Interfaith Theologian

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Jodo Shinshu: The Gateway from Christianity into Buddhism


When Christianity first appeared on the Japanese mainland in the 16th century, it took a little while for Francis Xavier to understand why the Japanese people of Kyushu (the Southern island in the Japanese mainland) were so open to the foreign religion and its god. While supernaturalists might disagree, the primary reason was not the miraculous nature of the message or God’s Holy Spirit moving over the masses. There were first  and foremost more practical explanations. The daimyo (warlord) in the South named Sumitada was in desperate need of defending his lands, so he found himself making deals with Portuguese merchants for weapons to use against other enemy daimyos. This period of time was known as Sengoku (a time of internal conflict among warring territories), and so out of cultural politeness, the daimyo gave the Portuguese missionaries a stage on which to speak. Both were using the other to get an advantage. But as time wore on, it became apparent to Xavier that much of the Jesuits’ success had to do with the confusion of the Dainicchi he preached. Dainicchi was the word that Francis was given as a suitable translation by a recent Christian Japanese convert named Anjiro for the Christian god, not knowing that the same word was already part of the canon in Shingon Buddhism for Buddha. Furthermore, it was assumed that Francis, who had come from India, was a native of the land of Shakyamuni, i.e., from India, the place from which the historical Guatama Buddha arose. The Japanese, who had little scruples about blending their own Shintoism with Buddhism simply supposed that Jesus was just another piece of a very large Buddhist worldview, and so their curiosity was often misinterpreted as religious zeal.  

Despite where scholars like Harold Bloom may object for finding common ground between Shin Buddhism and Christianity, it can be forgiven if a person who is of Christian background sees striking similarities between Amida Buddha, the worshipful being in Shin Buddhism, which is the largest sect of Japanese Buddhism today, and the Evangelical Protestant model of Jesus as the pathway and channel of salvation. This has been a touchstone between the two religions for the past 150 years, and has allowed for a somewhat non-confrontational introduction of Buddhism into American culture, notably the Buddhist Church of America, which represents the Nishi Hongwaji-ha school of Jodo Shinshu and is the largest, though most invisible, Buddhist sect in the United States.

When one takes the time to read the more important writings of Shin Buddhists, especially in the Jodo Shinshu sect where a clear distinction is made between self-power (the transient center of self-awakening) and other-power (the intransient center of self-awakening) one is reminded that the oft overemphasis on the self in no way represents the entire tapestry of Buddhism thought, life, and practice. Jodo Shinshu’s uniqueness is perhaps the reason why Christians have felt attracted and drawn to its precepts and energies, despite the fact that not many have sought conversion. Indeed, most self-enlightening forms of Buddhism are thought to be so radically different than Christianity, that for those converting, there is often a clear break with one’s past life in the Church. Prayer is replaced by Meditation. Intercession is replaced by self-realization. Repentance and reconciliation are replaced by a self-awareness of one’s imperfections for the purpose of self-enhancement. God is replaced, at least in practical terms, by the self.

This is not the case in Jodo Shinshu, at least historically, although there has been a movement, especially since the Dobokai Schism, to demythologize the more supernaturalistic elements of Amida’s intercessory action (it should be mentioned that in the larger framework of Mahayana Buddhist, the same could be said for many of the ancient scriptures in the Tibetan and Chinese traditions that speak of gods, demons, and otherworldly locations that have suffered demythologization at the hands of Westerner practitioners and reformers). Despite this, Jodo Shinshu still remains unique in that one may sum up its dimensionality as an ideology and practice that sees all religious duty through the filter of gratefulness. When practicing Jodo Shinshu Buddhists speak today, they supplant meditation for gratefulness. While enlightenment is still found in the pulse of Jodo Shinshu, self-awareness is not as important as it is in other sects. It is thought that Amida spent five kalpas (very long periods of time) to achieve enlightenment. So Jodo Shinshu Buddhists, much like their Western religious counterparts, do not think that perfect enlightenment is achievable in this space-time continuum.

It’s not until one gets into the writings of Jodo Shinshu thinkers and monshu that one truly appreciates the similarities found between the two religions. And in some cases, the Japanese thinkers surpass the channels of religious experience asserted by their Christian counterparts by presenting a more open and welcoming convocation. Let me end with one example where Jodo Shinshu goes beyond the promise of Christian salvation.

Perhaps one of the largest theological battles in Christianity consists between whether one is saved through Jesus or through some variation of Jesus and his own righteous works. This leads to the question of whether one remains in the faith or one can lose his salvation. Nobody has solved these questions, and depending upon your denomination, say, e.g., Assemblies of God vs. Presbyterian, the answer is likely different. When I was in a non-denominational church, I remember a conversation with a Calvinist who informed me that despite what I thought I had received in my “born again” experience, if I had backslidden (showing evidence of moral degradation), there was no way I could have ever received the salvation of Christ or that my confession of faith was in any way meaningful.

The Tannisho, a 13th century text that confronts the divergences in the sect only twenty years after the passing of its founder, Shinran Shonin, presents Amida as the Jesus that Christianity wants, but fails to give us: one who not only unconditionally accepts the validity of our antinomian confession of faith, but requires it, unlike the experience of Christian faith, in which confessionalism is never too far isolated from works righteousness, both in the scriptures and in the church's ritualism and emphasis on moral conduct becoming of the Christian. The salvation of Amida is wholly of Amida's own doing (tariki, other-power), a grace which Yuenbo, the writer of the Tannisho, deliberately goes out of his way to emphasize by continually providing illustrations how intellect, status, and one’s moral compass are no obstacle to Amida’s salvation--and not simply in the invitation but also in the keeping of oneself in the safeguard of Amida. One can infer that this is because Jodo Shinshu rejects the notion of perfectionism or perfect enlightenment (samyaksambodhi) as a possibility in this life. Jodo Shinshu in fact comes forward at a time in feudal Japan when corruption in Buddhism is thick and when sohei (warrior monks) of the Tendai school roamed the land like Christian crusaders, punishing enemies who disagreed with their schools principles.

This is just one, but perhaps the most important, way in which Jodo Shinshu inteprets salvation life. The call to all is truly a call to all and sweeps up all people despite their resistance or acceptance. The Tannisho is also very clear that is no good work worthy of one’s salvation or evil work worthy of damnation. It should be said that Jodo Shinshu, while a much more simple message, comes out of sutras that are very much mixed with other Buddhist sects, so that the translation of these ideas remain much a part of the identity of the sect without any larger claim on the tradition as a whole, but there is nothing like it in Christianity, for there is simply no antinomianistic faith that exists outside of some intimated works righteousness model, whether that be as a means of justification or as a manifestation of sanctification. And it should be said that even in the strictest of confessional models, the moral component of one’s fruit (or behavior) is never far behind. It remains a stumblingblock for so many who find themselves psychologically crushed under the weight of certain pretexts and conditions that come from within the Christian tradition, that not only model moral behavior for us as evidence of our faith, but place incredible pressure on how we should be growing in Christ. It’s enough to make one ask when one is not growing: what’s God’s part in all of this?

Jodo Shinshu has an answer:  It’s all God’s part.
 
 
samyaksaṃbodhily goes out of his way to emphasize by continually providing illustrations how intellect, status, and one's moral compass are no obstacle to Amida's salvation, not simply in the invitation but more so in the keeping of oneself. One can infer that this is because Jodo Shinshu (The True Pure Land) rejects the notion of perfectionism or perfect enlightenment (samyaksaṃbodhi) as a reality in this life.

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