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The Sanron and Shingon Scholar Myohen
The Ohara debate was a watershed in Honen’s teaching
career and in
the subsequent popularization of Pure Land practice. The power of
Honen’s
message not only reverberated through the Tendai school but also had
its effect
on the other schools of the day. One of the eminent monks who had been
there
that day at Ohara was Myohen. Myohen had already become well known for
going
deeply into the secrets of the Sanron (Ch. San-lun) school, and he
would go on
to deeply influence the Shingon school with his understanding of the nembutsu that he got from Honen. In general,
Myohen had a deep
dislike for
worldly honors and also didn’t enjoy his companions in the temple to
which he
belonged. So at age thirty-seven, he finally left the community and
settled on
Mt. Komyo. Here he continued all sorts of practices, earnestly seeking
the way
as taught by the various esoteric and exoteric schools. Myohen was
unrivalled
as a scholar among the monks of his time, yet his promotions in rank
proceeded
so slowly that people said, "What a pity such a monk should be leading
such a reclusive life!" So when he was forty-five years of age, he was
appointed a high ecclesiastical rank by the emperor. But he resolutely
declined
it, growing more and more earnest in his desire for a life of
seclusion. In
1195, when he was fifty-four, he left Mt. Komyo and went to Mt. Koya,
the
center of the Shingon school, where he practiced more diligently than
ever in
his search for salvation.
One
night, Myohen was reading Honen's Senchakushu. With the
thought in his mind that the argument was rather one-sided,
he went to bed and had a dream. He thought he saw an immense number of
invalids
at the western gate of Tenno-ji Temple in Osaka all in great distress.
Then he
noticed a holy man with a bowl of rice gruel which he put into the
mouths of
the sick people with a spoon. When he asked who this was, he was told,
"Honen Shonin," - whereupon he awoke and thought to himself,
"Here I was thinking the Senchakushu is so one-sided,
but this dream must be a rebuke to such an idea.
Honen seems surely to be a holy man who knows the faculties of people
and the peculiarities of the time. Now sick people in the first stages
of their
disease are able to eat such fruits as oranges, lemons, pears and
persimmons.
But later they cannot eat any of them, being able only to wet their
throats
with a little bit of thin rice gruel just to keep alive. And so this
exclusive
teaching of nothing but the nembutsu
is really
the same thing. The world is now submerged under the flood of the five
pestilences,
and the benevolent influence of Buddhism is constantly on the wane.
Society is
degenerating, and we are now like people afflicted with a sore disease.
We can
no longer eat the orange and lemon of the Sanron and Hosso schools, nor
the
pear and persimmon of the Shingon and Tendai schools. There is nothing
to do but
to take the thin rice gruel of the nembutsu to escape
the round of birth and death (samsara)."
In
this way, Myohen abandoned the many ascetic practices of the esoteric
and
exoteric schools and entered the one and only path of the nembutsu, giving himself the new name of Ku Amidabutsu.
Later on when Honen was actually staying at
Tenno-ji Temple, Myohen paid him a visit. No sooner had
Myohen taken his seat than he asked Honen how one may in this life get
free
from the pain of samsara. To this
Honen at once
replied, "In order to accomplish one's Birth (ojo) in the Pure Land, there is no way comparable to calling
upon
Amida's sacred name." Whereupon Myohen said, "Yes, of course everyone
recognizes this; but when we are calling upon Amida Buddha, what are we
to do
when our minds are all in confusion, and evil thoughts arise within
us?"
Honen said in reply, "Is there anyone born into this troubled world of
desire who can keep his mind free from distractions? How can the common
person,
burdened with internal afflictions and delusions, shake himself free
from
impure thoughts? I myself am powerless to suppress them. When one's
mind is so distracted
and such random thoughts come rushing in, if one takes the sacred name
onto
one’s lips, then by virtue of the Original Vow (hongan) of Amida, Birth in the Pure Land is certain." Myohen
responded,"It
was just to hear this that I came to see you." - and then he left. As
Honen went back into his room, he remarked, "It’s so hard to silence
the
mind, to prevent random thoughts from arising, and to put oneself fully
into
calling upon the sacred name. It is like taking out one's eyes or
cutting off
one's nose."
After this encounter, Myohen became
deeply attached to
Honen and
devoted himself entirely to the practice of the nembutsu. He used to say that the custom of rapidly counting off
the beads of the
rosary so as to make the number of repetitions of the name as many as
possible
was totally hypocritical. Then, one day a wayfarer came to him and
asked,
"How often should I repeat the sacred name every day?" Turning the
question back on him, Myohen said, "How often do you practice it
yourself?" To which the pilgrim replied, "A million times a
day." At this he said, "Here is another hypocrite," and without
further reply, went into his room and the pilgrim went off. A little while
afterwards, Myohen was
taking a nap when he had a dream in which he thought he saw a noble
monk coming
to him and saying, "It was very wrong for you to put anything in the
way
of that pilgrim who was repeating the nembutsu a
million times a day," and with an angered look he said, "I am
Shan-tao." On hearing this, Myohen was seized with fear, the sweat
exuding
from every pore in his body and his breast heaving. He was so agitated
that he
did not know what to do. Thinking that it was only a short time since
the pilgrim had left, he sent out messengers in all directions to bring
him back and ask for his forgiveness. But although they searched all
through
Mt. Koya, they could not find him anywhere. Then Myohen said, "It is
contrary to the mind of the Buddha to condemn the counting of the beads
on the
rosary as hypocrisy as I have been doing of late. So I think the
wayfarer was
not a person at all but an incarnation of the Buddha who came with a
message
for me." Thereafter Myohen himself began repeating the nembutsu over a million times a day.
Myohen’s Ojo
Myohen had great faith in Honen's teaching, believing with singleness of mind. During his thirty years of retirement on Mt. Koya, every morning he would renew his vows to observe the Buddha's precepts. He also regularly performed the service of worshipping the Buddha's relics. In the evening, he performed the service to be observed on the approach of death, and both he and his dharma brothers never failed to call upon the sacred name at the appointed hours, day and night. Whenever asked, he used to speak on the teachings of the exoteric and esoteric schools, but as for himself, he did nothing but repeat the sacred name. He followed other strict rules and generally kept to himself in his own hut. Thus he went on through the years with this spiritual training, renewed from day to day.
Myohen
attains Birth (ojo)
Reference:
The text has been edited and adapted from the Pictorial Biography of Honen Shonin (Honen
Shonin gyojoezu), also known as the Forty-eight Fascicle Biography
(Shijuhachikan-den) with reference to the translation made by
Harper Havelock Coates and Ryugaku Ishizuka entitled Honen the Buddhist Saint: His Life and
Teaching. Kyoto: Chion-in, 1925.
Paintings:
1.Myohen in a dream sees Honen saving invalids inside the western gate of Tenno-ji. Book 1, Fascicle 16, Leaves 8-9, p.144
2.Myohen attains Birth (ojo). Book 1, Fascicle 16, Leaf 22, p.150
Both Pictorial Biography of Honen Shonin (Honen Shonin gyojoezu), corresponding to the Honen Shonin Pictorial Biography (Honen Shonin Den-en), part of the Complete Japanese Pictorial Scrolls, Volume I (Zoku Nihon Emaki Taisei I), Tokyo: Chuo Koron-sha, 1981.
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