Understanding Jodo Shinshu
“Birth in the Pure Land and “Becoming a Buddha” Print E-mail

As stated here, we cannot become Enlightened (become a Buddha) in this world. The Venerable Master clearly taught that only after being born in the Pure Land will we become a Buddha, that we will attain nirvana only in the Pure Land.

Again, in the Shozomatsu Wasan are the wasan:

Those who receive the shinjin of
Amida Buddha’s two-fold “merit transference”
Attain the position of toshogaku in the present
From which they will not regress.
Those who attain the rank of toshogaku
Based on the Vow that promises birth
in the Pure Land through the Nembutsu
Are equal to Miroku Bosatsu
And will attain the Great Enlightenment
(when they are born in the Pure Land).
Those who receive shinjin
Become part of the “rightly-established group.”
They are equal to Miroku Bosatsu
And will attain the unsurpassed Enlightenment
(in the Pure Land).

As indicated in the above wasans, the Venerable Master held that those with shinjin were the “same as Miroku (Bosatsu).” This means that those with shinjin will become a Buddha in the next life. It does not mean, however, that they will have the same virtue as Miroku Bosatsu who has advanced to the 51st stage of enlightenment in which most of his “ignorance and base passions” have been eliminated.

In this regard, the term, “toshogaku” in the first of the three wasan just quoted has the following comment next to it: “be included in the ‘rightly-assured group’ of those assured birth in the Pure Land.” As is clear from this comment, the Venerable Master did not have in mind the 51st stage of the bodhisattva path, but rather that the problem of our birth in the Pure Land has been settled even while we continue being “ignorant beings filled with base passions.” Regarding this, the following passage appears in Letter 15 of the Mattosho

In the sutras, those who attain true shinjin are said to be certain to become a Buddha, and therefore are equal to Tathagatas. This is just like referring to Maitraya as a Buddha even though he has not yet attained Buddhahood because it is certain that he will.

As indicated above, those with shinjin are sure to become Buddhas, and that is why they are said to be, “equal to Tathagatas.” That does not, however, mean they presently are Buddhas, or possess or are endowed with the virtues that are close to those possessed by a Buddha. In the same way, when those with shinjin are said to be “equal to Miroku,” it means that the determination that they will become a Buddha has already been made, and not that they already have the virtues of attaining the 51st level of Bodhisattvahood.