How joyous I am, Gutoku Shinran, disciple of Sakyamuni! Rare is it to come upon the sacred scriptures from the western land of India and the commentaries of the masters of China and Japan, but I have now been able to encounter them. Rare is it to hear these works, but I now am able to hear. Reverently entrusting myself to the teaching, practice and realization of the “true teaching” (shinshu), I am especially aware of my indebtedness to Amida Buddha.

Here the Venerable Master Shinran says he was able to enter the world of salvation because of the contact he had with the sutras from India, and the commentaries of the “Seven Eminent Scholar/Monks” (shichi koso) in India, China and Japan.

In the Postscript to the same “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment,” he considered the joy of salvation through “‘Buddha-centered power’ of the Primal Vow” (hongan tariki) to be entering the ocean of the Primal Vow which is absolutely unbounded. In that same Postscript, he wrote:

How joyous I am! My heart and mind are rooted in the Buddha-ground of the Universal Vow, and my thoughts and feelings flow within the dharma-ocean which is beyond comprehension!

Only after receiving shinjin do we realize the depths of our indebtedness to Amida Buddha. In the Chapter on Transformed Land of his “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment,” the Venerable Master Shinran expresses this as follows:

Having entered the ocean of the Vow, I deeply realize the Buddha’s benevolence.

Here the Venerable Master relates that because he was able to enter into the spirit of the 18th Vow (because his shinjin based on “Buddha-centered power” was settled), he realizes the depths of his indebtedness to the Buddha.

Again, in “Hymns of the Three Periods” (Shozomatsu Wasan), he wrote:

Through the compassion of Sakyamuni and Amida,
We are brought to realize the mind that seeks to
attain Buddhahood.
By entering the wisdom of shinjin
We respond in gratitude to the Buddhas’ benevolence.