MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
Foretaste of the Pure Land
Confirmation of Amida's first definitive Call and his transference of Faith is given me as I gaze out over the grey-tiled roofs of the neighbouring houses and their kitchen gardens, still deserted in the early morning light. In a dim and distant preview, 1 foresee the possible future transfiguration of this world into the Pure Land, with its rare qualities of Emptiness, Serenity, Selflessness, and Enlightenment. In such timber-framed, plaster-walled houses, whose occupants still remain unseen, asleep on floors with the traditional covering of tatami, no paint or varnish has spoilt the woodwork, which has been left its natural colour and allowed to grow old gracefully. Such precious moments in which a Transformed Pure Land is envisioned give a brief foretaste of the bliss of the True Pure Land and assurance that it shall be reached at last. Just so in the practice of Zen do isolated instants of satori anticipate here and now the final break-through into Enlightenment. For such a marvellous gift, which one has neither earned nor deserved, one can only feel afterwards a sincere but inexpressible gratitude to Amida Buddha.