In the fourth section I take up the view that while the Venerable Master Shinran was anti-authority, Master Rennyo flattered those in authority. I did soin terms of the problems of:

• “King’s Law is primary” (oboihon)
• The essence of shinjin in Jodo-Shinshu
• “Absolute truth” (shintai) and “conventional truth” (zokutai).

In the fifth section, I take up the view that, while the Venerable Master Shinran urged recitation of the Nembutsu before receiving shinjin, Master Rennyo urged recitation of the Nembutsu in gratitude after receiving shinjin.

In the sixth and last sectionof Chapterone, I take up the problemof “‘merit transference’ in the ‘aspectof returning (from the Pure Land)’” (genso eko). This is in response to the view that:

• While the Venerable Master Shinran taught: the “merit transference” (eko)of the “aspect of going (tothe Pure Land)” (oso) and the “aspect of returning (from the Pure Land)” (genso), where he himself would attain complete enlightenment in the Pure Land, and emphasized the “aspect of returning (from thePure Land)” in order to lead others to the Pure Land,
• That Master Rennyo was solely concerned with the “aspect of going” and did not concern himself with the “aspectof returning.”

Chapter Two, “The World of ‘Group of those Assured in the Present,’” also consists of six sections:

• The Essenceof the Venerable Master Shinran and Master Rennyo’s teaching
• Being in the “‘Groupof Those Assured’ in the Present”
• Essence of the General Preface to the “Teaching, Practice, Faith and Attainment”
• The Essence of Article one of “Notes Lamenting Differences”
• World of Heizei Gojo
• The World of “Certainty of Birth in the Pure Land is Certainty of Salvation”

In this chapter I explain that what both the Venerable Master Shinran and Master Rennyo wished for us is that we become a “person assured of (receiving) shinjin” (shinjin ketsujonomi) and live in the awareness of “assurance of birth (in the Pure Land)” (shojoju). I explain that those who criticize Master Rennyo for twisting or distorting the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching have no understanding of the world of “assurance of birth (in the Pure Land) in this life” (gensho shojoju).

Chapter Three, The Way toShinjin, consists of two sec-tions. The first explains what it means to have “settled shinjin” (shinjin ketsujo), and the second that the teaching of Buddha dharma begins and ends with “hearing.” I use the Venerable Master Shinran’s and Master Rennyo’s words to explain how to resolve the great problemof becoming a “person assured of (receiving) shinjin.”

Chapter Four is a brief survey of Master Rennyo’s life and how he correctly transmitted the Venerable Master Shinran’s teaching of “settled shinjin” to the people of his time.

This is just repeating myself from my earlier book, “Namo Amida Butsu: Understanding Jodo-Shinshu,” but if this book proves tobe even the slightest help in your “tasting the dharma,” I can ask for nothing more.