Offers an exploration of Shin or Pure Land Buddhism, a sect that subscribes to a belief in the unredeemable depravity of people and the need for divine intervention, chanting the name of Amida Buddha as a way to salvation. The author explains the efficacy of Shin practice through the concept of "Tariki," the "other power," that second wind you get near the end of an ordeal or the unexpected blessing in the midst of general malaise. He also examines this sect's patriarchs, Honen, Shinran, and Rennyo, finding that their lives and their work still speak to us today.