Who Dwells In This House?

I’ve been mulling over a certain quotation of Honen (法然, 1133–1212), the 12th century Buddhist monk credited with spreading the Pure Land tradition in Japan, and thus founder of movements such as Jodo-Shu and Jodo-Shinshu:

“All of our deeds in the realms of saṃsāra result from ties with the three worldly passions of greed, anger, and ignorance. Understand that when the worldly passions of greed, anger, and ignorance surface, an illusion arises that causes one to fall into the lower realms. Do your best to prevent such an occurrence.

If these worldly passions arise, merely think of them as a guest of the heart, and think of nembutsu as the host of the heart. In this way, birth in the Pure Land will be possible. Contrarily, if you think of the worldly passions as the host and nembutsu as the guest, nembutsu becomes virtue mixed with worldly passions and falsity, making birth in the Pure Land impossible.

In essence, even if worldly passions surface in the moments before and after nembutsu is recited, do not allow these passions to intermingle with the recitation of the six characters, Na mu A mi da Butsu.”

Translation from The Promise of Amida Buddha (Digital Edition, pg 105) Joji Atone & Yoko Hayashi, originally posted here.

What Honen says here is quite profound, and shows a good grasp of the challenges of the spiritual life. Saying your are spiritual, or calling yourself a spiritual person frankly isn’t enough. It’s just words and labels. The real question is is who or what lives in the house of your heart?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and with some shame, I think the Buddha tends to be more of a guest at times than the host. I’ve been Buddhist at least 2005, but I am also a working parent, and, live with a lot of distractions. So, of course my practice and conduct suffer at times.

And yet, I think it’s more than that.

As members of the homo sapiens species, our natural inclinations are, crudely speaking, to feed, fight, and fuck.

In one sense, this is perfectly normal as a biological species. We are hairless apes after all. Our ancestors were doing this for 300,000 years or more. But deep down it’s just instinct baked into the fiber of our being. What seems perfectly good and normal to us humans may differ from another species. What seems tasty to a jackal might be revolting to us humans.

Further, the Buddha Shakyamuni didn’t necessarily call this “evil”, but he did describe people who lived by such instincts as “run-of-the-mill”, nothing extraordinary. There was nothing praiseworthy about choosing this default lifestyle driven by one’s passions and instincts. Such people are born, grow, struggle, procreate, and die. End of story.

Instead, the Buddha praised those who lived a life of self-control and mental discipline such as this quote from the Dhammapada:

280. The idler who does not exert himself when he should, who though young and strong is full of sloth, with a mind full of vain thoughts — such an indolent man does not find the path to wisdom.

281. Let a man be watchful of speech, well controlled in mind, and not commit evil in bodily action. Let him purify these three courses of action, and win the path made known by the Great Sage.

Translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita, sourced from here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.20.budd.html

But this all comes back to the point that Honen made earlier. Honen spoke about it in the context of Pure Land Buddhism, and the desire to be reborn in the Pure Land, but it’s not hard to broaden this to the entire Buddhist tradition. Whoever we choose to let dwell in our house, that is what will drive our actions. Other aspects of our lives drop in as guests, come and go.

Later in the Dhammapada, the Buddha warns that this ins’t just a mental exercise: the clock is ticking:

287. As a great flood carries away a sleeping village, so death seizes and carries away the man with a clinging mind, doting on his children and cattle.

288. For him who is assailed by death there is no protection by kinsmen. None there are to save him — no sons, nor father, nor relatives.

289. Realizing this fact, let the wise man, restrained by morality, hasten to clear the path leading to Nibbana [a.k.a. Nirvana, “final unbinding”].

Translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita, sourced from here: https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.20.budd.html

In the Lotus Sutra, the Parable of the Burning House also reminds us that we are “on the clock”, and the Buddha calls us to get out before it is too late.

Namo Shakyamuni Buddha
Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. even a pinch of austerity is a good start. 😏