Buddhism of the Heart

Reflections on Shin Buddhism and Inner Togetherness

Jeff Wilson

• Publisher: Wisdom Publications
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780861715831
• eBook ISBN:
  9780861719709
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Eastern Philosophy

Jeff Wilson started his walk on the Buddha's path as a Zen practitioner - taking up a tradition of vigorous self-effort, intensive meditation, and meticulous attention to rectitude in every action. But in Jeff's case, rather than freeing him from his suffering, he found those Zen practices made him nothing short of insufferable. And so he turned to Shin Buddhism - a path that is easily the most popular in Zen's native land of Japan but is largely unknown in the West.Shin emphasizes an "entrusting heart, " a heart that is able to receive with gratitude every moment of our mistake-filled and busy lives. Moreover, through walking the Shin path, Jeff comes see that each of us (himself especially included) are truly "foolish beings, " people so filled with endlessly arising "blind passions" and ingrained habits that we so easily cause harm even with our best intentions. And even so, Shin holds out the tantalizing possibility that, by truly entrusting our foolish selves to the compassionate universe, we can learn to see how this foolish life, just as it is, is nonetheless also a life of grace. Buddhism of the Heart is a wide-ranging book of essays and open-hearted stories, reflections that run the gamut from intensely personal to broadly philosophical, introducing the reader to a remarkable religious tradition of compassionate acceptance.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Amida’s Birth, Our Birth
• Amida’s Nembutsu
• Once Upon a Time
• Strawberries
• Appreciating the Furniture
• Inner Togetherness
• Co-living
• Offering Incense
• Mindfulness of the Land of Bliss
• Fear of Falling
• Trusting the Dharma
• A Universe of White Ashes
• Charmless
• Playing in Someone Else’s Backyard
• Buddha-Nature, Scorpion-Nature
• Hard-Assed and Sore-Throated Buddhists
• Our Debt to the Foundresses of Jodo Shinshu
• Incomplete Nembutsu, Open-Ended Gratitude
• Shin without Amida
• Common Destination
• All Beings Have Bush-Nature
• Amida Is Foolish Too
• Deep Hearing
• Flowers of the Pure Land
• A Parcel of Vain Strivings
• Whatever Land, Whatever Body
• All Wars Are World Wars
• The Tip of the Iceberg
• From Sincerity to Compassion
• Receiving the Gift
• Two Aspects of Amida
• Reconstituting the Sangha
• Gratitude for Food
• Buddhism Is Bullsh*t
• Preferences, Prejudices, and Mistakes in the Narrative of “Americanized” Shin
• Refugees
• Floating Downriver
• The Essence of Shin Buddhism
• Appreciating the Sutras
• Nembutsu: Not for Parents
• The Dharma of Johnny Cash
• Dirty Jobs
• Hitler’s Buddha-Nature
• Amida’s Emancipation Proclamation
• In the Pot
• Namu Death
• Thanksgiving Service
• Just As We Are
• Death Wish
• Transformed
• Wonder-Struck
• Permanent Defeat
• Bittersweet Buddhism
• Awakening the Buddha Without
• Shin Conflict Resolution
• Grateful for Suffering?
• He with Horns Is Self
• Sinking into the Vow
• Trustingly We Cry
• Buddhism, Addiction, and Twelve Steps
• Just Trusting
• Literal and Metaphorical
• Vegas Memorial
• Meat and Eating Disorders
• False Impression
• Rebirth vs. No-Self
• All-Embracing
• Off the Wagon
• Relationships Are the Realm of Awakening
• Hearing and Listening
• Scattered Nenju
• Form and Content
• Just Existing
• Changing and Sharing
• What Have You Done Now?
• Green Rice
• Always Present, Always Hidden
• Buddhist Dancing
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary of Terms
• For Further Reading
• Index
• About the Authors
• About Wisdom Publications
• Copyright