When I first heard this song, I wondered if Jane Sibberry was a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist. Now, of course, I have no idea whether Ms. Siberry would even consider herself to be a Buddhist; or whether she would seek to label herself as anything at all. It was just this notion of coming back in 500 years that propelled me into my own self-centred musings as to her religious persuasion.

   We sometimes do not stress the importance of shinjin as it relates to our future birth. This may be because, as we are a devotional form of the Buddhist teaching, we are reluctant to introduce any thoughts that may cause doubt in the minds of our followers; it may be because we do not want the more over zealous of us pestering a person who is dying by asking them; "Is your faith really settled?", I am not sure; but Shinran Shonin makes is absolutely clear that without our having had the experience of shinjin our entrance into the Pure Land will be delayed by some 500 years.

   While it is true that all those who turn to the nembutsu as their chosen practice for attaining birth, will be born in the mind-realm (for lack of a better phrase) that we call the Pure Land; those who do not have shinjin will be born into what is usually translated as a Transformed Land (kedo, in Japanese). This state is described as having been born within a lotus bud that blossoms after a 500 year span. To make a long explanation short; having welcomed the workings of Amida Buddha into our lives by vocally reciting namuamidabutsu and by having had that working manifest itself as the deep mind of shinjin, we gain an immediate birth at the very instant of death. Simply put, the other possible outcome is that; having not had Amida Buddha's working fully manifest itself, in the form of our own experience of shinjin, but still having made the nembutsu our chosen religious practice, our full birth may take a while and our ability to assist the mind that seeks to liberate all sentient beings will be delayed.

   I guess that the next question would be; "What is so bad about this? If we take the Buddhist teachings to be true, we are beings who have been transmigrating through the realm of birth and death for many eons; compared to that, 500 years could be considered a relatively short time?" This would be a valid point, if our concern was solely focused on our own personal salvation. In this case, Michael will be fine; he just has to wait.

   Certainly, a main concern for the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist is one's own salvation; but I think the real drive for birth consists of wanting to completely manifest the Bodhisattva ideal by being able to assist the workings of Amida Buddha's vow to offer enlightenment to all sentient beings. The mere hope that at sometime I will be able to move from a position of only being a taker to a position of finally being able to give something back makes me love this particular expression of the Buddhist teaching. It speaks to a middle way, receiving Amida Buddha's benefits and then seeking to share those benefits with others. As far as I am concerned, Jodo Shinshu is truly the ultimate expression of Mahayana Buddhism and the Bodhisattva path.

   Now I have no personal memories of having been born in a Transformed Land, so I probably should not even hazard a guess as to what this state, or existence might be like. But, just imagine, if one was a biochemist reaching the end of his life, knowing full well that he could have developed a cure for cancer; but, because the available funding happened to be slanted towards agricultural development, he had spent his research career developing growth hormones. Both are positive, enriching world benefitting pursuits, but ... Or in a more mundane example, imagine that the tomatoes in our garden grew exceedingly well this year, so much that we cannot possibly eat them all. We hear of a neighbor who cannot afford food for some reason. As we are rushing to our cellar to retrieve our excess tomatoes, we realize that we locked the door to the cellar and subsequently lost the key. All we can do is smell the rotting tomatoes and listen to a neighbor sobbing in hunger. 500 years can possibly seem like a very, very long time.