If we are in Shikantaza, without wanting to achieve something, as in an objectless meditation, without desire, without having a goal, could we not say that we are in the Otherpower then, by being led to sitting and by simply being open-hearted? Or would you call it selfpower?
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It is the intention that matters, the act off taking refuge, feeling grateful for it and praising in devotion with sincerity no matter if it is Maria or Quan Yin or Amitabha or .... ?
Namo Amida Bu
Yes, there are many forms of nembutsu. It is not the form that matters so much as the intention. If you truly intend that something is nembutsu, then it is nembutsu. Thus Bencho says that first you choose nembutsu over all other practices and then all other practices become nembutsu. Ultimately all activities become nembutsu. Buddhism begins and ends with refuge and nembutsu is refuge. Each school of Buddhism has its own way of expressing it. The difference between Namo Amida Bu and Namu Dai Bosa is as the difference between six and half a dozen.
Thank you, (looking for a reconciliation between the two directions )
As so many times I ask a question the answer nearly comes by itself, or at the moment itself or some later.
Looking up the poetry of Soen Nakagawa just after I've asked you I came upon this in the book:
Endless Vow, the Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa (Shambala Boston & London 1996 )
Soen Roshi had been chanting the mantra "Namu dai bosa" ever since he created it as a young monk doing solitary retreats on Mount dai Bosatsu. In the Nichiren tradition, they chant "Namu myo ho ren ge kyo"; in the Jodo Shin Shu (Pure Land )tradition they chant "Namu Amida Butsu"; Soen Roshi often said that all sutras could be condensed into "Namu dai bosa" and that "Namu dai bosa" could be condensed into mu, and mu could be condensed into just sitting. With this kind of understanding, there is really no difference between "Namu myo ho ren ge kyo", "Namu Amida Butsu", and " Namu dai bosa". It is when we try to make literal distinctions that we miss the true meaning, we have to drop our attachment to mental categories; then the true meaning can infuse us.
David Brazier said:
Shikantaza could be "other power", but I think that, despite the theory, many people nowadays actually do it with some idea of personal development in view.