The Compassion of Amida Buddha

It was towards the end of the meeting for worship that a gentleman stood up and after speaking about the difficulties that other people faced in conflicts around the globe, spoke of how is own life had been “a bed of roses” by comparison. I don’t remember his exact words but he expressed how he was unsure how he could ever repay the blessings he had received in his life. After he sat down, I reflected on his words.

In the meeting for reflection that convened soon after, over coffee, a number of people commented that they had been moved by this gentleman’s words, and they were made more poignant when it was revealed that he had recently lost his wife after a long period of ill health.

The spiritual path is not marked by accomplishment in this or that spiritual practice but by simple faith, gratitude and love. To be aware of the blessings that sustain us even, or especially, through the dark times.

The following passage is how a Pureland buddhist describes it, but a person of any faith or none may recognise the sentiment in their own terms and experience.

A book on Chinese philosophy called the Saikontan, states “Although the world is essentially large, greediness makes it small.” The world in truth should be beyond that which is individually confined or limited. The world in truth is the place in which people can freely and peacefully live together. However, this world that is supposed to be large will become small when each individual merely concerns himself with his own interests alone.

The Buddha teaches us that it is important to avoid narrow-mindedness and selfish interests in order that we may live in a world of peace and happiness. Narrow-mindedness may be evoked when we think that each of us can live by ourselves alone, without any relation to others. The Buddha taught that we should see the reality of ourselves as the totality of innumerable forces of life; that is, we only maintain life, even for a moment, as a result of innumerable blessings.

Seeing a flower gives us a pleasant feeling. Sometimes it helps us be relieved from tension. Sometimes it leads us into the world of beauty. For a flower to fulfil its life cycle, there must be roots under the ground that we do not readily see. The roots support the tree and give it nourishment through numerous sub-roots which help the tree to grow and produce beautiful flowers. Invisible from the surface and stepped on by everyone, the roots work patiently for just one single flower. Without these roots, the flower could not display its beauty and fulfil its lifecycle.

For us to live even a moment, there must exist the invisible force of blessings just as the stem of a flower has its hidden roots beneath the ground. This is the force of dependent origination (pratitya-samutpada). When this force is religiously apprehended, we may say that it is Amida Buddha who continuously gives us life in the present as well as in the eternal future.

The human effort to apprehend the reality of the invisible force of Amida Buddha is stated in Honen’s poem:

There is no place the moon does not shine,
But it only illuminates
in the heart of those who gaze at it.

Regardless of our awareness, the grace of the Buddha is always with us. This is the great compassion and love of Amida that is beyond the reach of our apprehension. Honen reveals the truth of this great blessing of the Buddha through the teaching of the nembutsu.

A Raft from the Other Shore by Sho-on Hattori