“‘Group of Those Correctly Assured’ In The ‘Present Life’” and “Matter of Greatest Importance in The Next Life”

Some claim that while the Venerable Master Shinran emphasized the present, Master Rennyo emphasized the “next life,” and concentrated on the world after death. This is a great mistake.

In his “Hymns on the Pure Land” (Jodo Wasan), the Venerable Master Shinran wrote:

Those who receive the true and real shinjin
Immediately join the “settled group”
And enter the stage of non-retrogression
Where they are guaranteed nirvana.

As can be determined from this wasan, the Venerable Master Shinran emphasized the benefit of shojoju—the benefit of being in the “group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)”—which the Spiritual Masters and sacred literature outwardly seemed to indicate would be received after being born in the Pure Land, was actually received in our present life immediately upon receiving shinjin.

This wasan should be read together with the passage in Letter One of the “Lamp for the Latter Ages” (Mattosho) written by the Venerable Master Shinran:

The doer of true shinjin, however, abides in the “group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land),” for he or she has already been grasped, never to be abandoned. There is no need to wait in anticipation for the moment of death, nor to rely on Amida’s coming. The moment shinjin is settled, birth (in the Pure Land) is also settled; there is no need for deathbed rites to prepare for Amida’s coming.

As can be determined from this passage, the Venerable Master Shinran emphasized salvation while we are still in this world. He even denied the extremely large problem in the Pure Land teachings at that time of “Amida Buddha coming to welcome us at death” (rinju raiko). The orthodox Pure Land teaching then was that when our life in this world came to an end, Amida Buddha would come from the Pure Land to escort us to his land.

To say, however, that the Venerable Master Shinran emphasized salvation in the present world while Master Rennyo emphasized the “importance of the next life” (gosho no ichidaiji), and talked only about what happens after we die, is absolutely not the case. Master Rennyo was very faithful in following the Venerable Master Shinran on this point about salvation in this world. There are many places in his “Honorable Letters” where this is indicated. For example in Letter 4 of Fascle One is the following:

Question: Should we understand being “correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)” (shojo) and attaining nirvana as one benefit, or as two?
Answer: “Awakening the one thought-moment” (ichinen hakki) is being in the “group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)” (shojoju), and is the benefit in this defiled world. Nirvana is the benefit to be gained in the Pure Land. Hence we should think of them as two benefits.