Such assertions are absurd.

In the letter to Zenran in which the Venerable Master Shinran disowned him, is the following passage:

It is distressing to hear that you have lied and that you have petitioned the Rokuhara and Kamakura magistrates concerning those lies. Falsehoods of this kind are worldly matters and may thus be dismissed as such; still, lying is wretched. But how grievous is it to mislead others regarding the great concern of birth in the land of bliss and confusing Nembutsu followers in the Hitachi and Shimotsuke areas...

In other words, the Venerable Master wrote his son that lying and petitioning the Rokuhara Court in Kyoto and the Bakufu government in Kamakura is regrettable, but because such lies relate to this world, however, they are not truly important. Even so, lying is a wretched thing to do. How much more wretched, then, would it be to lead others astray when it comes to the greatest matter of birth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Joy?

As can be determined from the above, the Venerable Master made a clear distinction between “worldly matters” and “the great concern of birth in the land of bliss.”

As indicated, regarding Zenran’s petition to the Roku-hara Court in Kyoto and the Bakufu government in Kama-kura, the Venerable Master wrote, “Falsehoods of this kind are worldly matters and may thus be dismissed...” In other words, associating yourself with those in power is not particularly important. Lying and misleading others regarding birth in the Pure Land of Ultimate Joy, however, is an extremely grave matter.

From the above, it is quite clear that the following are erroneous understandings of the Venerable Master’s position.

• Considering breaking with governmental authority is basic to shinjin
• There is no idea of “the two truths of the ultimate and conventional” in his thought
• The primary reason for disowning Zenran was because of Zenran’s desire to associate himself with those in secular power

What we can understand from the above is that criticism of Master Rennyo for separating “the Buddha’s Way” (buppo) and “the king’s way” (obo) and speaking of “the two truths of the ultimate and conventional” (shinzoku nitai) as being opposed to the teaching of the Venerable Master Shinran is clearly incorrect.