Reflecting on '"Tannisho"'

by Gail Stenstad

I keep coming back to the first sentence of "Tannisho". There is so much there. Maybe it is not too much to say that all of Buddhism is contained in that one sentence:

"When the thought of saying the nembutsu erupts
from deep within . . ."

As the text says in section VIII, "The saying of nembutsu is neither a religious practice nor a good act." It's not a mantra; it's not a meditation practice. It is not a matter of gain or of any kind of calculation of present or future benefit. It's a spontaneous response to deep hearing of the dharma, to the mental/affective/somatic knowing that Other Power is at work in me. Other, yet not separate: "made to become so by itself" which gives rise to and supports all things.

" . . . having entrusted ourselves to the inconceivable power of Amida's vow which saves us . . ."

Here, I've been reflecting on the phrase "the shinjin of Amida." The ambiguity of the "of" is helpful, I think. The text says "having entrusted ourselves," yet this entrusting is at the same time simply the working of immeasurable light and life in us, "made to become so by itself." Again, this is the working of Other Power. Yet it doesn't happen "by accident" or "against our will" (whatever that might mean!). If I am not in some way open, if I can not or will not hear, will not let myself be attuned to this Great Mystery, it is as if it is not there for me. "As if," because it is there, at work, nonetheless (think of the original mythos, the story of the evil son, the desperate mother, and the vows of Dharmakara bodhisattva: all are included, without exception).

" . . . enabling us to be born in the Pure Land . . ."

Here, now, always. Just as the Heart Sutra teaches: form is emptiness, samsara is nirvana. Not a simple identity, but not a dichotomy, either. The Pure Land is "made to become so by itself." Here, now, always: my ordinary, everyday life, carried and held by the immeasurable, attuned without calculation to the signs of its work.

" . . . we receive at that very moment the ultimate benefit of being grasped never to be abandoned."

Knowing this (deeply, on all levels), how can we not respond with joy? And that joy manifests as the nembutsu. For me, "nembutsu" doesn't just mean the phrase "namu amida butsu," but also any verbal or nonverbal response to this endowed entrusting, in the shinjin of Amida. I see the small red screech owl roosting in the same hemlock tree several days this week. I greet her: gassho, little owl! I feel this joy of knowing deeply that she and I are together in this mysterious and wonderful universe, that the immeasurable is uniquely at work in her, in me, and in our joined glance in this moment. Whether I say the words or not, this is indeed namu Amida butsu.