A short, five-minute talk delivered during the BCA's Minister's Assistant Program (MAP) training in Fall 2026 at the Jodo Shinshu Center in Berkeley, CA. Written in response to the broad prompt of “the Pure Land.”
Good morning, everyone.
Please join me in Gassho as I read from the Larger Sutra, Dharmākara’s 31st Vow:
“When I attain Buddhahood, my land will be pure and brilliant, completely illuminating and reflecting all the countless, innumerable, and inconceivable Buddha-worlds in the ten quarters, as if one were looking at one’s own face in a clear mirror. Should it not be so, may I not attain the perfect enlightenment.”
The Three Pure Land Sutras, Vol II, p26
Namo Amida Butsu.
When I was first introduced to the Pure Land, it sounded an awful lot like the “Heaven” from my Judeo-Christian heritage—a perfect world that we go to after we die. And because I had a complicated relationship with that tradition, I wasn't particularly interested in looking more closely.
But life is funny - and the working of Great Compassion happens, even so.
Over time, my understanding of the Pure Land has changed. I used to look right past the “mirror” analogy in that Vow. Now I can't stop looking at it. Through it, I’ve begun to see that the Pure Land isn't an isolated, perfect realm; it reflects all Buddha-worlds—even this one.
One particular teaching has changed how I hear the words “Pure Land”. At the very beginning of the Kyōgyōshinshō, Shinran writes:
“Reverently contemplating the true essence of the Pure Land way, I see that Amida’s directing of virtue to sentient beings has two aspects: the aspect for our going forth to the Pure Land and the aspect for our returning to this world.”
The Collected Works of Shinran, Vol I, p7
The word “returning” changes something for me. The Pure Land isn't merely a destination.
In a recent IBS Morning Service, Rev. Miyaji described gensō-ekō as returning like waves from the Dharma Ocean. He spoke of Namo Amida Butsu as the voiceless voice of True Reality becoming audible to us, and of our loved ones returning to us in our hearts and memories.
That image resonates deeply with me.
I just marked two years since my mother's passing, and I've begun experiencing the ways she returns to my heart and mind differently. Sometimes the quality of her voice even seems to emerge from my own mouth when I sing Ondokusan II. The teaching of gensō-ekō has helped me receive these experiences differently—not simply as memories, but as part of an ongoing relationship. And sometimes, that continuing relationship becomes a condition that draws me deeper into the Dharma.
And so, the Pure Land no longer feels to me like a perfect world sealed away. Going forth and returning reveal something much more dynamic: a relationship between the Pure Land and this world, here and now.
And perhaps that helps me understand Dharmākara's mirror a little differently, too:
“…my land will be pure and brilliant, completely illuminating and reflecting […] as if one were looking at one’s own face in a clear mirror.”
The Three Pure Land Sutras, Vol II, p26
Somehow, in the brilliant light of the Pure Land, I am learning to see this world—and those who return to it—differently.
Please join me in Gassho.
Namo Amida Butsu.