 From bottom to top:
(1) A court noble, Lord Chikatsune, entering the Imperial Palace to discuss with the Emperor on the complaints lodged against the Pure Land school set up by Honen Shonin.
(2) Other court nobles discuss about the complaints at Jinjuden Hall of the Imperial Palace.
(3) Honen Shonin is found guilty of the charges without proper investigation and is exiled to remote Tosa Province in Shikoku. His name is also changed to Fujii-no-Motohiko.
(4) Shinran Shonin is also sent to exile to Kokubu in Echigo Province. His name is also changed to Fujii-no-Yoshizane. Although pardoned 4 years later, Shinran Shonin preferred to stay on at Echigo and the Kanto district to spread the Dharma there.
(5) Shinran Shonin moves around in the Echigo, Hitachi and Kanto districts, spreading Dharma to the people of the countryside. Many people also visit his hermitage to learn about the Pure Land Path.
(6) Due to the growing popularity of the Dharma, many yamabushi (ascetics) grow jealous, and one of them, Bennen, tries to kill Shinran Shonin but fails. One day Bennen decides to confront Shinran Shonin but is overawed by Shinran Shonin's countenance. He is converted to the Teachings straight away and receives a Buddhist Name, Myoho-bo. |
(9) Persecution of the nembutsu teaching which led to banishment of Honen and Shinran; Shinran stayed on in the countryside. With the flourishing of the Pure Land teaching, the Path of Sages dwindled in influence. Enraged scholar-monks in Nara and Mt. Hiei held Master Genku responsible for this and appealed to the court for his expeditious punishment. It is stated in "A Collection of Passages Revealing the Provisional Transformed Buddhas and Lands of the Pure Land Way," Chapter 6:
When I humbly contemplate matters, I find that in the various teachings of the Path of Sages, both practice and enlightenment have long become impossible to realize and that the true teaching of the Pure Land way is now flourishing as the sure way to Enlightenment.
Despite this fact, monks of various temples, being blind in discerning the teachings, are unable to distinguish the true way from the provisional way. Confucian scholars in the capital, being confused about practices, cannot tell the difference between the right and wrong paths. Thus, scholar-monks of Kofukuji temple presented a petition to the retired emperor [Gotoba-in] (Takanari by name) in the first part of the second month in the year fire/hare of the Jogen era during the reign of emperor [Tsuchimikado-in] (Tamehito by name).
Lords and vassals who opposed the Dharma and justice bore indignation and resentment [to the Nembutsu teaching]. Thus, Master Genku, the great founder who promulgated the true teaching of the Pure Land way, and a number of his followers were, without proper investigation of their crime, indiscriminately sentenced to death or, deprived of their priesthood, exiled under criminal names. I was one of them. Hence, I am neither a priest nor a layman, and so I took 'Toku' as my surname. Master Genku and his disciples spent five years in remote provinces in exile.
The criminal's name of Genku Shonin was Fujii-no-Motohiko, and the place of his exile was Hata in Tosa Province. The criminal's name of Shinran Shonin was Fujii-no-Yoshizane, and the place of his exile was Kokubu in the Echigo Province. I will not enumerate other disciples' death charges and exiles.
On the seventh day of the eleventh month in the first year of Kenryaku, the year metal/sheep, during the reign of Emperor [Sado-no-in, Morinari by name], the imperial order to pardon Shonin was issued through Lord Okazaki Norimitsu, the Middle Counsellor at the Court. At that time, Shonin's name, with 'Toku' (short-haired) as the surname, was announced to the Emperor; this impressed the Emperor and won the praise of his attendants. Even though Shonin was pardoned, he continued to stay on to convert country-folk. (10) Missionary work in the countryside Shonin moved from Echigo over to Hitachi Province, and settled down at Inada Village in Kasama County. Although he lived in retirement, priests and laypeople followed one after another to visit him; even though the lowly gate was closed, people, both high and low, crowded the cottage. Shonin's cherished desire to spread the Buddha-Dharma was thus fulfilled, and his long-standing wish to benefit sentient beings was quickly realized.
Shonin remarked, "The dream of the bygone days in which I received an inspiration from the World-saving Bodhisattva exactly fits what is happening now." (11) Conversion of Bennen As Shonin spread the teaching of the exclusive practice of the Nembutsu in Hitachi Province, those who doubted and abused it were few, and many accepted it in faith. However, there was a monk (said to be a yamabushi), who bore a grudge against the Buddhist teaching Shonin was promulgating, which culminated in an attempt to kill him; so he was seeking an opportunity to realize this.
Shonin often passed through a deep mountain called Itajiki-yama. In that mountain the yamabushi waited for him in ambush many times, but was unsuccessful. As he contemplated the cause of this failure, he was struck with a rare, strange thought. Thereupon, he decided to go and see Shonin. When he called at the hermitage, Shonin came out without hesitation. As soon as he saw Shonin's august countenance, his vicious intention quickly disappeared and, furthermore, he could not hold back the tears of regret and shame.
After a little while, he confessed to Shonin the grudge that he had entertained against him. Shonin, however, did not appear surprised. The yamabushi broke his bow and arrows on the spot, threw away his sword and stick, cast away his hood, and took off his persimmon robe. As a result of this transformation, he thus took refuge in the true Buddhist teaching, and finally fulfilled his aspiration for birth in the Pure Land. What a wonderful thing! He was later known as Myoho-bo; this is the name given to him by Shonin. |
