Thread by @EngagedPureLand

"Nembutsu Echoes," a further thread in the "Peace and Harmony: Lessons from the World Buddhist Women's Convention" series.

Previous threads here:

https://twitter.com/EngagedPureLand/status/1437746737926520832

https://twitter.com/EngagedPureLand/status/1437466727437279242

Thousands of Jodo Shinshu women gathered in Vancouver in 1990 for the 9th World Women's Buddhist Convention, held in Vancouver in 1990. There they stated their values in a Convention Declaration:

"We, the followers of Jodo Shinshu, entrust ourselves whole-heartedly to Amida Buddha, to experience through Shinjin infinite love and infinite support, which are never withdrawn from us under any circumstances.

"We Resolve:
To share selflessly with all beings Amida's Compassion and Wisdom which embrace us. Jodo Shinshu teaches us that through Shinjin [the trusting heart provided by Amida] we become free to love with a boundless Compassion. Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout the world.

"Therefore:
1. We will direct our personal lives toward spiritual well-being. Shinran Shonin showed us the path to the positive way of Nirvana. Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout our individual lives.

"2. We will direct our family lives to establishing a sane and safe family atmosphere, loving and sharing for the happiness of all family members. The Buddha Dharma teaches the importance of a moral and caring family established through beautiful thoughts, words, and deeds.

“Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout our families.

"3. We, with reflections of Amida's Light, will be sources for energy to contribute towards happy and harmonious communities. The Buddha Dharma reminds us that in the flow of time we all become each other's sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and spouses.

“All beings are equally embraced by Amida Buddha. As Amida is ultimately concerned about us, so we on our part reciprocate by being ultimately concerns about others. Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout our communities.

"4. We will foster international, interracial, and interfaith harmony among the nations of the world. When there are political or economic problems, the world's women and children are most vulnerable.

"Sakyamuni Buddha taught that the nations that govern, based on respect and honesty, that follow the high moral values of the Dharma and provide for the general welfare of its citizens, will flourish in harmony, happiness, and satisfaction.

"Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout the nations.

"5. We will direct our efforts toward saving planet Earth and its unique community of life. The pollution of the natural world brings a moral and spiritual pollution in its wake. The Buddha Dharma teaches the Oneness of all life.

"The Compassion of Amida Buddha encompasses not only human beings, but also all beings throughout the entire universe. Our Buddhist love, in harmony with Nature, motivates us to attend to the ecological soundness of our planet. Thus the Nembutsu echoes throughout the biosphere.

"We unanimously declare that:
We Jodo Shinshu Buddhist women follow the teachings of Shinran Shonin with true joy and gratitude. We Jodo Shinshu Buddhist women work in accord to pass on to all our our children the spirit of PEACE AND HARMONY THROUGH NEMBUTSU.

“Let the Nembutsu Echo Around the World to Mother and Child.”

Brief analysis: here we have a very comprehensive, gendered vision of how Jodo Shinshu operates to heal and sustain the world on every level. The universal love of Amida Buddha is the guide for how Jodo Shinshu Buddhists should conduct themselves.

We turn towards it as individuals, and let the nembutsu teaching permeate our lives. We begin to expand on this by creating loving homes that are suffused with the nembutsu spirit. We discover that our family actually includes all people, and expand further.

We participate in Amida’s compassion by being concerned about others and their suffering. This motivates us to create communities and nations that reject cultural, racial, or religious prejudice.

Drawing on the Buddha’s teachings, we seek to ensure that everyone's basic needs are provided for and try to embody a culture of values.

Recognizing that Amida's compassion encompasses the natural world and all living things, not just humans, we include the planet and all life in our sense of family and sphere of concern. We seek to prevent environmental damage and eco-disaster.

This completes by coming full circle to the essential mother-child relationship that (the conventioners believe) animates most Jodo Shinshu Buddhist women's lives.

To save the world is to save the child; to care for the child is to care for the world. It is all one chain of nembutsu-compassion causation. As such, these Buddhist women assert that their domestic roles have local, national, and global significance and power.