grace of peace |
BU |
Metta |
Merit Transference |
Non-self |
Giving away the love |
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