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January
2003
Feature
Articles
Full
Newsletter
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BIRTH
Shinran Shonin was born in the 3rd year of Joan (1173), on the
first day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, in the village of
Hino, an area south of Kyoto, Japan. In 1887, Nishi Hongwanji
translated this date to May 21. Higashi Hongwanji still uses the lunar
calendar date. Shinran sama's birthday was first celebrated 500 years
after his death.
Shinran Shonin was born into an aristocratic family named Hino,
which was a minor branch of the Fujiwara clan. The Fujiwara dominated
political and cultural life at the imperial court in Kyoto for two
centuries. During the Heian period of Japanese history (900-1185),
however, there was a rise in power of the warrior class (samurai), and
a corresponding decline in the fortunes of the Fujiwara nobility,
although, their rank did not change. The warriors of the countryside,
who had served the court aristocracy by maintaining social stability,
began to seize power for themselves. Thus, a period of warfare ensued.
TOKUDO
Shinran Shonin's parents died when he was quite young, leaving
himself and two brothers. In the spring of the first year of Yowa
(1181), when Shinran (whose childhood name was Matsuwakamaru) was only
nine years old, he and his two brothers were taken by their foster
father, Hino Noritsuna, to Shoren Temple in the Higashiyama area of
Kyoto, where they received the Tendai ordination for priesthood.
WHY TOKUDO?
There are perhaps several reasons. Shinran's foster parents were
probably poor, with no means of support. The time in which Shinran
sama lived was one of civil war and natural disaster. It was therefore
not uncommon at that time for the offspring of the aristocracy,
especially those in declining circumstances, to enter the monastery at
a young age. Enrakuji (Temple) on Mt. Hiei, where young Shinran was
eventually sent, maintained close ties with the imperial court, and
offered its own opportunities for social advancement.
MT. HIEI
At the age of nine, young Shinran left his home, the capital city
of Kyoto, filled with so many memories and tragedies, and climbed Mt.
Hiei, the center of Buddhism in Japan at the time. There he studied
and practiced the teachings of Tendai Buddhism, which had been brought
to Japan in the eighth century. Although Shinran sama fervently strove
for enlightenment through religious practices, he could not eliminate
his human instincts, and so, despite twenty years of intense study and
practice, he found himself no closer to his goal than when he began.
In anguish he decided to leave Mt. Hiei in order to seek enlightenment
elsewhere.
WHY DID SHINRAN
LEAVE MT.
HIEI?
Again, there are many factors, but among them was perhaps the
political corruption of the time where monks were grasping for
secular, financial and political gain, hidden behind the guise of
monkhood. Also prevalent was the adherence to superstitious beliefs
which detracted from the path of Enlightenment. So, despite his twenty
years of intense religious practice, Shinran sama believed that he had
failed to attain any spiritual awakening, and descended the mountain
to seclude himself at Rokkaku Temple.
Rokkaku-Do, then called Chogan Temple, is said to have been built
by Prince Shotoku Taishi, and had a reputation for miracles. Shinran
secluded himself in Rokkaku Temple with the intention of fasting and
meditating for 100 days. Early on the 95th day, it is said that
Shinran heard the voice of Shotoku Taishi, revealed as Kannon Bosatsu
(the bodhi-sattva of mercy), and thereupon decided to seek out Honen
Shonin, who was teaching in the Yoshimizu area near Kyoto. In the
postscript to the
Kyogyoshinsho,
Shinran writes: "In the first year of Kennin (1201) I abandoned the
way of ascetic disciplines and began to follow the way of the Causal
Vow." In other words, he became a disciple of Honen Shonin.
HONEN SHONIN
Honen Shonin began to propagate the Pure Land Teaching in 1174 (at
the age of 42), when Shinran was an infant of only two years. There
was a forty year difference in age between them. In 1205, Shinran sama
received permission to copy his teacher's most famous work, the Senjakushu (Collection
Of Passages On The Nembutsu Selected In The Primal Vow). At the time it was a great honor
to be allowed to copy by hand one's master's work. Indeed, Honen
Shonin had much trust in Shinran. As an example of Shinran sama's
awareness during the short time (approximately six years) he studied
under Honen Shonin, we find an episode in which Shinran and several of
Honen's other disciples were discussing a comparison Shinran had made
between his own mind of faith and that of their teacher. "Why
shouldn't I say that they are the same?" remarked Shinran sama. "Of
course I am not so presumptuous as to imagine for even one moment that
I am equal to our Master in depth of wisdom and breadth of learning,
but my faith in the Pure Land of Amida has been established from
hearing the teaching of enlightenment by Buddha-centered effort. Our
teacher's mind of faith is based on a power other than himself, and so
is mine. Hence, my declaration that our minds of faith are the same."
To which, in agreement, Honen Shonin replied: "Faith varies so long as
it is based on self-centered effort. We all have different
intellectual capacities, and faith which is so based cannot be the
same. However, faith based upon Buddha-centered power is given to us
by Buddha, regardless of our attainments."
.. Concluded next month
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