Anjinketsujosho: Treatise on the Confirmation of Faith
...
Translated by Wayne S. Yokoyama
This is a freely translated, easy-to-read draft version of the first
section of the Shinshu text "Anjinketsujosho." It is closely based on the
Hirota translation (1990, 1991; rev. 1998).
How to Be at Peace with Yourself: In the Spirit of the Anjinketsujosho
The Vow
For those who seek to live the true spirit of the Pure Land way, you
must first appreciate the wish that inspires the Vow.
Of all the lofty vows forty-eight in number the eighteenth is the one
that conveys the basic wish, the other forty-seven merely bring us to
believe in that Vow.
The Praises gives its version of that Vow as
follows:
"If, when I
become Buddha, the assembly of the mindful calling to me from every
direction are not Born after having said my Name ten times, may I not
attain Enlightenment."
What this passage in essence states is that, unless
people everywhere who meet the conditions of participating in my Vow are
Born, I too shall not become Buddha; unless they are Born, I shall not
become Enlightened. This being the case, the Enlightenment of the
Buddha would seem to depend on whether or not we are Born.
If so, one is hard put to understand how, with so many people
everywhere having yet to work out their Birth, the Enlightenment could
well nigh have taken place. But as the Buddha has in our stead gone ahead
and done all that is necessary to meet the requirements of the Vow, this
would mean our Birth has already been secured. The moment the conditions
for the Birth of the assembly of the mindful everywhere were set by the
performing the Vow to the full, this ushered in the Enlightenment of
Namu-Amidabutsu expressive of the unity of Rookie and Dharma.
For that reason, the Birth of Everyman is not something set apart from
the Enlightenment of Buddha. The moment the conditions for the Birth of
the assembly of the mindful everywhere were set, the Buddha became
Enlightened, and it is for that reason the Enlightenment of Buddha takes
place simultaneously with the setting of the conditions for our Birth.
While our Birth is the Buddha's doing, knowledge of this matter is
patchy among the assembly of the mindful, with some already having been
Born, some now being Born, some scheduled to be Born. From the Rookie's
side the triple world thus seems a patchy, uneven affair, but outside that
one total moment of Enlightenment Mida contributes to our welfare, there's
not the smallest bit of input from the side of the Rookie.
To illustrate, when the sun appears it everywhere renders the darkness
into light instantly, when the moon appears it is reflected in all the
waters of the dharma world at the same time. When the moon appears its
reflection dwells on the waters, when the sun appears the darkness turns
to light, and this is as it must be. All you need know is whether the sun
has come out or not, there's no need to doubt whether or not the darkness
will turn to light. All you need tell is whether or not the Buddha has
attained Enlightenment, there's no need to doubt whether or not Everyman
will be Born. As (he) promised not to become Buddha unless the
assembly of the mindful are Born, the Buddha has already become Buddha by
dint of the ten kalpas (he) put in as bhiksu Hozo. Though (his) attainment
of Buddhahood is already past, knowing nothing at all of Birth until today
we have churned our lives away miserably in the sea of transmigration.
Thus, in the Hymns on Presencing, it says, "Always take great
pains to stand down, for the Tathagata
Shakyamuni, that mother of Compassion, has gone through great pains to be
there for you." The term stand down is explained to mean to not walk
tall among the gods and men, to feel ashamed of yourself and to act with
humility in the company of others.
As to what we should direct
our feelings of humility, it is to the fact Mida toiled in (his) avowed
practices over countless infinite kalpas on behalf of ordinary people like
us who have no merit, it is to the fact Shakyamuni has appeared in the
world eight thousand times from five hundred dustmote kalpas past just to
tell us of that mysterious Pledge, it is to the fact despite all this we
have yet to listen to (his) message -- and that's something to be ashamed
of!
Were the practices of the larger and smaller vehicles something the
Rookie could handle, the Dharma could merely exist as something exquisite
and sublime, but we are forced to conclude the Rookie has no power to
negotiate such practices.
In the other power negotiation of the avowed
practices, the energy derived from the Buddha's striving to attain Buddhahood
is transferred to us who have no store of good merit, this meritorious
power being such that it never fails to work its magic even in the
hopeless reprobate of a Rookie who has spoken ill of the Dharma or one who
has lived to the grand old age of one hundred in the age after the Dharma
has vanished.
That we close our minds and refuse to listen to this truth
the Buddha earnestly seeks to transmit to us is something we should be
most ashamed of. In the thousand great trichiliocosm there's not a single
place the size of a mustard seed where Shakyamuni has not thrown down his
life. All this was done to bring those of us who do not believe in this
other power to give rise to an informed heart by undertaking on our behalf
the difficult practices and ascetic pursuits logging up the merit needed
to link us to Buddha. Expressive of this heart is the passage (from the
Hymns on Presencing), "It is through various means that Buddha
awakens in us a superb informed heart."
This so-called superb
informed heart is the triple mind of other power. Next, it is
said, "Since Buddha used various means to explain the teachings,
there is no single point of entry into the teachings," referring to Buddha's
bringing benefit to the Rookie using various sutras according to the
Rookie's varying capacities. For Everyman, it is difficult to put aside
their doubts and accept other power with an informed heart just like that.
But when they hear how hard it is to do things the self-power way they
suddenly become enamored of the easy to do other power way, when they hear
of the difficult practices of self-perfection they suddenly become
convinced of the ease of pursuing the Pure Land Way. In sum,
thanks to Buddha, we come into the Birth the Buddha has set up for us
without hardship on our part, but after having long suffered the slings
and arrows of affliction from churning our lives away in the sea of
transmigration we cannot tune into the mysterious workings of Buddha
wisdom.
For that reason, when a person reaches the point where they seek
sanctuary from the triple world in that one total moment they return to
their senses in the one total moment of Enlightenment, and when the
hearts of those souls in every direction reach the point where they make
that one voicing of the Name in that one voicing they also return to their
senses in the one total moment of Enlightenment. Moreover, that one
voicing or one total moment is not an event limited to the sphere of the
the Rookie. Since the Name and the State are not separated out
in the Buddha's carrying out of the lofty vows, the Name is identical with
the entire State. The State of Enlightenment is thus the Body of Birth of
the assembly of the mindful everywhere. Since it is the Body of Birth, we
are nowhere lacking in the performance of the vows in all their
complexity.
Thus in the Subtle Meaning it states, "Now, the Kuan ching tells
us that these ten voicings when we call to Buddha at once fulfill the
requirements of the ten vows by the ten practices. As to how such a
fulfilling could be possible, our calling 'Namu' is emblematic of our
being returned to ourselves at the source of life, and this is what is
effected by the Buddha's act of making the Vow on our behalf and
transferring its energy to us.
Amida Buddha so-called is thus none other
than this act. It is through the effect of this act on us that we can say
our Birth is a certainty." Thus even when the spiritually ungifted
call to Buddha in their distracted state of mind, this meets the full
requirements as a performance of the Vow. This should make us aware this
performance of the Vow is not being initiated from the side of the Rookie.
It was Hozo bodhisattva's enduring five kalpas and thousands of millions
of years of performing the Vow that made Everyman's performance of the Vow
what it is.
When it dawns on you this is what people mean when they say
Amida Buddha was the one who brought Everyman's performance of the Vow
into its own, you realize you have just experienced what is called the
triple mind, or three beliefs, or informed mind. Since Amida Buddha made
(his) Name the centerpiece of Everyman's performance of the Vow, this is
what is being expressed in the act of saying the words "Namu-Amidabutsu."
Thus, even such an understanding does not have its beginning and end in
the Rookie, such an understanding returning one to oneself in the state of
the Buddha vow. Even the Name does not have its start and end in the
Rookie, its recitation returning one to oneself in the lofty vows. It must
be carefully understood, then, that the eighteenth Vow marks the point of
access into the dharma world of the Pure Land way.
It is explained that, "Hence, in the Sutra of Infinite Life, the
only thing that the forty-eight vows wish to clarify is the way of
obtaining birth by Mida's Name" {On the Good Effects of Meditation}
and further that, "Also, in the sutra passages, the only thing that
they wish to point out is the way of obtaining birth by Mida's Name"
{On the Good Effects of Meditation}, thus all three sutras together are
simply to express this basic wish of the Vow. To understand the wish of
the eighteenth Vow is to understand the Name.
To understand the Name is to
realize that the very moment Amida Buddha put Everyman's birth before
(his) own, by fulfilling the conditions for the avowed practices on behalf
of the assembly of the mindful, (he) made the Birth of the assembly of the
mindful everywhere the State of Enlightenment. Thus, when we nembutsu
performers hear the Name, we should think to ourselves, "Surely this
is a sign we will be born! The reason we think this is, the Name is the
fruit of Enlightenment of Hozo bodhisattva who vowed to put off (his) own
Enlightenment until the condition for the Birth of the assembly of the
mindful everywhere was set."
Again, when we sit reverently before a
statue of Mida Buddha, we should think to ourselves, "Surely this is
a sign we will be born! The reason we think this is, this Form is what the
bodhisattva Hozo assumed when he vowed to put off (his) own Enlightenment
until the condition for the Birth of the assembly of the mindful
everywhere was set." Again, when we hear the name of Sukhavatai, we
should think to ourselves, "Surely this is a sign the conditions for
that place are ready! This is the Land of Bliss prepared for us by the
Enlightenment of the Bhiksu Hozo who vowed to put off (his) own
Enlightenment until the condition for the Birth of the assembly of the
mindful everywhere was set."
When it comes to the Rookie, the problem with them is they have none of
the winning moral virtues of either the renunciant or the worldly, for all
they go about doing results in creating more bad karma for themselves. It
is fortunate for the Rookie that there is from out of the Buddha's estate
an enormous store of energy to be had as boundless as the sands of the
Ganges. This is Sukhavati, a land of bliss prepared for the assembly of
the mindful, whose numbers include fools with mistaken ideas like us.
What
is sad to see is people chanting the Name believing in the Vow, yet
thinking the Buddha's estate is something "out there," and that
that energy has to somehow be siphoned into the Name otherwise we cannot
achieve Birth. When the informed heart arises in us to urgently call
Namu-Amidabutsu as the condition for our birth, that is where the Buddha's
estate and our performance of Birth come together in a single voicing that
determines our Birth once and for all.
Thus, when we hear the Name of
Amida Buddha, we should see it as a sign of our Birth, a Birth identical
with the Buddha's Enlightenment. Even if we should have lingering doubts
as to whether or not Amida Buddha's Enlightenment is complete, never
should we doubt whether or not our Birth is complete. If even a single one
of the assembly of the mindful were not to attain Birth, never would the Buddha
attain Enlightenment. To understand this is to gain insight into the
eighteenth Vow.
Just as one of the assembly of the mindful who truly wished to be Born
might make a vow and strive in practices toward that end, the avowed
practices were what the bodhisattva strove in mightily in order for its
effects to surface in us, these efforts sweeping beyond the causative
differences that divide the worldly from the renunciant. The Master
praised this as a lofty vow of an order unto itself. Doing these avowed
practices on behalf of the assembly of the mindful, first going to the
rescue of those mindful ones who are constantly drowning and then seeing
to the good, the Buddha knowing that if even a single mindful one were not
to be reached, the vow of great compassion would not be satisfied.
When
the avowed practices for each and every Rookie comprising the assembly of
the mindful are completed, the Enlightenment of the Buddha will take place
and the assembly of the mindful will be Born. The Buddha vowed that if
there were anyone who had not heard (his) mysterious Name, he would refuse
to receive Enlightenment. We have already heard the Name of Amida. Know
that this means our Birth has already come to pass.
When you hear, it will not do to just listen to the Name with an
is-that-so attitude. The experienced say that you must hear resounding in
it the mystery of the Vow's other power without any doubt in your mind.
Even your act of hearing the Name is an event brought about through the
Vow, your hearing it being enabled solely by the agency of other power.
For instance, even if the Buddha has brought about the Birth of Everyman,
unless we hear the Name symbolic of the completion of the Vow, how else
can we know that the Vow has been fulfilled? Thus, even if we listen to
the Name or look at the statue of Buddha, in order that the efforts of
Hozo to make good (his) promise to either bring us deliverance or forego Buddhahood
were not in vain, we must hear in the Name the completion of our Birth, we
must see in its Form the makings of the Buddha's Enlightenment, otherwise
this is just listening and not really hearing, looking and not really
seeing.
In the Sutra of Equal Enlightenment (cited in the Good Effects of
Meditation) it says, "When we hear what is so special about the Pure
Land approach to the world of Dharma, we are so filled with rapturous joy
that the very hair on our body begins to dance." This is not to be
"happy" in a perfunctory way, for if we were to attempt to take
on the practices to break the cycle of transmigration requiring will and
wisdom to negotiate the path, without the wisdom to see and the legs to
traverse the path we would soon begin to sink into the fiery charnels of
the three evil ways.
Yet, even in this lowly existence of ours, when we
recall that, outfitted with the Vow and Act from the Buddha's estate, we
can participate in the Enlightenment of the unity of Rookie and Dharma,
there is nothing happier than this, and our happiness is such that we
dance with joy. This is the heart of joy related in the Larger Sutra
(cited in the Praises), where it says, "In that period you will hear
the Name in that one total moment," and "Hearing that Name you
will experience joy and sing praises to it."
Once you realize the
Name is not someone else's business, that the Name is what has already
completed the matter of our Birth and this Form is what has ushered in the
matter of our Birth, this is what is really meant by our hearing the Name
and our seeing the form of the Buddha. To understand this is to have the
Vow inform your thoughts.
Those who seek an informed
heart or determination of their birth through nembutsu-samadhi must know
they have to reach the plane where the body and the mind are both
Namu-Amidabutsu.
[This ends the first section. The final line introduces the next
section: Namu-Amidabutsu.]
Terms used
Amida, Mida. Mida is an abbreviation of Amida.
Birth, or ojo. Birth in the Pure Land.
The Buddha. Sometimes used in a metaphorical sense to point to the
Reality it represents. No gender is indicated in the original text, hence
gender terms are put in parentheses, for example, "(he) would
agree."
Dharma, or ho. The other element in ki-ho ittai, or unity of Rookie and
Dharma.
The eighteenth Vow. As the key to the true meaning of the Kuan ching,
the idea sparked a revolution in Pure Land thought. Adopted in Japan by
Honen (1133-1212) and his lineage in the Kamakura period.
Everyman, bonbu. The ordinary person, unenlightened.
Hozo. Amida as a bodhisattva, a Buddha in the making; sometimes as
Dharmakara, meaning Dharma store.
Informed heart, or shinjin. Literally, believing mind. Not just the
mind that believes in Amida but the mind awakened to the wish of the
eighteenth Vow. The same term is used in Jodo Shinshu, but the fact Akj is
not an exclusively Jodo Shinshu text makes it difficult to say that the
content of shinjin it sets forth is identical with that used by Shinran.
The assembly of the mindful, or shujo. The sentient beings.
The Name, or myogo. The Name, Namu-Amidabutsu, prepared by Hozo
bodhisattva for those who wish to be born in (his) Pure Land.
Namu-Amidabutsu. The Name of Amida Buddha. Here the separation of two
elements, Namu and Amidabutsu, is significant in that one is the side of
the seeker and the other is the side of Buddha.
The nembutsu. The saying of the Buddha Name, Namu-Amidabutsu.
One total moment, or ichi'nen. One moment, one thought, one
thought-moment, in an existential sense.
One voicing, or issho. Not in a numerical sense, but closer to an
earthshaking experience.
The Pure Land, or jodo. The place prepared by Hozo bodhisattva to
welcome those who believed in the Vow. Sometimes as Pure Land way, since
it refers to a spiritual path.
The Rookie. The ki of ki-ho ittai, the seeker, the common denominator
of humankind; here as a creative rendering, and sometimes used as a plural
noun.
Sukhavati, or Gokuraku. A Sanskrit word for Land of Bliss.
Transfer of energy, or eko. Usually the turning over of merit, or
spiritual energy, as an extension of bodhisattva practices to actualize
both the Buddha's Enlightenment and our Birth.
The Unity of Rookie and Dharma, or ki-ho ittai. As unity of seeker and
Dharma.
The Vow, or hongan. Original vow, primal vow, the wish of the Vow.
Texts cited
"Hymns on Presencing," or J. Hanjusan. Verses by Chinese Pure Land master
Shan-tao.
Kuan ching. "The Contemplation Sutra," one of the Three Pure Land Sutras.
"On the Good Effects of Meditation," or J. Jozengi. Actually a chapter of
Shan-tao's Kuan ching commentary.
"Praises," or J. Raisan, for J. Ojo raisan, or
"Verses in Praise of Birth,"
by Shan-tao.
"Subtle Meaning," or J. Gengibun. Actually a chapter of Shan-tao's Kuan
ching commentary.
"Sutra of Infinite Life," or Muryojukyo. One of the Three Pure Land
Sutras, along with the Kuan ching and the Amida Sutra.
Compiled by: W.S. Yokoyama & Yukie Dan
