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Nembutsu: Keeping the Mind Pure
Our first article ended with a discussion of parinamana, or the transfer of merit. The transfer of Amitabha’s monumental stores of merit into our account and the beginning of the process that ends with our rebirth in his Pure Land starts with the recitation of his name. Among the traditional Pure Land schools, agreement on the means for rebirth in Sukhavati is not unanimous. One common practice, however, is the recitation of the nembutsu, the recollection of the Buddha. Over time, this recollection came to mean the repetition of the name of Buddha Amitabha, which in Japanese took the form namu amida butsu, literally “Veneration to Buddha Amitabha.” The idea behind reciting Amitabha’s name is that the sound itself contains all his enlightened qualities, and that by mixing our mind with the sound of his mind we are mixing our mind with his.
The relative goal of this recitation is to attain nembutsu samadhi, a meditative absorption that gives birth to a vision of Amitabha or his Pure Land. This is what it means to accomplish Pure Land practice. The absolute goal is to turn that vision into reality at the moment of death, when one will literally be greeted by Amitabha and escorted to his Pure Land. Remember, the goal of Pure Land practice is not enlightenment, but rebirth in Sukhavati.
Among Japanese Pure Land schools, all of which stress the role of tariki, or other-power, a primary difference lies in the way they relate to the nembutsu. The Jodo Shinshu, or “True Pure Land School,” takes the principle of tariki to its edge. Shinran (1173–1262), the founder of this school, taught that because the current age of mappo is so dark we can do nothing to liberate ourselves. Jiriki, or self-power, is futile. We have to rely exclusively on the grace of Amitabha even to arouse the faith that is the central component of tariki. This school and other more fundamentalist Pure Land traditions rely on an interpretation of the eighteenth and nineteenth vows made by the Buddha Amitabha in his previous incarnation as Dharmakara. In these vows Dharmakara proclaimed that if people “think of me even ten times” they will be assured of rebirth in Sukhavati.
Shinran pressed the reasoning further by proclaiming that the power of Amitabha was so great that even a single recitation of his name was enough. This interpretation became known as the ichinengi, or once-calling, approach, which asserted that to call Amitabha’s name repeatedly was not only useless but a sign of arrogance. Shinran was probably drawing on this debated line from the Longer Sukhavati Sutra, where the Buddha himself said: “[T]hose living beings who hear the name of the Tathagata Amitabha and who when they hear it resolutely conceive of one thought of serene trust, even if it is only this single thought, will surely not fall back in their progress toward unsurpassable, perfect, full awakening.” (Emphasis added.)
One serious problem with this approach is its potentially antinomian and nearly nihilistic implications. In other words, one could rationalize, and there were extreme schools that did, that according to this view it does not matter what we do in the world. We can engage in all kinds of negative acts and Amitabha will still save us at the end. There is no need for religious practice, in fact it is useless. Damien Keown explains the reasoning: “The belief that one can do nothing that is good enough to effect one’s salvation carries with it the contrapositive position that one can do nothing evil enough to impede one’s salvation.” Simply put: Do what you want, just make sure you call Amitabha’s name once with total faith.
Shinran was a student of Honen (1133–1212), founder of the Jodo Shu, or “Pure Land School,” which expounded a more rational form of tariki. This tradition put forth the doctrine of tanengi, or the many-recitations approach, which gave self power a larger and more realistic role. In this approach, practitioners would recite the nembutsu up to 84,000 times a day as a powerful way to keep the mind pure. According to the Jodo Shu reasoning, because rebirth in the Pure Land cannot be guaranteed until the moment of death—when practice transforms into performance—at that critical time, the mind needs to be directed toward Amitabha and his Pure Land. The nearly constant repetition clears the mind of the discursive thought that would normally occupy it and makes it more likely to be directed toward the Pure Land at death. If the mind is occupied with thoughts of Amitabha and his Pure Land then, when that mind is transformed into reality at the moment of death, those very thoughts will propel the practitioner into that land. As it says in the Pali canon: “The mind leads all things.” Pure mind becomes Pure Land.
Jodo Shu and other similar Pure Land schools also acknowledged the role of supplemental practices such as meditation, offerings, chanting and a moral lifestyle. While leaning heavily on tariki, they afforded jiriki a more realistic position.