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A Record in Lament of Divergences

[On Departures from the Teaching of Shinran]

In the past when our Master Shinran was alive, fellow practicers- having endeavored in the journey to the distant capital with the same aspiration and having set their hearts on birth in the fulfilled land to come with one and the same shinjin- listened to his understanding together at the same time. Nevertheless, I have heard that among the people, young and old, in numbers past knowing, who say the nembutsu following those practicers, there are at present many who set forth divergent views not taught by the Master. These groundless assertions will be fully clarified below.

11

On the matter of confusing practicers of the nembutsu who are ignorant of even a single letter by challenging them, "To which do you entrust yourself in saying the nembutsu - the in conceivable working of the Vow or that of the Name?" without clarifying fully these two kinds of inconceivable working.

We must carefully consider this matter and reach a correct understanding of it.
Through the inconceivable working of the Vow, Amida Buddha devised the Name. To
begin with, then, it is through Amida's design that we come to say the nembutsu with the
belief that, saved by the inconceivable working of the Tathagata's great Vow of great Compassion, we will part from birth-and-death. This being realized, our calculation is not in the least involved, and so, in accord with the Primal Vow, we will be born in the true fulfilled land.
That is, when we entrust ourselves to the inconceivable working of the Vow, taking it as essential, the inconceivable working of the Name is also included; the inconceivable working of the Vow and that of the Name are one, with no distinction whatever.
Next, people who discriminate good and evil acts and consider them aids or hindrances to birth, interposing their own calculation, do not entrust themselves to the inconceivable working of the Vow and, striving to do acts that result in birth with their own designs, they make the nembutsu they say their own practice. People with such an attitude do not entrust themselves to the inconceivable working of the Name either. Even though they lack the mind of entrusting, they will be born in the borderland, and land of sloth, the castle of doubt, or the womb palace, and in the end will attain birth in the fulfilled land by virtue of the "Vow that beings ultimately attain birth." This is the inconceivable power of the Name. Since it is also none other than the inconceivable working of the Vow, the two are wholly one.

12

On the assertion that for practicers who do not read the sutras and commentaries and engage in study, birth is not settled.

This statement must be declared hardly worth mentioning.
All the sacred writings that clarify the significance of the truth and reality of Other Power state that one who entrusts oneself to the Primal Vow and says the nembutsu attains Buddhahood. Apart from this, what learning is essential for birth?
Indeed, the person confused about this should by all means engage in study and understand the significance of the Primal Vow. But nothing is more to be pitied than failure to understand the fundamental intent of the sacred teachings even though one reads and studies the sutras and commentaries.
The Name is meant to be easy to say for the person unfamiliar with even a single character and ignorant of the lines of discourse in the sutras and commentaries; hence it is called "easy practice."
It is the Path of Sages that takes learning to be essential; it is called "difficult practice." As for those who engage in study with wrong intentions, dwelling in thoughts of fame and profit, is there not the authoritative passage: "I wonder if their birth in the next life is really settled"?
At present, people of the sole practice of the nembutsu and those of the Path of Sages initiate disputes over the teaching, each claiming their own way to be superior and those of others inferior; as they do so, enemies of the dharma emerge and slander of the dharma is committed. Does this not finally result in abusing and bringing destruction to the teaching they themselves follow?
Suppose that all other schools joined together in declaring, "The nembutsu is for the sake of worthless people; that teaching is shallow and vulgar." Even then, without the slightest argument, one should reply "When foolish beings of inferior capacity like ourselves, persons ignorant of even a single letter, entrust themselves to the Vow, they are saved. Since we accept and entrust ourselves to this teaching, for us it is the supreme dharma, though for those of superior capacity it might seem utterly base. Even though other teachings may be excellent, since they are beyond our capacity they are difficult for us to put into practice. The fundamental intent of the Buddhas is nothing but freedom from birth-and-death for all, ourselves and others included, so you should not obstruct our practice of the nembutsu." If one responds without rancor thus, what person will do one harm? Moreover, there is an authoritative passage that states, "Where disputation takes place, blind passions arise. The wise keep their distance."
Further, the late master said:

Shakyamuni taught that there would be both people who entrust themselves to this teaching and people who abuse it. By the fact that I have entrusted myself fully to it and there are others who abuse it, I realize that the Buddha's words are indeed true. Hence, I realize all the more clearly that my birth is indeed firmly settled. If there were none who abused the teaching, then surely we would wonder why there are those who entrust but none who abuse it. This is not to say the nembutsu necessarily must be slandered; I merely speak of the fact that the Buddha, knowing beforehand that there would be both those who trust and those who slander, taught this so people would have no doubts.

Thus were his words

These days however, people seem to engage in learning to put a stop to criticism by others, making ready to devote themselves wholly to debate and argument. If one studies, more and more one realizes Amida's fundamental intent and grows in awareness of the immensity of the compassionate Vow, so that one can explain, to those who anxiously wonder how birth is possible for the wretched people like themselves, that the Primal Vow does not discriminate as to whether one's mind is good or evil, pure or defiled. Only then is there meaning in being a scholar. But to intimidate a person who happens to say the nembutsu in accordance with the Primal Vow without any forethought- insisting that one must have learning- is the act of a demon obstructing the dharma, of a foe of the Buddha. Not only do such people themselves lack shinjin of Other Power, but further they confuse others with mistaken thoughts.
One should cautiously fear that one may be going against the late Master's intent. Further, one should grieve if one is not in accord with Amida's Primal Vow.

13

On the assertion: People who are unafraid of committing evil because of the inconceivable working of the Primal Vow are in fact impudently presuming upon the Vow and therefore will not attain birth.

This is a statement of one who doubts the Primal Vow and fails to understand the influence of good and evil karma of past lives.
Good thoughts arise in us through the prompting of good karma from the past, and evil comes to be thought and performed through the working of evil karma. The late Master said, "Knowing that every evil act done- even as slight as a particle on the tip of a strand of rabbit's fur or sheep's wool- has its cause in past karma."
Further, the Master once asked, "Yuien-bo, do you accept all that I say?"
"Yes I do," I answered.
"Then will you not deviate from whatever I tell you?" he repeated.
I humbly affirmed this. Thereupon he said, "Now, I want you to kill a thousand people. If you do, you will definitely attain birth."
I responded, "Though you instruct me thus, I'm afraid it is not in my power to kill even one person."
"Then why did you say that you would follow whatever I told you?"
He continued, "By this you should realize that if we could always act as we wished, then when I told you to kill a thousand people in order to attain birth, you should have immediately done so. But since you lack the karmic cause inducing you to kill even a single person, you do not kill. It is not that you do not kill because your heart is good. In the same way, a person may not wish to harm anyone and yet end up killing a hundred or a thousand people."
Thus he spoke of how we believe that if our hearts are good, then it is good for birth, and if our hearts are evil, it is bad for birth, failing to realize that it is by the inconceivable working of the Vow that we are saved.
There was, in those days, a person who had fallen into wrong views. He asserted that since the Vow was made to serve the person who had committed evil, one should purposely do evil as an act for attaining birth. As rumors of misdeeds gradually spread, Shinran wrote in a letter, "Do not take a liking to poison just because there is an antidote." This was in order to put an end to that wrong understanding. It by no means implies that evil can obstruct one's attainment of birth.
He also said, "If it were only by observing precepts and upholding rules that we should entrust ourselves to the Primal Vow, how could we ever gain freedom from birth-and-death?" Even such wretched beings as ourselves, on encountering the Primal Vow, come indeed to "presume" upon it. But even so, how could we commit evil acts without any karmic cause in ourselves?
The Master further stated:

For those who make their living drawing nets or fishing in the seas and rivers, and those who sustain their lives hunting beasts or taking fowl in the fields and mountains, and those who pass their lives conducting trade or cultivating fields and paddies, it is all the same. If the karmic cause so prompts us, we will commit any kind of act.

These days, however, one finds people making a show of themselves as "seekers for the afterlife," posting notices at nembutsu practice halls saying that those who have committed such and such acts may not enter, as though only good persons should say the nembutsu. Are not people who do this indeed "outwardly expressing signs of wisdom, goodness, or diligence, while inwardly embracing falsity"?
Even the evil we commit while "presuming" upon the Vow occurs through the prompting of past karma. Thus, Other Power lies in entrusting ourselves wholly to the Primal Vow while leaving both good and evil to karmic recompense. The Essentials of Faith Alone states:

Do you know the power Amida possesses, when you say that because you are a being of karmic evil you cannot be saved?

Since you have a heart that presumes upon the Primal Vow, the mind of entrusting yourself to Other Power becomes all the more firmly settled.
If you entrusted yourself to the Primal Vow only after completely ridding yourself of karmic evil and blind passions, then there would be no presuming upon the Vow. But to rid yourself of blind passions is to become a Buddha, and for one who is already a Buddha, the Vow that arose from the five kalpas of profound thought would be to no purpose.
People who admonish others against presuming upon the Primal Vow themselves appear to be possessed of blind passions and defilements. Does not this condition itself imply presuming upon the Vow? What kind of evil is meant by "presuming upon the Vow" and what kind is not? Rather, is not this entire line of argument the product of immature thinking?

14

On the assertion: You should believe that the grave karmic evil binding you to birth-and-death for eight billion kalpas is eradicated through a single utterance of the Name.

It is asserted [based on the Contemplation Sutra] that there are persons of the ten transgressions and five grave offences who, although they have passed their lives without saying the nembutsu, at the time of death, urged by the instruction of a good teacher, come to say it for the first time. In one utterance eight billion kalpas of karmic evil are eradicated, or in ten utterances, ten times eight billion kalpas of grave karmic evil are eradicated, and thus they attain birth. It appears that one utterance and ten utterances are taught in order to make us know the gravity of the ten transgressions and five grave offences. Those who assert the above, however speak only of the benefit of eradicating evil. This falls far short of the teaching that we have accepted. For by virtue of being shone upon by Amida's light, we receive diamondlike shinjin when the one thought-moment of entrusting arises within us; hence, already in that instant Amida takes us into the stage of the truly settled, and when our lives end, all our blind passions and obstructions of evil being transformed, we are brought to realize insight into the nonorigination of all existence. Thus the nembutsu that we say throughout a lifetime with the thought, "If it were not for this compassionate Vow, how could such wretched evildoers as ourselves gain emancipation from birth-and-death?" should be recognized as entirely the expression of our gratitude for the benevolence and our thankfulness for the virtuous working of the Tathagata's great compassion.
To believe that each time you say the Name your karmic evil is eradicated is nothing but to strive to attain birth by eliminating your karmic evil through your own efforts. In that case, you can attain birth only by being diligent in the nembutsu to the very point of death, for every single thought you have throughout the course of you life is a fetter binding you to birth-and-death. But since our karmic recompense restricts us, we may, meeting with various unforeseen accidents or being tormented by the pain of sickness, reach the end of our lives without dwelling in rightmindedness; in such circumstances, saying the Name is difficult. How then is the karmic evil committed in that final interval to be eradicated? If it is not eliminated, is not birth unattainable?
If we entrust ourselves to Amida's Vow that grasps and never abandons us, then even though unforeseen circumstances, we commit an evil act and die without saying the nembutsu at the very end, we will immediately realize birth in the Pure Land.
Moreover, even if we do say the Name at the point of death, it will be nothing other than our expression of gratitude for Amida's benevolence, entrusting ourselves to the Buddha more and more as the very time of enlightenment draws near.
The desire to eradicate one's karmic evil through saying the Name arises from the heart of self-power; it is the basic intent of people who pray to be in a state of rightmindedness when their lives end. It therefore reveals an absence of shinjin that is Other Power.

15

On the assertion that one attains enlightenment even while maintaining this bodily existence full of blind passions.

This statement is completely absurd. The attainment of Buddhahood with this very body is the essence of the Shingon esoteric teaching; it is the realization achieved through the three kinds of mystic acts. The purification of the six sense organs is the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra; it is the virtue acquired through the four practices of repose. These are both ways of difficult practice to be followed by those of superior capacity; they lead to the enlightenment realized through fulfilling contemplative practice.
Attaining enlightenment in the coming life is the essence of the Pure Land teaching of Other Power; it is the principle actualized through the settlement of shinjin. This is the way of easy practice to be followed by those of inferior capacity; it is the teaching that makes no distinction between the good and the evil.
Since it is extremely difficult to free oneself from blind passions and the hindrances of karmic evil in this life; even the virtuous monks who practice the Shingon and Tendai teachings pray for enlightenment in the next life. In our case, what more need be said?
We lack both the observance of precepts and the comprehension of wisdom, but when, by allowing ourselves to be carried on the ship of Amida's Vow, we have crossed this ocean of suffering that is birth-and-death and attain the shore of the Pure Land, the dark clouds of blind passions will swiftly clear and the moon of enlightenment, true reality, will immediately appear. Becoming one with the unhindered light filling the ten quarters, we will benefit all sentient beings. It is at that moment that we attain enlightenment.
Do those who speak of realizing enlightenment while in this bodily existence manifest various accommodated bodies, possess the Buddha's thirty-two features and eighty marks, and preach the dharma to benefit beings like Shakyamuni? It is this that is meant by realizing enlightenment in this life. It is stated in a hymn:

When the time comes
For shinjin, indestructible as diamond, to become settled,
Amida grasps and protects us with compassion and light,
So that we may part forever from birth-and-death.

This means that at the moment shinjin becomes settled, we are grasped, never to be abandoned, and therefore we will not transmigrate further in the six courses. Only then do we part forever from birth-and-death. Should such awareness be confusedly termed "attaining enlightenment"? It is regrettable that such misunderstanding should arise.
The late Master said,

According to the true essence of the Pure Land way, one entrusts oneself to the Primal Vow in this life and realizes enlightenment in the Pure Land; this is the teaching I received.

16

On the assertion that whenever practicers of shinjin happen to become angry, or commit some misdeed, or dispute with fellow practicers, they must without fail go through a change of heart.

This appears to reflect an attitude of seeking to attain birth by desisting from evil and performing good,
Foe the person or wholehearted single practice of the nembutsu, change of heart occurs only once. People who have in ordinary life been ignorant of the true essence of the Primal Vow, which is Other Power, come to realize, through receiving Amida's wisdom, that they cannot attain birth with the thoughts and feelings they have harbored up to then, so they abandon their former heart and mind and entrust themselves to the Primal Vow. This is what is meant by "change of heart."
Suppose that attainment of birth were possible only by going through changes of heart day and night with every incident that occurred. In that case- human life being such that it is ends even before breath exhaled can be drawn in again- if we were to die without going through a change of heart and without abiding in a state of gentleness and forbearance, would not Amida's Vow that grasps and never abandons us be rendered meaningless?
Some claim with their lips that they entrust themselves to the power of the Vow and yet harbor in their hearts the thought that, even the though the Vow to save the evil is said to be beyond conceptual understanding, after all it saves the good person in particular; thus, doubting the power of the Vow, they lack the mind of entrusting themselves to Other Power, and are destined for birth in the borderland. How lamentable this is!
If shinjin has become settled, birth will be brought about by Amida's design, so there must be no calculating on our part. Even when we are evil, if we revere the power of the Vow all the more deeply, gentleheartedness and forbearance will surely arise in us through its spontaneous working (jinen). With everything we do, as far as birth is concerned, we should constantly and fervently call to mind Amida's immense benevolence without any thought of being wise. Then the nembutsu will indeed emerge; this is jinen. Our not calculating is called jinen. It is itself Other Power.
It seems, however, that there are people who knowingly declare that jinen has a different meaning. This is deplorable.

17

On the assertion that a person born in the borderland will in the end fall into hell.

In what authoritative passage do we find such a statement? It is deplorable that this is being maintained by people who pretend to be scholars. How are they reading the sutras, treaties, and other sacred writings? I was taught that practicers who lack shinjin are born in the borderland because of their doubt concerning the Primal Vow, and that, after the evil of doubt has been expiated, they realize enlightenment in the fulfilled land.
Since practicers of shinjin are few, many are guided to the transformed land. To declare, despite this, that birth there will ultimately end in vain would be to accuse Shakyamuni of lying.

18

On the assertion that the size of we become as Buddhas depends on the amount of our donations to the sangha.

This is totally absurd and nonsensical. To begin with, is it not impossible to determine the size of a Buddha? Although the height of Amida, the Master of the teaching in the Pure Land of peace, is stated [in sutras], this refers to a form of the fulfilled body of compassionate means. A Buddha, having been awakened to the enlightenment of dharma-nature, has no form, long or short, square or round, and no color, blue, white, or black; how then can the size be determined?
It is stated [in sutras] that in saying the nembutsu, one upholds a transformed Buddha. Concerning this, it is written [in scriptures] that with a great nembutsu one sees a great Buddha and with a small nembutsu one sees a small Buddha. Perhaps the above assertion has been wrongly linked to this idea.
Further, it may be possible to say that making offerings is the practice of the paramita of charity. But however precious a treasure one may offer before the Buddha or give to a teacher, it is meaningless if one lacks shinjin. And even though one may not make a donation of even a single sheet of paper or half a penny to the sangha, if one yields one's heart to Other Power and one's shinjin is deep, one is in accord with the essential intent of the Vow.
Is it not after all that those people seek to intimidate their fellow practicers, using the Buddha's teaching as a pretext and being moved by mundane desires?