The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of MéijiGriffis, William Elliot
Religion
The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji
Griffis, William Elliot
Japan -- Religion
This path-finder to the Pure Land, who developed a special doctrine of
salvation, is best known by his posthumous title of Hō-nen. During
his lifetime he was very famous and became the spiritual preceptor of
three Mikados. After his death his biography was compiled in forty-eight
volumes by imperial order, and later, three other emperors copied or
republished it. In the history of Japan this sect has been one of the
most influential, especially with the imperial and shōgunal families.
In Kiōto the magnificent temples and monasteries of Chiōn-in, and
in Tōkiō Zō-jō-ji, are the chief seats of the two principal
divisions of this sect. The gorgeous mausoleums,--well known to every
foreign tourist,--at Shiba and Uyéno in Tōkiō, and the clustered
and matchless splendors of Nikkō, belong to this sect, which has been
under the patronage of the illustrious line of the Tokugawa,[5] while
its temples and shrines are numbered by many thousands.
The doctrine of the Jō-dō, or the Pure Land Sect, is easily
discerned. One of Buddha's disciples said, that in the teachings of the
Master there are two divisions or vehicles. In the Maha-yana also there
are two gates; the Holy path, and the Pure Land. The Smaller Vehicle is
the doctrine by which the immediate disciples of Buddha and those for
five hundred years succeeding, practised the various virtues and
discipline. The gateway of the Maha-yana is also the doctrine, by which
in addition to the trainings mentioned, there are also understood the
three virtues of spiritual body, wisdom and deliverance. The man who is
able successfully to complete this course of discipline and practice is
no ordinary person, but is supposed to possess merit produced from good
actions performed in a former state of existence. The doctrine by which
man may do so, is called the gate of the Holy Path.
During the fifteen hundred years after Buddha there were from time to
time, such personages in the world, who attained the end of the Holy
Path; but in these latter days people are more insincere, covetous and
contentious, and the discipline is too hard for degenerate times and
men. The three trainings already spoken of are the correct causes of
deliverance; but if people think them as useless as last year's almanac,
when can they complete their deliverance? Hō-nen, deeply meditating
on this, shut up the gate of the Holy Path and opened that of the Pure
Land; for in the former the effective deliverance is expected in this
world by the three trainings of morality, thought and learning, but in
the latter the great fruit of going to be born in the Pure Land after
death, is expected through the sole practice of repeating Buddha's name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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