Hell (1)

The subject of hell and its roots in universal human experiences of suffering has long occupied a central position in Jodo Shinshu doctrine but hasn’t received too much attention in the West. I discovered an article in a back issue of the Eastern Buddhist(Vol. X No. 1 May 1977) by Iwamoto Yasunami entitled ‘The Salvation of the Unsaveable’ that looks at the subject through the words of Shinran and the sutras accounts of Devadatta and Ajarasatru. An incident from the story of Devadatta is I think worth repeating which I would like to reflect very briefly on.

Having tried to kill the Buddha through scratching the surface of his skin with poison soaked fingernails, Devadatta is engulfed with fire that is said to have issued from his own evil karma. His cousin Ananda tries to save him by urging him to take refuge in the Buddha. Devadatta tries but it is too late and he plunges into the deepest level of hell to undergo incessant suffering for an entire kalpa.

 Taking pity on Devadatta, the Buddha dispatches Maudgalyayana down to hell to bearing a message to him. Arriving there Maudgalyayana calls out ‘Come Devadatta’ Whereupon out of the extemities of the deepest, darkest hell realm, thousands of Devadattas appear to answer the summons.

Yasunami points out here that Devadatta is shown in this incident to represent ‘the ultimate image of our own evil karma’. Devadatta is no longer a person from the past who committed various evil deeds which lead to his downfall but a figure who embodies the darkest side of mankind’s collective karma. Devadatta’s descent is simultaneously our own fall  in our very lives into the darkest recesses of the state of suffering we call ‘hell’.

The message that Buddha wished to deliver to Devadatta was that after one kalpa of suffering he would attain Buddhahood.  Having heard this news Devadatta spontaneously brought forth the mind of deep joy and profound happiness. He then declared that he could easily endure the whole of his time in the hell of incessant suffering knowing that his salvation was assured.

It can be said that at this moment Devadatta was born into the Pure Land.

 

In Spite of Oneself

In the past couple of weeks my online engagement with other Buddhists, either via forums or just blogging, has been at its greatest level for several years. Thinking about this I went back and re-read some old correspondence today (from a time in the past when I was really active in online forums) and groaned inwardly at how I behaved. But then when I look at myself now can I really say that I’ve changed? I can’t. Being helpful still so easily segues into showing off, and trying to be be sincere into false humility or over-estimating one’s capacity for self-knowledge.

That said things have changed greatly too. I think it is good to heed Shinran Shonin’s advice about not to destroying the truth of naturalness (jinen) by going into these too much. However I think it comes down to practice, but both mine and not mine. Each moment brings one to a deeper realisation of the stark contrast between one’s own heart mind, and that of Dharmakara-Amida:

Thoughts of desire arise constantly to defile any goodness of heart; the flames of anger and hatred in the mind consume the dharma-treasure. Even if one strives to the utmost with body and mind through the twelve periods of the day and night, and however importunate one’s action and practice may be, as though sweeping fire away from one’s head, it must all be called poisoned good acts, or empty, transitory, and false practices. It cannot be called true, real, and sincere action. Though one may direct the merit of such poisoned good toward birth in the Pure Land, it is of no avail. Why? Because when the Tathagata was performing practices as a bodhisattva, every single moment - every single instant - was filled with his practices in the three modes of action performed with a true and real mind. Hence, they were completely free of doubt. And the Tathagata directs this joyful trust that is pure, true, and real to all sentient beings. (Passages on the Pure Land Way - Shinran Shonin)

That contrast gives me pause everyday. And in that pause, surprisingly, there is a Light and a Peace, and a Path … Namuamidabutsu.

 

Akunin Shoki (Evil person as Object of Salvation) #1

Tariki - 8

By Hiroyuki Itsuki

Translated by Joseph Robert, Published by Kodansha

The Buddha Saves Evil People First

The doctrine of “evil people as the true object of salvation” (akunin shoki 悪人正機) is usually thought of as having originated in a work called Tannisho (Lamenting heresies), a record of Shinran’s words by his disciple Yuien.

Recently, however, several scholars have emphasized that, in fact, akunin shoki was a teaching transmitted to Shinran by his teacher Honen. It doesn’t make any difference to me. In the broader view, akunin shoki is an idea that can be seen throughout Mahayana Buddhist history in both India and China. At any rate, a passage from the Kudensho 口伝鈔, a record of oral teachings in the True Pure Land sect, states “The original vow of the Thus-Come One is for ordinary people, not saints.”

Allow me to quote at length from the Kudensho:

Nyoshin Shonin 如信上人 once said this. It is frequently thought that, since Amida Buddha’s compassion is so infinite in its embrace it even includes evil people, surely it is only natural that people who are performing good deeds should be saved. But this is a betrayal of the meaning of the Buddha’s vow and Shakyamuni’s noble words. Just think about it. Didn’t the Buddha vow to save first and foremost those who are living sad lives full of pain and suffering? The fortunate people are his second priority Since the Buddha even saves these fortunate (good) people, it’s only natural that he should save the all-important evil people first. People often say that the Buddha saves even evil people, so of course he saves the good, but that is wrong. It’s the other way around: He saves even good people, so of course he saves the evil. This is the teaching that Shinran received directly from his teacher Honen: Evil people are the true object of salvation, good people are secondary. This, said Nyoshin, is an extremely important teaching.

Jitsuen Kakehashi 梯實圓, in his book Shinran, has also written on this subject. This is an excellent, clear introduction to the subject, and I would like to quote from his explanation of the subject, which I find very convincing. The passage below is from his chapter “The Oral Teachings Received from Honen.”

The doctrine of “evil people as the true object of salvation” was first communicated not in written form but orally, from Honen to Shinran and then Shinran to Yuien. Before the Pure Land teachings were widely known, such complex teachings could be easily misunderstood, and so they were only transmitted orally, to a disciple, with a full explanation to avoid misinterpretation. Kakunyo’s 覚如 Kudensho tells us that “Nyoshin states that Shinran received this teaching from Honen,” in other words, that the doctrine of “evil people as the true object of salvation” was passed down from Honen to Shinran to Nyoshin (Shinran’s grandson and Kakunyo’s teacher).

We know this was originally Honen’s teaching because in the Daigo 醍醐edition of his biography we find the passage “Since even good people will attain birth in the Pure Land, of course evil people will.” Next to this passage is a note in small writing that says “This is in the oral transmission.” This supports the claim of the Kudensho that the doctrine of “evil people as the true object of salvation” originated with Honen.

In other words, many important ideas and precious words in the Buddhist tradition have been kept alive in people’s hearts, passed from one to another, master to disciple, so that it is very difficult to tell where they originated.

I once saw a television documentary that searched for the source of the Ganges River by traveling all the way up into the glaciers of the Himalayas. But it is impossible to identify that first drop of water melting from the timeless snows of the Himalayas. The glaciers are born from snow, from fog, from clouds, from evaporation, and the river’s source can never be found.

 

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