First awakening to „Amida no Hongan“ wanting to save me. And second awakening to my own heart filled with deep darkness, which is saved by truth.
„Shinjin“ is constructed upon myself and I will accept and start a new life with „Shinjin“ as my new centre of being.
This new life means living in salvation and the foundational power comes from „Shinjin“.
The fourth is: Form of „Salvation“.
Living in salvation means receiving the effect of Daijihi and overcoming the emptiness of life. Continuously and ever more deeply encountering Amidaʼs truth, which is „Daijihi“.
These steps in life mean being saved and living in salvation. Praising „Daijihi“ʼs truth, living in happiness and gratitude, and at the same time being made to more deeply acknowledge oneʼs own inner darkness wanting to ignore „Daijihi“.
Then a life unfolds, having the wish of us in the center of this reality living powerfully based on this aspiration. Thereby if we more and more hear the call of „Daijihi“, which is „Namu Amida Butsu“, and if we take steps forward, at the same time moving forward with these steps, we also want other people to know that this path exists and we will start to recommend walking this path together.
The foundational reason for this is that Amidaʼs wish calls out through human beings toward other human beings. Moving forward within salvation stays not only with one person. Within this person there originates an outward effect of addressing other people. Therein developed the foundational rules of „Daijoubukkyou“ (Mahayana Buddhism).
The fifth is: „Jodo“.
Numbers one through four mentioned above have as a foundational source Amida Buddhaʼs world. This is called „Jodo“.
We take „Amida no Honganʼ s world“, which is called „Jodo“, as our very own lifeʼs foundation to stand on. We receive the effect of „Namu Amida Butsu“. This is the wish emanating from „Jodo“ and this wish is „Return to truth, live together with truth!“.
The heart receving the effect of „Namu Amida Butsu“ will unfold as a wish to even more receive truth and to even more walk this path. To take „Amida no Hongan“, which is „Daijihi“, as our own lifeʼs foundation, to stand on it, and to live. That is Jodo-Shinshuʼs form of life.
„Nehan Shinnyo“ (Nirvana/Suchness) is the worldʼs foundational source and shows itself as „Jodo“, which is our foundation of life, in order to save our human existence.
The sixth is: „The path of awakening to oneʼs own self“ is made clear.
Awakening to oneʼs own self is the most important and the most difficult path for human beings. It could be said, that Buddhism was born through that clear explanation.
Human beings think without hesitation that there can exist truth within them. Amidaʼs truth affects us human beings and asks whether there can really exist truth within us, shines on and illuminates our true human form. My daily steps forward in life become a „Dojo“ (training camp) where I must find out whether there can exist truth within me or not. „Buddhismʼs“ „Budh“ means „Awakening“.
This essence of Buddhism will fully unfold in those daily steps forward in the light of Amidaʼs truth illuminating our self. During life human beings want to live having their backs turned to Buddhaʼs truth. Ignoring Buddhaʼs truth and even considering it unimportant. That is the basic form of human beings.
Therefore, in order to encounter truth, we must apologize to this truth, which is wanting to save us, for ignoring it and even considering it unimportant. This apology is the meeting point in order to encounter Buddhaʼs truth.
By apologizing to truth we can have the real encounter with truth and then this apology becomes the foundation, which allows joy and gratitude of being able to have this encounter to flow upon us human beings. And wanting to continue this life in search of more truth, wanting to move forward in our own life, this wish will develop within us. This is the form of „saved human beings“.
This form originates from correct behaviour towards Buddhaʼs truth and that means awakening to oneʼs own self and the resulting apology to truth.
This path I will explain in detail in chapter six.
To be continued…