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We talk about the famous Wu Zetian, as well as Kings Munmu, Sinmun, and Hyoso in Silla.  These were the rulers at the same time that Uno no Sarara was overseeing things in Yamato.  Here we see a bit of tit for tat politics between Yamato and Silla.  We also get a tale of personal sacrifice from veterans of the Silla-Tang war against Baekje. For more notes and references, check out our blogpost page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-149 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 149: Kings, Queen, and an Empress   Uno no Sarara and her son, Crown Prince Kusakabe, sat in court.  The trappings of the recent mourning period had been put aside with the recent burial of Uno's husband, Ohoama, and they were now preparing for Crown Prince Kusakabe's coronation.  However, the matter in front of them had nothing to do with that.  Instead, they listened to an official recounting of what had transpired on the peninsula.  The court had explicitly sent an envoy to Silla to inform them of Ohoama's death, but it took much longer than it should have for Norimaro and his party to return.  There had even been an envoy mission from Silla while they were away. As Uno no Sarara listened intently, she found it harder and harder to keep her emotions in check.  She listened as the story of the Yamato mission was told, and as she heard of how her messengers were treated—how they weren't even allowed to tell the Silla court their news all because someone in Silla had decided that they weren't appropriate ambassadors. Silla had finally come to learn of Ohoama's death, and the mission returned home, but this treatment was inexcusable.  These were not just Yamato's messengers, they were carrying the royal word of Queen Uno no Sarara, head of the state and de facto ruler as they mourned the loss of her husband and predecessor.  To have them kept waiting because of some invented protocol was an affront to the nation, but it was also an affront to her. This. Would. Not. Do...     Greetings, everyone!  Thank you once again for tuning in.  As you may recall, last episode we covered the ceremonies around the death and burial of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, as well as the unceremonious death of Crown Prince Kusakabe, leading to the throne being taken by his mother, Queen Uno no Sarara, aka Jitou Tennou.  One aspect of everything that was going on was the relations with the continent.  This included missions from Yamato to the continent—especially those involved with communicating information about the changes in the Yamato court.  So this episode I thought we could look at some of the things we see in the record and go over where things sat with regards to the continent. First things first, let's brush up on where we left off.  Back in episode 140 we talked about how the Silla-Tang alliance had broken down.  With Baekje and Goguryeo both defeated, the Tang had set up commanderies to oversea captured territory in both kingdoms, and even though Emperor Tang Taizong had promised Silla suzerainty over Baekje, his successor, Gaozong, had not adhered to that agreement.  In response, and with the help of Goguryeo rebels, Kind Munmu of Silla had fought back against the Tang forces, eventually consolidating everything south of the Taedong river, approximating the extent of the modern country of South Korea. Meanwhile, Goguryeo rebels continued to trouble the Tang, and King Bojang set up by the Tang dynasty would eventually betray them, allying with the northern Malgal people.  They would continue to fight to restore their sovereignty.  With pressure from Silla and Goguryeo, the Tang commandery pulled back from Pyongyang to Liaoyang—effectively putting the mountainous regions at the head of the Korean peninsula between them and their enemies.  Silla control was de facto, but would not be recognized formally by the Tang dynasty until the early 8th century.  That didn't meant they were completely at odds, however.  Silla would resume diplomatic mission to the Tang, despite their territorial disagreements. Silla's King Munmu, who had pushed back against the Tang, was succeed by his son, known as King Sinmun.  Sinmun had been Crown Prince during the wars against Baekje and Goguryeo.  Much as Ohoama and Uno no Sarara had been doing on the archipelago, he was working to centralize royal authority in Silla. In 681, as Silla was still mourning the death of King Munmu, a rebellion broke out.  It was led by a high ranking Silla official, and father-in-law to Sinmun, Kim Humdol.  It was quickly put down, and Kim Humdol and other officials who were implicated were executed.  This was actually a golden opportunity for the new King Sinmun to help purge the court of any rivals or ministers with less than absolute dedication to his plan to centralize authority. I kind of get the feeling that, for all of the past conflicts between their nations, Sinmun, Ohoama, and Uno might have gotten along quite well.  However, that didn't stop the fact that they were rulers of rival nations, and while they may have had similar concepts of leadership, they also were focused on their own rule and authority. To that end, Sinmun also reached out to the Tang court with tribute missions, and in so doing was at least recognized by the Tang court, who enfeoffed him as King of Silla.  This appears to have been a bit of polite fiction, but that was how a lot of this operated, ultimately.  King Sinmun would have held power in Silla regardless of the Tang court's approval, but the fiction that the court had bestowed his authority no doubt provided some diplomatic benefits, and a context within which to operate on the international stage.  It also no doubt allowed for increased trade, bringing in exotic and high status items, which would have been useful for boosting approval ratings back home. King Sinmun ruled until his death in 691.  He was succeeded by his son, known as King Hyoso.  However, Hyoso was young—about 5 years old when he took the throne.  And so his mother, Queen Sinmok, acted as regent for much of his reign—right up until her death in 700.  Hyoso ended up reigning for a decade, until 702, meaning that he and his mother reigned throughout Uno no Sarara's period as sovereign in Yamato. Hyoso's reign saw continued progress towards centralization of authority, as well as improved relationships with the Tang court.  Silla maintained diplomatic ties and tribute missions, and the Tang court conferred recognition on Hyoso as the King of Silla, in return. Speaking of the Tang Court, Emperor Tang Gaozong passed away before Ohoama had, departing this world in 683.  However, for all that he was the emperor, he had not really been the one running things for some time.  Gaozong came to the throne at roughly 21 years of age, and throughout most of his reign he had to share power with others in the court.  Originally this meant high ranking minister, but there was also his wife, Wu Zhao, aka Wu Zetian.  Wu had been a consort under Tang Taizong, and then continued as a consort for Gaozong as well.  Then, in 655, she was officially made empress. In 660, Gaozong began to suffer from an unknown illness, characterized by headaches, dizziness, , and occasional seizures and loss of vision.  Some have suggested it was a stroke or some form of hypertension.  Either way, these symptoms would plague him for the rest of his reign, and so he began to delegate more and more authority to Wu Zhao, who would handle things on his behalf. Thus, Wu was effectively already running things by the time of Gaozong's death in 683.  At that point, she became the Empress Dowager, and her third son became emperor Zhongzong—at least in name.  Because Wu Zhao maintained all of the power and authority at court.  She was, in fact, the regent, and a mere six weeks after Zhongzong took the throne he was removed by his own mother.  It seems that Zhongzong, who came to the throne at the age of 28, was showing signs of being a little too much under the influence of his wife, Empress Wei.  In fact, he is said to have considered giving her the Empire.  And so Wu had him deposed and exiled.  She then had his younger brother made Emperor Ruizong, though still under Wu Zhao's term as regent. Ruizong was about 22 when he took the throne under his mother in 684.  He would continue to reign until 690, when he abdicated the throne in favor of his mother.  From that point on, Wu Zhao ruled as the sovereign for another 15 years, until the year 705, declaring it a return of the ancient Zhou dynasty.  In other words, for all of Uno no Sarara's reign in Yamato, another woman, Wu Zhao, sat atop the traditionally patriarchal seat of power in the Tang—and later Zhou—court. Wu Zhao is more commonly known to us, today, as Wu Zetian.  This comes from her final title as reigning monarch:  Zetian Dasheng Huangdi, or Heaven-following Great Holy Emperor.  She is often depicted as a ruthless and politically savvy ruler who usurped the throne through her feminine wiles and violence.  We see how she dethroned her own son to avoid him giving up the throne to his wife.  She is also said to have had another son killed because of her ambitions, and is even accused of killing her own daughter just to blame a rival at court.  She is also depicted performing plenty of other unflattering acts. Of course, it is worth noting that she was not the one to write her own history.  After her reign, her epitaph was inscribed by her own political rivals.   It is notable that she is the only Empress to be recognized as ruling in her own right in the entire history of China.  Certainly there were others who reigned as regents, and women with tremendous power and influence, but none of them really held the throne uncontested. Given the animosity of the authors who wrote about her reign, we have to take anything we hear about Wu Zhao with a bit of salt.  On the other hand, Tang dynasty imperial politics were ruthless, and you didn't get to the top because you had a charming demeanor.   While there is no doubt more than a little slander written into the history books, one only has to look at the men who ruled before and after her to wonder whether she really did anything that was so much better or worse than what they did.  Just keep that in mind as we go through some of what she was accused of. Now what we are told is that with her younger son, Emperor Ruizong, she was only nominally pretending to be regent.  She didn't bother to hide behind a screen with him out front and we are told she openly whispered answers and commands that Ruizong would immediately parrot.  Ruizong never moved into the imperial suites of the palace, which his mother maintained.  Ruizong didn't even attend imperial functions, and officials were not allowed to meet with him privately.  An uprising in Yang state was said to be in part because of her rule, and it was suggested that she should step aside and let her son truly rule to restore confidence, but she was having none of it and had those who suggested it arrested.  Later, she would institute post boxes around government buildings for people to snitch on those around them who might be disloyal, and she instituted secret police, who investigated various rumors and false accusations with torture, leading to numerous executions. In 685 she is said to have had an affair with a Buddhst monk, Huaiyi, who was then conferred with various honors.  Then, in 686, she offered to return the throne to Ruizong, but Ruizong, realizing that there was no way she would let go of power, saw it as a test of his obedience, and declined.  In 688 she summoned senior members of the Li Family, the family of the Tang emperors, under the pretense of making sacrifices to the spirit of the Luo river, which flowed through the Eastern Capital of Luoyang.  Several of the Princes of the Li house were worried that she was going to slaughter them all, Red Wedding style, if they showed up, in order to secure the throne to herself, and so they plotted to rebel, but coordination was not the greatest back then, and two princes rose up before the others were ready.  They were crushed, and many other members of the Li family were implicated, arrested, and forced to commit suicide.  In 690, she completely did away with any dissembling and declared a new dynasty—the Zhou dynasty—declaring herself Shengshen Huangdi, or Holy Divine Emperor of the Zhou dynasty.  And yes, this is the same Zhou as the ancient Zhou dynasty—she was apparently claiming descent from the ancient rulers of Zhou. Her son was thus deposed and she ruled uncontested from 690 until her death in705.  She would go by various names.  Three years in and she would add "Jinlun", or "Golden Wheel" to her title, referring to the Buddhist concept of a Chakravartin, or Golden Wheel Turning Monarch. This latter title came in part as she is said to have elevated the foreign religion of Buddhism over the native Taoist religion.  She is also said to have built numerous temples around the capital cities and elsewhere.  In 692, the rising power of the secret police appeared to have been halted.  One of the officials in charge, Lai Junchen, attempted to have a handful of officials executed for false accusastions.  He told them that if they confessed to the accusations, their lives would be spared, and so many of them confessed to the false accusations, but Junchen conspired to have them executed anyway.  One of the officials was none other than the famous Di Renjie.  Renjie wrote a petition on his blanket and then hid that with the laundry that he sent to his family when it was time to change from winter to summer robes.  His family found it and submitted the petition to Wu Zhao, who became suspicious of Junchen.  For his part, Junchen has submitted forged petitions from the prisoners, thanking Empress Wu for preparing to execute them. Other accusations against Junchen's methods came to light, and so Empress Wu interrogated the prisoners personally.  They all disavowed their confessions, and so Wu commuted their sentences from death to exile.  Junchen continued to operate until 697, but there seems to have been a notable decrease in the number of executions after that point.  He would eventually go too far, and planning to accuse the Li and Wu princes and princesses of treason, but they acted first and he ended up being executed.  Without Lai Junchen, the secret police seem to have largely fallen apart. As for Di Renjie, he eventually worked his way back into the good graces of Wu and the court, eventually being recalled to Luoyang to serve.  Di Renjie's own legend grew, and in the 18th or 19th century he was recast as a kind of Tang dynasty detective in the historical crime drama genre popular at the time.  The book, "Di Gong An", or "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee", was found by a Dutch Ambassador to China, Robert van Gulik, in a used bookstore in Tokyo, of all places.  Van Gulik would go on to translate the stories and penned a number of others using the style and characters of the original.  Judge Dee was cast as the "Sherlock Holmes of China" and has since become popular in both China and the West.  The first novel in the series was actually set in the time of Empress Wu. Robert van Gulik also had several scholarly works, including a translation of the Tang Yin Pi Shih, a 13th century manual for magistrates with examples of cases spanning approximately 1400 years, from the Qin to Song dynasty.  This work really helps to illuminate how the ancient justice system worked back then.  Fictional detectives aside, Empress Wu would continue to reign over an impressive period in history.  There were plenty of deadly politics, various attacks by outside forces, and more. Overall, it was a fairly prosperous time for the empires. When Wu passed away in 705, her son, Emperor Zhongzong, resumed the throne, ending the Zhou dynasty and resuming the Tang dynasty of the Li family.  Still, Wu Zhao, aka Wu Zetian, would be well remembered.  She was buried in the Qianling Mausoleum, near Chang'an, alongside her late husband, Emperor Gaozong.  Various other members of the Royal Li family were also buried there, and many of their tombs have been opened.  The paintings, statues, and artwork and funerary goods provide a tremendously detailed look at Tang court culture and society at this time.  Statues outside indicate officials and ambassadors from across the Tang courts sphere of influence.  There are depictions of court dress and the elaborate hairstyles, fabrics, and more, as the tombs generally include court men and women.  The famous mural of the Ambassadors is shown with Korean, western, and possibly even a Japanese envoy.  The murals also show architectural elements of ancient Chang'an and more. The tombs of Gaozong and Zetian clearly known, but currently have not undergone excavation.  Much like with the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the government has put a moratorium on opening the tombs until they can be sure that everything can be properly protected as they do so.  There is a huge concern that the tombs could be robbed or that priceless works could be damaged if they are opened improperly or without sufficient techniques to adequately preserve them. As noted above, although Empress Wu is often demonized by historians, we have to ask if her reign was truly so much different from others.  She was certainly a woman taking power in a male-dominated system.  Where a man projecting power was seen as normal, Empress Wu was seen as perverting the natural order.  An emperor taking to bed numerous consorts and concubines was considered only natural.  However, Empress Wu taking to bed various men for her own enjoyment was seen as licentious and indecent.  The double-standard seems pretty clear. I even have to wonder about things like the secret police.  While it certainly is alarming to see a government sending people out to arrest and charge people on the barest of evidence, often with little or no accountability or transparency, one should consider what justice looked like at the time, more generally.  Tang dynasty justice was often harsh, and torture was considered a standard practice to elicit a confession.  Once someone was accused of a crime, their guilt was assumed, and it was on them to prove their innocence.  This was a tall order, as the thinking of the day was often that if you hadn't done anything wrong, why would anyone risk falsely accusing you?  So clearly you had done *something* to disrupt the social order, even if it wasn't what you were actually accused of. Furthermore, there is a fine line between rooting out disloyalty to the regime and rooting out corruption.  Anonymous tips can be used to call SWAT to someone's house, but it can also be a way for a whistleblower to alert those in authority that something untoward is going on.  And something begun with the best of intentions, can easily be corrupted, especially in the wrong hands. And so I think we can give Empress Wu at least the benefit of the doubt that she seems to have tried to do right by the people and her country.  The Tang court, by all accounts, was a nest of vipers, and I don't think she was a saint, but neither was she the devil incarnate. In fact, a lot of the accusations against Empress Wu would appear to be paralleled, years later, in the archipelago—possibly being parroted by men who were aware of the anti-Wu propaganda.  Kouken Tennou—who would also reign a second time as Shoutoku Tennou, was embroiled in conflict. Like Wu, she came to power in a court embroiled in familial politics.  She was known to be a supporter of Buddhism, and she was also said to have had an affair with a monk, Doukyou, upon whom she is said to have lavished power and authority.  She is also said to have modeled her nengo, the auspicious names for the year, off of Empress Wu.  After her death, her reign was used as a reason why there was not another regnant female sovereign on the throne until the Edo period, and she is often seen as the Last Female Sovereign, much as there was never another Empress regnant amongst the various Sinic dynasties. However, returning ourselves back to the 7th century, those histories had yet to be written.  Instead, one has to wonder how much communication there was between the continent and the archipelago.  Did Uno no Sarara realize that she was not the only woman taking charge at that time?  Was Empress Wu considered a model for her?  Or was she seen as more of a rival?  Or was it neither?  Did either one regard the other at all, embroiled as they were in their own, local and domestic pursuits? If they did, there isn't much, if anything, in the record. There is plenty to be said about relations with both Silla and the Tang dynasty in general, however.  Most of the focus was actually on Silla, to be honest—not surprising given Silla's place in the international arena in relation to Yamato. Last episode we mentioned that an embassy was sent to Silla to announce the death of Ohoama.  It was only several months after he had passed away, on the 19th day of 687.  The chief and assistant envoys were Tanaka no Ason no Norimaro and Mori no Kimi no Karita.  Norimaro is listed as Jikikwoshi rank—the lowest of the Jiki category, which was the 3rd of 6.  This put him about 24 ranks down in the 48 rank system.  Karita, on the other hand, was Tsuidaini, putting him at about 43 of 48 court ranks.  Normally, I don't pay too much attention to the ranks that are given in the Chronicles, mainly for two reasons.  First off is that you aren't always sure that the rank given in the Chronicle corresponds with the rank at the time of the event—sometimes we see ranks that are clearly anachronistic—typically later in their life.  Since people don't typically drop in rank, unless they are demoted, this usually gives you some information, but not always. The second reason I often don't pay attention is because it usually isn't germane to the story.  It is why I'll also drop the uji and the kabane, once we establish a particular person.  Otherwise it feels like word salad. Every once in a while I do like to look at the ranks, however, because they do give us information about things like the individual's general position in the court hierarchy.  In this case we see that, of the officials selected for this assignment, one was near the bottom of the upper half of the court, while the other was really in a much more junior position.  I believe this may also be important later on, because there was a certain expectation that the person representing a sovereign in diplomatic situations would have sufficient rank to indicate some amount of pull, back home. The mission of Norimaro and Karita to Silla may have been ordered in the first month of the year, but it seems it likely took time before it actually left—or something happened.  I say this because in the 9th month we see an embassy from Silla arrive, and they are apparently unaware of any changes in the archipelago.  The embassy was headed by the Prince Gim Sangnim.  We are also told that there were two other officials, Gim Salmo and Gim Insyul, both of Geupson rank.  Then there was So Yangsin of Daesa rank.  That was two of vice ministerial rank and one of lower official rank.  These ranks were connected both to their office and to their family, as Silla still used a fairly rigid system based on the rank of one's family, similar to the way that the old Kabane system worked before it was reformed under Ohoama in the previous reign. The embassy from Silla also included a student-priest, Chiryu.  Presumably Chiryu was from Yamato and had gone abroad to study, and was now making his way back home. It appears as though the embassy had no idea that Ohoama had passed away as we are told that they had to be informed by the Dazai—the Viceroy of Tsukushi.  Once they were informed, they all put on mourning clothing, turned towards the east—towards the capital of Yamato—and they bowed three times and then cried out lamentations three times. I would note that there is another record in the first month of the following year, which states that Gim Sangnim and his colleagues were informed of Ohoama's death and lamented three times.   That could just be a misplaced duplicate of the previous entry, about the embassy—possibly it got recorded multiple times and different ways and on different dates.  It isn't exactly clear.  Either way, it seems that this was not meant to be an official condolence envoy, but just a regular embassy bringing trade goods disguised as tribute.  In fact, in the 2nd month of 688 we are told that the Viceroy of Tsukushi presented the tribute from Silla to the capital.  It is said to have included gold and silver, thin silks, cloth, skins, copper, and iron.  There were also images of the Buddha, all kinds of coloured fine silks, birds, and horses.  Sangnim himself had presents of gold and silver, colored stuffs, and various rarieties—80 items all told.  Sangnim and his crew probably didn't travel to Asuka, because we are told that as of the 10th day of the 2nd month of 688 they were being entertained in the Tsukushi government house, where they were given various gifts by the court, and then they headed out on the 29th day of that month. A year after that, in the first month of 689, Norimaro and Karita returned from Silla, suggesting that the two embassies really had just passed each other—such were the issues with international travel back in the day. Now, normally, we don't hear much about what happened during these embassies.  The Nihon Shoki doesn't typically record anything, possibly because they just didn't have any records.  And the records in the Samguk Sagi often don't mention anything, either.  It is possible that it was just considered too routine to mention the ins and outs.  However, in this instance, we may have some insight, because it is mentioned later in the narrative. You see, four months behind Norimaro and Karita came the formal Silla condolence envoy.  It was headed by Gim Dona, of Geupson rank—so a vice minister instead of a prince heading up the embassy.  Silla also sent student-priests Meiso, Kwanchi, and others, along with a gold-copper image of Amida Buddha and a gold-copper image of Kannon and an image of Daiseishi Boddhisatva, along with colored silks and brocades. A month after they arrived, the condolence envoy received a message from none other than Queen Uno no Sarara herself, but this was not necessarily a good thing.  In fact, she appears to be dressing down the Silla envoys and the Silla court more generally, because of how things had gone with Norimaro and Karita—and this possibly also explains why it took so long for them to get to Silla and back. According to the Yamato court, Norimaro and Karita were sent to Silla to announce the death of Ohoama.  However, Silla protocol stated that persons charged to deliver a royal message had always had the rank of Sopan. This appears to be equivalent to the rank of Japchan, and indicates the third rank in Silla's system.  Because of this, Queen Uno's message goes on to state, Norimaro and Karita were not allowed to deliver their message about Ohoama's passing to the court.  However, back when Karu—Koutoku Tennou—had passed away in 654, Kose no Inamochi went to announce the funerals dates, and he was received by Gim Shunshun listened to the report.  So saying that it is someone of the third rank that is needed goes against precedent. Furthermore, when Naka no Oe passed away in 671, Silla sent Gim Salyu, who was of 7th rank, but now they send someone of 9th rank.  So if precedent was to be followed, wouldn't that also be a problem? This whole thing is really fascinating in that it demonstrates the kind of delicate balance and back and forth that was going on—and I suspect that it was growing even more specific as each country was adopting more rules and laws, and compiling them into codes.  It is notable that the Chronicles make sure to state the rank of each ambassador from Silla, at least in the last several reigns.  That suggests that the government was tracking such things, and that it was important. The rest of the screed by the Yamato court seems a little more about setting out Yamato's position on Silla-Yamato relations.  Here Yamato puts words into the mouths of former Silla officials, claiming that they always addressed Yamato's sovereign with deference.  Yamato claimed Silla had promised service to Yamato since the remote royal ancestors, promising that the oars of the ships bringing tribute to the archipelago would "never become dry", and yet this time, there was only one ship that came to offer condolences.  Furthermore, the Silla kings were to serve the sovereigns of Yamato faithfully, but they had now broken the faith. Therefore their tribute goods were sealed up and returned back. That said, they weren't completely breaking off communications.  This was a rebuke, certainly, but they were willing to keep channels open with hopes that relations might improve in the future. My read on all of this is that the Yamato envoys to Silla had been snubbed by that court for not being of appropriate station by Silla's rules.  Therefore, in a tit-for-tat move, Yamato was treating the condolence envoy similarly. That doesn't mean they didn't show them any hospitality, though.  Queen Uno no Sarara had the Viceroy, Awada no Mabito no Ason, give the student-priests Meiso and Kanchi, who had just come back with the condolence envoy, 140 kin of floss silk for their teachers back in Silla, in apparent gratitude.  And then a few days later they were entertaining the condolence envoys in Wogohori in Tsukushi, and giving them various presents for their trouble. This is likely the kind of "don't shoot the messenger".  Sure, they were returning the tribute and sending a message to Silla, but that wasn't the fault of Gim Dona and his colleagues.  And they were now taking a rather disappointing message back with them—I doubt anyone wanted to be in Gim Dona's shoes as he told the court what had transpired. Gim Dona and crew left shortly after that.  From there, we don't have a lot of information on what happened.  The Silla annals of the Samguk Sagi don't record Gim Dona's embassy, let alone what happened when they came back.  However, Silla  would send future envoys, and diplomatic relations between the two countries continued throughout the reign.  The Silla embassies from that point on are largely, for our purposes, unremarkable.  I may mention them if they relate to other items of note, but for the most part there is really only two other embassies of note, and they were in the year 693.  The first was from Silla, led by Gim Gangnam of Sasan rank, along with Gim Yangweon of Hannama rank—so 8th and 11th rank in the Silla hierarchy, apparently.  They had come to announce the death of King Sinmun, who had passed away the previous year.    And so, on the 16th day of the 3rd month, an embassy was prepared to depart for Silla.  It was headed up by Okinaga no Mabito no Oyu, of Jikikwoshi rank—much as Norimaro had been.  He and his proposed vice envoy, Ohotomo no Sukune no Kogimi, who was Gondaini rank—27th of 48—were both given gifts prior to their election as ambassadors, and were sent as condolence envoys, themselves. Meanwhile, let's take a look at Yamato's interactions with the Tang dynasty. First of all, we see a note in the 6th month of 689 that presents of rice were given to Xu Shouyen, Sa Hungko, and others from the land of the Great Tang.  So was this an embassy?  Not quite. Remember that little scuffle back in the 660s on the Korean Peninsula?  That special military operation by Silla and Tang forces against Baekje, where Yamato had tried to assist, only to have their navy bested by Tang forces? Well during the fighting , there had been numerous prisoners taken, on both sides.  Xu Shouyen and Sa Hungko were two such prisoners.  Except that "prison" in this case was largely being sent to live off the land.  They were probably forced to do labor, though if they had special skills, such as reading and writing, they may have been put to work in another way.  Indeed, we later see these two mentioned not as prisoners or even slaves, but as teachers of "pronunciation".  They were even given rice-land and stipends of their own.  Granted, this is decades after they first came to  Yamato, so this wasn't exactly a smooth ride. But it wasn't just Tang prisoners in Yamato.  Yamato soldiers had also been captured and taken prisoner by Tang forces.  And so, in the 9th month of 690, we see three priests who had gone to the land of Tang to study returned in the company of a Silla escort envoy, and they brought back with them a soldier, Ohotomobe no Hakama, from the Upper Yame district in Tsukushi. The three priests, Chishiu, Gitoku, and Jougwan all made their way to the capital, arriving several weeks after they first made landfall in Tsukushi.  At this point, Prince Kawachi was the Dazai in charge of affairs out there, and soon after the priests arrived at Naniwa and made their way to the capital, in Asuka, messengers going the other way made it out to Tsukushi with orders to give presents and gifts to the Gim Gohun, the escort envoy who had shuttled them all back from the continent. But even more impressive was the royal edict that was dated a week later for Ohotomobe no Hakama.  It lays out the circumstances of his capture and what happened to him that he stayed in the land of the Tang for so long.  You see, Hakama was one of many soldiers who was captured during the war to defend Baekje.  But three years after that conflict, the Tang dynasty was no longer trying to keep them prisoner.  This was a time when you didn't necessarily need to have buildings with walls to keep people prisoner—you just moved them to a new area where they could farm or otherwise set up a livelihood, or starve.  Travel was dangerous and expensive, especially if you didn't speak the language.  Nonetheless, if you did wish to return, there wasn't a lot stopping you, beyond just having the means to do so. And so this group of Wa soldiers got together and debated what to do.  We are told that it was four men—Hashi no Hoto, Kohori no Oyu, Tsukuhi no Satsuyama, and Yuge no Gen Jitsuni—the last one apparently having taken a local name on the continent.  Amongst themselves, they wanted to return to the archipelago not just to see their families and friends, but also to let people back home know about the changing conditions on the mainland.  As you may recall, around this time, Yamato was fiercely building up forces and defenses because they were convinced that there was going to be an attack by the Tang and Silla forces at any moment. The only problem that these four had in getting back was that they had, well, nothing.  They had neither the clothing nor provisions to make such a journey.  What would they eat and how would they pay for passage?  As such, they were unable to get back.  Hearing this, Ohotomobe no Hakama spoke up.  He declared that, as much as he also wished to return, he could at least help them out.  He offered to be sold into slavery so that his companions could obtain money with which to buy food and clothing. And so they did.  Hakama was sold, and he probably had no idea what happened to the four after that. It turns out, however, that they did make it back and were able to give the Yamato court some idea of what had happened.  Meanwhile, Hakama remained in a foreign land as a slave for some 30 years, until he was finally able to make it back to Yamato, apparently with the help of the three monks. This whole story was relayed to the court, and when the Queen heard it, she decided to act.  And thus the edict.  Not only did she recount his story and praise him for his loyalty, but he was granted certain honors.  First off, he was granted the rank of Mudaishi—the 39th rank in the court hierarchy, which gave him not a small amount of status, especially if he stayed in Tsukushi.  He was also granted5 pieses of coarse silk, 10 bundles of floss silk, 30 tan of cloth, and 1000 sheaves of rice.  On top of that, though, he received four chou of rice-land, which was given to him and his descendants, until at least his great-grandchildren.  Finally, his parents, siblings, and children, were also exempted from having to ever provide corvee labor. Now, nobody could give him back his 30 years, but this was quite the consolation prize, at the time.  To basically get rank and status, a stipend down four generations, and exemption from forced labor for him and his relatives, that was pretty incredible, if you think about it. Hakama wasn't the only one who had suffered in the country of the Great Tang and was rewarded for it.  Mononobe no Kusuri, from Iyo, and Mibu no Moroshi, in Higo, were also paid out handsomely in consolation for their sufferings,  though we aren't given details on their stories, or even when they came back. There are also other descriptions of Tang men, but it seems that these were individuals in a similar position to Xu Shouyen and Sa Hungko—they had been captured and were now living in Yamato.  That they were integrating into Yamato society seems clear from the fact that they were given rank and similarly treated like vassals of the throne. What we don't see, however, are any further diplomatic missions.  Those wouldn't start up for a while, and so even if Queen Uno no Sarara had wanted to confer with another female monarch, it would have to have been done through the auspices of Silla, who at t his point seem to have largely controlled the flow of goods, people, and thus information between the straits. And with that, I think we can close out this episode.  Moving forward, we have more details about a lot of different things, and yet others are still lacking.  It is my goal to try and be a little more selective about the passages we pull from the Chronicles.  We don't need to go over every natural disaster or prayer to the wind-gods.  We will take a look at things like the completion of the Fujiwara capital, as well as the 22 volumes of the Asuka-Kiyomihara law codes.  And then there are a few persons of note that we should probably mention as well, such as the appearance of Fujiwara no Fubito.  We should also talk about some of the other royal edicts that were made. All of that for later.  For now, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Welcome to Dive Into Reiki With..., an interview series hosted by Nathalie Jaspar that explores the journeys of high-profile Reiki teachers and practitioners.You can support the mission of spreading Reiki education through my Patreon for less than the cost of a cup of coffee or for free by rating this podcast on your app!IMPORTANT NOTICE: Dive Into Reiki's mission is to bring information that allows Reiki practitioners from all over the world to deepen their practice. Although this information is shared freely on my platforms, all content is tied to copyrights. Please do not repurpose or translate these interviews without previous authorization. EPISODE 56: REFLECTING ON SUCCESS AND A SMALL CHAT WITH REVEREND MIKI NAKURA I've had the pleasure of training in seiza meditation (quiet sitting) with Reverend Miki Nakura of Higashi Hongan-ji temple in Kyoto and the Jodo-Shinshu Shin-Buddhist New York Sangha. He demonstrates seiza but also explains the importance of hara in achieving emptiness and the meaning of Amida Buddha, which is very linked to the second Reiki symbol. Taught by Okada sensei over 100 years ago, Seiza meditation is a universal method of sitting and breathing quietly to experience a peaceful and present-focused life. We sit in a chair or on a floor cushion while maintaining proper posture, breathing, and putting full strength into the lower belly. Seiza helps the mind and body to become stable and calm. Nakura sensei offers virtual practices on Zoom and in-person sittings in New York City. He also travels the world teaching Seiza and has visited countries like England, France, Brazil, and Colombia in the last few months.You can see his full demonstration of seiza meditation hereYou can reach out to him at mikinakura87@gmail.com and access his handout about seiza meditation with step-by-step instructions on this link. And  read more about his journey here.Nathalie Jaspar, the founder of Dive Into Reiki,  is a Reiki master with over a decade of experience. She's a graduate teacher from the International House of Reiki, led by world-renowned Reiki master Frans Stiene. She also trained with the Center for True Health and the International Center for Reiki. To gain an even deeper understanding of Reiki practice, Nathalie went to Japan to practice Zen Buddhism at the Chokai-san International Zendo. She is the author of Reiki as a Spiritual Practice: an Illustrated Guide and the Reiki Healing Handbook (Rockridge Press). Support the Show.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

Send us a Text Message.The full text of this podcast can be found in the transcript of this edition or at the following link:https://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/2023/09/a-brief-address-on-occasion-of-my.htmlPlease feel free to post any comments you have about this episode there.The Cambridge Unitarian Church's Sunday Service of Mindful Meditation can be found at this link:https://www.cambridgeunitarian.org/morning-service/ Music, "New Heaven", written by Andrew J. Brown and played by Chris Ingham (piano), Paul Higgs (trumpet), Russ Morgan (drums) and Andrew J. Brown (double bass) Thanks for listening. Just to note that all the texts of these podcasts are available on my blog. You'll also find there a brief biography, info about my career as a musician, & some photography. Feel free to drop by & say hello. Email: caute.brown[at]gmail.comThanks for listening. Just to note that all the texts of these podcasts are available on my blog. You'll also find there a brief biography, info about my career as a musician, & some photography. Feel free to drop by & say hello. Email: caute.brown[at]gmail.com

Join the esteemed author and scholar Mark Unno in a wide-ranging discussion of the Pure Lands, and how much they have to offer for our modern age. Professor Unno begins with a thorough look at the history and philosophy of the Pure Land schools, before turning to the main principles of this noble tradition. The core tenets of self-power and other-power are explored, the role of nembutsu (reciting the name of Amida Buddha), true entrusting, deep listening, the power of mantra, and how the Pure Land of Sukhavati is different from Heaven, and Amida is different from God.Dr. Unno shares personal stories of his experience with Pure Land tenets, and how the practice of bowing and surrender has transformed him. How real are the Pure Lands? Do we take them literally or symbolically? Is there a danger in psychologizing the Pure Lands? Why should we go there after we die? Mark talks about the difference between nirvana and parinirvana, the nondual light of oneness that Amida represents, and the principle of purity and purification altogether. The discussion turns to the notion of “spiritual photosynthesis,” the power of light and the mantra of light, before moving to the idea of “reverse karmic bond” and its relationship to the Reverse Meditations. Professor Unno clearly manifests a lifetime of study and practice in the Pure Land tradition and represents the depth and profundity of a tradition that is sometimes dismissed as “Buddhism Lite.” Mark has a unique gift of taking these teachings and bringing them immediately into life, translating Pure Land principles into practical terms. See for yourself why Dr. Unno is such a treasured representative of this often-misunderstood tradition.

Dieses Teisho widmet Christoph Rei Ho Hatlapa der transformativen Kraft des Mitgefühls, die sich während eines Sesshins als greifbare Energie in der Sangha manifestiert und ausbreitet. Doch gerade die Kriegerinnen und Krieger des Mitgefühls, die sich für die Erleuchtung der Gesellschaft einsetzen, überkommt von Zeit zu Zeit eine große Traurigkeit in ihren Herzen, weil sie sich immer wieder mit den Folgen verblendeten Verhaltens auseinandersetzen müssen. Im Alltag haben sie es ständig mit diesen Beharrungsenergien zu tun. Gewohnheitsenergien, die dem Segen des Erwachens widerstreiten. Unterstützung auf dem Weg des Mitgefühls findet sich bei Maitreya, dem Buddha der Liebe, der alle Beharrungskräfte zu Staub zerfallen lässt und uns dahin leitet, unsere wahre Buddhanatur auszudrücken. Aber auch Amida-Buddha steht uns bei. Als er sah, wie leidvoll das menschliche Leben war, wollte er die Menschen aus diesem elenden Dasein befreien und ans andere Ende des Stroms von Geburt und Tod geleiten. Er war so voller Mitgefühl, dass er all die Leiden der anderen mitempfand, als wären sie seine eigenen. Amida-Buddha wird im allgemeinen als Vertreter dieses altruistischen Impulses dargestellt, der tief in der menschlichen Natur vielleicht im Kosmos selbst verwurzelt ist. Wenn also der altruistische Impuls in uns lebendig ist, sind wir um alle Wesen wie um uns selbst besorgt und verfügen über gewaltige Kräfte. Dann begegnen wir einander gnadenlos sanft in mitfühlender Anteilnahme. Literatur: Chogyam Trungpa: Das Buch vom meditativen Leben. Shambhala und der Pfad des inneren Kriegers, Knaur MensSana TB; 5. Edition 2012, ISBN: 978-3426875759 Um für junge Erwachsene den Aufenthalt im ToGenJi zu ermöglichen, bitten wir um eine Spende: Sie finden die Kontodaten/Paypal auf unserer Website https://choka-sangha.de/spenden/ Herzlichen Dank

Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei - ZCNYC - 11/5/23 - In this story, from The Hidden Lamp, an old woman hears and breaks though Hakuin's teaching: "Your mind is the Pure Land, and your body is Amida Buddha. If you want to understand, look into your own heart.” Hojin weaves a tapestry of intimate expressions encouraging practitioners to heed the Buddha's words: “Dwell! You are the light itself.” — the light reaches everywhere. Trust this!

Release Date: June 29, 2012Johnny investigates the death of a young newlywed which appears at first to be arson and then tied to a rare Buddha statue found in Korea.Original Air Date: September 29, 1953Support the show monthly at patreon.greatdetectives.netSupport the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.netMail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.netCheck out all our social media links and connect with us at http://www.greatdetectives.netThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5599688/advertisement

Bright on Buddhism - Evil - What is evil in Buddhism? How does the conception of evil change over time? According to the Buddhist scriptures, what ought to be done about evil? Content warning - This episode contains descriptions of violence and killing. Listener discretion is advised. Resources: Curley, Melissa Anne-Marie, Jessica L. Main, and Melanie Coughlin. “The Self-Awareness of Evil in Pure Land Buddhism: A Translation of Contemporary Kyoto School Philosopher Keta Masako.” Philosophy East and West 67, no. 1 (2017): 192–228. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44135555.; Whitley R. P. Kaufman. “Karma, Rebirth, and the Problem of Evil.” Philosophy East and West 55, no. 1 (2005): 15–32. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4487934.; Gregory, Peter N. “The Problem of Theodicy in the ‘Awakening of Faith.'” Religious Studies 22, no. 1 (1986): 63–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20006258.; Sharma, Ursula. “Theodicy and the Doctrine of Karma.” Man 8, no. 3 (1973): 347–64. https://doi.org/10.2307/2800314.; Gray, David B. “The Rhetoric of Violence in the Buddhist Tantras.” Journal of Religion and Violence 6, no. 1 (2018): 32–51. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26671557.; Silk, Jonathan A. “Good and Evil in Indian Buddhism: The Five Sins of Immediate Retribution.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 35, no. 3 (2007): 253–86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23497451.; James W. Boyd. “Symbols of Evil in Buddhism.” The Journal of Asian Studies 31, no. 1 (1971): 63–75. https://doi.org/10.2307/2053052.; Dalton, Jacob P. “Evil and Ignorance in Tantric Buddhism.” In The Taming of the Demons: Violence and Liberation in Tibetan Buddhism, 23–43. Yale University Press, 2011. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5vkw2s.5.; ZIPORYN, BROOK A. “TIANTAI ETHICS AND THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO.” In Emptiness and Omnipresence: An Essential Introduction to Tiantai Buddhism, 235–72. Indiana University Press, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bmzm9d.15.; Wakabayashi, Haruko. The Seven Tengu Scrolls: Evil and the Rhetoric of Legitimacy in Medieval Japanese Buddhism. University of Hawai'i Press, 2012. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqm13.; Dobbins, James C. “D. T. Suzuki, Amida Buddha, and the Problem of Karma.” The Eastern Buddhist 1, no. 2 (2021): 89–98. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48711024.; MacIntyre, Alasdair (1984). After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (2nd ed.). Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.; Batchelor, Stephen (2015). After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age. Yale University Press.; Gombrich, Richard. “Buddhist Karma and Social Control.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 17, no. 2 (1975): 212–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/178004.; Kalupahana, David J., and G. P. Malalasekera. “Karma and Rebirth.” In Buddhist Philosophy: A Historical Analysis, 44–55. University of Hawai'i Press, 1976. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqjnw.11.; James P. Mc Dermott. “Is There Group Karma in Theravāda Buddhism?” Numen 23, no. 1 (1976): 67–80. https://doi.org/10.2307/3269557. Do you have a question about Buddhism that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by finding us on email or social media! https://linktr.ee/brightonbuddhism Credits: Nick Bright: Script, Cover Art, Music, Voice of Hearer, Co-Host Proven Paradox: Editing, mixing and mastering, social media, Voice of Hermit, Co-Host --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brightonbuddhism/message

SACBC Bodhi Day Service on December 4, 2022. For the Dharma School, we look at how we can understand Thanksgiving from a Buddhist perspective. In the second portion, we will look at an understanding of Shakyamuni Buddha's enlightenment. Finally, in the Japanese portion, we discuss some thoughts on one's relationship with Amida Buddha. Your dana is greatly appreciated and can be done here: https://sacbc.org/donations1/ We thank your support of our temple. 

Dharma Family Service on November 6, 2022. For the Dharma School message, we look at one way we can remember how we are connected to truth. For the adult message, we reflect on a mother's final words to her daughter as a reminder of the profundity of life. Finally, in the Japanese message, we look at how Amida Buddha's Great Compassion enables all beings to live uniquely in their own way. Gassho (with palms together)

Hi Dharma-friends! Today let's conclude the section entitled "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection" by listening to the last five verses. These are poems of a very personal nature by Shinran, reflecting his awareness of himself as someone sharing the deepest weaknesses of his age. This is the Last Dharma-Age, and we are in the same boat. Shinran calls out high-ranking monks and dharma teachers of his time who are said to be so in-name-only. Showing no self reflection, they often give themselves over to worldliness and seek honors and status, all the while paying lip-service to the Buddhist teachings. Shinran is that rare religious master who does not exclude himself from his diagnosis. Shinran's universal remedy: rely on Amida Buddha's directing of virtue exclusively in Namo-Amida-Butsu. Next time, we'll continue the Shōzōmatsu Wasan with the next section, "Additional Hymns of Lament on the Term Hotoke." For more good Dharma content, please visit the homepage of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! Welcome back after a brief hiatus! This episode is the start of the next section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan. It is called "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection" in sixteen verses. This episode contains the first five of these. These sixteen verses as a whole are a particularly deep personal self-reflection by Shinran. Please recall that the Shōzōmatsu Wasan are the product of Shinran's final years, written when he was about 85 years old. The commentary in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS) explains: "Shinran expresses his own awareness of himself as a person sharing the deepest weaknesses of the age." Shinran also calls out and owns specific criticisms of this Last Dharma Age - particularly the superficial adoption of the Buddhist teaching by monks and laity alike. Shinran relies exclusively on the Vow of Amida Buddha as the only reliable path cutting through self-delusion. Next time, we'll continue with five more verses in this section. Until then, please be well! Check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! In this episode, we conclude the section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan called "Hymns in Praise of Prince Shōtoku" with six more verses. As you know, Prince Shōtoku (574-622 CE) promoted Buddhism in Japan throughout his life and was greatly revered because of this. Shinran was personally very devoted to him. Shinran associates Prince Shōtoku with Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and believed that he appeared in Japan providentially as the world was entering the last dharma-age. In the last dharma-age, as you already know, only the teachings remain. The various Buddhist practices have become futile because beings lack the capacity to bring them to fruition using self-power. The Great Vow of Amida Buddha is directed precisely toward beings in this last dharma-age. Beings calling the Name-of-the-Buddha, Namo-Amida-Butsu, can attain liberation through Amida's directing of virtues in its two aspects. Please check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more Dharma content. Please be well and stay safe! Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! This episode contains the concluding 7 verses of the section "Hymns on the Offense of Doubting the Primal Vow" Throughout this section, Shinran has been encouraging us to entrust wholeheartedly, without any reservations at all, in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha to bring all beings to awakening in his Pure Land. Clearly, Shinran is trying very hard to make an impression about having absolutely no doubts or reservations! But, as foolish beings, we always have such reservations when we try to achieve liberation using our own steam. Fortunately, knowing our foolishness, Amida's Light & Life grabs us and brings us along anyway. Shinran is telling us that we should just rely on that in gratitude and get over ourselves. Next time, we will cover the next section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan called "Hymns in Praise of Prince Shōtoku." Check out more good Dharma content on the American Buddhist Study Center's webpage, ambuddhist.org Until next time, peace! Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! In this episode, we begin the next section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan entitled "Hymns on the Offense of Doubting the Primal Vow." There are 23 verses in this part, and today you can hear the first eight. In this section, Shinran is focusing on "doubt," which is a key feature of his understanding. Shinran teaches that in this last Dharma-Age, only the teachings of the Buddha remain. Ordinary beings lack the capacity and conditions to put these teachings into practice by their own efforts. Amida Buddha, having great compassion for ordinary beings, established the Primal Vow calling all who call on Amida's Name to the Pure Land. The important point is that the merit and practice is Amida's, not our own. If we rely on our own efforts, we cannot avoid doubting - fortunately, our situation is anticipated by the Primal Vow. Shinran encourages us in these verses to wholeheartedly entrust in the Buddha's great compassion. Hope you are well! Please check out the American Buddhist Study Center's webpage for more Dharma content. ambuddhist.org With palms together, Gary

Dharma Family Service for Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church on June 5, 2022. For the Dharma School, we examine how all beings are shining. For the adult message, we take a look at the significance of the Pure Land and what it might mean for us in our lives. Finally, for the Japanese message, we look at how Amida Buddha's Wisdom and Compassion shine upon us, giving us the hope to live in a world of uncertainty. Gassho. We appreciate your donations that will be used to help run our temple. Here is where you can donate: https://sacbc.org/donations1/   

Hi Dharma-friends! Today we hear 5 more verses from this collection by Shinran Shonin. A striking image in these verses is Shinran's comparison of those who now follow the Nembutsu path with Maitreya Bodhisattva. Maitreya Bodhisattva is the next fully enlightened Buddha after Śākyamuni who will appear in the world when causes and conditions are right to do so. Nembutsu followers, saying the Name of Amida Buddha through Shinjin, realize the same Awakening or Enlightenment as Maitreya when this present life has run its course through the power of the Vow. Amazing stuff!! Until next time, please be well! Check out the American Buddhist Study Center website ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends! In this episode, you can listen to the opening verses of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan collection. These poems are from the end of Shinran's life when he was around 85 years old. There are 116 verses in the collection. The core of the book consists of 56 wasan on the Dharma-Ages, "Pure Land Hymns on the Right, Semblance, and Last Dharma Ages." Shinran taught from the perspective that he was living at the beginning of the Last Dharma-Age, when only the teaching of Śākyamuni survived. Needless to say that this is the age in which we find ourselves as well. The practices and realization of the earlier ages are beyond the capacities of beings because of the defilements that mark the times. Shinran wants us to understand exactly where we are and to rely on the only remaining sure path to awakening: taking refuge in the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha and saying the Name-of-the-Buddha, Namo-Amida-Butsu. Throughout this podcast, we have been using the translations found in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS), published by the Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto. Volume 2 of that set has invaluable introductory notes and explanations, and everyone is referred to that resource for a nuanced discussion of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan. With palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma friends, This episode concludes Shinran's verses on his own teacher, Master Genkū (Hōnen) of Japan, the seventh master in Shinran's Jōdo Shinshū lineage. In these verses, Shinran reverently recognizes Hōnen as a manifestation of Amida Buddha and describes his passing in terms familiar from the entry of Śākyamuni Buddha into Nirvana. Shinran concludes the Kōsō Wasan collection with two concluding verses. In the first, the teachings of all seven masters are summarized and restated: When sentient beings of this world of five defilements (that is: all of us) entrust themselves to the selected Primal Vow (that is: saying Namo-Amida-Butsu), virtues beyond description, explanation, and conception fill those beings. Finally, Shinran - our own Master and Teacher - directs the good that he received from these masters toward all sentient beings equally. Great stuff. I hope you have enjoyed listening to the Kōsō Wasan. Next time, we will continue with a third collection written by Master Shinran, the Shōzōmatsu Wasan or Hymns of the Dharma Ages. There are 116 verses in that collection.

Wednesday, March 9, 2022 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable has guided many through the generations to take refuge in the Amida Buddha's compassionate vow. He discloses the mind that is single so that all beings […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma-friends, We continue with five more Wasan verses by Shinran Shonin on his own teacher Master Hōnen, also known as Master Genkū. Hōnen lived 1133-1212 CE in Japan and was Shinran's personal teacher. Shinran's devotion to Hōnen was profound, even to seeing him as manifestations of Mahāsthāmaprāpta, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, and Amida Buddha himself. Shinran wishes us to understand the profound import of Hōnen's teaching and to say Nembutsu ourselves with complete confidence. Next time we will cover five more of Shinran's Wasan verses on Master Hōnen. Until then, please be well.

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 This month's session will explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable has guided many through the generations to take refuge in the Amida Buddha's compassionate vow. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declaresThat he takes refuge in the Tathagata of […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma-friends, In this episode, you can listen to 5 more of Shinran's Wasan verses on Master Shan-tao of China (613-681 C.E.) Building on what he said previously, Shinran further describes the qualities of diamond-like (or doubt-free) Shinjin or true entrusting -- how it alone fulfills Śākyamuni Buddha's intent as well as the teaching of the other Buddhas for ordinary people in our present circumstances. We are taught to remember that this diamond-hard confidence is not our own doing but is part of Amida Buddha's aspect of benefitting others. We are grasped and never abandoned in the Nembutsu or Name-of-the-Buddha, Namo-Amida-Butsu. Next time, we'll conclude the section on Master Shan-tao with the final six Wasan based on his writings. I hope you have been enjoying the readings, and please recommend this podcast to your friends. Check out ambuddhist.org for more Dharma content. Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma friends! Today we cover 5 more of Shinran Shonin's Wasan verses on Master Shan-tao (Zendo in Japanese). Shan-tao (613-681 CE) lived in China and is the Fifth of the Seven Masters, making up the Jōdo Shinshū lineage. We learned in the last episode that one of the most basic contributions of Shan-tao to Shinran's thought is how simply saying or vocalizing the Name of Amida Buddha is the only essential practice for Awakening or Enlightenment. In today's group of verses, Shan-tao teaches that we should focus exclusively on the Pure Land Way. The fundamental intent underneath all Śākyamuni Buddha's 84,000 dharma gates is that those who think on Amida Buddha will attain Awakening without fail. If you are enjoying these readings, please recommend them to your friends. Also, check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more Dharma content and programs. Consider joining ABSC as a member! You'll be helping to spread the Dharma by making more programs possible. With palms together, Gary

Wednesday, January 12, 2022 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, who clarifies that mindfulness of Amida Buddha is the path swiftly realize the settled mind. He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida's Primal Vow,One is naturally brought to enter the stage of the definitely […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Welcome to the service for the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Chuch on January 9, 2022. For Dharma School, we discuss what is Amida Buddha and what does Buddha provide for us? For the adult message, we cover the significance of funerals, memorials, and makuragyo services. Finally in the Japanese, we talk about our children being our mirrors to our true selves...I need to watch what I say in front of them! Gassho     Want to learn more about Jodo Shinshu? Want to learn more about SACBC? Please look us up: https://linktr.ee/sacbcbuddhistchurch Please consider contributing if you would like to see more videos and content. Your contributions are truly appreciated: https://sacbc.org/donations/

Hi Dharma friends! This episode contains all 7 of Shinran's Wasan verses on Master Tao-ch'o, who lived in China 562-645 CE. Master Tao-ch'o is the fourth in Shinran's lineage of Seven Masters. Tao-ch'o, employing T'an-luan's distinction between self-power and other-power, divides the whole of Buddhist teachings between the "Path of the Sages" or the Sacred Path and the Pure Land Path. The Sacred Path leads to attainment by one's own efforts and the Pure Land Path through the Other Power of Amida Buddha. Tao-ch'o teaches that no one in this Dark Age of the Declining Dharma ("Mappo') can attain enlightenment by means of the Sacred Path and that only the Nembutsu of the Pure Land Path is effective in leading one unfailingly to Buddhahood. Next time, we'll begin Shinran's 26 Wasan verses on the Fifth Master, Shan-tao, who lived in China 613-681 CE. With palms together, Gary

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 This month's session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, which open our minds to the easy path of entrusting in Amida Buddha. Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahayana teaching,He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness.Nagarjuna clarifies the hardship on […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma-friends! With this episode, we conclude our traversal of Shinran's 34 Wasan verses on Master T'an-luan, who lived in China 476-562 CE. Master T'an-luan is the great teacher of Other Power or Power Beyond Self, which is a core feature of Shinran's understanding of Buddhism. In today's verses, T'an-luan explains that whether one's practice is fully in accord with reality is determined by Shinjin (entrusting or awakening). The shinjin of Self-Power is shown to be lacking, while the shinjin of Other-Power is in accordance with ultimate reality. Other-Power or Power Beyond Self quickly leads to the enlightenment of Nirvana, according to Master T'an-luan. Other-Power is the power of Amida Buddha, the Primal Vow, encapsulated in the Name-of-the-Buddha, NAMO-AMIDA-BUTSU. In the next episode, we will cover the Wasan verses on the fourth great master of the Jōdo Shinshū lineage, Master Tao-ch'o, who lived in China 562-645 CE. Hope you are enjoying this series! Check out the website of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more interesting Dharma content. Please be well, always saying the Buddha's most honored Name, NAMO-AMIDA-BUTSU. With palms together, Gary

Dharma Family Service for November 21, 2021. For Dharma School, we discuss the issue of how we are being raised not just by people, but rather, by the things that we use. To help depict this, we look at a song that is used in the movie Toy Story 2 about how a toy experiences abandonment. For the adult message, we look at who is our great spiritual teacher, and how teachers of all kinds, help to guide us to come to this great teacher. Gassho.  

Dharma family service for November 7, 2021. In today's message, we discuss the movie "Ikiru" by Akira Kurosawa, and the issue of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism enabling us to live to our fullest ability and authentically. In the Japanese message, we discuss how we are enabled to live by those around us. Kiritani wajo teaches that we should look upon all people as having been sent from the Pure Land to teach and guide us in this world. Gassho. 

Hi Dharma Friends! Today, please listen to the second group of Master Shinran's verses based on the writings of Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna. Nāgārjuna taught that there were two paths to reach Enlightenment: the Difficult Path (the Great Path of the Sages or the way of Self-Power, for deeply accomplished people) and the Easy Path (the Nembutsu Path or the way of Other-Power, for ordinary people such as ourselves). Shinran encourages us to listen to Nāgārjuna and follow the Easy Path, always saying the Name of Amida Buddha. Next time, we'll continue with the first group of verses based on the writings of Bodhisattva Vasubandhu.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021 The nembutsu is the easy path to awakening because its liberating power does not come from our own efforts.  In this month's gathering we will explore the challenges of entrusting our lives to Amida Buddha's compassionate Vow. For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance,The nembutsu that embodies Amida's Primal […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Hi Dharma friends! In today's episode, we begin the next part of the Jodo Wasan, consisting of nine Gathas or Hymns on The Contemplation Sutra. We cover the first 5 in this episode and will finish them up next time. This might be a great time to read or re-read The Sutra of Contemplation on Amida Buddha. Shinran's verses guide us to appreciate the essence of the story of King Bimbisara, Queen Vaidehi, King Ajatasaru, etc., and what it should mean for us in our own lives. Please consider subscribing or following the podcast on your device and getting automatic notifications when new episodes are uploaded. You can always hear the latest installment on the phone at 607-350-ABSC (607-350-2272). Also, check out the ABSC website americanbuddhist.org for lots of other cool stuff. Tell all your friends and please stay well, saying with gratitude NAMO-AMIDA-BUTSU. All the best, Gary

Welcome back, Dharma Friends! Today we begin the next part of the Jodo Wasan (Hymns of the Pure Land). In prior episodes, we heard 50 Hymns on Gathas in Praise of Amida Buddha. In today's installment, we hear the first 4 Hymns On the Larger Sutra. Master Shinran wrote 22 Wasan Hymns in this group. I hope you enjoy them. Please tell your friends about the Weekly Wasan series, and please remember that the latest episode can also be heard on the phone by dialing 607-350-ABSC (607-350-2272). Peace to you all! Namo-Amida-Butsu. With palms together, Gary

Hosted by filmmaker Yujiro Seki, Carving the Divine TV is a series of Q&A sessions with Buddhist scholars and practitioners. These Q&A sessions explore the basic concepts of Buddhism and the history of Buddhism so that when viewers finally watch Carving the Divine they will get the maximum value of the documentary.  In this special episode, we will have a Q&A session with Rev. Kenji Akahoshi from Buddhist Churches of America (known as Shin Buddhism or Judo Shinshu) The Q&A session explores the basic concept of Shin Buddhism and inform the viewers how it differs from other sects of Buddhism. We will ask important questions such as:1. What is Shin Buddhism? How is it different from other sects of Buddhism?2. What is the brief history of Shin Buddhism?3. What is Amida Buddha? How does it differ from Historical Buddha?  4. Is Shin Buddhism like Christianity and Amida Buddha is like Jesus Christ?5. What is nenbutsu? How about namu amida butsu?Rev. Dr. Kenji Akahoshi is the resident minister of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego which is part of the Buddhist Churches of America, one of the largest and oldest Buddhist organizations in America. He has a Master’s degree in transpersonal psychology, which enhances his ability to convey Shin Buddhism in a modern, experiential context. He leads annual retreats on Shin Buddhism and has conducted teenage Buddhist Vision Quests. In an earlier career as a dentist, he spent 3 years in Japan as a captain in the US Air Force.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/carvingthedivine)

Amida Buddha is ... ? The "who" or "what" of his existence: what do we really know? Better yet, HOW do we define him in a way that we can truly grasp? I have some thoughts ....

This month we will continue to explore the meaning expressed in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom through the following verses: This month we will continue to explore the meaning expressed in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom through the following verses: Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom, Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we explore the meaning expressed in the following aspects of the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom: Everywhere [Amida Buddha] casts light immeasurable, boundless,Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance, Full text of Shōshinge Reference Materials 48 Vows of Bodhisattva Dharmakara (Amida Buddha) Handout To join us for online Dharma Sessions, CLICK HERE and sign up […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

This month we learn about the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, which is the heart of the Jodo Shinshu teaching, as we consider the following lines from Shōshinge: He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow;He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing. Full text of Shōshinge Reference Materials 48 Vows of Bodhisattva Dharmakara (Amida Buddha) […] We welcome you to join us for Zoom services and Dharma discussions! For more information, visit us at https://sanmateobuddhisttemple.org/

Sangha Service at Tacoma Buddhist Temple for April 26, 2020. Here we discuss how encountering Amida Buddha's Great Compassion gives us joy here and now while in this life. 

Beware DETH-Mail. Also, this OVA. If you’d like to submit a topic for discussion, a letter, a memory you have of Toonami, or a bizarre show for us to make fun of, you can contact us at hyperspacebroadcastspod@gmail.com, or find us on Twitter @HBpod and Facebook at Facebook.com/HBpod. We look forward to hearing from you! … Continue reading MS44 – Download: Song in Loving Homage to Amida Buddha →

In the 4th of the "talking with my teachers" series, I am talking with Rev. Satya Robyn, a priest in the Amida Order, about how the whole of messy humanity is met by the divine when we relax our sense of control and know that life accepts us just as we are. Satya talks of her journey from atheist to psychotherapist and Pureland Buddhist priest. And how she was "grabbed" by Amida, the celestial Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, the Buddha of acceptance and compassion. She describes the simplicity of Pureland Buddhism and the practice of the Nembutsu, where in saying the name we open a little portal of connection to the compassion and wisdom of Amida Buddha. I know you'll delight in Satya's beautiful ways of communicating the heart and soul of spiritual practice, Buddhism, Pureland Buddhism, refuge, and—yes—the "f" word or faith.    

Rev. Ron Miyamura shares his Dharm Message "Where is Amida Buddha?" for the September Monthly Memorial Service. 

A talk by Christopher Kakuyo Sensei of the Salt Lake Buddhist Fellowship.  Many people aren't aware that gratitude and grace are a very important part of the Buddha Way - Grace from a more modernist Pure Land Buddhist view can be seen as the "other-power" that Amida Buddha represents. 

The first episode in this meditation series focuses on a 12th-century Japanese sculpture of the Amida Buddha in the Sam and Myrna Myers Collection. The Buddha, cast in bronze and slightly smaller than life-size, is seated in meditation. Amida Buddha, in the Japanese esoteric Buddhist tradition, is the “Buddha of the Western Paradise”; his followers believe that they can enter into this paradise by chanting Amida’s name and meditating upon the Buddha. Throughout the guided meditation, listeners will focus on gradually and methodically relaxing the body, controlling their breathing and using the inward senses to study the Buddha and visualize an interaction with him. The recordings are meant to be enjoyed anywhere—in the comfort of the listener’s home or in the exhibition itself. Downloadable MP3 files are available on the Kimbell’s website, kimbellart.org.

Rev. Miyamura speaks at the last Family Service of 2014. He speask of Amida Buddha, the Immeasurable Buddha, as he asks the Sangha to reflect on their accomplishments of the past year. 

The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient (1027.1) 94:0.1 THE early teachers of the Salem religion penetrated to the remotest tribes of Africa and Eurasia, ever preaching Machiventa’s gospel of man’s faith and trust in the one universal God as the only price of obtaining divine favor. Melchizedek’s covenant with Abraham was the pattern for all the early propaganda that went out from Salem and other centers. Urantia has never had more enthusiastic and aggressive missionaries of any religion than these noble men and women who carried the teachings of Melchizedek over the entire Eastern Hemisphere. These missionaries were recruited from many peoples and races, and they largely spread their teachings through the medium of native converts. They established training centers in different parts of the world where they taught the natives the Salem religion and then commissioned these pupils to function as teachers among their own people. 1. The Salem Teachings in Vedic India (1027.2) 94:1.1 In the days of Melchizedek, India was a cosmopolitan country which had recently come under the political and religious dominance of the Aryan-Andite invaders from the north and west. At this time only the northern and western portions of the peninsula had been extensively permeated by the Aryans. These Vedic newcomers had brought along with them their many tribal deities. Their religious forms of worship followed closely the ceremonial practices of their earlier Andite forebears in that the father still functioned as a priest and the mother as a priestess, and the family hearth was still utilized as an altar. (1027.3) 94:1.2 The Vedic cult was then in process of growth and metamorphosis under the direction of the Brahman caste of teacher-priests, who were gradually assuming control over the expanding ritual of worship. The amalgamation of the onetime thirty-three Aryan deities was well under way when the Salem missionaries penetrated the north of India. (1027.4) 94:1.3 The polytheism of these Aryans represented a degeneration of their earlier monotheism occasioned by their separation into tribal units, each tribe having its venerated god. This devolution of the original monotheism and trinitarianism of Andite Mesopotamia was in process of resynthesis in the early centuries of the second millennium before Christ. The many gods were organized into a pantheon under the triune leadership of Dyaus pitar, the lord of heaven; Indra, the tempestuous lord of the atmosphere; and Agni, the three-headed fire god, lord of the earth and the vestigial symbol of an earlier Trinity concept. (1027.5) 94:1.4 Definite henotheistic developments were paving the way for an evolved monotheism. Agni, the most ancient deity, was often exalted as the father-head of the entire pantheon. The deity-father principle, sometimes called Prajapati, sometimes termed Brahma, was submerged in the theologic battle which the Brahman priests later fought with the Salem teachers. The Brahman was conceived as the energy-divinity principle activating the entire Vedic pantheon. (1028.1) 94:1.5 The Salem missionaries preached the one God of Melchizedek, the Most High of heaven. This portrayal was not altogether disharmonious with the emerging concept of the Father-Brahma as the source of all gods, but the Salem doctrine was nonritualistic and hence ran directly counter to the dogmas, traditions, and teachings of the Brahman priesthood. Never would the Brahman priests accept the Salem teaching of salvation through faith, favor with God apart from ritualistic observances and sacrificial ceremonials. (1028.2) 94:1.6 The rejection of the Melchizedek gospel of trust in God and salvation through faith marked a vital turning point for India. The Salem missionaries had contributed much to the loss of faith in all the ancient Vedic gods, but the leaders, the priests of Vedism, refused to accept the Melchizedek teaching of one God and one simple faith. (1028.3) 94:1.7 The Brahmans culled the sacred writings of their day in an effort to combat the Salem teachers, and this compilation, as later revised, has come on down to modern times as the Rig-Veda, one of the most ancient of sacred books. The second, third, and fourth Vedas followed as the Brahmans sought to crystallize, formalize, and fix their rituals of worship and sacrifice upon the peoples of those days. Taken at their best, these writings are the equal of any other body of similar character in beauty of concept and truth of discernment. But as this superior religion became contaminated with the thousands upon thousands of superstitions, cults, and rituals of southern India, it progressively metamorphosed into the most variegated system of theology ever developed by mortal man. An examination of the Vedas will disclose some of the highest and some of the most debased concepts of Deity ever to be conceived. 2. Brahmanism (1028.4) 94:2.1 As the Salem missionaries penetrated southward into the Dravidian Deccan, they encountered an increasing caste system, the scheme of the Aryans to prevent loss of racial identity in the face of a rising tide of the secondary Sangik peoples. Since the Brahman priest caste was the very essence of this system, this social order greatly retarded the progress of the Salem teachers. This caste system failed to save the Aryan race, but it did succeed in perpetuating the Brahmans, who, in turn, have maintained their religious hegemony in India to the present time. (1028.5) 94:2.2 And now, with the weakening of Vedism through the rejection of higher truth, the cult of the Aryans became subject to increasing inroads from the Deccan. In a desperate effort to stem the tide of racial extinction and religious obliteration, the Brahman caste sought to exalt themselves above all else. They taught that the sacrifice to deity in itself was all-efficacious, that it was all-compelling in its potency. They proclaimed that, of the two essential divine principles of the universe, one was Brahman the deity, and the other was the Brahman priesthood. Among no other Urantia peoples did the priests presume to exalt themselves above even their gods, to relegate to themselves the honors due their gods. But they went so absurdly far with these presumptuous claims that the whole precarious system collapsed before the debasing cults which poured in from the surrounding and less advanced civilizations. The vast Vedic priesthood itself floundered and sank beneath the black flood of inertia and pessimism which their own selfish and unwise presumption had brought upon all India. (1029.1) 94:2.3 The undue concentration on self led certainly to a fear of the nonevolutionary perpetuation of self in an endless round of successive incarnations as man, beast, or weeds. And of all the contaminating beliefs which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging monotheism, none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration — the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls — which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith. (1029.2) 94:2.4 This philosophically debilitating teaching was soon followed by the invention of the doctrine of the eternal escape from self by submergence in the universal rest and peace of absolute union with Brahman, the oversoul of all creation. Mortal desire and human ambition were effectually ravished and virtually destroyed. For more than two thousand years the better minds of India have sought to escape from all desire, and thus was opened wide the door for the entrance of those later cults and teachings which have virtually shackled the souls of many Hindu peoples in the chains of spiritual hopelessness. Of all civilizations, the Vedic-Aryan paid the most terrible price for its rejection of the Salem gospel. (1029.3) 94:2.5 Caste alone could not perpetuate the Aryan religio-cultural system, and as the inferior religions of the Deccan permeated the north, there developed an age of despair and hopelessness. It was during these dark days that the cult of taking no life arose, and it has ever since persisted. Many of the new cults were frankly atheistic, claiming that such salvation as was attainable could come only by man’s own unaided efforts. But throughout a great deal of all this unfortunate philosophy, distorted remnants of the Melchizedek and even the Adamic teachings can be traced. (1029.4) 94:2.6 These were the times of the compilation of the later scriptures of the Hindu faith, the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. Having rejected the teachings of personal religion through the personal faith experience with the one God, and having become contaminated with the flood of debasing and debilitating cults and creeds from the Deccan, with their anthropomorphisms and reincarnations, the Brahmanic priesthood experienced a violent reaction against these vitiating beliefs; there was a definite effort to seek and to find true reality. The Brahmans set out to deanthropomorphize the Indian concept of deity, but in so doing they stumbled into the grievous error of depersonalizing the concept of God, and they emerged, not with a lofty and spiritual ideal of the Paradise Father, but with a distant and metaphysical idea of an all-encompassing Absolute. (1029.5) 94:2.7 In their efforts at self-preservation the Brahmans had rejected the one God of Melchizedek, and now they found themselves with the hypothesis of Brahman, that indefinite and illusive philosophic self, that impersonal and impotent it which has left the spiritual life of India helpless and prostrate from that unfortunate day to the twentieth century. (1029.6) 94:2.8 It was during the times of the writing of the Upanishads that Buddhism arose in India. But despite its successes of a thousand years, it could not compete with later Hinduism; despite a higher morality, its early portrayal of God was even less well-defined than was that of Hinduism, which provided for lesser and personal deities. Buddhism finally gave way in northern India before the onslaught of a militant Islam with its clear-cut concept of Allah as the supreme God of the universe. 3. Brahmanic Philosophy (1030.1) 94:3.1 While the highest phase of Brahmanism was hardly a religion, it was truly one of the most noble reaches of the mortal mind into the domains of philosophy and metaphysics. Having started out to discover final reality, the Indian mind did not stop until it had speculated about almost every phase of theology excepting the essential dual concept of religion: the existence of the Universal Father of all universe creatures and the fact of the ascending experience in the universe of these very creatures as they seek to attain the eternal Father, who has commanded them to be perfect, even as he is perfect. (1030.2) 94:3.2 In the concept of Brahman the minds of those days truly grasped at the idea of some all-pervading Absolute, for this postulate was at one and the same time identified as creative energy and cosmic reaction. Brahman was conceived to be beyond all definition, capable of being comprehended only by the successive negation of all finite qualities. It was definitely a belief in an absolute, even an infinite, being, but this concept was largely devoid of personality attributes and was therefore not experiencible by individual religionists. (1030.3) 94:3.3 Brahman-Narayana was conceived as the Absolute, the infinite IT IS, the primordial creative potency of the potential cosmos, the Universal Self existing static and potential throughout all eternity. Had the philosophers of those days been able to make the next advance in deity conception, had they been able to conceive of the Brahman as associative and creative, as a personality approachable by created and evolving beings, then might such a teaching have become the most advanced portraiture of Deity on Urantia since it would have encompassed the first five levels of total deity function and might possibly have envisioned the remaining two. (1030.4) 94:3.4 In certain phases the concept of the One Universal Oversoul as the totality of the summation of all creature existence led the Indian philosophers very close to the truth of the Supreme Being, but this truth availed them naught because they failed to evolve any reasonable or rational personal approach to the attainment of their theoretic monotheistic goal of Brahman-Narayana. (1030.5) 94:3.5 The karma principle of causality continuity is, again, very close to the truth of the repercussional synthesis of all time-space actions in the Deity presence of the Supreme; but this postulate never provided for the co-ordinate personal attainment of Deity by the individual religionist, only for the ultimate engulfment of all personality by the Universal Oversoul. (1030.6) 94:3.6 The philosophy of Brahmanism also came very near to the realization of the indwelling of the Thought Adjusters, only to become perverted through the misconception of truth. The teaching that the soul is the indwelling of the Brahman would have paved the way for an advanced religion had not this concept been completely vitiated by the belief that there is no human individuality apart from this indwelling of the Universal One. (1030.7) 94:3.7 In the doctrine of the merging of the self-soul with the Oversoul, the theologians of India failed to provide for the survival of something human, something new and unique, something born of the union of the will of man and the will of God. The teaching of the soul’s return to the Brahman is closely parallel to the truth of the Adjuster’s return to the bosom of the Universal Father, but there is something distinct from the Adjuster which also survives, the morontial counterpart of mortal personality. And this vital concept was fatally absent from Brahmanic philosophy. (1031.1) 94:3.8 Brahmanic philosophy has approximated many of the facts of the universe and has approached numerous cosmic truths, but it has all too often fallen victim to the error of failing to differentiate between the several levels of reality, such as absolute, transcendental, and finite. It has failed to take into account that what may be finite-illusory on the absolute level may be absolutely real on the finite level. And it has also taken no cognizance of the essential personality of the Universal Father, who is personally contactable on all levels from the evolutionary creature’s limited experience with God on up to the limitless experience of the Eternal Son with the Paradise Father. 4. The Hindu Religion (1031.2) 94:4.1 With the passing of the centuries in India, the populace returned in measure to the ancient rituals of the Vedas as they had been modified by the teachings of the Melchizedek missionaries and crystallized by the later Brahman priesthood. This, the oldest and most cosmopolitan of the world’s religions, has undergone further changes in response to Buddhism and Jainism and to the later appearing influences of Mohammedanism and Christianity. But by the time the teachings of Jesus arrived, they had already become so Occidentalized as to be a “white man’s religion,” hence strange and foreign to the Hindu mind. (1031.3) 94:4.2 Hindu theology, at present, depicts four descending levels of deity and divinity: (1031.4) 94:4.3 1. The Brahman, the Absolute, the Infinite One, the IT IS. (1031.5) 94:4.4 2. The Trimurti, the supreme trinity of Hinduism. In this association Brahma, the first member, is conceived as being self-created out of the Brahman — infinity. Were it not for close identification with the pantheistic Infinite One, Brahma could constitute the foundation for a concept of the Universal Father. Brahma is also identified with fate. (1031.6) 94:4.5 The worship of the second and third members, Siva and Vishnu, arose in the first millennium after Christ. Siva is lord of life and death, god of fertility, and master of destruction. Vishnu is extremely popular due to the belief that he periodically incarnates in human form. In this way, Vishnu becomes real and living in the imaginations of the Indians. Siva and Vishnu are each regarded by some as supreme over all. (1031.7) 94:4.6 3. Vedic and post-Vedic deities. Many of the ancient gods of the Aryans, such as Agni, Indra, Soma, have persisted as secondary to the three members of the Trimurti. Numerous additional gods have arisen since the early days of Vedic India, and these have also been incorporated into the Hindu pantheon. (1031.8) 94:4.7 4. The demigods: supermen, semigods, heroes, demons, ghosts, evil spirits, sprites, monsters, goblins, and saints of the later-day cults. (1031.9) 94:4.8 While Hinduism has long failed to vivify the Indian people, at the same time it has usually been a tolerant religion. Its great strength lies in the fact that it has proved to be the most adaptive, amorphic religion to appear on Urantia. It is capable of almost unlimited change and possesses an unusual range of flexible adjustment from the high and semimonotheistic speculations of the intellectual Brahman to the arrant fetishism and primitive cult practices of the debased and depressed classes of ignorant believers. (1032.1) 94:4.9 Hinduism has survived because it is essentially an integral part of the basic social fabric of India. It has no great hierarchy which can be disturbed or destroyed; it is interwoven into the life pattern of the people. It has an adaptability to changing conditions that excels all other cults, and it displays a tolerant attitude of adoption toward many other religions, Gautama Buddha and even Christ himself being claimed as incarnations of Vishnu. (1032.2) 94:4.10 Today, in India, the great need is for the portrayal of the Jesusonian gospel — the Fatherhood of God and the sonship and consequent brotherhood of all men, which is personally realized in loving ministry and social service. In India the philosophical framework is existent, the cult structure is present; all that is needed is the vitalizing spark of the dynamic love portrayed in the original gospel of the Son of Man, divested of the Occidental dogmas and doctrines which have tended to make Michael’s life bestowal a white man’s religion. 5. The Struggle for Truth in China (1032.3) 94:5.1 As the Salem missionaries passed through Asia, spreading the doctrine of the Most High God and salvation through faith, they absorbed much of the philosophy and religious thought of the various countries traversed. But the teachers commissioned by Melchizedek and his successors did not default in their trust; they did penetrate to all peoples of the Eurasian continent, and it was in the middle of the second millennium before Christ that they arrived in China. At See Fuch, for more than one hundred years, the Salemites maintained their headquarters, there training Chinese teachers who taught throughout all the domains of the yellow race. (1032.4) 94:5.2 It was in direct consequence of this teaching that the earliest form of Taoism arose in China, a vastly different religion than the one which bears that name today. Early or proto-Taoism was a compound of the following factors: (1032.5) 94:5.3 1. The lingering teachings of Singlangton, which persisted in the concept of Shang-ti, the God of Heaven. In the times of Singlangton the Chinese people became virtually monotheistic; they concentrated their worship on the One Truth, later known as the Spirit of Heaven, the universe ruler. And the yellow race never fully lost this early concept of Deity, although in subsequent centuries many subordinate gods and spirits insidiously crept into their religion. (1032.6) 94:5.4 2. The Salem religion of a Most High Creator Deity who would bestow his favor upon mankind in response to man’s faith. But it is all too true that, by the time the Melchizedek missionaries had penetrated to the lands of the yellow race, their original message had become considerably changed from the simple doctrines of Salem in the days of Machiventa. (1032.7) 94:5.5 3. The Brahman-Absolute concept of the Indian philosophers, coupled with the desire to escape all evil. Perhaps the greatest extraneous influence in the eastward spread of the Salem religion was exerted by the Indian teachers of the Vedic faith, who injected their conception of the Brahman — the Absolute — into the salvationistic thought of the Salemites. (1033.1) 94:5.6 This composite belief spread through the lands of the yellow and brown races as an underlying influence in religio-philosophic thought. In Japan this proto-Taoism was known as Shinto, and in this country, far-distant from Salem of Palestine, the peoples learned of the incarnation of Machiventa Melchizedek, who dwelt upon earth that the name of God might not be forgotten by mankind.* (1033.2) 94:5.7 In China all of these beliefs were later confused and compounded with the ever-growing cult of ancestor worship. But never since the time of Singlangton have the Chinese fallen into helpless slavery to priestcraft. The yellow race was the first to emerge from barbaric bondage into orderly civilization because it was the first to achieve some measure of freedom from the abject fear of the gods, not even fearing the ghosts of the dead as other races feared them. China met her defeat because she failed to progress beyond her early emancipation from priests; she fell into an almost equally calamitous error, the worship of ancestors. (1033.3) 94:5.8 But the Salemites did not labor in vain. It was upon the foundations of their gospel that the great philosophers of sixth-century China built their teachings. The moral atmosphere and the spiritual sentiments of the times of Lao-tse and Confucius grew up out of the teachings of the Salem missionaries of an earlier age. 6. Lao-Tse and Confucius (1033.4) 94:6.1 About six hundred years before the arrival of Michael, it seemed to Melchizedek, long since departed from the flesh, that the purity of his teaching on earth was being unduly jeopardized by general absorption into the older Urantia beliefs. It appeared for a time that his mission as a forerunner of Michael might be in danger of failing. And in the sixth century before Christ, through an unusual co-ordination of spiritual agencies, not all of which are understood even by the planetary supervisors, Urantia witnessed a most unusual presentation of manifold religious truth. Through the agency of several human teachers the Salem gospel was restated and revitalized, and as it was then presented, much has persisted to the times of this writing. (1033.5) 94:6.2 This unique century of spiritual progress was characterized by great religious, moral, and philosophic teachers all over the civilized world. In China, the two outstanding teachers were Lao-tse and Confucius. (1033.6) 94:6.3 Lao-tse built directly upon the concepts of the Salem traditions when he declared Tao to be the One First Cause of all creation. Lao was a man of great spiritual vision. He taught that man’s eternal destiny was “everlasting union with Tao, Supreme God and Universal King.” His comprehension of ultimate causation was most discerning, for he wrote: “Unity arises out of the Absolute Tao, and from Unity there appears cosmic Duality, and from such Duality, Trinity springs forth into existence, and Trinity is the primal source of all reality.” “All reality is ever in balance between the potentials and the actuals of the cosmos, and these are eternally harmonized by the spirit of divinity.”* (1033.7) 94:6.4 Lao-tse also made one of the earliest presentations of the doctrine of returning good for evil: “Goodness begets goodness, but to the one who is truly good, evil also begets goodness.” (1033.8) 94:6.5 He taught the return of the creature to the Creator and pictured life as the emergence of a personality from the cosmic potentials, while death was like the returning home of this creature personality. His concept of true faith was unusual, and he too likened it to the “attitude of a little child.” (1034.1) 94:6.6 His understanding of the eternal purpose of God was clear, for he said: “The Absolute Deity does not strive but is always victorious; he does not coerce mankind but always stands ready to respond to their true desires; the will of God is eternal in patience and eternal in the inevitability of its expression.” And of the true religionist he said, in expressing the truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive: “The good man seeks not to retain truth for himself but rather attempts to bestow these riches upon his fellows, for that is the realization of truth. The will of the Absolute God always benefits, never destroys; the purpose of the true believer is always to act but never to coerce.” (1034.2) 94:6.7 Lao’s teaching of nonresistance and the distinction which he made between action and coercion became later perverted into the beliefs of “seeing, doing, and thinking nothing.” But Lao never taught such error, albeit his presentation of nonresistance has been a factor in the further development of the pacific predilections of the Chinese peoples. (1034.3) 94:6.8 But the popular Taoism of twentieth-century Urantia has very little in common with the lofty sentiments and the cosmic concepts of the old philosopher who taught the truth as he perceived it, which was: That faith in the Absolute God is the source of that divine energy which will remake the world, and by which man ascends to spiritual union with Tao, the Eternal Deity and Creator Absolute of the universes. (1034.4) 94:6.9 Confucius (Kung Fu-tze) was a younger contemporary of Lao in sixth-century China. Confucius based his doctrines upon the better moral traditions of the long history of the yellow race, and he was also somewhat influenced by the lingering traditions of the Salem missionaries. His chief work consisted in the compilation of the wise sayings of ancient philosophers. He was a rejected teacher during his lifetime, but his writings and teachings have ever since exerted a great influence in China and Japan. Confucius set a new pace for the shamans in that he put morality in the place of magic. But he built too well; he made a new fetish out of order and established a respect for ancestral conduct that is still venerated by the Chinese at the time of this writing. (1034.5) 94:6.10 The Confucian preachment of morality was predicated on the theory that the earthly way is the distorted shadow of the heavenly way; that the true pattern of temporal civilization is the mirror reflection of the eternal order of heaven. The potential God concept in Confucianism was almost completely subordinated to the emphasis placed upon the Way of Heaven, the pattern of the cosmos. (1034.6) 94:6.11 The teachings of Lao have been lost to all but a few in the Orient, but the writings of Confucius have ever since constituted the basis of the moral fabric of the culture of almost a third of Urantians. These Confucian precepts, while perpetuating the best of the past, were somewhat inimical to the very Chinese spirit of investigation that had produced those achievements which were so venerated. The influence of these doctrines was unsuccessfully combated both by the imperial efforts of Ch’in Shih Huang Ti and by the teachings of Mo Ti, who proclaimed a brotherhood founded not on ethical duty but on the love of God. He sought to rekindle the ancient quest for new truth, but his teachings failed before the vigorous opposition of the disciples of Confucius. (1034.7) 94:6.12 Like many other spiritual and moral teachers, both Confucius and Lao-tse were eventually deified by their followers in those spiritually dark ages of China which intervened between the decline and perversion of the Taoist faith and the coming of the Buddhist missionaries from India. During these spiritually decadent centuries the religion of the yellow race degenerated into a pitiful theology wherein swarmed devils, dragons, and evil spirits, all betokening the returning fears of the unenlightened mortal mind. And China, once at the head of human society because of an advanced religion, then fell behind because of temporary failure to progress in the true path of the development of that God-consciousness which is indispensable to the true progress, not only of the individual mortal, but also of the intricate and complex civilizations which characterize the advance of culture and society on an evolutionary planet of time and space. 7. Gautama Siddhartha (1035.1) 94:7.1 Contemporary with Lao-tse and Confucius in China, another great teacher of truth arose in India. Gautama Siddhartha was born in the sixth century before Christ in the north Indian province of Nepal. His followers later made it appear that he was the son of a fabulously wealthy ruler, but, in truth, he was the heir apparent to the throne of a petty chieftain who ruled by sufferance over a small and secluded mountain valley in the southern Himalayas. (1035.2) 94:7.2 Gautama formulated those theories which grew into the philosophy of Buddhism after six years of the futile practice of Yoga. Siddhartha made a determined but unavailing fight against the growing caste system. There was a lofty sincerity and a unique unselfishness about this young prophet prince that greatly appealed to the men of those days. He detracted from the practice of seeking individual salvation through physical affliction and personal pain. And he exhorted his followers to carry his gospel to all the world. (1035.3) 94:7.3 Amid the confusion and extreme cult practices of India, the saner and more moderate teachings of Gautama came as a refreshing relief. He denounced gods, priests, and their sacrifices, but he too failed to perceive the personality of the One Universal. Not believing in the existence of individual human souls, Gautama, of course, made a valiant fight against the time-honored belief in transmigration of the soul. He made a noble effort to deliver men from fear, to make them feel at ease and at home in the great universe, but he failed to show them the pathway to that real and supernal home of ascending mortals — Paradise — and to the expanding service of eternal existence. (1035.4) 94:7.4 Gautama was a real prophet, and had he heeded the instruction of the hermit Godad, he might have aroused all India by the inspiration of the revival of the Salem gospel of salvation by faith. Godad was descended through a family that had never lost the traditions of the Melchizedek missionaries. (1035.5) 94:7.5 At Benares Gautama founded his school, and it was during its second year that a pupil, Bautan, imparted to his teacher the traditions of the Salem missionaries about the Melchizedek covenant with Abraham; and while Siddhartha did not have a very clear concept of the Universal Father, he took an advanced stand on salvation through faith — simple belief. He so declared himself before his followers and began sending his students out in groups of sixty to proclaim to the people of India “the glad tidings of free salvation; that all men, high and low, can attain bliss by faith in righteousness and justice.” (1035.6) 94:7.6 Gautama’s wife believed her husband’s gospel and was the founder of an order of nuns. His son became his successor and greatly extended the cult; he grasped the new idea of salvation through faith but in his later years wavered regarding the Salem gospel of divine favor through faith alone, and in his old age his dying words were, “Work out your own salvation.” (1036.1) 94:7.7 When proclaimed at its best, Gautama’s gospel of universal salvation, free from sacrifice, torture, ritual, and priests, was a revolutionary and amazing doctrine for its time. And it came surprisingly near to being a revival of the Salem gospel. It brought succor to millions of despairing souls, and notwithstanding its grotesque perversion during later centuries, it still persists as the hope of millions of human beings. (1036.2) 94:7.8 Siddhartha taught far more truth than has survived in the modern cults bearing his name. Modern Buddhism is no more the teachings of Gautama Siddhartha than is Christianity the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. 8. The Buddhist Faith (1036.3) 94:8.1 To become a Buddhist, one merely made public profession of the faith by reciting the Refuge: “I take my refuge in the Buddha; I take my refuge in the Doctrine; I take my refuge in the Brotherhood.” (1036.4) 94:8.2 Buddhism took origin in a historic person, not in a myth. Gautama’s followers called him Sasta, meaning master or teacher. While he made no superhuman claims for either himself or his teachings, his disciples early began to call him the enlightened one, the Buddha; later on, Sakyamuni Buddha. (1036.5) 94:8.3 The original gospel of Gautama was based on the four noble truths: (1036.6) 94:8.4 1. The noble truths of suffering. (1036.7) 94:8.5 2. The origins of suffering. (1036.8) 94:8.6 3. The destruction of suffering. (1036.9) 94:8.7 4. The way to the destruction of suffering. (1036.10) 94:8.8 Closely linked to the doctrine of suffering and the escape therefrom was the philosophy of the Eightfold Path: right views, aspirations, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and contemplation. It was not Gautama’s intention to attempt to destroy all effort, desire, and affection in the escape from suffering; rather was his teaching designed to picture to mortal man the futility of pinning all hope and aspirations entirely on temporal goals and material objectives. It was not so much that love of one’s fellows should be shunned as that the true believer should also look beyond the associations of this material world to the realities of the eternal future. (1036.11) 94:8.9 The moral commandments of Gautama’s preachment were five in number: (1036.12) 94:8.10 1. You shall not kill. (1036.13) 94:8.11 2. You shall not steal. (1036.14) 94:8.12 3. You shall not be unchaste. (1036.15) 94:8.13 4. You shall not lie. (1036.16) 94:8.14 5. You shall not drink intoxicating liquors. (1036.17) 94:8.15 There were several additional or secondary commandments, whose observance was optional with believers. (1036.18) 94:8.16 Siddhartha hardly believed in the immortality of the human personality; his philosophy only provided for a sort of functional continuity. He never clearly defined what he meant to include in the doctrine of Nirvana. The fact that it could theoretically be experienced during mortal existence would indicate that it was not viewed as a state of complete annihilation. It implied a condition of supreme enlightenment and supernal bliss wherein all fetters binding man to the material world had been broken; there was freedom from the desires of mortal life and deliverance from all danger of ever again experiencing incarnation. (1037.1) 94:8.17 According to the original teachings of Gautama, salvation is achieved by human effort, apart from divine help; there is no place for saving faith or prayers to superhuman powers. Gautama, in his attempt to minimize the superstitions of India, endeavored to turn men away from the blatant claims of magical salvation. And in making this effort, he left the door wide open for his successors to misinterpret his teaching and to proclaim that all human striving for attainment is distasteful and painful. His followers overlooked the fact that the highest happiness is linked with the intelligent and enthusiastic pursuit of worthy goals, and that such achievements constitute true progress in cosmic self-realization. (1037.2) 94:8.18 The great truth of Siddhartha’s teaching was his proclamation of a universe of absolute justice. He taught the best godless philosophy ever invented by mortal man; it was the ideal humanism and most effectively removed all grounds for superstition, magical rituals, and fear of ghosts or demons. (1037.3) 94:8.19 The great weakness in the original gospel of Buddhism was that it did not produce a religion of unselfish social service. The Buddhistic brotherhood was, for a long time, not a fraternity of believers but rather a community of student teachers. Gautama forbade their receiving money and thereby sought to prevent the growth of hierarchal tendencies. Gautama himself was highly social; indeed, his life was much greater than his preachment. 9. The Spread of Buddhism (1037.4) 94:9.1 Buddhism prospered because it offered salvation through belief in the Buddha, the enlightened one. It was more representative of the Melchizedek truths than any other religious system to be found throughout eastern Asia. But Buddhism did not become widespread as a religion until it was espoused in self-protection by the low-caste monarch Asoka, who, next to Ikhnaton in Egypt, was one of the most remarkable civil rulers between Melchizedek and Michael. Asoka built a great Indian empire through the propaganda of his Buddhist missionaries. During a period of twenty-five years he trained and sent forth more than seventeen thousand missionaries to the farthest frontiers of all the known world. In one generation he made Buddhism the dominant religion of one half the world. It soon became established in Tibet, Kashmir, Ceylon, Burma, Java, Siam, Korea, China, and Japan. And generally speaking, it was a religion vastly superior to those which it supplanted or upstepped. (1037.5) 94:9.2 The spread of Buddhism from its homeland in India to all of Asia is one of the thrilling stories of the spiritual devotion and missionary persistence of sincere religionists. The teachers of Gautama’s gospel not only braved the perils of the overland caravan routes but faced the dangers of the China Seas as they pursued their mission over the Asiatic continent, bringing to all peoples the message of their faith. But this Buddhism was no longer the simple doctrine of Gautama; it was the miraculized gospel which made him a god. And the farther Buddhism spread from its highland home in India, the more unlike the teachings of Gautama it became, and the more like the religions it supplanted, it grew to be. (1038.1) 94:9.3 Buddhism, later on, was much affected by Taoism in China, Shinto in Japan, and Christianity in Tibet. After a thousand years, in India Buddhism simply withered and expired. It became Brahmanized and later abjectly surrendered to Islam, while throughout much of the rest of the Orient it degenerated into a ritual which Gautama Siddhartha would never have recognized. (1038.2) 94:9.4 In the south the fundamentalist stereotype of the teachings of Siddhartha persisted in Ceylon, Burma, and the Indo-China peninsula. This is the Hinayana division of Buddhism which clings to the early or asocial doctrine. (1038.3) 94:9.5 But even before the collapse in India, the Chinese and north Indian groups of Gautama’s followers had begun the development of the Mahayana teaching of the “Great Road” to salvation in contrast with the purists of the south who held to the Hinayana, or “Lesser Road.” And these Mahayanists cast loose from the social limitations inherent in the Buddhist doctrine, and ever since has this northern division of Buddhism continued to evolve in China and Japan. (1038.4) 94:9.6 Buddhism is a living, growing religion today because it succeeds in conserving many of the highest moral values of its adherents. It promotes calmness and self-control, augments serenity and happiness, and does much to prevent sorrow and mourning. Those who believe this philosophy live better lives than many who do not. 10. Religion in Tibet (1038.5) 94:10.1 In Tibet may be found the strangest association of the Melchizedek teachings combined with Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Christianity. When the Buddhist missionaries entered Tibet, they encountered a state of primitive savagery very similar to that which the early Christian missionaries found among the northern tribes of Europe. (1038.6) 94:10.2 These simple-minded Tibetans would not wholly give up their ancient magic and charms. Examination of the religious ceremonials of present-day Tibetan rituals reveals an overgrown brotherhood of priests with shaven heads who practice an elaborate ritual embracing bells, chants, incense, processionals, rosaries, images, charms, pictures, holy water, gorgeous vestments, and elaborate choirs. They have rigid dogmas and crystallized creeds, mystic rites and special fasts. Their hierarchy embraces monks, nuns, abbots, and the Grand Lama. They pray to angels, saints, a Holy Mother, and the gods. They practice confessions and believe in purgatory. Their monasteries are extensive and their cathedrals magnificent. They keep up an endless repetition of sacred rituals and believe that such ceremonials bestow salvation. Prayers are fastened to a wheel, and with its turning they believe the petitions become efficacious. Among no other people of modern times can be found the observance of so much from so many religions; and it is inevitable that such a cumulative liturgy would become inordinately cumbersome and intolerably burdensome. (1038.7) 94:10.3 The Tibetans have something of all the leading world religions except the simple teachings of the Jesusonian gospel: sonship with God, brotherhood with man, and ever-ascending citizenship in the eternal universe. 11. Buddhist Philosophy (1038.8) 94:11.1 Buddhism entered China in the first millennium after Christ, and it fitted well into the religious customs of the yellow race. In ancestor worship they had long prayed to the dead; now they could also pray for them. Buddhism soon amalgamated with the lingering ritualistic practices of disintegrating Taoism. This new synthetic religion with its temples of worship and definite religious ceremonial soon became the generally accepted cult of the peoples of China, Korea, and Japan. (1039.1) 94:11.2 While in some respects it is unfortunate that Buddhism was not carried to the world until after Gautama’s followers had so perverted the traditions and teachings of the cult as to make of him a divine being, nonetheless this myth of his human life, embellished as it was with a multitude of miracles, proved very appealing to the auditors of the northern or Mahayana gospel of Buddhism. (1039.2) 94:11.3 Some of his later followers taught that Sakyamuni Buddha’s spirit returned periodically to earth as a living Buddha, thus opening the way for an indefinite perpetuation of Buddha images, temples, rituals, and impostor “living Buddhas.” Thus did the religion of the great Indian protestant eventually find itself shackled with those very ceremonial practices and ritualistic incantations against which he had so fearlessly fought, and which he had so valiantly denounced. (1039.3) 94:11.4 The great advance made in Buddhist philosophy consisted in its comprehension of the relativity of all truth. Through the mechanism of this hypothesis Buddhists have been able to reconcile and correlate the divergencies within their own religious scriptures as well as the differences between their own and many others. It was taught that the small truth was for little minds, the large truth for great minds. (1039.4) 94:11.5 This philosophy also held that the Buddha (divine) nature resided in all men; that man, through his own endeavors, could attain to the realization of this inner divinity. And this teaching is one of the clearest presentations of the truth of the indwelling Adjusters ever to be made by a Urantian religion. (1039.5) 94:11.6 But a great limitation in the original gospel of Siddhartha, as it was interpreted by his followers, was that it attempted the complete liberation of the human self from all the limitations of the mortal nature by the technique of isolating the self from objective reality. True cosmic self-realization results from identification with cosmic reality and with the finite cosmos of energy, mind, and spirit, bounded by space and conditioned by time. (1039.6) 94:11.7 But though the ceremonies and outward observances of Buddhism became grossly contaminated with those of the lands to which it traveled, this degeneration was not altogether the case in the philosophical life of the great thinkers who, from time to time, embraced this system of thought and belief. Through more than two thousand years, many of the best minds of Asia have concentrated upon the problem of ascertaining absolute truth and the truth of the Absolute. (1039.7) 94:11.8 The evolution of a high concept of the Absolute was achieved through many channels of thought and by devious paths of reasoning. The upward ascent of this doctrine of infinity was not so clearly defined as was the evolution of the God concept in Hebrew theology. Nevertheless, there were certain broad levels which the minds of the Buddhists reached, tarried upon, and passed through on their way to the envisioning of the Primal Source of universes: (1039.8) 94:11.9 1. The Gautama legend. At the base of the concept was the historic fact of the life and teachings of Siddhartha, the prophet prince of India. This legend grew in myth as it traveled through the centuries and across the broad lands of Asia until it surpassed the status of the idea of Gautama as the enlightened one and began to take on additional attributes. (1040.1) 94:11.10 2. The many Buddhas. It was reasoned that, if Gautama had come to the peoples of India, then, in the remote past and in the remote future, the races of mankind must have been, and undoubtedly would be, blessed with other teachers of truth. This gave rise to the teaching that there were many Buddhas, an unlimited and infinite number, even that anyone could aspire to become one — to attain the divinity of a Buddha. (1040.2) 94:11.11 3. The Absolute Buddha. By the time the number of Buddhas was approaching infinity, it became necessary for the minds of those days to reunify this unwieldy concept. Accordingly it began to be taught that all Buddhas were but the manifestation of some higher essence, some Eternal One of infinite and unqualified existence, some Absolute Source of all reality. From here on, the Deity concept of Buddhism, in its highest form, becomes divorced from the human person of Gautama Siddhartha and casts off from the anthropomorphic limitations which have held it in leash. This final conception of the Buddha Eternal can well be identified as the Absolute, sometimes even as the infinite I AM. (1040.3) 94:11.12 While this idea of Absolute Deity never found great popular favor with the peoples of Asia, it did enable the intellectuals of these lands to unify their philosophy and to harmonize their cosmology. The concept of the Buddha Absolute is at times quasi-personal, at times wholly impersonal — even an infinite creative force. Such concepts, though helpful to philosophy, are not vital to religious development. Even an anthropomorphic Yahweh is of greater religious value than an infinitely remote Absolute of Buddhism or Brahmanism. (1040.4) 94:11.13 At times the Absolute was even thought of as contained within the infinite I AM. But these speculations were chill comfort to the hungry multitudes who craved to hear words of promise, to hear the simple gospel of Salem, that faith in God would assure divine favor and eternal survival. 12. The God Concept of Buddhism (1040.5) 94:12.1 The great weakness in the cosmology of Buddhism was twofold: its contamination with many of the superstitions of India and China and its sublimation of Gautama, first as the enlightened one, and then as the Eternal Buddha. Just as Christianity has suffered from the absorption of much erroneous human philosophy, so does Buddhism bear its human birthmark. But the teachings of Gautama have continued to evolve during the past two and one-half millenniums. The concept of Buddha, to an enlightened Buddhist, is no more the human personality of Gautama than the concept of Jehovah is identical with the spirit demon of Horeb to an enlightened Christian. Paucity of terminology, together with the sentimental retention of olden nomenclature, is often provocative of the failure to understand the true significance of the evolution of religious concepts. (1040.6) 94:12.2 Gradually the concept of God, as contrasted with the Absolute, began to appear in Buddhism. Its sources are back in the early days of this differentiation of the followers of the Lesser Road and the Greater Road. It was among the latter division of Buddhism that the dual conception of God and the Absolute finally matured. Step by step, century by century, the God concept has evolved until, with the teachings of Ryonin, Honen Shonin, and Shinran in Japan, this concept finally came to fruit in the belief in Amida Buddha. (1041.1) 94:12.3 Among these believers it is taught that the soul, upon experiencing death, may elect to enjoy a sojourn in Paradise prior to entering Nirvana, the ultimate of existence. It is proclaimed that this new salvation is attained by faith in the divine mercies and loving care of Amida, God of the Paradise in the west. In their philosophy, the Amidists hold to an Infinite Reality which is beyond all finite mortal comprehension; in their religion, they cling to faith in the all-merciful Amida, who so loves the world that he will not suffer one mortal who calls on his name in true faith and with a pure heart to fail in the attainment of the supernal happiness of Paradise. (1041.2) 94:12.4 The great strength of Buddhism is that its adherents are free to choose truth from all religions; such freedom of choice has seldom characterized a Urantian faith. In this respect the Shin sect of Japan has become one of the most progressive religious groups in the world; it has revived the ancient missionary spirit of Gautama’s followers and has begun to send teachers to other peoples. This willingness to appropriate truth from any and all sources is indeed a commendable tendency to appear among religious believers during the first half of the twentieth century after Christ. (1041.3) 94:12.5 Buddhism itself is undergoing a twentieth-century renaissance. Through contact with Christianity the social aspects of Buddhism have been greatly enhanced. The desire to learn has been rekindled in the hearts of the monk priests of the brotherhood, and the spread of education throughout this faith will be certainly provocative of new advances in religious evolution. (1041.4) 94:12.6 At the time of this writing, much of Asia rests its hope in Buddhism. Will this noble faith, that has so valiantly carried on through the dark ages of the past, once again receive the truth of expanded cosmic realities even as the disciples of the great teacher in India once listened to his proclamation of new truth? Will this ancient faith respond once more to the invigorating stimulus of the presentation of new concepts of God and the Absolute for which it has so long searched? (1041.5) 94:12.7 All Urantia is waiting for the proclamation of the ennobling message of Michael, unencumbered by the accumulated doctrines and dogmas of nineteen centuries of contact with the religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus. (1041.6) 94:12.8 [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]

“In Japan, during the last couple of years of World War II, the intelligentsia of Japan knew that they were going to lose the war,” explains Shunyamurti, the director of the Sat Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. “And there was a Japanese philosopher . . . named Tanabe Hajime, who was tormented by the fact that he could not express himself in public. His whole life was about truth and expressing the truth, and serving the people. And he wanted to write articles and give lectures about how to deal with the trauma that Japan was going to face with the destruction of their empire and their way of life. And he was not allowed to say anything. And he became more and more anguished by this situation. And he didn’t know what to do.” And gradually he began to feel he was totally useless as a philosopher, he was a failure, he was a failure as a human being, and he had a complete meltdown. . . . And in that state of utter internal collapse, something extraordinary happened to him: his consciousness was translated to a higher dimension. In Japan they actually have a word for that called ‘zange.’ It is when the mind is brought to a level of ‘metanoetics’ . . . to a level of consciousness beyond the mind, beyond the realm of representation, beyond concepts.” “And in that state, he felt the presence of what he called the ‘Other-power’ . . . which he, being Japanese and in that culture, named as Amida Buddha, the Buddha of infinite light and infinite life. And it was that. If he was Indian, he might have called it Shiva. If he was Christian, he might have called this Christ-consciousness; it doesn’t matter. But it was a flow of Divine Energy through him in that state of collapse in which he was totally surrendered to this higher power that was now coming to him.” “But the real message of this story, to me, is that regardless of what state of consciousness you’re in, you cannot reach the ultimate Ground and Source of empowerment and strength from the plane of the ego; you must be in a state of surrender. And that the Real, that will give you the strength to deal with impossibly difficult situations and challenges, comes from a place beyond the mind. . . . And it’s the faith in that—the opening of that inner portal to the transcendent dimension within, of the Divine—that will bring the fulfillment of your own life. And from the Emptiness, you will experience a fullness that you have never imagined possible.” Recorded on the evening of Thursday, December 2, 2010.

This Sunday is the Ho-Onko service. Ho-Onko, meaning a gathering to express our indebtedness and thankfulness, is a memorial service in honor of Shinran Shonin. It is also an occasion to express our gratitude to Amida Buddha for having awakened us to life’s supreme meaning. Ho-Onko is the most important Jodo Shinshu ceremony. Our guest speaker is Reverend Ashikaga.

Shoshinge "The Hymn of True Faith" A crucial component of the Buddhist faith is chanting. The practice of chanting is much akin to the Christian hymns. Much like the past practice of the Catholic churches tradition of chanting in Latin, one does not need to know Japanese in order to be absorbed by the melodic rhythm of foreign sounds. This podcast is a recording of Shoshinge, one of the many Jodo Shinshu chants. Here's some background on this important chant. About Shoshige The following introduction is from Shinshū Seiten, Jōdo Shin Buddhist Teaching, published by the Buddhist Churches of America. The English translation of the gāthā is from The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way, Vol. I., Shin Buddhist Translation Series, Hongwanji International Center, Kyoto, Japan. The full title of this gāthā, Shoshin Nembutsu Ge, means ‘Gāthā on the Right (or True) Faith in the Nembutsu.’ The title consists of three terms: Shōshin, lit. ‘Right Faith’ refers to Shinjin, or Faith. Nembutsu, lit. ‘thinking of the Buddha,’ refers to the practice of uttering Amida’s Name. Ge, or ‘gāthā’ in Skt. Means ‘verse,’ or ‘hymn.’ Faith and Nembutsu are very important ideas constituting the central concepts of Shin Buddhism. In the passage which introduces the Shoshin Ge, Shinran notes; Relying upon the true words of the Great Sage and reading the commentaries of the great masters, I have realized the profound grace of the Buddha. Hence I here compose the Gāthā of True Faith in the Nembutsu. This shows that he composed this gatha out of his gratitude to Amida Buddha on the basis of the Teachings of Śākyamuni and the commentaries of the Seven Patriarchs. ‘The words of the Great Sage’ directly refers to the Dai Muryōju Kyō (The Larger Sutra), in which Shinran Shonin found the true religion by which a sinful and helpless man can be saved. He trusted in the Teachings of this Sutra singleheartedly, and conceived of all the other Teachings of the Buddha as being expedients to Pure Land Buddhism. It is also important to note that Shinran approached the Teachings of Amida’s Salvation through seven predecessors, namely, Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu from India; Doran, Dōshaku and Zendō in China; Genshin and Genkū in Japan. In the Kyō Gyō Shin Shō he abundantly quotes from their discourse, and in the Shōshin Ge he gives their essentials. The whole gāthā is an exposition of the Pure Land Teaching which may be divided into two parts: 1) based on the Sutra and 2) based on the commentaries. The contents of the gāthā with minor divisions are as follows: I. Exposition based on the Sutra 1. Homage to Amida 2. Adoration, in particular, to a. Amida Buddha b. Śākyamuni Buddha 3. Exhortation II. Exposition based on the commentaries 1. General statement 2. Exposition, in particular, to a. Nāgārjuna [2nd or 3rd cen. A.D.] b. Vasubandhu [4th cen. A.D.] c. Donran [T’an Luan, 476-542 A.D.] d. Dōshaku [Tao-ch’o, 562-645 A.D.] e. Zendō [Shan Tao, 613-681 A.D.] f. Genshin [942-1017 A.D.] g. Genkū [Honen, 1133-1212 A.D.] 3. Exhortation Ki myo mu ryo ju nyo rai Na mu fu ka shi gi ko Ho zo bo satsu in ni ji Zai se ji sai o bus-sho To ken sho butsu jo do in Koku do nin den shi zen maku Kon ryu mu jo shu sho gan Cho hotsu ke u dai gu zei Go ko shi yui shi sho ju Ju sei myo sho mon jip-po Fu ho mu ryo mu hen ko Mu ge mu tai ko en no Sho jo kan gi chi e ko Fu dan nan ji mu sho ko Cho nichi gak-ko sho jin setsu Is-sai gun jo mu ko sho Hon gan myo go sho jo go Shin shin shin gyo gan ni in Jo to gaku sho dai ne han His-shi metsu do gan jo ju Nyo rai sho i ko shus-se Yui setsu mi da hon gan kai Go joku aku ji gun jo kai O shin nyo rai nyo jitsu gon No hotsu ichi nen ki ai shin Fu dan bon no toku ne han Bon jo gyaku ho sai e nyu Nyo shu shi nyu kai ichi mi Ses-shu shin ko jo sho go I no sui ha mu myo an Ton nai shin zo shi un mu Jo fu shin jitsu shin jin ten Hi nyo nik-ko fu un mu Un mu shi ge myo mu an Gyaku shin ken kyo dai kyo ki Soku o cho zetsu go aku shu Is-sai zen maku bon bu nin Mon shin nyo rai gu zei gan Butsu gon ko dai sho ge sha Ze nin myo fun da ri ke- fi Mi da butsu hon gan nen butsu Ja ken kyo man naku shu jo Shin gyo ju ji jin ni nan Nan chu shi nan mu ka shi In do sai ten shi ron ge Chu ka jichi iki shi ko so Ken dai sho ko se sho i Myo nyo rai hon ze o ki Sha ka nyo rai ryo ga sen I shu go myo nan ten jiku Ryu ju dai ji shut-to se Shitsu no zai ha u mu ken Sen zetsu dai jo mu jo ho Sho kan gi ji sho an raku Ken ji nan gyo roku ro ku Shin gyo i gyo shi do raku Oku nen mi da butsu hon gan Ji nen soku ji nyu hitsu jo Yui no jo sho nyo rai go O ho dai hi gu zei on Ten jin bo Satsu zo ron setsu Ki myo mu ge ko nyo rai E Shu ta ra ken shin jitsu Ko sen o cho dai sei gan Ko-yu hon gan riki e ko I do gun jo sho is-shin Ki nyu ku doku dai ho kai Hitsu gyaku nyu dai e shu shu Toku shi ren ge zo se kai Soku sho shin nyo hos-sho jin Yu bon no rin gen jin zu Nyu sho ji on ji o ge Hon shi don ran ryo ten shi Jo ko ran sho bo satsu rai San zo ru shi ju jo kyo Bon jo sen gyo ki raku ho Ten jin bo satsu ron chu ge Ho do in ga ken sei gan O gen ne ko yu ta riki Sho jo shi in yui shin jin Waku zen bon bu shin jin potsu Sho-chi sho-ji soku ne hon His-shi mu ryo ko myo do Sho-u shu jo kai fu ke Do shaku kes-sho do nan sho Yui myo jo do ka tsu nyu Man zen ji riki hen gon shu En man toku go kan sen sho San-pu san shin ke on gon Zo matsu ho metsu do-hi in Is-sho zo aku chi gu zei Shi an nyo gai sho myo ka Zen do doku myo bus-sho I Ko ai jo san yo gyaku aku Ko myo myo go ken in nen Kai-nyu hon gan dai-chi kai Gyo-ja sho-ju kon go shin Kyo-ki ichi nen so o go Yo-I dai to gyaku san nin Soku sho hos-sho shi jo raku Gen shin ko kai ichi dai kyo Hen ki an nyo kan is-sai Sen zo shu shin han sen jin Ho ke ni do sho ben ryu Goku ju aku nin yui sho butsu Ga yaku zai-hi ses-shu chu Bon no sho gen sui fu ken Dai-hi mu ken jo sho ga Hon shi gen ku myo buk-kyo Ren min zen maku bon bu nin Shin shu kyo sho ko hen shu Sen jaku hon gan gu aku se Gen rai sho-ji rin den ge Ket-chi gi jo I sho shi Soku nyu jaku jo mu I raku Hit-chi shin jin I no nyu Gu kyo dai ji shu shi tou Jo sai mu hen goku joku aku Do zoku ji shu gu do shin Yu-I ka shin shi ko so se-tsu Shoshinge Translation I take refuge in the Tathāgata of Immeasurable Life! I entrust myself to the Buddha of Inconceivable Light! Bodhisattva Dharmākara, in his causal stage, Under the guidance of Lokeśvararāja Buddha. Searched into the origins of the Buddhas’ pure land, And the qualities of those lands and their men and devas; He then established the supreme, incomparable Vow; He made the great Vow rare and all-encompassing. In five kalpas of profound thought, he embraced this Vow, Then resolved again that his Name be heard throughout the ten quarters. Everywhere he casts light immeasurable, boundless, Unhindered, unequaled, light-lord of all brilliance, Pure light, joyful light, the light of wisdom, Light constant, inconceivable, light beyond speaking, Light excelling sun and moon he sends forth, illumining countless worlds; The multitudes of beings all receive the radiance. The Name embodying the Primal Vow is the act of true settlement, The Vow of entrusting with sincere mind is the cause of birth; We realize the equal of enlightenment and supreme nirvāņa Through the fulfillment of the Vow of attaining nirvāņa without fail. Śākyamuni Tathāgata appeared in this world Solely to teach the ocean-like Primal Vow of Amida; We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements, Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth. When the one thought-moment of joy arises, Nirvāņa is attained without severing blind passions; When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin, They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one in taste with it. The light of compassion that grasps us illumines and protects us always; The darkness of our ignorance is already broken through; Still the clouds and mists of greed and desire, anger and hatred, Cover as always the sky of true and real shinjin. But though light of the sun is veiled by clouds and mists, Beneath the clouds and mists there is brightness, not dark. When one realizes shinjin, seeing and revering and attaining great joy, One immediately leaps crosswise, closing off the five evil courses. All foolish beings, whether good or evil, When they hear and entrust to Amida’s universal Vow, Are praised by the Buddha as people of vast and excellent understanding; Such a person is called a pure white lotus. For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance, The nembutsu that embodies Amida’s Primal Vow Is hard to accept in shinjin; This most difficult of difficulties, nothing surpasses. The masters of India in the west, who explained the teachings in treaties, And the eminent monks of China and Japan, Clarified the Great Sage’s true intent in appearing in the world, And revealed that Amida’s Primal Vow accords with the nature of beings. Śākyamuni Tathāgata, on Mount Lankā, Prophesied to the multitudes that in south India The mahasattva Nāgārjuna would appear in this world To crush the views of being and non-being; Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahāyāna teaching, He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness. Nāgārjuna clarifies the hardship on the overland path of difficult practice, And leads us to entrust to the pleasure on the waterway of easy practice. He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida’s Primal Vow, One is naturally brought to enter the sage of the definitely settled; Solely saying the Tathāgata’s Name constantly, One should respond with gratitude to the universal Vow of great compassion. Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declares That he takes refuge in the Tathagata of unhindered light, And that relying on the sutras, he will reveal the true and real virtues, And make widely known the great Vow by which we leap crosswise beyond birth-and-death. He discloses the mind that is single so that all beings be saved By Amida’s directing of virtue through the power of the Primal Vow. When a person turns and enters the great treasure-ocean of virtue, Necessarily he joins Amida’s assembly; And when he reaches hat lotus-held world, He immediately realizes the body of suchness or dharma-nature. Then sporting in the forests of blind passions, he manifests transcendent powers; Entering the garden of birth-and-death, he assumes various forms to guide others. Turning toward the dwelling of Master T’an-laun, the Emperor of Liang Always paid homage to him as a bodhisattva. Bodhiruci, master of the Tripitaka, gave T’an-laun the Pure Land teachings, And T’an-laun, burning his Taoist scriptures, took refuge in the land of bliss. In his commentary on the treatise of Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, He shows that the cause and attainment of birth in the fulfilled land lie in the Vow. Our going and returning, directed to us by Amida, come about through Other Power; The truly decisive cause is shinjin. When a foolish being of delusion and defilement awakens to shinjin, He realizes that birth-and-death is itself nirvāna; Without fail he reaches the land of immeasurable light And universally guides sentient beings to enlightenment. Tao-ch’o determined how difficult it is to fulfill the Path of Sages, And reveals that only passage through the Pure Land gate is possible for us. He criticizes self-power endeavor in the myriad good practices, And encourages us solely to say the fulfilled Name embodying true virtue. With kind concern he teaches the three characteristics of entrusting and non entrusting, Compassionately guiding all identically, whether they live when the dharma survives as but form, when in its last stage, or when it has become extinct. Though a person has committed evil all his life, when he encounters the Primal Vow, He will reach the world of peace and realize the perfect fruit of enlightenment. Shan-tao alone in his time clarified the Buddha’s true intent; Sorrowing at the plight of meditative and non-meditative practicers and people of grave evil, He reveals that Amida’s Light and Name are the causes of birth. When the practicer enters the great ocean of wisdom, the Primal Vow, He receives the diamond-like mind And accords with the one thought-moment of joy; whereupon, Equally with Vaidehī, he acquires the threefold wisdom And is immediately brought to attain the eternal bliss of dharma-nature. Genshin, having broadly elucidated the teaching of Śākyamuni’s lifetime, Wholeheartedly took refuge in the land of peace and urges all to do so; Ascertaining that minds devoted to single practice are profound, to sundry practice, shallow, He sets forth truly the difference between the fulfilled land and the transformed land. The person burdened with extreme evil should simply say the Name: Although I too am within Amida’s grasp, Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him; Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always. Master Genkū, well-versed in the Buddha’s teaching, Turned compassionately to foolish people, both good and evil; Establishing in this remote land the teaching and realization that are the true essence of the Pure Land way, He transmits the selected Primal Vow to us of the defiled world: Return to this house of transmigration, of birth-and-death, Is decidedly caused by doubt. Swift entrance into the city of tranquility, the uncreated, Is necessarily brought about by shinjin. The mahasattvas and masters who spread the sutras Save the countless beings of utter defilement and evil. With the same mind, all people of the present, whether monk or lay, Should rely wholly on the teachings of these venerable masters. Sutras: Juseige | Junirai | Sanbutsuge | Shoshinge Copyright © 2006 by Nishi Hongwanji L.A.

Presentation by Dr. Kenneth Tanaka Visiting from Tokyo, the former Dean of the Institute shares his thoughts on the meaning of Amida Buddha in Shin Buddhism. Originally recorded 14 February 2007 © 2007, Kenneth Tanaka