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Chijo no kyushu: Hozo bosatsu shutsugen
no igi ...
The Savior on earth: The significance of Dharmakara Bodhisattva's
appearance in this world.
by Soga Ryojin
[Collected Works 2:408-421; originally published in Taisho2.7 (July
1913), Seishinkai (World of Soul) journal].
Soga sensei was a noted Shinshu
"theologian" teaching at the Otani University in Kyoto. His
writings have only gradually been accessible to western people. We are
grateful to Mr. Wayne Yokoyama for making this important essay available.
It will be useful in Buddhist Christian dialogue and for the study of Shin
Buddhism itself. Soga's thought is complex and requires reflection, but we
present it as a resource for students and scholars interested in the
deeper aspects of Shin thought.
Translator's note: To accommodate what I think is
Soga's thought, free renderings of technical terms have been made: shinjin
as awakening of faith; shin as awakening; in part in an effort to avoid
use of word "faith." Other departures: busshin as Buddha
intuition (rather than b. mind), in an effort to avoid use of word
"mind"
Diacritical marks have not been inserted.
I.
It was in early June of last year [1912], while I was at
Kaneko Daiei's place in Takada, that I at last gained an insight into that
exceptional phrase, Nyorai wa ware nari ... "The Tathagata becomes us." And then
in late August at Akegarasu Haya's place [in Kanazawa], I came around to
understanding, Nyorai ware to narite ware o sukui au ... "It is through the
unity of Tathagata and self that the Tathagata manages to save us." Then,
around October I realized what was meant by Nyorai ware to naru to wa
bosatsu ryutan no koto nari.
The unity of Tathagata and self is sewn up
with the event of Dharmakara Bodhisattva's birth [in this world]. While
such matters may not have perturbed others in the least, they have been a
constant source of annoyance to me these past 20 years. At times I got
so worked up about it I thought I would go stark raving mad. Day after day
I would thumb through the sacred writings, but could garner no clue as to
the significance of these passages. My situation was aggravated by the
fact I was beset by all the trivial problems that have colored these dark
and troubled times of contemporary Japan. And so, attaining this level of clearsightedness was like a ray of light shining at the end of a long and
dark tunnel.
I am struck dumb when it comes to expressing such
feelings in words. But there was a part of me that was not content to
remain silent, and so from October of last year [1912], I began to publish
portions of my confessions in my column "Storming winds, pelting
rain" [in the journal Seishinkai {World of Soul}]. Also, in the
January [1913] issue of the journal Mujinto (Everlasting Light), I
published a piece called "Hozo biku kuon no busshin no kongen-sha
toshite no genzai no Hozo biku " ("Dharmakara Bhiksu in the
Present as the One Awakened to the Eternal Buddha-mind of Dharmakara
Bhiksu").
After [these pieces] came out, I received words of
encouragement from friends far and wide, but this only made me question my
own position further, forcing me to confront some of my deepest fears.
Looking back on this time, I am surprised by the boldness and sheer
arrogance of the enterprise, and I cannot help but lament the paucity of
the intellectual resources then at my command as I engaged the task. Now,
as I reflect [upon] the matter, I see this is what is meant by experiencing the
reality of "originally there is not a single thing" (ganrai
muichibutsu; note that this a passage attributed to Zen's Sixth Patriarch
Hui-neng), where, through the help of numerous friends on the Way, even
those who heaped on me their contempt and derision, I was made to benefit
greatly from the merit of the thoughts they turned over to me, a fact that
impresses me greatly even now.
II.
I knew of the name of Dharmakara Bodhisattva (Hozo
Bosatsu) from long before and treat it as a major concept now, but truth
is, I must confess, there was a stretch when it sat on the shelf for the
longest time. Of course, I am equally at a loss with what to do with the
concept of the Land of Bliss (Gokuraku, literally, "Ultimate Bliss"), that
realm which [lies] tens of thousands of millions of Buddha-lands to the
west. But, as I cannot imagine this world of present reality to be the Land
of Bliss, then whether I like it or not I have to capitulate to the Land
of Bliss in the west. When it came to Dharmakara Bodhisattva, though, I
was simply unable to bring myself to believe in the account of the
Original Vow being produced from the five kalpas-long contemplation and
the aeons-long practice [to fulfil the Vow], nor did I feel myself under
any burden of obligation to believe. As a small child being taught the
Shoshin-ge (Shinran's "Hymn of True Faith"), I recall struggling to remember
verses I simply couldn't understand, like:
Hozo bosatsu inni-ji, . . .
goko shi'i shi setsuju,
jusei monsho mon jippo
In the causal stage as Dharmakara Bodhisattva . . .
he undertook the five kalpas-long contemplation,
[to achieve] as vowed: that the intoning of the Name would resound
throughout the universe.
Shin believers who hold to a simple faith would be moved
to tears when they heard the part about the five kalpas-long
contemplation. But once I started to think for myself, whatever attraction
I had to this Practice of Vow in causal state soon faded. Instead, I found
myself interested exclusively in the name Jinjippo muge-ko [Nyorai]
..."Tathagata of Light radiating unhindered in all directions." For the time
being, I had come to the conclusion that the so-called great law of cause
and effect fell into the category of things that had no discernible
meaning, but because it was to me inconceivable that humankind could
extract itself from beneath the weal of [such a universal principle] as
cause and effect, I would explain it [away] by saying that in order for
the Tathagata to inform humankind of the Original Vow, the Tathagata was
able to bring the thought it sought to transmit to us through manipulating
the laws of cause and effect that govern the [lower] laws of the human
thought processes; but the truth is, I was so enamored by [the imagery of] Tathagata's radiant Light that it exclusively guided my thoughts to the
point it destroyed any budding interest I might have had in the Vow
practice in causal state of Dharmakara Bhiksu.
In short, though I would go around talking up the theme
of holding to the central belief in the Original Vow, the truth was I
regarded the Original Vow to be nothing more than simply the great soul
energy (dai-seishin, literally, "great spirit") of the Tathagata's true
awakening. Dharmakara Bhiksu was nothing more than the temporary name of
an incidental figure who appeared briefly for a five kalpas-long
contemplation in the greater scenario of the Tathagata's eternal drama.
Moreover, it was a drama that did not require our own appearance on stage.
Our savior was, for all extents and purposes, simply an emanation out of
eternity of the Tathagata of Light unhindered that radiates its effulgence
in all directions.
III.
However, when that eternal Tathagata of Light radiating
unhindered in every direction becomes the object of our affection [and
guides our choices], it becomes an extension of our ideals and ceases to
function in the capacity of world savior. This kind of belief,
self-serving and intellectualized, is as such enmired in the satori of
so-called self-power Holy Path (jiriki-shodo), implying ineffectual
practice. Salvation, on the other hand, is a problem of reality. It is
the great problem of what we must do as protagonists [in the drama] of
life's conflicting realities (jinsei no genjitsu, literally, "the
reality of human life").
There is no salvation in store for us when
we rely on our empty ideals [to pull us through]. [What we fail to realize
is that] all of the gods, Buddhas, and bodhisattvas in every direction in
this triple world of past, present and future [manifest] a facet of human
ideals. The Name of [the Tathagata] of Light radiating unhindered in every
direction contains [all of the merit of] the various names of every god, Buddha,
and bodhisattva; as it thus signifies the synthesis of all human desires,
it is to this dimension that we must direct our deepest aspirations.
But,
if we merely become enamored with the idea of Light, we musk ask
ourselves: Is the light of wisdom that issues from the truth of our world
of ideals sufficient to rend the long dark night of ignorance? Is it
sufficient to serve as the proverbial raft whose functioning (gyogo)
dispels the suffering of the great sea of life and death that issues from
the realities of the human condition? When we step aboard the great Vow
ship of compassion, our ideals at last match with our realities for the
first time, and the sea of human life with its suffering of conflicting
realities as such becomes a vast sea of Light radiating in fullness and in
all its unimpeded glory. But, when we distance ourselves from the great Vow
ship of compassion, the sea again reverts to what it was before, a sea
full of suffering, hardship, impediments.
It may seem futile to talk about
a Light unhindered shining its rays on the sea of suffering of present
reality; indeed, for the person drowning in the depths of that ocean it is
only to be expected that he should decry any mention of benefit or
gratitude. But, what we are seeking after in the here and now is not some
empty notion of light, but the Ark of the Vow a-sail on the sea of human
realities. A Tathagata of Dharmakaya of eternal truth can never become the
savior of we who stand face to face with [life's pressing] realities. Our
savior in this world of conflicting realities must necessarily be one who
mediates the gap between the human world and the Buddha world (ningen-butsu),
by appearing in this world of conflicting realities.
In the Christian concept of [the] Trinity, Jesus Christ serves
as mediator between God and man, and it is this very role as mediator that
makes it impossible for Jesus to truly fulfill his role as world savior
directly. If we conceive of God the Father as eternal light, this points
to the impossibility of God being able to make intimate contact with the
world of human realities. Even if God were the creator of this world, once
this world of conflicting realities came into being, there appeared an
absolute demarcation between God and this world, such that each exists
completely independent of the other.
God, of course, may be said to be in
possession of an original dimension through which God holds dominion over
the world of man; but God as such is unable to either better the human
condition or to work out man's deliverance. God's utter isolation is
especially evident in God's act of sending God's beloved son, Jesus, into
this world of conflicting realities, and it is through Jesus's role as
world savior and as medium to the spiritual world that we learn of the
design of this God isolated in eternity to become one with humankind.
Thus, between the Father of eternal light and we humans
who have fallen into the sea of life and death, there is a gap as great as
that between heaven and earth. [God's] sphere of influence would indeed
seem not to reach to where we are. It is for this reason that [the Eternal
Light] takes on the form of the savior Dharmakara Bodhisattva who mediates
the gap between the human world and the Buddha world, merging with [this
world of particularities] at the point where the Light [of the Buddha
world] mingles with the dust [of this world].
IV.
The question that now engages us is: Who is Dharmakara
Bodhisattva? That is, where did he come from, where did he make the
Original Vow, where did he practice, where did he attain supreme
enlightenment? [It could be said that] he attained supreme enlightenment
in the Pure Land in the west, a realm distant from our world of
conflicting realities. But there is a problem as to the circumstances
surrounding the birth of this mediator to the worlds of human and Buddha.
In Christ, however enshrouded he may be in the ideal of Light, it is clear
he is an historical figure.
[The claim] that Christ is well qualified to be
the savior in this real world is, in part, grounded in his taking this real
world as the foundation [of his ministry]; but at the same time his
inability to achieve that goal of savior may be attributed to the fact he
occurs as an individual in history. For however great he may be, in final
analysis is he not just another human being?, and as far as being a soul
in need of deliverance he would have to be a person no different from us.
In so being, then, our mediator of the worlds of God and man loses his
credentials as savior [of those] in conflicting realities.
For how can [an
individual] be [savior] when he is as always who he is [i.e., an isolated
individual], and I am always who I am? Even if Christ were a manifestation
issuing from the heavenly world, it would be impossible for him as an
individual to act as savior to me, another individual. If in this capacity
he is unable to become the new savior, his role would then be reduced
simply to being nothing more than the first discoverer of a new truth:
that God is father to humankind. Christianity in its outward form may thus
seem to resemble our religion of so-called other-power salvation (tariki
kyusai), but strip away the mask and what it turns out to be is a teaching
based on the ideals of self-power effort (jiriki doryoku, that is, the
idea that man can save himself by his own efforts).
From the world of such
ideals, God is portrayed as shedding its light to reveal the ever-deepening
gravity of the impediments of human karma, and while we may look to this
god in adoration, this can only mean that the groans of effort that rise
up in our throats [as we strive to save ourselves] are being made in vain.
By contrast, Dharmakara Bodhisattva is never presented
as an historical figure. Dharmakara Bodhisattva instead is born by
appearing directly in the hearts and thoughts of we members of humankind.
That voice beckoning to living beings everywhere does not come to us from
on high, from the lofty reaches of the world of pure light, nor are we
being beckoned to by some objectively distinct personality who exists
as an individual separate from us.
The voice of Dharmakara Bodhisattva
issues forth from within the breast of each person trapped in the gloomy
darkness of suffering and despair. When the Original Vow of Dharmakara
Bodhisattva is described as the proverbial raft on the great sea of life
and death, it points to the issuing forth of that voice from the depths of
our hearts, from beneath the very ground on which we stand. In contrast to
all of the idealistic religions of the world that I will call
"religions of Heaven," only our religion of salvation in
Dharmakara Bodhisattva stands apart as the sole "religion of
Earth."
Religions of Light so-called are numerous, but only our
Shinshu is a religion of the Ark. Only our Shinshu is a religion
addressing the conflicting realities [each of us are experiencing], and as
such it is a religion offering true salvation. Phrases such as heizei gojo
["ordinary life is **"] and shinzoku ni-tai ["the two
truths of ultimate and worldly nature"] maybe said to express
salvation Reality offers, but [in truth] they pay no more than lip service
to it. Why is it, one wonders, that there are so many who, whilst singing
paeans of praise to the Light as it might turn out in some future time,
pass their lives in vain in this sea of life and death, only to vanish
forever into its depths?
The truth is that our Shinshu, like the many
Light-praising religions throughout the world, also sings praises to the
Light Tathagata disperses in every direction. But where the Light mingles
with the dust, we who sing these paeans of [praise to the Light] are not
being suspended in midair. Our feet are planted firmly on the deck of the
ship crossing the great sea of conflicting realities. What this means is
we do not exist as isolated individuals who [at death] vanish forever. As
long as I am in the great sea of Life, as a passenger aboard the great Vow
ship I am enjoying the long crossing as the ship plows the sea of life and
death.
When I am forgetful of that ship, though I live out my days
pleasantly I am not truly living up to my name as a person who praises the
Light. And so when the dust of my conflicting realities mingles with the
Light of eternity, this does not mean the dust will not settle [and will
be suspended forever]; it is only natural, rather, that of its own weight
it still must fall to that place where it must fall. [This is what I mean
when I say that, though I mingle with the Light,] I am not a person
suspended in midair.
Note that all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and gods in the
triple world [of time] and the 10 directions [of space] beckon to us from
the Heavens above. Each and every one of them has their own special kind
of light to beam down on us. Combining all these lights together into one
is the Lord of Blazing Light, Amida Tathagata (Amida Nyorai, Buddha of the
Infinite), who manifests the next higher level of reality. Still,
adoration and salvation are not the same thing.
Though it is said that the
gods and Buddhas do not forsake us and are constantly calling to us and
shedding their light on us, on our part, however, when we realize how
utterly helpless we are when it comes to saving ourselves, how lacking in
resources we are when it comes to living a religious life, instead of
abandoning our [revealed] selves, we throw away those gods and Buddhas,
and seek desperately for some way to escape. Strictly speaking, the
Original Vow would have to be limited to Dharmakara Bodhisattva's 48 vows.
Though there is a tendency to think of other-power salvation as
ineffectual, the founder [Shinran] Shonin described true other power as
the power of Tathagata's Original Vow. But here we must ask ourselves:
What is the power of Tathagata's Original Vow? It must be the ability to
save this self of ours trapped in the web of conflicting realities. It
cannot be like a beautiful painting of a tasty treat that does not do it
for us. Ultimately, though, the power of the great compassionate Kannon (Avalokitsevara)
is like this kind of painting, for it has no footing in our web of
conflicting realities. It operates as nothing more than a beautiful story.
Dharmakara Bodhisattva's Original Vow is of a completely different order
from this. On the one hand, as the mediator of the worlds of humans and Buddhas,
[Dharmakara Bodhisattva] is as such the Amida Tathagata who is actively
mingling its Light [with the dust of this world]; on the other hand,
Dharmakara Bodhisattva sees through the eyes of the protagonist self that
truly seeks salvation. If I were to set down the logic in operation (kotowari; principle), I would say, "The Tathagata is no other than our self (Nyorai
wa sunawachi waga nari)" or, it would seem to me, "[The unity of] Tathagata and self occurs" (Nyorai-waga to naru).
The main [operating
principle] in the process of salvation (kyusai shu) is the configuration
known as the unity of ki, or "seeker," (the moment of awakening, shinnen;
[literally, "religious conviction"] Soga Ryojin's notes) and ho,
or Dharma (Tathagata, Nyorai) [ki-ho ittai]; from the standpoint of the
person undergoing this process, it could also be expressed as the unity of
Buddha-intuition (busshin; literally, Buddha-mind) and intuition of the
ordinary person (bonshin)."
(continued on Page 2)
