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Before diving in — Vol. 2 sets out the author’s framing and caveats.
After receiving a revelation from the Bodhisattva Guze Kannon at Rokkakudo, Shinran set out for Yoshimizu in Higashiyama, where Honen was based. Yoshimizu lies in what is now Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto, and it was here that Honen kept a hermitage known as the Yoshimizu Soan. The site is now occupied by Anyoji, a temple of the Ji Shu school.*¹ Nearby stand Chion-in, the head temple of Jodo Shu, and the Otani Sobyo, which Shinshu Otani-ha regards as Shinran’s grave.
When Shinran came to see him, Honen asked him to set out his own understanding of Buddhism.
Honen and Shinran: A Relationship Shrouded in Mystery
Shinran described the path he had followed so far and the teachings he had received.*² Having heard him out, Honen pronounced that the Buddhist path as Shinran understood it was ‘the teaching of the Gate of the Holy Path through self-power’ (jiriki shodomon), and urged that there was no way to salvation other than the Pure Land Gate through other-power (tariki jodomon). Self-power, in the sense of jiriki shodomon, means quite literally attaining enlightenment through one’s own efforts — or, more precisely, being saved through one’s own religious practice. Tariki jodomon, by contrast, refers, in Honen’s thinking, to praying to Amida Buddha and being saved by Amida’s power.
Honen is also said to have told Shinran that the practice of the Pure Land Gate had been brought to perfect completion by Amida Buddha long, long ago — so why would anyone need to choose the Gate of the Holy Path through self-power? Deeply moved by Honen’s teaching, Shinran became his disciple and received from him the Buddhist name Shakku.
This is how Shinran and Honen met.
Here, however, a question arises in the author’s mind. In writing about Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu for this series, the author has relied above all on three books: What Is Jodo Shinshu? Shinran’s Teaching and Its Lineage by the religious historian Satoko Koyama; Why Is Jodo Shinshu the Largest School in Japan? The Riddle of Buddhist Schools by the religious studies scholar Hiromi Shimada; and Jodo Shinshu Made Clear by Naka Uryu, a researcher of Buddhism and Eastern thought. All three make clear that Shinran became Honen’s disciple, yet none of them describes what he was actually taught thereafter or what passed between the two men. As noted earlier, this is likely due in part to the fact that Shinran left few writings looking back on the first half of his life.
Indeed, Shimada goes so far as to ask, ‘Can Shinran really be said to have been one of Honen’s leading disciples?’*³ His reasoning rests on a document known as the Shichikajo Seikai (the Seven-Article Pledge). From 1204, Mount Hiei (Tendai Shu) began putting pressure on Honen, enlisting the support of the Imperial Court, and in response Honen issued the Shichikajo Seikai, admonishing his disciples not to resort to provocative conduct. The disciples signed it to show that they would abide by it, and the name Shakku — that is, Shinran — is among the signatures. Yet Shakku’s name appears not among those who signed on the first day, but among those who signed on the second.
Of course, this alone is no proof that Shinran was not one of Honen’s leading disciples. Shimada himself points to a passage at the end of the Kyogyoshinsho recording that Shinran ‘was permitted to copy the Senchaku Hongan Nembutsu Shu, a portrait of Honen and other items’, and suggests that Honen placed considerable trust in him.
Even so, it is striking how often books on Shinran and Jodo Shinshu, once they have recounted his meeting with Honen, skip straight ahead to the Ken’ei and Jogen Persecutions, discussed below.
This series, however, will go no further into the question. That is not out of deference to Jodo Shinshu; it is simply that the theme of this series is the relationship between the teachings of Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu and the business of the Ohmi Shonin. This series is not a work of historical non-fiction. Its aim is for readers to draw something of value from the thinking of the Ohmi Shonin.
Moreover, the Documents of Eshin-ni, discussed in Vol. 26, record that Shinran told Eshin-ni how he had felt on becoming Honen’s disciple: ‘Even if those around me were to say, “Follow Master Honen and you will surely fall into the evil realms”, I would still follow Master Honen.’*⁴ Even if Shinran’s standing among Honen’s followers really was low, the sources make it clear that he was sincerely devoted to him. Nor, of course, does any of this shake the historical fact that Shinran went on to walk his own Buddhist path in this way, and that Jodo Shinshu later took shape.
Honen and Shinran’s Final Parting
As also noted in Vol. 26, by the time he met Shinran, Honen was already widely known. That instalment mentioned that he had been asked to perform prayers by Kanezane Kujo, a powerful aristocrat. Another thing that made his name was a debate of sorts among monks, known as the Ohara Mondo or Ohara Dangi. It was here that Honen expounded tariki jodomon — the teaching that one can be reborn in the Pure Land of Utmost Bliss simply by reciting Namu Amida Butsu — and this brought him to wide public attention.
Novel as the teaching of tariki jodomon was, it aroused the wariness of the established Buddhist powers. First, Mount Hiei petitioned the Imperial Court to ban Honen’s teaching, which led, as described above, to Honen’s issuing of the Shichikajo Seikai. The following year, 1205, Kofukuji — the head temple of the Hosso Shu school — submitted a similar appeal to the Court.
Then, in 1206, came the event that would part Honen and Shinran for the rest of their lives. At a nembutsu service, Honen’s disciples Anrakubo, Jurenbo and others chanted Namu Amida Butsu to melody and rhythm. Captivated, women in attendance stayed overnight with Anrakubo and his companions and took the tonsure. These women, however, turned out to be ladies-in-waiting favoured by the ex-Emperor Go-Toba.
Enraged, the ex-Emperor Go-Toba sentenced Anrakubo and three others to death, while Honen and Shinran were subjected to genzoku. Genzoku means leaving the priesthood (in this case, being made to leave it); it was imposed because the laws of the day did not allow monks to be punished as monks. The word is still used today when a monk chooses to give up the priesthood and live in the secular world.
Returned to lay status, Honen was given the secular name Motohiko Fujii and sentenced to exile in Tosa (present-day Kochi Prefecture), though in the event he was sent not to Tosa but to Sanuki (present-day Kagawa Prefecture). Shinran, under the secular name Yoshizane Fujii, was exiled to Echigo (present-day Niigata Prefecture). The exiles took place in 1207. After the era names of the time, the incident is known as the Ken’ei Persecution or the Jogen Persecution.
Honen was pardoned in 1207, and in 1211 he returned to Kyoto. The following year, 1212, however, he died.
On his deathbed, Honen is said to have worn a kesa (monastic robe) that had once been worn by Ennin (see Vol. 24). Satoko Koyama, mentioned earlier, states flatly that this was ‘for no other reason than that he regarded himself as a Tendai monk’.
As later instalments will show, Shinran died without regarding himself as the founder of Jodo Shinshu; it was people of later generations who cast him in that role. Much the same is true of Honen: to the end of his life he thought of himself as a monk of Tendai Shu, and it was only later that he came to be regarded as the founder of Jodo Shu.
OHYASHIMA is seeking information about the Ohmi Shonin
In connection with this series, OHYASHIMA welcomes information about the Ohmi Shonin. The author would be particularly grateful to hear from:
- Museum curators and archivists — in Japan or elsewhere — who hold collections related to the Ohmi Shonin
- Those who work for companies with ties to the Ohmi Shonin, or whose own ancestors were Ohmi Shonin
- Those who know of Ohmi Shonin merchants who conducted business outside Japan
OHYASHIMAは近江商人に関する情報を求めています
本連載にあたり、近江商人に関する情報を募集しています。たとえば、下記に該当する方はぜひご存じの情報をお寄せください。
- 日本国内外を問わず、近江商人に関する所蔵品がある博物館などの学芸員の方
- 近江商人と関連のある企業にお勤めの方、先祖などに近江商人がいらっしゃる方
- 日本国外でビジネスをした近江商人についてご存じの方
*¹ Anyoji (Site of the Yoshimizu Soan), In the Footsteps of Shinran Shonin, Shinshu Kyodan Rengo (Federation of Shin Buddhist Denominations)
*² Jodo Shinshu Made Clear, Naka Uryu, Kadokawa Sophia Bunko
*³ Why Is Jodo Shinshu the Largest School in Japan? The Riddle of Buddhist Schools, Hiromi Shimada, Gentosha Shinsho
*⁴What Is Jodo Shinshu? Shinran’s Teaching and Its Lineage, Satoko Koyama, Chuko Shinsho
