MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Amida's Transfer of Faith
When Amida appears unprompted in an open mind that is fully awake but emptied of all preoccupations and is allowed to repeat his own Name without effort, interference, or obstruction of his Other Power by the least self-power, his divine influence can most effectively fill consciousness with Faith and eliminate the illusion of an ego. For as Descartes unwittingly admitted: 'I think, therefore I am'. In other words, the ego only exists because it thinks it does.
Embodied in the Faith transferred by Amida, according to Shinran, are the Sambonin, or Three Insights into the Dharma. The first of these, received on hearing Amida's Call-in-Command and making the Call-in-Response, is called Onkonin, or Insight into the Truth of Sound. The second, Nyujunnin, or Insight into the Truth of Yielding Obedience, and the third is Mushobonin or Insight into the Truth of No Birth (and No Death).
Using a different method to arrive at the same point, the Rinzai Zen disciple must meditate on a koan for a long period, his mind producing many and varied rational solutions to the insoluble problem - all of which when tested by the Zen master prove to be wrong - until at last all thoughts stop and the true supra-rational answer spontaneously appears. This moment when the Name is no longer called by the devotee but by Amida Buddha himself is closely akin to that in Zen archery when the Tao, not the archer, shoots the arrow and so hits not merely the centre of the target but the Tathagata in his own Centre.
Although arrived at by a mythological rather than a metaphysical approach, what Shinran means by the Mind of Pure Faith devoid of all doubts is really identical with what in Zen is called "No Mind", or "Mindfulness without a mind". Japanese Buddhism has been compared to a white silk stole, one end of which is dyed Zen-colour, the other end Shin-colour, but in the middle where these blend, it is just plain Buddha-colour.