How to understand Amida and his Vow?

[richard meyers]

What do I feel about Amida and his Vow? Is it something real or is it metaphor?
I think it is both.

Metaphor in as much as it is (to me) doubtful whether an actual Pureland (apart from this place) exists. Yet is is real in as much as it symbolises all that is most life affirming in the human heart. The Pureland in fact is here, as is the Kingdom of Heaven.
In as much as I lose touch with what is sublime in myself, I lose touch with Amida's Vow - which embraces all of us - even me, with all my attempted cleverness, this foolish being that makes so many mistakes.

There is a part of this me that longs for the simple myokonin faith, that takes delight in the dharma and is able to dance in the light of Amida's grace. In some ways I feel like Eve, having eaten of the fruit of knowledge, there is no looking back.

I've just read Gregg Krech on softening the heart and feel this is really important. The heart that is hard exists in opposition to life and the unexpected. I begin to see what Nei quan is about - it's a heart warming practice and whatever is warmed becomes pliable and less inclined to have hard edges.

However I understand Amida - he/she begins to move inside and little stirrings of gratitude are felt. May I just bow to that calling and give up trying to figure things out!

[richard meyers]

Dear Sahishnu,

So true
your gentle words
with Amida
we do as much
as we can
one thing after
another along with
small and sometimes
large mistakes

Thank you for your good sense.

[Sahishnu Joy Marston]

My recipe is laugh a lot, cry a little. Laugh a lot at self cry inside that I can do so little but be happy that we do not have to do it on our own, Amida can do.I am trying to rebuild the Pureland which is all around us if each of us does a little and passes it on we can make a big difference but can only make one small persons mistakes.

[richard meyers]

The older I get the less I feel I need to 'know' anything for sure. That is apart from connection with others. A huge chunk of my deeper response to living, has to do with the natural world. The wildness of what is around us and in us too. Christians have a prayer form 'Lectio Divina (Divine reading) - my take on that comes in the form of people like Annie Dillard, Jay Griffiths, Gary Snyder, their books and inspiration, but also the beauty that exists in all that - a word I love - generativity! The Pureland for me is essentially an awareness of this splendour, of which we a part.

Namo Amida Bu

[Robert McCarthy]

yes Richard we often enough have confusion everywhere. i reflected a lot more on beliefs from your posts. and yes the spirit of the writing often enough holds us more than the substance, and that is also similar with beliefs. atheists have a very strong metaphyscial belief that they seem to not notice, belief in scientific rationalism so strong that nothing exists outside what science can know. so they absolutely know there can be no consciousness beyond death. and that is a reassuring belief to hide in too. But what is really good about atheist belief- no treating this planet as a half way house. So in Amidism we share that virtue, make the Pureland now. So those outstretched hands are what it is all about. best wishes to you too Richard

[richard meyers]

What a game it is as we strive to communicate over ning. all too often missing each other. All we have is the knowledge of our intention to meet. As I reread your last and my response earlier today, I wonder whether I caught what you were saying. Does it really matter robert? We are both here and a hand is being outstretched.
Nothing I say is said with certainty, I make no pretence at the definitive statement.
Nonetheless the Heart beats rythmically still and very best wishes to you and Katrien. Same to anyone else that I have connected with at anytime.

Namo Amida Bu

[richard meyers]

Dear Robert,

Thank you for that! Myokonin too, as metaphor. It's incredible how quickly we (I!) get hooked up on ideals and find ourselves wanting in some way. Your words "our concerns are well placed on this planet." How true that is and how deeply we grieve for what is being lost.
Your next sentence reminds me of that other biblical metaphor of Lot's wife - looking back we turn into a pillar of salt in the desert - in other words, we ossify and become less than the living breathing responsive beings we are. Life experiance with all its joys and sorrow is what keeps us humanly alive and able to meet others. The Pure Land exists in the human heart open and encountering other beings and other power. There are times when all we can do is pull our heads in, life becomes just too much to bear - it is then we benefit from the spiritual resources we have gathered previously. We can pray and we can allow Other Power to sit beside us, to help us endure until there is a change.

Namo Amida Bu

[Robert McCarthy]

Yes Richard, I remember Dharmavidya saying how beliefs have their place, but they are not so important. It is all about how we live our lives, which is about living heart we find and doing whatever little bit we do towards the Pureland in our world. The universe known to science is itself quite large enough to be having a Pureland somewhere or other, but our concerns are well placed on this planet. I wonder whether it is life experience more than learned knowledge that holds us from looking back. I also wonder whether myokonin is also more a metaphor, that a simple faith does not exist apart from worldly knowing,