I further believe that when the Venerable Master was 31 years of age and had resolved the problem of his salvation, the problem of whether he could or could not follow the path of “Buddha-centered power” while married was something that he had to consider. That’s why I believe the “Revelation of a (monk’s clandestine romance) at Rokkaku Temple” was what lead the Venerable Master to marry.

Master Honen was 43 years of age when he entered the path of “Buddha-centered power.” This is what he said after spending his entire life as a monk without marrying:

Select a life-style that allows you to recite the Nembutsu. If the life-style you select is an impediment to reciting the Nembutsu, then give up that life. (In other words,) if you are unable to recite the Nembutsu while a monk, then give up that life and marry. If you are unable to recite the Nembutsu while married, then become a monk…

In other words, Master Honen recommended living in a way that allows us to recite the Nembutsu (follow a spiritual life). If anything prevents us from doing so, then we should stop doing it. That is, if we are unable to recite the Nembutsu while remaining single, then we should marry. If we are unable to recite the Nembutsu while married, then we should return to being single.

Although Master Honen personally remained single all his life, he did not criticize the institution of marriage. The Venerable Master determined to marry publically because of that position. And because there are no distinctions between monks and layperson in this regard, the Venerable Master’s marriage implies that Amida Buddha saves everyone impartially.

Because the Venerable Master married as a result of a revelation by Kusekannon Bosatsu, he very likely considered his wife Esshin-ni to be the transformed body of Kannnon Bosatsu (the body that Kannon Bosatsu took to appear in this world). Conversely, Esshin-ni considered the Venerable Master to be the transformed body of Kannon Bosatsu in this world. This is evident in letters that she wrote to their youngest daughter Kakushin-ni (1224-1283CE) following the Venerable Master’s passing. These letters are collectively referred to as “Esshin-ni’s Letters” (Esshin-ni Sh?soku). In one of those letters, Esshin-ni wrote that while they were residing in the village of Shimotsuma in Hitachi Province (Sakai in Ibaraki Prefecture today), she dreamed that the Venerable Master was the incarnation of Kannon Bosatsu. She did not inform the Venerable Master about that dream but that is how she seems to have considered him from then on.