FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
QUESTION	ANSWER
Where is the Pure Land?	In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, 99% of the living tradition, we teach that an Awoken Person will be surrounded by a realm of influence. This realm is transformative, enlightening for those of us who have not yet thoroughly awoken. After being transmitted to China, if not before, this idea as associated with Amida Buddha came to include understanding a peaceful and happy realm for rebirth after the end of one's current biological life. As Amida Buddha's Pure Realm (Sukhavati/O Jodo) is beyond the limits of space and time it is not really a perfect realm for a gradual practice toward Awakening. Entry into the Pure Realm of Amida at the moment of death is instantaneously becoming a Buddha. We then return to earth and other realms in which living beings are deluded and suffering in order to liberate them. This comes down to meaning, as the Dai Mu Ryo Ju Kyo says, "Amida Buddha's Pure Land is the Place of all places while being no special separative place."
Is Amida Buddha a person?	Amida Buddha is identical with the fulfillment of his Vows of Universal Liberation. He is not an intelligence that designed this world and he is not a discrete subject of experience. To understand the kindness that flows into our lives from Amida it helps to use the model of being a subject of action that we draw from our own human personhood. The Buddha has no specific body. It is said that when we enter into his realm of influence we receive bodies like his, "bodies of boundlessness". So the upshot is that 2/3 of what we each are as a person, specific subjects of experience and embodied individuals, is irrelevant to what we may understand the Buddha to be. Even so, that aspect of being subjects of action is relevant to what Amida is as the compassion of the Buddha is not accidental
Is the "shinjin" received in Nembutsu practice the same thing as "faith" in Christianity?	One of the key principles of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism is "Shinjin Sho In". This means, Shinjin is the true cause (of birth into Amida Buddha's realm and Enlightenment through its auspices). This means that it is crucial to understand shinjin. In truth, the current Shin Translation Committee in Kyoto under the leadership of Dr. Hisao Inagaki is translating "shinjin" as "faith". This should caution us not to assume that shinjin is totally different from faith. I usually say that a model of faith, where faith is trusting confidence, is about 1/3 of what we need to understand shinjin. Shinjin is a confidence in the Nembutsu teaching and a trust in the Vow of Universal Liberation [Hongan] that is embodied in the nembutsu. Even saying this much we can see that shinjin isn't just any faith or faith in just anything. Shinjin emerges from the Bodhisattva ideal and the commitment to the liberation of all sentient beings. This is presented in an exemplary way in the project of generating Amida's Pure, Happy and transformative realm. Besides this, Shinjin is tied to a specific stream of religious experience. Experiencing "Namo Amida Butsu" and other forms of the nembutsu as the active compassion of the Buddha is the classic example of Jodo Shinshu spiritual experience. In addition to being faith, or confidence-trust, in the vows of Amida and experiencing one's own vocalization of the nembutsu as the Buddha's calling voice, shinjin involves a change in identity. Firstly, it means that who one will be in the future (a Buddha) has been determined. We are never quite the same persons again after even a split second of shinjin. We are Buddha's to be and if this fact settles into our lives we will change as a result. Our identity also changes in that we begin to have a distaste for greediness, anger and stupidity. Urges to greedy, delusive and hateful behavior still come up. We still act them out in many instances. But, having heard "Namo Amida Butsu" as the caring voice of the Buddha, we don't feel good about having been so stupid, angry and obsessively lustful. As the nembutsu cultivates a distaste for ugly behavior we, in most cases, gradually become able to resist such mis-behavior more and more often. Shinjin involves all of this and more and so is more than just some general sort of religious faith. Shinjin is a transformative reality that settles more and more into our lives as we study the Pure Land teachings and say the Buddha's name.
Can Buddhists drink alcohol or use drugs?	Buddhist monks and nuns take a precept against using intoxicants. Since they have totally dedicated their lives to the pursuit of Awakening the pleasant reveries of intoxication would be a counter-productive digression. For lay persons it largely depends on the stream of tradition they are in. Jodo Shinshu Buddhists are not constrained to avoid intoxicants. Our liberation is not tied to mindfulness or meditation so there is no direct conflict. Like all Buddhists we hope to walk a middle path. Extreme and continuous indulgence in any intoxicating substance or activity leads to unhappiness. On the other hand our founder, Shinran Shonin, was remembered as saying, "Sometimes when someone is having a hard time, preaching at them is not the best approach. On occasion it would be better simply to serve them a glass of sake (rice wine) and keep pleasant company with them."