Well, let me play the devil's ... or the Buddha's ... advocate a bit on that. I also found the good Rev. Masuno's description a bit hard to swallow if we mean a big "Buddha in the sky with pie when we die" who literally has hands to hold us and eyes looking down to see us.
However, if taken to mean the concept of "Buddha" which is "Emptiness" or the "Dharmakaya" which is "holding us" (because such is our True Nature), and in which there is ultimately no death (no birth either ... like the wave on the sea which appears to rise and fall, but is just the water all along), no loss (because nothing left out) etc. ... then we are "protected" and "sheltered" and safely "held" by such (by such suchness).
Such "Buddha" and "Emptiness" is basic Zen Buddhism 101, and our whole point in being here and practicing. If we are not "protected" in such way, then there is no point in being here to practice (and, trust me, there is a point to our being here and practicing).
The folks who believe in "Amida Buddha" and the "Pure Land" who sometimes also are Zen Practitioners often blend the two ideas of "self power" and "other power" by noting that Amida/Pure Land is merely symbolic for Enlightenment and Emptiness. They also note that "self" and "other" are both dropped away in Emptiness, so in that way "our hands" or the "universe's hands" which reach out to rescue us are really where we have been (and what we have been) all along ... and further, there is no place in need of reaching, and ultimately, nobody in need of rescue!
Perhaps the Buddha "sees" our suffering and rescues us when we "see" the Truth of Enlightenment, Emptiness, non-death etc. Heck, I even entertain that "our eyes" and "our hands" and "our brains" are "the universe" as much as are the stars and planets, seas and every other darn thing. So, when our eyes see, and our brains manifest compassion, that is precisely the universe seeing and manifesting compassion. When our heart is wise, it is not other than a wise universe or "Buddha."
That's how I might approach the description. Does that help a little?