The Salvific Activity of Amida
Shaku Shin Gi
Amida Buddha is the Eternally Compassionate One, our Loving Father and Mother, who embraces us and never abandons us. All glory be dedicated to Him; all merits are His. Namu Amida Butsu.
Amida is not only omnipresent; He is not separate from our reality. Namu Amida Butsu. The words and teachings of our Great Masters — and these are not always only those who identify as Buddhists, “What we call Entrusting Mind (Shinjin) is not a privilege of Buddhism. Nor has Amida saved only Buddhists.” (Rev. Gustavo Shogyo, Essa Margem e a Outra Margem) — are not mere philosophical speculations but the manifestation of Amida’s Salvific Activity. Since Amida is pure Love and Compassion, this Activity can have only one purpose: to lead beings to the end of suffering. This Grace functions as a decentralizing force, dissolving our illusions of stability, unveiling all false “selves,” shattering any notion of control, “God exists in this world through self-negation.” (Kitaro Nishida). When all illusions are destroyed, only Amida remains, and we are born in His Pure Land. Kiyozawa Manshi describes this experience as follows:
“I thought at times that I had formed some ideas about my religious conviction. But one after another each of those ideas was smashed.
Such bitter experiences were unavoidable as long as I sought to establish religious conviction on the basis of logic or scholarly inquiry. After going through such a difficult process, I have come to realize that I cannot define good or evil, truth or untruth, happiness or unhappiness. Aware of my total ignorance, I have come to entrust all matters to Tathagata.” (My Religious Conviction)
Our Masters taught that we can only be reborn in the Pure Land after death. But what does this mean? It means that we can only be born in His Land of Supreme Bliss when we give up all attempts at control and fully surrender to Buddha-Nature. When we stop trying to control everything and release our flows of desire—not blindly indulging in them but ceasing to repress or suppress them—allowing their natural dissolution, we die while still alive and are immediately reborn in the Pure Land. This is the experience of Shinjin, the union of our mind with Amida’s mind, and it corresponds to the aspect of Going Forth (Oso Eko). The moment we surrender to the flow of Amida’s Grace, the Pure Land is no longer separate from this Sahā world. The ultimate expression of Amida’s Compassionate Activity is His Sacred Name, the Nembutsu, the very means promised in the 18th Vow to ensure birth in the Pure Land. In this moment, we attain Nirvana without needing to extinguish the mental poisons—a Nirvana received spontaneously, like a lightning strike, not as a result of our calculation or power, but as a gift from Amida, “When the one thought-moment of joy arises, Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions” (Shinran Shonin, Shoshinge). The aspect of Returning (Genso Eko) is fulfilled in biological death, the dissolution of the body, which we so fear for no reason, yet can never avoid. Thus, we physically unite with Amida’s Sacred Name, which echoes throughout the universe. We become, both physically and spiritually, part of His Salvific Activity, “Among all living things—mountains and rivers, grasses and trees, even the sounds of blowing winds and rising waves—there is nothing that is not the nembutsu.” (Ippen Shonin).
We do not engage in philosophical speculations because we recognize our deeply ignorant and evil nature. We acknowledge that we are already saved by Amida, but we also recognize that we need this salvation only because of our countless sins, which we commit at every moment. Although we may, with great caution, express some aspects of His nature that appear to us through experience, we can never fully capture His Absolute Reality. Outside the Sacred Name—which does not point to anything but is the most direct manifestation of Him—He is far beyond any description. Being such ignorant beings, we can never correctly express Amida’s true Nature, “So take refuge in Amida, the inexpressible Buddha” (Shinran Shonin, Wasan). Philosophical speculation only leads us into conceptual and linguistic traps, making us realize, in the midst of the mental whirlwind, that we are indeed the most ignorant of all.
Amida, in His Infinite Compassion, made the Primal Vow to save all sentient beings across all existence and thus opened the gate of His Pure Land for everyone without discrimination. His Vow guarantees access to the Pure Land created by Him; however, His Grace turns especially toward the wicked—those who, unable to attain enlightenment by their own efforts, find in His Name the only true refuge, “Thus, even the good person attains birth, how much more so the evil person!” (Shinran Shonin, Tannisho). Faced with such infinite Love, any attempt at retribution is insufficient. Even so, we must strive to repay it with every breath, recognizing that even this effort is not our own doing but Amida’s. Each Namu Amida Butsu is an echo of the Love that saved us.
Namu Amida Butsu! Namu Amida Butsu! Namu Amida Butsu!
