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nembutsu.info
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The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting
Edited by Alfred Bloom, Foreword by Ruben Habito
World Wisdom, Bloomington, Indiana, 2007
Contemplation of the Nembutsu opens our spiritual eyes to all-embracing reality which surrounds, permeates and is one with our limited fragment of passionate life.' Alfred Bloom, The Essential Shinran, p183.
Another wonderful idea from Professor Bloom! The concept of this book - the teachings of Shinran abstracted from his works and arranged by topic - excited me when I first heard of it, and reading it has been as satisfying as I had hoped.
'The Collected Works of Shinran', translated and published under the auspices of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha has been available since 1997 and brings together all of Shinran's writings plus 'Tannisho' attributed to Yuien-bo and 'The Essentials of Faith Alone' by Seikaku. It is important reading for all Jodo Shinshu followers. However, no less today than in Shinran's time, his major work, Kyogyoshinsho (A Collection of Passages Revealing the True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way) is a difficult work to digest, despite being translated into entirely readable English from its original classical Chinese (a language entirely opaque to all but a tiny elite in Shinran's time and of course accessible only to suitably prepared scholars today). The structure of this work - Shinran's words are interspersed between quotes from the Sutras and the teachings of the Pure Land Masters - demands close attention to follow what Shinran is teaching. Also, while I think one must read the Sutras to appreciate the authentic taste of the Dharma, it takes time and effort to learn how to appreciate and understand them. This effort is worth making, but a person new to the Pure Land teachings needs in the first instance to find out what the teachings are in as clear a way as possible.
To this end Professor Bloom has structured this book carefully. There is an introductory chapter which is a narrative of Shinran's life and legacy. The next chapter 'What do we know of Shinran in the ancient sources?' brings together material from the letters of Esshin-ni, Shinran's wife, Kakunyo's Godensho (the earliest biography of Shinran) and other sources to give the reader as far as it can be done, a real feel for who Shinran was. This leads naturally on to the heart of the book, 'Shinran Interprets Pure Land Teaching.'
It is in this long third chapter that Professor Bloom shows the depth of his scholarship and of his insight into the teachings of Shinran. He begins with 'Shinran's Self-understanding: The Human Condition'. This is the logical place to start, as an understanding of one's self and of the human condition is the sine qua non of any serious spiritual journey. That Professor Bloom begins his presentation of Shinran's teachings - his spiritual journey - here is indicative of the author's spiritual insight and also of his serious didactic intent. What must follow a profound and sincere insight into the limitations of one's own nature and of the frailty and fleetingness of human existence is either despair, or, if one encounters the Pure Land teachings - as Shinran did by meeting his teacher Honen Shonin - a relinquishment of ego driven striving leading to faith in Amida's saving grace. Therefore the next section is 'Shinran's Experience of True Entrusting (Shinjin)'. As well leading the reader through the teachings in an appropriate sequence the very title of this section serves a didactic end, introducing the reader to the word or words for the core experience of the Jodo Shinshu way. I continue to waver on what to do with the word shinjin, and shouldn't be translated. In this book the quotations of Shinran's works use shinjin while the author likes to use 'true entrusting'.
Following on from this, Professor Bloom takes the reader through the breadth and depth of Shinran's teachings, from the beginning of insight to 'The Goal of Religion (Genso Eko)' - our return to this world from the Pure Land to save others, and finally to 'The Attainment of Nirvana (Buddhahood)'. For ease of reference each excerpt of Shinran's writings is numbered and has a short title telling the reader what it is about. Interspersed between the quotations are explanatory and contextualizing notes by the author that in themselves amount to a course in the understanding of the Jodo Shinshu teachings. There is a comprehensive glossary and an index showing where to find the selected passages in Shinran's works.
This book then is on the surface very simple and is very easy to read, but it is actually extremely sophisticated in its construction. I commend it to all those with a serious interest in the Pure Land teachings, but it will also be of great value to students of Japanese culture and religion who may not have a specific interest in Buddhism.