Shinran

was a key Japanese Buddhist figure of the Kamakura Period who is regarded as the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū school of Japanese Buddhism. A pupil of Hōnen, the founder of the Japanese Pure Land movement, Shinran articulated a distinctive Pure Land vision that emphasized faith and absolute reliance on Amida Buddha’s other-power.

While Shinran trained as a Tendai monk on Mount Hiei, he lived much of his life as a married Buddhist teacher unlike other Kamakura Buddhist reformers, and he described himself as "neither monk nor layman". Shinran's major work, the Kyōgyōshinshō (Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Realization), is a systematic exposition and defense of Pure Land doctrine. Shinran taught that liberation arises from the entrusting mind (shinjin) awakened through Amida's compassionate power, not from any merit or power of one's own. His interpretation profoundly reshaped the course of Japanese Buddhism and continues to influence East Asian religious thought.

Names

Shinran's birthname was Matsuwakamaro. In accordance with Japanese customs, he has also gone by other names, including Han'en, Shakkū and Zenshin, and then finally Shinran, which was derived by combining the names of Seshin (Vasubandhu in Japanese) and Donran (Tanluan's name in Japanese). His posthumous title was Kenshin Daishi.

For a while, Shinran also went by the name Fujii Yoshizane. After he was disrobed, he called himself Gutoku Shinran, in a self-deprecating manner. Gutoku means "Bald Fool", to denote his status as "neither a monk, nor a layperson".

Biography

thumb|Statue of Shinran Shonin in Kyōto

Youth and monastic life

Shinran was born in Hino (now a part of Fushimi, Kyoto) on May 21, 1173, to Lord Hino Arinori (c. 1144-1181?) and Lady Arinori. Shinran was born to the Hino family, a lesser branch of the Fujiwara clan which had lost its rank after a scandal. The family was known for its scholars and had produced many generations of civil servants.

Shinran's birth name was Matsuwakamaro. Early in Shinran's life his father died and so Shinran was educated by his uncle Hino Munenari. He was also cared for by his other uncle Hino Noritsuna. Some sources also indicate that Shinran's mother died when he was young, but these sources have not been verified. Modern historians contest the identity and date of the death of Shinran's parents, with some suggesting he ordained alongside his father due to instability from the Genpei War.

Influenced by the tumultuous events of the time such as epidemics and famines, many noble families turned to religious vocations during this era. Thus, Hino Arinori's children (Shinran's brothers) all eventually entered monasticism. Shinran himself was ordained as a monk in 1181 under the Tendai prelate Jien (1155–1225) when he was nine years old. As a monk assigned to the jōgyōdō (walking samadhi hall), Shinran would have specialized in Buddhist liturgy and plainsong centered on Amida Buddha, which included a practice then known as “uninterrupted nembutsu” (fudan-nembutsu) and daily ritual recitation of the Amitābha Sūtra. This experience likely influenced his love for Buddhist hymns. There, while engaged in intense practice, he experienced a vision of Avalokiteśvara appearing as Prince Shōtoku, directing Shinran to the Pure Land teacher Hōnen (who was now 69, and at the height of his popularity). According to Ducor, it is possible that during the half-dozen years he studied with Hōnen, Shinran lodged with some of his fellow disciples in the capital. Furthermore, though the two only knew each other for a few years, Hōnen entrusted Shinran with a copy of his Senchakushū in 1205 and allowed him to copy it, along with a portrait of Hōnen. The details of this marriage is the subject of much debate and discussion, with some scholars questioning whether the marriage occurred at this time or after Shinran's exile. Whenever the marriage occurred, it significantly changed Shinran's status to that of a shami, an ordained cleric who retained the external appearance of a monastic while not following all traditional monastic rules.

Life in the provinces

In 1207, retired emperor Go-Toba issued a ban of Hōnen's nembutsu community. This ban followed an incident where two of Hōnen's followers aided the conversion of two noble court ladies, and were then accused of instigating sexual liaisons with them. These two monks were subsequently executed. Hōnen and seven of his disciples, including Shinran, were all defrocked and exiled to different provinces. Shinran was sent to Echigo for five years. Master and disciple would never meet again. Hōnen would die later in Kyōto in 1212. While in Echigo, the couple also had at least six children, three boys and three girls. Afterwards, Shinran left for the province of Hitachi, a small area in Kantō just north of modern Tōkyō. Shinran was likely following Hōnen's wishes, who had asked his disciples not to all meet up after his death, fearing succession disputes. He also may have wished to be closer to the new booming capital at Kamakura.

During his move, Shinran began an extensive recitation of the three Pure Land sutras, seeking to recite them over a thousand times. It was also after this event that he adopted the name Shinran as well as , coming to understand himself as "neither monk nor layman", but as a figure that transcends such distinctions while maintaining elements of both (e.g. marriage and the monk's robes). Now in his sixties, Shinran considered that his preaching in Kantō had been successful, and felt he could retire to his hometown and see his other family members again.

thumb|Manuscripts of Notes on Guidance Toward Birth in the West, a compilation of Hōnen texts by Shinran.

Shinran was a prolific writer, working well into his eighties. In 1234 Shinran published his magnum opus, the Kyōgyōshinshō, which is an anthology of Buddhist texts punctuated with Shinran's own commentary explaining and defending his understanding of the Pure Land teaching. Scholars debate the exact date for the composition of the Kyōgyōshinshō, the first draft of which may have been finished as early as 1224. He further composed other short treatises in Chinese, other Japanese explanations of key passages, and numerous letters to his disciples addressing their questions, of which forty three survive.

Death and posthumous events

thumb|Illustration from the Godenshō (御伝鈔). a hagiography of Shinran by Kakunyo

thumb|Main hall of [[Bukkō-ji (Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto)]]

Shinran died in Zempōin temple on 1263 at the age of 90 surrounded by some family and followers. He died facing West, but no special preparation was taken before and during Shinran's death. This was against Japanese custom at the time, which took great care to prepare the dying person to attain birth in the Pure Land through numerous ritual means. Shinran rejected such rites as useless, believing that birth in the Pure Land was ensured by faith alone. As such, Shinran made no requests for funerary rites, and merely asked that his body be tossed into the river to feed the fish. Nevertheless, he was cremated by his followers and his ashes were placed in Ōtani, not far from Hōnen's own tomb.

Apart from recommendations to individual groups in his various letters, Shinran left no instructions on a direct successor for leadership of his community or for the founding of a new school or temple. He also made it clear that he was not establishing a new master-disciple lineage (in the style of other schools like Tendai and Shingon). Indeed, Shinran explicitly writes about this issue:<blockquote>As for me Shinran, I don't even have a single disciple. Here is why. If I made people say the nembutsu through my personal calculation, it would make them my disciples. But it would be completely foolish to call ‘my disciples’ those who say the nembutsu from Amida’s Solicitations. </blockquote>This is why Shinran's followers called themselves "followers" (monto 門徒) as well as "School of the Followers" (Montoshū 門徒宗) collectively. Thus, Shinran's status as a Buddhist master and founder was mostly ignored by other traditions for centuries after his death, even while Honganji temple was growing in power and influence. It was not until the 17th century that the sources of other traditions begin mentioning Shinran.

Timeline

1173: Shinran is born
1175: Hōnen founds the Jōdo-shū sect
1181: Shinran becomes a monk
1201: Shinran becomes a disciple of Hōnen and leaves Mt. Hiei
1207: The nembutsu ban and Shinran's exile
1211: Shinran is pardoned
1212: Hōnen passes away in Kyoto and Shinran goes to Kantō
1224(?): Shinran authors Kyogyoshinsho
1234(?): Shinran goes back to Kyoto
1256: Shinran disowns his son Zenran
1263: Shinran dies in Kyoto

Teaching

Shinran considered himself a lifelong disciple of Hōnen and a defender of his Shandao influenced Pure Land teaching. This tradition promoted the faithful recitation of the nembutsu as the main practice leading to birth in Amitābha's Pure Land, and thus Buddhahood itself. As seen in the writings of Shinran's wife Eshinni, in spite of their separation in exile, Shinran saw himself as someone who would follow Hōnen everywhere in spirit.

While Shinran's teachings and beliefs were generally consistent with those found in Hōnen's movement, he also had several unique explanations of Pure Land Buddhism which emphasized several original views. According to Ducor, Shinran's originality "lies in his own rediscovery of the teachings of Tanluan, a forerunner of Shandao, as well as his re-reading of the earlier tradition in the light of his personal experience".

Amitabha and the Pure Land

One of Shinran's original contributions is his explanation of the nature of Amida Buddha. Pure Land masters like Daochuo, Shandao and their successors had understood Amida and his pure land as a sambhoghakaya Buddha and land (also called a retribution body in East Asian Buddhism). This retribution body and land is a direct result of the Original Vow to establish a perfect buddhafield where all beings could be easily liberated made by Amida when he was bodhisattva Dharmākara eons ago.

Shinran accepts this diachronic way of seeing Amitabha as the result of a long bodhisattva career, but he also adds another way to understand the nature of Amitabha. According to Shinran, Amida is also the direct compassionate manifestation of the ultimate reality, the formless and indescribable Dharmakāya. Shinran writes that from the inconceivable Dharmakāya "a form manifested itself, which revealed itself in that noble appearance called ‘Dharmakāya in skillful means’ (Jp: hōben hosshin), took the name of ‘Bhikṣu Dharmākara’ and produced his inconceivable great Vow with its promise."

thumb|"Amida Manifesting in the Dharma-body of [[Upaya|Expedient Means", Japanese painting, at the Met.]]

He likewise explains this nature of Amida as the direct manifestation of the ultimate as follows:<blockquote>From the precious ocean of unique suchness a form manifested itself that took the name of Bodhisattva Dharmākara. With the production of his Unobstructed Vow as the seed, he became the Buddha Amida, and that is why he is named ‘Comer-from-suchness as body of retribution (hōjin nyorai)...This Comer-from-suchness [<nowiki/>Tathāgata] is also described as ‘Dharmakāya in adapted means’ (hōben hosshin). The ‘adapted means’ (upāya) consist in manifesting a form and revealing his Name in order to make himself known to beings. It is the Buddha Amida. This Comer-from-suchness is light. This light is wisdom. Wisdom is the form of light. As wisdom has no form, he is called ‘Buddha Inconceivable-Light’. On birth in the Pure Land, beings can realize the ultimate Dharmakaya once they've attained true faith.

This infinite light is truly beyond form and formlessness, existence and non-existence, and all other conceptions with which we could describe it. In a similar vein, the true nature of the Pure Land is not a place that can be described in spatial or temporal terms, rather it is "the place where one overturns the delusion of ignorance and realizes the supreme enlightenment" (Notes on 'Essentials of Faith Alone). Thus, while the provisional and conventional pure lands are described in terms of palaces, jewels, flowers and so forth, the ultimate Pure Land is inconceivable and "infinite, like space, vast and boundless" (quoting Vasubandhu). This is how Shinran's buddhology affirms classic Mahayana non-dualism at the level of ultimate truth while also promoting a path that relies on dualities at the level of relative truth (such as those between Buddha and sentient beings, and the Pure Land and this defiled world). As such, Shinran presents a path that affirms the ultimate unity of non-dualism and dualism, which is based on the inconceivable wisdom and compassion of Buddhahood itself. For Shinran, the nembutsu is inseparable from true faith (Jp: shinjin 信心), also known as the settled mind (anjin 安心). Indeed, Shinran sees the core of the "true practice" of nembutsu as none other than faith or true entrusting. As Shandao had taught, true faith is twofold: (1) a recognition of our own deep faults and afflictions as ordinary beings who cannot attain awakening by ourselves; (2) a deep trust that the other-power (tariki) of the vows of Amida can lead us to the Pure Land.

Self-power here signifies all manifestations of a person's desires and will to bring themselves to enlightenment, including practicing the nembutsu wishing to gain personal merit from it. Any meritorious deed or act of purification that relies on one's own designs and capacities is an act of self-power to be abandoned. Thus, if one feels the need to "make oneself worthy" of the Buddha's infinite compassion through ethical deeds, sincerity, acts of charity, and meditative attainment, then one is still in the hold of egoistic self-power and is not truly entrusting. True shinjin is thus the mind that absolutely entrusts itself to Amida Buddha while also being deeply aware of its own inadequate and defiled condition.

For Shinran, this true faith is the only cause for birth in the Pure Land (and thus, for Buddhahood). Shinran also writes that the true faith also corresponds to the Mahayana bodhicitta, the wish to attain awakening for the sake of all beings. Furthermore, Shinran also equates shinjin with buddha-nature, writing that "shinjin is none other than buddha-nature," since the very heart-mind that entrusts to itself to the vow of the Dharmakaya of compassionate means is pervaded by the Dharmakaya as suchness. Indeed, Shinran sees shinjin as ultimate reality itself, writing of "the ocean of entrusting that is itself suchness or true reality" which completely transcends all dualities.

Shinran sees this ultimate faith of shinjin as something that is not produced through our own efforts and deliberations. Instead of an act of will, true faith is something given to us by Amida Buddha through his vows, and ultimately, it is the very wisdom activity of Buddhahood. True faith is thus a gift of Amida's true heart, the core of his vows, the unhindered wisdom light freely granted to all beings. Those who sincerely trust in this and say Amida's name find themselves connected or matched with the Buddha's wisdom, something which Tanluan compares to how a box and its lid fit together. This "matching" or "yoking" (sōō 相應, i.e. yoga) is the Buddha's ultimate intention which is mirrored in the hearts of the practitioner, and this is true shinjin. Through this endowment by the Buddha, the true faith awakens in the “one thought-moment of shinjin” (shin no ichinen), and the recitation of the Buddha's name or nembutsu becomes an expression of gratitude for the Buddha, and an expression of the Buddha's mind itself, which has filled the devotee. Thus, shinjin is the essential element of Pure Land practice, without which one's practice is not the "true and real" nembutsu practice. If one's faith is not settled and one still has doubts, Shinran states that one should "to begin with, say the nembutsu in aspiration for birth", exhorting us to "give yourselves up to Amida's entrusting with sincere mind," and to give up all "self-power calculation".

Ducor writes that Shinran's teaching is "characterized by a complete surrender of the personal power of the practitioner to the Other Power of Buddha Amida's vows. All in all, this method results in the complete removal of the illusionary ego, which is indeed the heart of the Buddhist path." Similarly, Ueda and Hirota write that, "For Shinran, genuine utterance of the Name and shinjin are not generated out of human will, but emerge together as manifestations of the Buddha's working." This means that someone with shinjin will "hear" the nembutsu as the call of Amida. Instead of experiencing it as something they "do" or "say", someone with shinjin experiences the nembutsu as coming from Amida's active wisdom and compassion. Furthermore, since true faith is not separate from the Buddha's mind and wisdom, Shinran writes that the afflictions of those with shinjin "become one in taste with the sea of wisdom". While we still remain sentient beings with all our afflictions, these afflictions also become pervaded with the Buddha's wisdom and the working of the Original Vow, making our future Buddhahood certain. The true Pure Land practice for Shinran is this natural nembutsu that relies on other-power only. The influence of this other-power nembutsu is not affected by the number of recitations or by any other factor like depth of mindulness or meditative absorption. As long as it relies on the other-power, a single wholehearted nembutsu recitation has the same effect as reciting it thousands of times. What matters is whether the devotee has true faith in Amida's vow, not the mechanics of practice. Furthermore, this natural entrusting-nembutsu also ultimately refers to "the way things are" or "suchness" (Tathātā), a classic Buddhist term referring to the ultimate reality, the Dharmakaya which is personified in Amida Buddha. Thus, the other-power nembutsu is a natural spontaneous activity that awakens us to the inconceivable ultimate reality, a reality which is always automatically working to save all beings.

As Shinran writes:<blockquote>Unsurpassable Buddhahood does not even have any form. Since it does not even have a form, we speak of ‘naturalness’ (jinen). When it manifests itself in a form, we no longer speak of ‘unsurpassable nirvāṇa’. It is to make us aware of this mode of absence even of form that we specifically speak of the ‘Buddha Amida’. That's what I learned. The Buddha Amida is to make us know the mode of naturalness. Once you become aware of this principle, there is no longer any need to constantly discuss this naturalness.(...) All this is the inconceivability of the wisdom of the Buddha (Shinran’s letter, Mattōshō 5). While he does not reject the other Pure Land sources, he sees them as provisional and secondary to the Immeasurable Life since it contains Amida's Original Vow (listed as the 18th vow), and promises to save all beings through Amida's power.

Shinran also outlined a unique doctrinal classification system which is now called "the four kinds in two pairs" (nisō shijū): The sudden Pure Land way, the Jōdo-Shinshū, is understood by Shinran in two main ways. Firstly, it is the true teaching of the Buddhas and is the ultimate reason for the Buddha's coming into our world. Since it is the most universal and accessible method for all beings at all times and places, it is also the final intent of the One Vehicle.

The provisional path of "birth through various practices". This refers to various Pure Land methods and practices that are either part of the path of sages (but whose merit has been dedicated to birth in the Pure Land) or that rely on self-power, such as those taught in the Tendai school and in the Contemplation Sutra. Shinran associates this path with Amida's 19th vow which speaks of "performing meritorious acts." Those who practice these believe that they must cultivate merit and wisdom to achieve Buddhahood. They also still doubt that the universality of the vow embraces everyone (and so believe they must practice hard to achieve birth). These people will likely be born in the "borderland".
The provisional "true gate" practice of exclusive nembutsu which nevertheless still relies on self-power and sees the nembutsu as a way to accumulate personal merit. Shinran associates this self-power nembutsu with the 20th vow and the Amitabha Sutra, and states that those who practice like this, attempting to accumulate merit through extensive nembutsu recitation, will be born in the transformed land (nirmāṇa-kṣetra).
The ultimate path is the true path of the universal vow, the no-practice practice of the nembutsu of true faith in Amida's other-power that has completely abandoned self-power. This is an expression of the 18th vow, and is associated with the Sutra of Immeasurable Life. Those who follow it will attain birth in the supreme Pure Land, the Truly Fulfilled Land.

According to Shinran, those who follow various Pure Land paths do not attain the same exact result. To explain this, Shinran also outlines different layers of the Pure Land:

The Borderland (辺地, henji, also called the realm of sloth and pride, the castle of doubt, or the womb palace) is on the border of the Pure Land. Those born there still have doubts about Amida, and so they do not see the Buddha for some time until they are purified of this. It is still a pure land from which one will not fall back into samsara, but it is not the true Transformed Land.
The Transformed Land of Compassionate Means (方便化土, hōben kedo) are the nirmāṇakāya pure lands described in the sutras with features like the jeweled trees, ponds, etc. created by the power of Amida's vows. They are the lands which are perceivable by sentient beings and attained by the Pure Land paths that rely on self-power. Those who meditate on the Buddha Amitabha with faith, but have not fully abandoned self-power and have not attained shinjin will be born here, instantly attain the bodhisattva stage of non-retrogression, gain a divine body and other qualities.
The Truly Fulfilled Land (真実報土, shinjitsu hōdo) is the eternal and uncreated Dharmakaya, i.e. Nirvana, the ultimate reality. According to Shinran, those with shinjin attain this land, which is Buddhahood itself, instantly after death, thus bypassing all the bodhisattva stages.

While Shinran outlines these two provisional lands and paths respectively, he also writes that all of them are skillful manifestations of the Original Vow meant to lead beings to true entrusting. As such, he does not reject the efficacy and importance of these provisional means, even while exalting the path of the 18th vow and the Fulfilled land as true and superior. Shinran held that the stage of non-retrogression could be achieved in this life by any Pure Land devotee who has attained the true "revolution of the heart" (eshin, i.e. shinjin) that entrusts itself to the original vow of Amida and completely abandons self-power:<blockquote>When foolish beings possessed of the afflictions, the multitudes caught in birth-and-death and defiled by evil karma, realize the mind and practice that Amida directs to them for their going forth [i.e. shinjin and nembutsu], they immediately join the truly settled of the Mahayana (Kyōgyōshinshō, ch. 4). </blockquote>This is attained in a single moment of faith, the “one thought-moment of shinjin”, which is really the reception of Amida's vow in a timeless event that is "time at its ultimate limit" according to Shinran. In this timeless instant of shinjin, our limited and conditioned life fuses with the limitless and eternal, the ocean of the Buddha's Vow, and enters the "stage of the definitely settled" [on the path to Buddhahood]. This attainment is unchanging, and is expressed through the nembutsu. The attainment of shinjin also contains a recognition of the realm of nirvana, which "fills the hearts and minds of all beings". This nirvanic reality is "where one overturns the delusion of ignorance", and is none other than the buddha-nature which pervades samsara itself. Thus, according to Shinran, "the heart of the person of shinjin already and always resides in the Pure Land", even while still living in samsara.

Shinran also held that birth in the Pure Land leads immediately to Buddhahood for those with true faith. This is in contrast to other Pure Land views which held the Pure Land is a kind of bodhisattva training ground in which one must then practice the path for eons to attain Buddhahood. </blockquote>Apart from these major benefits of practicing the Pure Land way, Shinran also discusses the condition of the nembutsu devotee in this life. Since they have attained irreversibility, this means that they have also realized the attainment of "one more birth" (until the attainment of Buddhahood), which means they are equal in status to Maitreya and even "on an equal footing with a Tathāgata". However, Shinran does not affirm the view that it is possible to "become a Buddha in this very life" (sokushin jōbutsu), an attainment which was widely promoted and taught in other Japanese schools of Buddhism like Shingon and Tendai at the time.

one is protected by many invisible beings like devas and bodhisattvas;
one is endowed by the supreme merits of the Amida;
our evil is transformed into good;
one is protected by all the Buddhas in this life;
one is praised by all the Buddhas;
one is constantly protected by the spiritual light of Amida Buddha;
one's heart is filled with much joy
one recognizes the Buddha's benevolence and seeks to repay it
one always practices great compassion;
one enters into the group of those fixed in the true (i.e. the stage of non-retrogression from Buddhahood)

Furthermore, in some intimate letters, Shinran also discusses the heart of the nembutsu devotee as dwelling in the Pure Land:<blockquote>The venerable of Guangmingsi [Shandao] explains in his Hymns on the Pratyutpanna that for one with the heart of faith, his heart already resides constantly in the Pure Land. ‘Resides’ means that in the Pure Land, the heart of one who has the heart of faith resides constantly. This is to say that such a person is the same as Maitreya. </blockquote>This idea would be expanded upon by Shinran's successors, who called it "birth in the Pure Land without abandoning the body". Shinran held that only one's faith mattered at the time of death, not "right mindfulness" (shōnen). Neither ritual preparations and performances nor whether one died peacefully or violently affected one's birth in the Pure Land. As long as they had faith, the dying thoughts and state of mind of the dying person did not matter according to Shinran. As such, birth in the Pure Land would be achieved regardless of how a faithful person died and whether or not there were auspicious or inauspicious omens during the process. Indeed, according to Shinran, the true faith, practice and realization of the Pure Land path all derive from the Buddha's power:<blockquote>The teaching, practice, faith, and realization of the true Doctrine (Shinshū 眞宗) are the benefits transferred by the great compassion of the Tathāgata. Therefore, whether it is the cause or the fruit, there is nothing that is not the accomplishment of the transfer of the pure heart of the Vow of the Tathāgata Amida. Since the cause is pure, the fruit is pure too (Kyōgyōshinshō, ch. 4, § 13). </blockquote>Thus, all the key elements of the Pure Land path, including shinjin and the nembutsu, are ultimately all expressions of the true sincere heart-mind of the Buddha, which is replete with inconceivable, and inexpressible wisdom and power. As such, sincere faith ultimately becomes a manifestation of the power of Amida Buddha in the heart of the devotee, rather than a quality that needs to be created and cultivated. Shinran argues that the true doctrine of the workings of the Pure Land way is really the "transformation of evil into good" (temmaku jōzen 轉悪成善) which for Shinran is prefigured in the Contemplation Sutra<nowiki/>'s statement that the Buddha's unobstructed light "fully illuminates the universes of the Ten Directions and embraces the beings of nembutsu without abandoning them."

</poem>

According to Shinran, this transformation of evil into good happens naturally, "without the practitioner having calculated it in any way" and without them having asked for it. <blockquote>Know that Amida's Primal Vow does not choose between young and old, or between good and bad, and that faith alone matters! The reason for this is that it is his Vow to relieve beings overwhelmed by evil from their faults and inflamed by their passions (Tannishō, ch. 1).</blockquote>Shinran takes this teaching even further in his famous teaching of akunin shōki (惡人正機‎, lit. "evil people have the right capacity"):<blockquote>Even a good person attains rebirth in the Pure Land, how much more so the evil person? But the people of the world constantly say, even the evil person attains rebirth, how much more so the good person. Although this appears to be sound at first glance, it goes against the intention of the [Original Vow] of Other Power. The reason is that since the person of self-power, being conscious of doing good, lacks the thought of entrusting himself completely to Other Power, he is not the focus of the [Original Vow] of Amida. But when he turns over self-power and entrusts himself to Other Power, he attains birth in the land of True Fulfillment…. Since its basic intention is to effect the enlightenment of such an evil one, the evil person who entrusts himself to Other Power is truly the one who attains birth in the Pure Land. Thus, even the good person attains birth, how much more so the evil person! (Tannishō, ch. 3) .

This radical and universalist doctrine led some of Shinran's followers to promote certain heretical exceses however. One of the worst of these was the heretical view of "licensed evil" which taught that because one was definitely saved by Amida's power, one could (and even should) commit as many evil acts as one wished without concern, and that this actually aids Amida's compassionate response. Shinran explicitly rejected this, saying "just because the antidote exists does not mean you should prefer poison!". He refuted this kind of antinomianism by relying on his teaching of shinjin, for if one deliberately committed evil as a means to incite Amida's compassion, one was also relying on egoic self-power and trying to cheat the Buddha's intent which is aligned with the good. This view is merely an extension of the argument made by the Tendai founder Saichō, who had meant it only to show the obsolence of the Hinayana Vinaya precepts. Shinran however, applied this to the Mahayana bodhisattva precepts as well. Thus, Shinran directly quotes Saichō in the Kyōgyōshinshō to show that during the Age of Dharma decline "there is no longer the element of the precepts". He also cites various Mahayana sutras which indicate that during the Age of Decline, monks will marry and have children. Thus, through the power of the Buddha, evil people can come to abandon their evil thoughts. As Shinran writes in a wasan hymn:

<poem>

When the waters—the minds, good and evil, of foolish beings—

Have returned to and entered the vast ocean

Of Amida's Vow of wisdom, they are immediately

Transformed into the mind of great compassion.

</poem>

Shinran also writes that compassion and a wish to live in harmony with others can arise through faith, and thus "when we entrust ourselves to the Tathagata's Primal Vow, we, who are like bits of tile and pebbles, are turned into gold". Likewise, he writes:<blockquote>When one has boarded the ship of the Vow of great compassion and sailed out on the vast ocean of light, the winds of perfect virtue blow softly and the waves of evil are transformed.</blockquote>However, this personal transformation is not a willed act nor an instant act of ethical perfection, but a natural and spontaneous process resulting from the influence of other-power which manifests in different ways according to the spiritual dispositions of each person. There is thus no singular set of ethical rules or moral injunctions in Shinran's teaching. Indeed, the acceptance of one's own corrupt and defiled mind aids one's sense of faith in the Buddha's vow power, since this helps us realize that we can rely on no power but Amida's power. While the afflictions continue to arise until our birth in the Pure Land, they are accompanied by a deep self-reflection that knows their nature, and an all-embracing compassion.

Thus, shinjin includes a realization of the deep ethical limitations of the self, of our need to abandon self-power, accept our delusions and afflictions, and rely on the Buddha which embraces us just as we are. Furthermore, Amida's virtue "is not simple goodness as opposed to evil" but instead embraces evil as it is. As such, one's karmic afflictions do not disappear in this life but become illuminated by wisdom and compassion and are made to fulfill Amida's working.

While Shinran acknowledged the other Japanese religious practices outside the Buddhist tradition, including Shinto kami, spirits of the dead, divination, astrology, etc., he believed that they were irrelevant to Pure Land Buddhists.

His followers would later use these critiques both to enforce proper interpretations of Shinran's thought and to criticize "heretical" practices and sects such as the Tachikawa-ryū and kami worship. To this day, kami shrines, and the selling of omamori, ofuda and other charms are generally not found in Jōdo Shinshū temples, while these are common features of other Japanese Buddhist temples.

Comparisons to protestantism

Shinran's thought has often been compared to that of prostestant theologians like Martin Luther (1483–1546) and John Calvin (1509–1564), a view so widely repeated it has become a cliché. This began as early as the sixteenth century with a comparison made by the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano (1539–1606). Much later, Protestant theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968) would compare the two faiths in his Church Dogmatics (I, 2, § 17), mentioning their similarity in matters such as “grace,” “original sin, representative satisfaction, justification by faith alone, the gift of the Holy Ghost” and so on. However, according to Ducor, "this comparison only reveals superficial appearances", as was already discussed by the Jesuit Henri de Lubac in his monograph Amida.

As de Lubac wrote, Amida Buddha is "not God in any sense", since Buddhism explicitly rejects theism. Furthermore, as Ducor explains, while the term "grace" may correspond to the notion of the transfer of merit or the transformative light of Amida, none of this is the same as the Christian “redemptive grace of forgiveness” which relies on the various Christian views on sin and on theories of justification, all ideas foreign to Buddhism.

Shinran's life was the subject of the 1987 film Shinran: Path to Purity, directed by Rentarō Mikuni (in his directorial debut, based on his own novel) and starring Junkyu Moriyama as Shinran. The film won the Jury Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

On March 14, 2008, what are assumed to be some of the ash remains of Shinran were found in a small wooden statue at the Jōrakuji temple in Shimogyō-ku, Kyōto. The temple was created by Zonkaku (1290–1373), the son of Kakunyo (1270–1351), one of Shinran's great-grandchildren. Records indicate that Zonkaku inherited the remains of Shinran from Kakunyo. The 24.2 cm wooden statue is identified as being from the middle of the Edo period. The remains were wrapped in paper.

In March 2011, manga artist Takehiko Inoue created large ink paintings on twelve folding screens, displayed at the East Hongan Temple in Kyoto. The illustrations on the panels include Shinran and Hōnen leading a group of Heian era commoners on one set of screens and Shinran seated with a bird on the other set. Author Hiroyuki Itsuki wrote a novel based on Shinran's life which was serialized with illustrations by Akira Yamaguchi and won the 64th Mainichi Publishing Culture Award Special Prize in 2010.

Notes

External links

The Collected Works of Shinran
Commentary on Shinran's Wasan (Hymns) in Three Volumes
Homepage for Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha Hongwanji International Center