1. On Contemporary Shin Buddhist Thought 2. Author Affiliations: Professor Emeritus Ryukoku University, Kyoto
關鍵詞
阿彌陀佛=Amitaba Buddha=Amida Buddha; take refuge=皈依; Pure Land=淨土; Sukhavati=極樂世界; Pure Land School=淨土宗; Amida Buddha=Amitabha Buddha=阿彌陀佛
摘要
This paper examines the development of Rennyo’s theory on Amida’s Name by focusing on three factors crucial to understanding his theory. First, Rennyo’s understanding of Shinran’s thought is influenced by Kakunyo. Rennyo adopts Kakunyo’s doctrinal position, which frames Shinran’s doctrinal system through an emphasis on Shinran’s interpretation of the passage of the fulfillment of the Eighteenth Vow (jūhachigan jōjumon 十八願成就文). Second, Rennyo follows Shan-tao’s interpretation of the six-character Name, that Amida’s Name is the practitioner’s aspiration and practice for birth in the Pure Land (gangyōmon 願行門, “gateway of aspiration and practice”). However, Rennyo reinterprets Shan-tao’s theory by incorporating Shinran’s concept of directing merit through Other Power (tariki ekō 他力回向). Third, Rennyo’s interpretation of the six-character Name as the relationship between practitioners and Dharma was greatly influenced by the concept of the oneness of practitioner and Dharma of Amida Buddha (kihō ittai 機法一體) from the Anjin ketsujō shō (On Attaining the Settled Mind).2 By paying special attention to these three factors, I will demonstrate how Rennyo developed his interpretation of the Name as the relationship between the practitioner and the Dharma. Rennyo developed his interpretation of the six-character Name as the relationship between practitioner and Amida based on Shinran’s doctrine of the accomplishment of aspiration and practice from the side of Amida Buddha. In part A above, Rennyo identifies namu (taking refuge) with sentient beings (ki) and links it directly with amida-butsu . He interprets Shan-tao’s “Amida-butsu is the practice” as Dharma (hō), equivalent to Amida’s directing of virtue, which “bestows on [practitioners] the virtue of a myriad good deeds and practices, countless as the grains of sand in the river of Ganges.” This is the demonstration of the oneness of practioner (ki) and Dharma (hō) in the six-character Name. Amida’s Name, as the fulfillment of his aspiration and practice, is directed toward sentient beings, and when we take refuge in Amida buddha (practitioner’s standpoint, ki), all virtues and all practices are directed to us. This is the development of the Dharma (hō) of “Amida-butsu is the practice,” which saves sentient beings who ask for that salvation. Rennyo developed his unique interpretation of the six-character Name as the relationship between practitioners and Amida Buddha (kihōmon) by reinterpreting Shan-tao’s theory of the sixcharacter Name as the practitioner’s aspiration and practice through incorporating Shinran’s view of the six-character Name based on the concept of the directing of virtue by Other Power.
