Our hearts are always in the Pure Land

[Dharma Flower]

This is a beautiful passage from the writings of Shinran:

In the Hymns [on the Samadhi] of All Buddhas’ Presence Shan-tao, the Master of Kuang-ming temple, explains that the heart of the person of shinjin already and always resides in the Pure Land. “Resides” means that the heart of the person of shinjin constantly dwells there. This is to say that such a person is the same as Maitreya. Since being of the stage equal to enlightenment is being the same as Maitreya, the person of shinjin is equal to the Tathagatas.
http://shinranworks.com/letters/a-colle ... -text/5-2/

[Dharma Flower]

Reading this passage from Shinran helped me to realize that the belief Amida is really our true nature or our Buddha-nature doesn't make any sense if Amida isn't a real Buddha in the first place.

If one claims that a fictional character is really their true nature, it's a meaningless, empty statement. One might as well say that Daffy Duck or the Easter Bunny is really their true nature instead.

Furthermore, if we insist that Amida is really our true nature or our Buddha-nature without having any sort of objective reality outside our own minds, that becomes an exercise in self-centeredness, rather than entrusting in Amida and humbling ourselves before him.

[Dharma Flower]

One of the doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism is the interpenetration of all phenomena, that everything is connected. So the reason, according to Chinese Pure Land teachers that I've read, that Amida is our true nature is that Amida is within everything and everything is within Amida, so Amida is within us as our true nature. But what this relies on is that Amida is a real Buddha in the first place. So when you read the book by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dharma masters he's quoting about Amida that Amida is our true nature most likely also taught that Amida is a real Buddha in order to also be our true nature.