Shinran Shonin, at age 76 (1248), wrote the Jodo and Koso wasan, the first Hymns in Japanese. These Hymns are a wonderful insight into Shinran Shonin’s deep understanding and appreciation for the Pure Land Path. They touch on the heart or pure essence that is Jodo Shinshu. Practicers will study and reflect on these wasan with deep gratitude and reverence.

To see Jodo Wasan presented by a BCA minister on YouTube, please visit this page: Jōdo Wasan – On Youtube

The Jodo wasan is broken down into 5 chapters:

Wasan on Master T’an-luan’s Gatha in Praise of Amida Buddha: Verses 1-50

Wasan on the Three Pure Land Sutras : Verses 51-86

Amida Wasan on the Heart of Various Sutras: Verses 87-95

Wasan on Benefits in the Present: Verses 96-110

Wasan in Praise of Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva: Verses 111-118

1. Wasan on Master T’an-luan’s Gatha in Praise of Amida Buddha
Verses 1-50

Jōdo Wasan 1

Those who truly attain shinjin
As they utter Amida’s Name,
Being mindful of the Buddha always,
Wish to respond to the great benevolence.

Jōdo Wasan 2

Those who say the Name while they doubt
The Vow beyond conceptual understanding
Attain birth and abide for five-hundred years
Vainly within a palace; so it is taught.

Jōdo Wasan 3

Amida has passed through ten kalpas now;
Since realising Buddhahood;
Dharma-body’s wheel of light is without bound,
Shining on the blind and ignorant of the world.

Jōdo Wasan 4

The light of wisdom exceeds all measure,
And every finite living being
Receives this illumination that is like the dawn,
So take refuge in Amida, the true and real light.

Jōdo Wasan 5

The liberating wheel of light is without bound;
Each person it touches, it is taught,
Is freed from attachments to being and nonbeing,
So take refuge in Amida, the enlightenment of non-discrimination.

Jōdo Wasan 6

The cloud of light is unhindered, like open sky;
There is nothing that impedes it.
Every being is nurtured by this light,
So take refuge in Amida, the one beyond conception.

Jōdo Wasan 7

The light of purity is without compare.
When a person encounters this light,
All bonds of karma fall away;
So take refuge in Amida, the ultimate shelter.

Jōdo Wasan 8

The Buddha’s light is supreme in radiance;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha, Lord of Blazing Light.’
It dispels the darkness of the three courses of affliction,
So take refuge in Amida, the great one worthy of offerings.

Jōdo Wasan 9

The radiance of enlightenment, in its brilliance, transcends all limits;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha of the Light of Purity.’
Once illuminated by this light,
We are freed of karmic defilements and attain emancipation.

Jōdo Wasan 10

The light of compassion illuminates us from afar;
Those beings it reaches, it is taught,
Attain joy of dharma,
So take refuge in Amida, the great consolation.

Jōdo Wasan 11

The light dispels the darkness of ignorance;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha of the Light of Wisdom.’
All Buddhas and sages of the three vehicles
Together offer their praise.

Jōdo Wasan 12

The light shines everywhere ceaselessly;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha of Uninterrupted Light.’
Because beings hear [and apprehend] this power of light,
Their mindfulness is enduring and they attain birth.

Jōdo Wasan 13

The Buddha’s light cannot be fathomed;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha of Inconceivable Light.’
All the Buddhas, in acclaiming a person’s attainment of birth.
Extol Amida’s virtues.

Jōdo Wasan 14

The majestic light, transcending form, is beyond description;
Thus Amida is called ‘Buddha of Inexpressible Light.’
All the Buddhas praise this light –
The cause by which Amida’s Buddhahood was fulfilled.

Jōdo Wasan 15

The light is more luminous than the heavenly bodies;
Thus Amida is called ‘Light that Surpasses the Sun and Moon.’
Even Śākyamuni’s praise cannot exhaust its virtues,
So take refuge in the one without equal.

Jōdo Wasan 16

When Amida, on becoming a Buddha, first taught the dharma,
The sages present were numerous beyond reckoning;
All who aspire to be born in the Pure Land,
Take refuge in Amida of the vast assembly.

Jōdo Wasan 17

The countless great bodhisattvas of the land of happiness,
Have reached ‘succession to Buddhahood after one lifetime’;
Entering the compassionate activity of Samantabhadra,
They unfailingly work to save beings in defiled worlds.

Jōdo Wasan 18

Amassing a stock of virtues from the Buddhas
For sentient beings of the ten quarters,
They bring them to entrust themselves to the universal Primal Vow;
So take refuge in Amida, the ocean-like great mind.

Jōdo Wasan 19

Avalokiteshvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta
Together illuminate the world with the light of compassion,
Never resting even for a moment
From bringing to nirvana those with mature conditions.

Jōdo Wasan 20

Those who reach the Pure Land of happiness
Return to this evil world of the five defilements,
Where, like the Buddha Shakyamuni
They benefit sentient beings without limit.

Jōdo Wasan 21

The free working of their supernatural powers
Cannot be fathomed,
For they are possessed of virtues that surpass conception;
So take refuge in Amida, the supremely honoured one.

Jōdo Wasan 22

In the land of happiness, Śrāvakas, Bodhisattvas,
Human beings, and devas all possess luminous wisdom,
And their bodily features and adornments are all the same;
Different terms are used for them only in accord with
the forms of existence in other worlds.

Jōdo Wasan 23

Their countenances, dignified and wonderful, are beyond compare;
Their bodies, delicate and subtle, are neither human nor deva.
Theirs is the body of emptiness, the body of boundlessness,
So take refuge in Amida, the power of non-discrimination.

Jōdo Wasan 24

People who aspire for the land of happiness
Dwell in the stage of the truly settled.
None in that land are falsely settled or unsettled;
Therefore the Buddhas offer Amida their praise.

Jōdo Wasan 25

When sentient beings in the various forms of existence
        throughout the ten quarters,
On hearing Amida’s Name of transcendent virtues,
Come to attain true and real shinjin,
They greatly rejoice at what they have heard.

Jōdo Wasan 26

Because of the Vow, ‘If they should not be born…,’
When the moment of genuine entrusting has come
And people attain the one thought-moment of joy,
Their birth becomes completely settled.

Jōdo Wasan 27

The two kinds of fulfilment of the Buddha land
        of happiness – the beings and adornments –
Were formed through the power of Dharmakāra’s Vow.
They have no equal in the heavens or on earth,
So take refuge in Amida, the power of the great mind.

Jōdo Wasan 28

Śākyamuni Buddha states
That even with his unhindered eloquence,
The adornments of the land of happiness cannot
        be fully expounded;
So take refuge in Amida, the inexpressible Buddha.

Jōdo Wasan 29

Beings born in the Pure Land in the past, present, and future
Are not solely from this world;
They come from Buddha lands throughout the ten quarters
And are countless, innumerable, beyond calculation.

Jōdo Wasan 30

Those who, hearing Amida Buddha’s Name,
Rejoice in it with reverence and praise,
Receive its treasure of virtues;
The great benefit acquired with one utterance is supreme.

Jōdo Wasan 31

Those who hear the Buddha’s Name –
Going even through flames that fill
The great thousand-fold world to do so –
Attain forever the stage of non-retrogression.

Jōdo Wasan 32

The Buddhas, infinite in number, all praise Amida,
Whose majestic powers are boundless;
From the eastern Buddha lands, countless as the sands of the Ganges,
Innumerable bodhisattvas go to pay homage.

Jōdo Wasan 33

Bodhisattvas of the Buddha lands in the nine other quarters
Likewise go to pay homage to Amida;
Śākyamuni Tathagata has taught in verse
The praise of the Buddha’s immeasurable virtues.

Jōdo Wasan 34

The countless bodhisattvas throughout the ten quarters,
To cultivate roots of virtue,
Revere and praise Amida in song;
Let us all take refuge in the Bhāgavat.

Jōdo Wasan 35

The hall and bodhi-tree of seven precious materials
Belong to the Pure Land of the transformed Buddha-body,
      a provisional means;
Numberless are the beings born there from throughout
      the ten quarters,
So pay homage to the sacred hall and bodhi-tree.

Jōdo Wasan 36

The wondrous land, vast beyond measurement,
Is made up of adornments fulfilled through the Primal Vow,
So bow down to and take refuge in Amida,
The pure one who broadly grasps all beings.

Jōdo Wasan 37

Amida’s self-benefit and benefit of others have
        been perfectly fulfilled as the Pure Land,
The compassionate means skilfully adorned
        to lead us to take refuge.
It cannot be grasped by the mind or by words,
So take refuge in the Honoured-one beyond
        conceptual understanding.

Jōdo Wasan 38

The Buddha’s majestic power and Primal Vow –
Fulfilled, luminous, resolute, and ultimate –
Are means of compassion beyond conceptual understanding,
So take refuge in Amida, the truly immeasurable one.

Jōdo Wasan 39

The delicate, wondrous sounds of jewel-trees
        in the jewel-forests
Are a naturally pure and harmonious music,
Unexcelled in subtlety and elegance,
So take refuge in Amida, the music of purity.

Jōdo Wasan 40

Trees of seven precious materials fill the land,
Mutually reflecting each other’s brilliance;
The flowers, fruits, branches, and leaves all shine thus,
So take refuge in Amida, the store of virtues fulfilled
        through the Primal Vow.

Jōdo Wasan 41

Pure winds blow in the jewel-trees,
Producing the five tones of the scale.
As those sounds are harmonious and spontaneous,
Pay homage to Amida, the one imbued with purity.

Jōdo Wasan 42

Beams of light, thirty-six hundred
Thousand billion in number,
Shine brilliantly from within each flower;
There is no place they do not reach.

Jōdo Wasan 43

Buddha-bodies, equal in number
To the thirty-six hundred thousand billion
Beams of light, emerge from each flower;
Their features and marks are like mountains of gold.

Jōdo Wasan 44

Each feature and mark releases, throughout the ten quarters,
A hundred thousand beams of light;
Thus the Buddhas constantly teach and spread
        the excellent dharma
And lead beings into the Buddha’s path.

Jōdo Wasan 45

The jewel-ponds, formed of seven precious materials, are limpid
And brimming with waters of eight excellent qualities;
The undefiled adornments of the land surpass conceptual
        understanding,
So take refuge in Amida, the treasury of virtues.

Jōdo Wasan 46

The afflictions of the three evil courses are forever eliminated,
And only spontaneous, delightful sounds are heard.
For this reason the Buddha’s land is called ‘Happiness’;
So take refuge in Amida, the ultimately honoured one.

Jōdo Wasan 47

Those of immeasurable wisdom throughout the ten quarters
      – past, present, and future –
All, without exception, having grounded themselves in oneness,
Equally attain the enlightenment of perfection in the two aspects
      of wisdom;
Their salvation of beings according to conditions is beyond conception.

Jōdo Wasan 48

When we take refuge in the Pure Land of Amida,
We take refuge in all the Buddhas.
To praise the one Buddha, Amida, with the mind that is single
Is to praise all the unhindered ones.

Jōdo Wasan 49

When, in even a single thought-moment of sincere mind,
You have attained shinjin and joy, gladdened by what
      you have heard,
Bow down in homage at the feet
Of the Buddha of Inconceivable Light!

Jōdo Wasan 50

I praise Amida’s wisdom and virtue
So that beings with mature conditions throughout the ten quarters
        may hear.
Let those who have already realised shinjin
Constantly respond in gratitude to the Buddha’s benevolence.

2. Wasan on the Three Pure Land Sutras
Verses 51-86

Jōdo Wasan 51

Venerable Ānanda, rising from his seat,
Beheld the majestic radiance of the World-honoured one;
Amazed, with a rare feeling of wonder emerging in him,
He realized he had never witnessed such radiance before.

Jōdo Wasan 52

Śākyamuni’s splendour was rare and auspicious;
Ananda, rejoicing immensely,
Asked its meaning, whereupon the Buddha revealed
The fundamental intent of his appearance in the world.

Jōdo Wasan 53

Having entered the Samadhi of great tranquillity,
The Buddha’s countenance was wondrous in its radiance;
Observing the depth of Ānanda’s discernment,
He praised him for his insightful question.

Jōdo Wasan 54

The fundamental intent for which the Buddha appeared in the
        world
Was to reveal the truth and reality of the Primal Vow.
He taught that to encounter or behold a Buddha
Is as rare as the blossoming of the Uḍumbara.

Jōdo Wasan 55

It is taught that ten kalpas have now passed
Since Amida attained Buddhahood,
But he seems a Buddha more ancient
Than kalpas countless as particles.

Jōdo Wasan 56

The Buddha of Inconceivable Light, under Lokeśvararāja Buddha,
Selected the best qualities from among
All the pure lands of the ten quarters
To establish the Primal Vow.

Jōdo Wasan 57

The light of the Buddha of Unhindered Light
Harbours the lights of purity, joy, and wisdom;
Its virtuous working surpasses conceptual understanding,
As it benefits the beings throughout the ten quarters.

Jōdo Wasan 58

Encouraging the beings of the ten quarters with the words,
‘With sincere mind entrust yourselves and aspire for birth,’
Amida established the Vow beyond conceptual understanding
And made it the cause of birth in the true and real fulfilled land.

Jōdo Wasan 59

Those who attain true and real shinjin
Immediately join the truly settled;
Thus having entered the stage of non-retrogression,
They necessarily attain nirvana.

Jōdo Wasan 60

So profound is Amida’s great compassion
That, manifesting inconceivable Buddha-wisdom,
The Buddha established the Vow of transformation into men,
Thereby vowing to enable women to attain Buddhahood.

Jōdo Wasan 61

Provisionally guiding sentient beings of the ten quarters
        with the words,
‘Aspire with sincere mind and desire to be born,’
Amida revealed the temporary gate of various good acts
And vowed to appear before them [at the time of death].

Jōdo Wasan 62

Based on Amida’s Vow to appear at the time of death,
Śākyamuni presented all the various good acts
In one scripture, the Contemplation Sutra,
To encourage those who perform meditative and
        non-meditative practices.

Jōdo Wasan 63

All the good acts and myriad practices,
Because they are performed with a sincere mind and aspiration,
Become, without exception, provisional good
That will lead to birth in the Pure Land.

Jōdo Wasan 64

Provisionally guiding sentient beings of the ten quarters
        with the words,
‘Direct your merits with sincere mind, desiring to be born,’
Amida revealed the true gate of the Name,
Vowing to enable beings ultimately to attain birth.

Jōdo Wasan 65

Based on the Vow that beings ultimately attain birth,
Śākyamuni presented, in the Amida Sutra,
The root of good and the root of virtue,
Encouraging those of the One Vehicle.

Jōdo Wasan 66

Those who say the Name in self-power, whether
        meditative or non-meditative –
Having indeed taken refuge in the Vow that beings
       ultimately attain birth –
Will spontaneously, even without being taught,
Turn about and enter the gate of suchness.

Jōdo Wasan 67

Those who, though aspiring for the Pure Land of happiness,
Do not realize shinjin that is Other Power,
Doubt the Buddha’s inconceivable wisdom and therefore dwell
In the borderland or the realm of indolence and pride.

Jōdo Wasan 68

It is difficult to encounter a time when a Tathagata appears
        in the world,
And difficult to hear the teaching of the Buddhas;
It is rare to hear the excellent dharma for bodhisattvas,
Even in a span of countless kalpas.

Jōdo Wasan 69

It is difficult to meet true teachers
And difficult for them to instruct.
It is difficult to hear the teaching well,
And more difficult still to accept it.

Jōdo Wasan 70

More difficult even than trust in the teachings of
       Śākyamuni’s lifetime
Is the true entrusting of the universal Vow,
The sutra teaches that it is ‘the most difficult of all difficulties,’
That ‘nothing surpasses this difficulty.’

Jōdo Wasan 71

Attaining Buddhahood through the Nembutsu is the true
        essence of the Pure Land way;
The myriad practices and good acts are the temporary gate.
Unless one distinguishes the accommodated and the real,
        the temporary and the true,
One cannot possibly know the Pure Land that
        is naturalness (jinen).

Jōdo Wasan 72

Sentient beings, having long followed the Path of Sages –
The accommodated and temporary teachings that are
        provisional means –
Have been transmigrating in various forms of existence;
So take refuge in the One Vehicle of the compassionate Vow.

Jōdo Wasan 73

Śākyamuni Buddha, out of vast benevolence,
Instructed Queen Vaidehī, leading her to select,
From among all the lands manifested in the pedestal of light,
Amida’s world of happiness.

Jōdo Wasan 74

King Bimbisāra put the ascetic to death
Without waiting for the time of his rebirth as determined
        by past conditions,
And in recompense for this act of murder,
Was imprisoned in a cell seven walls thick.

Jōdo Wasan 75

King Ajātaśatru shouted, in a fit of rage,
My own mother betrays me!
And heinously, to strike her down,
He drew his sword against her.

Jōdo Wasan 76

Jīvaka and Candraprabha earnestly admonished the king,
Saying such acts were those of an outcaste,
And that they could not remain in the castle should he persist;
Thus they tried to quell his lawless impulses.

Jōdo Wasan 77

The minister Jīvaka, with hand on his sword,
Stepped backward and began to take his leave;
Ajātaśatru was thus made to discard his sword,
But he confined Vaidehī within the palace.

Jōdo Wasan 78

Amida and Sakyamuni, employing compassionate means,
And Ananda, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Vaidehi,
Devadatta, King Ajatasatru, Bimbisara,
Jivaka, Candraprabha, Varsakara, and others –
[continues in Wasan 79…]

Jōdo Wasan 79

All of them great sages –
By various means, brought the most foolish and lowest
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.

Jōdo Wasan 80

Since conditions for the Pure Land teaching had matured,
Śākyamuni and Vaidehī, manifesting compassionate means,
Led the minister Varsakara to bear witness
And King Ajātaśatru to commit grave offenses.

Jōdo Wasan 81

Let us overturn the three minds of self-power,
      whether meditative or non-meditative,
Which vary with each practicer;
Let us aspire to enter into shinjin
That arises from Amida’s benefiting of others.

Jōdo Wasan 82

Seeing the sentient beings of the Nembutsu
Throughout the worlds, countless as particles, in the ten quarters,
The Buddha grasps and never abandons them,
And therefore is named ‘Amida.’

Jōdo Wasan 83

The Buddhas, countless as the sands of the Ganges or as particles,
Reject the small good of the various practices
And all alike wholeheartedly encourage beings
To realize shinjin that is the inconceivable working of the Name.

Jōdo Wasan 84

The Buddhas of the ten quarters, countless as the sands of
        the Ganges,
Teach this dharma that is most difficult to accept;
For the sake of the evil world of the five defilements,
They bear witness to the teaching and protect beings who
        take refuge in it.

Jōdo Wasan 85

The Buddhas’ protection and witness
Arise from the fulfilment of the Vow of compassion;
So let those who attain the diamond-like mind,
Respond in gratitude to Amida’s great benevolence.

Jōdo Wasan 86

To the evil beings of wrong views
In this evil age of five defilements, in this evil world
The Buddhas, countless as the sands of the Ganges,
Give the Name of Amida, urging [them to entrust themselves to it].

3. Amida Wasan Based on the Heart of Various Sutras
Verses 87-95

Jōdo Wasan 87

Amida, full of compassion for those lost in
        the great night of ignorance –
The wheel of light of dharma-body being boundless –
Took the form of the Buddha of Unhindered Light,
And appeared in the land of peace.

Jōdo Wasan 88

Amida, who attained Buddhahood in the infinite past,
Full of compassion for foolish beings of the five defilements,
Took the form of Shakyamuni Buddha
And appeared in Gaya.

Jōdo Wasan 89

Let Amida be praised for a hundred thousand kotis of kalpas
By a hundred thousand kotis of tongues,
Each producing countless voices,
And still that praise would be incomplete.

Jōdo Wasan 90

The Great Sage Shakyamuni teaches
That Amida’s land is easy to reach,
And calls the sentient being who doubts the Pure Land path
A person lacking eyes, or lacking ears.

Jōdo Wasan 91

The Supreme that is unexcelled is true emancipation;
True emancipation is none other than Tathagata.
When we attain true emancipation,
We become free of desire and free of doubt.

Jōdo Wasan 92

When a person realises the mind of non-discrimination,
That attainment is the ‘state of regarding each being as
        one’s only child.’
This is none other than Buddha-Nature;
We will awaken to it n reaching the land of peace.

Jōdo Wasan 93

Tathagata is none other than nirvana;
Nirvana is called Buddha-nature.
Beyond our ability to attain it in the state of foolish beings,
We will realise it on reaching the land of peace.

Jōdo Wasan 94

The person who attains shinjin and joy
Is taught to be equal to the Tathagatas.
Great shinjin is itself Buddha-nature;
Buddha-nature is none other than Tathagata.

Jōdo Wasan 95

Sentient beings who, with hindered understandings,
Doubt the Buddha’s unhindered wisdom,
Will sink for many kalpas in various forms of pain
In the hells of Śamvara and Piṇḍola.

4. Wasan on Benefits in the Present
Verses 96-110

Jōdo Wasan 96

Amida Tathagata came forth and guided beings,
Teaching the ‘Chapter on Life-span’
In the Sutra of Golden Splendour
In order to end calamities and ensure long life.

Jōdo Wasan 97

Out of compassionate concern for the people of the land,
Master Saicho of Mount Hiei said that
One should utter ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu’
As a spell for eliminating the seven calamities.

Jōdo Wasan 98

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
Which surpasses all virtues,
Our heavy obstructions of evil – past, present, and future –
Are all unfailingly transformed, becoming light.

Jōdo Wasan 99

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
The benefits we gain in the present are boundless;
The karmic evil of our transmigration in birth-and-death
      disappears,
And determine karma and untimely death are eliminated.

Jōdo Wasan 100

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
Brahma and Indra venerate us;
All the benevolent gods of the heavens
Protect us constantly, day and night.

Jōdo Wasan 101

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
The four great deva-kings together
Protect us constantly, day and night,
And let no evil spirits come near.

Jōdo Wasan 102

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu’,
The earth-goddess called Firmness
Reveres and protects us constantly, day and night,
Accompanying us always just as shadows do things.

Jōdo Wasan 103

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
Nanda, Upananda, and other great nagas,
Along with the countless Nāga-gods, revere
And protect us constantly, day and night.

Jōdo Wasan 104

When we say Namu-Amida-Butsu,
Yama, the King of the dead, reveres us,
And the officers who judge the beings of the five courses of
        existence
All protect us constantly, day and night.

Jōdo Wasan 105

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
We are protected by the great kind of māras,
Residing in the sixth heaven;
This he vowed to do in the presence of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Jōdo Wasan 106

The gods of the heavens and earth
Are all to be called good,
For together they protect
The person of the Nembutsu.

Jōdo Wasan 107

Shinjin that is the inconceivable working of the power of the Vow
Is none other than the mind aspiring for great Enlightenment;
The evil spirits that abound in heaven and earth
All hold in awe the person who has attained it.

Jōdo Wasan 108

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
Avalokiteshvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta,
Together with bodhisattvas countless as the Ganges’
     sands or as particles,
Accompany us just as shadows do things.

Jōdo Wasan 109

Countless Amida Buddhas reside
In the light of the Buddha of Unhindered Light;
Each of these transformed Buddhas protects
The person of true and real shinjin.

Jōdo Wasan 110

When we say ‘Namu-Amida-Butsu,’
The countless Buddhas throughout the ten quarters,
Surrounding us a hundredfold, a thousand-fold,
Rejoice in and protect us.

5. Wasan in Praise of Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva
Verses 111-118

Jōdo Wasan 111

Having realised the perfect, all-pervasive truth of the Nembutsu,
Mahāsthāmaprāpta, together with fifty-two bodhisattvas,
Rose from his seat and prostrated himself
At the feet of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Jōdo Wasan 112

He addressed the World-honoured one, the master of the teaching,
‘Ages ago, kalpas countless as the Ganges’ sands in the past,
A Buddha appeared in the world
Whose name was Immeasurable Light.’

Jōdo Wasan 113

‘Thereafter Tathagatas succeeded each other,
Twelve in all, over a duration of twelve kalpas;
The last Tathagata was named
Light that surpasses Sun and Moon.’

Jōdo Wasan 114

‘The Tathagata of Light that Surpasses the Sun and Moon
Taught me the Nembutsu-samadhi.
The Tathagatas of the ten quarters compassionately regard
Each sentient being as their only child.’

Jōdo Wasan 115

‘When sentient beings think on Amida,
Just as a child thinks of its mother,
They indeed see the Tathagata – who is never distant –
Both in the present and in the future.’

Jōdo Wasan 116

‘Such beings are like people who, imbued with incense,
Bear its fragrance on their bodies;
They may be called
Those adorned with the fragrance of light.’

Jōdo Wasan 117

‘When I was in the causal state,
I realised insight into the non-origination of all existence
By coming to possess the mind of Nembutsu;
Hence now, in the world of Saha,

Jōdo Wasan 118

I embrace persons of the Nembutsu
And bring them into the Pure Land.’
Let us respond with deep gratitude for the great benevolence
Of Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta.

This concludes the hymns to Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta,
the original state of Master Genku.