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Shinran
The
Jodo Shin School
The
“True” Pure Land
Shinran (1173-1262) is
certainly the most well-known of Honen’s disciples. In fact, he is
better known
than Honen, having forming his own school called Jodo Shin (the True
Pure Land
school, Jodo shin shu) which
became the
largest school of Buddhism in Japan. He was born in Kyoto, becoming a
Tendai
monk in 1181, and eventually coming to study under Honen in 1201. In
the Kenei
Persecution of 1207 when Honen was sent into exile, Shinran was also
exiled to
Echigo in Niigata prefecture in northeast Japan. In 1212 he traveled
south into
the provinces of Kanto where he remained to teach for over twenty
years.
Although he returned to the capital in 1235, his life and work were not
as well
documented or known at the time as some of Honen’s other disciples like
Ryukan,
Shoku, and Bencho. This is witnessed by Nichiren’s criticisms of the nembutsu movement around 1260 which singled out
Honen but did
not mention Shinran. As such, his encounters with Honen and his life
work are
not well documented in early Jodo school (Jodo shu) writings. Nevertheless, other sources
have well
documented his life and work. And Shinran himself wrote a number of
important
works, such as The True Teaching, Practice and Realization
of the
Pure Land Way (Kyogyoshinsho),
the earliest
existing compilation of Honen's words called A Teaching to
the
Western Land (Saihoshinansho),
and Lamenting
the Deviations (Tannisho), a
collection of
his words.
Shinran in
his teaching
emphasized more greatly faith and the all-encompassing other-power (tariki) of Amida. So in certain ways, his
teaching has some
similarities with Kosai’s “single calling” teaching. Even
though
Shinran had no objection to any number of recitations, he did emphasize
an
absolute value in one. He felt that one recitation best expressed the
way of
salvation which Amida chose as the easiest possible for all persons.
From the
standpoint of faith, the “single calling” coincides with the moment in
which
faith arises in the mind and also expresses the deep joy of that faith
in Amida
Buddha’s wonderful compassion. In such a deeply believing recitation,
there is
enough karmic merit to bring the person to Birth in the Pure Land. From
the
time that a person attains this faith, his or her nembutsu repetitions are all prompted by a joyous
gratitude
toward Amida Buddha for the compassion that has now saved them - they
are no
longer calls for salvation. The power to bring
about this emancipating faith is
not on the part of the person but is Amida’s gift. And so one
simply focuses on
giving deep praise to this compassionate and emancipating power of
Amida, while
leaving behind all other practices. As a person already fully embraced
by
Amida, one should go through life expressing this by following basic
morality
and ethics, and fulfilling one’s duties to family, community and the
larger
society. Thus, to make a broad generalization, the nembutsu of Honen and the Jodo school represents
more the
process of establishing of a deep relationship with Amida Buddha, while
the nembutsu of
Shinran and the Jodo Shin school represents a
recognition of that ever present relationship to Amida’s grace. In this
way,
the Pure Land for Jodo school believers is more of an existential place
one
goes to after death through establishing a firm relationship with
Amida, while
the Pure Land for Jodo Shin followers is none other than this world
when it is
illuminated by Amida’s power. Together, these two notions of nembutsu and Pure Land compliment each other by
providing a
means to confront both life and death.
Precepts,
Ethics and
Tolerance in the Way of Faith
In a certain
way,
Shinran developed the
full practical implications of Honen's single-minded nembutsu practice (senju-nembutsu), which
sees the monastic precepts as different kinds of auxiliary practices (irui-no-jogo) of a spirituality focused on faith in
Amida Buddha.
Although Honen observed the precepts, specifically celibacy, through to
his
death, Shinran explored this teaching to the fullest by marrying and
having
children openly. Although there had been cases previously of monks
marrying and
having children, Shinran was revolutionary in using his understanding
of total
reliance on Amida to legitimize such a lifestyle within Buddhist
monastic
practice.
His exile and separation from Honen in 1207 appears to mark
his entry
into this way of life as shown in this reflection, “The emperor and his
ministers, acting against the Dharma and violating human rectitude,
became
enraged and embittered. As a result, Master Honen – the eminent founder
who had enabled the true essence of the Pure Land way to spread
vigorously
– and a number of his followers, without receiving any deliberation of
their crimes, were summarily sentenced to death or were stripped of
their
monkhood, given secular names, and consigned to distant banishment. I
was among
the latter. Hence, I have taken the term Toku (‘stubble-haired’) as my name.”[1]
By the 15th century, this lifestyle had become institutionalized among
priests
in Shinran's Jodo Shin school. However, the monks of Honen’s Jodo
school
lineage continued to uphold the Tendai precepts in outward form through
this
time. In the Edo Period (1600-1868), although these standard Mahayana
precepts
became state law applying to all monks, Jodo Shin priests were exempted
while
the Jodo school officially adopted the nembutsu as their single precept. The final step
in the
transformation of the Buddhist monk in Japan was the Meiji edict of
April 1872
concerning monks. This edict allowed monks under state law to eat meat,
marry,
grow hair, take on a family name, and not wear robes except at
services. This
edict was the final institutionalization of what was once regarded as
Honen's
and Shinran’s outrageous interpretation of the essentials of Buddhist
practice.
Although
Shinran’s
almost extreme emphasis on faith over practice may seem at odds with
Honen’s
balance of the two, Shinran himself felt that he taught precisely the
same as
Honen, writing, "As for me, I simply accept and entrust myself to what
my
revered teacher told me, 'Just say the nembutsu and be saved by Amida,’ nothing else is
involved." He became so
devoted to Honen that he once wrote, "If I should be cheated by Honen
Shonin and by practicing the nembutsu fall into hell, I would never regret it."
And although he spent a
relatively short period with Honen, just 6 years, the closeness between
them is
confirmed by Honen’s giving to Shinran a copy of the Senchakushu. Indeed, Shinran never saw himself at odds
with the
mainstream of the nembutsu movement
and the other core disciples of Honen, as seen in these words of
warning to his
own followers:
Although
Shinran and
other disciples in his lineage, such the great Rennyo, called for
respecting
not only aspects of the wider Buddhist tradition but the deities of
other
religions, nembutsu faith
often became a
weapon for the peasants to resist the autocratic and oppressive control
of
local, regional and even national authorities. Especially, during
Rennyo’s life
in the 15th century, bands of Jodo Shin nembutsu followers called ikko-ikki led rebellions against local authorities,
often
targeting local shrines which housed the protector deities of these
authorities
and powerful landowners. They legitimized their disloyalty to the
authorities
by referring to the greater, all-encompassing power of Amida Buddha
through
which only single-minded devotion leads to salvation. In this way, both
Rennyo
and Shinran found the need to appeal to civil law and daily ethics to
try to
maintain order within their movements.
Shinran once wrote, “You should
know
that this faith (shinjin)
is
bestowed through the compassionate means of Shakyamuni, Amida and all
the
Buddhas in the quarters. Therefore, you should not disparage the
teachings of
other Buddhas or the people who perform good acts other than the nembutsu. Neither should you despise those who
scorn and
slander people of the nembutsu;
rather, you should have compassion and care for them. This was Honen’s
teaching.”[3]