On the face of it, the world of Pure Land Buddhism with its emphasis on devotion, on already being ‘saved’, and its sole practice being to chant the name of the Buddha Amitabha (Amida), would seem to have little in common with Mindfulness practice. Mindfulness practice is stripped back with a simple but powerful focus on what is actually happening within one’s own experience and looking to apprehend directly with wisdom ‘how things really are’. Myth, devotion and ritual are often not seen as playing a significant part.
Pure Land Buddhism is primarily about ‘other power’ – opening up to influences from beyond oneself such as the compassion of Amida Buddha, and mindfulness seen more on the side of ‘self-power’ where we need to cultivate or generate awareness.
I’ve been reading a book recently that has prompted some reflections around these areas of practice. The book is ‘The Promise of a Sacred World’ by Nagapriya (Windhorse Publications). Its focus is the 12th Century Japanese teacher Shinran who was influential in developments within the Pure Land tradition.
Initially I was enjoying the book but not finding a lot in common with my own practice of mindfulness, and even finding much of it somewhat alien to awareness practice. But increasingly Nagapriya, as he quoted and unpacked Shinran’s writings from 800 years ago, seemed to be associating ‘other power’ with ‘transformative awareness’. I found myself intrigued and inspired by, and also resonating with the book. I started seeing the connections between my own practice of mindfulness as a path to wisdom and other power.
Initially in awareness practice, even the very receptive kinds such as uncontrived mindfulness, we use ‘self-power’; there’s a cultivation of awareness in the present moment, we set an intention to be aware that sets the mind in a particular direction as opposed to another, and we regularly remind ourselves to be aware. All this is a subtle use of ‘self-power’. There is also self-power in the deliberate training perspective of ‘right view’ with the aim to clearly know what is happening in body and mind more objectively and impersonally. In both awareness and right view, we use self-power to train the mind to a point where awareness and wisdom become strong factors in the mind.
I sometimes use the metaphor of riding a bike to describe this process. Initially we need to push and then peddle, or we’ll fall right off the bike. Without gaining some speed we don’t have any stability or balance. But once we’re going, we peddle less and sometimes (especially going downhill) we don’t need to peddle at all. In fact, to do so is counterproductive and we get in our own way.
The same is true for mindfulness practice; at a certain point we can recognize that it’s not necessary to keep reminding ourselves. Awareness is already present and is working with wisdom under their own steam. We just need to notice that. There is now some momentum in practice. In Shinran’s words we’ve moved from “the false autonomy of ego-directed will’ to (as Nagapriya says) that which “permits a new kind of will to flourish.”
This new kind of will is not self-directed or self-referencing. The Right View perspective also grows stronger and more natural and works with awareness. In Sayadaw U Tejaniya’s words “awareness and wisdom do their own work”. They have become more natural to the mind and slipped the moorings of controlling self-power. They have become ‘other power’; more open to a world beyond that of ‘self’.
We need to be sensitive to this ‘new kind of will’ so that it flourishes. In these times it becomes easy to rest within the present moment. When we’re attentive to present moment experience at this point in practice there is a natural interest in how the mind is working. This interest is the beginnings of wisdom, and the awareness naturally wants to stay with watching and understanding the body/mind.
It turns out that what Shinran is describing is a pathway to the world of ‘transformative awareness’. That world is not separate from our limitations and faults but an ‘additional dimension’ that we can access at any time. The key is present moment awareness which, as we know, is always within our grasp. Whether we’re aware of our human frailties and foibles or knowing some new truth, both are held within awareness that transcends both.
When mindfulness becomes continuous the more attentive we are to the ‘luminous present’ the more access is gained to ‘other power’ as a ‘sacralised present moment’. The mythic aspect of the Pure Land is experienced as the preciousness of fully resting in presence. The language of myth and the sacred points to the mystery of awareness and the mysterious nature of experience. Awareness is precious without us needing to pin down why or how. It can’t be described or explained away; it has a touch of the ineffable. The promise of awareness is the promise of a sacred world where everything is touched by the quality of awareness and wisdom brought to it.
Uncontrived Mindfulness 