The Nembutsu is a spiritual shrine, which can be transported and reverenced wherever one may be. Time or space does not bind religious practice. Rather, from within the deep recesses of one's spirit the call of Amida Buddha can be heard, bringing our attention back to the very source of life itself, and evidencing its pr

In practicing Buddhism from establishing faith and to experiencing enlightenment, there are stages of understanding and practice. The terms practice and understanding and self-explanatory. But there are infinite numbers and boundless ways of understanding and practicing Buddhism. I will expound only the two most essential points: continuity of birth and death, and mutual accretion of all entities.

Buddhists believe the myriad beings created everything in this universe. The Law of Cause and Effect stipulates that whatever deed an individual performs, the result of that deed goes to him or her alone. Whatever deeds a group or persons perform, the group will bear the result. Such a doctrine is diametrically opposite to theistic teachings. Therefore, all Buddha-dharma practitioners should understand two things:

In the Buddha's later teachings, as reflected in the profound and wonderful Mahayana (Great Vehicle) sutras, Sakyamuni was said to reveal that he was actually an incarnation of the eternal Buddha, whom Shin Buddhists refer to and worship as Amida Buddha. Those sutras also make many references to transcendent Bodhisattvas, or Buddhas-to-be, who act compassionately to relieve suffering in all of its various forms. They are true friends of humankind. To accomplish their goal of eliminating suffering in all sentient beings, and helping all to attain the perfect peace and enlightenment of Buddhahood, Bodhisattvas diligently practice the Six Perfections (or Paramitas): charity, observance of the Buddhist precepts, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. These are described in inspirational poetic form in The Threefold Lotus Sutra (published by Kosei). The following is a small example:

The Buddhist doctrines "I create this world", and "all of us create this world', is a view of life based of freedom and self-determination. The Buddhist human relationship is neither one of master-slave, nor that of father-and-son. Those who awaken first and advance the farthest on the path to enlightenment are the teachers. Those who are late in awaking are the students. Thus, a socio-cultral structure built on the Buddha-dharma must necessarily be one of teacher-friend relationship, and is most consistent with the spirit of freedom and democracy.

When Buddhism states that "I" can make the world, it is different from the creation of the world by God. When the Creator creates the human being and other myriad creatures, he creates them from nothing. This is in contradiction to moral-causation law of creation. Buddhism holds that it is our karmic forces of mental activities and thoughts that create the world. If we perform good deeds, then we are capable of realizing a pure and idealistic world.

Surrounded by myriad phenomena, we live and die, do good and evil deeds. But what is our status in this universe after all? There are two relationships that exist in this universe, that is the relationship between the creative God and the human and that with all his creatures. The God empowers the human to rule and control the other creatures by authority of God of the creation. Thus, in front of God, the position of the human is utterly dependent. However, in comparison to the other creatures, we are full of authority and pompous presumption. If we exclude the God, the concept of this religion becomes entirely devoid of meaning.

Extending this simple principle, it shows that if we do not behave well and fail to cultivate blessed-rewards in this life, then we will face unfavorable living conditions in our future rebirths. In other words, we have to behave well this life so that in future rebirths we will be better off, more intelligent and happy. This fact of continuity of birth and death, and the truth that every phenomenon is impermanent will help us to make an effort to uplift ourselves.

According to Buddhism, in the universe we have an intimate relationship with all sentient being residing in all dharma-realms

Some common words found in the essay are:
According Buddhism, Quality Resolve, Cause Effect, Teaching Sakyamuni, God Creator, Noble Truth, Karmic Fruit, Noble Eight, Compassion Wisdom, Buddhism Buddhist, amida buddha, noble truth, mutual accretion, loving kindness compassion, loving kindness, karmic forces, birth death, kindness compassion, noble truths, eight fold path, faith determination, noble eight fold, abstain evil, continuity birth death, mutual accretion entities,
Approximate Word count = 3477
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)