CHAPTER XVI

Sozoku.

(#)

( section section 83-85)

It is necessary that the Faith in Amida once implanted in the heart should be kept alive. Man's heart is changeable and fickle, but there are means whereby the Faith may be prevented from decaying within us.

The Shinshu enumerates five such means (go sho gyo #).

These are,

1. The Recitation of the Nembutsu,

2. The Reading of the Scriptures (dokukyo),

3. The cultivation of the feeling of joy which comes from allowing the imagination to dwell upon the bliss of Paradise,

4. The worship and adoration of the images and pictures of Amida,

5. The consorting with like-minded believers, and speaking of the praises of Amida.

The Shinshuists are said to feel very strongly about the last of these "means of grace." More than all other Buddhists, they are said to object to mixed marriages with those who do not belong to the "household" of the Shinshu.