院政期浄土教の展開:『往生拾因』を中心として=The Development of Pure Land Buddhism during Insei Era: On the Ōjō jūin (The Ten Conditions for Attaining Birth in the Pure Land)
In this paper, I describe the characteristics of Pure Land Buddhism during the Insei era, and consider the related the Ōjō jūin 往生拾因. During the Insei era, Buddhism flourished and Pure Land became popular.
In the Pure Land teachings of the Insei era, devotees vowed to be born into the Pure Land and prayed that if they could not, they would be reborn three times until they achieved birth in the Pure Land. The essence of this did not lie in the single devoted practice of chanting nenbutsu but rather the idea of birth in the Pure Land by doing good deeds through various practices.
The Ōjō jūin emphasizes chanting a large number of repetitions of the nenbutsu. It recognizes the practice of chanting nenbutsu one million times as a penance. Miyoshi Tameyasū 三善為康 (1049-1139) and Fujiwara Yorinaga 藤原頼長 (1033-1111), who lived in the same era as Eikan 永観 (1033-1111), belonged to the upper ranks of society as aristocrats.
However, the Ōjō jūin shows the way of life of Kyōsin 教信 (?-886) who belonged to the lower ranks. The aspect of altruism of nenbutsu is emphasized there. The same era also produced Eikan’s Ōjō lecture Ōjō-kō 往生講 and the one-hundred-day nenbutsu practice at Gangō-ji temple 元興寺百日念仏講.
The tale of Chikō 智光 (770-?) and Raikō 頼光 (?-?) of Gangō-ji was quoted in the Ōjō jūin, and the one-hundred-day nenbutsu practice at Ganko-ji was theorized.
Based on the Pure Land Buddhism of the Ōjō yōshū 往生要集, a Pure Land Buddhism that responds to the times can be seen.