Chapter 13.
The Metaphysical Structure of Shinshu
In interpreting Shinran's thought thus far, we have
emphasized his religious experience and its apparent intensity and
decisiveness. We have tried to follow its consequences in his altered
style of life and transformed religious thought, together with its
implications for our own approach to life and daily affairs. We have
been theological and abstract in tracing the configurations of his
thought, but at the same time we have tried to keep constantly in mind
that Shinran's thought is eminently practical and can provide a life
orientation. As yet, however, we have said little of the philosophical
foundations in Buddhist tradition from which Shinran drew. We did not
mean to neglect that aspect. Rather, by placing it at this point in our
exploration of Shin Buddhism and the nature and validity of the
religious quest in our Mappo era, we wanted to suggest that Shinran had
an experience which then sought philosophical understanding.
Shinran's religious experience loses intensity and
drama when it is considered only as arising from contact with Buddhist
teachings þ for example, from the reading of a sutra or text. To the
contrary, his thought gains in universal importance because it arose
from a sensitized awareness of the true nature of man. Shinran did not
merely contemplate ideas. Rather, he confronted himself and as a
consequence, had to seek a new path.
Naturally, all aspects of his involvement in the
Buddhism of his day stimulated him and ultimately shaped his
understanding. The "Jinenhonisho" to which we will presently refer came
from the latest period of his life. This suggests that his thought
constantly took shape in the light of his continuing experience and
problems. It is clear from the historical materials we possess that
Shinran was not simply a religious pragmatist, unaware of the nature of
the ideas that he proposed. His thought evidences a philosophical
perspective, and he is particularly rooted in the nondual-voidness
philosophy of Buddhism from which he developed an understanding of the
concept of Reality that is of great significance both in theory and
practice.
In emphasizing the philosophical quality of Shinran's
thought we should understand in our day of social and cultural upheaval
that unless people develop a philosophical perspective on existence,
they will only be buffeted by the forces surging about them, unable to
understand or effectively participate. Americans are not a notably
philosophical people -- they are more pragmatic and interested only in
results. They care less for the wider grounds of thought in religion
than for the good feeling or consolation that may be gained from it.
In order to catch the flavor of Shinran's
philosophical insight and perspective, I would like to focus briefly on
the "Jinenhonisho" which he wrote in his 86th or 88th year. Though it is
very brief, it is his most philosophical expression. Incisive with
understanding, it came from long years of religious reflection.
"When we speak of 'Nature' (Jinen), the character
Ji means 'naturally' by itself (Onozukara). It is not (the result of) an
intention (self assertion or Hakarai) of the devotee. Nen is a word
which means to 'cause to come about' (shikarashimu). Shikarashimu (also
signifies that it) is not (due to any) effort (Hakarai) of the devotee.
Since it is (the result of) the Vow of the Tathagata, we call it Honi
i.e., truth. We say of Honi that it 'causes to come about' because it is
the Vow of the Tathagata. Since the truth is the Vow of the Tathagata,
we say generally that it is not (the result of) the effort of the
devotee, and therefore, the power (virtue) of this Dharma is that it
'causes to be'. For the first time, there is nothing to be done by man.
This is what we should understand as 'the reason which is beyond reason'
(Mugi-no-Gi). Originally Jinen was a word meaning 'to cause to be.' We
say Jinen when the devotee does not consider his goodness or evil, in
accordance with the fact that Amida has vowed originally (that salvation
was to be attained) not by the efforts of the devotee, but by being
embraced and caused to rely on the Namu Amida Butsu (his name). In the
Vow which we hear, it is vowed that he will cause us (to attain) the
highest Buddhahood. 'Highest Buddhahood' signifies to abide in
formlessness. Because we are without form, we say Jinen (Nature). When
we indicate that there is a form, we do not speak of the highest
Nirvana. We heard and learned for the first time that the one who makes
known formlessness is called Amida. Amida is the means by which we are
caused to know formlessness. After we understand this principle, we
should not constantly discuss Jinen (Nature). If we constantly discuss
it, the principle that 'what is beyond reason is reason' is made (to
conform to) reason. This is the mystery of Buddha-wisdom." [1]
Although scholars have written much about the concept
of jinenhoni and have analyzed the text written by Shinran in various
ways, there has been little attempt to apply the concept concretely to
contemporary life. As a Buddhist term, the idea was not original with
Shinran, but he did open up some new possibilities in interpreting it
that are relevant to our present considerations. In terms of the broader
context, Shinran defines Nature (Jinen), emphasizing its dynamic aspect
in the word shikarashimu, "to cause to be of itself." The term
suggests an organic view of Nature as a living reality in contrast to a
purely mechanical system as represented either in the system of
cause-effect of Buddhism or in the modern scientific system. Nature, as
presented here, brings things into being spontaneously þ that is, of
itself þ without intention or cause. It is the ultimate order, because
it is not worked upon or affected by anything outside itself. This
understanding of Nature contrasts somewhat with the nuance in the
traditional Buddhist concept of Tathata, or "suchness." Tathata is more
static when it is defined as purity and tranquility.
The idea of Nature as the context, basis, and dynamic
of man's life in Shinran's thought is supported in modern thought by
studies in quantum mechanics and the newly awakened concern with
ecology, which deals with the relations of humanity and its total
environment. No small part of this interest arises from the problems of
pollution and conservation that civilized people, in their
self-assertion against reality, have themselves created. In the
ecological relation, human beings are an integral part of the reality of
Nature, and all Nature is integral to the life of sentient beings. The
spiritual significance of this relationship is to develop an ethic in
which people do not impose their will on the balance required to
maintain life for all. We must survive, supporting our own existence,
but not at the expense of everything else.
The generally objective scheme of Macro-Nature as
presented by science assumes a system of cause and effect. In Shinran's
thought, the philosophical understanding of Nature is the basis of
religious existence. So far as we are a part of that system, we have a
fate. When Nature is viewed as external to ourselves, over and against
us, it is Nature in its alienated state. In this context, we may feel
oppressed by Nature. We may have to struggle against it, and may live
with fear and anxiety in reaction to its irrational and erratic
activities. Or (and this appears as the modern alternative) we may learn
to manipulate it and subordinate it to human purposes, in which case it
is we who become alienated.
The Nature that appears in Shinran's thought is the
process within which we live and which gives us life. When we
subjectively become aware of Nature in its spiritual dimension, we find
harmony for our existence and emancipation from the anxieties of
finitude in a non-alienated Nature whose being is our being. Though we
are not unaware of the erratic and dangerous aspects of Nature,
spiritual meaning is drawn from its life-supporting and life-enhancing
features.
Shinran did not simply consider the process of Nature
in and for itself. Rather, we see in the text that he moves to a
consideration of the activity of truth, Honi. He sees a parallel between
the spontaneous activity of Nature and the process of deliverance in the
Vow of Amida. By relating the process of Nature to Amida's vows, Shinran
established the certainty of faith on a firm basis. The working of
Amida's Vow, in Shinran's thought, is a mythical statement of the
process of Nature.
This fundamental insight manifested by Shinran was not
derived simply from sacred texts and traditions, but was, perhaps,
grounded in tradition in the contemplation of Nature itself and the
influence of the doctrine of Primordial Enlightenment of the Tendai
sect.
The doctrine of Primordial Enlightenment is without
beginning or end. It is based on chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, the
basic scripture of the Tendai sect which contrasts the Eternal Sakyamuni
with the historical Sakyamuni who lived only 80 years. However, the
truth cannot be limited to 80 years. The truth must be eternal. Shinran,
having studied Tendai thought, reinterpreted the teaching to apply to
Amida Buddha whose name means Eternal Life or Infinite Light. In
consequence, for Shinran, Amida Buddha became the ground of reality and
the source of deliverance. Amida Buddha is also the symbolization of the
all-encompassing process of interdependence which sustains our lives.
Shinran's understanding of the concepts of self-power and other power in
Pure Land teaching has also been shaped by the perspective of Primordial
Enlightenment.
As a consequence of the cosmic understanding of Amida,
Shinran revealed the unreality of self-power attitudes and transcended
the dichotomy of self-power versus Other-power. An implication of his
insight is the fact that our very existence in the world becomes itself
a testimony to Other-power. Whatever activities we may carry out in the
world, are not done solely through ourselves, but there is an order of
things that supports and, in a sense, works through us. The dichotomy of
self-power and Other-power is a delusion, since our act is our act and
is, at the same time, not our act. Self-power is the expression of
alienated being. It is self-contradictory since it proposes to do away
with delusion through a delusion. A consequence, then, of Shinran's view
of nature is to provide a pervasive deep awareness of cosmic process as
the foundation of religious faith.
It is most likely that Shinran focused his attention
on this term, Jinen-Nature, as a result of his deepened understanding
of human nature. He observed that because of his passions and the
ignorance and delusion they create, human beings cannot on their own,
overcome the fundamental alienation that separates them from reality.
This being the case, the source of deliverance must be other than beings
as such. The more sharply Shinran felt this alienation, the more he
became aware of the power of reality that strives to overcome the
alienation. Here we see a dialectic between the perception of
imperfection and the perception of absolute compassion and purity to
counter that imperfection. Only in knowing ourselves as we truly are can
we truly become aware that there is a power in the depth of reality that
seeks to liberate us from our ego bondage and delusions. Penetrating
that reality, Shinran came to realize that we are in reality, and
reality is in us.
Deliverance can only be achieved on the basis of an
identity between human beings and Buddha. The reason for this is that
perfection could only be achieved by perfection. For beings to be able
to become pure, they must have the potential of purity within them. This
potential does not reside in the passion and ignorance that constitute
experienced human existence. Beyond this there is a dialectic in which
our passions and delusion make us think of Buddha as other than and
outside ourselves, when in reality he is the ground and essence of our
existence. The deliverance of Pure Land Buddhism is in coming to
experience this non-duality. Here Shinran took very seriously, as the
basis of his theory of salvation, the central Mahayana belief that all
beings possess Buddha nature which is realized through faith. As a
result of this view, Shinran overcame the tendency to a dualistic
approach to Pure Land thought on the popular level.
The Buddhistic understanding of the fundamental
identity between beings and Buddha, (ki-ho-ittai) the perception of
which is enlightenment or deliverance, reveals a keen insight into the
problem of alienation. Alienation implies a separation, an estrangement
of being. If one assumes the finality of dualism as the basic structure
of being in the sense of a chasm between God and humanity þ as in
Christianity þ then alienation cannot be truly overcome since there is
an alienation built into reality. It is noticeable in Christian
theology, which maintains a discontinuity between God and humanity, that
somewhere in the system it is necessary to posit some identity. Hence,
God incarnates; he joins himself to humanity. Paul Tillich attempted to
deal with this problem and spoke of God as the ground of being. Thus
alienation is not ultimate and is overcome by a return to the prior and
primal union with the source of our own being.
It was Shinran's heightened self-awareness which led
him to perceive the unity necessary to deliverance more deeply -- more
intensely -- so that within the "Jinenhonisho" there is the constant reminder
that nothing comes about through man's hakarai, i.e., through his
intention, calculation, assertion, or design. Neither Nature nor
deliverance depends on us. This is an important idea since it indicates
for Shinran that religion is beyond the legalism of good and evil or
human manipulation. Deliverance does not depend on living up to an
imposed system of prescribed acts. Also, religion is not to be
manipulated for human ambition and desire. Pride, anxiety of
imperfection, and self-aggrandizement are all rejected. Religion is not
a tool.
Not only does deliverance not depend on human
capacities or the lack of them, it does not depend on a person's
steadiness or wavering. Amida's Vow achieves its goal without
obstruction. By rooting deliverance in the process of reality itself,
Shinran signifies that truth is beyond the mere opinion or constructions
of men. Faith is not merely a person's view of things as a belief, but
is itself reality, in which the symbol of Amida opens us to the vision
of the Real itself.
Shinran's emphasis on the transcendental aspects of
the process of Nature, which brings things about of itself, reflects the
unconditioned aspect of Nature. Unconditional Nature limits man's
addiction to theory and words, which lead to disputes. The process is a
mystery. When it is once glimpsed, one should not press his words to try
to analyze or describe it.
We would suggest also that in "Jinenhonisho," Shinran is
showing that faith above all has to do with truth þ with reality in its
deepest dimensions. Since that is its essence, the knowledge and
realization of truth brings deliverance. However, one should seek truth
before deliverance. Shinran was willing to risk himself in his
perception of truth when he indicated that he did not know as a matter
of intellectual certainty whether the Nembutsu was the seed for birth in
the Pure Land or in Hell. But as Yuienbo tells us in "Tannisho," having
grasped a truth that illuminated his life, Shinran would stand by it.
There are many in our day who regard religion simply
as a means of becoming happy or satisfied, or of getting peace of mind.
Satisfaction, happiness, peace of mind may well result from religion,
and Shinran also speaks of joy and peace and tranquility; nevertheless,
these results come about only because one believes that one has
perceived the truth. If religion is not first and foremost a search for
truth and its realization in life, then it is a vain, self-seeking
activity. Hence Shinran titles the "Kyogyoshinsho" in its full name
"Kenjodoshinjitsu kyogyo shomonrui" (An Anthology which manifests the True
Teaching and Practice of the Pure Land [tradition].)
Some interpreters suggest that the view of Nature and
deliverance that Shinran sets forth enables the individual to have joy
and peace within tragedy and suffering. We may attain an inward freedom
in the recognition that what confronts us is itself reality. With faith
in the compassionate essence of reality, we may endure with a quiet
peace the troubles and turmoil of life and is enabled to take life as it
comes and to respond to events positively. If we do not have truth þ
about reality, about man þ there is no way to establish value and
dignity. If human life is understood only within the scheme of life
established through modern secular studies and science, there is no
indication of the value of human personality and life. Science has not
tended to make us more respectful and aware of the value of existence.
Science claims to make no value judgments.
The conception of reality offered by Shinran
establishes the value of the person, as of all life, in seeing that
person as the object of the compassionate aspiration of reality itself.
While this view is not itself scientifically demonstrable, nevertheless,
it is evidenced as Shinran perceived, through the very way in which
Nature supports our life and courses through our being. The meaning of
life in this context is that our own being, despite our evils and,
indeed, even because of our passion is itself the expression of that
compassionate aspiration. Therefore, in everyday life, in our relations
to other beings and persons, we should become for them the realization
of that compassionate aspiration.
Shinran's religious thought and experience provide
basic elements for the construction of a philosophy of existence that is
applicable to contemporary problems. Despite the fact that he lived
centuries ago, his human experience transcends time and focuses upon the
universal problem of man. From within the broad perspective of Buddhist
tradition, he offers insight into the fundamental nature of existence
and the basis for human action and life in the world upon which all may
draw.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. It is clear from historical materials that Shinran
was not merely a religious pragmatist. This is to say that he:
a) was unaware of the nature of the ideas he proposed
b) had a philosophical understanding of what he proposed c) had no philosophical perspective
whatsoever
2. Which of the following refers to the "Jinenhonisho"
mentioned in this chapter? It is a:
a) sutra written by Shinran b) poem written by Shinran
c) text written by Shinran
3. The meaning of the word jinen is:
a) nature b) intention c) virtue 4. The idea of Nature as the basis of man's life in
Shinran's thought is supported in modern thought by the:
a) dominance of man over his environment b) objective system viewed by modern
science c) concern over the ecological relationship between humanity and
its environment
5. To which of the following did Shinran relate the
spontaneous process of Nature in order to establish the certainty of
faith?
a) the process of original enlightenment b) the process of salvation through
Amida c) the process of spiritual attainment
6. Through the contemplation of Nature itself, Shinran
was able to transcend the dichotomy of:
a) self-power versus Other-power b) good versus evil
c) virtue versus sin
7. Shinran's theory of deliverance implies that
salvation can only be achieved on the basis of:
a) an identity between man and Buddha b) good deeds c)
accumulated merit 8. The word hakarai generally refers
to human:
a) selflessness b) purity c) calculations
Thought Questions
1. In this chapter we have examined Shinran's
philosophical insight and perspective. The author points out that in our
day of social and cultural upheaval, unless a person develops a
philosophical perspective on existence, one will only be buffeted by the
forces surging in society. Like Shinran, people today need a
philosophical perspective, some view of reality, that gives them an
understanding of the world in which they live.
Examine your own life. What is your view of reality?
How did you come to have this particular world view? How much of a role
did religion play in helping shape this view? Why do or don't you think
it is helpful to have a philosophical perspective?
2. What is your understanding of the concept of
Jinenhoni? Perhaps you could examine the relationship between jinen
(Nature) and honi (truth).
3. According to the author, the dichotomy of
self-power and other-power is a delusion. Shinran, he says, was able to
transcend this dichotomy. Could you explain this?
4. In "Jinenhonisho," Shinran demonstrates the link
between faith and trust. What is your understanding of this important
relationship?
5. Today, there are many people who turn to religion
in the hope of attaining happiness or peace of mind. Religion, however,
becomes a vain, self-seeking activity unless it is a search for truth,
first and foremost. Do you agree? Disagree?
6. How do you think Shinran's view of reality could
enable a person to experience joy and peace within tragedy and
suffering?
Bibliography
Haguri: "Naturalness" Bloom,
Alfred: "Shinran's Gospel of Pure Grace," pp. 43-44 Ueda,
Yoshifumi and Hirota, Dennis Hirota: "Shinran: An
Introduction to his Thought," pp. 176-78
Notes
[1] Translation quoted from A. Bloom, "Shinran's Gospel
of Pure Grace," pp. 43-44 |
