And as expressed, “... sentient beings, having heard how the Buddha’s Vow arose—its origin and fulfillment—are completely free of doubt. That is what ‘to hear’ means,” is what the Venerable Master referred to when speaking of “listening” without doubt.

Regarding this, in “On the One Recitation and the Many Recitations,” it states: “Hearing the ‘name and title’ means hearing the ‘name and title’ that embodies the Primal Vow. ‘Hear’ means hearing the Primal Vow free of doubt and expresses what shinjin is,” pointing out that it does not refer to just listening passively, but listening without doubt. That truly is what “hearing” is. And that “hearing,” just as it is, is what shinjin is. Listening until we reach a state where there is absolutely no doubt is extremely difficult. I believe that is why the shinjin of “Buddha-centered power” is said to be the “difficult-to-acquire shinjin” (nanshin).

Regardless of how much you listen to the “reason for the origin and fulfillment of the Buddha’s vow,” if you do so though logical analysis, you will always have doubt regarding it. In Letter 9 of “Lamp for the Latter Ages” (Mattosho), the Venerable Master Shinran wrote:

There must be no calculation on our part in the act that leads to “birth in the Pure Land.” ... We must simply open ourselves to Amida Buddha.

As indicated in this passage, the problem of “birth in the Pure Land” is not something that we “ignorant beings filled with base passions” can do anything about. All we can do, according to the Venerable Master, is to leave it completely up to Amida Buddha.

The problem, then, is why it is so difficult to leave it completely up to Amida Buddha. And the answer is that it is due to our being so taken in by our desire to be “logical” and our desire to “understand” it all. There is understand-ing, but it is spiritual and not logical.

Only when we sense what ignorant beings we are, only when we sense the base passions that truly move us, and simply acknowledge it, will we be able to break the bonds of “logic” and the desire to “understand,” that bind us. That is when doubts about the Primal Vow disappear, and when we are able to leave our salvation completely up to the workings of Amida Buddha.