Master Shandao’s Exegesis on the Mind of Merit-Dedication and Rebirth-Aspiration: Some Definitions
What Merit-Dedication and Merit-Aspiration mean
What Merit-Dedication and Merit-Aspiration mean
The 13 disadvantages of miscellaneous practices in…
The city of Kamakura in Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture is home to one of the most poetic and paradoxical works of Buddhist sculpture. The statue is
Why the primary practice surpasses the secondary…
The Principal Karma of Assured Rebirth in Primary Practice If we believe that deep faith and earnest aspiration are pre-requisites that we must establish through our
In his exegesis on the Deep Mind (the second of the Three States of Mind) in the Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, Master Shandao explains:
Answering the challenges of even enlightened beings
In his great wisdom, Master Shandao presented us with four scenarios of doubt that may impair or even destroy a Pure Land practitioner’s faith when
An effective yardstick for measuring faith The spiritual capacities, virtuous roots, and aptitudes of sentient beings vary greatly. No one is identical in his or
Rejecting the contrary teachings of men and bodhisattvas Pure Land Buddhism is classed as a difficult-to-believe teaching because it bears the message of Amitabha’s deliverance.
Deep faith based on Amitabha’s vow (the real), not the delusive mind (the unreal) Out of the seven kinds of determinant faith, we have so
The joy and relief of enlightenment Embracing the two kinds of determinant faith in aptitude and in the teachings (as taught by Master Shandao in