The Nembutsu of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism

Largen, Kristin Johnston

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76108-4_8

Kristin Johnston Largen⁴

Part of the book series: Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue ((PEID))

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Abstract

The central practice of Shin Buddhism is recitation of the name of Amida Buddha, the nembutsu (or nianfo). The nembutsu is a tangible experience of the Buddha himself, and guarantees birth in Amida’s Pure Land. After introducing Shin Buddhism and Shinran, this chapter describes the nembutsu, and then moves into a discussion of the specific “enviable” aspects of this practice from a Christian perspective, which are as follows: the clarity of focus on one single practice; the recognition of the fallibility of human nature; Shinran’s own humility and his identification with the weak; and the emphasis on a transformed life in the present. These make clear why the nembutsu is both compelling and rewarding, not only for “insiders,” but for “outsiders” as well.

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Notes

1.
See their website here: http://buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/, accessed January 26, 2017.
2.
Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water, (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1998), 11.
3.
Allan A. Andrews, “Genshin’s Essentials of Pure Land Rebirth and the Transmission of Pure Land Buddhism to Japan,” in Shin Buddhism: Historical, Textual, and Interpretive Studies, ed. by Richard K. Payne, (Berkeley, CA: Institute for Buddhist Studies and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007), 127.
4.
Ibid.
5.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 69.
6.
Kenneth Tanaka discusses these two different interpretations, and offers a harmonizing solution in his “Amida and Pure Land within a Contemporary Worldview: From Shinran’s Literal Symbolism to Figurative Symbolism,” in Path of No Path: Contemporary Studies in Pure Land Buddhism Honoring Roger Corless, edited by Richard K. Payne, (Berkeley, CA: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2009), 215–242.
7.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 171.
8.
Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water, (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1998), xxii-xxv. I retell the story here in my own words.
9.
As quoted by Taitetsu Unno in “The Practice of Jodo-Shinshu,” in Living in Amida’s Universal Vow: Essays In Shin Buddhism, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2004), 64.
10.
Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water, (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1998), 12.
11.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 136.
12.
James C. Dobbins, “Shinran’s Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism,” in Religions of Japan in Practice, edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr., (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 280.
13.
Richard K. Payne, “How Not to Talk about Pure Land Buddhism: A Critique of Huston Smith’s (Mis)Representations,” in Path of No Path: Contemporary Studies in Pure Land Buddhism Honoring Roger Corless, edited by Richard K. Payne, (Berkeley, CA: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2009), 164.
14.
Takamaro Shigaraki, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: A Life of Awakening, translated by David Matsumoto, (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2013), 48.
15.
Ibid., 47.
16.
Ibid., 50.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water, (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1998), 15.
19.
Marco Pallis, “Nembutsu as Remembrance,” in Listening to Shin Buddhism: Starting Points of Modern Dialogue, edited by Michael Pye, (Sheffield, England, Equinox, 2012), 109.
20.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 61.
21.
Ibid., 76.
22.
Ibid., 77.
23.
As quoted in James C. Dobbins, “Shinran’s Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism,” in Religions of Japan in Practice, edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr., (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 286.
24.
Takamaro Shigaraki, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: a Life of Awakening, translated by David Matsumoto, (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2013), 51.
25.
James C. Dobbins, “Shinran’s Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure Land Buddhism,” in Religions of Japan in Practice, edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr., (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 281.
26.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 47.
27.
Ibid., 48.
28.
Shinran, epilogue to the Tannisho, http://cdn.preterhuman.net/texts/religion.occult.new_age/Pureland/Japanese%20Pureland/Shinran_Works/The%20Tannisho.pdf
29.
Taitetsu Unno, River of Fire, River of Water, (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1998), 13.
30.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 8.
31.
Denis Hirota, “On Attaining the Settled Mind: The Condition of the Nembutsu Practitioner,” in Religions of Japan in Practice, edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr., (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999), 258.
32.
The Essential Shinran: A Buddhist Path of True Entrusting, edited by Alfred Bloom, (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2007), 161.
33.
Ruben L. F. Habito, “Shinran’s Pure Land Buddhism as a Way of Being Religious: Some Twenty-first-century Tasks for Shin Buddhist Theology ,” in Path of No Path: Contemporary Studies in Pure Land Buddhism Honoring Roger Corless, edited by Richard K. Payne, (Berkeley, CA: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2009), 197.
34.
Takamaro Shigaraki, Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: A Life of Awakening, translated by David Matsumoto, (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2013), 59.

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United Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, PA, USA
Kristin Johnston Largen

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Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA
Hans Gustafson

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Largen, K.J. (2018). The Nembutsu of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism. In: Gustafson, H. (eds) Learning from Other Religious Traditions. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76108-4_8

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76108-4_8
Published: 17 May 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76107-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76108-4
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