Ontology in Japanese Buddhism

So, I've started up my other blog, to hold things like papers and such, to keep it separated from the shorter discussions here. I also plan to be writing summaries and more popular presentations in this blog, while leaving the details there for people to chew on who have the time. The link for the paper corresponding to this post is: Shinran's Ontology of Amida, Part I. And now, without further ado, I present to you the thought of the Japanese Buddhist Shinran.

Shinran's thought has been noted for its similarities to certain strands of Protestantism, especially the thought of Luther. Shinran affirms that we are all too evil to come to enlightenment ourselves, so all we can do is gratefully accept the free gift of "salvation," as it were, given to us by the Buddha Amida, so that we can be reborn in the Pure Land from all can attain enlightenment. In his language (or, at least his language translated into English), we must rely on Other power, rather than self power. However, there is a catch.

The problem is that Shinran is not working within a Christian system; he is thinking within the framework provided by Mahayana Buddhism, and its radically different ontology. Simply put, even though we are supposed to rely on Other power, there is nothing which is truly other! Amida is not some God-figure separate from us, who can grant us salvation. The exact status of Amida is, in the end, quite impossible to grasp, and it appears that Shinran intends for this to be the case.

Mahayana Buddhism often uses the logic of non-dualism: two things are neither identical, nor separate. There is an ineffability about their relation, including that of cause and effect. A similar thing happens with Amida. The suchness of reality, the universal buddha-womb (tathāgatha), gives rises to the being (apparently considered historical, or at least something like that) Dharmākara. Dharmākara makes a Vow to save all sentient beings, and becomes a Bodhisattva (that is, a Buddha in the making). Upon Enlightenment, Dharmākara becomes the Buddha Amida, who as a Buddha is identified with the tathāgatha (buddha-womb) which gave rise to all of this. The two are thus inseparably interrelated.

Similarly, in the life of the believer, good and evil acts are inseparable. All of our acts are evil, not that they are sinful, but that they involve attachments to reality (which, for the Buddhist, is what makes us stick around in the world of suffering). However, once we have faith in Amida, these same acts become good; not by changing the acts, but as they are already. Amida directs virtue toward the acts and makes them become good karma, even in their evilness.

Finally, the believer and Amida are non-dual. The believer has sincere trust, shinjin, in Amida, and gives reverence (through the nembutsu, "Namu Amida Butsu", "I give reverence to the Buddha Amida"). This, however, cannot come about through the believer's own calculations, or this would be self-power. Instead, it comes about due to Amida's Vow to save all sentient beings, and Amida's subsequent directing of virtue toward us. The recitation of the nembutsu and the act of shinjin are, in effect, Amida's Vow; the Vow causes them, but they are what have made the Vow to come to fulfillment. The shinjin of the believer is itself "suchness," a simple pointer to reality as it is; this suchness at the same time is also the Tathāgatha, Amida.

In the end, this simultaneous polarity and unity is all that can be affirmed. Reality is just not understandable for Shinran; if the salvific portion, at any rate, could be understood, then (on the account of the relation between wisdom and enlightenment within Buddhism) one could become enlightened through self-power. All one can do is realize the impossibilty of conceiving reality, and turn to shinjin in Amida. This leads to a letting-go of life, not by actively trying to realize non-thinking (which would again be self-power), but through letting karma work itself out on its own.