Reciting the Nembutsu Is A Very Good Deed
The Law of Cause and Effect tells me that seeds sown will never fail to grow and every effect has its own cause, and there is no exception to this at all, even once in a million or billion cases. I was so moved. Hearing that all the fruits I harvest have grown purely from my own seeds, I had to reflect upon myself. Now I realized that until now I was always blaming others when something inconvenient and/or bothersome happened to me.
I also learned that reciting Namu Amida Butsu (the nembutsu) is an extremely good deed, and that the difference between the ‘myriad good deeds’ / the ‘Five Right Deeds’ and Zogyo/ Zasshu. Speaking of the nembutsu, I was once asked by one person whether or not reciting the nembutsu is a good deed, and if we would be saved by Amida Buddha only through listening to Buddhism even though we did not recite the nembutsu. At that time, I was unable to answer these questions.
Now I know the answer clearly. Reciting the nembutsu is an exceptionally good deed. In order for supreme Faith to arise within us, we have no choice but to listen to Buddhism, and if we go on this Buddhist path of listening, we cannot help but recite the nembutsu more and more. This is my answer now.
I myself still do not realize that what I am practicing is nothing but Zogyo and Zasshu, and therefore I cannot cast away my self-power mind yet. I have refreshed my determination to go towards the light on this path of listening until the moment where it will be revealed to me that my true image is that I am incapable of doing a single good deed.
Osamu Ito, Great Britain
Source: The Buddhist Village Times #60 | 2016, Reciting the Nembutsu Is A Very Good Deed
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