Master Shinran's Challenge:
Is Birth in the Pure Land Determined by Faith or by
Practice?
from the Godensho
(Life of Shinran Shonin)
Compiled by Master Kakunyo (1270-1351)
Translated by W. S. Yokoyama*
Now, long ago, when Master Honen was still alive, he endeavored
to spread the word of Birth in the Pure Land through Other Power, and
people everywhere flocked to him, all of them wanting to take refuge in
that teaching. Even court officials, whose lives were involved in the
elegant purple affairs of the Forbidden city’s jade court, had set
their hearts on winning for themselves a lotus dais among the golden
groves [of the Pure Land]; even those who hailed from families that had
promising careers to look forward to in the three ministries or nine
departments were suddenly longing for the moon of the Forty-eight Vows.
Not only that, there were also people from outside the capital and
those who were from remote areas who came to worship and adore him.
The noble and the common came around
by the cartful such that the street in front of his house turned into a
virtual marketplace. Of the close followers who constantly accompanied
him, there were some three hundred and eighty. However, of those who
were transformed by him at a deep personal level and who earnestly
sought to follow his admonitions, there were hardly any. Of them there
no more than five or six of them altogether. [Speaking to Honen] Master
Shinran once said,
“I am a person who has put aside the
way of Difficult Practice and switched to the way of Easy Practice, and
who has left the gate to the Sacred Path and entered the Pure Land gate
way; without your kind instruction how could I have ever stocked up the
good cause for my release and liberation? Of all the joys of
joys,
indeed nothing matches this. Although there is many a brethren who
cordially share the same room and respectfully listen to the
injunctions of one and the same master, it is difficult to tell whether
we are truly identical with regard to the makeup of our shinjin leading
to birth in the land of reward.
"For this reason, in order to know which of them meet the
qualifications of being our true friends from here on out, and which
belong to the memories of this fleeting world, I desire that you make
an opportunity for me to speak to them to press my question face to
face on the occasion of a meeting of your disciples.”
Honen
replied,
“Your request is an entirely
reasonable one, thus during tomorrow’s meeting I will announce the
matter.”
Thus at the gathering on the
following day, Shinran asked them,
“Today, everyone must seat themselves
according to whether they think birth is determined by faith or whether
birth is determined by practice. You can seat yourself at either one or
the other, but each of you must indicate your choice.”
At the time the three hundred-some
monks did not seem to quite understand what he was driving at with his
request. After awhile, though, Seikaku (1167–1235)
and Shinku (1146–1228) declared,
“We shall take a seat on the side
that says birth is determined by faith.”
Next, Horiki (1146–1228), who arrived
late, asked,
"Shinran, what are you busily
writing down?”
Shinran said,
“Everyone must take a seat according
to whether they think birth is determined by faith or whether birth is
determined by practice.”
Horiki replied,
“In that case, I, Horiki, am not to
be left out, and will join those who side with the view that birth is
determined by faith.”
So doing, Shinran
recorded his name accordingly [with those of the view that birth is
determined by faith]. Although there were several hundreds of other
followers present, no one else had another word to say on the matter.
[Their silence] could well be due to their being unable to wrest
themselves free of the deluded mind of self power, that lulled their
true diamondlike faith to sleep. While they sat there silently,
Shinran, who was the scribe, set his own name down.
After a short time had passed, Honen
announced to them,
“I, Honen, will also take a seat
alongside those who believe that birth is determined by faith.”
At that point, among the disciples
some humbly expressed their feelings of reverence, while others grew
visibly dejected by degrees.
*Note: This translation has
been lightly edited for ease of comprehension.
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