https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXDCEFtQ-M4

(The video format is different, which isn't agreeing with Mastodon; you'll have to click through to go to Youtube to watch!)

Daily dose of #dharma from one of my favorite teachers ever, Robina Courtin, a Gelug nun.

I started doing this yesterday, adding it to my morning chanting/yoga practice. I found it very powerful. It isn't easy for me to speak kindly to myself; I teared up the first time I tried. But the effect it had on my mind was profound, and this morning I found it easier to start.

As a #PureLand Buddhist, I rely on the compassion of #Amitabha / #Amida #Buddha. That concept is a whole other subject in itself, which will seem foreign if your understanding of #Buddhism is primarily from #Theravada sources versus #Mahayana. The basic idea is that I ask Amitabha for help with my practice, instead of it being something I cultivate within myself, off my own back.

Today I told myself that, among other things, if a Buddha can see good qualities in me and decides that I am deserving of his compassion, then it must be true that I am indeed worthy of kindness and respect. Who am I to assume that my perspective as an addled, ordinary being, is more accurate than that of an enlightened Buddha?

I had never framed this thought as such before. Thinking it through today felt like I had unlocked a deeper truth.

Namu Amida Butsu.  ☸️ 🌻

#purelandbuddhism #jodoshu #jodoshinshu #tibetanbuddhism #mentalhealth #selfcare

#SilentSunday

Just finished my morning yoga. Here's the small travel altar I keep in the kitchen for incense offerings.

Pictured, left to right: Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

Namu Amida Butsu.

#buddhism #buddha #dharma #nembutsu #amida #amitabha #pureland #purelandbuddhism #jodoshu #jodoshinshu

Super niche observation but people dismissing the description of Sukhavati (in the Sutra or in Shinran's Jodo Wasan) as kitch - are they aware that this is due to their culture having gone through the reformation and the enlightenment era and other iconoclast movements, and now with minimalist design / functionality aesthetics. I'm sorry but I'm hearing this as a classist comment.

#sukhavati #PureLandBuddhism #JodoShinshu

五劫思惟阿弥陀像
Statue of Amida Buddha after 5 kalpas of contemplation
Kurodani Konkai-kōmyōji, Kyoto

This statue is based on the story of Dharmākara Bodhisattva [Jpn:法蔵菩薩 Hōzō-bosatsu] as told in the Sukhāvatī-vyūha [Jpn: 仏説無量寿経 Bussetsu Muryōju-kyō, Eng: Sutra on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life] who aspired to create the ultimate buddhaland where all beings can attain liberation from suffering regardless of their causes and conditions. In order to create such a space, Dharmākara first studied under Lokeśvararāja Buddha (Jpn: 世自在王仏 Sejizaiōbutsu) learning about all the various Buddha lands of various qualities and how to establish such lands. They then made 48 vows or aspirations for the creation of the ultimate buddhaland and should a single one not be fulfilled they would not become a fully enlightened Buddha.

#PureLandBuddhism
#Jodoshu
#AmidaBuddha
#Buddhism
#Kyoto

Since tomorrow is the last day of instruction at Buddhist priest school and the graduate studies MA program doesn’t start until April, I’ll have much more free time to write.

Any questions you have about the Buddhist priest school? Or about Buddhisms, especially Pure Land Buddhisms? Or queer Dharmaology?

#Buddhism #PureLandBuddhism #JodoShinshu #ShinBuddhism #QueerBuddhism

Another personal "problem" seems to be that I yearn for being "normal" and boring but I'm miffed if I'm treated as someone who knows nothing.

And this just shows that I have this deluded self image of being someone who is not stupid or at least tries to be smart.

The #nembutsu path in the tradition following Shinran pushes all the right buttons somehow as the appropriate medicine for this condition.

#PureLandBuddhism #Jodoshinshu