May 21, 1173 – January 16, 1263
His Early Life
Shonin Shinran was born at Hino, a few miles southeast of the old capital of Kyoto on May 21, 1173. It was some years after the civil wars of Hogen and Heiji and some fifteen years before Yoritomo Minamoto established is Shogunate at Kamakura- a period in which old aristocratic families were losing their influence and new warrior clans were coming into power. The political and social changes awakened people from the long peaceful slumber of the Heian Era and made them suffer both disaster and poverty.
Buddhism, which was already rooted firmly in Japan, did not have the power to console them, for it was flourishing only in its monastic formalities. In spite of this social unrest, Shinran was born in fortunate circumstances; his father Lord Arinori Hino belonged to the aristocratic Fujiwara family holding a high office in the Imperial Court and his mother Lady Kikko was of the illustrious Minamoto family. His name as a child was Matsuwaka-Maro, and as the heir of this nobility he was brought up with the tenderest care. He showed wisdom as a child and everyone around him foresaw a promising future for him.
However, when he was only four years old he had his first bitter experience in life - the sudden death of his father. So he and his younger brother were sent to their uncle, Lord Noritsuna for their upbringing and education. At the age of nine a second great misfortune befell him; he lost his beloved mother by her unexpected death. His uncle tried to make the poor youth happy and cheerful, but the sensitive boy was impressed too deeply by the sorrowful occurrences.
When he became nine years old, he announced to his uncle that he wished to become a Buddhist monk following the custom of the time. Lord Noritsuna could not prevent this step and one spring day he took the unfortunate lad to a Buddhist monastery, Shoran-in, at the foot of Higashiyama in Kyoto. He told the venerable Jichin, chief abbot of the monastery, the boy's story asking admission to the priesthood. The venerable master sympathized deeply and accepted the proposal but seeing that the day had already come to an end, declared his desire to postpone till the morrow the ordination service.
Matsuwaka-Maro, upon hearing this, was greatly disappointed and in his urgent desire for immediate ordination composed and recited the following verse expressing the futility and unreliability of life:
Like cherry blossoms are
the hearts that
Tomorrow they think they might.
For who can tell but there may be
A tempest in the night.
The chief abbot was deeply
impressed by these words and seeing the firm determination
of the young boy, disregarded the lateness of the hour and
performed the ritual. The venerable Jichin himself took up
the duties of the ordination and the name Hannen was
bestowed upon Matsuwaka-Maro.
Northampton Shin Buddhist
Sangha
Twenty Years on Mount Hiyei
For several months the venerable Jichin tested the
abilities of the young pupil, and in January of the
following year (1182) he took Hannen to Mount Hiyei, then
the scholastic center for Buddhist studies. Hannen was left
at the Daijo-in Monastery where among a number of fellow
students he started his life and study as a Buddhist monk.
Under various scholars he devoted himself to learning the
philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism, especially of the Tendai
Sect. At times he went to Nara and Horyuji Monastery for
research in Hinayana teachings.
Year after year his study progressed and his priestly rank
rose accordingly, until at length he was appointed the
chief abbot of Shoko-in Monastery at the age of
twenty-five. All who knew him were so greatly impressed by
his unusual talent and zeal that they came to look on him
as the future chief abbot of all the monasteries on Mount
Hiyei.
In spite of all this success, Hannen was not satisfied. He
could not yield to the temptation of occupying a
conspicuous place as a high priest, for he found himself an
ordinary minded man full of lusts and passions, deserving
no high rank. "Though I try to pacify my mind in
meditation," he is said to have declared, "the waves of
lusts rise up incessantly. Though I try to see clearly the
moon of One-Mindedness, the clouds of passions still come
to intercept. The moment this one breath is not followed by
another, my life shall be lost forever more. How can I
indulge in the vanity of a transient life! How can I blind
myself to the hypocritical disciplines and studies!"
His purpose in becoming a monk was not to gain the fame of
high priesthood; his, was to discover the way of
deliverance from this imperfect world for the sake of all
the people. And having found his twenty years of living on
Mount Hiyei a miserable failure, he determined to seek the
true way.
Conversion
In the "Life of Shonin Shinran" by Shonin Kakunyo, it says
"During the first year of Kennin (1201 A.D.) when Shonin
Shinran was twenty-nine years of age, his earnest heart,
ever intent on spiritual and unworldly things, induced him
to call on the venerable Genku in whom the Shin Sect finds
a most illustrious transmitter of its doctrine, took
especial pains to explain to him in a most exhaustive
matter the essentials of his teaching and their ultimate
significance. As soon as this was done, Shonin Shinran
instantly came to realize the innermost meaning of the
doctrine of salvation through Amida Buddha and his
all-embracing love for sentient beings; and to his heart's
fullest content, he found his faith firmly established in
the truth that leads every sentient being, however
ignorant, to the direct path of the Pure Land."
Thus having been awakened through Master Genku's cordial
guidance, Hannen stood bravely on the firm rock of faith,
and determined to devote his whole life for the propagation
of the doctrine and to deliver all people from this
suffering world. He settled down at Okazaki, not very far
from the Master's place and became a disciple of Shonin
Honen and received the name of Shakku. At this time, he was
twenty-nine years of age. From that time, for a period of
six years, he made a daily visit to Yoshimizu from his
humble dwelling at Okazaki to receive the Teachings of
Shonin Honen. Above all, in March, of the second year of
the Genku (1205), he received the important Treatise of his
Master, the Senjaku Hongwan Nenbutsu Shu.
The fact that he received this Treatise and that he had
married Princess Tamahi, the daughter of Kwampaka Kujo
Kanezane, at the request of the Master, show that among the
many disciples Shonin Shinran was the one most trusted. By
the marriage, when Shinran was thirty-one, Shonin Honen and
Shonin Shinran proposed to break the barrier between priest
and layman in order to show the public a concrete
demonstration of their firm faith that spiritual purity is
more essential than mere outward devotions and formalities
and that the Compassion of Amida Buddha is so great and
universal as to come to everybody, whatever life he may
lead, married or celibate.
Banishment
When the priests of the old schools saw the
new movement of the salvation through faith in the Nembutsu
gaining popularity among the people, they began to be
jealous. This jealousy gradually heightened to malice, till
they finally came to court complaining of the new movement
on the ground that the new faith was absolutely against the
Buddha's law and might lead innocent people to do wrong. As
the result of this complaint, Genku and Shinran, together
with other prominent disciples, were sentenced to exile in
1207- Genku to Tosa Province and Shonin Shinran to Kokubu
in Echigo Province.
But to these teachers of the Nembutsu, banishment was not a
punishment; they looked upon it as an opportunity for
evangelism. "If my Great Teacher, the Venerable Genku, was
not sent away into a remote province by the authorities,"
said Shonin Shinran, who was thirty-five years old at this
time, "how should I ever be sent into exile, and if I did
not live a life of banishment, how could I hope to have the
opportunity to convert the people living in the remote
districts? This too must be ascribed to the Grace of the
Teachings of my Master." Burning with such zeal, he availed
himself of every opportunity to preach his faith all along
the way to exile.
The Venerable Shonen Honen, although the orders for his
pardon arrived later during the year he was exiled, was
however, not permitted to enter Kyoto; therefore, he
stopped at the Kachi-Ojo Temple. Finally, three years
later, he was permitted to return to Kyoto. On Shonin
Shinran, too, was bestowed an order pardoning him. Shonin
Shinran wished to meet his master immediately, but due to
the deep snows he left Echigo the following year and made
his way toward Kyoto. On the way he learned of the passing
of his Teacher on January 25. Because, in his sorrow, he
felt that there was no further use in his going to Kyoto,
he returned once more to Echigo. There he started anew,
wandering from place to place preaching the law as he went.
It is said that he first used the name Shinran at this
time.
After roaming about through provincial towns and villages,
Shonin Shinran settled at Inada, Hitachi Province, in 1217,
when he was forty-five years old. Though this cottage was a
lonely one far from towns, there was always a large number
of anxious truth seekers, noble and lowly, lay and monks,
who knocked at his rustic gate. His long-cherished desire
to see the Buddha's law widely propagated as well as his
ever-abiding prayer for the welfare of all sentient beings
was thus satisfactorily brought to consummation. It was at
this place, when he was fifty-two years old, that he wrote
his famous work, the "Teaching, Practice, Faith and
Attainment" (Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho) and laid the foundation of
the Shin Sect.
The hymn of True Faith, Shoshinge, which is widely read for
religious services, is an expression of Faith in the Amida
Buddha, the Buddha of Eternal Life and Light. The original
hymn written in the form of Chinese blank verse gives
detailed explanations of the principal tents of the
Buddha's religion and quotes for each point theological
testimonies from the Sacred Scriptures and authentic
literatures. And, therefore, it may be said to be a
synopsis of the teachings of the Shin Sect.
Later Years in Kyoto
Shonin Shinran spent twenty-five years of
his life in those provincial countries always wandering
from place to place except for the few years' settlement at
Inada, and strove for the spiritual welfare of the people.
In 1232, when he reached the age of sixty, he started on
his way back to Kyoto, reaching the Capital in 1235.
In the Life of Shonin Shinran, it says "After returning to
his native city, Shonin Shinran reflected upon the past,
and realizing how years come and go like a dream or a
vision, he came to look upon his earthly abode in the
metropolis as a thing not worth troubling his mind. He
moved from one place to another, sometimes in the West and
sometimes in the East. Among such places there was one near
Gojo-Hishi-no-Toin to which he took a fancy for a while as
he considered the view very fine. Here gathered those
disciples of his, coming from various quarters, who in
former days had received his personal instructions, and
renewed their friendship.
During this time he wrote many religious books, which are
now contained in the Canonical Books of the Shin Sect.
Toward the later part of mid-winter in the third year of
Kocho (1263), Shonin Shinran showed symptoms of a slight
indisposition, and after this his wards never referred to
earthly things, dwelling only on how deeply grateful he was
to the Buddha; he uttered nothing but the name of
Amida-Buddha, which he constantly repeated. On the
twenty-eighth day of the same month (January 16th of the
following year in the solar calendar) at noon he laid
himself on his right side with his head toward the North,
and face toward the West, and when at least his recitation
of the Buddha's Holy Name was heard no more, he had passed
away. He was then just completing his ninetieth year."
Just before his death, it is said that he wrote:
Though I, my life having
run its course,
Return to the Pure Land of Eternal Rest,
Come back shall I to earth again and again
Even as the waves of Wakano-ura Bay.
When alone you rejoice in the Sacred Teachings
Believe that there are two.
And when there are two to rejoice
Believe that there are three
And that other shall be Shinran.
Shonin Shinran taught that he
who believes in Amida Buddha's Divine Will and surrenders
himself wholly to his marvelous power, though he remains
unchanged in form, is actually endowed with the seeds of
Buddhahood. As the seed germinates when planted in soil, so
the merits contained in the faithful heart are manifested
in full glory when the believer is reborn in the Pure Land,
to become completely one with Amida who is boundless in
Life and in Light. One who is reunited with Amida not only
enjoys heavenly happiness in the Pure Land with Him, but
also finds joy in helping His holy work of saving his
fellow beings from the sea of birth and death.
Shonin Shinran has not vanished into another world. He
lives among mankind in order to guide them into the
presence of Amida Buddha. And rightly has he said,
Although my body will
pass away,
Forever my teaching shall live;
As fresh as the green grass of Wakano-ura Bay
So long as human beings live.