MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
John Paraskevopoulos
DHARMA TALK FOR OBON
"The light of compassion illumines us always and the darkness of our ignorance is already broken through. Yet the clouds and mists of greed, desire, anger and hatred always obscure the sky of true faith. But though the light of the sun is veiled by clouds and mists, below them there is still brightness".
The above passage from Shinran’s Shoshinge is one of my favourites. It has been quoted many times as it marvellously captures how the power of faith works in the midst of the blind passions in ordinary life. I will offer some brief comments on this verse to show how it contains the essence of Shinran’s teaching.
From the very beginning, it is made clear that the 'light of compassion illumines us always'. This statement confirms that the light of Amida Buddha is always constant and unfailing. This is consistent with the Buddha’s 12th vow which states: "If, when I attain Buddhahood, my light should be limited, unable to illuminate at least a hundred thousand kotis of nayutas of Buddha-lands, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment". Now, it is because of this that 'the darkness of our ignorance is already broken through'. In other words, the ever-present light of Amida is the guarantee that ignorance cannot have the final word – the power of the Vow breaks the grip of darkness on our lives. However, this verse makes the even more important point that this is true even if we don’t see it.
The following sentence tells us: "Yet the clouds and mists of greed, desire, anger and hatred always obscure the sky of true faith". Shinran recognises that our faith is not always pure but that it can nevertheless abide even in the presence of the most ferocious and debilitating passions. Notice that he uses the word 'obscure' and not a word suggesting that faith is somehow destroyed or eclipsed by our greed, desire and hatred. This is a very important insight. Many people worry that unless they remove these negative characteristics from their hearts, they cannot possibly make any spiritual progress. Therefore, they cause a lot of anguish and misery for themselves when they try but fail to do so. Shinran saw the futility of doing this as well as the needless pain to which it gives rise.
Instead, he encourages us to look at things a little differently. In the opening lines of the Kyo Gyo Shin Sho, Shinran writes:
The Universal Vow difficult to fathom is indeed a great vessel bearing us across the ocean difficult to cross. The unhindered light is the sun of wisdom dispersing the darkness of our ignorance.
In one of the last works he wrote, The Virtue of the Name of Amida Tathagata ('Mida Nyorai Myogo Toku'), he goes further and says:
Concerning 'unhindered light' - with the light of the sun or moon, when something has come between, the light does not reach us. Amida's light, however, being unobstructed by things, shines on all sentient beings … Amida's light is unhindered by sentient beings' minds of blind passions and karmic evil; hence the expression, ‘Buddha of Unhindered Light'. Were it not for the virtue of this unhindered light, how would it be for us?
The notion of Amida's light not being obstructed is critical and helps us to understand the final line from the passage in the Shoshinge quoted above:
But though the light of the sun is veiled by clouds and mists, below them there is still brightness.
On a cloudy day, we are perfectly capable of seeing things around us quite clearly even though the sun may not be visible. In fact, we know the sun is still there, behind the clouds, otherwise we would not be able to see anything at all – we would simply be immersed in darkness. The sun allows us to perceive 'brightness' even though it is veiled by 'clouds and mist'. In other words, the sun is 'unhindered' with respect to the various meteorological phenomena that often stand between it and us. It continues to have the power to illumine despite its appearance not being immediately obvious in the sky.
In the same way, the light of Amida Buddha enables us to experience his wisdom and compassion as well as making us see how things are in the world around us and in ourselves. When we feel the full force of delusions or blind passions, what makes it possible to see deeply into their reality and effects is, precisely, the Buddha's light that shines on them – otherwise, we would simply endure them without recognising their harmful effects. We require a force outside ourselves to help us understand how things really are. This light is Amida's wisdom because it reveals the truth. Without it, we are blind, trapped and helpless.
So even though we often feel discouraged and find ourselves prone to despair in view of the suffering and disappointments we face, as well as the setbacks we sometimes experience in our spiritual lives, it is important to remember that Amida’s light remain 'unhindered' throughout all our difficulties. We know this in the same way we know that the sun is still shining even though all we see is 'clouds and mist'. This is possible because we still perceive the 'brightness' around us and so we know that its source must be the sun, despite it being obscured from us. Similarly, when our lives seem 'overcast' and the presence of the light isn't immediately obvious to us, Shinran reminds us that we can know that the sun of Amida's wisdom is always shining, through our awareness of its vivid influence in our hearts and minds. I will leave you with some parting words of encouragement from Shinran:
In the long night of ignorance, it is the torch: The wisdom-eye is in darkness, yet do not sorrow.
Because the Buddha's wisdom is without bounds, Even the bewildered and wayward are not abandoned.