Tag Archives: other-power
Soga Ryōjin: “I am neither of the self-power school nor of the other-power school.”
The last of the extracts of Soga Ryōjin’s work that I noted down from the Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook: The people of the ‘self-power’ schools pride themselves exclusively on the subjective Tathāgata and negate the objective Tathāgata; the people of the ‘other-power’ school’ cling one-sidedly to an objective Tathāgata, and fall into despair. This is because [...]
On ‘Encountering the Buddha’
In May I wrote a post entitled ‘Tender Indifference’ in which I quoted Soga Ryojin to the effect that, “we are helped naturally and without any outward interference. The Buddha fulfills the Dharma whereby one is helped naturally and without anyone’s calculation, and in this way He helps, and helps all sentient beings equally. Thus the Buddha does not [...]
“where our small, foolish self remains unsatisfied”
“it is precisely at the point where our small, foolish self remains unsatisfied, or completely bewildered, that immeasurable natural life beyond the thoughts of that self takes place. Life functions and the power of the Buddha is actualized, precisely at the point where we become completely lost.” (Uchiyama, Kosho, Opening the Hand of Thought: Foundations [...]
‘The Other Power and the Infinite Unity’
“The Other Power teaching acknowledges the Infinite. However, when they say that this Infinite exists outside of us, it is apt to be misunderstood, as something like a worldly fetishism, a worshiped spiritual body that exists apart from us. Such thought of illusory external world (gaibutsu) will perpetuate such a notion of an interrelated self [...]
Jottings: Existentialism and Buddhism
Two passages from The Self-overcoming of Nihilism by Keiji Nishitani: “[In Sartrean Existentialism] That human beings continually create themselves out of nothing is meant to supplant the Christian notion of God’s creatio ex nihilio. To this extent it is not the stand point of “self-power” in the ordinary sense. Self-creation out of nothing is not brought about simply by [...]
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