Ten Hymns based on his Writings
Sakyamuni’s teachings are numerous,
But Bodhisattva Vasubandhu compassionately urges us,
Who are possessed of blind passions,
To take refuge in Amida’s universal Vow.
The adornments of the Pure Land of peace
Are perceived only through the wisdom shared by Buddhas.
That land is infinite, like space,
Vast and without bounds.
Of those who encounter the power of the Primal Vow,
Not one passes by in vain;
They are filled with the treasure ocean of virtues,
The defiled waters of their blind passions not separated from it.
The sages of the Tathagata’s pure lotus
Are born transformed from the flower of perfect enlightenment;
Thus, the aspirations of sentient beings
Are swiftly and completely fulfilled there.
Pure lotus: the lotus appearing when Amida attained Buddhahood. The sentient beings who come to be born from this lotus are the same in practicing the nembutsu and follow no other way.
The immovable sages, who were formerly humans and devas,
Are born from the ocean of wisdom, the universal Vow;
The virtues of their mental activity are pure
And free of discrimination, like empty space.
Vasubandhu, author of the Treatise, took refuge
In the unhindered light with the mind that is single;
He teaches that by entrusting ourselves to the Vow’s power,
We will reach the fulfilled land.
To take refuge, with the mind that is single,
In the Buddha of unhindered light filling the ten quarters
Is, in the words of Vasubandhu, author of the Treatise,
The mind that aspires to attain Buddhahood.
The mind that aspires to attain Buddhahood
Is the mind to save all sentient beings;
The mind to save all sentient beings
Is true and real shinjin, which is Amida’s benefiting of others.
Shinjin is the mind that is single;
The mind that is single is the diamondlike mind.
The diamondlike mind is the mind aspiring for enlightenment;
This mind is itself Other Power.
On reaching the land of the Vow,
We immediately realize the supreme nirvana,
And thereupon we awaken great compassion.
All this is called Amida’s “directing of virtue.”
Land of the Vow: the land of Amida’s Primal Vow of compassion.
Here ends the Hymns on