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February
2003
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EXILE
From the time the Buddha-Dharma was introduced on Mt. Hiei, it had
been used to serve the government. Honen Shonin's teaching of
impartiality of all people before Amida Buddha ran counter to the
class system which the government imposed.
Yet, Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo's wife, Masako, seems to have thought
highly of Honen Shonin. She had even received and accepted from him a
copy of the
Outline Of The Pure Land Teaching.
But when Yoritomo died in 1199, his successor, Yoriie, changed the
government policy of approval of the Nembutsu teaching. From about
1204, protest by the established denominations began to be presented
to the government. Enrakuji (Temple) on Mt. Hiei, and then Kofuku
Temple in Nara protested to the Imperial Court. Regent Kujo Yoshitsune,
whose father was a strong supporter of Honen Shonin, passed judgment,
which amounted to merely a light censure of the Nembutsu followers.
Under suspicious circumstances, Yoshitsune was found dead in his
sleeping quarters one year later. In the same year while retired
Emperor Gotoba was on a hunting trip, his ladies-in-waiting were so
impressed with the Nembutsu teaching taught to them by two of Honen's
disciples, that they decided to abandon the worldly life and become
nuns. As a result, the two disciples, Juren and Anraku, were executed.
During the Jogen religious persecution of 1207, only Honen Shonin
and his most illustrious senior disciples were actually exiled.
WHY WAS SHINRAN INCLUDED?
Probably because of an
inter-family struggle within the Fujiwara clan, from which Shinran
sama's lineage is derived. When Chief Councilor to the Emperor, Kujo
Kanezane and his son, Prince Regent Yoshitsune, held power, no harm
came to Honen and the Nembutsu followers. However, with the change in
government, a faction of the Fujiwara clan opposing Kanezane and his
son took up the demands of Kofuku Temple.
Shinran Shonin was exiled in 1207, at the age of 35. He was given
the lay name of Fujii Yoshizane and sent to Echigo (modern-day Niigata
Prefecture). Honen Shonin (who was then 75 years old) was sent to
Shikoku. His most important monks were sent to places of exile where
communication with Honen would be extremely difficult. In 1211, Honen
Shonin and his followers received official pardon.
Almost nothing was written during Shinran's exile in Echigo.
However, it was during this time that Shinran sama digested Honen's
Nembutsu teaching and resolved to spread what he had received. From
the Pictorial
Biography Of Shin-ran Shonin Of The Hongwanji ( Hongwanji Shonin
Shinran Denne) we find
this passage: "If the Great Master (Honen) had not been exiled I would
not have been sent to my place of exile. If I had not been exiled, how
would I have been able to teach the people of this remote area the Way
of the Nembutsu?" Honen Shonin died only a few months after being
pardoned, at the age of 79.
Shinran sama, at the age of 39, had married Eshinni, a daughter of
an Echigo clan chieftain named Miyoshi Tamenori, and together they had
six children. Eshinni was apparently a very educated woman. A
collection of her letters written in flawless hiragana and kanji, were
discovered in 1921. Through these letters we are provided with a
glimpse at the personality and spiritual life of Shinran Shonin.
Kozuke provinces in the Kanto region were to become the center of
his propagation activity for the next 17-18 years. Due to the
propagation activity of Shinran sama at this time, many people were
awakened to the Nembutsu teaching and became its followers. Among
them, lay people, farmers, and commoners had all become fellow
practitioners and followers of the Way.
Shinran Shonin had remained in the Kanto area from the time he was
approximately 42 years old until the age of 63. When he was about 52
years of age, Shinran sama began to compose the great exposition of
his lifetime, the
Kyogyo-shinsho (A Collection Of Passages Revealing The True And
Real Teaching, Practice And Realization Of The Pure Land Way.)
This work is a compilation of
passages from sutras, commentaries and treatises which establish that
the teaching of the Nembutsu is the true and real teaching of the
Buddha for ordinary people in times such as these.
RETURN TO KYOTO
Around 1235, at the age of approximately 63, Shinran, Eshinni and
some of their children returned to Kyoto.
WHY?
At this time the government in Kamakura once again issued a
proclamation prohibiting the teaching of Nembutsu. In addition, there
had arisen many problems within the followers of the Nembutsu, with
some people claiming to have attained secret teachings not known to
the rest. Yet, the most probable reason why Shinran sama left his home
of twenty years and returned to Kyoto, was to complete his
Kyogyoshinsho
and produce other writings
through which the Nembutsu teaching could be easily understood. During
the more than twenty years that Shinran sama was to live in Kyoto, he
composed all of his
Wasan, wrote many
letters to his followers in Kanto and produced many other important
works in which he further explained the teaching of the Primal Vow of
Amida Buddha and the Nembutsu.
On the 28th day of the 11th month of the lunar calendar, Shinran
Shonin died at Zenbo Temple, the site of the present Suminobo Betsuin
in the Ukyoku area of Kyoto. As Nishi Hongwanji accepts the date of
Shinran sama's death according to the solar calendar, we therefore
observe Ho-Onko
on January 16. At the
time of his death, Shinran sama was 90 years of age. Although his
wife, Eshinni, had returned to Echigo, his daughter, Kakushinni, a
son, Masukata, and some of his disciples were at his side when Shinran
sama apparently died peacefully, with the Name of the Buddha,
Namo Amida Butsu, on his lips.
Shinran sama was cremated at Ennin Temple in Higashiyama. His ashes
were then enshrined nearby at Otani. Shortly thereafter, the ashes
were moved to a location north of Yoshimizu, where a temple dedicated
to him was constructed. This area was first cared for by Shinran
sama's daughter, Kakushinni, and then by their descendants, thus
initiating the formation of our Hongwanji Kyodan. From these humble
beginnings, Hongwanji has grown and prospered, and continues to this
day to carry the message taught to us by Shinran Shonin of Amida
Buddha's Compassionate Vow and universal emancipation through
Nembutsu.
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