Shozomatsu Wasan 116
I am such that I do not know right and wrong
And cannot distinguish false and true;
I lack even small love and small compassion,
And yet, for fame and profit, enjoy teaching others.
A Man of Truth
No matter how noble the enterprise, the needs of our ego will always be met. If they are not met, we will end in bitterness and dejection. Such is the intractable nature of our afflicting passions. Knowing this, Shinran Shonin, a man who had become free by way of the Pure Land path, chose to be honest.
Shinran is quite exceptional as a religious leader and thinker. He is entirely free of any kind of narcissism and self-importance. His adoration of the light of Amida Buddha is such that he became imbued with the compassion of the Primal Vow, reflecting its profound benevolence in his kindness to others and to himself. His self-awareness was always, and ever, qualified by the radiant compassion of the Buddha, in whose light he lived.
Have you ever noticed that, whenever Shinran praises the Buddha, he never alludes to his own disposition? He always praises the Buddha and his wisdom. This was his principal focus: always adoring Amida Buddha, our only master and teacher. He calls on others to entrust themselves to the Vow in Namo Amida Butsu.
Whenever Shinran refers to his own inner life, it is often to point to the depth of his own human frailty and to his shortcomings. He clearly intends to deflect our gaze away from Shinran and to Amida Buddha. Even in his own writings, he clearly represents himself as the custodian of the dharma, which he has received from the Buddha and from the dharma masters. He does not see himself as presenting anything new; he is only imparting the knowledge that he has learned and ratified in his own heart.
This verse is extremely significant because Shinran disposes of all false piety, all demonstrative behaviour, all claims to nobility of purpose, or purity of intention. Again, this statement seems to me to be a deliberate declaration that the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha is our only refuge. It seems to be a calculated attempt to remind us that we should not trust Shinran. It stands in stark contrast to the usual declaration that we tradtionally hear from Buddhist writers, who frequently begin in ways like this:
The author has composed this book based on the book of Dharmasri, not through pride or in order to acquire a reputation.1
Many authors throughout Buddhist history have felt constrained to make that kind of claim. Yet, here is Shinran telling us that his motives were directly opposed to such noble and pious purposes. As he moved towards then end of his life, Shinran's heart has become completely naked, open and exposed.
In death, we are all levelled and we can no longer compete in beauty, virtue, success, or power. Moving towards the end of his life, Shinran seems to have already died to all of the conceits that we use as masks, as ways of hiding from the glare of others. We always, naturally seek to present ourselves in ways that people will admire, but Shinran was so imbued with the light of Amida, the wisdom that shows all things exactly as they are, that he is entirely devoid of sham and vanity.
Shinran Shonin was already moving to the Pure Land in the last few years of his life. His only truth was Namo Amida Butsu and the wisdom of the Buddhas. These verses are his final word, his lasting legacy that tell us, by implication, that there is only one thing for us: Namo Amida Butsu. There is nothing that we can claim of value for ourselves - we are happiest when we simply give ourselves up and relinquish all our power to Amida Buddha's Primal Vow.
Shonin became ill in the latter ten days of the eleventh month (lunar calendar) in the second year of Kocho. Since then he did not talk of worldly events, but spoke only of his deep indebtedness to the Buddha. His utterance of the nembutsu continued without interruption and no other words were ever expressed in his voice. On the twenty-eighth day of the same month, he breathed his last breath of the nembutsu, while lying on his right side, with his head directed to the north and his face to the west. He was ninety years of age.2
Shinran knew the depth of reality and the things that are most important. He cared only for the Buddha Dharma:
When I close my eyes, throw me into the Kamo River to feed the fish.3
Who, then, was Shinran? What had he become? Perhaps there is a clue in the concluding verse of the Taisho edition of the The True Teaching, Practice and Realisation:
Obscuring the light and mixing with the dust is the beginning of establishing contact with beings;
Attaining Buddhahood and manifesting the eight major events shows the end of the Buddha's mission.4
How fortuitous it is that this remarkable person, lives on in the nembutsu, in his writings, and in the hearts of his dharma friends. It is recorded in the Hanazono Bunko, that Shinran left these final words for us as he lay on his deathbed, waiting to return, at last, to his home in the Pure Land:
As my life comes to an end, I return to the Pure Land of Serene Sustenance. But it is like the dashing and receding waves in Wakanoura Bay. When you alone rejoice in entrusting heart, know that you are with another. When you two rejoice in entrusting heart, know that there is still another with you.
I, Shinran, am that 'other' person.
1. Pravicayavarga by Dharmatrata.
2. Godensho
3. Gaija Sho by Kakunyo Shonin.
4. English Tripitaka 105-I, p. 339.
Dear Fellow Practicer and Companion Along the Way,
Thank you for travelling with me in our journey through the hymns of Shinran Shonin.
If you would like to read some more of my essays, please go to The Udumbara Flower, which is a wide-ranging appreciation of Shinran's other writings and some of his disciples.
May you always live in the light of Amida Buddha: Namo Amida Butsu.
George Gatenby
