Orange County Buddhist Church
Orange County Buddhist Church
A Way Of Seeing (Gan Ni Shi Kudoku)
Gan ni shi kudoku
Byōdō se issai
Dō hotsu Bodai-shin
Ōjō Anraku-koku
[Amida] vows to give this merit
To all, equally and alike
[So that] we might all awaken the will to realize enlightenment
And be born in the Realm of Peace and Bliss.
I have translated the above to accord with the way of seeing of a Jodo Shinshu follower. A more usual translation of the first line might be, “I vow to give this merit.” [Emphasis mine.] The reason there is any merit at all involved here is that chanting a passage of the Buddha Dharma, such as the San Butsu Ge, is usually considered to bring merit to the person chanting. I have substituted “Amida” for “I” simply because Shinran did not consider himself capable of any merit.
The significance of Shinran’s negation of being capable of merit goes to the notion of Other Power. If Shinran were in fact capable of gaining merit, then he would not need Amida and Amida’s 18th Vow, since he could gain considerable merit by chanting not only sutras, but even by saying the Nembutsu, Namo Amida Butsu.
This is not to say that one should give up chanting or saying the Nembutsu. Saying the Nembutsu, of course, is our way of expressing gratitude for Amida’s wisdom and compassion, which make it possible for us to live meaningful lives now and which ultimately enable us to realize enlightenment and be born in the Pure Land, where we will become one with Amida. Chanting sutras and the like is partly an expression of gratitude for the Buddha Dharma within them.
In any case, any merit that might be accrued by our chanting or by our saying Namo Amida Butsu is all from Amida, as in the first translation and is intended for us who are incapable of merit-bearing action. As the rest of the stanza says, Amida’s merit is being transferred to us so that we might awaken the will to realize enlightenment and be born in the Realm of Peace and Bliss. It is hard enough to be able to realize that we are the target of Amida’s transforming merit.
Please give it some thought.
Gasshō,
Donkon Jaan
Rev. John Doami
February 2007
