In addition to the above, Letter 4 of the Mattosho also contains the phrase, “equal to Tathagatas,” and praises Shakyamuni with, “Those who have received shinjin are my good and intimate friends.” Further, since the 17th Vow states that all the Buddhas in the ten directions will praise Amida Buddha, some people interpret this to mean that the Venerable Master asserts “becoming a Buddha in this world.” This also is incorrect because that is the fifth of the “Ten Benefits in the Present World”—the benefit of receiving the praise of all the Buddhas—which is another way of referring to the benefit of being in the “rightly-established group” described in the Chapter on Faith of the Kyogyoshinsho. As such, it is just one of the benefits or virtues of being in the “rightly-established group,” and does not mean that we become a Buddha in this world.

As related in the section on “rightly-established group in the present” (gensho shojoju), the Venerable Master considered the “rightly-established group” to be a benefit in the present world, and in the comment about this phrase in the Ichinen Tanen Mon’i, he said it has two meanings: “the determination of birth in the Pure Land has already been decided” and “absolutely able to become a Buddha.”

I believe the Venerable Master’s explanation of “rightly-established group in the present” is complete with these comments. In other words, ojo refers to the fact that our birth in the Pure Land is determined in the present and not that we are born there while still in this world. It refers to the fact that we will become a Buddha in the future, and not that we presently are a Buddha.