George Gatenby: Eiken Kobai is the Top Nishi Hongwanji Scholar
I’m grateful that I am getting to know a few true teachers of Shinran’s True Teaching over time.
- Eiken Kobai is one. His two books have been translated into English, and are available from this site
HERE. - Eiken’s translator Ken - who chooses to remain in the background - is another.
- George Gatenby, author of Notes on the Nembutsu, is a third.
George had never encountered Eiken or his work before. Karmic circumstances, including the internet, have now brought them into one another’s orbit.
George has been reading Kobai’s writings (available from the resources section of this site) - and has shared his thoughts and feelings with me: about Kobai, and about the state of the Shin sangha today. He has been kind enough to allow me to share them with others.
Here’s a part of our dialogue:
George:
I’ve read some more of Professor Eiken Kobai. I now think he is the top Nishi Hongwanji scholar, even though he may not be officially recognised as such.It is difficult to convey in words just how excellent - and I mean, ‘excellent’ - his scholarship is.
He is everything that I thought until now was lacking in Jodoshinshu scholarship.
Above all, he eats, breathes and sleeps Shinran Shonin’s writings. It is marvellous.
He does not have his own opinions. When you read him, you are hearing Shinran speak through him.
It is quite remarkable.
Paul:
It’s impossible for me to take the measure of Eiken Kobai with the depth of experience you can, since you’ve spent many years studying Shin Buddhism, and I am a beginner.
All I know is that I resonate entirely with your opinions.
I simply couldn’t find anything like this, anywhere online, until I found his unformatted text after many hours of scouring the net for Shin teaching.
In fact, if you take a look at my blog HERE, you’ll see that I used the exact same words to describe him that you yourself use: that Kobai is a scholar of unparalled depth who doesn’t inject his own opinions - and THAT is why he is a true teacher of Shiran’s dharma - just as Rennyo was.
George:
His writing puts official introductions to Jodo Shinshu in the shade for scholarship and clarity. This is why I think you seriously need to find a good publisher for his work.
This book would always be the very first book that I would give to new enquirers. This is not just because of its clarity but also its clear attention to Shinran Shonin and his written legacy, which he obviously intended for us to use as Eiken Kobai does.
Paul:
Part of what moved me so deeply is his willingness to speak just as Shinran did, to boldly and precisely proclaim both the True Teaching and to critique the false.
It is an act of personal courage on his part to declare, accurately though without personal rancor, that those who teach such divergent personal views cannot possibly be people of the same Shinjin as Shinran our True Teacher.
That’s why I contacted him, and spent many hours speaking with his translator Ken, and am doing my little bit to aid in the dissemination of his work in a medium (the net) that is free and accessible to all.