Shinran
Shinran was a key Japanese Buddhist figure of the Kamakura Period who is regarded as the founder of the Jōdo Shinshū school of Japanese Buddhism. A pupil of Hōnen, the founder of the Japanese Pure Land movement, Shinran articulated a distinctive Pure Land vision that emphasized faith and absolute reliance on Amida Buddha’s other-power.
While Shinran trained as a Tendai monk on Mount Hiei, he lived much of his life as a married Buddhist teacher unlike other Kamakura Buddhist reformers, and he described himself as "neither monk nor layman". Shinran's major work, the Kyōgyōshinshō, is a systematic exposition and defense of Pure Land doctrine. Shinran taught that liberation arises from the entrusting mind awakened through Amida's compassionate power, not from any merit or power of one's own. His interpretation profoundly reshaped the course of Japanese Buddhism and continues to influence East Asian religious thought.
Names
Shinran's birthname was Matsuwakamaro. In accordance with Japanese customs, he has also gone by other names, including Han'en, Shakkū and Zenshin, and then finally Shinran, which was derived by combining the names of Seshin and Donran. His posthumous title was Kenshin Daishi.For a while, Shinran also went by the name Fujii Yoshizane. After he was disrobed, he called himself Gutoku Shinran, in a self-deprecating manner. Gutoku means "Bald Fool", to denote his status as "neither a monk, nor a layperson".
Biography
Youth and monastic life
Shinran was born in Hino on May 21, 1173, to Lord Hino Arinori and Lady Arinori. Shinran was born to the Hino family, a lesser branch of the Fujiwara clan which had lost its rank after a scandal. The family was known for its scholars and had produced many generations of civil servants.Shinran's birth name was Matsuwakamaro. Early in Shinran's life his father died and so Shinran was educated by his uncle Hino Munenari. He was also cared for by his other uncle Hino Noritsuna. Some sources also indicate that Shinran's mother died when he was young, but these sources have not been verified. Modern historians contest the identity and date of the death of Shinran's parents, with some suggesting he ordained alongside his father due to instability from the Genpei War.
Influenced by the tumultuous events of the time such as epidemics and famines, many noble families turned to religious vocations during this era. Thus, Hino Arinori's children all eventually entered monasticism. Shinran himself was ordained as a monk in 1181 under the Tendai prelate Jien when he was nine years old. He received the Buddhist name Han'en. Traditional sources state that Shinran had a wish to enter the monkhood himself, influenced by the death of his parents or by his mother's dying wish.
Shinran lived as a monk on Enryakuji, Mount Hiei, for the next 20 years of his life. Letters between his wife and daughter indicate that Shinran's status was that of a modest dōsō. As a monk assigned to the jōgyōdō, Shinran would have specialized in Buddhist liturgy and plainsong centered on Amida Buddha, which included a practice then known as “uninterrupted nembutsu” and daily ritual recitation of the Amitābha Sūtra. This experience likely influenced his love for Buddhist hymns. Aside from this, historians also note that Shinran was part of the Tendai lineage of Genshin. Thus, according to Jérôme Ducor, it is likely that Shinran practiced Genshin's Pure Land methods as taught in his Ōjōyōshū. Apart from this, little is known of Shinran's life on Mt. Hiei. There are many hagiographical accounts of this period which exalt Shinran's status but little of this has been historically verified.
Disciple of Hōnen
At a certain point in his career, Shinran became dissatisfied with his spiritual life. According to various accounts, Shinran was frustrated with his own spiritual failures and feared being unable to attain enlightenment. As such, he decided to go on retreat at Rokkaku-dō temple in 1201. There, while engaged in intense practice, he experienced a vision of Avalokiteśvara appearing as Prince Shōtoku, directing Shinran to the Pure Land teacher Hōnen.In 1201, Shinran met Hōnen at his hermitage of Yoshimizu, near the capital Kyōto and quickly became his disciple, receiving a new name, "Shakkū". During his first year under Hōnen's guidance, Shinran abandoned the traditional Tendai Pure Land practices and adopted Hōnen's teaching which focused solely on reciting the nembutsu, joining his new growing movement. He remarks on this event in his Kyōgyōshinshō, where he simply writes: "But I, Gutoku Shinran, in the year 1201, abandoned the difficult practices and took refuge in the Original Vow."
Shinran's precise status amongst Hōnen's followers is unclear as in the Seven Article Pledge, signed by Hōnen's followers in 1204, Shinran's signature appears near the middle, among less-intimate disciples. According to Ducor, it is possible that during the half-dozen years he studied with Hōnen, Shinran lodged with some of his fellow disciples in the capital. Also during this time, Shinran worked to copy and collate the works of the Pure Land tradition of Shandao. Furthermore, though the two only knew each other for a few years, Hōnen entrusted Shinran with a copy of his Senchakushū in 1205 and allowed him to copy it, along with a portrait of Hōnen. This privilege was only granted to a few of Hōnen's disciples and had great significance, amounting to a master's recognition of a disciple as a spiritual heir. Hōnen also gave Shinran a new name at this time, Zenshin.
During his time in Kyōto, Shinran may have also gotten married, giving back his monastic vows of celibacy. The details of this marriage is the subject of much debate and discussion, with some scholars questioning whether the marriage occurred at this time or after Shinran's exile. According to traditional sources, both Shinran and his wife are said to have had spiritual dreams foretelling of their future marriage. Shinran's wife became known as Eshinni. She was a daughter of a civil servant appointed by the key Hōnen supporter Fujiwara no Kanezane, and likely a follower of Hōnen herself. Since her name contains the same character that Shinran's does, it is likely that she received this name on being married to Shinran. According to Ducor, this suggests that the marriage was endorsed by Hōnen. Whenever the marriage occurred, it significantly changed Shinran's status to that of a shami, an ordained cleric who retained the external appearance of a monastic while not following all traditional monastic rules.
Shinran may also have had another wife named Tamahi, a daughter of Kujo Kanezane, who stayed in Kyōto after his exile. Tamahi may have been Shinran's first marriage according to scholars like Michael Conway.
Life in the provinces
In 1207, retired emperor Go-Toba issued a ban of Hōnen's nembutsu community. This ban followed an incident where two of Hōnen's followers aided the conversion of two noble court ladies, and were then accused of instigating sexual liaisons with them. These two monks were subsequently executed. Hōnen and seven of his disciples, including Shinran, were all defrocked and exiled to different provinces. Shinran was sent to Echigo for five years. Master and disciple would never meet again. Hōnen would die later in Kyōto in 1212. In spite of this, Shinran saw the exile as an opportunity to spread the teachings, writing "If I did not go into exile, how would the beings in the remote places be saved?".While in exile, Shinran and his wife Eshinni received a ration of rice and salt that lasted one year. Furthermore, his uncle had previously been appointed as vice-prefect of Echigo. Eshinni's father had also been prefect in that province, and her family owned land there. Thus, the couple had connections in Echigo that provided some reprieve during the exile. While in Echigo, the couple also had at least six children, three boys and three girls.
Five years after being exiled in Echigo, in 1211, Shinran and all the exiles were granted amnesty and Hōnen returned to Kyōto. However, Shinran chose not to return to Kyoto at that time, staying two more years in Echigo. Afterwards, Shinran left for the province of Hitachi, a small area in Kantō just north of modern Tōkyō. Shinran was likely following Hōnen's wishes, who had asked his disciples not to all meet up after his death, fearing succession disputes. He also may have wished to be closer to the new booming capital at Kamakura.
During his move, Shinran began an extensive recitation of the three Pure Land sutras, seeking to recite them over a thousand times. However, after a few days of this practice, he began to question the value of this effort. He would later write that during this time he thought the following:
If I am convinced that the true tribute to the benevolence of the Buddha is to have faith myself and to teach others to have faith, what do I lack beside his name so that I must absolutely read the sūtras? Having thought in this way, I stopped reading them.This was a significant turn in Shinran's religious life, and from now on he would focus exclusively on faith in the nembutsu as well as on spreading the Pure Land teachings, abandoning other more complex and difficult Buddhist practices. It was also after this event that he adopted the name Shinran as well as Gutoku, coming to understand himself as "neither monk nor layman", but as a figure that transcends such distinctions while maintaining elements of both.
For twenty years, Shinran remained in the Kantō region preaching the Pure Land teachings. He mostly lived in the village of Inada during this time, attracting many followers from all social ranks, especially lower classes like farmers, fishermen and warriors. He did not establish a temple or an official sect of Buddhism. Instead, Shinran's followers met, studied with him, and then returned to their communities, creating informal groups called montos. These groups met in dōjōs, usually small buildings, often in private residences turned into chapels. They met on the 25th of each month, recited the nembutsu and listened to sermons or sutras. They used vertical scrolls with the nembutsu as their main object of worship. Often the calligraphy on these scrolls would be from Shinran himself. Shinran kept in touch with his followers through letters, many of which survive. Around eighty major disciples are known from the sources. Some of the most important communities include those of Shimbutsu, of his son-in-law Kenchi in Takada, the congregation founded by Shōshin in Yokosone, and Shinkai's in Kashima.