Hello all,
I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Rob and I am an American
living in the beautiful countryside of Kanaya Japan. I've been here
for about three years now and live together with my wife Eriko and two
sons Kaito and Kenjiro in an old farmhouse set among the emerald green
tea fields. I look forward to great conversations with all of you.
Be well!

Rob Hirai

Welcome, Rob.

I just re-joined the group after an absence of a couple of years. Had
a lot of life changes; more or less back on track now.

Recently my interest in Shin was rekindled. Being away from it - and
Buddhism - for a while was helpful.

Actually, I find Buddhism quite overwhelming. The basics are
straightforward enough but it doesn't take long before one drowns in
doctrines, terms, sutras, and so on. Not to mention the varieties of
sects and their sub-sects. Whew...


--Michael


--- In shinlist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <capt_bochan@...> wrote:
>
> Hello all,
> I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Rob and I am an American
> living in the beautiful countryside of Kanaya Japan. I've been here
> for about three years now and live together with my wife Eriko and two
> sons Kaito and Kenjiro in an old farmhouse set among the emerald green
> tea fields. I look forward to great conversations with all of you.
> Be well!
>
> Rob Hirai

--- In shinlist@yahoogroups.com, "--Michael" <epsilon717@...> wrote:
>
> Welcome, Rob.
>
> I just re-joined the group after an absence of a couple of years.
Had
> a lot of life changes; more or less back on track now.
>
> Recently my interest in Shin was rekindled. Being away from it - and
> Buddhism - for a while was helpful.
>
> Actually, I find Buddhism quite overwhelming. The basics are
> straightforward enough but it doesn't take long before one drowns in
> doctrines, terms, sutras, and so on. Not to mention the varieties of
> sects and their sub-sects. Whew...
>
>
> --Michael
>

Michael thanks for the welcome. I know how you feel – it's difficult
to shift through all the differences. At our local temple the monk
both smokes and drinks! Laughing at my questioning he recites his
favorite saying, "It is what it is." He says if you accept the four
truths and live your life as close as possible to the eight fold path
then you are a Buddhist. I believe worrying and fighting over the
semantics of religious dogma has brought enough trouble into this
world without me adding to it so I accept this and try moment by
moment to be a better human being. I think the world would be better
off if people realized that beyond all the words and stories the
basic message of all religions are the same. I would say it's how you
apply that message to yourself that counts- not your ability to sit
still for hours a day or keep track of recitations with nenju.

Thanks again for the reply I wish for you every happiness.

Rob



>
> --- In shinlist@yahoogroups.com, "Rob" <capt_bochan@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello all,
> > I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Rob and I am an
American
> > living in the beautiful countryside of Kanaya Japan. I've been
here
> > for about three years now and live together with my wife Eriko
and two
> > sons Kaito and Kenjiro in an old farmhouse set among the emerald
green
> > tea fields. I look forward to great conversations with all of you.
> > Be well!
> >
> > Rob Hirai
>

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Hello,

First, thanks for the group synopsis-it actually went further in
answering my questions than anything I have read thus far!

I posted the following on another site which weems to be dead.  Fist
a little background: Have been a sole practitoner for many many years
but only in the last three have been trying to find my pkace in
traditional teachings.  Started with Ching T'u but find myself more
inclined to the Japanese schools of Pure land understanding. Had felt
more inclined with Jodo Shu because of it emphasis of name recitation
but after reading the group heading on what you had to say on it I
would like to know more.  Also very interested in your deeper
presentation on the metaphysical reality of Amida that rises above
mere parochialism (which I would be very comfortable with if I truely
understood that metaphysical reality that it represents!). Anyway
here is my former post in toto and the questions I ask:

Hello


As I stated in my reason to join, trying to sort through my "Pure land
identy crisis" to find just where I happen to be in reference to
traditional beliefs, where I might be in error or ignorance of the
same.

I come to Pure land first as a self practitioner, and have in these
latter times trying to fit myself into "orthodoxy" and thereby with a
sangha, a very necessary component to a person's establishment. Not
living near temples and such I have tried to glean my understaning
from
what is posted on websites which is fine to a point but does not
provide the nesessary meat to go on the skeleton provided. I have
many, many questions as a result.

First and foremost can offer me a comprehensive and complete
understanding of the difference between Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu???

Many references to "bonpo" and a rejection of the idea of "honkagu" or
innate enlightenment. From the side of our karmic configuration of
humanity and our condition I think I can understand the idea of not
being the cause and condition of enlightenment. But how does this jive
with the larger truth of our empty/interdependent nature?

I have many questions as to the expectations of the practice of
nembutsu on our daily lives. I wrote on a forum that when I read the
commentaries of our earthly lives I found them not very life
affirming,
which was met with a bit of consternation. I concede I am standing on
the outside looking in, and I can also undterstand such commentary of
a
life devoid of nembutsu. But what is your expectations AFTER your
relationship[ with Amida begins? Can I reasonably expect that the
utterance of such perfection would have a transformative effect on my
life? If the vow did not have the efficacy of revealing to us the
fundamental purity of our current existence how could this fulfill the
reality of its unnimpededness? I ask this because there is such an
emphasis on one's ignorance and Amida's vow power, which I can
understand as a device of non-attachment to that which clearly cannot
be owned, but in Jodo Shinshu is there ever an expectation that fog of
ignorance starts clearing and the ties of ignorance are loosened, that
difference between you and Amida becomes less distiguishable, even if
that process in not completed in terms of a human lifetime?

Do Jodo Shinshu practitioners recite the name on a daily basis? What
is your approach? Do you appoach it single-mindedly, meditatively, or
is it more akin to christian worship and if so do you look at the
proof
of the proper fulfillment of recitation to be corresponding emotional
reaction to it?

Can anyone give me the underpinning metaphysics upon which Jodo Shu
and
Jodo Sinshu are based?

Gassho,

Ryk

--- In shinlist@yahoogroups.com, "Oelund Fairking" <amidatrust@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> First, thanks for the group synopsis-it actually went further in
> answering my questions than anything I have read thus far!
>
> I posted the following on another site which weems to be dead.

Most if not all of the Shin groups are, to be kind, inactive. Quite a
change from the flurry of activity a couple of years ago, but nothing
is permanent....

Best of luck in finding your answers. Good questions you do have.


--Michael

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jim

"teisha-reifel978@vipzarewelcome.info" <teisha-reifel978@vipzarewelcome.info> wrote:

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Buddhists believe that we are all affected by our deeds. It is the
concept of Karma. That is why we strive to do only good. We try to do
no harm to anyone or anything. We know that doing harm will only
hinder or perhaps stop our reaching nirvana.
It is quite evident that those who post their trash mail to our site
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against gathering up such bad Karma.

Gassho
Namu Amida Butsu.

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Translated by Zuio H. Inagaki
Namu Amida Butsu.
From the Horai magazine Dec. 2000


"What should we do in a lifetime?"
Man's life - spanning no more than ninety years - is like a blade of
grass floating midstream in a river. It appears long but is, in
fact, quite short. Our present life is precious. Human life is
extremely precious. We have each received a life which is hard to
come by in millions of kalpas. The storm of impermanence is always
threatening our lives which are as precarious as dewdrops in the
morning sun. There is no knowing when and how we will die.

There are many things we should do in a lifetime, one of which
stands out as the most important. It is to acquire the treasure
which is indestructible through all eternity - namely, the
attainment of True Faith.

Attainment of Faith sounds easy, but is, indeed, of all
difficulties, the most difficult. Unless one dedicates all one's
available time and effort to resolving the problem of emancipation
from birth-and-death while leading a life of sincerity, diligence
and kindness, it will be all but impossible to attain True Faith.

In order to secure birth in the Pure Land, one pithy phrase to
contemplate, like a koan in Zen, is enough, for example: "The
Unhindered Light is the sun of wisdom, which disperses the darkness
of ignorance" (Kyogyoshinsho, Preface). One sacred phrase has
profound significance and works wonders for our salvation.

We are preoccupied daily with endless work, so that it is difficult
to find time for reading scriptures. Be that as it may, the sacred
teaching urging us "to entrust yourself to Amida and teach others to
do the same" and the admonition "to seek to repay your indebtedness
even by grinding your body to powder," along with the words of the
Primal Vow ending with the phrase, "if you are not born in the Pure
Land, may I (Dharmakara) not attain perfect enlightenment," resound
in my ears reassuringly, leaving an indelible impression in my heart.
so true....so true.
in gassho with respect and Makoto.
Seb

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------

NAMU AMIDA BUTSU.
Translated by Zuio H. Inagaki


"Amida's working is beyond our relative thinking"
The ultimate essence of the Buddha-Dharma is inconceivable. It is
the inconceivable working of the Buddha's Enlightenment. No matter
how much we may rack our brains, we cannot reach the depth of its
mystery. However avidly we may relish the taste of the Dharma, we
cannot come to the end of its resources. Although our logic and
reasoning fail to explore this realm exhaustively, we can accept it
in faith and dwell in absolute peace of mind - through Amida's
benevolence.

In his Preface to the Kyogyoshinsho Shinran states:
"The inconceivable Universal Vow is the large vessel that carries us
across the sea difficult to cross; the unhindered Light is the sun
of wisdom that breaks the darkness of ignorance."

This is an assertion that defies relative human calculations. It
transcends the scope of ordinary people's thoughts, and yet, our
Faith resides within it. We should accept this as a manifestation of
Namo Amida Butsu and Amida's call itself.

IN GASSHO WITH RESPECT AND MAKOTO.
SEB.

There are many things we should do in a lifetime, one of which
stands out as the most important. It is to acquire the treasure
which is indestructible through all eternity - namely, the
attainment of SHINJIN.giving by our beloved Amida...not our own power
but the the vow of Amida.
in gassho with respect and makoto.
seb

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