These hymns clarify the directing of merits from Amida to foolish sentient beings such as ourselves, and how the faulty minds of sentient beings do not perturb the great ocean of Amida's compassionate mind.

38

When we reflect on the establishment of the Vow,
We find that the Tathagata, without abandoning sentient beings in pain and affliction,
Has taken the directing of virtue to them as foremost,
Thus fulfilling the mind of great compassion.

Establishment of the Vow: Amida Tathagata’s establishing of the compassionate Vow.
l.4: know that Amida has attained the mind of great love and great compassion.

Bodhisattva Dharmakara's establishment of the Vow entailed significant practise and thus the development of extreme virtues. Because we practise with poisoned minds and bad intentions we create no virtues when we attempt Buddhist practises, be it ethical practise, meditation, or even nembutsu out of our own self-power. After Dharmakara's great practise, he selected the Vows, which primarily involves the directing of his virtues to us. Since these virtues are always shared among all beings, it is perfect compassionate activity.

39

The saying of the Name arising from true and real shinjin
Is Amida’s directing of virtue to beings;
Therefore, it is called “not directing merit,”
And saying the nembutsu in self-power is rejected.

Not directing merit: this expression means that we are to realize that it is not the practicer’s directing of merit. This matter is explained in Essentials for Attaining Birth.

The saying of the nembutsu which is actually great practise is a direct result of those virtues cultivated by the practise of Bodhisattva Dharmakara that are then directed to us through the 18th Vow. From this directing of merits, both shinjin and the great practice arise simultaneously and are in fact inseparable. Great Practise Nembutsu is shinjin, and both are Amida's directing of merits to all of us. As the note says, it is therefore "not directing merits" since we ourselves do no thing in order to allow for this great practise. Saying the nembutsu in self-power refers to attempting to do a thing to allow for this great practise.

40

When the waters – the minds, good and evil, of foolish beings –
Have entered the vast ocean
Of Amida’s Vow of wisdom, they are immediately
Transformed into the mind of great compassion.

l.1: good and evil minds are likened to [river] waters.
Transformed: the mind of evil is transformed into good.
l.4: Just as the various waters enter the ocean and immediately become seawater, so the waters of the minds, good and evil, become the mind of great compassion.

Amida's great compassion in establishing the vow that direct his merits to us is so great that any dirty water that goes into them, i.e. our own foolish minds and contributions and obstructions, are negligible. Therefore our minds entering into the ocean of shinjin become immediately subsumed into Amida's mind of great wisdom and compassion.

41

“Among my disciples, who will give themselves to doing evil,
Wrong views and self-indulgence will flourish,
And in the last age they will destroy my teaching.”
Thus Sakyamuni foretells in the Lotus Face Sutra.

This prophesies mappo, the Dharma-ending age, emphasising our inability to attain lasting goods through our own efforts, and encouraging reliance on Amida.

42

Sentient beings who slander the nembutsu
Fall into Avici hell
And suffer great pain and affliction without respite
For eighty thousand kalpas; thus it is taught.

Avici: “uninterrupted” hell.

Since our afflictions are already so great and our efforts so futile, if we simply remain in them without diluting them in the sea of great compassion that is Amida's mind, we will keep spinning our wheels and getting more stuck in the mud. Thankfully, no matter how deep we are in the mud, it is minimal compared to the ocean of shinjin.

43

Receiving the true cause of birth in the true fulfilled land
Through the words of the two honored ones,
We dwell in the stage of the truly settled;
Thus, we will unfailingly attain nirvana.

Nirvana: great, complete nirvana.

The true cause of birth is shinjin, which is the directing of virtues from Amida discussed above. Once we enter the ocean of shinjin and our faults and afflictions are greatly diluted by the extreme vastness of Amida's great compassion and wisdom, there is no way to separate back out that mind. The mud is already completely diffused, it cannot be separated back out.