Fund raising for strenghtening the library of Amidaji

the damage done to the library
by the storm, last year on November. It was repaired
in December

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE NEW UPGRADES AT THE TEMPLE 

As I said recently in my plan for this year, one of the most important thing to do is to strenghten the walls of Amidaji library and add a good roof like the one on the Hondo (Dharma Hall). This is extremely important, especially since the library was affected by a powerful storm last year in November, which almost destroyed it. I succesfully did some repair to it, in December, but I must continue to strenghten the wooden walls and fix them more strongly on the cement platform.

Sobre os fantasmas famélicos (seres famintos) que querem dominar os outros seres através da religião

traduzido do Inglês por Shaku Shinkai

- click here for the English version - 

“Aqueles que tomam refúgio com sinceridade e mente confiante, liberando a si mesmos de todos os apegos ilusórios e preocupações com o que é propício e impropício, nunca devem tomar refúgio nos espíritos ou nos ensinamentos não budistas.”[1]

Seres não iluminados são a causa kármica da existência dos reinos samsáricos não iluminados. Seus karmas individuais e coletivos manifestam estes reinos, mundos  e universos nos quais vivem. Ao contrário disso, seres Iluminados ou Budas, naturalmente e karmicamente manifestam Terras Puras ou reinos Iluminados. Se um assim chamado  “ser supremo” criou um mundo como o nosso, isto significa que ele não é iluminado, porque se o fosse, este mundo teria sido perfeito e habitado por seres perfeitamente iluminados. Buda Amida (e qualquer Buda!) não finge ser o criador deste mundo samsárico, apenas de sua Terra Pura Iluminada, para onde ele prometeu levar todos os seres samsáricos para a liberação final (Estado de Buda ou Nirvana).

New trees planted at Amidaji, construction plan for 2017 and a memorial for the donor of the temple's land

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE NEW UPGRADES AT THE TEMPLE 

click here for the Romanian version

planting a sycamore tree and a
maples tree in front of the Hondo
(Dharma Hall)

These days I planted the following trees, fruits and flowers in Amidaji courtyard:

2 sour-cherry trees, 3 hazel trees, 1 almond tree, 1 peach tree, 2 birch trees, 1 maple tree, 1 ash tree, 1 sycamore tree, as well as five blackberries, five raspberries, three blackcurrant, three redcurrant, seeds of blue morning glory on the west side of the land in the hope that they will quickly cover that fence. I hope all of them will go well. The whole courtyard of the temple will look better when the trees will make leaves.

The meaning of Arya Sangha in Jodo Shinshu

This article was recently revised and included in the 

- The Three Refuges in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism - 

please click on it to read it!

The salvation offered by Amida Buddha is beyond conceptual understanding

"Tathagata's Primal Vow surpasses conceptual understanding; it is a design of the wisdom of Buddhas. It is not the design of foolish beings. No one can fathom the wisdom of Buddhas, which surpasses conceptual understanding."[1]

"Further, with regard to Other Power, since it is inconceivable Buddha-wisdom, the attainment of supreme Enlightenment by foolish beings possessed of blind passions comes about through the working shared only by Buddhas; it is not in any way the design of the practicer. Thus, no working is true working. 'Working' that is negated refers to the calculation of the person of self-power. Concerning Other Power, then, no working is true working."[2]

One who entrusts himself to Amida Buddha realizes that it is through Amida's Power that he is saved ("true working"), and not by his own designs and calculations or through the so called "merits" he thinks he has accumulated until now ("no working").

On the powerful pretas (hungry spirits) who wish to dominate other beings through religion

fragment from my description of the preta (hungry ghost realm)

            At the end of this presentation on pretas, I would like to add another special category of hungry ghosts - the powerful pretas who wish to dominate other beings through religion.

As I explained above, there are various types of pretas, and not all of them are weak or tortured by mere hunger or thirst. Some pretas have great powers due to previous good karma and merits, as Vasubandhu said: "the pretas differ much one from another; certain of them possess supernatural powers and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods”[1], but also great arrogance and pride.  

Among the pretas, the category called gyalpos in Tibetan are the most powerful. "Gyalpo" means "king" or "royal" and it indicates the various leaders of the preta plane of existence, so they are from the same category Vasubandhu reffered to in the above passage. It is said that in their past lives they were great practitioners who accumulated merit, but were not able to overcome pride and arrogance, or they died with thoughts of hate, vengeance, etc.