A Portrait of Shinran: As Presented in Kakunyo's Three Classical Collections. Volume 3: Gaijasho

Introducing our series Shin Buddhism was informally introduced to the West at the 1893 Chicago World’s Parliament of Religion when a few copies of a small book were passed out to the audience. The book was called Skeleton of a Philosophy of Religion and it was written by Kiyozawa Manshi, 1863–1903. Though he had yet to make a name for himself, Kiyozawa is now regarded as one of the leading religious philosophers of the Meiji period. Kiyozawa was also an ordained Buddhist priest of our denomination, the Shinshū Ōtani-ha, popularly known as the Higashi Honganji, and later became the founding president of their new Shin Buddhist college in Tokyo, called Shinshū Daigaku. The present SCA series takes up his spirit of introducing Shin Buddhism to the West.

Introducing our Founder With roots that go back to twelfth century Japan Shin Buddhism grew out of the spiritual search of Shinran, 1173–1263. Shinran was a brilliant student of Buddhism yet he could not find any way to save himself. He was fortunate to meet with an equally brilliant teacher named Hōnen who showed him the way. Simply chant the Buddha Name, Namu Amida Butsu. Through faith a person who realizes they have no especially redeeming side to them can still find a way to peace and happiness within. Even though Shinran experienced long periods of hardships he accepted them as part of his destiny to spread Buddhism among the ordinary people. Even today his philosophy of religious faith has the power to move people caught in the turmoil of the modern world. Anyone interested in learning more about his life and thought will surely find something for them in the books in our series.

Introducing the present volume The present work, Gaijashō, the last of three collections in A Portrait of Shinran, was composed in either 1336 or 1337. In 1336, the Honganji in Kyoto where Kakunyo resided was burnt down by invading armies. In that year, Ashikaga Takauji established himself as first shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate in Kyoto. Kakunyo was forced to remove to the Kuonji in Nishiyama, southwest of Kyoto. In light of these circumstances, some scholars doubt whether it was possible for him to compose the Gaijashō at this time. In the same year 1336, Bukkōji Ryōgen also died at the hands of bandits as he made his way home to Kyoto. Ryōgen’s death upset the status of all Shinshū temples belonging to the Bukkōji branch then the largest of all Shinshū temple systems. By contrast, the Honganji branch was a minor one under the umbrella of the Tendai school. All the same, Kakunyo’s Gaijashō opens with criticism directed at the practices of the dominant Bukkōji branch. By such documents, Kakunyo played an important role by laying down the guidelines of Shinran’s teaching that helped to ensure the steady growth of the Honganji branch in the future. One hundred some years later, under the leadership of Rennyo, eighth leader of Honganji, a shift in the political situation would force almost all Bukkōji temples in Kyoto to recapitulate and switch allegiance to the Honganji. While Rennyo is unilaterally praised for making the Honganji a huge institution in Japan, it is Kakunyo who took the helm to deftly guide the still fragile Honganji branch through a treacherous period of Japanese politics to produce early works that helped to define the Honganji tradition.

Our dream Our immediate goal: to introduce Shin Buddhist thought to the Western mind by this digital book series. Our long-range goal is to create the conditions to nurture our own native Western forms of Shin Buddhism.