The Easy Path is the Most Difficult Path of All

[Richard Modiano]

To find Shinjin, we must necessarily give up the calculations of the logical mind, to be able to listen to the deeper mind, the transcendent mind, from which Amida Buddha will speak to us all. That is why the so-called "Easy Path" is, at the same time, the most difficult path of all. The hardest thing for a normal adult to do is let go of the grasping and clinging of the calculating logical mind.

The Path is called easy because Shin-shu doesn’t burden the seeker with language that is hard to understand. This Dharma is for everyone and can be understood by anyone of average intelligence even with no background in Buddhism at all. There is no arduous discipline required, no call to give up family and friends and spend years as a monk or nun

Shinran and his teacher Honen shared the Dharma in the countryside of medieval Japan with people who didn't know the first thing about Buddhism, and couldn't even read or write. You are only asked to listen deeply, with your head and heart, and Amida Buddha himself will answer all your questions, and bring the seeker to Shinjin that is the objective of all of Shinran's Dharma. And once one comes to Shinjin, birth in the Pure Land and True Buddhahood will be the seeker’s destiny at the end of this life.

Nonetheless, this monkey mind of ours (to borrow a Zen phrase) is extremely persistent in it's desire to achieve enlightenment by it's own means. Thus, it wants nothing more than to work a program that is built (once again!) around some sort of striving for perfection. I can see why our Dharma teachers declare that even though this path is so easy, no one takes it! It simply goes against all our instincts and all our training. Indeed, the only reason we end up taking it anyway is because of Amida's vow working in our lives.

For many people there is the temptation to strive for enlightenment, even if one is already on the boat of Amida's vow. It is very hard just to let the wind take you. This is exactly why Shinran said that this, the Easy Path, is also the most difficult of all difficulties. Often even the saying of the Nembutsu is yet another attempt to row the boat ourselves, and this is what Shinran is speaking of when he talks about the mixed practice of self-powered Nembutsu recitation.

Finally, the seeker gives up rowing because it becomes manifest that one hasn’t moved the boat an inch. This realization is most profound and sublime, and it’s what opens the door wide to truly entrusting Amida Buddha at last with one’s karmic destiny. And it can take a long time to actually get it, long as in years, and even lifetimes. It is very difficult to come to this state of ultimate dependence for most people. Indeed, Rennyo Shonin says it's not even possible without mysterious roots of good from prior lives.

The seeker must listen deeply to the Dharma, using the idea-content to wear away the delusions and obscurations that block one from entrusting himself entirely. The seeker may need to hear Shinran Shonin’s teaching thousands of times before the truth of it breaks through his logical, rational, linear mind. And one might need to experience one or more moments of deep, existential crisis, just as Shinran did in his own life, and his teacher Honen before him. That’s why the Easy Path is also the difficult path.

[Susthama]

Hi Richard,

Thank you for this. Life is full of paradoxes and this path is yet another example of just how counter-intuitive the idea of giving up self really is.

[Katrien Sercu]

Hi Richard...your words 'it is very hard just to let the wind take you' and 'saying the Nembutsu is yet another attempt to row the boat ourselves' evoke a lot of emotions and thaughts in me! I want to share this with you or others.
If men were sincere, noble, lovely, true... then it would be wunderful that they let the wind take them; the easy path is not difficult for them. Their mind, heart and deeds are in function of the benefit of all, even in imperfection. They can life on a non-self way. I'm not so far!
When I see myself: I'm not a bad woman, but I have (primitive) reflections, egocentric reactions, desires, prejudices, emotions, an ego and... this is as it is!... But I need the Nembutsu to create the conditions to be more able to become (in imperfection) a noble person. I need a little bit self-power to become more sincere, loving, non-self.., so that I'm able to receive Other-Power. It's not only a logical, rational, lineair mind that makes the path difficult. It's also the bodily influences, emotions, desires, the ego that isolate us from the flow of a noble life. As a foolish being, I can go the Path in trust and faith, with some wakefulness and with the Nembutsu..a mix from a little bit self-power and open to Other-power.
I'm a beginning Buddhist and I'm human! Namo Amida Bu