Of course it can! Why can't it? Our minds like to complicate things. Make things seem very hard. Commonly called the 'monkey mind', our thoughts can work against us, telling us we must do this and that. Telling us we can be Buddhas here and now. Our minds are unenlightened. If our minds keep convincing us we can become enlightened now, then we will walk in circles trying to find this enlightenment!
'Oh it's right there!'
'That's not it..."
'There!'
'Nope....that's not it either.'
Our minds can be at peace when we accept the reality of our situation. When we realize the karmic debt that weighs us down and keeps us stuck in endless rebirth of the samsara. By reciting the Nembutsu we can be free of this debt and upon death move into the wonderful infinite light of the Amida Buddha and his Pureland.
I have tried the complicated way for many years and traveled many different paths, only to discover they always lead to the same place. This place is the realization that I am unenlightened. But the mind keeps telling me that if I just keep seeking then enlightenment is just around the corner. So the monkey mind leads us on another wild goose chase only to end up at the beginning again....
At this beginning however there is always something there. There is the Nembutsu. It's always there to be recited as a symbol and affirmation of the infinite compassion of the Amida Buddha and his vow to save all beings from their karma and rebirth. Not on any condition that we must become 'pure' or follow some 'precepts'. Amida understands you and expects nothing but to say the Nembutsu a few times and wish to be reborn in his Pureland.
Namo Amida Butsu
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