I have admired Shinran Shonin precisely because he recognized that to be able to truly and deeply come to trust in Amida’s Vow one must admit to the reality of one’s True Self. His writings abound with statements on how important it is to see the true "evil"-nature of one's self. ["Evil" had a more specific, slightly different, meaning to Shinran in this context] This self-condemnation was not just an exercise in humility, but represents an essential step in the process for weakening the illusion of power held by the ego-self. Without this deep, almost shame filled admission one cannot deeply realize that dependence on self, ego, self-power, will fail to help us in achieving enlightenment. And if one does not seek enlightenment one is destined to return again and again into the world of birth-and-death.To be Buddhist is to seek enlightenment, or release from this world of birth-and-death. Shinran and Honen proclaimed that the “old” or “traditional” practices of achieving enlightenment, namely the Path of Sages, were now out of reach for most people, even the current monks of his day, because they “lack clear insight into the teaching and are ignorant of the distinction between true and provisional.” This was not just a judgment about the other monks, but an admission about his own ability, too. Thus, for Shinran, the name “Gutoku” expressed his ultimate realization about his True Self.
I believe that this realization must be firmly acknowledged BEFORE one can even attempt to practice the qualities of a bodhisattva, namely, compassion, or even true gratitude. Without this realization, people who seek to practice as bodhisattvas prematurely will find it so difficult, if not impossible, to always be “kind and gentle to every living being.” Until we acknowledge our True Self, we practice from a false center, an inauthentic center, and thus our 'practice' fails.
Although we rely upon Amida Buddha for our 'Birth' or enlightenment, this realization of our True Self is something that each of us must do for ourselves. It is not for anyone else to tell us that we are ignorant, or unaware or unenlightened. That’s why the most important thing to remember is that we should pay attention to our own minds first. Getting caught up in criticizing others does not benefit one’s spiritual development, it actually distracts us, as we become consumed with the belief that we know what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ for ourselves and others. Shinran firmly rejected such thinking.
I know nothing at all of good or evil. For if I could know thoroughly, as Amida Tathagata knows, that an act was good, then I would know good. If I could know thoroughly, as the Tathagata knows, that an act was evil, then I would know evil. But with a foolish being full of blind passions, in this fleeting world—this burning house—all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity. The nembutsu alone is true and real.
— from A Record in Lament of Divergences, Postscript, The Collected Works of Shinran, Vol. I. Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto. 1997.
Shinran chose his name ‘Gutoku’ not to set himself below others around him, but to remind himself that because he recognized the raw naked truth about his ego-self, he could rely absolutely, without a doubt, without hesitation, upon the Nembutsu and Vow of the Amida Buddha. He had seen through and thoroughly given up trust and reliance and all pride on any belief of his own personal power, his own ego-self. When the 'self' is seen this way, regardless of what dharma practice one may follow, this is ultimately the way one achieves liberation from this world of birth-and-death. Why? Because it is the 'self' that creates a false illusion of duality and that is the first step in the creation of Ignorance - the root of all Dukkha.
The path of Jodo Shinshu nembutsu dissolves the rigid discriminatory nature created by the ego-self, not by meditation or even by philosophical deconstruction, but by realizing that the self we are so attached to is an empty illusion lacking true reality in the presence of the Amida Buddha, the Vow, and the Nembutsu. namoamidabutsu.
http://www.sacbc.org/index.php/teachings/minister-s-message/310-gutoku-shinran
