"Come, just as you are"

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Tariki

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As promised - or was it theatened? - on another thread.............

Great compassion awaits us with open arms. Namu-Amida-Butsu is the beckoning call, "Come, just as you are."

This openhearted welcome is quietly described by Koshin Ogui in an article carried in the Cleveland Buddhist Temple Newsletter. He relates an experience he once had of returning home from a trip. In his absence the answering machine had recorded four phone calls from the same person. The message was, "Jesus is the only saviour. Believe in him and you'll be saved. Love him and you'll be loved. Anyone who does not believe in him will go to hell." Ogui comments.....

What do you say about this message. I don't know why, but then I recalled meeting with my mother on my recent trip to Japan. I hadn't seen her for five years. As soon as I opened the door to the house where I was born, there she was standing right in front of me. She didn't say anything much, but she held my hand and with tears in her eyes, she said, "You came home." Isn't that nice, to be welcomed without any justification, whether I believe in her or not. I realize that I have always been living in her love. I am grateful. Namu-Amida-Butsu.

Yes, it is rather nice.....:)
 
17th Angel said:
Come, just as you are..... Seem's awfully simple... Where's the catch? ;)
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Yes, perhaps too good to be true.

Yet perhaps a welcome contrast with such things as seem - at least to me - too bad to be true...:)

P.S. Anyway, for me, the key phrase is......I realize that I have always been living in her love.

Nothing changes but our own realization.
 
i think that is a great quote. 'come, just as u are'simple, but it seems to hold a profound meaning.

i think in life we interact with others with a preconcieved notion of how the relationship is to be, or what the conversation is to be, and basically we dont interact with people just as ourself. we tend to put on our 'good buddhist' face and act. why cant we just let go of our notions and just come to the table as ourself,faults and all.

i know thats something i need to work on.

thank you for the quote

be well in peace
 
Glad to see that the words have attracted a little bit of comment........:)

(The paradox seems to be that it is pure acceptance that provides the basis for genuine transformation)

Anyway, from the pen of Shinran, from "Hymns of the Pure Land Masters", verse 95......

My eyes being hindered by blind passions,
I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;
Yet the great compassion, without tiring,
Illumines me always

And for my Christian friends, from Julian of Norwich on the same theme......

If there be anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.
 
Pathless said:
Didn't Nirvana write a song about this? Beautiful idea. Beautiful reality. :)
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I had that song in my head once I read this thread heh... It's asking you to come... Just listen wether you be friend or enemy... He tells you that he doesn't have anything hidden... He says that he doesn't have a gun.. Not a physical gun so much just that he simply hasn't any aggression towards you and that there is nothing to hide as I said... ;/ Then you have some that say it is related to heroine as alot of his songs have these references.... such as the "soaked in bleach" line... (a method to clean needles...) Oh Also some say it could be one of many songs connected to tell of his suicide... this was like what 2? 3? years written before his death... (Anyway... *free's the hostage* this hijacking is over.)
 
Yes, I don't think we have to necessarily rely upon a particular book to gain guidance......................;)

Anyway, I thought it might be appropriate here to quote a passage from an essay concerning the thought of Shinran. It takes up the theme of this thread to a certain extent, and explains from a Pure Land perspective why an "act of faith" - or a choice to "believe" - is seen to be an act of self-power, if such act is considered to be decisive for "salvation"......if seen as initiating a transition from "lost" to "saved".....if seen as determining the attitude of the "divine" towards us in any way.........if seen as transforming such an attitude from "wrath" to "love and acceptance".......etc etc etc.

For the purpose of understanding, the Vow here mentioned can be understood as being the Primal Will that all come to enlightenment.

(My apologies for the politically incorrect language used........even Pure Landers are not perfect!)

According to Shinran, salvation is entirely a matter of the Vow. It does not hang on events and conditions of time and space, or the imposition of man and society. Salvation cannot rest on chance factors. Shinran makes it clear that the completion of the Vow requires nothing from the side of man, including the act of faith, as the causal basis for birth in the Pure Land. Otherwise the emphasis on the fulfillment of the Vow would be devoid of meaning and significance. Our residual karmic bondage may influence the point in our experience when we become aware of Amida's compassion, but it is not a factor in determining whether or not we actually receive that compassion.

We are suggesting that from the standpoint of the Vow all are equally saved even now, despite the presence or absence of the experience of faith itself. The reason for this is that salvation depends on the Vow and not on any finite condition.

Someone may ask then what is the point of being religious, if we are saved in any case? This is an important question. However, it reflects the virtually universal notion that religion is a means to an end. We get the benefit of salvation from being religious. For Shinran, however, religion becomes the way to express gratitude for the compassion that supports all our life. It is not a tool for ego advancement or gaining benefits.

The point of being religious for Shinran is that when we come to have faith in the Original Vow and live in its light, we truly become free to live a full and meaningful existence in this life.

Shinran's perspective permits a person to see deeply into his life to detect the springs of compassion which sustain it; it allows him to participate and associate with all types of people despite their unattractiveness or difficulty because he understands the potentiality that works in their very being. In perceiving the compassion that embraces all life, the man of faith can himself become an expression of that compassion touching the lives of others.

(From "Shinran's Vision of Absolute Compassion" by Alfred Bloom, contained within "Living Within Amida's Universal Vow")
 
The prodical son parable in Luke (Christianity) exemplifies the same in my view. We are all sons and daughters and many of us have spent some time in torment wallowing with the pigs yet when we decide to return, the father receives us back with a celebration of Love. Acknowledgement that the torment was self created is usually the preceding realization to return.
JM
 
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