Published 2023-09-30
Keywords
- Shinran,
- Hōnen,
- nenbutsu,
- self power,
- Path of Sages
- Other Power,
- Pure Land tradition,
- faith,
- vocal recitation of the nenbutsu,
- True Pure Land Buddhism ...More
How to Cite
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In Buddhism, the fundamental question regarding practice is what practice will allow one to overcome the suffering of samsara. Shinran offered a unique answer to that question based on the transformation of his understanding of Buddhism brought about through his encounter with Hōnen, a Buddhist thinker who advocated exclusively practicing the recitation of the nenbutsu. This paper aims to clarify the significance and originality of Shinran’s grasp of what that practice is through a careful reading of his works.
Shinran holds that his encounter with Hōnen’s teaching led him to shift from the self-power practices of the Path of Sages to the Other Power of the Pure Land tradition. After describing the traditional view of practice laid out in the Path of Sages, which aims to attain enlightenment through severing one’s mental afflictions and developing wisdom through meditative concentration, I discuss Hōnen’s understanding of the nenbutsu as an Other Power practice selected in the Amida’s original vow. From Hōnen’s perspective, people are incapable bringing about the sort of transformation that was sought after through those traditional, self-power practices such as keeping precepts and engaging in mediation. Rather than engaging in such an impossible endeavor, Hōnen advocated reliance on the compassionate action of Amida’s original vow, which promised to bring all who relied on it to ultimate enlightenment.
Then I discuss how Shinran developed Hōnen’s ideas to shift the significance of practice to one entirely based on Other Power faith. Shinran does not focus on the act of vocal recitation of the nenbutsu, but instead emphasizes the importance of the experience of hearing the significance of the name of Amida as explained by awakened predecessors and the arising of faith toward that message. From Shinran’s perspective, the name of Amida represents the virtues of true suchness that have already been fully realized entirely independent of the actions or intentions of the individual practitioner. For Shinran, recognizing and accepting the virtues that are shown to exist through the Amida’s name is the key to being liberated from samsara and is possible in an instant of insight that is available to anyone regardless of their abilities or actions.
Through these considerations, this paper shows how Shinran’s emphasis of Other Power faith is an essential element of his clarification of the True Pure Land Buddhism as the consummation of Mahayana Buddhism.
References
- Fugen Daien 普賢大圓 1950. Shinshū gairon 真宗概論 [An Introduction to the Shin Sect]. Kyoto: Hyakkaen.
- Hirose Takashi 廣瀬杲 1977. Shinshū kyūsairon 真宗救済論 [The Theory of Salvation in the Shin Sect]. Kyoto: Hōzōkan Shoten.
- Hōnen 法然1997. Senchaku hongan nenbutsu shū 選択本願念仏集 [Collection on the Nenbutsu Selected in the Original Vow]. Trans. Morris J. Augustine – Tessho Kondo. Berkeley, CA: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research.
- Hoshino Genpo 星野元豊 1994. Kōkai kyōgyōshinshō 講解教行信証 [Lectures and Interpretation of the Kyōgyōshinshō]. Kyoto: Hōzōkan Shoten.
- Inaba Shūken 稲葉秀賢 1968. Shinshū gairon 真宗概論 [An Introduction to the Shin Sect]. Kyoto: Buneidō.
- The Collected Works of Shinran 1997. Trans. Dennis Hirota – Hisao Inagaki – Michio Tokunaga – Ryushin Uryuzu. Kyoto: Jōdo Shinshū Hongwanji-ha.
- Yamabe Shūgaku 山辺習学 – Akanumu Chizen 赤沼智善 1951. Kyōgyōshinshō kōgi教行信証講義 [Lectures on the Kyōgyōshinshō]. Kyoto: Hōzōkan Shoten.