The Essence of Shinjin in the Jodo-Shinshu Teaching

As indicated in the previous section, although Master Rennyo accepted “‘king’s law’ as primary” (obo ihon), it was only as a means to allow the teaching of Buddha-dharma to grow, and that his real intent was “‘Buddha’s law’ is primary” (buppo ihon). Because of the differences in attitude towards those in authority by the Venerable Master Shinran and Master Rennyo, however, some people assert that their shinjin is fundamentally different.

As indicated previously, those who make such assertions base their position on passages such as the following:

• In the Chapter on Transformed Land of his “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment,” the Venerable Master Shinran wrote, “the emperor and his ministers, acting against the Dharma and violating righteousness, became enraged and embittered” and criticized them for suppressing the Nembutsu teaching.
• In Letter 7 of “Collection of (Shinran’s) Letters” (Goshosokushu): “Do not try to use those in authority (the Bakufu feudal government) to spread the Nembutsu.”

and

“I did not say that we should consider using those in authority to spread the Nembutsu.”

But the Venerable Master Shinran’s statement, “the em-peror and his ministers, acting against the Dharma and violating righteousness, became enraged and embittered,” expresses anger at prohibition of the Nembutsu teaching and not anger at the authority of the feudal Bakufu govern-ment.

If the Venerable Master Shinran’s anger was indeed towards governmental authority itself, then his anger would necessarily also be directed towards Shotoku Taishi (574 - 622 AD), who shaped much of the structure of the feudal government, and whose influence is felt in Japanese governmental circles even today. But the Venerable Master has referred to Shotoku Taishi as “Master of the Teaching (Dharma) in our country (Japan).” Further, in “Hymns on the Three Periods” (Shozomatsu Wasan), he included 11 wasan titled “In Praise of Shotoku Taishi,” and a separate work also titled, “In Praise of Shotoku Taishi” (Ko taishi Shotoku Hosan) that contains 75 wasan praising Shotoku Taishi. The Venerable Master would not have written the above works if he did not respect Shotoku Taishi, and by extension, the government.