First published in leaflet form in 1987.
It remains wholly relevant to the PLBF today.

Fellowship
The PLBF is not an organisation but rather an organism characterised by its functioning. As well as no constituted structure it has no leaders and no led, no officials and no 'second-class citizens'. We value the freedom of all to explore the life of the spirit and to accept or reject what is helpful or unhelpful to them. This is consonant with the Buddha's teaching in the Kalama Sutra. We are influenced and guided by the life of the Buddha and his teachings but we have had to come to terms with our own inability to live up to it by our own efforts. Mercifully, we have come across that all-embracing Other-Power which makes selfhood redundant. This redundancy is in accordance with the Buddha's teaching of 'anatta' - not self - and we are grateful for all those in fellowship with us who rely on that Other-Power, whatever name they may give it.

The PLBF is entered by communicating and left by ceasing to communicate. We do not see to set up a platform, preach. teach, proselytise or indulge in propaganda. We have nothing to do with the missionary spirit which, unless we are enlightened, is at best an excuse for well-intentioned self- assertion. Nevertheless, we hope to be outward-looking and to share our joy with all. Devotion One of the meanings of 'Dharma' is 'True Religion'. Hindus, for instance, call their religion 'Sanatanadharma', and Buddhists call theirs 'Buddhadharma'. Dharma, therefore, is not necessarily co-extensive with any particular religion - except for the individual devotee. We seek the Middle Way between sectarianism (excluding whatever does not conform to a chosen doctrine) and eclecticism (borrowing from all sources according to taste). In practice this means that devotees in the PLBF who feel very strongly that the power of a single person and his/her Name fill their whole life and lighten every horizon also value and enjoy the fellowship and insights of those who have been grasped by other forms of the Personhood and Name. Religion has had a bad reputation in the history of the world because the feelings of exclusiveness and superiority inherent in sectarianism have led and continue to lead to pride. proselytising fervour and strife. For the most ardently religious, this is a hard lesson to learn.

Intellectual interest is not ignored in the PLBF. It is served by a steady flow of writing from scholars and enthusiasts, within and outside the Fellowship, through the Newsletter and its accompaniments as well as through the usual channels of discussion. Doctrine though, however interesting, is not unduly emphasised.
Priority is given to Compassion. which is the motivating power of all true, working religion. Persona, direct experience and calm. heartfelt expression are given the highest value. Pure Land Buddhism. It is the experience of many in the Fellowship, and one of the main reasons for being a part of it, that our own often arduous study and spiritual exercises have not fulfilled our spiritual hopes We are not Enlightened, our compassion is defective and the turning-about at the root of consciousness has not come about because, according to Pure Land teaching, we have relied wholly or in part upon our own efforts. Encountering Other-Power (which is beyond the opposites of 'self' and 'other') in the Person and the Power of the Great Compassion we are led suddenly or by degrees to be overtaken by it and supported by it. It provides a rocklike foundation to our life as our perceptions begin to penetrate beyond the conditions of birth-and-death to that state which is beyond all states, the 'Pure Land' - it has other designations.

The Name
All the higher religions speak of the Name and its practice. Pure Land Buddhist doctrine has its source in the Buddha's Enlightenment. Hearing the Name The Name is the free gift of the All-Compassionate One. It is the All-Compassionate One. The syllables in which we begin to hear it, though important to each individual, do not really matter. Rev Seki, the priest in charge of the New York Shin Buddhist temple, was asked several years ago what exactly we should pronounce in order to hear the Name. He answered that the form in which we hear it is of little importance so long as we are prompted by the simple intention to hear it. Soon it will come to us unbidden, springing from a felt invasion of the Great Compassion's Power and our gratitude for it. In Buddhist Pure Land devotion, the Chinese hear the' Name as 'Nan wu (Namo) Omito Fo' and the Japanese as 'Namo Amida Butsu'.

The earlier Sanskrit sound is 'Namo 'mitabahaya Buddhaya' according to D T Suzuki, or just the Name 'Amitabha', and English speakers often rationalise this as 'Namo Amita Buddha'. In the PLBF, several combinations of these elements are heard. Perhaps the Jesus Prayer may be an Orthodox Christian form of it - the opening words of St John's Gospel in the New Testament are relevant here. What we, with that simple intention, first utter in the mouth or hold in the mind, 'becomes' the Name. The Name is heard within us by 'our' Buddha Nature. Although the syllables sound in our consciousness, it is not we who hear the Name. Other-Power, the Power of the All-Compassionate One takes us over. It all starts with the impulse to hear the Name. 'Just say it' advises Honen, the founder of the Japanese Jodo (Pure Land) school. Entrusting ourselves to other Power can then take place and the blessings following the doctrine hinted here can be experienced. A realisation dawns, however, that this is not an instrumental process i.e. 'do this and that will happen', but that we have always been embraced by the Great Compassion, and that the Pure Land stretches beyond death to the here-and-now.