To Infinity and Beyond!
The following is adapted from a Dharma Talk I presented at the Los Angeles Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple on Sunday, June 30, 2024. I offer it to Being Bombu readers in gratitude to the LAAHBT for allowing me the chance to share my message.
Recently, I found myself really reflecting on some passages from Sections II and III of Chapter III of the Bussetsu Muryōju-kyō, or Larger Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life. The first to really catch my attention was:
Śākyamuni Buddha told Ānanda: “The majestically Divine Light of the Buddha of infinite life being the most august and the best is far beyond the lights of all the Buddhas. The light of the Buddha shines over one hundred Buddha worlds or one thousand Buddha worlds. In brief, it illuminates the Eastern Buddha lands as countless as the sands of the Ganges river. It also illuminates to the South, West, and North, to the four corners, and upward and downward as well. Also the Light of the Buddha illuminates seven feet away to a distance of one yojana, two yojanas, four yojanas, and five yojanas away. In this way, it gradually doubles until it illuminates one whole Buddha land. Because of this, the Buddha of Infinite Life is called: the Buddha of Infinite Light, the Buddha of Boundless Light, the Buddha of Unrestricted Light . . . “ and he goes on with an impressive list of names for the Buddha.
Then, jumping ahead a little in the text, I came across:
Śākyamuni Buddha told Ānanda: “Also the lifespan of the Buddha of Infinite Life is eternally long and is incalculable. How can you know it? Even by allowing the countless beings in the world of the ten directions to gain the bodies of human beings and to become Śrāvaca and Pratyakabuddha, and gathering them and letting them count the length of the lifespan with undisturbed single-mindedness, using up their wisdom for over a hundred thousand million kalpas, it is impossible to exactly know it's final limit.”
Why were these passages so striking to me? Well, I do not know about you but I have been a life-long Disney fan. I was reared on the stuff, especially the movies. One of my favorites is the very first installment in the Toy Story series. If you have seen any of these movies, you are certainly familiar with one of the main characters, Buzz Lightyear, and his famous catchphrase “To infinity and beyond!” It’s such an inspiring and memoranble motto that it has been emblazoned on shirts, hats, bookbags, mugs, and just about anything else that Disney can stick some ink and a price tag on. “To infinity and beyond” is more than just a cute - and lucrative - phrase, though. It is a call to action that resonates with children and adults alike. It challenges us to stretch our imaginations and our aspirations to places and things far beyond our ordinary comprehension. Infinity is not something that can be easily put into words and we certainly cannot draw it. The best we can do is say it and give it a symbol, but both fall woefully short of doing its true immensity any justice.
Yet as seemingly inconceivable this concept of infinity or “infiniteness” is, it is integral to our Jodo Shinshu beliefs and practices. When we lift our voices in the gratitude of the Nembutsu, we say the name that calls, “Namo AMIDA Butsu”. Our version of the Name - Amida - actually comes from two older forms that we now distill into one. “Amitabha” which is Sanskrit for “infinite light” and “Amitayus” which means “infinite life”. As we see in the passages quoted above, Amida is the Buddha of both infinite light and life. Now think, for just a moment, on the magnitude of what it means to offer something that is infinite. Can you imagine it? I cannot even begin to! Infinite patience? Not on my life. I can’t get through a day without losing my patience early and often. Limitless money? Wouldn’t that be nice! Even Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos know how much they have in their bank accounts. While they might not be able to spend it all, it will one day run out. What does it mean to truly be without limit?
Let’s try another exercise and maybe use some synonyms for “infinite”. “Unlimited”, “endless” and “never-ending” are some good ones that we hear and see almost every day in our world of material desire and attachment. Where do we hear these words used? How about:
Cell phone plans? - “unlimited talk time”, “unlimited texting”.
Gyms and parks? - For the right membership price, you can get “unlimited access”.
Restaurants? - “unlimited trips to the salad bar”, or who can forget Olive Garden’s “never-ending” soup, salad, or breadsticks! If you have been following the news, you have probably seen that Red Lobster has learned a harsh lesson about offering people “endless shrimp”!
You would think from all of the advertising with which we are deluged that “infinite” things are commonplace or easy to come by these days. But let’s think about this for a moment. How many of these things I just shared are actually infinite, endless, or unlimited? The businesses may not be imposing limits on us per se, but the nature of our human existence sure is. We are indeed limited by how much we can eat or how many times we can physically visit or the time it takes for our thumbs and minds to tire on our phones. We as humans ARE limited in everything that we do and thus so are all things that we create. The central tenet of life in this plane of samsara is that all things are impermanent and come to an end. As enticing and thrilling as all of these unlimited offers are, they are no more than false promises designed to delight us for only a short period.
So why do we throw this concept around so freely in Jodo Shinshu? Again, we say that Amida is the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life. We say that the compassion of Amida is unconditional, all-embracing, and that it extends to all beings without discrimination. and that it is thus without limits. The infiniteness of Amida's light, life, and compassion is expressed again and again through symbolic language and imagery in our Jodo Shinshu scriptures and teachings. For example, the Larger Sutra also describes Amida's Pure Land as adorned with countless jewels that emit radiant light, symbolizing the infinite wisdom and compassion of Amida Buddha.
Master Shinran himself wrestled with the concept of Amida Buddha's infinite light, life, and compassion. When it comes to Amida’s light, he referred to it as illuminating all beings and being universal. Of Amida’s life, he taught that it is eternal and boundless, flowing through all of existence, and that it manifests in countless ways throughout the universe. And, of course, he tells us that Amida's compassion is unconditional, all-embracing, and unwavering.
But notice what neither Shinran nor Śākyamuni do in their teachings. They do not try to explain this infinite light, infinite life, and infinite compassion in terms that are accurately measurable or understandably spatial. Rather, they are clear that these aspects of Amida Buddha are actually beyond our flawed, human comprehension. Instead, we are urged to focus on faith and entrusting ourselves to Amida's boundless light, life, and compassion. Instead of trying to intellectually grasp the concept of infinity, we are invited to experience this truth through shinjin itself AND, just as importantly, to experience it with gratitude.
This is why our practice is simply to entrust and to say the Nembutsu. When we feel moved to say it, Namo Amida Butsu is a way to express our thanks for Amida Buddha's limitless light, life, and compassion. It is not a means to earn rebirth in the Pure Land but rather a way to acknowledge that it has already been earned for us. To quote Dharmachari Nagapriya in Lion’s Roar magazine, “It is an expression of gratitude for already having been “grasped never to be abandoned” by the compassionate Buddha.” And if I may add my own twist to his words, the Nembutsu is an expression of gratitude for not having to intellectually understand what it actually means for Amida’s Light, Life, or Compassion to be infinite for it to include each and every one of us.
Yes, each of us is in our own way a Jodo Shinshu Buzz Lightyear. When we say Namo Amida Butsu, we are expressing our thanks to Amida and acknowledging that we are indeed destined for infinity and beyond in the Pure Land. Namo Amida Butsu!
