2016/04/08

Tannisho and Yuien

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Tannishoo, Tannishō 歎異抄 Tannisho and priest Yuien 唯円



source and full Japanese text : web.otani.ac.jp/tannisyo


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Tannisho: A Shin Buddhist Classic


- source : books.google.co.jp/books -

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- quote
The Tannishō (歎異抄), also known as the Lamentations of Divergences, is a late 13th century short Buddhist text generally thought to have been written by Yuien, a disciple of Shinran. In the Tannishō, Yuien is concerned about the rising doctrinal divergences that emerged in Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism after the death of their founder, so he wrote down dialogues between himself and Shinran that he could recall when his master was alive.

- - - - - According to Yuien's own writing in the preface:
While the master was still living, those who journeyed together with great difficulty to the distant capital with the same aspiration and who, unified in true entrusting, set their hearts on the coming land of Fulfillment, all listened at the same time to his real thoughts. But now I hear that among the countless young and old people who live the nembutsu, following after them, there are some who frequently express erroneous views never taught by our master. Such groundless views call for careful discussion which follows.

Many of the conversations found in the Tannishō are very candid when compared to more formal religious texts, and this may explain some of the popularity of the Tannishō among Shin Buddhists. The Tannishō allows Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists to peer into the mind of Shinran and see how he felt about practicing Jōdo Shinshū. The Tannishō was also a major impetus for the start of The Dobokai Movement among the Higashi Hongwanji branch of Jōdo Shinshū.

The Tannishō is divided into 18 sections (sometimes called chapters), though many of these sections are very short. Some are no longer than a couple sentences. However, each section deals with a separate doctrinal issue.

Sections 1 through 10 focus on Shinran's thoughts with regard to Jōdo Shinshū, the nembutsu and Amida Buddha, while
sections 11 through 18 deal with heretical ideas that Yuien wanted to dispel or correct on the basis of what Shinran had taught him.
- source : wikipedia

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- quote -
Reading the Tannisho is perhaps the most meaningful way for today's Shin Buddhists to touch the thought of Shinran Shonin, who founded the tradition in 13th century Japan.
This is a wonderful, modern translation by the eminent Dr. Taitetsu Unno, Professor of Religion at Smith College.
- - - Dr. Unno's Foreword
Prologue
Chapter I to X
Special Preface
Chapters XI to XVIII
Epilogue
How To Read The Tannisho
- - - The Tannisho Glossary
Birth (ojo)
Blind Passion (bonno)
Foolish Being (bonbu - bonpu 凡夫)
Inconceivable (fushigi, fukashigi)
Land of Fulfillment, True Fulfillment (hodo)
Name (myogo)
One Thought-moment (ichinen)
Practicer (gyoja)
Primal Vow (hongan)
Self-power (jiriki) and Other Power (tariki)
The Essentials of Faith Alone (Yuishinsho) - . . . and more
- source : livingdharma.org/Tannisho -

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- quote -
「歎異抄」ほど一宗派の壁を超えて、多くの人たちに読み継がれている宗教書はありません。西田幾多郎、司馬遼太郎、吉本隆明、遠藤周作等々……数多くの知識人や文学者たちが深い影響を受け、自らの思想の糧としてきました。また、信徒であるないに関わらず、膨大な数の市井の人々の人生の指針となってきました。なぜ「歎異抄」はここまで強く人々の心を惹きつけてきたのでしょうか?「100分de名著」では、「歎異抄」から一宗教書にはとどまらない普遍的なテーマを読み解き、現代人にも通じるメッセージを引き出していきたいと思います。



阿弥陀仏の本願により念仏するだけで浄土へ往生できるという「浄土仏教」。
「歎異抄」の中で最も有名な一節、「善人なほもつて往生をとぐ。いはんや悪人をや」。
唯円は「歎異抄」で、常識的な倫理や道徳の見方で親鸞の教えを歪め、自分の都合のよいように解釈する人々の異義に一つ一つ反論していく。
親鸞ほど、人間の「光」と「闇」の間でゆれ動いた信仰者は稀だ。浄土仏教への信仰を貫きながらも、我が身の罪深さ、自分の信仰が偽物ではないかとの懐疑に懊悩し続けた。
- source : NHK 2016 -

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- quote -
A Record in Lament of Divergences
by Yuien-bo, a Follower of Master Shinran

Preface
As I humbly reflect on the past [when the late master was alive] and the present in my foolish mind, I cannot but lament the divergences from the true shinjin that he conveyed by speaking to us directly, and I fear there are doubts and confusions in the way followers receive and transmit the teaching. For how is entrance into the single gate of easy practice possible unless we happily come to rely on a true teacher whom conditions bring us to encounter? Let there be not the slightest distortion of the teaching of Other Power with words of an understanding based on personal views.
Here, then,
I set down in small part the words spoken by the late Shinran Shonin that remain deep in my mind, solely to disperse the doubts of fellow practicers.

1
"Saved by the inconceivable working of Amida's Vow, I shall realize birth in the Pure Land": the moment you entrust yourself thus to the Vow, so that the mind set upon saying the nembutsu arises within you, you are immediately brought to share in the benefit of being grasped by Amida, never to be abandoned.

Know that the Primal Vow of Amida makes no distinction between people young and old, good and evil; only shinjin is essential. For it is the Vow to save the person whose karmic evil is deep and grave and whose blind passions abound.

Thus, for those who entrust themselves to the Primal Vow, no good acts are required, because no good surpasses the nembutsu. Nor need they despair of the evil they commit, for no evil can obstruct the working of Amida's Primal Vow.
Thus were his words.
- - snip - -
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.

- continue reading on this link :
- source : web.mit.edu/stclair/www/tannisho-all -

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Kawawada no Yuien (1222 - 1298)

河和田の唯円(かわわだのゆいえん、貞応元年(1222年)- 正応2年2月6日(1289年2月27日))
親鸞の晩年になってからの弟子で直弟子の一人。親鸞の孫にあたる唯善の師で、『慕帰絵詞』によれば、1288年(正応元年)唯円が常陸国から上洛した際、本願寺の覚如から広く法門の教義に関する問題を協議したとされる。『歎異抄』の著者は不明だが、一般に唯円作とする。常陸国河和田(現在茨城県水戸市)に住していたことから河和田の唯円と称される。晩年は大和国吉野で布教し、秋野川の近辺で没したといわれる。
- reference : wikipedia -

- quote -
After Shinran's (1173-1262) death, his disciples from the Kantō region of Japan became upset with the growing dissent against what they saw as the genuine faith taught by Shinran. One of his immediate disciples, Yuien of Kawawada, Hitachi no Kuni, wrote this work with the intention of clarifying and preserving Shinran's authentic creed.



Suzuki and Tosui Imadate's English translation of the Tannishō.
- source : matsugaoka-bunko.com -

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- reference - 歎異抄
- reference - Tannisho


source : ぴょんた

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. Saint Shinran 親鸞 (1173 - 1263).

. Namu Amida Butsu 南無阿弥陀仏 Nenbutsu Prayer, Nembutsu .



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jiriki and tariki 自力 / 他力



- quote -
Jiriki (自力, one's own strength - here: the Japanese Buddhist term for self power, the ability to achieve liberation or enlightenment (in other words, to reach nirvana) through one's own efforts.
Jiriki and tariki (他力 meaning "other power", "outside help") are two terms in Japanese Buddhist schools that classify how one becomes spiritually enlightened.Jiriki is very much urged and practiced in Zen Buddhism.
In Pure Land Buddhism, tariki often refers to the power of Amitābha Buddha (Amida Buddha).

These two terms describe the strands of practice that followers of every religion throughout the world develop. In most religions you can find popular expressions of faith which rely on the worship of external powers such as an idol of some kind that is expected to bestow favor after being given offerings of faith from a believer. Some believers of Pure Land Buddhism accept that merely chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha will lead the believer to enlightenment, as some Western Christians believe that by merely asking Jesus to cleanse one's sins will lead to the attainment of such a desire. These are examples of tariki, reliance on a power outside of oneself for salvation.

Jiriki is experiencing truth for oneself and not merely accepting the testimony of another. An example of jiriki in Buddhism is the practice of meditation. In meditation, one observes the body (most often in the form of following the breath) and mind to directly experience the principles of impermanence and dependent arising or "emptiness") of all phenomena. Such principles are formally discussed in the Buddhist scriptures, but jiriki implies experiencing them for oneself.

However, the two ways are not to be seen as mutually exclusive, or jiriki seen as "better" than tariki. Indeed, a third way does present itself, which sees guidance from a teacher and self-practice in harmony. Eventually, the believer can continue without a teacher once the ways of practice are learned. Sometimes, each are taken to extremes and degenerate into practices which are strictly one way or the other. For example, in the attitudes of the tariki practices mentioned above in which it is believed that no other effort is required of the believer to attain the ultimate.
- source : wikipedia -



- quote -
Honen's Conceptions of
Other Power (tariki) and Self Power (jiriki)

Self power refers to the way of seeking to attain enlightenment by the power of one's own practice, while
Other power refers to relying on help received from Amida Buddha. Honen, in the Senchakushu and in other places, explained that there are four meanings to the term other power. (Todo, 120-141)

1. Self power and Other power can be used in order to explain the Gateway of the Holy Path (shodomon) and the Gateway of the Pure Land (jodomon), the former being the path for holy people who practice strictly during their lifetime and attain enlightenment before dying, the latter being the path of ordinary human beings striving for salvation after death. What is operative in the terms Holy Path and Pure Land Path is thus the realm where people attain salvation. The Holy Path is the path of the few who attain it in this life and on their own. The Pure Land Path is the path of the many who need the help of Amida Buddha to attain it after death. (SHZ. 472)

2. Other power, according to Honen, can also explain the power of Amida Buddha's Original Vows (hongan). In order to illustrate the notion of Other power, Honen used the metaphor of a boat which can bear a heavy boulder to a distant shore. He explained that we can reach the other shore after life, if we rely on Amida Buddha through the nembutsu, just as the boulder rests in the hold of the strong boat. (SHZ. 637-639, 558)

3. In Honen's view, Self power and Other power can also refer to the difference in attitude among practitioners. Other power refers to the action of the mind which believes that it will receive Amida Buddha's salvation. There are two possible hazards to this interpretation of Self power and Other power. On one hand, the person who relies too much on their own personal strength fails to be open to Amida Buddha's help, and on the other hand, the person who completely despairs of their own capacity fails to help him or herself. According to Honen, it is the person who believes in their own strength and who also puts their whole heart into their religious practices that will receive the help of Amida Buddha. As for Other power, he explained that it consisted in the earnest asking of Amida Buddha's help. (SHZ. 630-631, 684-685)

4. Self power and Other power can also be understood as two types of the nembutsu. Self power refers to the utmost personal concentration put into the recitation of the nembutsu, while Other power refers to the earnestness with which Amida Buddha's help is being asked. According to Honen, one is mistaken to believe that it is the number of times the nembutsu is recited that counts for salvation. He insisted that, even with a small number of recitations, it is the strength of one's conviction in reciting the nembutsu which is called Self power. Even with a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand or even a million recitations, it is not the impressive number but the earnestness with which one supplicates Amida Buddha for help which is called Other power. (SHZ. 811) [read Honen's rebuke of Kosai's "Single Calling" teaching]

Honen's disciples furthered their research into Self power and Other power and made a further distinction: they differentiated between the full practice of Other power and the insufficient kind of Other power. The former is the kind of Other power recitation invoking Amida Buddha's help filled with true Other power concentration. The latter is when people practice the Self power recitation with some Self power concentration.
[read Honen's own instructions of balancing faith and practice]

References:
Todo Kyoshun, Honen shonin kenkyu (Tokyo: Sankibo, 1983).
- source : jsri.jp/English/Honen/TEACHINGS -


. Saint Honen 法然上人 1133 - 1212) .

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source : shotaiji.blog.so-net

陸路(くがじ)のあゆみ難(かた)けれど 
船路(ふなじ)の旅の易(やす)きかな


nangyoo 難行 Nangyo and igyoo 易行 Igyo
difficult practise and easy practise

as related to Jiriki and Tariki.

- reference : nangyo-igyo -

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akunin 悪人 evil people (in a Buddhist concept)
zennin 善人 good people (in a Buddhist concept)



akunin koso sukuwareru 悪人こそ救われる
Because the are AKUNIN, they will be saved !

Akunin shoki setsu 悪人正機説 The Doctrine of Evil Persons as the Object of Salvation .

- reference : shinran akunin zennin-


Chiribukuro 塵袋
a dictionary from the Kamakura period, defining akunin
- reference : chiribukuro -

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eshin 回心 “change of heart” conversion of the mind
Just once, to turn away from the concept of JIRIKI
and believe in the power of TARIKI.


jinen 自然 Made to become so by itself
A term favored by Shinran having several connotations:
1) transformation by the power of true compassion,
2) natural process of a person inevitably achieving supreme enlightenment, and
3) formless Buddhahood itself.
source : livingdharma.org/Tannisho

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- - - - - H A I K U - - - - -

青き夜歎異抄読む時間かけて
aoki yoru tannishoo yomu jikan kakete

blue evening -
I take time to read
the Tannisho


阿部完市 Abe Kanichi (1928 - 2009)

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歎異抄繰るほどの罪犯しけり
石井雅子


毛虫這う歎異抄のみあればよし
辻桃子

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. Japan - Shrines and Temples - ABC .


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