In other words, because of its power, the moment we accept Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow, we become part of the “group of those assured (of birth in the Pure Land)” and are absolutely guaranteed birth in the Pure Land. That is when our shinjin is settled and why we recite the Nembutsu in gratitude.

The reason Master Rennyo emphasized recitation of Amida Buddha’s Name (reciting “Namo Amida Butsu”) in his “Honorable Letters” and elsewhere, is because he relied so much on this passage from the Venerable Master Shinran’s “Hymn of True Faith.”

I repeat, saying that Master Rennyo’s teaching of “recitation (of Amida Buddha’s Name) in gratitude” (shomyo hoon) is a distortion of the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching, is a great mistake.

It goes without saying that the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching is that, regardless of how deeply evil we are, the power of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow will save us solely because of shinjin. Further, when our shinjin is settled, we will be placed in the “group of those assured (of birth in the Pure Land) from which there is no retrogression” (shojoju futaiten), just as we are, with all our “base passions” (bonno).

Within the Pure Land teachings, it was the Venerable Master Shinran who first made the above clear (please refer to my previous work, “Understanding Jodo-Shinshu,” for details regarding this; I will not go into details here). I believe the Venerable Master Shinran encouraged us to receive shinjin because he wished even one more person to experience the reality of the world of salvation — joining the “rightly-established group of those assured (of birth in the Pure Land) in this present life” (gensho shojo-ju)—that he himself had experienced.

The language with which he expressed the unparalleled joy of being included in the “rightly-established group in this present life” is found in the General Preface to this “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment”: