Several years ago, I toured China. I visited the regions associated with the Silk Road, Beijin and Sian, of course, but I also visited places such as the Great Wall and the Ch’in Tomb where Emperor Shih built a monument with thousands of terra-cotta warriors that he hoped would to protect him in the next life. I was brought to realize how much power this man had approximately 2,200 years ago. And yet there was something that even he could not attain: the elixir that would prevent old age and death. Emperor Shih even sent a follower to Japan in search of such an elixir, but he left this world unable to acquire such a thing. Even a man such as Emperor Shih, who probably had as much secular power as any man in history, had to suffer from not getting what he wanted.

The Venerable Master Shinran referred to shinjin as, “the mind of great joy” (daikyoki-shin). The reason he did so was because, as he also wrote, “this mind cannot be overturned and there is no falsehood in it.” In other words, shinjin is a joyous reality that can neither crumble nor change. This is the great joy that we receive in the present.

And it is because of this joyous world that the myokonin (pious and devout person enlightened through the Jodo-Shinshu teaching) named Okaru wrote: “Though I climb a mountain road with a heavy load on my back, no suffering is involved when I consider how blessed I am,” strangely echoing Iyeyasu’s words, but putting a “spin” on them. This joy is also the world of, “All right if I live, and all right if I die.” In other words, as long as we have life, we are fortunate beings who are saved in the present because we are in the “rightly-established group.” We are further blessed because of the absolute assurance that we will be born in the Pure Land regardless of when our life in this world ends.

We are bound to encounter many difficulties in life. Regardless of the difficulties we come in contact with, however, we are sustained by the great joy and reassurance from the shinjin of “Buddhacentered power,” and are thus able to make our way through life strongly and vigorously.