Shin Buddhism, as well as other expressions of Pure Land teaching, is frequently viewed as a religion that stresses other-worldly salvation through birth into the far-distant Pure Land. As in every major religion, there is a natural concern for afterlife. A constant question that seekers ask teachers is: "What happens to me when I die?"

However, many people take the naive, objectivist and literal view that the next life is somewhat an extension of this life. In the Pure Land we will meet our loved ones and friends and enjoy them as we have done here, no matter how much time has passed.

There is, however, a deeper view in Shin Buddhism, as in other traditions, derived from study of the teachings and reflection on life itself. It shows that the focus of true spiritual concern is on this life. To have encountered the truth of life through the experience of faith or trust in Amida Buddha's Vow determines our final fulfillment from that moment. We need have no concern for the last moment before death which is very important in general Buddhism. According to Shinran, the founder (1173-1262), we are embraced here and now by Amida Buddha, never to be abandoned, through the embrace of faith.

Consequently, Shinran's teaching has been called a religion of perfect freedom, beyond the limits of moralist requirements of good and evil. Shinran's spiritual liberation begins now with our reception of true entrusting. This understanding is reflected in various aspects of Shinran's teaching:

1. Shinran's understanding of himself and human life enables us to be released from our ego-bondage through realistic self-insight. We are not in ourselves saints, but we are deeply aware how passion-ridden and defiled we are. This awareness breaks the hold of the driving forces of impulse and delusion and opens the way for interdependent, mutual, spiritual relationships

2. Freed from ego-bondage through the embrace of Amida Buddha, we are released from religious fears, either in this life through belief in angry spirits (batchi) or in the afterlife where we may be reborn in various levels of suffering in transmigration.

3. We are also freed by Shinran's teaching from social fears, because the new community he created was based on the principle of equality before Amida Buddha and each person was an equal companion in the way of true entrusting. Shinran gave universal human dignity and respect to the exploited and oppressed people of his time.

4. Finally, there is intellectual liberation, because Shinran's teaching frees the mind for inquiry and search unafraid of the truth wherever it lies. While he was clear and confident on what he believed, he never coerced his followers spiritually. Rather his perspective was "It is up to you to decide (whether what he taught was true)."

Shinran's message is like the refreshing rain in the desert of spiritual aridity. It is the soothing, lyrical song amidst the babble of competing and harsh static of contemporary religious claims.

The Rev. Alfred Bloom, a Buddhist minister, is an emeritus professor of religion of the University of Hawai'i.