Live show part three: abortion and shinjin

In part of three of the live show series, our first question has to do with Shin Buddhism’s stance on aborted fetuses. Scott cleverly ducks the question but Harry provides some interesting insight into the Japanese ritual of mizuko kuyo (water baby ceremony) and the efficacy of ritual in Shin Buddhist context. Our second question is the ever-popular, if you had shinjin, would you know? Or, more specifically, given our deluded state as foolish beings, is it even possible to attain shinjin in this life. We both say yes (doctrinally, it has to be possible!), but provide some nuance to what shinjin is all about in the first place — a process, a relational state between the self and Amida’s compassion, like being in love — and we round it off with a good discussion of Shin Buddhism being a Buddhism of failure.