Nembutsu

Chinese / Japanese script of the nembutsu

Nembutsu (Japanese; Nienfo (Chinese): 'Recitation of Buddha'. The practice of reciting the phrase Homage to Amitabha Buddha, which is Namo Amituofo in Chinese & Namu Amida Butsu in Japanese. This is done to concentrate & purify the mind, either to earn rebirth in Amitabha's heaven, or to realize Bodhi here and now. See Amitabha

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Sitting in a quiet room – closed eyes may help in concentration here – say “Namu Amida Butsu’ (the final u is usually unvoiced), paying attention to the silence in which the words arise. This silence is the very emptiness that Buddhism teaches about, and is also the essence of all buddhas, including Amitabha. If we are alert to this moment as we continue to chant the Nembutsu, we become aware of the fact that the words are coming out of this peaceful silence, and that any sense of individual self that remains is of the world, like the chanting, whereas the Void-Silence is that out of which these things come.