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'Myokonin' literally means a wondrous, excellent person. It is used for a devout follower of Jodoshinshu, who lives a life of total dedication to Amida and whose acts and sayings, though they often run counter to common sense, reveal the depth of faith and true humanity. Those known as myokonin have often been found to have little education but a surprisingly deep understanding of the Other-Power teaching. They are not simply devout practicers of the Nembutsu. Having realized the Other-Power and experienced oneness with Amida, they fully live up to his all-embracing Compassion. While keenly aware of their absolute powerlessness, they are always grateful to Amida, and their daily life is full of spontaneous expressions of joy and selfless love.
The term originally comes from Shan-tao's commentary on the Contemplation Sutra. In commenting on the word 'fundarike' (pundarika, a white lotus-flower), which is used in this sutra to praise followers of the Nembutsu, Shan-tao (613-681) gives five other words of high praise: 1. konin, an excellent person, 2. jojonin, a superior person, 3. myokonin, 4. keunin, a rare person, and 5. saishonin, a most excellent person. Of those five, myokonin came to be specially used to refer to a person of True Faith as described above.
The twenty-two stories of myokonin which will be presented in Part One were originally compiled by Gosei (1721-94), a Honganji scholar of Iwami Province (present-day Shimane Prefecture), and published by his disciple Sojun m in 1842. Later, Sojun added four more collections of stories. With the addition of one more collection attributed to Zoo ۉ, a six-collection book entitled Myokoninden, Biographies of Myokonin, became popular reading among Shin followers in the pre-modern period.
I-1 (1) Kihee of Aki Province | I-2 (1) Yazaemon of Dewa Province | ...... (8) Arakawa Souemon of Echizen Province |
...... (2) Kuhee of Iwami Province | ...... (2) Oshimo of Kawachi Province | ...... (9) Kuse Magonojo of Iga Province |
...... (3) Rokuzaemon of Tajima Province | ...... (3) Sazaemon of Iga Province | ...... (10) Genzaburo of Iwami Province |
...... (4) Jiroemon of Settsu Province | ...... (4) Rokubei of Iga Province | ...... (11) Zenbee of Iwami Province |
...... (5) Jiroemon of Omi Province | ...... (5) A prostitute of Nagasaki | ...... (12) Kyubee's daughter of Kaga Province |
...... (6) Ishibashi Jukan of Iwami Province | ...... (6) Chuzaemon of Hitachi Province | ...... (13) Yoichi of Kaga Province |
...... (7) Seikuro of Yamato Province | ...... (7) Araki Mataroku of Echizen Province |
FASCICLE ONE
Part 1
Celebrating our long life in this ephemeral world,
Today I restrain myself from saying Amida's Name.
End of Fascicle One, Part 1
Part 2
"Striking a bell or beating a drum to call me,
because I am a deluded wanderer;
Observing the precepts or breaking them was a matter of concern
for those of the bygone age but not for me.
However brilliant, intelligent and knowledgeable you may be,
you are crooked palanquin bearers,
if ignorant of the after-life.
Heed well and listen to the Dharma!
The gold mountain of Sado Island is right here.
To make me understand the Dharma, eight thousand times
Shakyamuni came to the Saha world - for this wretched man!
However well you may hear the Dharma, it is to no avail,
if your mind does not listen to and accept it.
However well you may have your hair fashioned like a bodhisattva,
your python-like nature will soon show.
Compassionate Buddhas have failed to save me;
it is Amida's Vow alone that saves me.
Let us not pray for happiness in this life or abstain
because of unlucky signs, for we are embraced in Amida's Light.
The number of the Nembutsu does not count,
but it comes to my lips whenever I think of his Benevolence.
Let us not forget, morning and evening, the Benevolence of Amida
who has made us good hearers of the Dharma.
Pretending to have understood the Dharma well and being given
to wayward fancies is worse than not hearing it at all.
Seeing others' faults, remember that they are yours;
they are the faults you committed in past lives.
How joyful it is and how grateful I am to watch the days and months pass by!
The time of my birth in the Pure Land is coming closer.
One dressed in one's best yesterday
may be cremated today at Toribeno."
"How sad it is to live on telling lies
when my karmic hindrances are heavy enough without them!"
"So long as your mind is in accord with Amida's Vow,
let the style of your life be as it naturally comes."
"Though I try not to say the Nembutsu, it comes to my lips;
In the end people admonish me to stop saying it."
"I have become desperate not knowing what to do;
My Nembutsu is like a burning fire which water cannot put out."
"I have been watching the lotus-flower
as something beyond my reach;
Today I feel as if I had it in my hand."
"How I wish the Path of the Dharma to be broad,
even if the roads in the world remain narrow!"
(1) Having left everything to the Buddha,
I have no worries in the mind.
(2) Transmigration in the six realms having ended,
I now dwell in the Stage of Non-retrogression.
(3) Since salvation comes from Amida,
I simply accept it with gratitude.
(4) The more I become aware of my grave evils,
The greater is my joy for having boarded Amida's ship.
(5) A gem-laden gate and a brushwood door make no difference;
The moonlight illumines everywhere equally.
(6) Having left myself in the hands of the Buddha whom I worship,
I feel no anxiety about my life after death.
"Without counting my debts,
I clap my hands, with a rosary tied around,
As the end of the year draws near."
"I heard the explanation of a folded lotus-leaf
at the first reading of sacred scriptures in the New Year."
"When a violet flower bends its head,
that's where its calyx stands."
"Whoever cares about other practices and meritorious acts
has no master of the six-character Name in his heart."
"Accepting whole-heartedly Amida's Compassion,
we pay no attention to other practices or good acts."
"I have been hunted down by Amida
since he attained Buddhahood
and finally caught on charges of grave offenses."
END OF PART 2
FASCICLE ONE
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