6. Mysticism of the Nembutsu, and the Uttering of the Name
When we thus interpret the Nembutsu, we are able to understand the discourse of Ippen:2 'The rebirth means the first awakening of thought, and this assumes an existence, i.e. one in whom a thought is awakened. The "Namu Amida Butsu" itself is the rebirth, and the rebirth is no-birth. When this realization takes place, I call it provisionally the first awakening of thought. When one is absorbed in the Buddha-name that is above time, there is the rebirth that knows no beginning, no end.
'Sometimes the distinction is made between the last moment of life and everyday life, but this is a teaching that is based on confused thought. In the "Namu Amida Butsu" itself there is no last moment, no everyday life; it is a reality abiding through all periods of time. As regards human life, it is a series of moments lasting only between an in-breath and an out-breath, and therefore the very moment of thought is the last moment of life. If so, every thought-moment is the last moment and every moment is a rebirth.'
The meaning of this mystical utterance by Ippen will become more transparent when the following quotations are gone through. 'When one's mind (or consciousness) is all annulled by saying "Namu Amida Butsu", this is the right thought for the last moment.' 'There is the Buddha-name only, and beyond it there is neither the one who says it, nor the one to whom it is addressed. There is the Buddha-name only, and beyond it there is no rebirth. All things existent are virtues included within the body of the Buddha-name itself. If so, when you attain the perception of all things as unborn, where all traces of a conscious mind vanish, saying "Namu Amida Butsu", a first thought then awakened is called the right thought of one's last moment; for this is no other than the thought of enlightenment, which is "Namu Amida Butsu".'
'Rather be possessed by the name than be possessing the name. All things are of one mind, but this mind is not manifested by itself. The eye cannot see itself, the wood cannot burn itself though it is by nature combustible. But hold a mirror before yourself and the eye can see itself—this is the virtue of the mirror. And the mirror is the one owned by every one of us and is known as the Great Mirror of Enlightenment; it is the name already realized by all the Buddhas. This being so, see your own original features in the Mirror of Enlightenment. Do we not read in the Meditation sūtra that it is like seeing one's own face in the mirror?
'Again, wood will be burned when ignited by fire—the fire that burns is identical with the fire that is latent in the wood. It is thus through the concordance of causes inner and outer that all things are brought into actual existence. Though we are all endowed with the Buddha-nature, this of itself does not burn up the passions unless it be enkindled by the fire of transcendental wisdom which is the name (nāmadheya). The Jōdo school teaches that to take hold of an object one has to get away from it. The injunction is to be called to mind in this connection.'
Literally, 'Nāmu Amida Butsu' is not the name (nāmadheya) itself; it contains more than that, because namu (namas in Sanskrit) means 'adoration' or 'salutation'; but generally the whole phrase, 'Namu Amida Butsu', is regarded as the name, and its mysterious working is extolled. The masters of the Pure Land school exhausted their philosophical ingenuity on the subject, but strangely they keep quiet about the psychological aspect of the experience. Perhaps this silence comes from their conception of Amida, which is fundamentally ontological. But when it is asserted that the name alone exists and thus in it vanishes the dualistic contrast of the one who reiterates it and the one to whom it is addressed, this is the statement of a mystical experience and not of metaphysical reflection. The experience arising from the utterance of the name is of the same nature as that which ensues from the koan exercise. When the objective aspect of the experience is metaphysically interpreted, the name is objectified and Amida is absolute 'other-power'; but, on the other hand, let the devotee be a follower of Zen, and his understanding of it will be thoroughly idealistic.
The author of the Anjin Ketsujōshō may also, like Ippen, be considered an emphatic upholder of the name, for he says: 'As there is not a moment's separation between the devotee who says "Namu" and Amida-butsu himself, every thought cherished by him is "Namu Amida Butsu". This being so, every breath of his has never even for a moment been separated from the virtues of the Buddha; his whole being, indeed, is the substance of "Namu Amida Butsu".... When there is an understanding as to the meaning of the Nembutsu-Samādhi, both his body and his mind are "Namu Amida Butsu".
'For that reason, when all beings of the past, present, and future raise one thought of faith [in the original vow of Amida], the very thought goes back to the one thought of Enlightenment [which was originally awakened in the Buddha]; and the minds of all sentient beings in the ten quarters, when they utter the name, also go back to the one thought of Enlightenment. No thought, no utterance ever issuing from the devotees remains with them [they all go back to the source whence comes Enlightenment]. As the original vow is an act in which the name and essence are synthesized, the name contains in itself the whole essence of Enlightenment, and as it is thus the essence of Enlightenment, it is rebirth on the part of all beings in the ten quarters.'
Whether the masters of the Jōdo school, including the Shin, are conscious of the fact or not, there is something distinctly psychological in their metaphysical conclusions, or in their theology if that term could be used in Buddhism. Psychology cannot be said to be everything in religion, though it constitutes the groundwork of it. Thus even in Shin, where faith is made the chief principle of its teachings, there are many statements of Shinran, its founder, which are unintelligible unless his mystical experience is taken into consideration.
For instance, when he teaches the identity of the name and the original vow in their going beyond human understanding, he bases it on the Buddha's teaching itself. The explanation is simple enough, but how do we get confirmed in our belief? Especially when the masters of Shin all exhort us to abandon learning and reasoning, how can we accept everything that is poured into our heads rather mechanically; that is, on what authority? Some psychological state must come to us, even to the most unlogical minds, that leads us to say 'yes' to all that is told us to believe. Why is the name to be pronounced in addition to believing in the vow? It may be that the pronouncing is the believing and vice versa, but this identification, too, must be an outcome of experience and not a logical inference.
'The vow and the name are not two separate things, for there is no name apart from the vow, nor is there any vow apart from the name. Even making this statement involves human understanding. When, believing in the vow as beyond the understanding and also in the name as beyond the understanding, you utter the name in oneness of thought, why should you exercise your own understanding?'1
The believing alone seems to be sufficient to guarantee a man's rebirth in the Pure Land, or in Enlightenment, and why should this uttering the name be considered essential too? There is no uttering the name, it is declared, separate from the faith, and also there is no believing thought disjoined from the name; but why such importance given to the name? Why is 'Namu Amida Butsu' so essential to the confirmation of faith?
The name, whose meaning consists in having no meaning as it transcends the relativity of human knowledge, must be once demonstrated in experience before one realizes that it is really so. 'Namu Amida Butsu', from the Zen point of view, is a koan given to followers of the Pure Land school. One day the mystery of the name is realized as it is uttered, and this is the moment when the key is delivered into the hand of the devotee, to whom the entire treasure of religious consciousness is now safely entrusted.
'The original vow of Amida is to welcome anybody to his Land of Bliss who should utter his name in absolute confidence; being so, blessed are those who utter the name. A man may have the faith, but if he utters not the name, his faith will be of no avail. Another may utter the name singlemindedly, but if his faith is not deep enough his rebirth will not take place. He, however, who firmly believes in the rebirth as the outcome of the Nembutsu and utters the name, will doubtless be reborn in the Land of Recompense.'2
It can readily be understood that without faith rebirth is impossible, but why the uttering of the name? To comprehend this mystery, which constitutes the transcendental wisdom of all the Buddhas, the depths of our own being must be penetrated, and there is no doubt, according to the Jōdo, that it is the 'Namu Amida Butsu' which fathoms these depths.
2 The founder of the Ji sect of the Pure Land school, 1229-1289. His
1 Mattōsho. This is a collection of Shinran's letters, twenty-three in all.
2 The Mattōsho.