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Samurai Nembutsu
Birth (ojo) on the Battlefield
The early 10th century to the middle of the 16th century marks a period in which groups of so called “soldier-monks” (sohei) had an important effect on the political culture around the imperial capital of Kyoto. These groups were mostly attached to rivaling factions of the two major Tendai and Shingon schools. They were armed with weapons and with coats of mail under their robes, and engaged in military and other secular activities in large temples and shrines, such as Kofuku-ji in Nara and Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei. Those who belonged to Enryaku-ji were among the most powerful. It is said that Kakujin, the 35th Chief Priest (zasu) of the temple and the Tendai school, thought them necessary in order to put down rebels and rid the temple and its estates of thieves and robbers, who in those days frequented both the capital and the country.
Now by the late 12th century,
these soldier-monks of Enryaku-ji had become so unruly that they made a
plot
for an armed resistance against the authorities, despite the protest of
the
better parts of the monkhood. Taro Tadatsuna, a powerful samurai, was
by
imperial order put in command of a body of troops which the government
dispatched to suppress the uprising. As he was leaving for battle in
the late
Autumn of 1192, he paid a visit to Honen and said to him, “I have often
heard
you say that even the deeply deluded like myself, if they will only say
the nembutsu and put their whole
trust in Amida's Original Vow, they will
undoubtedly attain ojo. This has made
a deep
impression upon me, but I suppose this is the case only with those who
are
lying on a sick bed and calmly waiting for the end to come. But as for
myself,
being a samurai, I can’t do just as I like. And now following an imperial order, I am
setting out for
Enryaku-ji to discipline those sohei.
I was born
in a soldier's family and trained in the use of the bow and arrow. On
the one
hand, I’m under obligation to not fail in carrying out at least part of
the
will of my ancestors; and on the other hand, I’m responsible for
handing down
some legacy to my family. And yet if I throw myself into driving back
of the
enemy, all sorts of terrible and furious passions are likely to be
stirred
within me so that it becomes very hard to awaken any spiritual feeling
in my
heart. If I allow myself to keep thinking all the time about the
impermanence of
life and try not to forget the truth about attaining ojo by the nembutsu, I’ll
be in danger
of being taken prisoner by my enemies, being eternally branded as a
coward, and
having my estate confiscated. So for a fool like me, it is very hard to
decide
which of these courses to choose. Won’t you tell me how I can realize
my deep desire
for ojo without sacrificing the honor
of my
family as an archer?"
To this Honen made the following reply:
"Amida's Original Vow says nothing about whether a person is good or
bad,
nor does it discuss whether a person's spiritual practices are many or
few. It makes no discrimination between
the pure and the impure, and takes no account of time, space or any
other
diverse circumstances in people's lives. Further,
it doesn’t matter how a person dies. The wicked person, just as he is,
will
attain ojo if he calls on the sacred
name. This
is the wonderful thing about Amida's Original Vow. And so, even though
a person
born into an archer's family goes to war and loses his life, if he only
repeats
the sacred name and relies upon Amida's Original Vow, there isn’t the
slightest
doubt that Amida will come to welcome him to the Pure Land." Under
these
gentle instructions Tadatsuna's doubts left him, and with a glad heart
he
exclaimed, "Tadatsuna's ojo will
verily
take place today." Honen handed him a sacred scarf which he wore under
his
armor, and he finally set out for the sohei’s
fortress at Enryaku-ji. Once there, he
threw himself
to battle with the rioters. In the midst of the struggle, his sword was
broken,
and he received a deep wound. Seeing it was quite hopeless, he flung
down his
sword, clasped his hands, and called upon the sacred name with a loud
voice
until he breathed his last. At this, purple clouds covered the
battlefield, and
many smelled a delicious perfume. Others said that purple clouds also
hung over
the northern mountain. When Honen heard about it, he said,“Good. Tadatsuna has been Born in the Pure Land."
Taro
Tadatsuna attains Birth (ojo) on the
battlefield
In the
province of Kozuke in modern day Tochigi, there was a samurai
descendent of a
great family of brave warriors named Taro Nariie Sonoda. He was very
fond of
archery and horsemanship, and indulged in the sport of hunting to his
heart's
content. During the autumn of 1200, he came up to the capital in charge
of
soldiers who were to be installed as the Imperial Body Guard. This was
just at
the time that Honen's nembutsu
teaching was at
its height, and of course, he heard how people of high and low rank
were
flocking to Honen to listen to his teaching. So he went and called on
Honen at
his hut. Honen told him in the kindest way that even the most ordinary
people,
burdened with bad karma and chained to the rounds of birth and death (samsara), can reach the Pure Land of Perfect Bliss and be Born
anew if they
embark upon Amida's Original Vow. But they should have a deep distaste
for this
impermanent world and should seek with all their hearts entry into the
Pure
Land from which one can never fall. On hearing this, Nariie was very
deeply
moved, and his whole being yearned for the life of Dharma. So he made
up his
mind to become a monk, at the age of twenty-eight, taking the name of
Chimyo.
After having served and studied under Honen for six years, Chimyo went
back to
his home region. Through his teaching and influence, he persuaded over
twenty
members of his own family to join him as monks. He
built a lodge on the property belonging to the Ise Shrine, and here he
and his
associates lived the daily practice of the nembutsu with minds undivided, setting all their hopes upon the
Western
Paradise. The people had great veneration for Chimyo and called him
"the
holy man of Ogura."
One New Year's
Day, Chimyo privately told one of his disciples to come to the edge of
the
temple garden. He told him that instead of giving to the many visitors
the
usual New Year's greeting, he wanted him to call out in a loud voice,
"I
have come here from the Western Paradise as Amida Buddha's messenger to
tell
you to hurry up and come to him." Then Chimyo said he would joyfully
usher
him into the room and give him his undivided attention including giving
him various
kinds of presents to carry away. From that time on, it was his custom
to do
this every New Year's Day. Another custom Chimyo initiated involved the
many
deer in the fields in the area. Farmers had built fences to keep the
deer from
injuring their crops. However, out of compassion for them, Chimyo
fenced off a
very productive seven and a half acre rice field, which he called the
deer
paddy, and set apart the rice to grow as fodder for the deer. Instead
of the
usual songs farmers sing when at work, he had the men who worked in
this paddy
field repeat the nembutsu.
In
the late summer of 1248, as he was slightly ill, he called in his
younger
brother and instructed him in much detail as follows: "I am now an old
man
and an invalid, and must be getting near the end. This is the last time
we
shall ever meet in this world. Now that you are heavily laden with bad
karma,
you must be sure to say the nembutsu
so that we can
meet again in the Pure Land. Even when you are chewing on deer meat or
chicken,
chew the nembutsu too. Although you
may be
bending your bow in the face of the enemy, do not neglect the
repetition of the
nembutsu.” On his brother's return,
Chimyo
gathered a group of monks together and held a service for the
repetition of the
nembutsu. The next day he sat upright
with his
hands folded and recited the passage from the Meditation Sutra which says, "The Buddha's light illumines all sentient
beings." After calling upon the sacred name with a loud voice for some
time, he breathed his last, as if in deep meditation. He was seventy-five years of age at the time. Purple
clouds hovered
over the roof of his house and rays of light filled the Buddha hall and
his
chamber. Both monk and laymen far and near saw and heard all these
things. Chimyo had always been in the
habit from his early years of
directing his mind towards the light of Amida's protection, and now at
the end,
he was truly blessed with the most wonderful experience of being
conscious of
that light.
Chimyo
attains Birth (ojo)
Yasaburo
Yoritsuna, a samurai of Utsunomiya in
present
day Kanto, was one day marching over the plains at the head of his
family and
attendants, when he met a wayfarer of Honen’s. He was an ordained
follower (nyudo) and former samurai
called Kumagai Rensei, who addressed him in the
following way, "What a large company you are. And yet in spite of your
numbers, you cannot contend with the demon of death. But Amida Buddha,
as
promised in the Original Vow, will
never let
anyone fall into hell who calls upon his
name
and will welcome him to the Pure Land. As the nembutsu is like a soldier who can more than cope with a thousand
men,
whatever you do, say the nembutsu.”
Yoritsuna was deeply impressed by these
words and afterwards became
very diligent in nembutsu practice.
Later in the
Autumn of 1208 when he was in the capital in charge of the soldiers
installed
as the Imperial Body Guard, he took the time to visit Honen in the
seclusion of
his quarters in the compound of Kachiodera Temple. In receiving his
instruction
about nembutsu ojo, Honen twice
repeated to
Yoritsuna the following passage from Shan-tao’s Commentary on the
Meditation
Sutra: "Although the Buddha Shakyamuni
taught
that there is merit in meditative and non-meditative practices, if we
ask what is
the final purpose of Amida's Original Vow, we find that it is to lead
all sentient beings to the sole practice
of the nembutsu.” Then he went on to
say,
"It entirely depends upon yourself whether you gain Birth or not. If you give yourself wholly up to calling upon the sacred
name,
there isn’t the slightest doubt about your attaining it." These words
kept
ringing in Yoritsuna ears until he became a wayfarer of this one
practice.
After Honen's death, he became friendly with Shoku, one of Honen's main
disciples,
who taught him how to read Shan-tao’s four-volumed Commentary. Finally, he entered the monkhood under the name of
Jisshin-bo
Rensho, building a humble dwelling for himself at Nishiyama where he
did
nothing but practice the nembutsu.
In the late Autumn of
1241 on a calm starry night, Rensho dreamt he saw a hut on the north
side of a
deep mountain ravine, where he found himself all surrounded by hills
and high peaks
on either side. As he was looking at the mountain to the north, he
beheld an
image of Amida about three feet high standing way up in the sky. As he
stood
wondering where it had come from, he heard a voice out of the sky
saying,
"Amida Buddha has come from Zenko-ji Temple." The Buddha kept coming
closer and closer to him emitting bright rays of light from his body,
which was
beautifully adorned with white jewels. With a loud voice, Rensho called
upon
the sacred name, stretched out his right hand, and took hold of Amida's
left
hand. He then realized that it was a wooden image, the very one which
had been
for many years enshrined in his own Buddha hall. At this he awoke, and
from
that time on, his faith deepened and his energy grew so that whether
walking,
standing, sitting, or lying down, he forgot everything but his nembutsu
practice.
In the Autumn of 1259, he became slightly
ill and soon after, as he
sat up in bed with his hands folded, said the nembutsu over and over. In the midst of happy omens, he breathed
his last,
thus realizing his longing for Birth in the Pure Land.
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.Taro Tadatsuna attains Birth (ojo)
on the battlefield. Book 2, Fascicle 26, Leaves 6-7, p.66
2. Chimyo attains Birth (ojo).
Book 2, Fascicle 26, Leaves 17-18, p.71
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.
3. Portrait of Yamago
Amida - courtesy Konkaikomyo-ji, Kyoto
Copyright(c) by
1996-2005 Jodo Shu Research Institute