THE WAY OF
NEMBUTSU-FAITH
A Commentary on
THE SHOSHINGE
with references to Wasan
by
Zuio Hisao Inagaki

First published by Nagata Bunshodo, Kyoto,1996
Revised September, 2000

Part 2
Section on the exposition
based on the Seven Masters' works

Index

<<Index>>

(11) The Seven Masters (lines 45-48)

The discourse-writers of India
And the noble masters of China and Japan
Revealed the true purpose of the Great Sage's appearance
And clarified that Amida's Original Vow responds to our need.

Amida's law of salvation is fully described in the three Pure Land sutras. Even though they were codified a few centuries after Shakyamuni's passing into Nirvana, his original message concerning Amida was presumably transmitted in the form of samadhi to some of his disciples who were able to understand deeper truth. When Mahayana arose, Amida was one of the first Buddhas presented in Mahayana sutras, as evidenced in the earliest Chinese translations dating from the middle of the 2nd century.
The most prominent figure in the Mahayana movement is Nagarjuna (c. 150-250), who is celebrated as the promulgator of the School of the Middle (Madhyamika) and the theory of voidness (shunyata). His discourse on the Garland Sutra, Chapter on the Ten Stages, has important references to Amida Buddha, especially in Chapter 9 'Easy Practice', in which he professed his devotion to Amida and recommended recitation of his Name for attaining the Stage of Non-retrogression. Nagarjuna is also believed to be the author of the Twelve Adorations, which is often chanted in special services.
Secondly, as Mahayana further developed, there arose a system of theory and practice based on the idea that one's existence, along with one's environment, can be reduced to one's consciousness. Eight levels of consciousness are conceived, and the most fundamental one, called Alaya (literally, 'storage'), stores all karmic energy carried over from previous lives and reproduces it in various forms when there are appropriate conditions. Vasubandhu (c. 320-400) and his elder brother Asanga were founders of this new school, which was called Meditation Practice (Yogacara), because it teaches that one realizes ultimate reality and attains Enlightenment through concentration on and observation of objects in relation to one's consciousness.

Vasubandhu was especially selected by Shinran as one of the Seven Masters, because in his Discourse on the Pure Land with Hymn of Birth he systematized Amida's law of salvation in a way which can be practiced effectively by ordinary people as well as Bodhisattvas. It is significant that this great authority of Buddhism, who was an adept of Yogacara practices, sincerely took refuge in Amida. He successfully visualized Amida, the Pure Land and the Bodhisattvas dwelling there, and fully described them in this discourse. He systematized a theory of practice, called 'five mindful practices', thereby setting the course of Pure Land Buddhism as a Yogacara-Pure Land system of meditation on Amida while emphasizing recitation of his Name to glorify his virtue.
The Third Master is T'an-luan (476-542) of China. At first he became a scholar of the Madhyamika philosophy, but came to take refuge in Amida after he encountered the Indian monk called Bodhiruci, who gave him Pure Land scriptures. Inheriting the two major Mahayana schools, Madhyamika and Yogacara, T'an-luan wrote an extensive commentary on Vasubandhu's Discourse on the Pure Land, which has played a vitally important part in Shinran's systematization of the Shin teaching. He gave new dimensions of meaning to Vasubandhu's system of Yogacara-Pure Land practice, explaining his ideas in ontological, epistemological and soteriological terms. His special emphasis on the Other-Power, which enables us to attain birth in the Pure Land and realize Enlightenment, was adopted and further developed by Shinran. T'an-luan also composed a verse, entitled 'The Verse in Praise of Amida Buddha', based on which Shinran praised Amida's virtue in the Hymns on the Pure Land.

The Fourth Master Tao-ch'o (562-645) followed T'an-luan's teaching and developed it further. His keen awareness of the age of the declining Dharma reinforced his sincere devotion to Amida. He especially adhered to the teaching of the Contemplation Sutra, on which he lectured more than two hundred times, and dedicated himself to Nembutsu recitation. He is said to have repeated the Nembutsu seventy thousand times a day, and almost incessantly bowed and offered incense before the statue of Amida. He encouraged his followers to recite the Nembutsu, and advised them to count the number of recitations with red beans and, later, with special rosaries. His Collection of Passages Concerning Birth in the Pure Land is a systematic presentation of the Pure Land teaching centering on the Nembutsu. In this work he divides Buddhist ways of salvation into two groups, the Path of Sages and the Pure Land Path, and then expresses his view that, in the ages far removed from Shakyamuni, Buddhists are unable to understand the Dharma correctly and so their practices are bound to fall short of attaining their objectives. He confirms that the only teaching practicable to those of the age of the declining Dharma is the Pure Land Path.
Shan-tao, the Fifth Master (613-681), was Tao-ch'o's disciple, and was an ardent practicer of the Amida Meditation in accordance with the Pratyutpanna-samadhi Sutra and the Contemplation Sutra. After he successfully visualized Amida and his Pure Land, he depicted their glorious manifestations in paintings, and explained the method of meditation and the theory behind it in his works. His 4-fascicle commentary on the Contemplation Sutra in particular, became the fundamental text of the Pure Land Way for succeeding generations.
Besides recommending the Amida Meditation, Shan-tao presents in his work a set of five practices for the attainment of birth in the Pure Land: (1) chanting sutras, (2) meditating on Amida and the Pure Land, (3) worshiping Amida, (4) reciting the Nembutsu, and (5) praising Amida's virtue. The fourth is the most essential practice, and the rest are subsidiary to it. He himself recited the Nembutsu diligently, and urged his followers to do the same. When masters of other schools criticized the Nembutsu teaching, saying that mere chanting of the Nembutsu was not enough to make one attain birth in the Pure Land, he clarified that each utterance of the Nembutsu contains pure aspiration (namu) and meritorious practice (amidabutsu) and so it is the sufficient cause of birth in the Pure Land. After Shan-tao the Nembutsu teaching flourished, and developed into a major current in Chinese Buddhism.
The Sixth Master, Genshin (942-1017), was a Tendai monk on Mt. Hiei. He dedicated himself to both meditative and non-meditative practices centering on Amida, and systematized the Pure Land Way in his Collection of Essential Passages Concerning Birth in the Pure Land. This work was celebrated even in China, where he was respected as 'a small Shakyamuni'. Genshin begins with a detailed explanation of suffering in the evil realms of samsara and of utmost pleasure and happiness in the Pure Land. His realistic description of hell and the Pure Land created a universal tendency towards aspiration for the Pure Land. Although he explains the Amida Meditation in full detail, his ultimate objective was to recommend the Nembutsu, which can be practiced even by ordinary people burdened with heavy evil karma.
The last of the Seven Masters, Honen (1133-1212), was Shinran's teacher and a Tendai master. He was well-known as a highly erudite scholar, but was unable to attain his own salvation for a long time. He read all of the Buddhist scriptures over and over again, until on the fifth occasion he came across Shan-tao's words, "The continual recitation of Amida's Name with singleness of mind, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying, is called the Act of Right Assurance, because it accords with Amida's Vow." At this moment, he realized Amida's saving power, and thus attained spiritual liberation. After that he was entirely devoted to the Nembutsu, and taught it to men and women in all walks of life.
At the request of the Lord Chancellor Fujiwara Kanezane, who was a devoted follower of the Nembutsu practice, Honen composed the Collection of Passages Concerning the Nembutsu of the Best-Selected Primal Vow. In this work he first proclaims the independence of the Pure Land sect. Until Honen's times, the Nembutsu had been practiced only as an auxiliary act in the Tendai and other schools. Now he established a place for the Nembutsu by declaring the foundation of a new sect solely based on this practice. In clarifying his standpoint, he presents what is known as 'the threefold selection' of Buddhist teachings: (1) of the two kinds of teachings, the Path of Sages and the Pure Land Path, one should leave the Path of Sages and enter the Pure Land Path; (2) of the two kinds of practices, Mixed Acts and the Right Acts, one should abandon the former and follow the Right Acts; and (3) of the five Right Acts (i.e., chanting sutras, meditating on Amida and the Pure Land, worshipping, reciting the Nembutsu, and praising Amida's virtue), one should take the fourth and set aside the rest. He confirms that the Nembutsu is the Act of Right Assurance, that is, the cause of our birth in the Pure Land, because it is the practice required by Amida's Primal Vow.

The above is an outline of the teachings of the Seven Masters. Although their ways of presentation were different, they were the same in showing us that the primary objective of Shakyamuni's mission in this world was to guide us to the Pure Land Path. In Shinran's view, Shakyamuni appeared in India as an incarnation of Amida, the Eternal and Transcendent Buddha. The huge bulk of Shakyamuni's teachings preserved in various Asian languages shows the depth and breadth of the Dharma. Some teachings may be suitable for metaphysical contemplations and some others for training the mind for meditative purposes. After expounding various methods of practice corresponding to the different propensities of people, Shakyamuni summed them up in the Contemplation Sutra.
In this sutra the Buddha presents both meditative and non-meditative practices, not only to be performed by one's self-power, but to be followed through Amida's Power as well. This sutra induces different types of practicers to enter the Pure Land Way. Ordinary Buddhist practices are primarily intended to bring about spiritual elevations leading to the same enlightenment as Shakyamuni's in this world. Now the 'direction' and 'objective' of those practices have been changed to the Pure Land. The devotees are urged to direct the merit from their practices towards the Pure Land in order to attain birth there.
Hence, we see a complete change in the use of meditation. Ordinarily, meditation is employed to calm one's mind, purify it, cultivate wisdom, and finally attain Nirvana. The Pure Land meditation as taught in the Contemplation Sutra and the Pratyutpanna-samadhi Sutra is the special concentration of mind on Amida and the Pure Land. Concentration leads to visualization. When one has a vision of Amida and the Pure Land, one's karmic defilements are removed, and so one's birth in the Pure Land is assured. Throughout the process of meditation, Amida's Power is working. It is this Power that enables the practicer to accomplish the Amida meditation.
Explicitly, the Contemplation Sutra thus urges the meditative Nembutsu, but its ulterior objective is to guide the practicer to non-meditative Nembutsu, i.e., recitation of the Name, which is fully explained in the section on the Nine Grades of Aspirants. It is stated here that those who who commit the gravest offenses can be born in the Pure Land by repeating the Name even ten times. When such evil persons say the Nembutsu on their deathbeds, a highly concentrated state of mind is spontaneously attained, in which they receive Amida's compassionate saving Power. The meditative Nembutsu is suitable to those with superior spiritual capacities, but non-meditative Nembutsu can be practiced even by those who have committed the gravest offenses, and yet the result to be attained is the same. We are once again reminded that even after successful accomplishment of the meditative Nembutsu, Shan-tao kept reciting the Nembutsu throughout his life. His Nembutsu, like Shinran's, must have gone beyond meditative and non-meditative practices.
The Contemplation Sutra was expounded to Vaidehi, heroine of the tragedy in the royal family of Magadha in India. She was a laywoman and had no special training in the Buddhist practice, but was able to visualize Amida and the Pure Land by means of the Buddha's power. The visualization of Amida gave rise to sincere devotion to him, which must have been expressed as an invocation like 'Namo 'mitabhaya', which means 'I take refuge in Amitabha'. It was a spontaneous expression of her unspeakable feeling of awe, respect, gratitude and joy. It was a cry of the spirit freed from the bondage of karma and delusions. For Vaidehi, therefore, the Nembutsu was not a practice of self-power; neither was it so for the Seven Masters and Shinran.
The Smaller Sutra reveals that numerous Buddhas in the six directions praise Amida's virtue and urge sentient beings to believe this teaching. The most important part of this sutra is the recommendation to 'hold fast to Amida's Name' for one to seven days, that is, single-minded practice of the Nembutsu, in order to be born in the Pure Land. Concentration on the Name will induce a samadhi, in which one either visualizes Amida or attains spiritual unity with him.
The Larger Sutra fully explains Amida's Vows, his Pure Land, and the way of salvation for sentient beings. 'The King of the Vows', in Honen's phraseology, is the Eighteenth Vow, which promises our attainment of birth in the Pure Land through the Nembutsu. Needless to say, the majestic body of Amida and the glorious manifestations of the Pure Land are doctrinally important in Shin Buddhism, but they are not meant to be considered as 'objective' descriptions; they are indeed meant to awaken sincere faith and aspiration in us. In this sense, the Eighteenth Vow is the center of the Larger Sutra to which the rest of the Vows and the other parts of this sutra converge. By truly understanding and appreciating this Vow, we can come into direct contact with Amida and reach emancipation from the endless cycles of birth and death.
All the Buddhas' teachings have, in the final analysis, only one message to give us: Amida's Dharma. Shakyamuni fully explained this Dharma in the three Pure Land sutras and partly in many other sutras. His message, however, had to be rephrased and amplified again and again so that it could be appropriately applied to changing circumstances and also better understood by people of later generations. During the course of transmission of the Dharma through the ages, many masters have played an important part in presenting it in various ideological and social settings.

As we have seen above, the Seven Masters made particularly important contributions to the development and dissemination of Amida's Dharma through their writings. In all the Seven Masters, the Nembutsu was the central practice which they themselves followed and recommended to others. They were also deeply aware and appreciative of the Vows behind the Nembutsu practice. Nagarjuna, who recommends recitation of the Name in the Chapter on Easy Practice, presents the gist of the Eighteenth Vow in his own words as follows (SSZ, I, 259):

If one is mindful of me, recites my name, and takes refuge in me, he will instantly enter the State of Assurance and subsequently attain the highest perfect Enlightenment.

Then he professes his devotion to Amida in verse form. Vasubandhu includes recitation of the Name in his system of Five Mindful Practices, and expresses his sincere devotion to Amida at the beginning of his Verses of Aspiration for Birth in the Pure Land (SSZ, I, 269):

World-Honored One, with one mind
I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light
Shining throughout the Ten Directions,
And aspire to be born in his land.

Amida is here referred to as 'the Tathagata of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Directions.' It is not difficult to see why Vasubandhu used this appellation. As he actually visualized Amida, he must have been prompted to call him by a name which was more descriptive of this Buddha than 'Amitabha.' Shinran was especially drawn to this verse and read a deep meaning in it.
In the Verses of Aspiration for Birth in the Pure Land, Vasubandhu does not simply describe the beautiful manifestations of the Pure Land and the happiness which one can enjoy there. He also depicts how Amida's Vows are working. In the 19th stanza he says as follows (SSZ, I, 270):

When I observe the Power of the Buddha's Vow,
I find that those who encounter it do not pass in vain;
They are enabled to gain quickly
The ocean of the treasure of merit.

According to Vasubandhu's own explanation of this verse, if Bodhisattvas of lower ranks see Amida, they will, through the Power of his Vow, quickly attain higher stages and realize the Dharma-body of ultimate equality. The Power of the Vow which Vasubandhu saw was working on the Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land, but it can be perceived in every aspect of Amida's activity - in his Light and Name which reach all sentient beings throughout the universe. When we encounter the Power of the Vow through the Name, we are instantly freed from the bondage of our own evil karma and find ourselves securely embraced by it. Shinran, therefore, read this verse in the light of his experience and describes it in his own words as follows:

Those who encounter the Power of the Primal Vow
Do not pass in vain;
They are filled with the ocean of the treasure of merit,
From which the muddy waters of evil passions are not kept away.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 13)

T'an-luan was the first to use the term "the Other Power." In his Commentary on Vasubandhu's Discourse on the Pure Land, he clarifies the working of the Vow-Power everywhere. He explains the twenty-nine glorious aspects of the Pure Land, Amida, and the Bodhisattvas dwelling there in terms of Vows, and concludes his Commentary with quotations of the Eighteenth, Eleventh and Twenty-second Vows to show that anyone who entrusts himself to the Power of the Vow can quickly attain Enlightenment. His emphasis on the Other Power is also clearly seen in his outline of the Pure Land teaching presented at the beginning of his Commentary (SSZ, I, 279):

The Path of Easy Practice is followed by aspiring to be born in the Pure Land through faith in Amida Buddha and attaining birth there by the Power of his Vows. In the Pure Land we are sustained by the Buddha's Power and join those Mahayana sages who are certain of attaining Enlightenment.

Tao-ch'o faithfully followed T'an-luan's teaching and quoted extensively from his Commentary in the Collection of Passages Concerning Birth in the Pure Land. While fully aware of the working of the Power of the Vow, he goes to great pains to expounding the Nembutsu Samadhi based on the Contemplation Sutra and other sutras. His reading of the Eighteenth Vow is strongly influenced by the Contemplation Sutra section on "those who attain birth in the lowest level of the lowest grade." (SSZ, I, 410):

If there are sentient beings who have committed evils all through their lives but, at their death, sincerely and continuously repeat my name even ten times, they will be born in my land. If not, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

The original text of the Eighteenth Vow does not specifically refer to those who have committed the gravest offenses, who are rated as "the lowest level of the lowest grade," but Tao-ch'o's deep insight into the nature of his own self and others has revealed their inevitable evildoings, which "arise like a storm or a tempest." His understanding, therefore, is that "the sentient beings" mentioned in this Vow who are to be saved by Amida are neither sages nor morally good persons, but those of the heaviest evil karma. He also pays attention to "the great karmic power of [Amida's] Vows," which enables us to be born in the Pure Land. He says (SSZ, I, 406):

The human and heavenly beings in the worlds of the ten directions who wish to be born in my land all avail themselves of the Great Karmic Power of the Vows of Amida Tathagata as the strong cause of their birth there.

Amida's saving power works in perfect accord with the law of karma. We are bound by the law of karma because we act against it through ignorance of it. The Great Karmic Power originating in Amida's Vows breaks our ignorance and turns our evil karma into pure merits.

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(12) Nagarjuna (lines 49-60)

Shakyamuni, the Tathagata, while dwelling on Mount Lanka,
Prophesied to the assembly of monks that in Southern India
A Great Being named Nagarjuna would appear in the world
And destroy all the wrong views on 'being' and 'non-being',
Thus expounding the unsurpassed teaching of Mahayana;
He would reach the Stage of Joy and attain birth in the Land of Peace and Bliss.
He teaches that the difficult practices are toilsome like traveling by land,
And urges us to believe that the Easy Practice is pleasant like sailing on water.
When a thought of mindfulness of Amida's Original Vow arises,
At that instant one spontaneously enters the Stage of Assurance.
Repeating always the Name of the Tathagata,
One should seek to repay for one's indebtedness to his Great Compassion.

Nagarjuna (c. 150-250), which literally means 'dragon-tree', is indisputably the greatest master of Buddhism in history, to whom the major schools and sects which developed in India, China, Tibet and Japan attribute their respective origin. In Japan he has been highly esteemed as 'the founder of the eight schools.' According to the Kegon tradition, Nagarjuna visited the Dragon Palace, where he was shown three versions of the Grand Sutra on the Inconceivable Emancipation: large, medium and short. The first two versions were so extensive that he brought back only the short text consisting of a hundred thousand verses. This version, however, was short-lived. Its abridgement in thirty-six thousand verses came to be used, and was transmitted to China, where it was translated as the Garland Sutra in sixty fascicles.
In the lineage of the Dharma transmission from India to China used in Zen in particular to establish the authenticity of the Zen tradition, Nagarjuna is the 13th patriarch. Furthermore, according to Shingon, Nagarjuna opened an iron tower in South India which had not been opened since the Buddha's Parinirvana, and there he met Vajrasattva to whom Mahavairocana had revealed the esoteric teaching. After receiving a mystic Abhiseka ritual and the two main sutras, Nagarjuna later transmitted the esoteric teaching to Nagabodhi. Nagarjuna is thus looked upon as the third in the line of transmission in Shingon esotericism.
In a more general way, Nagarjuna was one of the earliest exponents of Mahayana, and was reputed to have founded the School of the Middle (Madhyamika). In his verses on "The Middle", he expounds that all things are produced by causes and conditions and hence are devoid of substantiality, that is, void. He negates all possible propositions regarding existence and non-existence, and clarifies that the ultimate truth lies in the Middle.
Nagarjuna was brahmin by birth. In his early years he had already become well-versed in the four Vedas and mastered other learnings. Later he converted to Buddhism. Having received monastic precepts, he first learnt Hinayana teachings. Later he entered the Himalayas, where he studied Mahayana scriptures. Travelling throughout the country, he further studied other forms of Buddhism and also non-Buddhist philosophical thought. Under the royal patronage of the Satavahana dynasty in Southern India, he was engaged in propagating Mahayana. It is said that the kings built for him a cave monastery on Black-bee Hill, where he spent his last years.
His biographies compiled in China and Tibet are full of mysterious anecdotes. According to one source, he had learnt some magic when young. With his three friends, he used it to conceal their bodies from sight. They entered the royal palace unseen and raped some court-ladies. When suspicion of the invisible intruders arose, the king ordered the guards to close all the gates and to lash about in the air with their swords. Thus his three friends were killed, but Nagarjuna escaped unhurt. This incident prompted him to renounce the world.
Several centuries earlier, Shakyamuni had already prophesied in the Lankavatara Sutra ("Sutra on the Buddha's Visit to Lanka") that Nagarjuna would appear in Southern India, destroy all the wrong views on existence and non-existence, and thus promulgate the Mahayana. Sure enough, he wrote works refuting both positive and negative propositions regarding the nature of existence.

Our Master, the Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, wrote such discourses
As Emancipation by Wisdom and Ten Bodhisattva-stages,
In which he glorified the Land in the Western Quarter
And urged us to practice the Nembutsu.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 1)

The Buddha Shakyamuni once prophesied,
"In Southern India a monk will appear,
Nagarjuna Bodhisattva by name, and destroy
Wrong views on existence and non-existence."

(Ibid. 2)

'Existence' and 'non-existence' are dualistic concepts which are delusory phantoms like 'flowers in the sky' seen by those with eye-diseases. Nagarjuna took great pains to wean us from all kinds of dichotomous views. In the Verses on the Middle, he demonstrated in logical terms that any relativistic statement regarding existence is fallacious. For example, he negated the notion of 'going' by showing that there was, in the final analysis, neither "goer" nor "going"; he even negated the 'existence' of a Tathagata. Nagarjuna's theory of total negation formed the central concept of the School of the Middle, and his two discourses and a discourse by his disciple Aryadeva became the fundamental texts of the Sanron (lit. 'three discourses') school. This school thrived in China, and was transmitted to Japan during the Nara period.
In employing his logical negativism, however, Nagarjuna did not remain at level of mere language. Through his Mahayana experience of voidness (shunyata) he had already reached the transcendent realm beyond all verbal expressions and conceptual understandings. Although he negated the existence of a Tathagata conceived in the dichotomous mind, he positively stated the existence and activity of the Tathagata as it really is. In his other works, such as the Commentary on the Sutra of Prajnaparamita and the Commentary on the Chapter Ten Stages of the Garland Sutra, he explained in affirmative terms the glorious virtues of Buddhas, including Amida. The latter commentary is particularly relevant to Pure Land thought, because he presented in it the method of visualizing Amida and attaining the Nembutsu Samadhi. He particularly recommended practice of the samadhi called "all Buddhas' appearance" (Pratyutpanna). According to the Sutra on the Samadhi of All Buddhas' Appearance, one can visualize Amida and all other Buddhas by concentrating on Amida for one to seven days; even if one cannot see Amida clearly, one can still see him in a dream. Successful visualization enables the practicer to be firmly settled in the Stage of Joy and of Non-retrogression. Nagarjuna himself is said to have attained the Stage of Joy.

Our Master, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna, expounded
The supreme teaching of the Mahayana;
Having attained the Stage of Joy,
He solely recommended the practice of Nembutsu.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 3)

For all Mahayanists who have resolved to become Buddhas, their immediate concern is to attain the Stage of Non-retrogression. Until they reach this stage, they are liable to fall back to lower spiritual stages owing to their still imperfect wisdom and evil karmic influence. When the practicer visualizes Amida, he receives Amida's undefiled wisdom and perfect merit.
The samadhi practice centering on Amida apparently enjoyed popularity in India and Central Asian countries. It was also transmitted to China and eventually to Japan. It is a well-known fact that Master Hui-yuan (334-416) formed the White Lotus Society and practiced this form of Amida meditation on Mt. Lu. Later, Master Shan-tao followed this method and succeeded in visualizing Amida.
By far the most important contribution made by Nagarjuna to Pure Land Buddhism was his introduction of an "easy practice" leading to the Stage of Non-retrogression, which consisted in reciting the names of Amida and other Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas. In the 9th chapter of the Commentary on the Chapter Ten Stages of the Garland Sutra, entitled "Easy Practice," he distinguishes two approaches to the Stage of Non-retrogression (SSZ, I, 254):

There are innumerable modes of entry to the Buddha's teaching. Just as there are in the world difficult and easy paths -- travelling on foot by land is full of hardship and travelling in a boat on a sea-route is pleasant -- so it is among the paths of the bodhisattvas. Some diligently exert themselves in practices while others quickly enter Non-retrogression by an easy practice based on faith.

He then gives the names of many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, saying that recitation of any of those names ensures attainment of the Stage of Non-retrogression.

Mahasattva Nagarjuna appeared in the world and taught us
That there are two paths, Difficult Practice and Easy Practice;
He then led us who are repeating the cycle of birth-and-death
In Samsara to board the ship of Amida's Great Vow.

(Hymn on the Patriarchs 4)

When Nagarjuna recommended recitation of the name of a Buddha or a great Bodhisattva as an easy and sure way of attaining the Stage of Non-retrogression, he did not mean by this a mere repetitive verbal act, but an act of devotion with mind and body. Of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas listed in the "Chapter on the Easy Practice," Nagarjuna particularly professes his sincere faith in Amida. After presenting the names of a hundred and seven Buddhas, which correspond well with those of the past Buddhas in the Sanskrit text of the Larger Sutra, Nagarjuna goes on to praise Amida's virtue and express his devotion to him. In this section he first presents the gist of Amida's Vow in the following words (SSZ, I, 259):

If one thinks of me, recites my Name, and takes refuge in me, one will instantly enter the Stage of Assurance and then attain the highest perfect Enlightenment.

'The Stage of Assurance' is the same as 'the Stage of Non-retrogression'. Those who reach this stage are assured of attaining Enlightenment. In the 32-stanza hymn which follows, he glorifies Amida's virtue with reverential faith in accordance with the Larger Sutra (SSZ, I, 260):

The Buddha of Infinite Light and Wisdom, whose body is like a mountain of genuine gold,
I worship him with my body, speech and heart by joining my hands and bowing down toward him. (1)

If anyone thinks of the Buddha's infinite power and merit,
He will instantly enter the Stage of Assurance; hence, I always think of him. (4)

Those born in his land are free of attachment to 'self' and 'mine';
They do not produce discriminative thoughts; hence, I bow down and worship him." (11)

If anyone, aspiring to become a Buddha, contemplates Amida in his heart,
Amida will instantly manifest himself before him; hence, I take refuge in him. (14)

If a man plants roots of goodness but entertains doubt, the flower (he will be born into) will not bloom;
For those who have pure faith, flowers will bloom, and they will see the Buddha. (18)

The Buddhas of the ten quarters praise this Buddha's merit
For various reasons. I now take refuge in him and worship him. (19)

He is the most honored of all men and heavenly beings; all gods kneel down and worship him,
With their crowns made of seven treasures touching his feet.
Hence, I take refuge in him." (26)

All wise and holy men and multitudes of human and heavenly beings
Together take refuge in him; hence, I, too, worship him. (27)

Boarding the boat of Eightfold Noble Path, he ferries people across the sea that is difficult to cross;
He crossed it himself and carries others across. I worship the one who possesses unrestricted power. (28)

With whatever merit I have acquired in this and previous lives,
I wish to be in the presence of the Buddha and attain eternal purity of heart. (32)

May the supreme merit I have acquired by this meritorious act
Be shared with all other sentient beings. (32)

Those who hear and receive the teaching
Of our Master, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna,
Should be mindful of the Primary Vow
And continually recite Amida's Name.

(Hymn on the Patriarchs 5)

It is clear from the above quotation that, in spite of his much reputed philosophical approaches to ultimate truth, Nagarjuna's real concern was to entrust himself to Amida, who delivers with boundless merit and power all sentient beings from the bondage of karma and suffering. Shinran reverently followed his footsteps and quoted from his discourse in the Kyogyoshinsho to clarify the essence of the Shin teaching. We are also deeply indebted to Nagarjuna for his hymn in praise of Amida, entitled Twelve Adorations, which has become a popular gatha for Shin Buddhists all over the world.

In keeping with his reputation as the founder of eight schools, Nagarjuna was well-versed in various Buddhist teachings, and also attained a high stage of spiritual progress toward the Buddha's Enlightenment. He was especially renowned as the greatest authority on the philosophy of Voidness, but before anything else, he was an earnest follower and exponent of the Bodhisattva Path. The theory of universal Voidness, in fact, constitutes an essential part of the practice of the Six Paramitas. Without removing attachment to all that exists, including one's own self, through the realization of Voidness, one cannot effectively perform the Bodhisattva Practices. Dana, for example, should be an unattached act of giving in three ways: there should not be any attachment to the donor, the recipient or the gift. Such an attitude applies to all the other practices. When this attachment is removed, one attains the pure wisdom of non-attachment. One who does so is said to have reached the Stage of Joy. Only after the eradication of deep-rooted attachment can one effectively proceed toward Enlightenment.
Under normal circumstances, a bodhisattva must perform various practices for a long time, over many lives, to reach the Stage of Joy. While admitting this, Nagarjuna proposed an easier way of approach, which guarantees quicker attainment of this spiritual stage. In the Chapter on the Easy Practice he first points out three disadvantages in the normal bodhisattva practices: (1) the practices one must perform are many, (2) the time required is extremely long, and (3) there is a danger of falling into the pit of nihilism. Nagarjuna especially cautions us against the danger of Hinayanistic nihilism, saying: "If one falls into the state of shravaka and pratyekabuddha, this is called the death of the bodhisattva, for he loses all merit.... Even if one has fallen into hell, one will eventually be able to reach Buddhahood; if one falls into the stage of the Two Vehicles, the path to Buddhahood will be blocked forever." In his Commentary on the Sutra of Prajnaparamita, Nagarjuna notes that many bodhisattvas were unable to reach emancipation by various self-power practices but finally attained it by the Nembutsu Samadhi.

He says in the Commentary on the Sutra of Prajnaparamita,
"The Tathagata is the Supreme King of the Dharma
And Bodhisattvas are the retainers of the Dharma";
One should revere the World-Honored One.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 8)

All Bodhisattvas remarked,
"When we were in the causal stage of bodhisattvahood,
We performed a myriad goods and various practices
For innumerable kalpas;

(Ibid. 9)

But our attachments were difficult to remove
And so it was impossible to leave birth-and-death.
By practicing the Nembutsu Samadhi,
We destroyed karmic hindrances and attained emancipation."

(Ibid. 10)

The Easy Practice of the Nembutsu ensures attainment of the Stage of Joy and, consequently, of Buddhahood. As quoted before, "If anyone thinks of the Buddha's infinite power and merit, he will instantly enter the Stage of Assurance." Recitation of the Buddha's Name while being mindful of and entrusting in his power is the cause of instantaneous attainment of the Stage of Non-retrogression. It should be noted here that even though one's effort is bound to be involved in the Nembutsu practice, it is soon absorbed in the Buddha's all-embracing power, and thus one spontaneously enters the Stage of Assurance. By spontaneously Shinran means 'through the power of Amida's Vow,' which has been working on us since time immemorial and will continue to work on all sentient beings until they are all emancipated from Samsara. After we are awakened to Amida's power, what remains in our minds is a feeling of gratitude, a desire to repay his Great Compassion, and a joy of participating in the eternal altruistic activity.

All who wish to attain quickly
The Stage of Non-retrogression
Should reverently and resolutely
Recite the Name of Amida Buddha.

(Ibid. 6)

The painful sea of birth-and-death has no bounds,
Where we have been sunk from the beginningless past.
The ship of Amida's Great Vow is the only means
To carry us across safely to the Other Shore.

(Ibid. 7)

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(13) Vasubandhu (lines 61-72)

The Bodhisattva Vasubandhu composed a discourse, in which
He takes refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light;
In accordance with the sutras he reveals the true merits,
And clarifies that the Great Vow enables us to leap over Samsara crosswise.
He revealed One Mind in order to emancipate multitudes of beings
Through Amida's transference of merits by the Power of his Primal Original Vow.
Upon entering the Great Treasure-Ocean of Merits,
One will unfailingly join the Great Assemblage.
Upon reaching the World of Lotus-store,
One will realize True Suchness and attain Dharma-Body.
Then, playing in the forests of evil passions, one will display supernatural powers;
That is, one will enter Samsaric states and manifest accommodative and transformed bodies to save beings.

Mahayana to which the Jodoshinshu belongs had two major currents in India: (1) School of the Middle (Madhyamika) originated by Nagarjuna during the 2nd and 3rd centuries and (2) School of Consciousness-Only (Yogacara) founded by Asanga and Vasubandhu in the 4th century. Nagarjuna negated all modes of existence conceived and perceived by unenlightened beings, thereby presenting transcendent reality which is above the dichotomous views of 'existence' and 'non-existence.' He recognized Amida as transcendent reality -- not as a lifeless abstract principle, but as a Person possessed of boundless Wisdom and compassion.
The School of Consciousness-Only teaches how to meditate on phenomena in relation to one's consciousness and reach Enlightenment through realization of the intrinsic unity between the subjective self and environmental manifestations. Vasubandhu applied this Yogacara meditation to the exploration of Amida and his Pure Land. The object of meditation has been shifted from the worldly phenomena and their corresponding perceptive faculties to the phenomena in the transcendent realm, known as the Pure Land, and the Mind which has produced it, that is, Amida's Mind of Compassionate Vow.
Vasubandhu, the second master of Shin Buddhism, was born in Purusapura, the capital of Gandhara, in Northern India. He was the second son of Kaushika, a Brahmin, and his brother, Asanga, was a great master of Buddhism, celebrated as one of the founders of the Yogacara School. Tradition has it that Asanga, while in meditation, used to visit the Tusita Heaven and learnt the teachings of Yogacara from Maitreya Bodhisattva. Vasubandhu's younger brother, Vilincivatsa, belonged to the Sarvastivada School of Hinayana and was said to have reached Arhatship.
Vasubandhu was first ordained as a monk of the Sarvastivada School, and became well-versed in the Abhidharma philosophy which centered around analyses of physical and mental elements. Later he moved to Ayodhya, where he enjoyed the patronage from King Vikramaditya and his son, Baladitya. He systematized the doctrine of Abhidharma, and presented its essentials in more than 600 verses, which, together with his own commentary on them, are known as Abhidharma-kosha (Discourse on the repository of Abhidharma Discussions). He thus became well-known as an Abhidharma master. Later, under the influence of Asanga, he converted to Mahayana. While he was a Hinayana master, he abused Mahayana. When he realized the profound truth of Mahayana, he deeply repented of the evil he had done by this abuse of Mahayana and wanted to cut out his tongue. Asanga admonished him, "Why don't you now use your tongue to expound Mahayana?" Since then Vasubandhu energetically propagated Mahayana by writing Yogacara discourses and commentaries. He especially systematized the doctrine of Consciousness-Only. His treatises explaining it laid the foundation of the Hosso school, which thrived in China and Japan.
Vasubandhu's contribution to the development of the Pure Land thought is beyond measure. He composed the Hymn of Aspiration for Birth: A Discourse on the Amitayus Sutra, in which he presented the theory and practice centering around contemplation of Amida, his Pure Land and the Bodhisattvas dwelling there. In the 24-stanza hymn which forms the main part of this discourse, he first addresses Shakyamuni to profess his devotion to Amida Buddha (SSZ, I, 269):

O World-Honored One, with singleness of mind,
I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light
Shining throughout the Ten Directions,
And aspire to be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.

Shinran paid special attention to this opening stanza. First of all, he takes 'singleness of mind' as referring to the Other-Power Faith.
Single-hearted trust in Amida is awakened by his Power, not by the aspirant's intellectual understanding or emotional feeling. There are two ways of perceiving Amida's Power: (1) through visualization of Amida and his Land of Bliss and (2) through hearing and concentrating on his Name. Like other Mahayana masters in those days, Vasubandhu was capable of sophisticated meditation, through which he visualized Amida and the Pure Land. He perceived Amida as the Buddha of transcendent Light shining everywhere without hindrance. Amida's Light is the Light of Wisdom and Compassion, and so one who beholds Amida is freed from the darkness of spiritual ignorance and self-centeredness and is assured of birth in the Land of Nirvanic Bliss.
With the guidance of the Pure Land sutras, Vasubandhu described his experience of visualization in the Hymn of Aspiration for Birth. The hymn and the commentary he added to it are popularly called 'the Discourse on the Pure Land.' Honen especially valued this work and included it in 'the four texts which directly expound the Pure Land teaching'(the other three are the Three Sutras). Following him, Shinran quotes Vasubandhu frequently in his works, often in conjunction with T'an-luan's commentary on the discourse.
In describing the Pure Land and discussing relevant doctrinal points, Vasubandhu followed the Pure Land sutras, presumably the Larger Sutra in particular, which present Amida's merit and virtue in full detail. 'The true merits' which Vasubandhu reveals in the discourse are the result of Dharmakara's Vows and Practices. By performing various bodhisattva practices of supramundane good, Dharmakara accumulated a vast stock of pure merits, which, on his attainment of Buddhahood, are exhibited as the glorious physical and environmental manifestations. All his merits are also contained in his Name, and so anyone who hears and recites it with sincere devotion is endowed with the supreme merits.
Vasubandhu's description of his experience is threefold, and each division has various aspects: (1) the Pure Land (17 aspects), (2) Amida's physical manifestation (8 aspects), and (3) the Bodhisattvas dwelling in the Pure Land (4 aspects). The following is an outline of the twenty-nine aspects:

[I] The Pure Land
(1) The Pure Land is the realm of purity above various states of existence in Samsara which are defiled and delusory.
(2) The Pure Land is vast and boundless like empty space.
(3) It has originated from Great Compassion and supramundane goodness.
(4) It is suffused with pure light.
(5) It is full of exquisite adornments.
(6) Its brilliant light illumines the whole world.
(7) Jeweled ornaments produce delightful sensations to those who touch them.
(8) Jeweled flowers fill the ponds; there are majestic towers and brilliant trees; and decorative nets hang in the sky.
(9) Flowers and ornamental robes shower from the sky.
(10) The Buddha's wisdom is like the sun; it dispels the darkness of the world.
(11) The sacred Name which enlightens living beings is heard throughout the ten quarters.
(12) Amida presides over and sustains the land.
(13) Bodhisattvas are born miraculously from the flower of Amida's Enlightenment.
(14) They always enjoy the Buddha-dharma and dwell in meditation.
(15) They are free of afflictions and always enjoy happiness.
(16) The Pure Land is the realm of Mahayana good, and those born there are free of mental and physical handicaps and imperfections.
(17) All their aspirations are fulfilled.

The Pure Land which Vasubandhu visualized is a transcendent realm, beyond time and space, which only Buddhas can fully perceive.

The glorious adornments of the Pure Land of Peace and Provision
Can be known only through the wisdom of the Buddhas.
The land is infinite like space,
Vast and without bounds

. (Hymns on the Patriarchs 12)

Vasubandhu next discerns the following eight aspects of Amida's glorious qualities and manifestations:

[2] Amida Buddha
(1) His lotus seat is adorned with numerous treasures.
(2) His majestic appearance is beyond compare.
(3) His wonderful voice is heard throughout the ten quarters.
(4) He has no thought of discrimination.
(5) Heavenly and human beings in the Pure Land are born out of his pure wisdom.
(6) His sovereign power is unsurpassed.
(7) He is worshipped by all beings.
(8) The Power of his Vow enables those who encounter it to gain the supreme merits.

Those born in the Pure Land attain Mahayana enlightenment and, as bodhisattvas, manifest all kinds of meritorious activity for the sake of suffering beings. Vasubandhu distinguishes the following four aspects of their activity:

[3] Bodhisattvas
(1) Without moving their bodies, they can manifest various forms throughout the ten quarters and display Buddhist activities.
(2) In an instant, they can simultaneously visit all the Buddha-lands throughout the ten quarters to edify sentient beings and remove their suffering.
(3) They can illuminate all the Buddhas' teaching assemblies and make offerings to them without discriminative thought.
(4) They can visit any land where the Three Treasures do not exist to spread the Buddha-dharma like Buddhas.

Upon reaching the Pure Land, we shall fully partake of Amida's boundless merits and virtues and, as bodhisattvas, join his universal acts of salvation.

The holy sages arising from within the Tathagata's pure flower
Are born transformed from the Flower of Enlightenment;
All the aspirations of sentient beings
Are thus completely and quickly fulfilled.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 14)

The holy sages with the resolute mind in the forms of gods and humans
Arise from the oceanic Wisdom of the Universal Vow;
The virtues of their minds are pure and undefiled,
Free of discriminative thoughts like space.

(Ibid. 15)

According to the Yogacara teaching, of which Vasubandhu and his brother, Asanga, were the greatest authorities, the length of time normally required of a practicer to attain Enlightenment is "three asamkhya kalpas" (three incalculable aeons). During such a long time one must continuously perform various meritorious practices over many lives. Since in the Yogacara all phenomenal manifestations and the noumenal principle are conceived in terms of 'consciousness', theoretically speaking, Enlightenment is none other than realization of one's true consciousness. The actual practice of meditation is of two kinds: concentration (shamatha) and contemplation (vipashyana). By concentrating one's thought on a specific object of high spiritual value, one's mind is purified and freed of evil passions. Next, by contemplating the object with deep insight, one gains spiritual benefit.
When Vasubandhu applied this Yogacara meditation to Pure Land Buddhism, he carefully included 'concentration' and 'contemplation' in his system of practice. He devised the Yogacara-Pure Land system, called the 'five mindful practices', which are as follows: (1) worshipping Amida, (2) praising him as 'the Tathagata of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Directions', (3) aspiring to be born in the Pure Land, (4) contemplating the Pure Land, Amida and the Bodhisattvas, and (5) transferring the merit of practice to other beings.
The first three mindful practices are shown in the first stanza of the Verses of Aspiration for Birth:

I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light
Shining throughout the Ten Directions,
And aspire to be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.

'I take refuge' is the act of worshipping; needless to say, the mental attitude of devotion is essential in worshipping. The act of glorifying Amida is shown by calling him by the name which best expresses his supreme merit and virtue, namely, 'the Tathagata of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Quarters.'
The third mindful practice is aspiration for birth in the Pure Land. Vasubandhu related this to the shamatha practice, as he explains in the Commentary section (SSZ, I, 271): "How does one aspire (to the Pure Land)? One constantly resolves, and fixing one's thought on eventual attainment of birth in the Land of Peace and Bliss, one wishes to practice shamatha in accordance with the truth." Originally, shamatha is meant to pacify the mind by stopping it from taking external objects. In the Yogacara-Pure Land system, shamatha is practiced towards the Pure Land and is accompanied by a strong wish to be born there. As the practicer concentrates on it, worldly desires which are defiled by self-attachment gradually subside, and evil passions and wrong views attending them are removed. All physical and mental acts now converge on this pure aspiration, and so the karmic energy required for birth in the Pure Land gains power. Speaking from Amida's side, the aspiration for birth in the Pure Land is the reflection of Amida's wish to bring sentient beings there, and the merits and karmic power required for birth are provided by Amida himself. "Shamatha in accordance with the truth" means the true shamatha practice which is free of all defilements and accords with True Suchness; such a practice is possible only when one is in perfect accord with Amida's Vow and its Power.
The fourth mindful practice is vipashyana, which is contemplation of the twenty-nine aspects of glorious merits, namely, seventeen aspects of the Pure Land, eight aspects of Amida, and four aspects of Bodhisattvas. By contemplating them, the practicer perceives Amida's merits and the Power of his Vow, and is assured of his birth in the Pure Land.
Vasubandhu especially mentions the Power of the Vow in the eighth aspect of Amida's virtue (SSZ, I, 270):

When I contemplate the Power of the Buddha's Primal Vow,
I see that those who encounter it never pass in vain;
It enables them to gain quickly the supreme merits .

Speaking in terms of the Vow, all that Amida attained on his realization of Buddhahood was due to the Vows which he had made when he was a bodhisattva. The Twelfth Vow was the cause of Amida's Infinite Light (Amitabha), the Thirteenth was the cause of his Infinite Life (Amitayus), and by extension these two vows were also the cause of the Pure Land of Immeasurable Light and Life. The Eighteenth Vow of Shinjin and Nembutsu is the most concrete expression of Amida's wish to save all beings in delusion and suffering. The Vow of universal salvation, as the Eighteenth Vow may be called, having been fulfilled, the most effective way of salvation has become available for us. This is the Easy Way of emancipation through the Name. The Name contains "all the elements of moral good and all the roots of virtue" and is "the treasure-sea of the merits of True Suchness" (Kyogyoshinsho, Chapter on True Practice). Amida's supreme merits which are in accord with the ultimate truth and reality are transferred to those who receive and recite the Name with the heart of absolute trust in him. To encounter the Power of the Vow, therefore, means to hear and receive the Name and to attain the boundless pure merits. Shinran is grateful to Vasubandhu for his compassionate teaching:

Shakyamuni's teachings are numerous,
But the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu compassionately urged us,
Who are possessed of evil passions,
To take refuge in Amida's Universal Vow.

(Hymn on the Patriarchs 11)

The last of the Five Mindful Practices is merit-transference; concerning this, Vasubandhu states in the last stanza of his Verses of Aspiration for Birth (SSZ, I, 270):

I have written this discourse and hymn
With the wish to see Amida Buddha
And, together with all sentient beings,
Be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.

It was Vasubandhu's fervent wish to share the merits acquired with other beings in order to attain birth in the Pure Land together.
At the beginning of the Verses of Aspiration for Birth, Vasubandhu expressed his single-minded devotion to Amida as "One Mind." One Mind is complete trust in Amida, and is itself awakened by his saving power. Emancipation from karmic bondage is very difficult to attain through one's own power, but easy if one avails oneself of Amida's Power. This Power spontaneously carries the devotee to the Pure Land. Consider Shinran's praise of it in his hymn on Vasubandhu:

Vasubandhu, the author of the Discourse, took refuge
With One Mind in the Buddha of Unhindered Light;
Having entrusted to the Power of the Primal Vow,
One reaches the Land of Reward, so he says.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 16)

The strong karmic Power engendered by the Primal Vow has produced the Pure Land, maintains it everlastingly, and brings anyone who puts absolute trust in it to be born there. Shinjin, or absolute trust, is here expressed as One Mind. Shinran's penetrating eye saw the internal relationship between One Mind and the three aspects of Faith in the Eighteenth Vow, namely, Sincere Mind, Serene Faith and Desire for Birth. In fully discussing this problem in the Kyogyoshinsho, Chap. on True Faith, he begins with the following question and answer (SSZ, II, 59):

Question: In the Original Vow, the Tathagata already made the Vow of Sincere Mind, Joyful Faith and Desire for Birth. For what reason, does the author of the Discourse profess his faith as 'One Mind'?
Answer: In order to make us, ignorant beings, understand better. Although Amida Tathagata made the Vow of Three Minds, the true cause of Nirvana is Faith alone. For this reason, the author of the Discourse made the three into one.

In a hymn, Shinran further demonstrates:

Faith is One Mind;
One Mind is the Diamond-like Mind;
The Diamond-like Mind is the Bodhi-Mind;
This mind is given us by the Other-Power.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 19)

The undivided One Mind constitutes the cause of Enlightenment. Since it is the Bodhi-Mind, it has two aspects:

To take refuge with One Mind in the Buddha
Of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Quarters
Is the mind aspiring to become Buddha;
So says Vasubandhu, the Master of Discourse.

(Ibid. 17)

The mind aspiring to become Buddha
Is the mind seeking to save sentient beings;
The mind that seeks to save sentient beings
Is True Faith endowed by Amida's Compassion.

(Ibid. 18)

Vasubandhu's Pure Land system has two aspects: (1) causal practices and (2) resultant states. The Five Mindful Practices are performed in this world, and each of them brings about its result in the Pure Land. The correspondence between the five causal practices and the five resultant states can be shown in the following diagram:

Cause ...................Result

1. Worship ..................... Approach
2. Praise ........................ Great Assemblage
3. Aspiration .................. Residence
4. Contemplation ........... Inner Chamber
5. Merit-transference ... Playing in the Garden

The five resultant states are shown by the analogy of gradual access to the inner chamber of a house; after reaching it, one comes out in the garden to play. The Great Assemblage is the Assemblage of innumerable Bodhisattvas in the Pure Land. Those born there all become Bodhisattvas and as such participate in the endless Buddhist activity.

If the aspirants are led to entrust themselves to Amida and are wholly encompassed by his Wisdom, Compassion and Power, their birth in the Pure Land is the natural outcome. Amida's land, or sphere of activity, is called by various names: Land of Utmost Bliss (gokuraku), Land of Peace and Provision (annyo), Pure Realm (josetsu) and Pure Land (jodo). Here it is called "the World of Lotus-store" (rengezo sekai). This term was used by Vasubandhu himself in explaining the fruition of the third Mindful Practice (SSZ, I, 277):

If one single-mindedly aspires to be born there [in the Pure Land] and practices Shamatha, the Samadhi of Tranquility, one will reach the World of Lotus-store. This is called the entry into the Third Gate.

The term 'World of Lotus-store' is not found in the Pure Land sutras, but occurs in the Garland Sutra, where it refers to the land of Vairocana, the Cosmic Buddha. This land has appeared from within a huge lotus-flower that grows in the Sea of Perfume, and consists of twenty layers, each surrounded by innumerable worlds. Another sutra, entitled "Brahma-net," describes this lotus-flower in detail: Vairocana sits on the lotus-dais in the center; on each of the thousand petals there are ten billion Mount Sumerus. He manifests a thousand transformed bodies of Shakyamuni, each dwelling on each petal; each Buddha body of Shakyamuni, surrounded by ten billion Bodhisattva bodies of Shakyamuni, preaches the Dharma under the Bodhi-tree.
Vairocana is the central Buddha in the Garland Sutra and is widely recognized as the highest Buddha in the major Mahayana schools. He is a Sambhogakaya Buddha in the Kegon sect, and a Dharmakaya Buddha in the Tendai sect. It is generally thought that Vairocana is the original body of Shakyamuni and is superior to Amida. Both Vasubandhu and Shinran, while recognizing the supreme Buddhahood of Vairocana, identified his land with Amida's, because all Buddhas share the same essential body of Dharmakaya and their pure lands are the same transcendent realm of True Suchness.
Upon reaching the Pure Land, we will realize Enlightenment and attain the same Dharmakaya as Amida's. Dharmakaya is the highest personality, unsurpassed and all-embracing. It is the fountainhead of all Buddhist activities. We read in Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho, chapter on True Enlightenment (SSZ, II, 103):

If ordinary persons full of evil passions and multitudinous beings defiled by karmic evils and bound to Samsara, attain Faith (shinjin) and Practice (Nembutsu) for birth in the Pure Land, they instantly join the group of Mahayanists assured of Nirvana. Since they reside among them, they will unfailingly reach Extinction; Extinction is Eternal Bliss; Eternal Bliss is Ultimate Tranquility; Ultimate Tranquility is the unsurpassed Nirvana; the unsurpassed Nirvana is the unconditioned Dharmakaya; the unconditioned Dharmakaya is True Aspect; True Aspect is Dharma-nature; Dharma-nature is True Suchness; True Suchness is Oneness. Amida Tathagata has appeared from Suchness, and manifests various forms of recompensed, accommodative and transformed bodies.

If one attains the highest wisdom (Bodhi, Prajna) and realizes with it the ultimate reality (True Suchness, etc.), Great Compassion for all living beings is spontaneously awakened in the mind. Shinran ends his hymns on Vasubandhu with the following:

Upon reaching the Land of Recompense,
One realizes the unsurpassed Nirvana
And then awakens Great Compassion;
This is due to Amida's Merit-transference.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 20)
 

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(14) T'an-luan (lines 73-84)

Master T'an-luan was venerated by the King of Liang;
Facing toward his place, the king worshipped him as a Bodhisattva.
When Bodhiruci, the Tripitaka master, gave him a Pure Land scripture,
T'an-luan burned his Taoist texts and took refuge in the Land of Bliss.
He wrote a commentary on the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu's discourse, in which he reveals that
Both the cause and the effect of our birth in the Land of Recompense come from Amida's Vows;
The karmic energy for our birth and returning to this world originates from the Other Power.
The cause of attaining the Stage of Right Assurance is solely Faith.
When Faith is awakened in the mind of a deluded and defiled ordinary person,
He is made aware that birth-and-death is Nirvana.
After he unfailingly reaches the Land of Infinite Light,
He will save sentient beings everywhere, so says T'an-luan.

Buddhism reached China through Central Asia in the early centuries of our common era. According to tradition, the oldest Chinese translation of the Larger Sutra had already been produced by Lokaksema in the Later Han dynasty, from 147 to 186, followed by the second translation in the 3rd century. The one held as the authentic text in the Chinese and Japanese Pure Land schools has been traditionally ascribed to Samghavarman in the middle of the 3rd century, but was presumably produced jointly by Buddhabhadra and Pao-yun in 421. This was followed by two more translations, one in the 8th and the other in the 10th century. Besides those five extant versions, the Larger Sutra is said to have been translated seven more times. Although this record is based on incorrect entries in the sutra-catalogs and so cannot be taken to be wholly true, it is undeniable that this sutra enjoyed great popularity in China as it certainly did in India.
Chinese Buddhism entered a new epoch around the 5th century; Kumarajiva from Kuccha translated the Prajna-paramita Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, the Smaller Sutra, and the important Madhyamika literature by Nagarjuna. The theory of emptiness became popular and also Pure Land Buddhism came to be practiced by eminent monks. It is a well-known fact that the master Hui-yuan (334-416) founded the White Lotus Society on Mt. Lu to practice the Pratyutpanna Samadhi which centered on Amida Buddha. By the time T'an-luan (476-542) appeared, the Contemplation Sutra had been translated by Kalayashas. The time was ripe for establishment of the Pure Land system firmly based on the Mahayana philosophy and in accord with the Buddha's true intention. Such a system of theory and practice centering on Amida was to be followed by ordinary people as well as scholarly monks.

T'an-luan was born in the present Shan-si Province, north China, and entered the priestly life at the age of fifteen. He soon distinguished himself in the Madhyamika doctrine of the Four-discourse school. Later, when he became interested in the Great Collection Sutra and wished to write a commentary on it, he became ill. He then turned to Taoism for health and longevity, and went to see T'ao Hung-ching (452-536), the greatest Taoist authority of the time. T'an-luan was given Taoist scriptures in 10 scrolls, but on his way back, he met Bodhiruci from India at Lo-yang, the capital of China. The Indian monk, who was a great Tripitaka master, admonished him that even if one gained longevity, he would still be bound to Samsara, and that the Buddha-Dharma was the true way to eternal life. So saying, he gave T'an-luan a Pure Land scripture, which was believed to be the Contemplation Sutra or Vasubandhu's Discourse on the Pure Land or both. According to tradition, T'an-luan put both the Buddhist and Taoist texts in the fire to see which would survive. Sure enough, the Buddhist text was not burnt, and so he took refuge in it. Later in 531, Bodhiruci produced a translation of the Discourse on the Pure Land, on which T'an-luan wrote an extensive commentary.

Our Master, T'an-luan, accepted
Bodhiruci's teaching;
He burnt Taoist texts which he had acquired
And deeply took refuge in the Pure Land Way.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 21)

Setting aside his lectures on the Four Discourses,
He expounded the teaching of the Other-Power of the Primal Vow;
He led ordinary, unenlightened beings burdened with karmic bonds
To enter the gate of Nirvana.

(Ibid. 22)

The king of Liang, Wu-t'i (reigned from 502 to 549), especially venerated T'an-luan and always paid homage to him. At the request of the king of Eastern Wei, Hsiao-ching-t'i (reigned from 534 to 550), T'an-luan dwelt at Great Cliff Temple in Shan-si. The king also honored him with the title of 'Divine Phoenix.' Later, he moved to Hsuan-chung Temple in Fen-chou. The place where he dwelt came to be known as the 'Cliff of Master Phoenix (Luan).'

The King of Liang, Hsiao-yen,
Always facing toward the place
Where T'an-luan, our Master, lived,
Worshiped him as 'Bodhisattva Phoenix'.

(Ibid. 54)

The King of Wei venerated T'an-luan
And honored him with the title of 'Divine Phoenix';
And so the place where he lived
Was called 'Cliff of Master Phoenix

. (Ibid. 27)

T'an-luan's Commentary on the Discourse on the Pure Land not only explains technical terms and unfamiliar words which appear in Vasubandhu's Discourse on the Pure Land but also reveals the full metaphysical and soteriological implications of important concepts. As the Discourse is composed of two parts, hymn and explanation, the Commentary is also divided into two parts: (1) exposition of the hymn and (2) exposition of the explanatory section. At the outset of the Commentary, the author quotes Nagarjuna's Chapter on Easy Practice to show that there are two ways of attaining the Stage of Non-retrogression: the Path of Difficult Practice and (2) the Path of Easy Practice. T'an-luan's additional explanation of the reason why it is difficult to attain the Stage of Non-retrogression at the time when no Buddha lives in the world is as follows: (1) Non-Buddhist ways of doing what seems to be good are at variance with the bodhisattva's practice; (2) the Hinayanistic pursuit of self-benefit obstructs the bodhisattva's acts of great compassion; (3) evildoers, who have no regard for consequences, destroy the meritorious virtue that accrues from the practices of others; (4) the results of good deeds based on deluded thinking distract the sacred practices; and (5) relying solely on one's own power, one misses the support of Other Power.
First, the superficial, pretentious good, to which people are easily attracted, is a hindrance to the Bodhisattva Path. Second, pursuit of self-benefit is easy to understand and is popularly practiced; and so the bodhisattva's acts of great compassion is generally ignored. Third, evildoers who reject the law of karma break the acts of virtue. Fourth, the reward of birth in a heavenly state appears more attractive than Nirvana which the bodhisattva's practices are expected to lead to. Lastly, one habitually relies on one's own power to attain salvation, and hardly realizes that Amida's Power is available. T'an-luan was the first to use the term 'Other Power,' which became the central theme in Shinran's system of soteriology. He expresses his gratitude to T'an-luan in the Hymns on the Seven Patriarchs as follows:

If T'an-luan had not expounded
The teaching of the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu,
How could we realize the Practice and Faith
Endowed by Amida's great virtuous Power.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 31)

T'an-luan's exposition includes answers to the many questions which we still ask today. For example, in the opening verse of the Hymn, Vasubandhu professes his faith in Amida as follows (SSZ. I, 269):

O World-Honored One, with singleness of mind,
I take refuge in the Tathagata of Unhindered Light
Shining throughout the Ten Directions,
And aspire to be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.

In commenting on this verse, T'an-luan raises a question (SSZ. I, 282):

'Self' is non-existent in Buddhism; for what reason is 'I' mentioned here?

His answer is:

Generally there are three cases in which 'I' is used: (1) when a person has a wrong view (that a permanent self exists in an individual); (2) when one speaks of oneself with self-conceit; and (3) in ordinary parlance (in which a Buddhist sage teaches others by distinguishing himself from them). When the Bodhisattva Vasubandhu said 'I,' he simply referred to himself simply in ordinary parlance. He did not use it with a wrong view or with self-conceit.

T'an-luan does not simply explain difficult terms and concepts. He often raises questions concerning soteriological problems and gives adequate answers, which are extremely useful for our understanding of Amida's salvation. After explaining the reason why calling the Name as 'the Tathagata of Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Quarters' is the 'gate of praise,' T'an-luan asks this question (SSZ. I, 283):

You say that Amida's light is boundless, shining on all the worlds in the ten quarters without hindrance. Why is it that some people in this world are not illumined by his light?

He answers this question by saying:

The hindrance lies with living beings; it is not that the light is liable to hindrance. It is like the sunlight which shines throughout the four continents. The blind do not see it, but it does not mean that sunlight is not universally present. It is also like dense clouds that bring pouring rain. A hard stone is not saturated with rain-water, but it does not follow that rain does not penetrate things.

Those who have not yet realized Amida's 'here-now' salvation often ask, "Why doesn't Amida save me? If he is really a Buddha of Unhindered Light, his Light should have reached me a long time ago." Their question is leveled against Amida as if to accuse him of neglecting his duties. T'an-luan would answer them, "You are to blame. You have been rejecting his salvation. His Light is here but you do not see it." His kind admonition would lead them to awareness of Amida's boundless Light which has been shining on them from the very beginning.
According to Vasubandhu, calling the Name is glorifying Amida's virtues. Recitation of the Name is part of Yogacara-Pure Land practice leading to unity with Amida. T'an-luan explains that the Name is capable of dissipating the darkness of the minds of sentient beings and fulfill their spiritual aspirations. Shinran accepts this and praises the wonderful power of the Name in a hymn as follows:

The Name of the Tathagata of Unhindered Light
And his Light which embodies Wisdom
Destroy the darkness of the long night of ignorance
And fulfill the aspirations of sentient beings.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 47)

T'an-luan then asks a practical question, "Even if you call the Name and remember Amida, you may still have darkness of mind. Why?" He says that it is because "your practice is not in accord with truth and the connotation of the Name." This means that calling the Name in harmony with the essential nature and working of Amida is effective but the recitation based on the practicer's delusory thinking or reasoning does not yield spiritual benefit. Recitation of the Name is, therefore, not so much a verbal practice as a mental act. Analyzing the state of mind which is incongruous with the Way, T'an-luan shows three characteristics: (1) lacking sincerity, (2) lacking single-mindedness, and (3) lacking continuity. His explanation of inadequate faith is reproduced by Shinran in his hymns as follows:

Concerning the practice which is not in accord with the Way,
Master T'an-luan explains:
First, one's faith is not sincere;
For it appears to exist at times, and not to exist at other times.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 48)

Second, one's faith is not single-minded;
For it lacks decisiveness.
Third, one's faith does not continue without interruption;
For other thoughts arise and interrupt it.

(Ibid. 49)

Followers should remember that
These three aspects of false faith are mutually related;
Because such a faith lacks sincerity,
Decisive faith is also lacking.

(Ibid. 50)

Shinran shares with T'an-luan the view that the true practice of Nembutsu in accord with the Way is solely dependent on the true faith -- shinjin.

When Vasubandhu presents in his Discourse on the Pure Land the seventeen glorious aspects of the Pure Land, he mentions Amida's inconceivable power behind them. He says (SSZ. I, 271):

"How does one contemplate the glorious aspects of that Buddha-land? The glorious aspects of the Buddha-land are provided with the inconceivable power, and their nature resembles that of the Mani-jewel."

T'an-luan explains the inconceivable power in terms of (1) the karmic power, namely the karmic power produced by Dharmakara Bodhisattva's supramundane goodness and his Great Vow, and (2) Amida Buddha's power to sustain the Land. Those who visualize the Pure Land perceive Amida's great karmic power working behind the glorious manifestations of the Land and also realize that the same karmic power is always working upon sentient beings to deliver them from delusion and suffering.
Amida's Karmic Power takes the form of 'merit-transference' (eko; parinama) to reach us. Shinran emphasizes that T'an-luan especially clarified Amida's transference of merits as being the source of our salvation. It works in two directions: (1) for our going to be born in the Pure Land and realize Enlightenment (oso) and (2) for our returning to this world of Samsara to save other beings (genso). Two of the Forty-eight Vows, the Eighteenth and the Eleventh, concern the 'Going forth' aspect of the merit-transference, and the Twenty-second Vow explains its 'Returning' aspect.

The gist of the Eighteenth Vow is as follows:

If, when I (namely, Dharmakara) attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. (Larger Sutra 7)

When we encounter Amida through hearing his Name or contemplating him and his Pure Land, we are filled with the highest spiritual joy - the joy of being embraced by his Light of Wisdom and Compassion. It is also the joy of giving ourselves up to the working of the pure Karmic Power, which is the Other-Power. One's encounter with Amida can be considered as confrontation of the two karmic forces, one's own and Amida's. The more sincerely one is devoted to Amida, the more deeply and inescapably one finds oneself caught in Amida's Karmic Power, until one's entire karma is absorbed in Amida's. In our actual experience of Faith, it is painful to part with our own self to which we have been clinging since beginningless past, but that agonizing experience soon turns into an indescribable great joy - the joy of finding our true Identity in Amida.
When Faith is thus awakened in us, we dwell in the Definitely Assured State. We are no longer subject to samsaric states and are free of existential problems. We are assured of attainment of Nirvana through Amida's Karmic Power. This process is described in the Eleventh Vow, which reads:

If, when I attain Buddhahood, humans and gods in my land should not dwell in the Definitely Assured State and unfailingly reach Nirvana, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. (Larger Sutra 7)

T'an-luan has already noted the importance of the Eighteenth, Eleventh and Twenty-second Vows. Near the end of his Commentary on Vasubandhu's Discourse, he quotes these Vows to prove that we are enabled by the Power of the Primal Vow to attain Buddhahood quickly. One significant development is found in Shinran's interpretation of the Eleventh Vow. While accepting the sutra's statement that those born in the Pure Land dwell in the Definitely Assured State, he goes a step further and says that those to be born in the Pure Land, namely those who have attained the Other-Power Faith, already dwell in this state and can rest assured of the realization of Nirvana. He praises Amida's inconceivable virtue in the following hymn:

The Unhindered Light shining throughout the Ten Quarters
Illumines the darkness of ignorance;
Those who receive joyful Faith in a moment of spiritual union
Will unfailingly reach Nirvana.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 38)

At the end of the first volume of his Commentary, T'an-luan raises eight questions about important doctrinal matters and answers them in clear terms. His explanation has formed an essential part of Shinran's thought.

(1) What kinds of beings are to be saved?

The last stanza of Vasubandhu's Verses of Aspiration for Birth states (SSZ. I, 270):

I have written this discourse and hymn
With the wish to see Amida Buddha
And, together with sentient beings,
Be born in the Land of Peace and Bliss.

T'an-luan's question is what kinds of beings are specifically meant by 'sentient beings'. Quoting the passage on the fulfillment of the Eighteenth Vow in the Larger Sutra, he states that they refer to all beings, including non-Buddhists and ordinary people, who, having heard Amida's Name, joyfully entrust themselves to him and sincerely direct the merit of their practice towards him with aspiration for birth. He next quotes the passage on birth in the lowest level of the lowest grade in the Contemplation Sutra, and concludes that 'sentient beings' include even the most wicked persons who are to be born by saying the Nembutsu ten times at their death.

(2) Harmonizing the different descriptions in the two sutras about the salvation of evildoers:

The Eighteenth Vow excludes from salvation those who commit the five gravest offenses and abuse the right Dharma, whereas the Contemplation Sutra mentions the birth of those who have committed the five gravest offenses and ten evil acts. Harmonizing this difference, T'an-luan says that those who have committed both the five gravest offenses and the serious karmic transgression of abusing the Buddha Dharma are excluded from salvation.

(3) Abusers of the Dharma will not be born in the Pure Land:

A single transgression of abusing the Dharma is grave enough to send the person to the hell of incessant pain; how can the abuser of the Dharma wish to be born in the Buddha-land?

(4) The specific act of abusing the Dharma:

T'an-luan defines the act of abusing the Dharma as denying the existence of Buddhas, Dharma and Bodhisattvas. To entertain such a view through one's own thinking or hearing from others is called abusing the right Dharma.

(5) Graveness of the transgression of abusing the Dharma:

It seems unreasonable to say that abusing the Dharma is a more serious karmic transgression than the five gravest offenses, such as killing one's own parents, because the person who abuses the Dharma does not do any harm to others. But the fact is that without the Buddha Dharma all the worldly moral teachings and supramundane paths would be destroyed and there would not be any sage or saint in the world. Actually the five gravest offenses are committed through ignorance of the right Dharma.

'(6) The law of karma and Amida's salvation:

According to the law of karma, the heavy karmic transgressions, such as the five gravest offenses and the ten evil acts, committed during innumerable kalpas should have their inevitable retribution in spite of the ten times' nembutsu which apparently produces only a little merit. T'an-luan gives three reasons to explain that the nembutsu uttered at one's death is a powerful karmic act capable of cancelling the evil karma of the five gravest offenses and the ten evil acts: (i) the ten times' nembutsu mentioned in the Contemplation Sutra is based on the teaching of True Suchness, whereas evil acts are committed depending on delusory and inverted views; the acts based on delusory thought are no match for the act originating from the ultimate reality; (ii) the nembutsu arises from the supreme entrusting heart and depends on the Name of infinite pure merits, but the evil acts are dependent upon delusion and evil passions; therefore, the nembutsu can expiate the evil karma; (iii) the nembutsu is uttered in a concentrated state of mind in the desperate situation before death when the horrible retribution of the evil karma is about to engulf this person, whereas the evil acts are committed in a less pressing situation; therefore, the nembutsu induces a stronger karmic effect.

(7) The meaning of 'one thought':

The Contemplation Sutra mentions 'ten thoughts' in the passage on birth in the lowest level of the lowest grade. The next question is about the meaning of 'one thought.' T'an-luan first explains it in terms of time, as follows: There are a hundred and one arisings and perishings of every existing thing in one moment; there are sixty such moments in one thought. The term 'thought' under discussion does not have this temporal meaning. 'Ten thoughts' means ten consecutive thoughts of Amida Buddha, not mingled with other thoughts, whether they arise from contemplation of his entire body or part of it or whether they arise while reciting the Nembutsu.

(8) Is it necessary to know the number of the Nembutsu thoughts?

T'an-luan last raises this question and answers it as follows: When the Contemplation Sutra speaks of 'ten thoughts,' it simply means that the cause of birth in the Pure Land is settled by the Nembutsu thought. There is no need to know the number of its recitations. We have only to remember Amida continually, without thinking of anything else.

T'an-luan took great pains to explain that the Pure Land is a realm of transcendence beyond Samsara and is conformable to the ultimate reality. The three worlds of Samsara in which we transmigrate are impure and delusory. In order to free us from the endless cycle of painful transmigration, Dharmakara made Vows, cultivated Wisdom, and amassed merits with which he established the Pure Land. In other words, it is in perfect accord with the law of Karma that Amida's physical glory and his Pure Land have come into existence as the reward for his meritorious practices. The Pure Land, by its nature, is free of mental and physical impurities, and is capable of purifying living beings born there, until they realize the 'unconditioned Dharma-body which is pure and undifferentiated.' The ultimate state of purity is the same as True Suchness. In one of his hymns on T'an-luan, Shinran says:

Birth in the Buddha-land of Peace and Bliss
Is the path to eventual realization of Buddhahood,
And so is the most excellent approach provided by Amida.
Hence, all Buddhas recommend birth in the Pure Land.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 43)

Being a Madhyamika-Pure Land master, T'an-luan developed Pure Land thought firmly based on a non-dichotomous view of reality. From the viewpoint of the ordinary people, evil passions as well as ego appear to exist, but enlightened sages see them as non-existent and empty. When our delusion is removed, we are enlightened as we stand. The Power of Amida's Vow reverses the course of our Karma, and brings us to realize the non-dichotomous wisdom. The following hymn by Shinran clearly describes this Mahayana truth:

The all-merging One-Vehicle teaching of the Original Vow,
We are taught, embraces even the most wicked evildoers;
Having entrusted ourselves to it, we will soon realize
That evil passions and Bodhi are one in essence.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 32)

T'an-luan often used analogies to explain highly metaphysical principles of Amida's Dharma. He compared evil passions to ice and Bodhi to water, as shown in Shinran's words in the following hymn:

If we receive Faith of the wonderful great virtue
Through the power of the Unhindered Light,
The ice of our evil passions surely melts
And turns into the water of Bodhi.

(Ibid. 39)

Speaking ontologically, our karmic hindrances and merits are essentially one.
.

Karmic hindrances are, in essence, merits,
As in the case of ice and water;
The more the ice, the more the water;
The more the hindrances, the more the merits.

(Ibid. 40)

T'an-luan also used a fire-ice analogy to explain how ordinary beings born in the Pure Land can realize the Mahayana principle of Emptiness. He says that just as a fire made on ice is spontaneously extinguished, even if one has an attached view of life, it will be spontaneously removed upon birth in the Pure Land.

T'an-luan in the Commentary presents different ways of interpreting the nature of the Pure Land, of which two may be introduced:

(1) as a manifestation of the ultimate reality,
(2) as the reward of Dharmakara's practice of the Six Paramitas

From the perspective of the ultimate reality, which is beyond time and space and beyond causal relationships, the Pure Land is its self-manifestation in the sphere of causes and conditions. In Mahayana Buddhism the ultimate reality, or True Suchness as we call it, is not an abstract concept but 'Reality' in the highest sense of the term, which is the all-unifying principle. Its self-manifestation actually takes place within itself, because all the diversified phenomena in Samsara reside in True Suchness and nothing exists outside of it.
When Dharmakara made the Vows, he had already realized True Suchness with the penetrating insight - Prajna. His Bodhisattva practice that followed signifies the process of self-manifestation of True Suchness through the personality of Dharmakara. Also the supreme merits that he is said to have acquired by performing the Six Paramitas are nothing but the intrinsic energy or power contained in True Suchness. Those merits or energy gave rise to the glorious Buddha-body and the Pure Land.
T'an-luan's highly metaphysical and yet most practical Pure Land thought contains much we should carefully study for a deeper understanding of the basic teaching of Pure Land Buddhism.
We shall lastly see his two views of the Buddha-body. One is the view that Amida has two kinds of body: the body of True Suchness and the body for the sake of sentient beings. The former corresponds to the Dharma-body (Dharmakaya) and the latter, to the Rewarded Body and Transformed Body (Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya).
After presenting the twenty-nine aspects of the Pure Land, and so forth, Vasubandhu in his Discourse explains that these glorious manifestations enter into the 'Nirvanic Dharma-body of true wisdom.' Commenting on this, T'an-luan introduces the theory of two kinds of Dharma-body. He says (SSZ. I, 337-8):

Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have two Dharma-bodies: (1) the Dharma-body of Dharma-nature (dharmata-dharmakaya) and (2) the Dharma-body of Expediency (upaya-dharmakaya). From the Dharma-body of Dharma-nature originates the Dharma-body of Expediency; through the Dharma-body of Expediency the Dharma-body of Dharma-nature is revealed. These two Dharma-bodies are different but inseparable; they are one but not the same.

T'an-luan and the other Pure Land masters did not encourage us to meditate on the former aspect of Amida, but emphasized the latter aspect, urging us to take refuge in Amida in action. T'an-luan further states in the Verses in Praise of Amida (SSZ, I, 350):

Ten kalpas have elapsed since Amida became a Buddha;
His Life is truly immeasurable.
The Light of his Dharma-body reaches everywhere in the universe,
Shining upon the darkness of the world. So I worship him.

Amida's intrinsic virtue and his saving activity are manifested as the Twelve Lights. In accordance with the Larger Sutra, T'an-luan describes them in the Verses in Praise of Amida, as follows (SSZ, I, 350-3):

(1) Immeasurable Light: "the Light of Wisdom is immeasurable";
(2) Boundless Light: "the wheel of the Light of Emancipation is boundless";
(3) Unhindered Light: "the cluster of Light is unhindered like open space";
(4) Unequaled Light: "the Pure Light is unequaled";
(5) Majestically Flaming Light: "the Light shines with utmost brilliance";
(6) Pure Light: "the Light of Enlightenment is brilliant and its colors surpass everything";
(7) Light of Joy: "the Light of Compassion reaches distant places, giving sentient beings peace and bliss";
(8) Light of Wisdom: "the Light dissipates the darkness of ignorance";
(9) Unceasing Light: "the Light shines everywhere at all times";
(10) Inconceivable Light: "the Light cannot be measured, except by Buddhas";
(11) Ineffable Light: "the majestic Light, above all dimensions, is beyond description";
(12) Light Outshining the Sun and the Moon: "the Light shines more brilliantly than the sun and the moon."

Based on the above explanation, Shinran composed hymns in praise of Amida (Hymn on the Pure Land 4-15). The twelve lights are contained in the Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Quarters, to which Vasubandhu paid homage in his Hymn of Aspiration for Birth. Amida's Universal Light illumines all beings everywhere, awakening them to Truth and Reality. Those who have been illumined by this Light and so attain Joyful Faith dwell in the state of non-duality. Their diverse desires and karmic acts are completely absorbed into Amida's Vow and his Work of Salvation.

When many river-waters of evil passions
Enter into the sea of Great Compassion and Great Vow
Of the Unhindered Light Shining throughout the Ten Quarters,
They become one in taste with Amida's Wisdom.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 42)

The pure Primal Vow of the Tathagata enables us
To be born in the Land of Unproducedness;
Although we are originally divided into nine classes,
Such distinction no longer exists in the Pure Land.

(Ibid. 46)

T'an-luan's soteriological system based on Amida's Merit-transference is summarized in the following three hymns:

Amida's Merit-transference having been actualized,
It works in two phases: Going forth and Returning.
Through this Merit-transference
We can attain Faith and Practice.

(Ibid. 34)

Merit-transference in the phase of Going forth is:
When Amida's skillful means fully matures,
One attains Faith and Practice of the Compassionate Vow;
Then one realizes that Samsara is Nirvana

(Ibid. 35)

Merit-transference in the phase of Returning is:
Having attained the Rank of Compassionate Teaching,
One enters into various states of existence
And puts into practice the Virtue of Samantabhadra.

.(Ibid. 36)

T'an-luan passed away at the age of sixty-seven. At his death miraculous signs were evident: streamers, flowers, flags and canopies appeared above the temple, exquisite fragrance was in the air, and music was heard.

At the age of sixty-seven
T'an-luan passed away to the Pure Land.
At that time, miraculous signs appeared
And so all monks and laypeople were awestruck.

(Ibid. 29)

Top

(15) Tao-ch'o (lines 85-92)

Master Tao-ch'o determined that by the Path of Sages Enlightenment is difficult to attain
And clearly presented the Pure Land Path as the only practicable method of salvation.
He disparaged practicing thousands of meritorious actions with self-power
And encouraged exclusive recitation of the Name of perfect virtues.
He kindly taught the three aspects of imperfect faith and those of right faith.
He compassionately guided those of the ages of Semblance Dharma,
Decadent Dharma and Extinct Dharma alike.
Although we commit evils throughout our lives, if we encounter the Universal Vow,
We shall reach the Land of Peace and Provision, where we realize the Supreme Fruition.

Tao-ch'o (562-645) was born in Ping-cho District in the present Shan-hsi Province, and entered the priestly life at the age of 14. He became well-versed in the Nirvana Sutra, and lectured on it as many as twenty-four times. At the age of forty-eight he visited the Hsuan-chung Temple and read a stone inscription that praised T'an-luan's virtue. Inspired by T'an-luan's admonition that trying to became a Buddha in this world by self-power is futile, Tao-ch'o was converted to the Pure Land teaching. He is said to have practiced Nembutsu seventy thousand times a day, and continually offered incense before a statue of Amitabha. He was especially devoted to the Contemplation Sutra, on which he lectured about two hundred times. He spread the Nembutsu practice among the populace, urging them to count the number of recitations with red beans, later with special rosaries. His teaching was so widely accepted that it was said that there was no one who did not recite Nembutsu in the Shan-hsi Valley. He passed away at the Hsuan-chung Temple at the age of eighty-four.
Shinran composed seven hymns praising the virtues of Tao-ch'o, of which the first two read as follows:

Our Master, Tao-ch'o, set aside
Ten thousand practices of the Path of Sages,
And taught that the Pure Land Path
Is the only way we can follow.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 55)

Our Master, Tao-ch'o, setting aside
His great work on the Nirvana Sutra,
Entrusted himself to the Other-Power of the Primal Vow,
And recommended it to the beings of the five defilements.

(Ibid. 56)

His Pure Land theory and practice are extensively discussed in his A Collection of Passages Concerning the Birth in the Land of Peace and Bliss. He distinguishes two Buddhist approaches: Path of Sages and Path to Birth in the Pure Land. The former is difficult to follow because we are far removed from the time of the Buddha and so our understanding of the Buddha Dharma is very slight. Based on the Great Collection Sutra, Tao-ch'o asserts that the last age of the Dharma has set in and the world is filled with the five defilements; hence, only the Pure Land Path is available. He also quotes from the same sutra to show that his time is already in the fourth five-hundred-year period after the passing of Buddha Shakyamuni, when Buddhists are no longer able to cultivate wisdom or practice meditation successfully but can attain salvation by reciting the Name with the mind of repentance.
The following hymns by Shinran bring home to us the stark reality, as Tao-ch'o pointed out, that in the last Dharma-age no one is able to attain salvation by self-power:

Even if beings in the last Dharma-age in the world of the five
defilements
May perform the practices of the Path of Sages,
None will realize Enlightenment;
So said the Teacher, the World-Honored One.

(Ibid. 57)

Having accepted the teaching of T'an-luan,
Tao-ch'o in the same line of thought
Asserted that to awaken aspiration for Bodhi and perform practices
In this world is called self-power.

(Ibid. 58)

Beings in this defiled world commit evils and make karmic transgressions,
As furiously as violent storms and torrential rains;
Buddhas, seeing this, pity such beings
And lead them to seek refuge in the Pure Land.

(Ibid. 59)

According to Tao-ch'o, the central theme of the Contemplation Sutra is the samadhi of visualizing Amitabha, which he explains in terms of the Nembutsu samadhi. Quoting from the Sutra on the Samadhi of Contemplation of the Buddha, he demonstrates that Shakyamuni taught his father the Nembutsu samadhi. In this sutra the Buddha compares Nembutsu to a sandal-wood plant that grows in a forest of foul-smelling eranda trees; even when it is still young, it emits luxuriant fragrance all around and completely changes the atmosphere. Tao-ch'o explains this, saying that even though sentient beings are full of evil passions, spiritual hindrances and countless karmic evils, a single Nembutsu that grows in their minds can destroy all impurities. He further quotes from the Garland Sutra, which states that Nembutsu can destroy all evil passions and hindrances and so the Nembutsu Samadhi is called the king of samadhis. Later in his work, Tao-ch'o gives scriptural evidence to prove that the Nembutsu Samadhi is the central practice advocated in various Mahayana texts, including the Nirvana Sutra and the Garland Sutra. Shinran pertinently describes in a hymn the effectiveness of the Nembutsu as follows:

Even though we commit evils all through life,
We should always recite the Nembutsu
With diligence and with singleness of heart.
Then all hindrances will be removed naturally.

(Ibid. 60)

Next Shinran deeply appreciates Amida's Vow which actualized salvation through the Nembutsu:

In order to take sentient beings in his embrace
Who commit evils throughout their lives,
Amida made the Vow of saying the Name,
Promising not to become a Buddha if those who recite it should not be born.

(Ibid. 61)

Tao-ch'o faithfully followed T'an-luan's teaching and in his work quoted many passages from the Commentary on the Discourse on the Pure Land, one of which is the explanation of imperfect faith. T'an-luan earlier raised a question: Recitation of the Name should remove spiritual ignorance but there are some Nembutsu practicers in whom ignorance still exists. Why is this so? His own answer is twofold: (1) Because they do not know that the Buddha has two kinds of body: Body of True Suchness and Body for the sake of beings; (2) because they have imperfect faith, which is lacking sincerity, single-mindedness, and continuity. These three aspects of imperfect faith are indications of self-power. They are related with each other, and those who cannot get rid of the attachment to their own power are bound to repeat this vicious circle. By quoting this important passage, Tao-ch'o kindly admonished us against the faults of dependence on self-power.

Tao-ch'o's contemporaries and masters of the Path of Sages generally considered Amida as a Buddha of Accommodated Body and his Pure Land as a land of inferior quality. For example, Hui-yuan of Ching-ying temple (523-92), the most distinguished scholar of the time, classified pure lands into three: (1) mundane lands of purity, (2) supramundane lands of purity, and (3) true lands of purity. Ordinary beings with pure karma produce and dwell in mundane lands of purity, and Hinayana sages and bodhisattvas of lower stages produce and inhabit supramundane lands of purity. Buddhas and bodhisattvas above the first stage produce true lands of purity, which are in accord with True Suchness. According to Hui-yuan, Amida is a Buddha of Accommodated Body and his land of bliss is a mundane land of purity which is still within Samsara. Chih-i (538-97), the systematizer of the Tendai teaching, held a similar view that the Pure Land was a land of mixed habitation for ordinary beings and sages and so it belonged to Samsara.
In his A Collection of Passages Concerning the Birth in the Land of Peace and Bliss, Tao-ch'o refutes the above views and emphasizes that Amida is a Buddha of Recompensed Body and his Pure Land is a Land of Recompense originating from his Vows. As the Larger Sutra states, even bodhisattvas of higher rank, such as those in the Stage of Non-retrogression, go to be born there. The Pure Land also admits ordinary beings of little wisdom who aspire for birth with deep faith.
Tao-ch'o follows the general Mahayana principle in asserting that Amida has all the three bodies, and contends that Amida in the Land of Utmost Bliss is a Sambhogakaya Buddha. He also explains the relationship between Dharmakaya and the two other bodies by a metaphor of the sun and the light (SSZ. I, 385):

Dharmakaya is like the sun and Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya are like its rays of light.

Tao-ch'o also distinguishes two aspects of the Pure Land: the land of form and the land of non-form. Those who have realized the Mahayana principle of non-form or non-arising of all existences but still seek birth in the Pure Land in terms of cause-condition relationship (pratitya-samutpada) are born in the land of non-form, where it is understood that they attain Dharmakaya. But those who seek birth while still attached to forms are born in the land of form, where they behold recompensed and transformed bodies of the Buddha and advance to higher spiritual states. We must note that in Tao-ch'o's view we ordinary beings, full of evil passions, can attain birth in the Nirvanic Pure Land. In this connection we recall that T'an-luan has earlier said that those of the lower grade who have an attached view regarding birth can also be born in the land of no-birth. It is just as a fire made on ice is soon extinguished; once we are born in the land of no-birth, all our attached views will be spontaneously removed.
As we have seen above, the location of Amida's Pure Land was a popular subject of debate among Buddhist masters in Tao-ch'o's days. In his work he raises this question and gives it his answer as follows (SSZ. I, 388):

Question: In which of the three worlds is the Land of Peace and Bliss contained?
Answer: The Pure Land, being exquisite and sublime, transcends the worldly existence. The three worlds are the dark house inhabited by ordinary beings of birth-and-death. There are different degrees of pain and pleasure, but the common feature is defilement.... The Commentary on the Prajnaparamita Sutra says, "The fruition of the Pure Land is free of desires; hence, it does not belong to the world of desire. Since the Pure Land has the solid ground to rest on, it does not belong to the world of form. Since there are phenomenal manifestations, it does not belong to the world of non-form, either. Although it has solid ground, it is exquisite, supernal and indescribably wonderful." For this reason, Vasubandhu says in his Discourse on the Pure Land:

As I contemplate the nature of that Land,
I find that it surpasses the three worlds.
It is ultimately like space,
Vast and without bounds.

Whether and where the Pure Land exists is not a theoretical question to be discussed in logical terms. Tao-ch'o knew that it exists -- beyond the sphere of our ordinary perceptions and relative thinking.

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(16) Shan-tao (lines 93-100)

Shan-tao alone clarified the true intent of the Buddha Shakyamuni.
Out of compassion for those who practice meditative or non-meditative good as well as those who commit the five gravest offenses and the ten evil acts,
He revealed that the Light and the Name are the cause and condition for birth in the Pure Land,
Thereby leading them all into the Sea of Great Wisdom of the Primal Vow.
When the aspirant receives the Diamond Faith,
Thereby attaining instantaneously Joy of oneness with Amida,
He will obtain the three insights, as did Vaidehi,
And realize the eternal bliss of Dharma-nature.

Shan-tao (613-681) was born at Ssu-chou in the present Anhui Province (according to another tradition, Lin-tzu in the Shantung Province). When young, he entered the priesthood and devoted himself to the study of the Lotus Sutra and the Vimalakirti Sutra. One day when he saw a painting of the Pure Land, he wised to be born there. He visited Mt. Lu and other places to study and practice the Pure Land teaching. For several years he lived at Wu-chen Temple on Mt. Chung-nan and devoted himself to contemplation of Amida and the Pure Land in accordance with the method of the Pratyutpanna Samadhi, until he successfully visualized them. When he was about twenty years of age, he went to see Tao-ch'o and became his disciple. While attending his lectures on the Contemplation Sutra, he diligently practiced contemplation as prescribed in this sutra and finally attained the Nembutsu Samadhi and visualized Amida and his land of bliss. Later he went to Ch'ang-an to spread the Pure Land teaching. He continued to practice contemplation and recitation, and also strictly observed the precepts. It is said that when he saw a woman in the street, he did not raise his head to look at her.
In those days, the Contemplation Sutra was popular among Buddhist scholars, but their interpretations were often unacceptable to Shan-tao. He then wrote a four-fascicle commentary on this sutra and clarified the standpoint held by his predecessors, T'an-luan and Tao-ch'o. He is said to have copied the Smaller Sutra more than a hundred thousand times and made more than three hundred paintings of the Pure Land. When Emperor Kao Tsung issued an order to build a niche for a statue of Mahavairocana at Lung-men in Honan Province, Shan-tao was appointed as supervisor.
His influence was so great that thousands of people took refuge in Amida and practiced Nembutsu. While following T'an-luan and Tao-ch'o, he developed his own system of practice which centers on the Nembutsu. His line of Pure Land teaching, known as the Shan-tao School, was widely practiced in China and was later transmitted to Japan. His successors, Fa-chao ( -773) and Shao-k'ang ( -805), were considered as his incarnations.

Manifesting from Amida's Great Mind,
Master Shan-tao appeared in the world.
For the sake of the people of the defiled world in the Last Dharma-age,
He sought testimony of the Buddhas of the ten quarters (when he wrote the commentary on the Contemplation Sutra).

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 62)

Shan-tao appeared in successive ages,
Once as Fa-chao and at another time as Shao-k'ang;
Opening wide the storehouse of the supreme merits,
He fulfilled the true intention of all the Buddhas.

(Ibid. 63)

One of the greatest contributions which Shan-tao made to the development of Pure Land Buddhism was his clarification of the soteriological meaning of Nembutsu. In those days there were some masters of the Path of Sages who rejected the view that ten recitations of the Name could become only a remote cause of birth in the Pure Land. Their assertion was based on the theory presented in Asanga's discourse on Mahayana to the effect that when Shakyamuni encouraged recitation of Amida's Name as the cause of birth in the Pure Land, he actually meant that such a practice alone would only lead to birth at some time in the future. Those masters misinterpreted Nembutsu as a mere act of aspiration lacking in practice. Shan-tao refuted them, saying (SSZ, I, 457):

The ten times' Nembutsu taught in the Contemplation Sutra contains ten aspirations and ten practices. How? 'Na-mu' means 'taking refuge in'; it also means 'aspirating (for birth in the Pure Land) and transferring (the merit of practice towards it).' 'Amidabutsu' is the 'practice' (to be transferred for birth). For this reason, one can surely attain Birth.

As compared with ordinary Buddhist practices, such as the Six Paramitas, recitation of the Name must have appeared to masters of other schools to be merely an expression of one's aspiration for birth; they thought that there was no element of practice in the recitation. Shan-tao's explanation of the Name is no doubt based on his samadhi experience in which he perceived Amida as the embodiment of the pure merits accumulated during his career as a bodhisattva. All that is required of the aspirant for birth is simply to receive and make use of Amida's merits; this he can do by repeating the Name with singleness of mind.

Another doctrinal point of great importance which Shan-tao clarified concerns the nature of Amida's Buddhahood. Eminent masters of other schools in China, such as Hui-yuan of Ching-ying Temple, Chih-i of T'ien-t'ai School and Chi-tsang of San-lun School, shared the view that Amida was a Nirmanakaya Buddha. One of the reasons for advancing this theory is that Amida can be perceived even by ordinary beings and Hinayana sages. Reasoning in accordance with scriptural evidence, Shan-tao refuted them and determined that Amida is a Sambhogakaya Buddha manifested as the reward for his Vows. He pointed out that the Contemplation Sutra mentions the welcoming of 'the Tathagata Amida...together with innumerable transformed Buddhas' (Birth in the highest level of the highest grade); this is clear evidence that Amida is a Sambhogakaya Buddha.
It follows then that Amida's Pure Land is the land of a Sambhogakaya Buddha. Even if this were so, the masters of other schools would not accept the view that ordinary beings could be born in such a superior Buddha-land. But Shan-tao made it clear that they could attain birth because of the Power of Amida's Primal Vow. In the Essential Meanings of the Contemplation Sutra he says (SSZ, I, 459):

Question: If that Buddha and his land are those of a Recompensed Body, the nature of a Recompensed Land is too high and too subtle for lesser sages; how could ordinary beings with impurities and hindrances enter there?
Answer: Speaking of the impurities and hindrances of sentient beings, it it indeed difficult for them to aspire to and attain birth there. But by the powerful working of the Buddha's Vow the beings of the five different paths of Samsara can all equally enter there.

Buddhist methods of practice leading to Enlightenment, which were originally provided by Shakyamuni Buddha for people of different capacities, can be divided into two groups: meditative and non-meditative practices. Concentration and meditation in a cross-legged posture have been extensively employed among Buddhists of nearly all denominations, whether Mahayana or Theravada, because they are most effective in cultivating wisdom. Other forms of practice, such as chanting sutras, observing the precepts, and abstaining from wrongdoing, are non-meditative good acts; they yield "merits", that is, good spiritual energy, by which one can reach a higher spiritual state.
So long as those meditative and non-meditative practices are based on one's self-power, which is limited and defiled by passions, one cannot hope to attain Enlightenment. As a skillful means of guiding such a person to the Other-Power teaching, the Buddha provided in the Contemplation Sutra (1) the Pure Land meditation consisting of thirteen contemplations, beginning with the contemplation of the setting sun, and (2) non-meditative acts of merits, including performance of the ten good deeds and observance of the precepts. Those who have accomplished the Pure Land meditation are rid of various spiritual hindrances and so can attain birth in the Pure Land, but the non-meditative practices, which are of inferior quality as compared with meditative ones, if accompanied by a fervent wish to be born in the Pure Land, can also become the cause of birth there. In his four-fascicle commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, Shan-tao fully explains the Pure Land practices presented in this sutra and clarified Amida's Great Compassion which reaches everywhere, embracing all beings, whether good or evil.

The teaching of the Contemplation Sutra, according to Shinran, corresponds to the Nineteenth Vow. It provides two kinds of practice, meditative and non-meditative, to lead beings of different spiritual propensities to the Pure Land Path. In anticipation of the welcome of Amida and Holy Sages at the time of death, as promised in the 19th Vow, the aspirants diligently cultivate merits by performing various practices, including recitation of the Name.
Shan-tao's teaching was to lead such people to concentrate on the Nembutsu. He first divided the Pure Land practices into two: right acts and miscellaneous acts, and chose the following five as the Right Acts (SSZ, I, 537-8):

1. Chanting sutras: single-mindedly chanting such sutras as the Contemplation Sutra, the Smaller Sutra and the Larger Sutra;
2. Contemplation: concentrating on Amida and his land of bliss;
3. Worshipping: single-mindedly worshipping Amida;
4. Recitation: single-mindedly reciting his Name;
5. Praising and making offerings: single-mindedly praising Amida and making offerings to him.

The miscellaneous acts are other Buddhist practices, such as moral disciplines, worshipping other Buddhas, chanting non-Pure Land sutras and Zen-type of meditation. They originally belong to the teachings other than the Pure Land Path, but are tentatively allowed to be pursued if they are intended to serve as the practices for birth in the Pure Land. On the other hand, the right acts are in accord with the true meaning of the Pure Land teaching. Shinran explains Shan-tao's teaching in the Hymns as follows:

Shakyamuni opened the Gate of Essential Teaching (of the Nineteenth Vow),
Thereby leading practicers of meditative and non-meditative good to the Pure Land Path;
He provisionally established two kinds of acts, right and miscellaneous,
But urged us to follow the exclusive practice of the Nembutsu.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 65)

For those who have been following non-Pure Land teachings, it is difficult to give up their systems of devotion and practice and suddenly change over to the Pure Land system. They are allowed to continue to do the same acts but their Buddhist disciplines should now be directed to Amida and his Pure Land. For example, one can chant the Heart Sutra and practice zazen as before, but the objective should be changed from the attainment of satori to that of birth in the Pure Land. This internal change will spontaneously lead to a change in the system of practice. Shan-tao's system of the Five Right Acts is to be adopted by anyone who finds it more comfortable than self-power practices.
Of the Five Right Acts, the fourth is the most important and is called the 'Act of Right Assurance'; the rest are called the 'Auxiliary Acts.' Concerning the Act of Right Assurance, Shan-tao explains that it is to call the Name of Amida with singleness of mind, whether one is walking, standing, sitting or lying, without interruption and irrespective of the duration of this practice. Such an act is called the 'Act of Right Assurance,' because it accords with the Buddha's Vow.
In any Buddhist system, concentration is of primary importance. Shan-tao emphasizes this in his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra as we see later. This is a mental attitude accompanying any of the Five Right Acts, but it is easier to practice and more effective if we concentrate on one particular act. The Nembutsu is chosen as such an act. Clarifying this point, Shinran says in a hymn:

To perform the practice of the principal and auxiliary acts in a mixed way
Is called 'the mixed practice.'
Those who practice thus lack singleness of mind,
And so fail to appreciate the Buddha's Benevolence."

(Hymns of the Patriarchs 66)

In Shan-tao's system of salvation single-mindedness is of great importance. In his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, he pays special attention to the three kinds of faith mentioned in the sutra's section on "those who attain birth on the highest level of the highest grade." The three kinds of faith are as follows: sincere faith, deep faith, and faith that resolves to be born by transferring to that land the merit acquired. Shan-tao interprets deep faith as having two aspects (SSZ, I, 534):

(1) to accept in deep faith the fact that we are ordinary beings of karmic evils, who have been transmigrating since the eternal past without a chance to escape;
(2) to accept in deep faith the teaching that Amida's Forty-eight Vows embrace us and that we shall definitely attain birth through the Power of his Vow.

These two aspects serve as the two poles that create the tension and dynamics of faith. The first aspect of deep faith concerns our evil and defiled nature, full of blind passions and wrong karmic tendencies. This is a realization that we have no means of salvation with our own power. The second aspect of faith is acceptance of Amida's saving Power which was motivated by his Vows. Since Amida's salvation reaches us through his Light and Name, our deep faith is established when we awaken to his Light and receive his Name deep in our mind and heart.
We find in Shan-tao's Liturgy of Birth the passage which emphasizes the Light and the Name as the factors of our salvation and presents faith as the requisite for birth in the Pure Land (SSZ, I, 651):

Amida, the World-Honored One, originally made great Vows and embraces and emancipates beings in the ten quarters with his Light and Name; he makes beings awaken faith.

In the third section of his Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra, entitled "On the Meaning of Meditative Good Acts," Shan-tao begins his exposition of the thirteen contemplations by raising a question and then presenting a practical method of visualization, as follows (SSZ, I, 499-501):

Question: Vaidehi made a request to the Buddha wishing to see the Land of Utmost Bliss. He agreed to explain and first taught the method of concentration on visualizing the sun. What does this mean?
Answer: There are three meanings. First, in order to make sentient beings know about (the location of) the object (of contemplation) and the direction in which one should concentrate one's thought. Avoid winter and summer, and choose only spring and autumn, when the sun rises in due east and sets in due west. Amida's land is in the direction in which the sun sets, namely due west passing over a hundred thousand kotis of lands. Second, in order to make sentient beings realize whether their own karmic hindrances are light or heavy. How do they know? Because they are taught to fix their minds on and contemplate the (setting) sun. Before they concentrate their minds, they are taught to sit upright in the lotus-posture: the right leg is placed on the left thigh while keeping balance with the contour of the body; next the left leg is placed on the right thigh while keeping the balance with the contour of the body; the left palm rests on the right one, and the body should be upright. The mouth is closed, but the two rows of teeth should not be joined; the tongue touches the palate to enable the passage of air through the throat and the nostrils. Let them contemplate the four elements of the body until they realize that it is empty, inside and out, and that nothing exists. Imagine that the earth-element of the body, that is, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, and so forth, disintegrate and disappear in the west; when they reach the farthest end of the west, even a single dust-particle of their bodies do not remain to be seen. Next, imagine that the water-element, that is, blood, sweat, secreting fluid, tears, and so forth, is dispersed towards the north; when it reaches the farthest end of the north, not even a single drop of it is perceived. Next, imagine that the wind-element of the body is dispersed towards the east; when it reaches the farthest end of the east, not even the minutest portion of it remains to be seen. Next, imagine that the fire-element of the body is dispersed towards the south; when it reaches the farthest end of the south, not even the smallest part of it remains to be perceived. Also imagine that the body is of the space-element, being in complete unity with the empty space that pervades the ten quarters; there is not a speck of it to be perceived as non-empty. Also imagine that the five elements of the body are totally empty but consciousness exists as the sole pervasive entity; it is like a round mirror, lucid inside and out, brilliant and pure.
When one accomplishes this exercise all delusory thoughts are removed, and so one's mind attains a state of deep contemplation. After that, one can gradually proceed to the visualization of the sun. Those of superior capacity can in one sitting visualize a clear image. When it appears, it looks like a coin or a mirror in size. On its bright surface one sees one's light or heavy karmic hindrances: (1) a black hindrance like a dark cloud obstructing the sun, (2) a yellow hindrance like a yellow cloud obscuring the sunlight, and (3) a white hindrance like a white cloud veiling the sun. Just as the sun covered by clouds does not shine brightly, karmic hindrances of sentient beings cover their pure mind and keep it from shining. If the practicer sees such a hindrance, he should adorn the room, set up a Buddha statue, bathe and cleanse himself, put on a clean robe, burn fine incense, and make a confession (of his evil karma) to all Buddhas and sages. Before the Buddha statue he should repent of the transgressions committed with his body, mouth and mind, from the beginningless past, such as the ten evil acts, the five gravest offenses, the four major prohibitions, slandering of the Dharma and destruction of all roots of goodness. If he does so, shedding tears of sorrow like rain, as deep repentance arises in his mind, it penetrates to the core and torments him as if his bones were cut to pieces.
After such an act of repentance he should resume the sitting meditation as before, and visualize with a peaceful mind. If the clear image appears but there is none of the above-mentioned three kinds of hindrance, the pure object of visualization manifests itself brilliantly. This is called 'abrupt expiation of karmic hindrances.' Those who destroy all hindrances by a single act of repentance are called 'men of superior capacity.' If only the black hindrance is removed by an act of repentance, or only the yellow and white hindrances are removed, or only the white hindrance is destroyed, we call such acts 'gradual removal,' not 'abrupt destruction.'
Keeping in mind those symptoms of karmic hindrances, one should diligently repent. Those who can repent by just remembering them three or six times a day and a night are men of superior capacity and higher practice. It is just as one is burnt by hot water or fire (in a dream); when one awakes, (the pain) is completely removed. Why do you vainly wait for an appropriate time, place, circumstance or person to come in order to remove the karmic hindrances?
Third, in order to make sentient beings know that Amida and the Pure Land, with all the glorious adornments and light, are brilliant inside and out, shining more brightly than the sun by hundreds of thousands of times. If the practicer has not yet visualized the light of that land, he should gaze at the brilliant image of the sun. If he worships and remembers (Amida and the Pure Land) while constantly keeping in mind the image (of the sun), he will attain concentration, in which he will visualize various pleasant adornments of the Pure Land. For these reasons, the World-Honored One first taught the method of visualizing the sun.

Shan-tao's explanation of the practical method of contemplation, such as that just quoted, is found here and there throughout his writings.

Repentance is an important part of Shan-tao's Pure Land theory and practice. He took every opportunity to urge an act of repentance. In the Liturgy for Birth he distinguishes three kinds of repentance (SSZ, I, 680):

(1) the higher degree of repentance is to shed blood from pores of the body and from the eyes;
(2) the middle degree of repentance is to exude hot perspiration from all the pores of the body and shed blood from the eyes;
(3) the lower degree of repentance is to become feverish all over the body and shed tears from the eyes.

Repentance is an effective way of expiating evil karma, but there are prescribed methods to follow. One can confess one's evil acts done to other Buddhists, all Buddhas of the ten quarters, sages, or to images of them, or to oneself. By the act of repentance one is rid of karmic hindrances and one's birth in the Pure Land is assured.

Shan-tao used a parable to illustrate how an aspirant, full of evil passions, awakens faith and attains birth in the Pure Land (SSZ, I, 539).

A man is traveling to the west. In the wilderness he finds himself pursued by bandits and wild animals. Trying to run away, he comes to a place where two rivers confront each other: one is a river of fire which flows to the south and the other, a river of water which flows to the north. These two rivers are a hundred paces wide but endlessly long. Where they meet, there is a narrow white path, about five inches wide, which leads to the west bank. As fire is raging on one side and water is breaking over the path from the other, he hesitates to take the path, but since death appears inevitable, he thinks of crossing between fire and water. Just then he hears a voice from the eastern bank, urging him to go forward across the path, and another voice from the western bank, urging him on. Encouraged by these voices, he proceeds determinedly along the path and soon reaches the western bank.

The river of fire represents anger, and that of water, greed. The white path symbolizes the possibility of awakening faith in a mind full of evil passions. The voice from the eastern bank is the teaching of Shakyamuni, and the voice from the western bank is Amida's call. The western bank represents the Pure Land.
This parable became very popular and, together with the painting which depicts it, has been widely used to explain the Pure Land teaching.

Master Shan-tao, having sought the Buddhas' witness,
Urged practicers of meditative and non-meditative goods
to convert their minds;
He presented the parable of Two Rivers of Greed and Anger
To safeguard Faith of the Universal Vow.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 69)

Through the Name and Light Amida reaches everyone of us. When his mind of Wisdom and Compassion is accepted deep in our hearts, it turns our hearts into the Diamond Faith and gives rise to the supreme Joy of oneness with Amida. 'Diamond Faith', or literally 'Diamond Mind', occurs in Shan-tao's Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra to refer to the mind of a bodhisattva of the highest rank. This is originally the state of samadhi in which such a bodhisattva destroys his subtle mental obscurity and, when accomplished, immediately leads to final Enlightenment. Shinran uses this term for the Nembutsu-faith of the Other Power, because such Faith as given by Amida is itself Amida's mind and so becomes the cause of our Enlightenment.
In general usage in Buddhism, 'diamond' (vajra) is the most precious substance, said to be the finest essence of gold, and is the hardest material. As Shan-tao explains elsewhere, it is used metaphorically for supramundane pure wisdom because it is indestructible. In Shinran's usage, Diamond Faith and Mind of Great Joy are synonyms for the Other-Power Faith. Once established in our hearts, the Nembutsu-Faith is not shaken by other beliefs or ideologies. It is also accompanied by pure spiritual joy, the joy of awakening to Amida's Wisdom and Compassion and the joy of spiritual unity with Amida.
How can such Faith be awakened in us? Shinran explains in a hymn using Shan-tao's phraseology:

Shakyamuni and Amida are our compassionate parents;
Using various skillful means,
They awaken in us
The supreme wonderful Faith.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 74)

As explained above, in Buddhism, as in other religious systems, repentance is an effective way of expiating evil karma. A question may arise: Is repentance required in Shin Buddhism? Shan-tao gives his answer in the Liturgy for Birth, saying that although it is impossible to shed tears and blood, if one has a completely sincere mind (True Faith), one attains the same effect of repentance. This is repeated by Shinran in the following hymn:

Those in whom True Faith is firmly established,
Which is itself the Diamond Mind,
Are equal to those who repent of their evil karma
In three ways; so says our master Shan-tao.

(Ibid. 75)

Even though we cannot possibly destroy even a small portion of our karmic evil by our own power, Faith of the Other-Power effectively cancels all our evil karma and ensures birth in the Land of Nirvana.

For us who live in the evil world of the five defilements,
Diamond Faith alone is available;
It enables us to leave Samsara forever
And reach the Land of Naturalness.

(Ibid. 76)

Shinran further praises the virtue of Diamond Faith:

As soon as Faith, which is firm as diamond,
Is established in us,
Amida embraces us in his spiritual Light,
Severing us forever from birth-and-death.

(Ibid. 77)

Shan-tao's Pure Land system is largely based on his transcendent experience centering on visualization of Amida and his Pure Land. From the beginning, his motive of following the Pure Land Path is said to have been a casual encounter with the painting of the Pure Land in his early days. Even before he became Tao-ch'o's disciple, Shan-tao had already had some mystical experience while meditating on Amida in accordance with the Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra (Sutra on Being in the Presence of All Buddhas). His spiritual experience advanced as he concentrated on the Contemplation Sutra. Later, when he wrote a four-fascicle commentary on this sutra, as he recounted in the epilogue, a divine person appeared in dreams and gave him instruction about essential points. His Method of Contemplation also is a useful manual for the contemplative practice. Side by side with contemplation, Shan-tao concentrated on chanting the Amida Sutra and also copied it thousands of times. He gave these copies to his followers. Further, he made more than three hundred paintings of the Pure Land, which no doubt became the prototype of the Pure Land mandalas produced later in Japan.

Of the three Pure Land Sutras, the Contemplation Sutra provided Shan-tao with the basic theory and practice for birth in the Pure Land. Queen Vaidehi, the heroine of the tragedy in the royal family of Magadha, was imprisoned by her son, Ajatashatru, but, under the guidance of Shakyamuni Buddha, was relieved of suffering and attained salvation. By the Buddha's power she was able to visualize Amida and thereby gained the superior insight into the non-arising of all existences (anutpattika-dharma-ksanti). Although this insight is generally equated with realization of voidness (shunyata), which bodhisattvas attain after strenuous meditative exercises, Shan-tao interpreted it as the spiritual state given to ordinary persons like Vaidehi by the Buddha's power. In his interpretation this insight has three aspects: (1) joyfulness, (2) awakening to the Buddha's wisdom, and (3) complete entrusting to his saving power. Shinran further explains it more explicitly, saying that those three aspects are the spiritual benefit attending the Other-Power Nembutsu-Faith. For Shinran, gaining the insight into the non-arising of all existences is the same as receiving the Diamond Faith. Since such Faith is the Buddha's Wisdom and Compassion endowed to the aspirants, they are assured of attainment of the ultimate Nirvanic bliss in the Pure Land. Shinran says in a hymn:

Since Faith arises from the Vow,
Becoming a Buddha through the Nembutsu is natural;
The ultimate state of Naturalness is the Land of Recompense,
Where realization of Great Nirvana is certain to come.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 82)

Those who have attained Nembutsu-Faith and live the life of Naturalness are often called 'myokonin' (wondrous, excellent person). This term was first used by Shan-tao when he explained the term 'white lotus' (pundarika) to which Shakyamuni compared a person of the Nembutsu in the Contemplation Sutra. "One who is mindful of the Buddha," says Shakyamuni, "is a white lotus among humankind." In his commentary on this sutra, Shan-tao explains that the 'white lotus' means an excellent person, a wondrous excellent person, an unsurpassed person, a rare person, and a supreme person. In the common usage since the pre-modern period in Japan, a myokonin has no educational background to speak of but has understood the depth of the Other-Power Faith and expresses it in daily living. One of Shinran's hymns refers to the above explanation by Shan-tao:

One who has heard the Nembutsu teaching of the True Pure Land Way
And holds fast to it without harboring a single thought of doubt,
Is praised by the Buddha as a rare and supreme person,
For such a person, Shan-tao says, is one who possesses right mindfulness.

(Ibid. 80)

As Shan-tao stressed throughout his writings, it is by the Power of the Primal Vow that ordinary people with little or no spiritual capacity attain emancipation.

If it were not for the Universal Vow,
When would we ever escape from this world of suffering?
Being deeply mindful of the Buddha's Benevolence,
We should always recite his Name.

(Ibid. 86)

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(17) Genshin (lines 101-108)

Genshin widely expounded the Buddha's life-time teachings;
Solely seeking refuge in the Land of Peace and Provision, he urged all to follow him.
He distinguished between deep faith in practicing the Nembutsu exclusively and shallow faith in doing miscellaneous acts of virtue,
Thereby clarifying the different states of attainment: birth in the Land of Recompense and birth in the Transformed Land.
Those with extremely heavy evil karma should solely repeat Amida's Name.
I, too, am in his embracement;
Although my evil passions hinder me from seeing it,
His Light of Great Compassion always shines on me untiringly.

There were many other masters in China after Shan-tao, each contributing in his own way to the further development of the Pure Land teaching. The next master, who is especially important in the history of Shin Buddhism and so is regarded as the fifth of the Seven Masters, is the Japanese Tendai monk Genshin (942-1017). Before Genshin's time, Japanese Buddhism, which began in the sixth century as predominantly Mahayana-oriented Buddhism, had produced many great monks and flourished remarkably. Six schools were already in existence in the Nara period (710-784), and two more major Mahayana schools, Shingon and Tendai, were transmitted from China at the beginning of the Heian period (794-1185).
From the inception of the T'ien-t'ai (Tendai) school in China, Amida occupied an important position in its system of practice. Soon after Saicho's opening of Mt. Hiei as the center of Japanese Tendai Buddhism, invocational and meditative Nembutsu became widespread side by side with the practice of orthodox Tendai teaching and the ritual of the esoteric tradition. As the first Tendai-Pure Land master we may mention Ryogen (912-85), the 18th abbot of Enryakuji temple and the author of the commentary on part of the Contemplation Sutra. He is said to have had three thousand disciples and four special disciples. Genshin was one of them.
Genshin was born in Yamato Province (Nara Prefecture) and his family name was Urabe. It is said that he was conceived by his mother after she prayed to Avalokiteshvara. He lost his father when young, and went to Mt. Hiei, where he became a monk and studied under Ryogen. It is said that at the age of fifteen he gave a lecture at the imperial court and received fine presents, which he sent to his mother to please her. But she returned them with an admonishment for his worldly ambitions. This gave him a great impetus to pursue the Way without regard for secular engagements. Thus he went into retirement on the mountain to practice the way to salvation diligently. He is said to have read through all the Buddhist scriptures as many as five times.
As his insight and scholarship advanced, Genshin delivered lectures at important meetings, and produced some 170 works, of which more than twenty were related to Pure Land Buddhism. His most famous work was the Collection of Important Passages on Birth, 3 fasc., which he composed between 984 and 985. This work was sent to China, where it was received with great admiration. When it was brought to Kuo-ch'ing temple on Mt. T'ien-t'ai in 986, more than five hundred monks rejoiced to read it and paid homage to Genshin from afar, saying "Adoration to the Japanese Buddhist Teacher, Master Genshin." This work had an extensive influence not only in Japan but in China as well.
In 988 he laid down the Rite for the Samadhi for (Transcending) Twenty-five (States of Samsara) and promoted the Society of 'Twenty-five' Samadhi, which was originally founded in 986 by 25 monks in the Yokawa precinct of Mt. Hiei. In 1004 he was appointed to a higher rank of priesthood but he resigned the following year. Known as a distinguished artist, he produced many Pure Land paintings, including that of Amida crossing the mountains to welcome a dying devotee. Genshin left a short sermon consisting of only 491 characters, entitled Words on the Dharma at Yokawa, which teaches simple but deep faith in Amida and urges us to practice the Nembutsu exclusively.
When he lay on his death-bed at the age of 76, he kept correct mindfulness of Amida. For seven days preceding his death, he did not take any food or drink, but kept concentrating on Amida. On his last day, he cleansed his body and mouth, and while repeating the Nembutsu, passed away as if falling asleep.

Genshin's Collection of Important Passages on Birth is the most comprehensive Pure Land writing ever compiled in China or Japan. The number of passages quoted is 952 and their scriptural sources range from sutras, discourses and commentaries in esoteric as well as exoteric traditions. What appeals to general readers is the detailed description of the sufferings of samsaric existence, especially those of the eight hells (chap. 1), and the pleasures of the Pure Land (chap. 2). Many editions of this work have been published with realistic illustrations of hell and the Pure Land, designed to awaken a strong aversion to Samsara and a longing for the Pure Land. According to Genshin, there are the following ten pleasures attending birth in the Pure Land (SSZ, I, 757-774):

(1) At the time of death, one meets Amida coming to welcome him to the Pure Land;
(2) The lotus-flower into which one has been born opens;
(3) One is endowed with the 32 physical characteristics of a Great Man and also possesses the five supernatural powers;
(4) One enjoys exquisite sensations with the five sense-organs;
(5) The pleasures enjoyed never diminish;
(6) One can enable those closely related to oneself to be born in the Pure Land;
(7) One can meet with holy sages;
(8) One can see Amida and hear the Dharma from him;
(9) One can visit other Buddhas to make offerings to them as one wishes;
(10) One advances on the Buddhist Path.

These are, however, not all the pleasures one can enjoy. They are like a drop of water on the tip of a hair; what remains unsaid is like the rest of the ocean.
The central theme treated in this work (chap. 4-8) is the practical method of salvation, which comprises the Nembutsu and other practices. The following three kinds of contemplation are recommended for those of superior capacities:

(1) Contemplation of Amida's physical characteristics and his lotus-throne;
(2) Contemplation of his figure as a whole;
(3) Contemplation of the white twist of hair between his eye- brows.

Genshin next recommends an extremely simplified practice for those incapable of any of the above. This is to repeat the Name single-heartedly while envisioning the Buddha's welcome, the aspirant's birth in the Pure Land, and so forth (chap. 4)
In order to make the practice of Nembutsu effective, Genshin recommends the 'Nembutsu-assisting actions,' which are sevenfold: (chap. 5):

1) Bodhi-Mind
2) controlling one's mind and body
3) deep faith
4) sincere devotion
5) constant (recitation of the Nembutsu)
6) (mindfulness of) the Buddha
7) aspiration for birth.

Near the end of this work, Genshin presents scriptural evidence to prove that there are practices other than the Nembutsu which lead to birth in the Pure Land (chap. 9). He lists thirteen such practices, including chanting Mahayana sutras and dharanis, observing the precepts and the Six Paramitas.
Genshin's work being an encyclopedic source of information on Pure Land practices and faiths, it is not easy to know what kind of practice he recommended to us. The guideline for reading this text widely used in Jodo and Shin schools is found in Honen's commentary. He devised a threefold contextual division of the text:

(1) presentation in full - the whole text
(2) abridged explanation - the 7 Nembutsu-assisting actions
(3) the essential point - single practice of the Nembutsu.

From the viewpoint of the Nembutsu, other meditative practices are difficult and less effective. Being a Tendai monk and an adept of sophisticated meditation, Genshin appears to rank meditative practices higher than the Nembutsu, but from what he says in the preface he was deeply aware of his poor spiritual capacity and considered the Nembutsu as the sole means of salvation.

As we have seen above, although Genshin widely expounded meditative and non-meditative practices leading to birth in the Pure Land, his original intention was to recommend the Nembutsu. The steadfast practice of the Nembutsu with singleness of mind yields the result of birth in the Land of Recompense, but miscellaneous practices, whether meditative or non-meditative, performed with undetermined minds are, at best, causes of birth in the Land of Indolence and Pride, which is metaphorically described as the Border Region of the Pure Land and also as the Transformed Land. Genshin explains in chapter 10 the nature of such a land by quoting from the Sutra on Bodhisattvas' Dwelling in the Embryonic State and a discourse by Huai-kan (7th to 8th centuries). Shinran in his hymn repeats Genshin's warning against miscellaneous practices, as follows:

Genshin, the master of our school,
Based on the discourse by the Master Huai-kan,
Disclosed the Land of Indolence and Pride
Through the Sutra on Dwelling in the Embryonic State."

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 91)

In praising those of the exclusive practice of the Nembutsu,
Genshin taught that even one out of a thousand would not fail
to reach the Pure Land;
In admonishing those of miscellaneous practices,
He said that even one out of a thousand would not attain birth.

(Ibid. 92)

Indeed many aspirants to the Pure Land are attracted not so much to the supreme spiritual state, which they can attain upon birth in the Pure Land, as to the pleasures which they hope to enjoy there. Very few actually understand Amida's Mind and attain Pure Faith, and so many are led to the temporary abode in the Pure Land, as Shinran notes in the following hymn:

Genshin taught that those who are born
In the Pure Land of Recompense are not many
And that those who are born
In the Transformed Land are not few.

(Ibid. 93)

The 105th line of the Shoshinge, "Those with extremely heavy evil karma should solely repeat Amida's Name," originally comes from Genshin's Collection of Important Passages on Birth, chapter 8, where he states the following based on the Contemplation Sutra (SSZ. I, 882):

Those with extremely heavy evil karma have no other means (of salvation); by solely repeating the Buddha's Name, they can attain birth in the Land of Utmost Bliss.

When he said 'those with extremely heavy evil karma,' he referred to nobody but himself. He was fully aware of his evil karma, too heavy and boundless to dislodge by his own power. The moment he recited the Nembutsu with complete trust in Amida, he found that the mountain of his evil karma dissolved in Amida's Light of Wisdom and Compassion.
The next three lines are also based on the Contemplation Sutra, chap. 17, where it says: "...each light shines universally upon the lands of the ten quarters, embracing, and not forsaking, those who are mindful of the Buddha." Genshin's comment on this passage is exactly the same as these three lines. Shinran and millions of his followers through all the generations have cherished this verse and derived from it inexhaustible inspiration, and many more will follow their examples throughout the infinite future ages - in different countries and in many other languages.

Although my eyes are blinded by evil passions
And so are unable to see the Light of Embrace,
The Great Compassion continually
Shines on me tirelessly.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 95)

Those who aspire to the Land of Recompense,
Though different in outward appearances,
Should receive in faith the Primal Vow and the Name
And keep them in mind, whether awake or asleep."

(Ibid. 96)

Sentient beings with extremely evil karma
Have no other means of salvation;
By solely reciting Amida's Name
They shall be born in the Pure Land, so Genshin says.

(Ibid. 97)

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(18) Honen (lines 109-116)

Genku, the master of our school, was well-versed in Buddhism;
He was compassionately mindful of both good and wicked ordinary people.
Disseminating the teaching of the True Way throughout Japan,
He spread the selected Original Vow in this evil world.
Transmigration in the house of Samsara
Is definitely due to doubt;
Quick attainment of the bliss of Nirvana
Is necessarily realized by Faith.

The last of the Seven Masters and Shinran's teacher was Honen (1133-1212). He was born in the present Okayama Prefecture, and his family name was Uruma. His boy's name was Seishimaru. When Honen was 9, his father, who was a provincial official, was attacked by an opposing faction. Before he died, he said to Seishimaru, "Don't seek to take revenge for me. This incident is entirely due to my past karma. If you bear ill will to my enemies, such hostility begets further hatred, and thus will multiply endlessly. Leave the secular world quickly and seek the Buddhist Way to emancipation for me and for yourself."
Honen left home and became a novice at a local temple, and four years later he was sent to Mt. Hiei, where he studied and practiced under Genko and then under Koen. After studying mainly the Tendai teaching, he left Koen and moved to the Kurodani precinct, where he joined the Nembutsu group headed by Eiku and was given the name Honenbo Genku. He also received the Mahayana precepts from Eiku.
After practicing on Mt. Hiei for twelve years, Honen left the mountain and visited various masters in Kyoto and Nara. But, without finding the solution to his spiritual problem, he returned to Mt. Hiei and began to read the complete collection of Buddhist scriptures over and over in the library at the Kurodani precinct. In the third month of 1175, at the age of forty-three, his spiritual horizon finally dawned when he happened on the following passage in Shan-tao's commentary on the Contemplation Sutra (SSZ, I, 538):

To recite Amida's Name with singleness of mind continually and without interruption, whether walking, standing, sitting or lying, irrespective of the length of practice -- this is called the Act of Right Assurance, because it accords with Amida's Vow.

This passage awakened Honen to the power of Amida's Vow working through the Name. Thus he gave up all the other practices and took the single-hearted recitation of the Nembutsu as the sole practice for salvation. He then left the mountain and went to live in Kyoto. His time coincided with the mounting social unrest caused by armed conflicts between the Taira and the Minamoto clans. Those who despaired of a peaceful life in this world and were convinced of the advent of the last Dharma-age came to Honen to hear his Nembutsu teaching. He compassionately received people of all walks of life, both monks and laymen, warriors and peasants, and taught them only the exclusive recitation of the Nembutsu. Soon his name resounded throughout the country.
In 1198, at the request of the Lord Chancellor Fujiwara Kanezane, Honen wrote A Collection of Passages Concerning the Nembutsu of the Best-selected Primal Vow, in which he presented the essentials of the Nembutsu teaching and declared the independence of the Nembutsu school. It may be remembered that the Nembutsu had been part of the practice of major Mahayana schools in Japan but an independent Pure Land school had not yet been formed. Honen emphasized that the Nembutsu of the best-selected Primal Vow, that is, the 18th Vow is not only the easiest practice that anyone can follow, but also is superior to other sophisticated practices.
The growing popularity of Honen's teaching aroused jealousy in monks of other sects. In 1204, the monks of Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei urged their abbot to stop the Nembutsu teaching. In 1206, when Honen's two disciples were accused of ordaining two court-ladies without permission, the persecution of the Nembutsu began. The two disciples were executed and Honen was exiled to Shikoku. In 1211 he was pardoned but soon after he returned to Kyoto, he became ill and died in the following year. According to his biography composed by Shinran, Honen often had visions of the Pure Land in his Nembutsu Samadhi, and his death was accompanied by miraculous signs.

Honen's contribution to the spread of the Nembutsu teaching in Japan is inestimable, as Shinran aptly eulogizes in a hymn:

As Honen, the master of our school, appeared in the world
And spread the One-Vehicle teaching of the Original Vow,
Everywhere in the Island of Japan have become manifest
The favorable conditions for the Pure Land Path.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 98)

It was believed that Honen was an incarnation of Mahasthamaprapta and also had appeared in China as Tao-ch'o and Shan-tao:

By the power of the one embodying the Light of Wisdom
Appeared Honen, the master of our school;
He revealed the true Pure Land teaching
And expounded the Best-selected Original Vow.

(Ibid. 99)

The original state of Honen, the master of our school,
According to popular beliefs in the world,
Was Master Tao-ch'o;
Others believed that he was Shan-tao.

(Ibid. 105)

In his writings, Shinran took every opportunity to express his gratitude to Honen, as in the following hymns:

For the past countless kalpas over innumerable lives
I did not know the powerful working for our emancipation;
If it were not for Honen, the master of our school,
I would have passed in vain this time, too.

(Ibid. 101)

To encounter a true teacher
Is the difficulty of all difficulties;
The endless transmigration in Samsara
Is solely caused by doubt on our side.

(Ibid. 109)

Honen's Pure Land teaching is characterized by exclusive recitation of the Nembutsu, which he inherited directly from Shan-tao. He discarded all other methods of salvation, such as meditation and even the Bodhi-mind, which is regarded as the prerequisite for attaining Enlightenment in all the Mahayana schools. Since the Name contains all the merits of Amida and the Nembutsu is supported by his Vow, recitation of it quickly brings salvation even to the most wicked person. Salvation in the Pure Land teaching means attainment of birth in the Pure Land, where the ultimate Enlightenment is spontaneously achieved.
In selecting the Nembutsu out of many Buddhist practices, Honen presents threefold elimination: (1) out of the choice between the Path of Sages and the Pure Land Path, he eliminates the Path of Sages and takes the Pure Land Path; (2) out of the choice between miscellaneous acts and the right act, he discards miscellaneous acts and follows the right acts; (3) out of the Five Right Acts established by Shan-tao as the essential practices leading to birth in the Pure Land, Honen casts aside the Auxiliary Acts (i.e., chanting sutras, contemplation, worshiping, and praising and making offerings) and takes the fourth act, recitation of the Nembutsu, which is called 'the Act of Right Assurance' because it enables the practicer to attain birth in the Pure Land.
Honen's Nembutsu practice did not end in mere vocal exercises. He deeply believed in the transcendent state of concentration and absorption which the Nembutsu leads up to. This spiritual experience, called 'the Nembutsu Samadhi,' was shared by Shan-tao, too. According to the Record of Attainment of Samadhi, in the first month of 1199, when Honen was sixty-five, he began his regular seven-day intensive practice of the Nembutsu. On the first day a dim light appeared; on the second day he visualized the water in the Pure Land. Within the seven days he partly visualized the beryl ground. Later in the second month, he visualized various objects of the Pure Land. During the period of this practice he daily recited the Nembutsu seventy thousand times.
That Honen attached great importance to the Samadhi experience is also shown by the selection of his teacher in the lineage of Dharma-transmission. He chose Shan-tao in particular because Shan-tao attained the Nembutsu Samadhi.

Honen claimed the supremacy of the Nembutsu over all the other Buddhist practices, clarifying that it is the easiest and yet the most effective act, capable of emancipating anyone who recites it from the painful cycle of birth-and-death. In his Collection of Passages Concerning the Nembutsu of the Best-selected Primal Vow, Honen quotes a passage from the Larger Sutra, "If there are people who hear the Name of that Buddha, rejoice so greatly as to dance, and calls his Name even once, then you should know that they have gained great benefit by receiving the supreme merits," and then explains as follows: "One Nembutsu, one supreme merit; ten Nembutsu, ten supreme merits; a hundred Nembutsu, a hundred supreme merits; a thousand Nembutsu, a thousand supreme merits. In this way, the number of the Nembutsu increases, until one reaches the Nembutsu recitations as countless as the sands of the River Ganges, which yield the same number of supreme merits."

The merits of the Nembutsu spontaneously accrue to one who recites it with sincere and joyful faith. As is clear from Honen's explanation above, one Nembutsu recitation is itself the absolute practice of the supreme merit, but it does not end there; it multiplies endlessly. One absolute Nembutsu contains the infinite number of Nembutsu, which become manifest as continuous recitation of it all through one's life. In Shinran's interpretation, this is wholly due to the fact that Amida's Name "contains various goodness and virtue, all-complete and perfect in its efficacy, and is indeed the treasure-ocean of the merits of True Suchness."(Kyogyoshinsho, Chapter on True Practice)
While recommending the exclusive recitation of the Nembutsu, Honen cautions us against entertaining doubt and urges us to have sincere and deep faith. Based on Shan-tao's exposition of the 'three minds' mentioned in the Contemplation Sutra (i.e., sincere mind, deep mind and aspiration for birth in the Pure Land by transferring the merits of practice towards it), Honen concludes, "Confinement in the house of Samsara is due to doubt; entrance into the castle of Nirvana is realized by faith." According to Shinran, the 'three minds' in the Contemplation Sutra have dual aspects: (1) explicitly, they are to be established by one's effort and (2) implicitly, faith which is truly sincere and deep comes from Amida; such faith is Amida's Wisdom and Compassion transferred to us. This interpretation agrees with the real intent of Honen. What he recommended to us is the Nembutsu of the Other-Power Faith. Recitation of the Nembutsu with self-power is dismissed as a practice with insincere and shallow faith, which is no better than repeating the Nembutsu while entertaining doubt.
In the eyes of Shinran, Honen was no ordinary person. He was an incarnation of a Buddha, as he says in a hymn:

As the time came for the Buddhas to exercise expedient means
of salvation,
They manifested themselves in the person of Honen;
He taught us the supreme Faith,
And thus opened the gate leading to Nirvana.

(Hymns on the Patriarchs 108)

Shinran even believed that Honen was an incarnation of Amida:

Born in Japan, the land of many islands off the coast of the
Continent,
Honen spread the Nembutsu teaching;
In order to save sentient beings,
He had come to visit here many times.

(Ibid. 113)

Amida Tathagata manifested himself
As Honen, the master of this school;
When the term of his mission ended
He returned to the Pure Land.

(Ibid., 114)

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(19) Concluding remarks (lines 117-120)

The bodhisattvas and masters of this school who spread the teaching of the Pure Land sutras
Have saved innumerable beings, totally defiled and evil.
People of the present age, both priests and laymen, should with one mind
Accept in faith the teachings of those virtuous masters.

Shinran is often described as a religious genius or a reformer like Martin Luther (1483-1546). It is easy to observe a person from outside and compare him with some other person, but extremely difficult to enter into his mind and think and feel the same way as he does. For the follower of Shin Buddhism, just to praise Shinran and eulogize his virtue is not enough. To understand his teaching and be grateful for his kind guidance is still not true appreciation of Shinran. We must straightforwardly enter his mind and heart and, through him, reach Amida's Mind in order to understand him from within and see him in the light of truth.
Shinran was indeed a great religious personage, but his greatness did not come from his high intelligence or his extraordinary spiritual power. He made great efforts from early days to attain salvation, only to find that mere human efforts did not bring him nearer to it. After twenty years' practice on Mt. Hiei he came down to the city of Kyoto and encountered through Honen the transcendent and universal Power of Amida Buddha, which made him great. We can say that Shinran entered into Honen's mind and reached Amida's saving power, but what actually took place was Amida's Mind entering Shinran's mind through Honen. Upon encountering Amida, Shinran ceased to be Shinran. He lost his identity and personality as a man, along with all his evil karma, and was absorbed into Amida's Personality, the Buddhahood. In the same way, the deeper we enter into Shinran's mind, the deeper we find ourselves in Amida's all-embracing Mind.
In the endless transmission of the Shin teaching, Amida's Mind plays the central role. Amida as a Person is manifested in a conceivable and perceivable form, and we can comprehend and appreciate his Mind through his Vows. The Three Sutras explain how the Vows were made and fulfilled and how they are performing the salvific activities in the samsaric world. We learn about the Vows in the Three Sutras, and through the Vows we encounter Amida and enter into his Mind.
In the Shoshinge, and also in other works by Shinran, we note that he had no intention of starting a new school but professed himself to be a follower of the tradition of the Shin teaching developed by the Seven Masters. We can compare this Shin tradition to a great river. The rain-drops from the sky of Amida's Mind formed a river of Shin Buddhism. For the first few centuries after Shakyamuni's Parinirvana it remained an undercurrent but gradually gained power, until it rose to the surface of the history of Buddhism about the beginning of our common era together with other Mahayana schools. Many masters in India, such as Ashvaghosa, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, promulgated the Shin teaching while advancing their respective metaphysical thought. In China the river grew bigger with many tributaries flowing into it. While T'an-luan, Tao-ch'o and Shan-tao maintained its main stream, the river washed a wide area of the Chinese mainland and its surrounding countries like Korea and Vietnam. From early days Japan was benefited by the water of this river, and before long Shin became the central current through the contributions of many masters, especially Genshin, Honen and Shinran.
The river of Amida's Dharma flows on and on to the unknown future. We are fortunate enough to encounter this river and become part of it by drinking its water and quenching our spiritual thirst. This river will run the whole course of human history and benefit boundlessly men and women of all walks of life. The sound of the river will echo throughout the world with the chant of the Shoshinge joined by Shin Buddhists of different races and nationalities.

[END]

Go to Part 1; return to Top; Nembutsu-Index; Index.