self-power　自力 Shinran’s definition of this term is given in one of his letters: “Self-power is the effort to attain birth, whether by invoking the names of Buddhas other than Amida and practicing good acts other than the nembutsu, in accordance with your particular circumstances and opportunities; or by endeavoring to make yourself worth through mending the confusion in your acts, words, and thoughts, confident of your own powers and guided by your own calculation.” Self-power, therefore, is the spiritual and religious attitude trying to attain enlightenment by accumulating merits through one’s own efforts, in contrast to entrusting oneself to Other Power, the working of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow. While self-power generally refers to acts other than the nembutsu, Shinran includes even the nembutsu among self-power acts if it is done with calculative intentions of attaining birth in the Pure Land. Without the complete entrusting to Other Power, the person of self-power or calculative mind invites only endless turmoil in trying to follow the Pure Land path.