Ryosetsu Fujiwara's Standard of Shinshu Faith, Sec. 2 (Amida Buddha)

Welcome to "A Standard of Shinshu Faith"

This important work was prepared for the Buddhist Churches of America in 1963, and is now out of print. It is a digest of the Anjin Rondai, Topics for Discussions on Faith, the doctrinal standard of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha. It is an excellent work and deserves to be available in English in electronic form until such time as a new edition is printed. It is available at: https://www.nembutsu.info/standard/

Not all of the original document has been published in this electronic version. The appendix, which gave details of selected examples of unorthodox teachings in Shin Buddhism, is not included.

At the time of the publication of A Standard of Shinshu Faith, Professor Fujiwara of Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan, was a Director of Studies (shikyo) to Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, and Visiting Professor at the Buddhist Churches of America Study Centre in Berkeley, California.

Incorporated in this version and in this series of videos is a word-for-word transcription of the original document. However, in a few places where antiquated terms were used, slight editorial changes have been made to reflect current practice: especially to conform with standards at the Numata and Hongwanji publishing houses. Such changes have been made only when it was clear that they were not controversial, and would not distort the original meaning.

Contents:

Preparatory Knowledge of Shinshu
Amida Buddha
Function of the Name
Relation between Name and Vow
Nature of Faith
Significance of Nembutsu
Effect of Faith