Introducing Shoku and Seizen Buddhism

In Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, the two main figures who are best known are Honen, who began the whole movement, and Shinran, one of his disciples who started Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, the sect I formerly followed. However, Honen had a number of other influential disciples who added to the collective wisdom that is Pure Land Buddhism, so I wanted to call out another person: Shōkū (1177-1247).

Shoku began studying with Honen at the age of 14 and stayed with him 23 years. Unlike other disciples who were executed or exiled for their teachings, Shoku was left to stay in Kyoto because of his close association with the Tendai sect, which was closely tied with the state at the time.* Shoku taught an approach to Pure Land that more closely matched Tendai and Shingon doctrine, while other disciples advocated a total break from old teachings. A few disciples even went around burning and destroying artwork not related to Pure Land, despite Honen’s admonitions to respect other Buddhist sects.

Shoku’s “Letter on the Three Minds” of a Pure Land follower really struck me recently as I read it. I have heard similar teachings expressed in the past, but somehow Shoku explained it in a way that made total sense to me. That was about a week ago I think, but I wanted to highlight a couple points he wrote:

When a person possesses the Three Minds (sanjin) which the Original Vow calls for, his or her Nenbutsu repetitions guarantee all benefits of someone who is embraced by Amida. To explain more fully what I mean by Amida’s embrace, this relation can be spoken of as intimate, close, and superior.

…By close karmic relations (gen-en), I mean that when this intimacy between us and Amida has reached its height, not only does he know all about our actions, words and thoughts, but we come to know the significance of his actions, words and thoughts on our behalf. So if we long to see him, he actually appears at our side in a dream or at life’s last hour…

This letter as a whole is succinct, but deftly explains the Pure Land path to me: a life of piety, gratitude and of sincere practice.

Shoku also wrote a lot of commentary on the wonderful Taima Mandala image, which is a fascinating topic in its own right. I should write on that too, since I have seen the Mandala or at least a copy of it on my last trip to Japan.

Lastly, Shoku’s personal life reflects his sincere beliefs. He would recite the nembutsu (Amida Buddha’s name) 60,000 times per day,** while engaging in other ascetic practices. I admire his devotion and his sincerity in following the Buddhist path. It’s one thing to preach good words, but another to practice them yourself. I’m still working on that part.

Finally, Shoku established a branch of Jodo Shu Buddhism called the Seizan (西山宗), which is nowadays difficult to distinguish from the main Chinzei branch, but his legacy lives on.

So, thanks Shoku for all your hard work!

Namuamidabu

P.S. Thanks to Mr. Yūki at Eikandō Temple for allowing me to use this image. ありがとうございます！

* – Sadly, Tendai Buddhism, which interests me much, has had a sordid history of power and politics that tarnishes its otherwise fascinating history. Today’s Tendai Buddhism is not what we see from then, which is a relief, and even with all the corruption issues, there were still some very powerful teachers and teachings throughout its history. I like to think that there were a lot of sincere monks at Mt. Hiei who just didn’t stand out enough in history to be recognized. This seems to be the case with other major Buddhist monastic institutions where good sincere monks live along side corrupt or lazy ones.

** – Still working on the 1080 I recite nightly. Definitely requires some diligence, but so far so good.