Hōnen Shōnin
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Hōnen (also Hōnen Bo Genku) (法然; 1133-1212) was a Japanese born Buddhist and the founder of the first independent branch of Pure Land Buddhism known as Jodo Shu. Shinran Shonin, a student and friend of Hōnen, founded the Jōdo Shinshū. However, during Shinran's lifetime there was only Jodo Shu. Jodo is Japanese for 'The Pure Land', shin is Japanese for 'true', and shu is Japanese for 'sect'. So Honen is the founder of The Pure Land sect, and Shinran is the founder of The True Pure Land sect. Do note that of the 7 Patriarchs in Jodo Shinshu, Hōnen is the 7th.
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[edit] Early life
Hōnen was born in Mimasaka province to a prominent family. His father was Uruma no Tokikuni, a province official who headed up policing in the area. His mother was of the Hada clan, whose ancestry could be traced back to the silk merchants of China. Honen was originally named Seishi-maru after the bodhisattva Seishi (Mahasthamaprapta in Sanskrit). In 1141 Hōnen's father was assassinated by Sada-akira, an official sent to the province to govern by Emperor Toba. It is believed that Tokikuni's last words to his son were, "Don't hate the enemy but become a monk and pray for me and for your deliverance."[1] Fulfilling his father's wishes for him, Hōnen was initiated into his uncle's monastery at the age of 9. From then on, Honen lived his life as a monk, and eventually studied at the primary Tendai temple at Mount Hiei, located near Kyoto.
Hōnen was highly regarded by the other members of the Mt. Hiei community as both as wise and devout. Tendai training at Mt. Hiei was concerned with turning followers into clerics, underpinned by a notion that the clerics were spiritually superior to laypersons. Clerics took the bosatsukai (vows of the Bodhisattva) and then undertook 12 years of training at Mt. Hiei; a system which was developed by Saichō, founder of Tendai Buddhism in Japan.
[edit] Departure from Mt. Hiei
As Hōnen began approaching middle age at Mt. Hiei, he began to rethink the Tendai system. During this period, Hōnen read a work known as Kuan-ching shu (Kuan-wu-liang-shou-fo-ching-shu; "Commentary on the Pure Land Meditation Sutra", also referred to as Amitayur-dhyana-sutra, Kammuryoju-kyo or Kuan-wu liang-shou ching) authored by Chinese Pure Land master Shan-tao. This commentary persuaded Hōnen to believe that nembutsu was all one needed to enter Amida Buddha's Pure Land. He believed that it didn't matter what social, religious or intellectual ranks a person belonged to. Hōnen held that nembutsu was available for absolutely anyone. This new appreciation and understanding Hōnen held for nembutsu is what prompted him to leave Mt. Hiei and the Tendai tradition in 1175[2].
Hōnen relocated to the district of Ōtani[3] in Kyoto where he started addressing crowds of men and women, establishing a considerable following. According to legend, Honen attracted prostitutes, butchers, fortune-tellers, and other elements of society normally excluded from Buddhist practice. Honen also distinguished himself by not discriminating against women who were having their menstruation[citation needed]. Hōnen was a man of recognotion in Kyoto, and many priests and nobleman allied with him. Among them was an imperial regent named Kujō Kanezane (1149-1207). By 1204 Hōnen had a group of disciples numbering around 190[4], ranging from laypersons to samurai. This number is derived from the number of signatures found on his Shichikajo kishomon ('Seven Article Pledge'), a guideline for rules of conduct in the Jodo Shu. Shinran, of course, was a member of his following. Other key disciples include Shinku (1146-1228), Genchi (1183-1238), Ryukan (1148-1227), Kansai (1148-1200), Kosai (1163-1247), and Anrakubo (? -1207)[5].
[edit] Nembutsu Ban
[6]In 1204 other schools were also teaching nembutsu as a component of a broader practice, but Hōnen was teaching nembutsu as the one and only means of practice. Hōnen tried to keep his teachings somewhat secretive, as he understood the ramifications. This teaching meant that he was in opposition with all the other schools of Buddhism at the time, including those sects that had different interpretations of the Pure Land. This same year the monks at Mt. Hiei implored their head priest Shinso (1167-1230) to ban the teachings of exclusive nembutsu and to banish any adherents from their principality.
In 1205 the temple of Kofukuji, located in Nara, implored the Emperor Go-Toba to sanction Hōnen and his followers. The temple provided the emperor with 9 charges alleging unappeasable differences with the so-called eight schools. Honen's detractors cited examples of Honen's followers who committed vandalism against Buddhist temples that would pay homage to Buddhas other than Amitabha.
The clamour surrounding Hōnen's teachings grew fierce over the following years, when finally in 1207 Go-Toba implemented a ban against exclusive nembutsu, exiling Hōnen and Shinran and executing many adherents. Eight nembutsu priests were exiled along with Hōnen. Hōnen's response was characteristic:
"I have labored here in the capital these many years for the spread of the Nembutsu, and so I have long wished to get away into the country to preach to those on field and plain, but the time never came for the fulfillment of my wish. Now, however, by the august favor of His Majesty, circumstances have combined to enable me to do so."[7].
Hōnen was exiled to Tosa, but the movement in Kyoto had not thoroughly gone away. Also, the teachings spread abroad as a result of exiling the different teachers into different regions. In 1211 the nembutsu ban was ultimately lifted, and Hōnen was premitted to return to Kyoto. That following year in 1212 Hōnen died in Kyoto, never having seen Shinran since their exile in 1207.[8]
[edit] Character
Analysis of various historical documents by the Jodo Shu Research Institute suggests several obvious characteristics of Hōnen's personality:[1]
- a strict master
- introspective and self-critical
- a bold innovator
- a critic of scholasticism
- a man more concerned with solving the problems of daily life rather than worrying about doctrinal matters
On the latter point Hōnen expressed unusual concern over the spiritual welfare of women. In teaching to them, regardless of social status (from aristocracy to prostitutes), he particularly rejected the significance of menstruation; which wider Japanese religious culture considered to cause spiritual defilement. As a consequence the role of women in the Jodo Shu sects has often been greater than in some other Japanese Buddhist traditions.
About himself Hōnen reportedly said:
[I lack] the wisdom to teach others. Ku Amida Butsu of Hosshoji, though less intelligent, contributes in leading the people to the Pure Land as an advocate of the nembutsu. After death, if I could be born in the world of humans, I would like to be born a very ignorant man and to diligently practice the nembutsu. (Tsuneni Oserarekeru Okotoba - Common Sayings of Honen) [2]
[edit] Doctrine
Hōnen's teachings are briefly summarised in his final work, the Ichimai Kishomon (One Sheet Document):
"In China and Japan, many Buddhist masters and scholars understand that the nembutsu is to meditate deeply on Amida Buddha and the Pure Land. However, I do not understand the nembutsu in this way. Reciting the nembutsu does not come from studying and understanding its meaning. There is no other reason or cause by which we can utterly believe in attaining birth in the Pure Land than the nembutsu itself. Reciting the nembutsu and believing in birth in the Pure Land naturally gives rise to the three minds (sanjin) and the four modes of practice (shishu). If I am withholding any deeper knowledge beyond simple recitation of the nembutsu, then may I lose sight of the compassion of Shakyamuni and Amida Buddha and slip through the embrace of Amida's original vow. Even if those who believe in the nembutsu deeply study all the teachings which Shakyamuni taught during his life, they should not put on any airs and should practice the nembutsu with the sincerity of those untrained followers ignorant of Buddhist doctrines. I hereby authorize this document with my hand print. The Jodo Shu way of the settled mind (anjin) is completely imparted here. I, Genku, have no other teaching than this. In order to prevent misinterpretation after my passing away, I make this final testament."
Hōnen's practical advice on practicing the nembutsu can be summed up in these two statements:
"If, because it is taught that birth is attained with but one or ten utterances, you say the Nembutsu heedlessly, then faith is hindering practice. If, because it is taught that you should say the Name without abandoning it from moment to moment, you believe one or ten utterances to be indecisive, then practice is hindering faith. As your faith, accept that birth is attained with a single utterance; as your practice, endeavour in the Nembutsu throughout life."
"Only repeat the name of Amida with all your heart. Whether walking or standing, sitting or lying, never cease the practice of it even for a moment. This is the very work which unfailingly issues in salvation..." (Hōnen quoting Shan-tao)[9]
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.jodo.org/about_hs/ho_life.html
- ^ Dobbins 13
- ^ Dobbins 13
- ^ Dobbins 13, # of followers
- ^ Dobbins 13, disciple names
- ^ Dobbins, 14-18
- ^ Fitzgerald, 119
- ^ Dobbins, 14-18
- ^ Fitzgerald, 20
[edit] References
- Honen Shonin's life
- Alfred Bloom - Honen Shonin’s Religious and Social Significance in the Pure Land Tradition
- Hônen : "Le gué vers la Terre Pure", Senchaku-shû, traduit du sino-japonais, présenté et annoté par Jérôme Ducor. Collection "Trésors du bouddhisme". Paris, Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2005. ISBN 2-213-61738-4
- Sho-on Hattori, A Raft from the Other Shore - Honen and the Way of Pure Land Buddhism (Jodo Shu Press, Tokyo, 2000)
- Takahashi Koji. Senchakushu no seikaku ni tsuite: tokuni hi ronriteki ichimen o chushin to shite. in Jodokyo no shiso to bunka, Etani Festschrift (Kyoto: Dohosha, 1972)
- Dobbins, James C. Jōdo Shinshū: Shin Buddhism in Medieval Japan. Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-253-33186-2.
- Fitzgerald, Joseph A. Honen the Buddhist Saint: Essential Writings and Official Biography. World Wisdom, 2006. ISBN 1-933316-13-6.
