Whose Concept is “The Evil Person is the True Object?

Recently, some scholars have argued that the concept of “the evil person is the true object (of Amida Buddha’s salvation)” did not originate with the Venerable Master and that it can be found in his teacher, Master Honen’s teaching. This position is based on a work titled, Daigo-bon Honen Shonin Denki (The Daigo Biography of Master Honen), which was discovered in Daigo Sambo Temple in Kyoto during the early part of this century. In that work, there is a passage that clearly parallels the wording of Article Three of the Tannisho:

There is an oral tradition that a good person will be born in the Pure Land so how much more so will an evil person.

At first there was some doubt about the authenticity of the above passage. Later studies have, however, confirmed that it does reflect Master Honen’s thinking. The opinion that the passage in Article Three of the Tannisho, “Since even a good person can be born in the Pure Land, how much more so will an evil person,” was not first expressed by the Venerable Master but rather by Master Honen, therefore became stronger.

Regarding this, the traditional Jodo-Shinshu position is that Articles One through Ten of the Tannisho are all words that the author, supposedly Yuien-bo, heard directly from the Venerable Master. As such, most of these articles end with, “... to un nun.” This is rendered in the Ryukoku University translation of the Tannisho as, “Thus it was said.”

Articles Three and Ten, however, end with, “... to ose sorai ki,” which is rendered in the Ryukoku University translation as, “Thus the Master said.”

Article Ten contains the well-known phrase, “The logic of non-logic” (mugi wo motte gi to su) which is also found among the words attributed to Master Honen. Since there are many places where the Venerable Master quotes Master Honen, the deduction that the phrase, “...to ose sorai ki” refers to the words that the Venerable Master heard from Master Honen may very well be correct. Further, Master Kakunnyo, the Venerable Master’s great grandson, in his Kudensho (On the Oral Tradition), wrote:

The Venerable Master (Shinran) of the Hongwanji received the teaching from the “revered predecessor” of Kurodani (Master Honen) and told Master Nyoshin that people generally believe that since even an evil person will be born in the Pure Land, how much more so will a good person. But this attitude opposes the general intent of Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow, and specifically, opposes the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. ... Accordingly, since even a good person can be born in the Pure Land, then why wouldn’t the “true object” (shoki), namely, an evil person, be born there? That’s why we can say that since even a good person will be born in the Pure Land, how much more so will an evil person.