Hi Dharma-friends! Welcome back after a brief hiatus!  This episode is the start of the next section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan.  It is called "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection" in sixteen verses.  This episode contains the first five of these.  These sixteen verses as a whole are a particularly deep personal self-reflection by Shinran.  Please recall that the Shōzōmatsu Wasan are the product of Shinran's final years, written when he was about 85 years old.  The commentary in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS) explains:  "Shinran expresses his own awareness of himself as a person sharing the deepest weaknesses of the age."  Shinran also calls out and owns specific criticisms of this Last Dharma Age - particularly the superficial adoption of the Buddhist teaching by monks and laity alike.  Shinran relies exclusively on the Vow of Amida Buddha as the only reliable path cutting through self-delusion. Next time, we'll continue with five more verses in this section.   Until then, please be well!  Check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content. Palms together, Gary