Further, I believe the passage, ”Do not try to use those in authority (the Bakufu feudal government) to spread the Nembutsu,” was made to warn his followers against compromising with the authority that suppressed the Pure Land teachings because that governmental body could not understand the significance of the Nembutsu based on “Buddha-centered power.”

I believe those who criticize Master Rennyo and assert that he distorted the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching—that he corrupted it—are unable to understand the essence of the Venerable Master’s teaching. They seem to believe that the essence of the Venerable Master’s shinjin is simply being antiestablishment and critical of governmental authority. How sad.

If we misunderstand the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching in the above way, it would mean that Master Rennyo’s shinjin was different from the shinjin of the Venerable Master’s. It would mean that Master Rennyo’s assertions really are a distortion of the Venerable Master’s because Master Rennyo took the position that “‘king’s law’ is primary,” and tried to avoid conflict with authority in order to allow Buddha-dharma to spread.

I believe, however, that such a point of view is the view of those who do not understand not only Master Rennyo’s teaching, but also the teaching of the Venerable Master Shinran.

As I touched on in the previous section (Shinjin and Anjin), the shinjin of our Jodo-Shinshu school is the shinjin of the 18th Vow. It goes without saying that the intent of the 18th Vow is to cause the birth of all sentient beings in the Pure Land based solely on shinjin. This is expressed in the phrase, “Shinjin is the proper cause (of our birth in the Pure Land)” (shinjin shoin).

Regarding shinjin, in the Chapter on Faith of his “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment,” the Venerable Master Shinran used the phrase “no mixture of doubt,” and in “On the One Recitation and the Many Recitations,” he expressed it as, “shinjin is hearing Tathagata’s honorable Vow without doubt.” As these phrases indicate, shinjin is the absence of doubt regarding the power of the Primal Vow to cause our birth in the Pure Land.