See Part 1
I was born in China in 613 AD and became an eminent Buddhist
scholar and active promoter of Buddhism in the T'ang Dynasty.
I became a Buddhist monk at a young age and devoted myself to the
study of the Lotus Sutra and Teaching Of Vimalakirti.
Shortly
after becoming a priest, I went looking for the sutra which best suited
my spiritual capacity. With great joy I encountered the Meditation
Sutra and began to practice the Sixteen Meditations as indicated
within it. When I was a little over twenty, I went to listen to
Meditation Master Doshaku's lecture on this sutra. Encouraged by his
teaching, I practiced the meditation on Amida even more diligently, so
much so, that it is said that I perspire even in winter. I am said to
have copied the Amida Sutra more than 100,000 times and to have
made more than 300 paintings of the Pure Land.
I have written five main works, but
my interpretation of the Meditation Sutra is most important in
the development of Pure Land Buddhism. In refuting the scholars of my
time and before my day, I show that even the ordinary person can be born
into the Pure Land of Amida Buddha by virtue of the vow and the Great
Practice embodied in the Nembutsu. Of the five right practices to be
performed, I recommend the utterance of the Nembutsu as central to birth
in the Pure Land. By performing this practice, one's Birth is assured
according to Amida's Vow.
Among
several teachers who contributed to the development of the Nembutsu
thought, I am the first and most outstanding master. I was born in
Southern India around the 2nd Century AD into the Brahman, or highest
Hindu priestly class.
After
my conversion to Buddha's Teaching, I first studied Hinayana Buddhism,
and later went up into the Himalayas where I met an old monk who gave me
Mahayana sutras. As a result, I am the founder of eight Mahayana schools
of Buddhism.
I
have written a great many books, but am known within the Pure Land
Teaching mainly for my Junirai and Juju Bibasha Ron,
particularly for the "Chapter On Easy Practice." In this
chapter I make it clear that there are two methods of attaining the rank
of Non-Retrogression. One is the path of difficult practice based on
self-power, and the other is the path of easy practice which lies in the
utterance of Buddha's Name with a faithful mind. The way of difficult
practice is painful like travel on foot by land, whereas the way of easy
practice is pleasant like travel by boat.
At
the age of fourteen I renounced the worldly life and devoted myself to
the study of Buddhist sutras. I was born in China in the year 565 during
the Chin Dynasty.
At
first, I studied the Nirvana Sutra, on which I gave a series of
lectures. When I read Master Donran's words on the epitaph at Genchuji
(Temple), I became very impressed and took refuge in the Pure Land
Teaching at that time. This happened when I was 48 years old. It is said
that I practice the Nembutsu seventy thousand times a day, and bow and
offer incense before Amida's statue almost unceasingly.
I
am deeply grateful to Master Donran, and quote him many times in my main
work, the Collection Of Passages Concerning Birth In The Pure Land,
or, the Anraku Shu, as it is known in Japanese. In this work, I
write about the true meaning of the Nembutsu, based mainly upon the Meditation
Sutra. I also divide Buddhism into the Sacred Path School and the
Pure Land School. I show that the Path of Sages is beyond the power of
those in the ages far removed from Shakyamuni Buddha, and that only the
Teaching of the Nembutsu is practicable, since it agrees with the age in
which we live and with our limited capacity.
To
be continued next month
