Esoteric Shin Buddhism?
Posted: April 28, 2008 | Author: Doug | Filed under: Buddhism, Jodo Shinshu, Religion, Shingon, Tendai | 16 Comments »I was fortunate enough to meet* a fellow Buddhist blogger of mine over the weekend: Kyoushin from “Echoes of the Name“. He came in this week to visit Seattle, and wanted to see our Jodo Shinshu temple. Service went well** and Kyoushin had a chance to meet Wife and Baby, who was grumpy that day after missing her morning nap.
Later, after service, we had a chance to walk around Seattle and talk about all things Buddhist, particularly Jodo Shinshu. It’s great to talk with someone in person who has a similar Buddhist background, and has read similar texts and had similar experiences. It’s a rare chance to bounce ideas and thoughts off one another that you can’t do over email. One topic that came up was the esoteric nature of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.
This may sound very contradictory, but this is not the first time I’ve heard this subject discussed. In Buddhism, there are three major schools of esoteric, or Vajrayana Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhism and the Japanese schools of Shingon and Tendai (Taimitsu) Buddhism. Both approach Buddhism through a series of guided, revealed truths, which require the supervision of a well-trained monk or guru. The concept, as far as I can tell, is to not overwhelm a new student with too much information before they are mature enough to handle it.
For someone whose familiar with Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, this sounds pretty different. Afterall, Shinran and Honen taught the simple teaching that reciting the nembutsu, Amida Buddha’ Name (namu amida butsu), would allow one to be reborn in the Pure Land. They also taught that this rebirth was through Amida’s kindness, not through one’s own efforts
allowing even the worst to be reborn if they recite Amida’s name sincerely.
So, in looking at this, what’s so esoteric about Shin Buddhism? Afterall, there’s no minimum requirement, so to speak, and there are no teacher-disciple relationships, or empowerments?
I think the “esoteric” part refers not to the structure of Jodo Shinshu, but the notion of revealed truth. Jodo Shinshu looks very basic and boring on paper, but ask anyone whose followed it for a while, and it can be very moving. People speak of transformation, but can’t pin down the time when this occurred in their lives. In Jodo Shinshu doctrine, one cannot ascertain the moment they experienced shinjin (true entrusting to Amida Buddha), because it’s a moment of pure selflessness, but once it’s passed the person is said to be grasped by Amida and never let go, no matter what.
Shinran spoke of the power of Amida by saying in the Tannisho:
VI:
When we live according to the truth of “made to become so by itself,” we shall know gratitude to the Buddha and to our teachers.
And:
X:
The Master Shinran said, “In the nembutsu no selfworking is true-working; it is beyond description, explanation, and conception.”
But there’s more to this. In the excellent book on Shingon Buddhism, Kūkai and His Major Works, Prof. Hakeda describes Tantric ritual like so. Imagine an actor playing the lead role in a well-known play. If the actor has really practiced his part, and really plays is role well, he loses himself in his role. In the same way, when someone participates in a Tantric ritual, they lose identity in the role they play, becoming that person for the duration of the ritual. This is a deep oversimplification, but for those who have not yet participated in Tantra, this is a good starting point.
In the same way, when Shinran described shinjin as a “one-thought-moment of true entrusting”, I believe he meant that the mind forgets itself and becomes Amida for that moment. The petty, ego-centric self is completely absent, and one attains a certain kind of samadhi, or a deep state of mind, that goes beyond conception. However, this is nothing you can force or create. How can the ego-driven-mind create a state of egolessness? It’s something that happens outside one’s self, and therefore we say that this one-thought-moment is a gift from Amida Buddha, not something we’ve accomplished ourselves.
As Shinran points out, again in the Tannisho:
III
But the people of the world constantly say, even the evil person attains birth, how much more so the good person. Although this appears to be sound at first glance, it goes against the intention of the Primal Vow of Other Power. The reason is that since the person of selfpower, being conscious of doing good, lacks the thought of entrusting the self completely to Other Power, he or she is not the focus of the Primal Vow of Amida. But when self-power is turned over and entrusting to Other Power occurs, the person attains birth in the land of True Fulfillment.
This last point is particularly important because it helps one get beyond the ego-trap one can fall into when receiving tantric empowerments. People can get into a state of “spiritual materialism”, where they collect empowerments, attainments and encounters with gurus. Of course, this is why a good guru or teacher is needed: to help temper this ego and keep the student focused on the right path. In the same way, Jodo Shinshu constantly reminds the follower that nothing they have done has added to or taken away from this; it is all entirely through the work of Amida Buddha. It keeps one humble, rather than bragging about a (perceived) birth in the Pure Land.***
Lastly, I wanted to mention one other “esoteric” side to Jodo Shinshu. Shinran, in his Notes of Essentials of Faith Alone, described Amida Buddha as the Dharmakaya-as-Compassion. He described Amida Buddha has having no form nor color. This a different interpretation of Amida Buddha than found in previous Pure Land sects, and is much closer to what’s found in esoteric Buddhism. Shinran had been a monk trained in the Tendai sect for 20 years, and though he considered himself a failure, he was a very well-trained failure.
In Shinran’s major work, the Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, he quotes from the Flower Garland Sutra heavily, and clearly shows the influence of the earlier Hua-Yen school of Buddhism in his writings. The Japanese branch of the Hua-Yen school, the Kegon school, was absorbed by Shingon Buddhism, and likewise had a deep influence there too. Hua-Yen Buddhism, now gone, had a profound and sophisticated interpretation on interdependent-coorigination, and on the Dharmakaya-as-reality, and all of this is clearly reflected in Shinran’s writings. Amida Buddha represented to him the side of the reality that embraces and nurtures beings and sustains them in spite of their own behavior.
It’s no surprise then that Amida Buddha is represented in important Shingon and tantric mandalas; his nature goes beyond what’s in the sutras to something much deeper. This idea was imported into Tendai Buddhism early on, through monks such as Annen, and was well-established centuries later when Honen and Shinran were Tendai monks.
The real genius of Shinran though is being able to take difficult to conceive Buddhist concepts and presenting them in a very easy to understand and approachable way that anyone can take up. One does not have to understand esoteric doctrine, take up with a good teacher, or read the sutras to appreciate Amida Buddha’s kindness, but for nerds like me, it helps. The awakening that comes through Amida Buddha is something wholly outside rational thought though, and so there are limits to study too. One can only recite Amida’s name sincerely and allow things to take their course.
Namuamidabu
* – Sadly, I was not able to meet another blogger, Jeannie, a while back, but I will make it up to her another day. 
** – My neighbor, who went one time, had a bad experience with one of the congregation members who creeped him out. Also, the particularly service that day was pretty dry and boring, unlike usual. I felt really bad as he had a bad experience through no fault of his own.
*** – As Shinran reminds us in the Tannisho, “As for myself, Shinran, I do not have a single disciple. If I could make others say the nembutsu through my own devices, they would be my disciples. But how arrogant it is to claim as disciples those who live the nembutsu through the sole working of Amida’s compassion.”
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
In Buddhism, there are two major schools of esoteric, or Vajrayana Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhism and Japanese Shingon Buddhism.
This isn’t actually entirely correct and ignores the role of Tendai as an esoteric Buddhist school. (Since my own practice is derived from Tendai, I tend to think about this.)
Japanese esoteric Buddhism, mikkyo, has two primary schools: Shingon and Tendai. It isn’t all Shingon.
Tendai’s esoteric Buddhism, taimitsu, shares with Shingon but is its own formulation of influences from Shingon but also the development of the materials that Ennin brought back from China a couple of generations after Saicho, Dengyo Daishi, who founded Tendai.
Shugendo practices in Japan, which have a heavy esoteric component, draw from either Tendai or Shingon, depending on the group and its history, as well.
Outside of Japan, there was esoteric Buddhist content in Korean Buddhism, which drew from China, which is the immediate source of Saicho and Kukai’s esoteric Buddhism as well. China received it from India.
In the centuries *after* its transmission to China, esoteric Buddhism became prominent in Tibet. They later missionized to Mongolia, where it also entered China in the Tibetan form but this was after it had effectively died out in China from its earlier prominence.
See http://www.tendai-lotus.org/mikkyo.html for a modern explanation of the Tendai role.
And, as a third comment, there was heavy Pure Land influence in both Tendai and Shingon. There is a book on Kakuban, the famous Shingon priest, that translates his Pure Land writings. Dr. Abe also did a work on Kakuban.
Within Tendai practice, nembutsu chanting had a long role. Remember that the founders of most of the later Japanese sects were originally Tendai priests, including the Pure Land schools.
There were many Shingon and Tendai practitioners that focused on Pure Land practices and thought, enough to cause concern at various points in history. My exposure to the nembutsu has been in the context of Tendai.
James Sanford wrote an article, reprinted in Dr. Richard Payne’s collection “Tantric Buddhism in East Asia” (http://www.amazon.com/Tantric-Buddhism-East-Richard-Payne/dp/0861714873), which discusses the esoteric Nembutsu and its understanding within Shingon and influence on later Pure Land schools.
“Sadly, I was not able to meet another blogger, Jeannie, a while back, but I will make it up to her another day.”
It is the genius of Shinran he was able to find a way to produce esoteric results with a more open and egalitarian means of teaching. Good post Gerald. I never thought of it that way.
Al: Thanks for the clarification. I fixed the blog to mention three esoteric schools, and did a little homework on the side.
P.S. I’ve also marked the Dr. Payne book on my Wishlist on Amazon as I enjoy other books he’s published.
Jeannie:
Back at you.
Erg: For the longest time, neither did I.
But the more I explore Shinran’s thought, the more sense it makes. It doesn’t detract from the everyday teaching of Jodo Shinshu, but helps put some meat on it, in my opinion. 
I’ve several comments. The first is quite simple; this is relatively impenetrable to the outsider. Hopefully your first response would be “but I covered that in…” a post in your blog. If so, I’d hope to see links to it somewhere in the article. As a poet I saw two writers, one quite poetic (though that’s not quite the word, it doesn’t exist in English) and the other quite scholarly. Conceivably each of your writers needs their own platform. And thirdly–this is the sort of thing where I’d like to see interlinked knowledge somehow, not on wikipedia (the ‘ring’ concept of interlinked sites I’ve always found pretty clumsy as well), particularly between disciplines (you may well call it synergy, I call it similarity in cognitive patterning). I enjoyed this article, although I can’t promise to ever read it again. My approach is, well, rather different in a great many ways–because I never could manage to conform.
Again, thank you for your blog entry/article.
–Glenn
As a poet I saw two writers, one quite poetic (though that’s not quite the word, it doesn’t exist in English) and the other quite scholarly. Conceivably each of your writers needs their own platform.
Um, no.
There is only one writer, thanks. The topic in question is intended for a Buddhist, namely a Pure Land Buddhist audience, as evinced in other writings, and the overall “feel” of the blog, so that’s why the topic may not be readily clear. How the blog post even managed to make the frontpage of WordPress for today is beyond me though. :p
Thanks and welcome to the L8B.
“How the blog post even managed to make the frontpage of WordPress for today is beyond me though.”
Fame at last!!
<”The topic in question is intended for a Buddhist, namely a Pure Land Buddhist audience…”
Although I tend to identify as a Zen Buddhist, I have a very long background in Ch’an Buddhism. I truly enjoy your Pure Land posts, Gerald. Thank you for sharing your journey with me.
Hi Gerald:
I found this posting to be very interesting. I think the metaphor of Kabuki used to describe tantric ritual is apt. This reminds me of Aristotle’s notion that habit precedes understanding. Sometimes by acting “as if” we eventually ingrain in ourselves certain patterns of behavior and thinking that change us profoundly. We may not completely understand them at first but later time brings perspective. If we become attuned to the nembutsu in our lives and depend on Amida’s vow it can transform us even before we totally understand it. That’s what I’m hoping anyway . . .
Thank you. I’ve been trying to master the art of unwordy words for a few years and must continue. zen I’d not call it, but then I’d prefer not to name it at all. So obliqueness if not impenetrability could conceivably be a shared trait between us.
–anyway–
Glenn
8]
Jeannie: Thanks much, as always.
Dave F: Yeah a huge, huge part of Buddhism is just classic mind training. Train your mind enough with wholesome habits, and eventually you reach critical mass and have those habits ingrained.
Oregonnerd: My wife tells me all the time I need to work on being less wordy, so I know your pain.
Hi Doug I’ve been meaning to respond to this ever since you wrote it and now it’s a year later!
What I was trying to say in the fascinating discussion we had when we met was not that Shin is ‘esoteric’ but rather that it has elements that seem like a kind of ‘exoteric tantra’.
You covered one part of this when you wrote about tantric ritual. I think that for many Shin followers the Dharmakara-Amida narrative, especially as embodied in chanting Sanbutsge and Juseige, plays a similar role.
The other thing I had in mind was Shinran’s fondness for this imagery:
“Obstructions of karmic evil turn into virtues;
It is like the relation of ice and water:
The more the ice, the more the water;
The more the obstructions, the more the virtues.”
This seems very similar to the tantric saying “‘When there is more wood (passions) there is more fire” although Shin followers don’t deliberately add wood to the fire … just experience Amida’s light melting the ice of karma in daily life.
I guess what I was getting at is that Shin is a lot like tantra at times even though devotees don’t need to see or know that. In that sense it has esoteric dimensions but is not esoteric in terms of the practitioner’s path.
Wow, I kind of forgot all about this post (though it’s popular with spam bots, no clue why). A lots changed for me since I wrote the silly thing. Anyways, I think you’re right in that I don’t want to play up the “esoteric” side of things too much.
Interestingly though, as i study Shingon, I see lots of Shin elements in it, or is it the other way around?
Namely the notion of “conferring” power upon a disciple is the main thing. In my “intro to shingon” post written a few months ago, I mentioned that the idea in Shingon is through devotion to a deity, that deity confers their wisdom or attributes to the disciple, and in a similar way, the disciple of Amida is “granted” his karmic benefits, and extinction of ignorance, so they’re similar in that regard.
All the rituals, mantras and such, however are most definitely not in Shin Buddhism.
Anyways, it was a fun chat, and I appreciate your input on the subject!
I don’t think that what you wrote was silly. It was more that I wanted to add in a bit of the conversation that got left out.
Take care! K
I have to give this blog post a 5 out of 5 stars. A great job showing the transformative power of the Jodo Shinshu path.
gassho
-juan