There is no separation between self and other, and my life exists only because of others. It is the power of others, the power-beyond-myself, that sustains my entire existence. We say there is no self, but another way to express it would be to say that when you have a near-death experience, the entire history of the universe ought to flash before your eyes. This vision is embedded in Shin within the story of Amida’s Pure Land, a representation of the liberated peace and bliss of nirvana. In Pure Land Buddhism we say that we wish to be born together with all beings in the Pure Land, so again we see the emphasis on togetherness. We seek a common destination that will be acceptable to all people. In this life, we have separations and disputes with other people based on our deluded egos: this is a fact of living that we cannot fully overcome. The story of the Pure Land upholds our greatest values, confirming that even though we are imperfect, we are embraced by great compassion, and even though we are unable to get along now, our goal is total reconciliation and togetherness.
Shinran expressed this well in A Record in Lament of Divergences, when he contrasted the Pure Land path with that of the sages. He said that the path of sages is to have pity and look down toward other beings. Sages are great Buddhist saints who by their own efforts have achieved freedom. But because they have separated themselves off to reach freedom, they cannot feel the pains of ordinary beings: they look down with pity upon the rest of us. The path of the Pure Land, by contrast, is to be born together with other beings into nirvana, the Pure Land, and then to immediately return to help others forever and ever. This Pure Land type of compassion keeps the practitioner in constant relationship to others, not separating him off as a saint.
-Jeff Wilson, Born Together With All Beings
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