Difficult path --- Easy path

[janpeterotto]

I heard a lovely young minister rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahar say the following, on a visit to the temple in Honolulu, I re-phrase:

What Nagarjuna means with "difficult path" versus "easy path" is simply this: more conditions, difficult, less conditions, easy.

I smiled big way hearing this. It was so simple. And rev. Kuwahar was also in a big smile.

Anyone can resonate with this simple explanation?

[Ayu]

The emotion "easy" or "difficult" depends on the individual and their skills.

[Admin_PC]

I've seen a couple of Rev Kuwahara's videos on youtube, he's fun to watch.

I think it's interesting that the "easy" path of Nagarjuna is contrasted by the statement of how "difficult" it is in the sutras.
On one hand the practice itself is straightforward, simple, and one of relative ease.
On the other hand, having faith, abandoning the selfish, calculative, doubtful mind can be very difficult ("extremely difficult" as the Amitabha Sutra says).

[Redfaery]

I've seen a couple of Rev Kuwahara's videos on youtube, he's fun to watch.

I think it's interesting that the "easy" path of Nagarjuna is contrasted by the statement of how "difficult" it is in the sutras.
On one hand the practice itself is straightforward, simple, and one of relative ease.
On the other hand, having faith, abandoning the selfish, calculative, doubtful mind can be very difficult ("extremely difficult" as the Amitabha Sutra says).

Indeed!

It's actually harder for me to trust and have faith in all the Buddhas, to just let go of my worldly cares and second-guessing of "am I doing this right" and just trust them that they will know my intentions and not condemn me for getting some little thing wrong in my practice when I offer them water or incense, or my breakfast. I'd say that learning about Pureland practices has helped me a lot.

[steveb1]

In Jodo Shinshu at least, the practitioner does not need to suffer anxiety over the quality of one's faith. If one has received Shinjin from Amida Buddha, one simply accepts the gift, with the knowledge that we "bombus" cannot earn faith but only receive it as one of the mainstays of Amida's Providence. The Pauline-Lutheran angst over the soteriological "How am I to be saved? Am I 'justified'?" is burned out and blown away by Amida's unimpeded Light. Unlike the Christian "light" - which shines in the darkness but which the darkness cannot grasp - Amida's Light shines in the darkness, dispelling the darkness simply by shining. The darkness - our deluded, selfish nature - does not need to, and indeed cannot, grasp Amida's Light. Rather, Amida grasps us, never to let us go. So for me, too, Pure Land teaching and Nembutsu practice releases me from the salvation-anxiety that grips so many self-power spiritualities.

[janpeterotto]

Then this morning I came upon a Rennyo letter, where he complains that in four-five years at his temple, he has not seen one single believer trust in Tariki !! This is interesting I think. I remember D.T.Suzuki said that no person can quite trust the Other Power, there is always a remnant of selfpower in it. As long as we live ! Still this is the way to go for me: om namo amitabha ya !

[sth9784]

It is said in the Larger Sutra: "The Pure Land is easy to reach but very few actually go there.". To me, that is a very profound statement, because when I first came to the Gateway of the Pure Land, I found the "Easy Way" to be not so easy. It took me quite a long time before I came to realize I did not really need to do anything, but Nembutsu, and even then it would be some time before my doubts would subside.

[Oceano]

The Australian Buddhist, Marie Byles, said, towards the end of her life:

"It is not easy to relax and let go, and plunge into the flood with only a simple phrase as your life-belt and the very-nature-of-things-as-they-are. It is not easy but it is a great relief when you do so."

By "easy", Pure Land is never "simple". Our chattering monkey minds - particularly in the West - are riven with the compulsion to "do something", focused on spiritual "technologies" and techniques. The cool winds of Amida's calling - the act of true settlement - will always be there, beckoning us to the other shore.

[Serenity509]

If you came from a religious background which taught "You must believe this, this, and this" in order to be saved, then a faith-based form of Buddhism might seem off-putting.

People sometimes forget that having to get your beliefs exactly right is itself a form of self-power, especially if we're foolish beings with doubts and blind passions. This is from the Tannisho:

“Although I say the nembutsu, the feeling of dancing with joy is faint with me, and I have no thought of wanting to go to the Pure Land quickly. How should it be [for a person of the nembutsu]?

When I asked the master this, he answered, “I, too, have had this question, and the same thought occurs to you, Yuien-bo!

“When I reflect deeply on it, by the very fact that I do not rejoice at what should fill me with such joy that I dance in the air and dance on the earth, I realize all the more that my birth is completely settled. What suppresses the heart that that should rejoice and keeps one from rejoicing is the action of blind passions. Nevertheless, the Buddha, knowing this beforehand, called us ‘foolish beings possessed of blind passions’; thus, becoming aware that the compassionate Vow of Other Power is indeed for the sake of ourselves, who are such beings, we find it all the more trustworthy.
http://shinranworks.com/related-works-b ... vergences/

Also, in the Tannisho, Shinran says it's up to you to decide what you believe and don't believe:

If Amida’s Primal Vow is true, Shakyamuni’s teaching cannot be false. If the Buddha’s teaching is true, Shan-tao’s commentaries cannot be false. If Shan-tao’s commentaries are true can Honen’s words be lies? If Honen’s words are true, then surely what I say cannot be empty.
Such, in the end, is how this foolish person entrusts himself [to the Vow]. Beyond this, whether you take up the nembutsu or whether you abandon it is for each of you to determine.
http://shinranworks.com/related-works-b ... vergences/