The above are examples of how faithfully Master Rennyo transmitted the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching which emphasized salvation in the present world. And yet Master Rennyo is criticized for having twisted the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching, that he taught a completely next-world attitude, and that he was solely concerned about birth in the Pure Land after death.

How could such mistaken views of Master Rennyo’s teaching arise? I asserted positively not long after the special 500th Memorial Service for Master Rennyo: I believe those who criticize Master Rennyo in these ways are those who have absolutely no awareness of the world of being in the “‘group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)’ in the ‘present life’” (gensho shojoju) that the Venerable Master Shinran took such pains to explain to us.

As the Venerable Master Shinran wrote in his “Hymns of the Pure Land” (Jodo Wasan): “Those who attain true and real shinjin/Immediately join those correctly ‘assured (of birth in the Pure Land)’...” I believe those who say Master Rennyo distorted the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching have absolutely no awareness of the world in which they are among the “‘group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)’ in the ‘present,’” which is the blessing of true and real shinjin. And it is because they have no understanding of the world of “salvation in the present” that, regardless of how clearly Master Rennyo expressed his understanding, they are unaware of what he actually said; that rather than the salvation in the present that Master Rennyo taught, they criticize him for speaking solely of, “this matter of greatest importance in the next life,” and that salvation takes place in the next world after death in this world.

Using Master Rennyo’s own words, those who have such an absurd misunderstanding must be referred to as, those “who have not undergone a decisive settling of shinjin” (shinjin miketsujo no hito, Letter 3, Fascle II); “those lacking in shinjin” (fushinjin no tomogara, Letter 11, Fascle V); and “those in whom the ‘settled mind is yet to be realized’” (mianjin no tomogara), Letter 9 Facle III and Letter 7, Fascle IV). I believe that while such people may be aware of the words related to the world of “salvation in the present,” they have absolutely no experience of that those words mean.

Those who criticize Master Rennyo—who was always so concerned about being in the “‘group of those correctly assured (of birth in the Pure Land)’ in the ‘present’” that the Venerable Master Shinran emphasized—and consider this benefit to come in the future, must be said to be extremely ignorant about the subject. I cannot help but feel that such opinions about shinjin must be by those who have absolutely no experience of that wonderful world.