A Fistful of Sand

Courtesy of Nembutsu Art   Introduction: Trust Beyond Effort What if awakening wasn’t something to strive toward—but something already here, waiting to be realized? In the Pure Land tradition of Buddhism, this realization is known as  shinjin  ( 信心 )—a profound, transformative “true entrusting” that opens the heart to boundless compassion. More than belief, more than feeling,  shinjin  is the awakening of trust beyond self-effort. What Is Shinjin? At its core,  shinjin  is not about believing in a distant deity or reciting mantras for favor. It’s about  awakening to a truth that is already true : that Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow encompasses all beings, without exception. For Shinran Shōnin,  shinjin  was not a result of effort ( jiriki ), but a realization of  other-power  ( tariki ). It arises when we awaken to the truth that we are already grasped, never to be abandoned. “Shinjin is itself enlightenment.” —  Tannishō Moder...

(Art by Nembutsu Art ) In the first volume of the Collection of Passages on the Land of it Peace and Bliss [by Tao-ch’o] we read:   One might ask, “If all sentient beings have the Buddha nature, and as each of them from ancient times to the present must have encountered many Buddhas, why then do they still continue through cycles of birth and death and fail to escape from this burning house?” To such a question, I should answer that according to the holy teaching of the Mahayana, it is actually because they have been unable to cast aside birth and death through exercising one of the two kinds of the excellent Dharma, that they have not been able to escape from the burning house. One is called the Holy Path and the other is called Rebirth in the Pure Land. In these days it is difficult to attain Enlightenment through the Holy Path. One reason for this is that the Great Enlightened One’s passing has now receded far into the distant past. Another is that the ultimate principle is prof...