Adoration of the Buddha of Infinite Light

Buddha of Infinite Light

“Rennyo Sh Onin was one of the greatest teachers of the Shin school of Buddhism; in fact it was he who laid the firm foundation for for the modern religions institution known as the Jodo-Shin Shu, the True Sect of the Pure Land. His letters numbering about eighty-five are preserved and the title ‘Gobunsho,’ that is , ‘honorable letters,’ is given to them. Here is one of Rennyo’s letters:

‘To be established in shin faith means to understand the eighteenth vow, means to understand the frame of mind the “Namu-amida-butsu” sets up in you.

“Therefore, when you attain a state of singlemindedness as you utter the “namu”with absolute trust in Amida: you perceive the signifiance of Amida’s vow which is directed towards awakening a faith frame in you. For herein we realize what is meant by Amida Nyorsi’s ‘turning towards’; us ignorant beings. This is pointed out in the Larger Sutra of Eternal Life where we read: ‘Amida provides all beings with all the merits. …”

“The translation of such documents as Rennyo’s letters is full of difficulties as they are so laden with technical terms which defy in many cases replacement by and other language. But a word about ‘Namu-amida-butsu.’

“’Namu-amida-butsu’ is the Japanese reading of the original Sanskrit meaning ‘Adoration of the Buddha of Infinite Light.’” ~D. T. Suzuki

Buddha of Infinite Light

There is only one true God and that is the God of infinite Light, the God of infinite Love, and the God of infinite creation. This is the God of Spirit. The god of the Old Testament: the angry, jealous, vengeful god is the false god that Gnostic call the Demiurge. That god is not of Light but darkness. A deeper kind of darkness than simply being in a room with the lights out. He is dark and the creator of matter, although the world of matter is also part of the realm of the true God of Spirit and Light because the realm of matter was created by altering spirit into matter. If you think of Buddha as God, then as the God of Infinite Light, he would be the true god. Of course, no human is actually a god. Jesus, Moses, and Buddha, were all prophets, and, in the case of Jesus for sure, a messiah. But that is not the same as being God.

State of Singlemindedness

Many people may have a state of singlemindedness, but Rennyo is talking about a specific kind of singlemindedness. He is talking about those who put the Will of God and the desire to develop their spiritual attributes above all else. Such people are rare in this very materialistic age, but that is starting to change. Now that we have the Sun of Righteousness shining down on us, the number of such people is growing.

Rennyo’s Letters

Suzuki says that Renyo’s letters are difficult to translate properly because of his use of technical terms which defy translation from the original Sanscrit. I find that interesting as Rennyo is given credit for bringing Buddhism to Japan, so it seems odd that he wrote in Sanscrit. In any case, I think the translators have done well to translate ‘Namu-amida-butsu’ as ‘Adoration of the Buddha of Infinite Light.’ Adoration of the God of Light is what real spiritual development is all about. And we must turn to the Spiritual Sun, the Sun of Righteousness, to best follow the Will of God and develop our dormant spiritual natures.



Understanding how to ‘Think of Buddha’

 

“The ultimate goal of the teaching of the Pure land is to understand the meaning of “Nembutsu,” whereby its followers will be admitted to the Pure Land. …

Numbutsu literally means ‘to think of Buddha.’ Nen (nien in Chinese and smriti in Sanscrit) is to ‘keep in memory.’ In Shin however it is more than a mere remembering of Buddha, it is thinking His Name, holding it in your mind. …

The interpretation the Shin people give to the ‘Namu-amida-butsu‘ is more than literal, though not at all mystical or esoteric. It is in fact philosophical. When Amida is regarded as the object of adoration, he is separated from the devotee standing. All by himself. But when Namu is added to the name the whole thing takes on a new meaning because it now symbolizes the unification of Amida and the devotee, wherein the duality no longer exists. This however does not indicate that the devotee is lost or absorbed in Amida so that his individuality is no longer tenable as such. The unity is therefore as ‘Namu’ plus ‘Amidabutsu,’ but the Namu has not vanished.” ~D. T. Suzuki

The Ultimate Goal

I cannot totally agree with Suzuki regarding the ultimate goal of spiritual studies and disciplines. One does have to learn to understand the meaning of “to think of Buddha,” or “to think of Christ,” but that is an intermediate goal, acting on that understanding and achieving what it implies is the ultimate goal.

The Pure Land

What is called the Pure Land in the Quote is Heaven to most of us, the Place where oneness with God, buddha, and Christ occurs. We cannot dwell in the Pure Land while living in a physical body, but we can make visits to it through the regular use of spiritual development techniques.

Keep in Memory

To keep Buddha or Christ in our memory is indeed a good thing, though not all that is necessary. In Cosolargy, we are taught to keep an image of the Cosolargy Cross, or Cross of Light, in memory at all times. This may be difficult to do in the beginning, but it can be done with practice.

Unification with God

The Shin people have interpreted the idea of understanding “Nembutsu” correctly. While thinking of Buddha or Christ is good, the ultimate goal is unification with God. This requires us to awaken our inner Buddha or Christ, which we do through the regular practice of spiritual development techniques, as well as practicing spiritual disciplines such as humility, generosity, and love for all (we can love the person or animal without loving the behavior by understanding that it is the work of the Demiurge and his demonic minions that lead people ad animals into bad behavior).

In Cosolargy, we use various Spiritual Sun Gazing techniques to get more energy into the body to aawaken and improve the energy flow in our physical energy centers. We then move on to bring energy into the Spiritual Centers and awaken the spirit to full consciousness. It is the fully conscious spirit that is called the Soul. Only the Soul can truly achieve unification with God. That is how to truly “think of Buddha” or Christ.



The Human Face of Alfred Russel Wallace, Part 1

There are two separate and substantial Creations, one of Light and one of Darkness, and man’s life in this transitory world, and this world itself, is an outgrowth of the Worlds of Darkness; man’s changing material fate is a miscarriage of his spiritual destiny, a counterfeit of another life in the immortal Worlds of Light. This is one of the universal doctrines restored by Zoroaster to the righteous of Persia in the first millennium B.C.E. and recorded nearly a thousand years later in the Gathas of the Zend Avesta. It was not the only time immortal Spirit made such an observation. That doctrine was also restored by Buddha to the righteous of India, by Mani to the righteous of Babylonia, by Jesus and his forerunners to the righteous of Israel, and by other Teachers of Light to the righteous of China, Greece, Northern Europe, Egypt, Arabia, Oceania, the Americas. Oral tradition, and the sacred literature derived from that tradition, abounds in allegories on the spiritual origin and evolution of man.
 
 
Alfred Russel Wallace (1878)

 I

The cosmology implicit in this universal doctrine gives rise to an endless interpretation of human events. I am invoking it now to assist me in a modest plan: to trace the history of the evolution of an idea through the heterogeneous texts of three authors. The first one is by Alfred Russel Wallace; it is an excerpt from the collection of essays he published one century ago this year (i.e., 1895) titled Natural Selection (pages 167–83):

We know positively that man was contemporaneous with many extinct animals, and has survived changes of the earth’s surface fifty or a hundred times greater than any that have occurred during the historical period. . . . But while these changes had been going on, his mental development had, from some unknown cause, greatly advanced, and reached that condition in which it began powerfully to influence his whole existence, and would therefore become subject to the irresistible action of natural selection. This action would quickly give ascendancy to mind…and from that moment man, as regards the form and structure of most parts of his body, would remain stationary. But from the moment that the form of his body became stationary, his mind would become subject to those very influences from which his body had escaped. . . .

We may trace back the gradually decreasing brain of former races, till we come to a time when the body also begins to materially differ. There we shall have reached the starting-point of the human family. Before that period he had not mind enough to preserve his body from change, and would, therefore, have been subject to the same comparatively rapid modifications of form as the other mammalia. . . . Man may continue to exist through a series of geological periods which shall see all other forms of animal life again and again changed…while he himself remains unchanged, except in two particulars – the head and face, as being immediately connected with the organ of the mind and as being the medium of the most refined emotions of his nature.

I wonder what my reader thinks of that proposition. To me it is nearly perfect. It seems impossible to deny, for it has the integrity of a statement ipso jure, an outgrowth of the law of natural selection itself. And, of course, it is just that. His formula reconfigures clearly an event that is evidently complex: the face expressing a mind developed in a culture that manifests, however imperfectly, an expression of spirit. In chapter 9 of the same collection, Wallace suggests that man is gradually moving or evolving toward participation in the Eternal. He contemplates the possibility that the development of the specifically human portions of man’s structure and intellect have been determined by the directing influence of more highly intelligent beings, perhaps encompassing layers of them, and that some general and fundamental law underlies the law of natural selection “too deep for us to discover it.” Behind Wallace’s idea is the general and ancient idea of the Fall of Man and the generations of humans who long for redemption.

< Read Part 2 >



Cosolargy Conference in Wisconsin November 7, 2010

 

 

The Global Healing Crisis:

How the System of Cosolargy Can Heal the World

DATE: Sunday, November 7, 2010

TIME: 10 am to 4 pm

COST: $195

LOCATION: The Healing Place, 10500 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, WI 53051

RSVP to The Healing Place
e-mail: freyathor@wi.rr.com or 262-241-5056

Seating is limited to 50 people. Your response is needed as soon as possible.

The greatest world teachers were solar adepts: Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Viracocha. After 50 years of research, the Jamilian University can confirm that the sacred teachings of both East and West were based on working with the sun to enhance spiritual growth and heighten consciousness. All of the advanced ancient cultures across the world worked with the sacred arts and sciences of cosmic-solar energy to maintain health, increase longevity, and expand consciousness.

It is no accident that these ancient teachings are being revealed to the world in a new way during this time of global crisis. By learning how to access the intelligence potential of the sun, we can expand human consciousness and unite the world. Only by working with the sun as a universal community can we resolve the global crisis and heal the world condition.

Presenters will be Sean Savoy, Cardinal Overseer of the International Community of Christ and Chancellor of the Jamilian University in Reno, Nevada, and Dr. William Bartlett, Buddhist and Christian theologian.