|
|
Major Expositions
KGSS VI : 117-121
[Postscript]
117 Reflecting
within myself, I see that in the various teachings of the Path of
Sages, practice and enlightenment died out long ago, and that the
true essence of the Pure Land way is the path to realization now
vital and flourishing.
Monks of Sakyamuni's tradition in the various temples, however,
lack clear insight into the teaching and are ignorant of the distinction
between true and provisional; and scholars of the Chinese classics
in the capital are confused about practices and wholly unable to
differentiate right and wrong paths. Thus, scholar-monks of Kofuku-ji
presented a petition to the retired emperor in the first part of
the second month, 1207.
The emperor and his ministers, acting against the dharma and violating
human rectitude, became enraged and embittered. As a result, Master
Genku - the eminent founder who had enabled the true essence of
the Pure Land to spread vigorously [in Japan] - and a number of
his followers, without receiving any deliberation of their [alleged]
crimes, were summarily sentenced to death or were dispossessed of
their monkhood, given [secular] names, and consigned to distant
banishment. I was among the latter. Hence, I am now neither a monk
nor one in worldly life. For this reason, I have taken the term
Toku ["stubble haired"] as my name. Master Genku and his
disciples, being banished to the provinces in different directions,
passed a period of five years [in exile].
On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month, 1211, during the
reign of the emperor Sado-no-in, Genku received an imperial pardon
and returned to Kyoto. Thereafter, he lived in the capital, at Otani,
north of Toribeno in the western foothills of Higashiyama. In 1212,
during the midday hour of the twenty-fifth day of the first month,
he passed away. The auspicious signs [that occurred then], too numerous
to record here, may be found in his biography.
118 I, Gutoku
Shinran, disciple of Sakyamuni, discarded sundry practices and took
refuge in the Primal Vow in 1201. In 1205 Master Genku, out of his
benevolence, granted me permission to copy his Passages on the Nembutsu
Selected in the Primal Vow. In the same year, on the fourteenth
day of the fourth month, the master inscribed [the copy] in his
own hand with an inside title, "Passages on the Nembutsu Selected
in the Primal Vow," with the words, "Namu-amida-butsu:
as the act that leads to birth in the Pure Land, the nembutsu is
taken to be fundamental," and with [the name he had bestowed
on me,] "Shakku, disciple of Sakyamuni." That day, my
request to borrow his portrait was granted, and I made a copy. During
that same year, on the twenty-ninth day of the seventh intercalary
month, the master inscribed my copy of the portrait with "Namu-amida-butsu"
and with a passage expressing the true teaching:
If, when I attain Buddhahood, the sentient beings of the ten
quarters say my Name as few as ten times and yet are not born,
may I not attain the supreme enlightenment. The Buddha has now
actually attained Buddhahood. Know that the momentous Primal Vow
is not in vain, and that when sentient beings say the Name, they
unfailingly attain birth.
Further, since my name "Shakku" had been changed in accord
with a revelation in a dream, on the same day he wrote the characters
of my new name [Zenshin] in his own hand. At that time, the master
was seventy-three years of age.
Passages on the Nembutsu Selected in the Primal Vow was compiled
at the request of the Chancellor, an ordained layman (Lord Tsukinowa
Kanezane, Buddhist name Ensho). The crucial elements of the true
essence of the Pure Land way and the inner significance of the nembutsu
have been gathered into this work, which is easily understood by
those who read it. It is a truly luminous writing, rare and excellent;
a treasured scripture, supreme and profound. Over the days and years,
myriads of people received the master's teaching, but whether they
were closely associated with him or remained more distant, very
few gained the opportunity to read and copy this book. Nevertheless,
I was in fact able to copy it and to paint his portrait. This was
the virtue of practicing the right act alone, and the manifestation
of the decisive settlement of birth.
Thus, suppressing tears of both sorrow and joy, I record the circumstances
that have resulted [in my compilation of this work].
How joyous I am, my heart and mind being rooted in the Buddha-ground
of the universal Vow, and my thoughts and feelings flowing within
the dharma-ocean, which is beyond comprehension! I am deeply aware
of the Tathagata's immense compassion, and I sincerely revere the
benevolent care behind the master' teaching activity. My joy grows
even fuller, my gratitude and indebtedness ever more compelling.
Therefore, I have selected [passages expressing] the core of the
Pure Land way and gathered here its essentials. Mindful solely of
the profundity of the Buddha's benevolence, I pay no heed to the
derision of others. May those who see and hear this work be brought
- either through the cause of reverently embracing the teaching
or through the condition of [others'] doubt and slander of it -
to manifest shinjin within the power of the Vow and reveal the incomparable
fruit of enlightenment in the land of peace.
119 Passages
on the Land of Happiness states:
I have collected true words to aid others in their practice for
attaining birth, in order that the process be made continuous, without
end and without interruption, by which those who have been born
first guide those who come later, and those who are born later join
those who were born before. This is so that the boundless ocean
of birth-and-death be exhausted.
120 Know,
therefore, that the monks and laypeople of the last age should reverently
entrust themselves to [this teaching].
121 A verse
of the Garland Sutra states:
On seeing a bodhisattva
Perform various practices,
Some give rise to a good mind and others a mind of evil,
But the bodhisattva embraces them all.
Here ends Chapter VI:
A Collection of Passages Revealing
The True Teaching, Practice, and Realization
Of the Pure Land Way
|
