Reading and Discussion Questions
Passages referenced in the conversation
To realize shinjin oneself and to guide others to shinjin
Is among difficult things yet even more difficult.
To awaken beings everywhere to great compassion
Is truly to respond in gratitude to the Buddha’s benevolence.
Kyōgyōshinshō, Chapter on Shinjin, Section 94
Concerning compassion, there is a difference between the Path of Sages and the Pure Land Path.
Compassion in the Path of Sages is to pity, commiserate with, and care for beings. It is extremely difficult, however, to accomplish the saving of others just as one wishes.
Compassion in the Pure Land Path should be understood as first attaining Buddhahood quickly through saying the nembutsu and, with the mind of great love and compassion, freely benefiting sentient beings as one wishes.
However much love and pity we may feel in our present lives, it is hard to save others as we wish; hence, such compassion remains unfulfilled. Only the saying of the nembutsu, then, is the mind of great compassion that is thoroughgoing.
Thus were his words.
A Record in Lament of Divergences (Tannishō), Chapter 4
The Wisdom of Dr. Maya Angelou
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give”
Dr. Maya Angelou, quoted by Oprah Winfrey