@
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
| @ | @ | @ | @ |
@ |
Controversy:
Suicide and the
Attainment of Ojo
1. Honenfs
Disciple Ryukan: Attaining
Ojo in this Life? A Jodo Shu Heterodoxy
2. The
Suicide of Saburo Tememori@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@
4.
On Treating
Illness@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
All
selections, except
where noted, come from the Pictorial Biography of Honen Shonin
(Honen Shonin
gyojoezu),
also known as the Forty-eight Fascicle Biography
(Shijuhachikan-den). The
translation is from Honen the Buddhist Saint: His Life and Teaching
by Harper
Havelock Coates and Ryugaku Ishizuka, Chion-in: 1925.
Honenfs
Disciple
Ryukan: Attaining Ojo in this Life?
A Jodo Shu Heterodoxy
In 1227, Josho,
the
priest of Namie, sought to interfere with the Jodo propagation, by
laying
before the bishop of the Tendai sect on Mount Hiei certain charges
against
Honen's disciples, forwarding them to the Government, with the request
for
their banishment to various parts of the country. So when Ryukan heard
that he
was the first to be banished, he said to himself, that as his revered
master
had had to go into exile for the sake of the nembutsu, there
was nothing he could more desire than to follow in his master's
footsteps. He
therefore arranged special services for the practice of the nembutsu, to
continue for seven days in the Raikobo Temple, in the precincts of the
great
Choraku-ji Temple, thinking this would probably be his last in the
capital.
When it came to the last day of the series, remarkable omens appeared.@ The room was filled with sweet odors, a
white lotus flower sprang up in the garden, and miraculous flower
petals
floated down from the sky, so that people gazed in wonder at a man
(Ryukan) who
had already attained ojo, while living in
this world. It was
indeed a marvelous occurrence.
Chapter
44,
section 5, page 718.
Note: Official
Jodo Shu doctrine would say that although various heightened spiritual
states
may be experienced through devoted nembutsu practice (such as Honenfs
sustained
experience of nembutsu samadhi) ojo is only achieved at death as gBirth
into
the Pure Landh. The Jodo Shin sect doesnft use the term ojo as
directly.
However, they tend to emphasize an exhalted spiritual experience that
can be
experienced in this life and in this body as the realization of the
Pure Land
in the mind and ojo as a kind of spiritual birth.
The
Suicide of Saburo
Tememori
In
the province of
Musashi there was a vassal of the Minamoto family named Saburo Tamemori
(1163-1243) who was a samurai of Tsunoto, near present day Tokyo. In
the summer
of 1180, Yoritomo, who was the head of the clan, fought with the men of
the
Taira clan at the battle of Ishibashiyama in the province of Sagami.
Tamemori
was eighteen years old at the time, and as he desired to take part in
the
battle, he hurried away from his home and joined Yoritomo. Later, he
accompanied Yoritomo in his retreat over into the province of Awa,
distinguishing himself in many ways as a loyal retainer. In the winter
of 1195,
Yoritomo came up to the capital on his way to Nara, where he was to
take part
in the dedication of the new buildings of the great Todaiji Temple, and
Tamemori went along with him. Arriving at Kyoto in early March, he went
to
visit Honen in his humble quarters later in the month, and confessed
the
terrible acts he had committed in various battles. Receiving
instructions from
Honen in regard to the principles of the nembutsu ojo,
he was not
long in declaring himself a devotee of this sole and only practice, and
after
he had returned home, he was unremitting in his devotions.
Thus
under Honenfs influence
Tamemori became very zealous in his prayers for Birth into the Land of
Bliss.
Thinking that, as he would be practicing the nembutsu anyway, he might
as well
become a monk outright. However, failing to obtain the Shogun's
consent, he
asked Honen whether he could not, while still remaining a layman, be
given a
religious name, take upon him the vow of keeping the precepts, and also
wear a
monkfs robe (kesa).
At this request Honen was much moved, and gave him a copy of a book
written by
Kwan-in, a Court ritualist, bearing upon the ten cardinal precepts,
together
with his own explanations of that concise account of the three ideals
of
conduct (do not evil, do good and aid sentient beings). He also sent him
the robe he
desired, and gave him the title gSonganh as his religious name. On
receiving
such a reply from Honen, he went on with the nembutsu practice just as
if he had
been a priest. A little later, when writing Honen, he asked him for one
of his
own rosaries. To this Honen replied somewhat as follows: "A request
like
this makes me feel as if it is not merely a matter of the present
world, but of
an intimate karmic relation we must have had in some previous life. So
by all
means make this the occasion for increased diligence in seeking the
Land of
Bliss. I now present you with this rosary, which I have been constantly
using
myself, and I hope you will be unremitting in your use of it and in
calling
upon the sacred name."
In
still another letter Honen
sent him, occur the following words: gNow is the time to apply yourself
to the
attainment of ojo. Hard though it
be to be born
a human, that blessing has come to you. And hard though it be to come
in
contact with the teaching which explains to us about the nembutsu
ojo, that blessing too has been
granted to you. A wholesome hatred of this present fleeting world, and
a
yearning for the Land of Bliss have been awakened in your heart. Deep
indeed is
the meaning of that Original Vow of Amida. It must be that you will
attain ojo. So in the unshaken conviction
that you will do so, be unremitting in your practice." Tamemori put all
these into a brocade bag, which he always carried on his person, a very
proper
thing indeed to do.
In
the winter of 1219
the Shogun died. His ashes were sent by his mother to Tamemori's
temple, where
he and his associates offered special prayers for the promotion of the
Shogun's
rank in the Pure Land. At this time, Tamemori obtained official
permission to become
a monk, and so the name Songan which Honen had given him was publicly
recognized. After Honen's death, Songan, as the years passed, longed
more and
more for the Pure Land, and his loathing of this present world kept
deepening.
He used to take out Honen's letters to read, when he would address
himself to
Honen's spirit, praying him to come and welcome him to the Land of
Bliss. But
several years passed without any answer. At last he called in Josho-bo
and a
few other disciples of Honen in the autumn of 1242, and asked them to
conduct
the nembutsu
service for three weeks. On the last day of the series, at
the hour of midnight, while in the act of repeating the nembutsu
in a loud
voice in the presence of Amida Buddha's image, he committed harakiri
and with his
own hands took out his entrails and wrapped them in his silk trousers,
so that
they might be secretly thrown into the river behind the temple. Seeing
that it
was in the middle of the night, nobody knew anything about it.
After doing this
he turned to his
associates and said to them, "Ever since I went into retirement as a
monk,
I pray every time for my late master (Shogun Sanetomo) that he may be
promoted
in his rank in the Pure Land, so I cannot help longing to see him once
again.
Besides, Honen's words to me, eBe sure and meet me in the Pure Land,f
keep
ringing in my ears, and I cannot help feeling what a useless thing it
is to go
on living in a corrupt world like this, instead of being born into the
Land of
Bliss. Now the revered Shakyamuni Buddha entered nirvana at the age of
eighty,
Honen attained ojo in
his eightieth year, and I am now a full eighty years old. The nembutsu
ojo
is the eighteenth article in
Amida's Original Vow, and today is the eighteenth day of the month. If
I could
attain ojo
today just at the close of this our three weeks' nembutsu service, that
would be the
thing above all else I most desire." Without the least thought of
anything
but that he was speaking in the abstract they replied, gIt surely would
be an
excellent thing for you."
Thus the night
passed and the morning of
the nineteenth dawned, but he did not feel the slightest pain or
suggestion of
the nearness of the end. So he called in his son Moritomo, who was the
First
Secretary of the Home Department at the time, and, opening the cut in
his
abdomen, said to him, "Come and look here. I think the gall bladder
still
remains, and so probably my end will be deferred for a time." This was
the
first intimation anyone had of what had happened. But as they gathered
around
him and looked, they told him there was something round still clinging
to the
pit of his stomach. So he at once put his hand in, jerked it off and
threw it
away, saying, gThis is the reason why the end has been put off so
long."
As the bystanders looked on in amazement, he said to them in an
imploring tone
of voice, "The only reason why I carried out a plan like this was
because
I was tired of this fleeting world, and my longing for the Pure Land
kept
getting stronger as the days passed, and I wanted to hasten my going
thither if
only by a single day."
Of those who
gazed upon the scene
resplendent with his burning zeal for Birth into that Land, not a
single one
was tearless. Without the slightest pain he went on repeating the nembutsu for another
seven days. Then
it occurred to him that possibly the water he had been using to rinse
his mouth
might account for the prolongation of his life, so he stopped rinsing
it, and
rubbing powdered perfume on his hands, his strength did not seem to
diminish in
the least, but on the contrary the wounds seemed to be healing. After
this they
say he sometimes used to bathe himself. When New Year's Day came, he
said to
himself, "Unless I die I cannot attain ojo, so today as I
have done on every New
Yearfs Day for many years, I shall observe the ceremony appointed for
people
about to die (rinju-gyogi), and surely I
shall not fail to get my ojo today, for it
must have been
put off on purpose for this happy day.h
Thus with a glad
heart he gave himself
diligently to the practice of the nembutsu, but that day
passed and so did the next.
And
as there
seemed to be no symptoms of the end drawing near, he again took out
Honen's
letter which said that after Honen had himself attained ojo he would
remember Songan, and
be sure to come to meet him on his arrival at the Land of Perfect Bliss.@ But as a matter of fact Songan was growing
impatient, because, in spite of his eager haste to get away, Honen so
long
delayed his coming. As he went on lamenting day after day, finally on
the
thirteenth day of the New Year, in a dream of the night, he thought he
heard
Honen saying he would come to meet him at noon on the fifteenth of the
month,
and he fairly wept as he told his friends of this welcome announcement.@ So when that day came, he put on the sacred
robe which Honen had given him, and, with his rosary in his hands, he
turned
himself towards the west, and sitting upright, with folded hands, he
repeated
the sacred name in a loud voice several hundred times, till precisely
at noon,
in the midst of his repetitions, he breathed his last. The sky was at
once
overcast with purple clouds, and sweet perfumes filled the chamber, and
continued right up to the time of the cremation ceremony. It is surely a
very remarkable
thing that even for fifty-seven days after he had committed harakiri, during which he
did not so
much as take rice gruel or even water, he retained his usual physical
vigor,
and that without any pain, he finally accomplished his ojo.
Comment
by the biographer: It is indeed
all but
incredible in our times for anyone to go on in this way for over fifty
days
after committing suicide, and then attain ojo. But not only has
the story been
published abroad and made known to all the world, but his descendents
have
preserved to this day the letter Honen wrote to him, as well as the
rosary,
robe and other things Honen had given him. And so I merely record these
miraculous facts regarding Songan just as I received them, without
meaning to
advise others to follow his example. We may for the moment dismiss from
our
minds the case of people of superior faculties in ancient times, for
whom such
things may have been easier. But as for devotees in these latter
degenerate
days, whose powers are so inferior, we must say that even though they
were to
make up their minds to do the right, when the time would come to put it
into
execution, even a single thought of irresolution would bring it all to
naught.
Honen once said to Zensho-bo, that when in life we ought to store up
all the
merit we can, so that when death comes we shall have no doubt whatever
about
our Birth into that land, and no matter what comes or goes, we should
ever keep
ourselves free from all anxious care, and keep repeating the nembutsu right down to
the very last.
We
are also
told that Shoko-bo of Chinzei used to warn people of our times against
committing suicide to attain ojo, whether it be
done by harakiri, by burning the
body,
drowning, excessive fasting or in any other way. We ought then not for
a moment
to entertain the idea of suicide, but firmly adhere to Honen's
instructions,
and go right on with the practice of the nembutsu without a
moment's cessation
to the very end of life.
Chapter
28,
section 1, page 505-520.
Honen
once said: How should we
spend this life? We should spend our life so that we can recite the nembutsu. If something
hinders our
practice of the nembutsu,
it should be abandoned and stopped....... Clothing, food and shelter,
these
three are the auxiliary acts of the nembutsu (jogo), that is to say
that anything
which can enable a secure life is an auxiliary act of the nembutsu. People who do
not recite the
nembutsu and
love and care about their bodies will surely fall into the three evil
realms
after death. Yet why should people who recite the nembutsu not care about
their bodies
which will be Born in the Pure Land? You should care for yourself as
much as
possible. If you think such acts are not auxiliary acts of the nembutsu
and
become attached to them, they will become the karma for falling into
the three
evil realms. If you care for yourself in order to recite the nembutsu and attain Birth
in the Pure
Land, such a secure life will become an auxiliary act of the nembutsu. Everything is
like this.
SHZ. 462-463
Honen once said:
As to the seven days'
purification after eating fish or chicken, there may be such a custom,
but I
find it nowhere prescribed. Indeed all living things may at some time
in the
past have been our fathers and mothers, and if so should surely not be
eaten. Moreover
when one is about to die, it is forbidden to take wine, fish, onions,
leeks or
garlic and such like, and when one is sick he ought not to eat them.
But in
case the disease is not likely to prove, fatal, and yet it may take a
good
while to recover if the pain is unbearable, understand that it is
permissible
to eat them. You ought to do what is best for the disease, so that you
may be
able to practice the nembutsu free from bodily
pain. The clinging stubbornly to life at
such a time is a great hindrance to one's attaining ojo, and yet you
ought to use the
best treatment you can for such a disease.
Chapter
23,
section 12, page 442.
Copyright(c) by
1996-2006 Jodo Shu Research Institute