Echoes of the Name

(Part only)

The following is kindly provided by Jeff Wilson who writes: “This was an early Mahayana scripture that was influential in the development of the Pure Land stream. Shinran didn’t spend much time on it, but Honen extolled its merits and it is commonly studied in Jodo Shu. Pratyutpanna Samadhi means something like “the Samadhi of being in the presence of all the Buddhas.”

“Bodhisattvas hear about the Buddha Amitabha and call him to mind again and again in this land. Because of this calling to mind, they see the Buddha Amitabha. Having seen him they ask him what dharmas it takes to be born in the realm of the Buddha Amitabha. Then the Buddha Amitabha says to these bodhisattvas: ‘If you wish to come and be born in my realm, you must always call me to mind again and again, you must always keep this thought in mind without letting up, and thus you will succeed in coming to be born in my realm.’” The Buddha said: “Because of this calling to mind of the Buddha, these bodhisattvas will succeed in being born in the realm of the Buddha Amitabha. They should always call him to mind in this way: ‘The Buddha’s body is endowed with the thirty-two marks, he radiates light, he is fine and upstanding beyond compare, in the midst of the assembly of monks he preaches the sutras, and the sutras he preaches are of indestructible form. What is of indestructible form? Feelings, thoughts, birth-and-death, consciousness, spirits, earth, water, fire and wind, the world and the heavens above, up as far as Brahma and Mahabrahma, are of indestructible form.’ Because of calling the Buddha to mind, one obtains the meditation of emptiness. Such is the calling to mind of the Buddha.”

The Buddha said to the bodhisattva Bhadrapala: “Who is to bear witness to the meditation? My disciple Mahakasyapa, the bodhisattva Indradatta, the devaputra Susima, together with those who at this time know this meditation-any who have practiced and mastered this meditation bear witness to it. What is it to which they bear witness? They bear witness to this meditation knowing it to be the concentration of emptiness.”

The Buddha said to Bhadrapala: “Once in the time past there was a Buddha by the name of Xubori. At that time a certain man went on a journey, which took him into a vast marshy wilderness where he was unable to get anything to eat or drink. Hungry and thirsty, he fell asleep, and then in a dream he obtained luscious delicacies. After eating and drinking he awoke, and his belly was empty. ‘Is not everything that exists like a dream?’ he reflected to himself.” The Buddha said: “Through reflecting on emptiness, that man then and there attained happiness is dharmas which do not come into existence from anywhere, and straightaway attained non-regression. In the same way, Bhadrapala, bodhisattvas hear of the Buddha of the present in whatever quarter they are facing, and constantly reflect on that quarter, wishing to see the Buddha. When they reflect on the Buddha they ought not to reflect on him as an existing thing, nor should they have the notion: ‘It is something set up by me.’ As they would conceive of emptiness so should they reflect on the Buddha standing there, like a precious gem set on beryl. In this way bodhisattvas will have a clear vision of the innumerable Buddhas of the ten quarters.

“It is like a man who travels afar to another land, and thinks about his native place, his family, his relatives, and his property. In a dream that man returns to his native place, sees his family and relatives, and enjoys talking with them. After seeing them in the dream he wakes up and tells his friends about it: ‘I went back to my native place and saw my family and relatives.’” The Buddha said: “So it is with the bodhisattvas. If they hear the name of the Buddha in whatever quarter they are facing, and constantly reflect on that quarter, wishing to see the Buddha, then the bodhisattvas see all the Buddhas, like a precious gem placed on beryl.

“It is like a monk contemplating the bones of the dead laid out before him. At times he contemplates them when they are green. At times he contemplates them when they are white. At times he contemplates them when they are red. At times he contemplates them when they are black. Nobody brings these bones to him, not do these bones exist, nor do they come from anywhere. They exist only as thoughts produced by the mind. So it is with the bodhisattvas who possess the numinous power of the Buddha and are established in the meditation: whatever the quarter in which they wish to see a Buddha, if they wish to see him they do so. Why? It is thus, Bhadrapala: this meditation has been perfected by the Buddha’s power. Those who posses the numinous power of the Buddha and who are established in the meditation have three things: they possess the numinous power of the Buddha, they possess the power of the Buddha’s meditation, and they possess the power of their former merit. Because of these things they succeed in seeing the Buddha.

“Bhadrapala, it is like a young man, upright and handsome, who adorns himself. Wishing to see his own reflection, he either takes a clean vessel and fills it with fine hempseed oil, or takes a fine vessel and fills it with clear water, or a newly polished mirror, or a flawless crystal. Thereupon he reflects himself and sees his own reflection. What would you say, Bhadrapala? When the man is reflected in the hempseed oil, the water, the mirror or the crystal, could it possibly be that the reflection enters them from the outside?”

Bhadrapala said: “No, God among Gods. It is simply because the hempseed oil, the crystal, the water, or the mirror are clean and pure that he sees his own reflection. His reflection neither emerges from within nor enters from outside.”

The Buddha said: “Well done! Well done, Bhadrapala! So it is, Bhadrapala. When the forms are clear, everything is clear. If one wishes to see the Buddha then one sees him. If one sees him then one asks questions. If one asks then one is answered, one hears the sutras and rejoices greatly. One reflects thus: ‘Where did the Buddha come from? Where did I go to?’ and one thinks to oneself: ‘The Buddha came from nowhere, and I also went nowhere.’ One thinks to oneself: ‘The Three Realms-the Realm of Desire, the Realm of Form, and the Realm of the Formless-these Three Realms are simply made by thought. Whatever I think, that I see. The mind creates the Buddha. The mind itself sees him. The mind is the Buddha. The mind is the Tathagata.

The mind is my body, the mind sees the Buddha. The mind does not itself know the mind, the mind does not itself see mind. A mind with conceptions
is stupidity, a mind without conceptions is nirvana. There is nothing in hese dharmas which can be enjoyed; they are all made by thinking. If thinking is nothing by empty, then anything which is thought is also utterly nonexistent.’ So it is, Bhadrapala, such is the vision of the bodhisattvas who are established in this meditation.”

Today is the memorial of Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi) who was a very important figure for Master Shinran. This was primarily for two reasons: namely the fact that Shotoku was regarded as a pivotal figure in the spread of Buddhism in Japan, and secondly because Shotoku was associated with the cult of Kannon Bosatsu located at the Rokkakudo shrine where Shinran received an important vision that shaped his whole life and teaching.

“Shotoku (574-622) was a regent and a politician of the Imperial Court in Japan; born as the son of Emperor Yōmei and Empress Hashihito no Himemiko and nephew of Emperor Shushull. His parents were children of Emperor Kimmei by different mothers. When the first reigning empress, Empress Suiko, took the throne, he was named as her servant and assisted the empress … According to the Nihon Shoki, Shotoku succeeded in establishing a centralized government during his reign. In 603, he established the twelve official ranks at court. The Seventeen-article constitution was promulgated, and is often attributed to Prince Shōtoku, though some scholars today doubt if he wrote this constitution, because of style. In 607, he sent a mission led by Ono no Imoko to the Sui Dynasty. He was a proponent of Buddhism, and commissioned the Shitennoji Temple in Naniwa province (present day Osaka). He was interested in mainland Asian cultures, particularly the Chinese culture.” (Source)

To commemorate Prince Shotoku’s great work in promoting Buddhism in Japan, Shogyoji - the parent temple of Three Wheels - holds a special meeting in his honour at one of its branches in Japan; Hinosato-dojo. A guest speaker is invited every year to speak on the subject of social welfare.

(Important note: This is a composite article formed from various other articles and secondary sources and its accuracy is therefore uncertain. Suggestions of amendments are welcome - see the ‘About’ page for contact information).

The Dobokai (”friends of the Dharma”) is an important reform movement within the Jodo Shin Buddhist tradition. It officially began on the 700th memorial of Shinran Shonin in 1962, but had its roots in an earlier movement started in 1947 by a group of practitioners calling themselves the shinjinsha, or, ‘true person community’. (Later known as the Seishin-kai.) As with other Buddhist revival movements of the period Japan’s wartime defeat and subsequent increased exposure to Western culture were a significant causal factor.

Two major figures in the movement were Akegarasu Haya (1877-1967) and Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1901), both of whom were influenced by Western Greco-Roman philosophy and democratic thought. Together they criticised the major Jodo Shinshu institutions, especially the Honganji sub-sects, for supposedly displaying feudal and authoritarian behaviour, and for their uncritical co-operation with the state. In order to reform Jodo Shinshu they therefore ‘unsealed’ the then largely forgotten text known as ‘The Tannisho’ (a collection of Shinran’s sayings written by Yuien-bo) and advocated a ‘return to Shinran’. Whereas for many Shin followers membership of the sect was mainly an issue of tradition, Haya focused attention back on the religious transformation at the heart of Shinran’s message. Thus Haya said, “First shinjin, second shinjin, third shinjin.”

Whilst the Dobokai advocated a return to Shinran, like most revival movements it was also firmly rooted in the concerns of modernity and many of its members were interested in socialism, communism and other political ideologies. This was valuable in that it helped to broaden the horizons of the tradition from a national to international perspective. On the otherhand however it alienated many temple families to whom such political ideas seemed to lack everyday practical or cultural relevance. The clash between left-wing Dobokai thinkers and more traditional elements in the Honganji also partially contributed to the fragmentation of the Otani school.

Today the Dobokai movement still exists in Japan but has been to some extent absorbed back into the sectarian institutions. As such both have changed, the former having become more progressive and the latter less radical and strident. The Dobokai publishes a Japanese language newspaper of the same name which is distributed freely among temple followers.

The spirit of the Dobokai movement was also invoked within the Buddhist Churches of America during the early 1990’s in an attempt to solve the problem of falling temple membership. On this Rev. Peter Hata (BCA) wrote: “As members of a Buddhist temple, we should become the “educating community” mentioned above. We should all be dobokai, or friends of the Dharma. It has been my experience that when people have “caught the cold of Buddhism,” that rather than complaining about this or that, people become energized and creative, and actually look for ways they can contribute. And what our temple really needs is our energy and creativity, our talents and commitment, not so much our money.”

Overall the Dobokai or Dharma-friends movement brought the Buddhism of Shinran back to the masses, and it restored the education of temple followers into the tenets of Shinshu. At the same time however it somewhat downplayed and distorted the history of the tradition subsequent to Shinran - particularly with regards to the largely sincere efforts of his successors to relate his teachings to the conditions of their own historical periods.

A Doctrinal Footnote:

Based on the Tannisho the Dobokai Movement popularised the slogan “Shinran equals the ‘Doctrine of Evil Persons as the Object of Salvation’ (’akunin-shoki-setsu’)”. There is now, though, considerable evidence that this teaching was one that Shinran received from his master Honen. Though ‘akunin-shoki-setsu’ was an important element in Shinran’s thought, the Dobokai appear to have given it disproportionate attention due to its egalitarian and universalist implications. Aside from being historically inaccurate however, the slogan “Shinran equals the ‘Doctrine of Evil Persons as the Object of Salvation’ ignores the fact that Shinran’s major contribution to Buddhism was actually his detailed clarification of the place of the Pure Land tradition in relation to the Mahayana Bodhisattva path. This problem is demonstrated by the tendency of many modern people to view Shinran purely through the Tannisho, and to neglect his own writings (such as the Kyogyoshinsho and Sanjo Wasan) in comparison. In addition in focusing so much on the ‘akunin-shoki-setsu’ teaching, Akegarasu Haya’s community of followers was apparently troubled by a number of antinomian misunderstandings.

Sources:

• Popular Buddhism In Japan: Shin Buddhist Religion & Culture by Esben
  Andreasen, pp. 26, 69-73 / University of Hawaii Press 1998
• The Future of Jodo Shinshu in America Part IV: The Mahayana Mission
• http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showtopic=35790&st=20
• http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showtopic=37590
• http://www.brightdawn.org/haya%20akegarasu.htm
• http://www.jsri.jp/English/Jodoshu/conferences/AAS/fujimoto.html
• http://www.princeton.edu/~bsgsc/Booklet-1.pdf