jiriki (jiriki ; 自力)
(Language: Japanese)
Short Description: literally, “power of the self”;
Long Description: (A)Self power; the consciousness that one achieves Enlightenment through one’s own effort. In Pure Land Buddhism it is considered a delusory understanding of the true nature of practice and faith, which are supported and enabled through Amida’s compassion. (B) One who is “liberated” while still in this “life”; a person who has attained to a state of spiritual perfection or self-realization before death; in contrast to videha-muktav, one who is liberated at the moment of death..
Sources: (A) Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays in Shin Buddhism, by Alfred Bloom .(B) The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity, by Frithjof Schuon, edited by Dr. James S. Cutsinger.
