The primary practice of Amida Pureland is nembutsu, the verbal
utterance of "Namo Amida Bu" or its equivalents. Nothing else is
required for salvation. Nonetheless, the auxilliary practices of Nei
Quan and Chih Quan do have intrinsic merit and they can expand one's
appreciation, both intellectually and exprientially, of the importance
of the nembutsu in our life.
Nei Quan (inner reflection) derives from vipassana and refers to the
first half of the nembutsu, that is, to reflection upon "Namo" - what
is the nature of this creature that calls out? it is of 'dependently
originating nature' - we therefore reflect upon 'What have I received?'
'What has supported me?' 'What burden has my existence placed upon
other things and other beings?' 'What have I done in return?' This kind
of reflect can be targeted on a particular relationship or upon a
situation or a time period. In a nei quan (Naikan in Japanese)
intensive one might review one's whole life bit by bit - 'What did I
receive from my mother in the first five years of my life?' '...
between five and ten?' etc '...from my father...' and so on. Gregg
Krech (also on ning) has written a nice book called Naikan. The
practice generates many emotions and insights. It does not require
formal meditation posture (in fact formal posture may hinder). Some
people like to write or draw as part of the practice. It is a spiritual
exercise that is not aimed at generating a particular state of mind but
rather a shift in one's orientation to life and feeling for others. It
tends to generate gratitude, generosity and fellow-feeling.
