I cannot help but believe that Master Rennyo’s wholehearted and profound study during what is refered to as his “room-living” (heya-sumi) period, when he did not have much authority or responsibility, was solely because of his joy in being in the embrace of Amida Buddha’s Great Compassion—because of the sense of mission that he felt precisely because of a “turning of the mind” experience.

Those who say Master Rennyo did not experience a “turning of the mind” very likely have not had such an experience themselves. I believe that is why they are absolutely unable to understand Master Rennyo’s passion and sense of mission that he brought to his efforts in reviving the Hongwanji. I cannot help but feel that such people have absolutely no idea what it means to awaken to Amida Buddha’s Great Compassion, nor feel any great gratitude for it.

And because they are such people, I believe that even when they speak of “resolve to revive the Hongwanji,” they can consider it only on a worldly level, and completely miss the religious feeling that underlies such a resolve.

What those who criticize Master Rennyo for twisting the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching have in common is that they have no understanding of what is most important: the world of salvation based on the Primal Vow, and worse, no personal experience of it.

I believe it can be said that such people not only do not understand Master Rennyo, they have absolutely no understanding of the Venerable Master Shinran either.