MURYOKO

We have seen how the transference of Amida's Boundless Light, or Wisdom, and his Endless Life, or Compassion, takes place in one nen, or thought lasting the minimum of time. This nen by consonantal assimilation becomes the nem in Nembutsu. Now the Sino-Japanese character for nen is composed of two others that mean 'now' and 'heart and its etymological interpretation yields the meaning: what is now in the heart. In the Nembutsu, nem is the present moment of consciousness and butsu is Amida Buddha's presence as its whole content. It should be borne in mind that 'heart' in Sino-Japanese idiom signifies the whole mind, not merely the seat of the emotions, as in the West; and so by extension to other planes, it means the core or centre of one's whole being and not the physical organ alone, which is the representative of the Heart in the corporeal state.

The first word of the Nembutsu, Namu, from the Sanskrit namas, literally means to invoke or call upon, while the second and third words are the actual Name of Amida and his title of Buddha. This Name was not created or chosen by any human being, but revealed by the Buddha Amida himself through his Nirmanakaya, or historical incarnation as Shakyamuni. According to Zendo, the Chinese Fifth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, namas connotes not only 'to trust in single-heartedly' but also 'to arouse one's thoughts and direct them toward Amida with a sincere longing to be reborn in his Western Paradise'. But since the active voice of the verb implies some use of self-power, the Japanese Pure Land sects, especially Shinshu, have preferred to give it the passive significance of 'to surrender one's individual will, to submit one's entire being to Amida Buddha as the Other Power'. Namas was translated into Japanese as kimyo which is composed of ki, meaning "to return to", and myo, the Buddha-Dharma. Shinran therefore glossed the term as 'to take refuge in Amida with complete and unconditional confidence that he will receive us as we are, with all our karmic defilements'.

Now in its strictly nondual doctrines, Shinshu, like other schools of Mahayana Buddhism, transcends both the quasi-absolute dualism of the 'I-and-Thou' monotheistic perspectives, at least as practised in their exoteric aspects, and also the inferior philosophical monisms, whether idealist or materialist. For by its teaching of ki and ho as a biunity in ittai, Shinshu clearly recognizes the necessity for the I and Thou relationship in its two opposite terms: ki, the karma-defiled ego of the individual, and ho, the pure and selfless Buddha-Dharma as personified by Amida. This is why Namu, the cry of total surrender by the bonbu, or impure human supplicant, is considered to be just as essential a part of the whole Nembutsu as the Name itself, Amida Butsu. But at the same time the nonduality of the two opposites is affirmed in ittai, which necessarily follows from the basic principle of the Mahayana, Samsara is Nirvana and Nirvana is Samsara, stated in this antithetical form to indicate their biunity. The compound ittai can be analysed into its two constituent characters: ichi, or one, and tai, which literally means body but, as we have seen, refers not merely to corporeal but to formal manifestation on any plane. The character for tai can be resolved into its pictographic elements: "man" and "root", indicating that the body is the human basis and origin, the physical vehicle for the Buddha-nature. Tai has therefore acquired the extended meaning of reality. So during the calling of the Nembutsu, the Buddha and the bonbu are united in a biunity: Amida becomes the devotee and the devotee becomes Amida. Yet at the same time as they are united through the Name, each remains on his own level quite different and distinct.

This subtle and profound doctrine that beyond Unity lies Nonduality can be represented by the analogical images of sound and silence. Sound is taken as symbolical of manifestation and silence of the Unmanifest Void: Shunyata, or Emptiness in the Buddhist sense. Silence in itself is of formless manifestation, since we can become aware of it only negatively as the total absence of sound. Yet it contains the latent possibilities of all sounds, which emerge from its soundless background into audibility, run their course of duration in vibratory forms, and then remerge into silence again as their principle, which has been present all the time. Silence can thus be used as an adequate symbol to represent the Unmanifest Ground from which the sound of the Divine Name or Word ex-ists, or 'stands forth', as the first manifestation.

Hinduism has always recognized the primacy of sound among the sensory qualities, for a Vedic hymn sings: 'In the Beginning [that is, in principio, or "in principle" was Vac [the Creative Voice or Word]. And Vac was with Brahma [God, the Creator]. And Vac was Brahma'. The Word or Name even preceded Light, because God said: 'Fiat Lux !' At the moment of death, too, the sense of hearing is the last to depart, being reabsorbed into the Unmanifest. Shin Buddhist doctrine rests on this same universal Metaphysical and theological foundation. The Tathagata, proceeding nondually into manifestation out of the Void of Shunyata, the immeasurable Silence of the Unmanifest, is first heard within the centre of one's being as the unuttered Name, which in turn issues nondually as the uttered Nembutsu with audible form in time and space.

But the Primordial Silence remains before, during, and after every utterance of the Name. Changeless yet ever-changing, it always was, is, and will be behind the sounds of each of the six syllables of the uttered Nembutsu. When, in a single thought-instant, each of the sounds of these syllables ceases, it is at once reabsorbed into the Silent Ground, to be preserved therein in its permanent actuality. So by hearkening to the Buddha's Name, one hears his very Voice; by attending to the Silence behind the Name with suspended mind, one knows the Soundless Void itself. So whenever one listens in solitude to the Voice of Silence, the Name of the Buddha-nature within, one does not err; but whenever one pays heed only to the demands of one's transient outer self, or to those of the ego in others, one goes astray.

Since the initiative lies wholly with Amida Buddha, to whom previously I had been calling by my own power without avail, he now becomes the Caller, whilst I who was the caller become the called. Yet a vestigial dualism still lingers in this statement, for in the true nondual doctrine of the Other Power there no longer remains any 'I' to call on Amida, who alone calls to himself through me. The greatest of the Sufi poets, Rumi, summed up this paradox in one line: 'Your invocation of Me is My reply to you.'

Reflections on the Dharma - Harold Stewart

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