法然門下の「往生」理解 : 特に浄土往生後の菩薩の階位の問題を中心として=Conceptions of Birth in the Pure Land among Honen's Disciples : Focusing on their interpretations of the stages of Bodhisattvas born in the Pure Land
Hōnen (1133–1212) interprets the section on the nine grades of birth in the Contemplation Sutra to mean that Amida Buddha guarantees that all sentient beings can equally attain birth in the highest grade of the highest birth (jōbon jōshō) in the Pure Land by following the teaching of the sole practice of nenbutsu. Yet he remained silent about how he understands the meaning of the stage of non-arising (mushōbonin) to be realized by those who attain the highest grade of the highest birth when they are born in the Pure Land. Hōnen’s disciples, however, variously considered the meaning of the stage of non-arising in the Pure Land by comparing it with various stages of the bodhisattva path attained by sentient beings just born in the Pure Land. For example, Ryūkan (1148–1227) argued that the stage of non-arising in the Pure Land corresponds with the eleventh stage of first dwelling (shojū). But Shōkū (1177–1247) equated it with the fifty-first stage of equal enlightenent (tōgaku), Kōsai (1163–1247) with the forty-first stage of joy (shoji), and Shinran (1173-1262) with the fifty-second stage of perfect enlightenment (myōgaku). Despite these differences, they all agreed that sentient beings must have a mind trusting in Amida Buddhas other Power in order to reach these stages. Specifically using the doctrinal theory of recompensed and transformed buddha lands (hōke nido), they considered that practitioners trusting in other Power will attain birth in the true recompensed Pure Land (hōdo), but those who practice the Pure Land teaching but are yet to have such trust are to be born in transformed buddha lands (kedo), since birth in the transformed buddha lands is explained in the section on the nine grades of birth in the Contemplation Sūtra. Furthermore, all agree that this is expounded as a skillful means to guide sentient beings who do not yet have faith in Amida Buddha. It is also noteworthy that all of them interpreted the concept of the nine grades of birth by comparing it with the teachings of the three levels of practitioners (sanpai) and the womblike birth and transformative birth (taishō keshō) discussed in the Larger Sutra.
