Gratitude

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doublerepukken
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Gratitude

Post by doublerepukken »

Hey all,

I am having trouble feeling gratitude, it's really a life long problem. My parents used to chastise me for being ungrateful, I think it's a part of my extreme selfishness.

As per master Shinran, he says we should say the nembutsu in gratitude for what Amida has done for us. I believe Amida has saved me, but I honestly feel no gratitude - I feel really terrible about it. Can I say the nembutsu even though I don't feel gratitude? I am very confused, because I feel like I should be grateful, but I just don't, I don't know why.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Do you have a teacher?

If not

I would recommend finding one with Settled Faith to transmit to you.

in Other Power teaching Transmission is important

I experience Nembutsu a lot. Then sometimes in response to Profound Events of Karmic Importance. The Nembutsu is quite powerful in relation to that. So could be Nembutsu with Gratitude.

For me, Nembutsu doesn't each and every time mean Thank-you, sometimes it can mean Sorry. Sometimes it is just the Substance of the Original Vow.

Either way, you are on the Path of Merciful Great Compassion originating from the Bodhicitta of Amitabha.

Enjoy the Journey!!!

Namo Amitabha
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Re: Gratitude

Post by 明安 Myoan »

Transmission isn't a feature of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, which I believe doublerepukken follows.
doublerepukken wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 9:22 pm Hey all,

I am having trouble feeling gratitude, it's really a life long problem. My parents used to chastise me for being ungrateful, I think it's a part of my extreme selfishness.

As per master Shinran, he says we should say the nembutsu in gratitude for what Amida has done for us. I believe Amida has saved me, but I honestly feel no gratitude - I feel really terrible about it. Can I say the nembutsu even though I don't feel gratitude? I am very confused, because I feel like I should be grateful, but I just don't, I don't know why.
This to me is a difficulty with some presentations of Shin. Instead of being able to call on Amitabha in our smallness, we have to "feel grateful" first. As a person with depression, this is often a non-starter. Thankfully, Shinran and Honen both have a different take:

From the 9th chapter of 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.

"Further, having no thought of wanting to go to the Pure Land quickly, we think forlornly that we may die even when we become slightly ill; this is the action of blind passions. It is hard for us to abandon this old home of pain, where we have been transmigrating for innumerable kalpas down to the present, and we feel no longing for the Pure Land of peace, where we have yet to be born. Truly, how powerful our blind passions are! But though we feel reluctant to part from this world, at the moment our karmic bonds to this saha world run out and helplessly we die, we shall go to that land. Amida pities especially the person who has no thought of wanting to go to the Pure Land quickly. Reflecting on this, we feel the great Vow of great compassion to be all the more trustworthy and realize that our birth is settled.

"If we had the feeling of dancing with joy and wishing to go to the Pure Land quickly, we might wonder if we weren't free of blind passions."
Thus were his words.
Words from Honen:
Reflect upon yourself and evaluate yourself mentally and physically as to what extent you can devote yourself to nembutsu. To think undesirable thoughts during nembutsu is a matter of habit for all common mortals. However, the wandering of your mind does not become a hindrance for birth in the Pure Land if you recite nembutsu with the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land. For example, there may be misunderstandings at times between parent and child, but as long as they do not think of disowning each other, these misunderstandings do not sever the relationship. One who wishes to attain birth in the Pure Land through nembutsu may, during recitation, stray toward the worldly passions of greed and anger. But if one maintains faith in the promise of Amida Buddha for birth in the Pure Land through nembutsu, one will certainly achieve birth in the Pure Land.
If we could always be happy, grateful, kind, generous, diligent, and so on, we would be extraordinary individuals, almost living bodhisattvas. Instead, we're often confused, overburdened, fatigued, sad, fickle...
This isn't a failing of the practice but simply a reailty of beings in samsara. Every Buddhist in every school has to deal with shortcomings, and each school has its own ways of helping us stick to the path.

What sorts of things do you do to practice in daily life? That could help frame the conversation a bit.

The Five Right Practices in Jodoshu are 1) reading and reciting sutras, 2) contemplation, 3) doing prostration, 4) uttering the nembutsu, and 5) giving praises and offerings. Although nembutsu is of course prioritized as the "rightly established act", the other practices can and do support nembutsu. I often find doing the act of prostrating, of making offerings, can help gratitude arise, renewing my practice.

You may find this page interesting. It covers Honen's thought process for selecting nembutsu, and how it relates to other practices.

And just broadening reading/study can help a bit, reading about Mahayana or bodhicitta in general, or about Mainland Pure Land.

Reading the words of Shinran, Honen, and other masters like Yin-kuang or Thich Thien Tam can also be very uplifting. I personally avoid more modern Pure Land literature as I too often find it confusing and discouraging.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Hi

In my experience, there is a difference between Self-Power Nembutsu and Other Power Nembutsu.

Rev George Gatenby writes a lot about the journey through the Three Vows.

19th, 20th then 18th

19th is Self Power Recitation with Other practices

20th is Exclusive Self Power Recitation

18th is Faith/Other Power Nembutsu

If you feel Grateful to have this Relationship with Amida/Amitabha or Grateful for some help from somebody then that can manifest.

But with Other Power it means Other Power, there is nothing from our side that will change that. That is why it is a merciful teaching.

The fundamental aspect is Compassion, it's just a very hard thing to accept. Once accepted we have Adamantine Faith and Entrust to the Buddha.

So you could say Jodo Shinshu is a teaching where we awaken to our own Ignorance through Amida's/Amitabha's Light. So Embraced.

Of course, we have Obstructions in the way, the VERY fact you are seeing them is the working of the Buddha.

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Re: Gratitude

Post by 明安 Myoan »

Who said anything about self-power? :smile:
But with Other Power it means Other Power, there is nothing from our side that will change that.
True, but we still must make the connection, grasping the hand that Amida extends to us so to speak. This is karma.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

True, but we still must make the connection, grasping the hand that Amida extends to us so to speak. This is karma.

Completely agree my Nembutsu friend!!! I'm not contradicting myself it just depends on which way you look at a something that is multi-faceted.

We always must respect the individual approach to these practices as that is a sacred thing!!!

There are two sides to this relationship. Ki and Ho. Other Power and the Karmic Reality.

When I started I was calling out for help in some strange, mysterious hope there might be something there!!!

With Much Respect
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Re: Gratitude

Post by doublerepukken »

Monlam,

Thanks for your reply, the comment you posted by Honen/Shinran really resonated with what I'm feeling.

I have been reading a lot about shinjin, and felt that maybe it was my lack of gratitude that was holding me back from receiving it, but as you just demonstrated, it seems like Shinran felt sort of like I did at least at one point so maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing.

I got into shin because I thought it was a path that would be easy for me to understand, but the concept of shinjin is perhaps the most elusive thing I have ever encountered lol, and it seems to be the single most important part of the entire tradition.

I don't know if I have it or not, nor do I know how to identify it if I did. I don't understand what 'knowing' your birth is settled really means; from my understanding its that no doubt at all about my being saved by Amida rises, and that seems like a super-human faith that is impossible to achieve, especially for me. I have faith in Amida and I felt like I made a personal connection with him, but I do doubt. Sometimes I think, maybe it was all in my mind, or maybe it was my own power of suggestion. Maybe there really is no PL, and I'm fooling myself etc. I can't see myself ever abandoning those thoughts entirely, so maybe I am just not able to receive Shinjin in this life, I don't know.

Then again, maybe my entire definition of shinjin is wrong. I simply have no idea lol.

Gassho
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Re: Gratitude

Post by 明安 Myoan »

I too sometimes think those kinds of things. I think it's a part of the process for Pure Land Buddhists, especially later converts like us. Just keep Amitabha in mind. If nembutsu hurts, then look at a picture of Amitabha or bow to the west, with all your imperfections. Lots of ways to "be mindful of Amitabha" :) Nembutsu is just the most direct and easiest in terms of place and time.

If you want Amitabha to be real even if you aren't yet sure, that to me seems like an aspiration for faith.

I can't speak on shinjin as I'm most familiar with Honen.

Hopefully PC can add something. He knows Shinran and Honen better than I do.

Thanks to Empty Desire too, I can be a bit hostile sometimes but I'm working on it.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

doublerepukken wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:41 am Monlam,

Thanks for your reply, the comment you posted by Honen/Shinran really resonated with what I'm feeling.

I have been reading a lot about shinjin, and felt that maybe it was my lack of gratitude that was holding me back from receiving it, but as you just demonstrated, it seems like Shinran felt sort of like I did at least at one point so maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing.

I got into shin because I thought it was a path that would be easy for me to understand, but the concept of shinjin is perhaps the most elusive thing I have ever encountered lol, and it seems to be the single most important part of the entire tradition.

I don't know if I have it or not, nor do I know how to identify it if I did. I don't understand what 'knowing' your birth is settled really means; from my understanding its that no doubt at all about my being saved by Amida rises, and that seems like a super-human faith that is impossible to achieve, especially for me. I have faith in Amida and I felt like I made a personal connection with him, but I do doubt. Sometimes I think, maybe it was all in my mind, or maybe it was my own power of suggestion. Maybe there really is no PL, and I'm fooling myself etc. I can't see myself ever abandoning those thoughts entirely, so maybe I am just not able to receive Shinjin in this life, I don't know.

Then again, maybe my entire definition of shinjin is wrong. I simply have no idea lol.

Gassho
Thanks Monlam, it's quite hard to communicate our ideas with a keyboard only, I respect you and your noble intentions with practice!!!

Doublerepukken, Hope you don't mind me chiming in again. I trained at a centre with a Japanese Teacher who had Faith so I've been through the whole road. One time I was out on a walk sat under a tree reading Shinran, I felt that attaining Faith was impossible. I couldn't anywhere figure it out in any way. But I'd been following Pure Land for 4 years or so intensively. The problem is we can't attain Faith with Self Power Mind. So sometimes it seems we are in the dark, but actually Amida is showing us the darkness of our Minds. It's a process, it really is with Amida/Other Power and Karmic Reality so the individual Amida's Bodhicitta Mind is attempting to save.

The Original Vow doesn't fail, it can't.

But on any Dharmic Path there are obstructions presented. There has to be.

Easy Path, Hard Path, Impossible Path, just take another step forwards.

Good luck!!!

I'll sign off here.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Monlam Tharchin wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:59 pm Transmission isn't a feature of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, which I believe doublerepukken follows.

Sorry missed this I trained in Jodo Shinshu it was considered transmission at that centre not like an event, but over the course of training.

It may be different in other centres, I can only talk about what I did and try to be of benefit from that.

Gassho

//ED
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Re: Gratitude

Post by vikas113 »

Buddhas never discriminate, if they ever discriminated they would not be Buddhas. Gratitude or no gratitude is a part of our discriminating mind but Amitabha Buddha holds great compassion for all living beings even whether they are chanting his name or not, so not to worry about having gratitude while chanting or not.

Amitabha's vows accept each and every living being chanting his name or being mindful of Amitabha Tathagatha. Sakyamuni Buddha mentioned that Amitabha's Infinite, glorious and soothing light surrounds living beings who chant his name and never leaves them.
Amitāyus Buddha has 84,000 excellent marks; each mark includes 84,000 excellent characteristics; each characteristic emits 84,000 beams of light. Each beam universally illuminates all worlds in the ten directions, attracting and accepting sentient beings that think of Buddhas, never abandoning them. His radiance, excellent characteristics, and magically manifested Buddhas are beyond description.
Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of Visualization of Amitāyus Buddha
It is due to our own karmic hindrances that we cannot see his light surrounding us. Even the non-gratitude and no-faith in Amitabha while chanting his name can be largely due to our karmic hindrances. So it would be great to remove the karmic hindrances.

Sakyamuni Buddha said that chanting Amitabha Buddha once would eradicate sins of 80 koti kalpas which is 800,00,00,000 Kalpas. So wonderful isn't it?

Just keep on chanting neglecting whatever negative thought and worry about no gratitude arising in the mind. Just enstrust yourself to Amitabha completely. Then it will definitely happen. You will feel Amitabha's light. Gratitude and faith towards the tathagatha will arise spontaneously without any effort. Trust me on this.
Amitabha is not far from us, He is mindful of us while we are chanting. His light surround us and protect us while we are being mindful of him.

Every thought without Amitabha indeed produces enormous sin in the saha world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I bow to all the members here chanting Amitabha and upholding his name and express my sympathetic joy. Sakyamuni Buddha rightly said whoever chants Buddha is equal to the rare white lotus flower among the men in this world. Upholding Amitabha's name is the most difficult thing to do in this Dhamma ending age,

Great indeed Sakyamuni Buddha! Great indeed Amitabha Buddha that they under take great task of rescuing deluded poor beings like us.

May the dhamma last long!

Sadhu! Sadhu!

Namo Amitabha Buddha! Namo Sakyamuni Buddha! Namo Bhaysajya Guru Vaidurya Prabha Raja Buddha! :bow: :bow: :bow:
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Re: Gratitude

Post by doublerepukken »

Empty Desire,

Thanks for that, friend. I am assuming now, you do have Faith and it gives me hope that I can receive that from Amida. I honestly want genuine faith more than anything else in the world. I want to know that my birth is settled, that great burden lifted. I am coming to the realization that there is nothing I can do to receive Shinjin any quicker; there is no way for me, through self-power to make the conditions for it. It seems like its just something that happens spontaneously, or maybe it happens without even me knowing until many years later, who knows. I am just going to study more, spend more time with Amida I guess.

There is nothing I can 'do' to 'attain' Shinjin and I think that is what is driving me insane, lol.

Gassho
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Re: Gratitude

Post by 明安 Myoan »

DR, have you seen the Amida-ji blog? He has many clear writings on Shin and faith, such as here and here.

If you have the time, I also recommend reading the Honen threads on this forum as he explains Pure Land faith and practice in terms other than shinjin if you currently find that teaching difficult.

It's not always easy to wait for birth to remove all doubts, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything now to deepen understanding or find joy in practice again. :group:
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Re: Gratitude

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Monlam Tharchin wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:07 amI can't speak on shinjin as I'm most familiar with Honen.

Hopefully PC can add something. He knows Shinran and Honen better than I do.
I have the same issues with Shinjin as doublerepukken. I don't really get it the way it's presented in Shin. If I go back to the 3 minds of entrusting taught by Shantao and assume Shinjin represents the culmination of them, then it makes some sense. Shinran does make this connection in the Kyogyoshinsho, but also singles out the 2nd of the 3 minds: the Profound Mind as being most linked with Shinjin. The 3 minds of entrusting don't intimidate me. In fact, they seem intuitive. Also, things like counting recitations, or avoiding certain vices wouldn't seem to violate them.

Just for the sake of completeness, those 3 minds are:
1. The Genuine Mind [the utterly sincere mind] (shijoshin 至誠心) - approaching one's practice (one's life actually) with a sense of honesty and sincerity. Not saying you practice more than you do. Sincerely wishing for birth in the Pure Land.

2. The Profound Mind (jinshin 深心) - there are two aspects to this mind. The first aspect is that one realizes that one is a bonbu 凡夫 - a foolish being, troubled by afflictions (klesha - 煩悩), who has been wandering helplessly throughout samsara and the six realms of rebirth. The second aspect is that one realizes it is through the Primal (18th) Vow of Amida Buddha that one may put an end to the wandering, be born in the Pure Land, and achieve supreme perfect awakening for the sake of all sentient beings.

3. The Mind which Dedicates One's Merit to the Pure Land with the Resolution to Be Born There (ekohotsuganshin 廻向発願心). This is the mind with which one trusts that the accumulated merits of nembutsu recitation will infallibly be dedicated effectively towards his/her own birth in the Pure Land. When we perform the dedication of merit at the end of any service or practice, we are dedicating these merits so that all beings may achieve awakening and be free from suffering.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Personally, I would recommend finding a teacher with settled Faith. I know Rev George Gatenby a little and trust him. He's in Adelaide. He has a blog.

http://blog.georgegatenby.id.au

I trained at a Centre for 4 years, it was emotionally intense, not easy at all, working through aspects of Karmic Reality in relation to Amida/Other Power.

I was on retreat a few times and I learnt to handle intensity which also stood me in good stead in my career.

Before I went there I was reciting Nembutsu with Self-Effort all the time, hoping Faith would arise, it never did.

But following the 20th Vow is absolutely fine, however, which is Chinese Pure Land Buddhism. The Buddha promised to rescue also.

However, your Journey on this is yours so I can't emphasise that enough, you're on the path and the solution will present itself.

When I got the centre I was asking everybody "What is the Method?" Nobody would tell me so I really struggled because I didn't know what to do, so I just engaged in activities with them.

It is a Process more than a Practice you do, and when the Self Power Mind seeking Enlightenment through its own calculation exhausts itself. It will become obvious.

But for now I recommend a Teacher could be Japan, could be somewhere else. I think the aspect of Transmission is important, which would happen just by participating in daily life at the Centre or visiting the Centre.

Hope that is a help, not a hindrance

Respectfully to everyone.

//ED
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Re: Gratitude

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Empty Desire wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:24 pm Personally, I would recommend finding a teacher with settled Faith. I know Rev George Gatenby a little and trust him. He's in Adelaide. He has a blog.

http://blog.georgegatenby.id.au
He's also been involved with the Jodo Shinshu Correspondence Course and has contributed to a lot of the discussions there.

In Shin, the idea of finding a good spiritual friend (善知識 - zen-chishiki - kalyāna-mitra) is very important for guidance and instruction. I suppose this could be the "transmission" you're talking about, even if it differs rather significantly from the Vajrayana usage of the term.
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Re: Gratitude

Post by Konchog Thogme Jampa »

Sounds like a plan!!!

Transmission is a term the centre I was part of used. I think it is good because I think in terms of getting over the line so to say a Good Friend is needed.

But even just following 20th Vow is fine, just depends on the individual. Amitabha Buddha promised to 'Welcome and Escort' at the time of Death. Plus in that way, you can really develop good qualities.

It's a Merciful Teaching ultimately, which comes from the Bodhicitta of Amitabha. My personal idea in Pure Land we are recipients of Bodhicitta. Just like what Doublerepukken experienced in those harsh circumstances in the Thai Prison.

Maybe in 20th Vow, you can develop some Bodhicitta from the Nembutsu and advance in the Bodhisattva Vehicle. I didn't do it long enough to say from experience.

Jodo Shinshu is hard in the sense Awakening to your own Foolish Condition is kind of antithetical to standard Buddhist practice.

Honen said Returning to your Foolish self.

But Amitabha/Amida is right there the whole time.
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Empty Desire wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:50 pmMy personal idea in Pure Land we are recipients of Bodhicitta.
I think this is fundamentally the entire thesis of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho. Honen was criticized because he did not stress the generation of Bodhicitta. Shinran points out that through receiving Shinjin, we are receiving the Bodhi Mind (Bodhicitta).
Kyogyoshinsho Chapter on Shinjin wrote:Next, concerning entrusting, it is the ocean of shinjin, perfect and unhindered, that is the Tathagata’s consummately fulfilled great compassion. Hence, there is no mixture of doubt. It is therefore called “entrusting.” The essence of entrusting is the sincere mind of benefiting others and directing virtues.
Kyogyoshinsho Chapter on Shinjin wrote:If one is protected by all the Buddhas,
One is able to awaken the mind aspiring for enlightenment.
If one awakens the mind that aspires for enlightenment,
One diligently practices the virtues of the Buddhas.

If one diligently practices the virtues of the Buddhas,
One is born into the home of the Tathagatas.
If one is born into the home of the Tathagatas,
One performs good and practices skillful means.

If one performs good and practices skillful means,
One attains the pure mind of shinjin.*
If one attains the pure mind of shinjin,*
One realizes the unsurpassed supreme mind.

If one realizes the unsurpassed supreme mind,
One constantly practices the paramitas.
If one constantly practices the paramitas,
One fulfills all the practices of the Mahayana.
Kyogyoshinsho Chapter on Shinjin wrote:Further, the mind aspiring for enlightenment is of two kinds [of orientation]: lengthwise and crosswise.

The lengthwise is further of two kinds: transcending lengthwise and departing lengthwise. These are explained in various teachings – accommodated and real, exoteric and esoteric, Mahayana and Hinayana. They are the mind [with which one attains enlightenment after] going around for many kalpas, the diamondlike mind of self-power, or the great mind of the bodhisattva.

The crosswise is also of two kinds: transcending crosswise and departing crosswise. That characterized by departing crosswise is the mind of enlightenment of right and sundry practices or meditative and nonmeditative practices – of self-power within Other Power. That characterized by transcending crosswise is shinjin* that is directed to beings through the power of the Vow. It is the mind that aspires to attain Buddhahood. The mind that aspires to attain Buddhahood is the mind aspiring for great enlightenment of crosswise orientation. It is called “the diamondlike mind of crosswise transcendence.”

Although the same term is used, the crosswise and the lengthwise minds of aspiration for enlightenment differ in significance; nevertheless, both take entrance into the true as right and essential, both take true mind as their foundation, both reject the wrong and sundry, and both take doubt to be erroneous.
As to my earlier point about Shinjin & the 3 minds:
Kyogyoshinsho Chapter on Practice wrote: In the second fascicle of the Liturgy of the Collected Sutra Passages of Master Chih-sheng, [Shan-tao] states:

Deep mind is true and real shinjin. One truly knows oneself to be a foolish being full of blind passions, with scant roots of good, transmigrating in the three realms and unable to emerge from this burning house. And further, one truly knows now, without so much as a single thought of doubt, that Amida’s universal Primal Vow decisively enables all to attain birth, including those who say the Name even down to ten times, or even but hear it. Hence it is called “deep mind”…
"Deep mind" here is how they're translating 深心 (Profound Mind).
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