[Composed by] Gutoku Shinran

Namu-amida-butsu

This first set of wasan is rich in meaning, explaining in great depth the boundlessness of Amida's wisdom and how it shines on all of us and transforms us into enlightened beings.

3

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

The first in this set of well-known hymns emphasises the "primality" of the vows. They were both established and fulfilled in the unimaginable past, preceding the Big Bang. There are many theories of what a kalpa is, but I don't think that finding an exact number is in the spirit of the meaning, which I think is "far too big to imagine, but not infinite". That is, in our samsaric conception of time, bodhisattva Dharmakara did practise and realise Buddhahood becoming Amida at some time unimaginably far in the past.

The last two lines signify that Buddhist enlightenment and the Vow's working to bring us to liberation is not bound by spatial concepts and so is present everywhere and on all beings, and that according to this it shines on all beings including the blind and ignorant who are considered incapable of properly practising the Buddha's other teachings (Path of Sages). Returning to the first two lines, since the vow was established unimaginably long ago, we can think of it as shining on beings at all times too, certainly never to leave us.

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.

wisdom (chie): Chi refers to thinking by reflection and judgment, discriminating this as this and that as that. E refers to no-activity attained through stilling such thought, so that there is no mental activity grasping this and that; it is Samadhi of no-activity.
finite: All things in the world are limited; hence, they are said to be finite (literally, “subject to quantification”). Buddha-dharma is without any limit or bound; hence, it is said to be without measure.
true and real: True means free of falsehood and flattery. Real means that things will unfailingly reach fruition.

Light is another name for wisdom. As Shinran's note on the meaning of wisdom explains, Buddhist wisdom is not about knowing things or being able to put things into correct discriminating categories, but actually transcending those discriminations to the true reality that is without these discriminating conceptions, and that wisdom turns out to liberate us. It exceeds all measure, again denotes its universality in space, but also its magnitude.

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 nondiscrimination.

wheel: that which eradicates
liberation: to attain enlightenment and become a Buddha.
[liberating wheel of light] expresses the eradicating of our karmic evil and blind passions by Amida’s light.
freed from attachments to being and nonbeing: to part from wrong views.
enlightenment of nondiscrimination: Amida, being dharma-body, is called “enlightenment of nondiscrimination”.

The first note says that wheel means "that which eradicates", and what is being eradicated is fundamental ignorance of the true nature of reality as noted in the third note. Fundamental ignorance is the ultimate cause of our suffering, therefore eradicating it liberates us. The fourth note discusses wrong views, and taken with the final note we understand that wrong views refers to attachments to discriminations in general, which as discussed earlier is what we are liberated from when we realise Buddhist wisdom.

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.

nurtured by this light: Because we are shone upon by this light, wisdom emerges in us.
beyond conception: beyond the reach of conceptual thought.

There is no action we can take, not even dying, that can impede the light of wisdom from shining on us and working to awaken us. As the first note says, the shining of the light on us causes wisdom to emerge within us, regardless of our condition or worries. The second note, discussing beyond the reach of our understanding as human beings. I was recently asked "How does Amida's directing of virtues actually work? How is it actually transmitted to us?" Of course, we can't actually answer this question, because the practise of bodhisattva Dharmakara in establishing and fulfilling those vows is beyond our conception as deluded, limited beings. So we don't have a choice but to accept its working on us as it is.

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.

purity: Being that which acts to eradicate the karmic evil of greed, it is called “the light of purity.”
ultimate shelter: The enlightenment of dharma-body has reached complete and thorough fulfillment.

Again, we reiterate the ultimate cleansing power of light. Hence why the metaphors of an endless ocean that cannot be tainted or a dark room filling with light are often used. The second note simply means that Amida is a fully realised Buddha.

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.

three courses: hell, hungry spirits, animals.

The so-called "three courses" mentioned in the note are often referred to as the "lower realms" or "lower births" in English. These refer to beings who are in a particularly bad way due to their severe attachments and delusions, hence the darkness (which means "ignorance" or "delusions") for those beings is very extreme. The name "Lord of Blazing Light" means that the light "burns up" all of our karmic evil. If we add wood onto a fire, it is transformed into ash, but it does not diminish the fire, in fact it increases it during the transformation process. Therefore, we don't have to worry about Amida's fire being unable to handle the weight of our karmic evils.