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Duality and Oneness in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism: Toward Intercultural Understanding of the Eastern Classics
Koji HIRAMOTO
Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction 2 The Phase of Duality 3 The Phase of Oneness 4 The Relationship between Duality and Oneness
(1) The Perspectives of Suzuki and Nishida

(2) Shinran's View 5 Conclusion Works Cited

Abstract
Shinran (1173-1262), one of the leading masters in the Japanese Pure Land tradition, developed his doctrinal system to the ultimate stage in the Mahayanistic context. His idea involves both a dualistic phase and a nondualistic one. The absolute and the relative confront each other in the former; and in the latter they are one. It might not be so simple to generalize in actuality as in appearance; however, his idea has a potential for being a bridge between Western and Eastern cultures or ideas. In this study, I examine the core aspect of his thought to promote an accurate understanding of his texts based on clear and faithful translations.

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1 Introduction
Shinran (1173-1262), one of the leading Pure Land masters in Japan, tried to reinterpret Mahayana Buddhism in a revolutionary way and to reconstruct it as his own doctrine of Pure Land Buddhism. It involves deep insight for the existential reality of a human being and profound spirituality toward the perfect liberation of the alienated self. In a certain sense, he developed the Pure Land teaching to the ultimate stage in the Mahayanistic context. Some scholars have pointed out that Shinran' s Pure Land teaching, based on Mahayana Buddhism and acclimated to Japanese culture, shows unique doctrinal development. Indicating the doctrinal or theoretical supremacy of Shinran's Pure Land thought, Suzuki Daisetz (1870-1966), an eminent Japanese Buddhist master in full activity overseas, states in Buddha of Infinite Light:
The Pure Land Tradition of Buddhism matured in China, but it accomplished its full development in the Shin school of Pure Land Buddhism. The Shin school is the culmination of Pure Land thought that took place in Japan. The Japanese may not have offered very many original ideas to world thought or world culture, but in Shin we find a major contribution that the Japanese can make to the world and to all other Buddhist schools. 1

He further writes in the same work:

Of all the developments that Mahayana Buddhism has achieved in East Asia, the most remarkable one is the Shin teaching of Pure Land Buddhism. It is remarkable because geographically its birthplace is
1 ) Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Buddha of Infinite Light (Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 2002), 21.

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Japan, and historically it is the latest evolution and the highest point reached in Pure Land Mahayana. (22-23)

In Suzuki's perspective, Mahayana Buddhism was developed to the ultimate as Shinran' s Pure Land thought in Japan located in the Far East. I will herein take Christianity as the counterpoint which has exerted great influence over Western cultures and ideas. Christianity seems to have a dualistic structure between God as the creator to save and a human being to be saved. Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), the leading philosopher of the Kyoto School and who was on good terms with Suzuki, expounds the basic structure of Christianity in his last completed article, "The Logic of the Place of Nothingness and the Religious Worldview":
Christianity, which is personalistic, places the fountainhead of religion in man's fall in an extremely acute way. Original sin is transmitted to the descendants of Adam, who rebelled against God, the creator. Man is a sinner from birth. Therefore there is no way to escape sin from the side of man. The only escape is through the sacrifice of the son of God, who is sent into the world of man by God because of his love. We are saved by believing in the revelation of Christ. 2

With reference to the characteristics of the East and the West, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), one of the leading transcendentalists in the United States, points out in "Plato; or, the Philosopher" in Representa-

tiveMen:
The unity of Asia, and the detail of Europe; the infinitude of the Asiatic soul, and the defining, result-loving, machine-making, surface-seek-

2 ) Kitaro Nishida, Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview, trans. David A. Dilworth (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987), 79.

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. . E urope, ... 3 1ng, opera-gomg

There are both a dualistic phase and a nondualistic one in Shinran's thought. The absolute and the relative confront each other in the former, and in the latter, the absolute and the relative are one. However, I' m afraid that there is a rudimentary misunderstanding of his Pure Land teaching that the relationship between Amida Buddha and a sentient being is simply dualistic. In this study, taking up Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism as one of the major Eastern classics, I will examine the fact that there are both a dualistic phase and a nondualistic one as the core ofhis thought expressed in his major works. Needless to say, there can be no accurate translation without a precise understanding of both source language and target language. It also requires the clear understanding and the elaborate interpretation of the ideas expressed in the original texts. In the last part, I will make mention of its possibility to make a contribution toward an intercultural study. His thought, in my view, has a potential for spanning the gap between Western cultures or ideas which incline toward duality and Eastern ones which partly uphold the notion of oneness as a tradition. Obviously no stereotype is intended here.

2 The Phase of Duality

In this chapter, I will examine the phase of duality between the absolute and the relative in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism. To take an example, Nishida points out the fundamental structure of Shinran's Pure Land

3) Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Oxford Authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson, ed. Richard Poirier (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 295.

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Duality and Oneness in Shinran 's Pure Land Buddhism

teaching. He writes in "The Logic of the Place of Nothingness and the Religious Worldview":
In the True Pure Land sect (JiJdo Shinshit) as well, man is seen as intrinsically sinful. It speaks of sentient beings who are" deeply wicked and possess fiery evil passions." It says that man is saved only by relying on Amida Buddha. (79)

Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism has a dualistic structure between Amida Buddha to save and a sentient being to be saved. It generally seems to be understood as based on dualism formed by the notions such as "Amida Buddha and a sentient being," "the Pure Land and the world ofbirth-anddeath," and "enlightenment and blind passions." Shinran starts the chapter of "The True Teaching of the Pure Land Way" in Ky ogy oshinsho 4 with the words:

Reverently contemplating the true essence of the Pure Land way, I see that Amida's directing of virtue to sentient beings has two aspects: the aspect for our going forth to the Pure Land and the aspect for our return to this world. 5

He also writes in the latter part of the same chapter:

4 ) Shinran 's primal work is commonly known as "Kyogyoshinsho," that is, the abbreviation for the real title "Ken jodo shinjitsu Kyogyoshinsho monrui [The True

Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way]." He kept revising this work until the eve of his death. In this study, I will use the term "Ky{JgytJshinshO" as the title of his primary work. 5 ) Shinran, The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1983), 1:63.

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To reveal the true teaching: It is the Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life. The central purport of this sutra is that Amida, by establishing his incomparable Vows, has opened wide the dharma-storehouse, and full of compassion for small, foolish beings, he selects and bestows his treasure of virtues. [The sutra further reveals that] Sakyamuni appeared in this world and expounded the teachings of the way to enlightenment, seeking to save the multitudes of living beings by blessing them with this benefit that is true and real. (63-64)

Tannish a, the analects of Shinran, 6 reads as follows:

When we believe that we have been saved by the inconceivable power of Amida's Vow and are therefore going to be reborn in the Pure Land, there arises from deep within us the desire to say the Nembutsu. At that moment we receive the benefit of being embraced by Amida Buddha, never to be cast away. 7

In his concept, there is a polarity between Amida Buddha to save and sentient beings to be saved, and between the Pure Land to be born in and the world ofbirth-and-death to leave. These notions are important and his teaching evidently has a dualistic phase.

3 The Phase of Oneness

In this chapter, I will examine the phase of oneness or nonduality between the absolute and the relative in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism. There are notions such as "birth-and-death is itself nirvana," "nirvana is attained

6) Tannis/W: A Primer defines the work as "a record of the words of Shinran set down in lamentation over departures from his teaching."[Yuien, Tannisho: A Primer, trans. Dennis Hirota (Kyoto: Ryukoku University Translation Center, 1982), 21.] 7 ) Alfred Bloom, Strategies for Modem Living: A Commentary with the Text of the Tannisho (Berkeley: Numata Center, 1992), 3.

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Duality and Oneness in Shinran 's Pure Land Buddhism

without severing blind passions," and "blind passions and enlightenment are not two" in it. "Birth-and-death" and "nirvana," and "enlightenment" and "blind passions" are both identical. These notions expressed in his words seem to transcend rationality based on object logic. I will herein cite as many instances as space permits. Making a hymn titled "Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu," Shinran states in the chapter of "The True practice of the Pure Land Way" in Kyogyoshinsho:
When a foolish being of delusion and defilement awakens shinjin, He realizes that birth-and-death is itself nirvana; Without fail he reaches the land of immeasurable light And universally guides sentient beings to enlightenment. (1: 165)

He also makes a hymn in the same section:

When the one thought-moment of joy arises, Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions; When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter shinjin, They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one in taste with it. (1:161)

Annotating the second verse of this hymn, he amplifies this spiritual condition in Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls:
Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions: Without severing blind passions means without having sundered and cast off blind passions. Nirvana is attained: Know that one attains realization
of the supreme nirvana. 8
8 ) Shinran, Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls: A Translation of Shinran's Songo

shinzlJ meimon, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1981), 71.

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He makes verses in "Hymn on the Nembutsu and True Shinjin" in

Passages on the Pure Land Way:

When shinjin unfolds in the foolish being possessed of all blind passions, He immediately attains insight into the non-origination of all existence And comes to realize that birth-and-death is itself nirvana. Without fail he reaches the land of immeasurable light And universally guides sentient beings to enlightenment. 9

In the same work, he also states:

When, through Amida's directing of virtue to them by the power of the Vow, the foolish beings ever floundering in birth-and-death hear the true and real virtues and realize supreme shinjin, they immediately attain great joy and reach the stage of non-retrogression, so that without being made to sunder their blind passions, they are brought quickly to the realization of great nirvana. (57)

Shinran writes in Hymns of the Pure Land Masters:

Knowing truly that the Primal VowThe perfect One Vehicle that brings about sudden attainmentGrasps those who commit grave offenses and transgressions, We are quickly brought to realize that blind passions and enlighten ment are not two in substance. 10

The note for the phrase "blind passions and enlightenment are not two in substance" in the fourth verse says "blind passions and enlightenment become one body and are not two" (25). He also writes in Hymns of the Dharma-Ages:
9 ) Shinran, Passages on the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shinran' s Jodo monrui jusho, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1982), 45. 10) Shinran, Hymns ofthe Pure Land Masters: A Translation of Shinran's Kosa wasan, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1992), 25.

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Duality and Oneness in Shinran 's Pure Land Buddhism

When the waters of the mind entrusting to Other Power enter The ocean waters of Amida's Vow of wisdom, Then in accord with the nature of the true and real fulfilled land, Blind passions and enlightenment come to be of one taste. 11

This hymn has the note for line 4 as follows:

line 4: our minds and Buddha's mind become one. When we are born
in the Land of Happiness, evil and good become one taste. Blind passions and virtues become one. (21)

Looking at these examples, it is clear that Shinran's Pure Land thought has the phase of oneness or nonduality. It seems paradoxical from human logic or rationality ordinarily based on the duality between subject and object. I will make reference to this point in the early part of the following chapter.

The Relationship between Duality and Oneness

In this chapter, referring to Suzuki's Mahayanistic and Nishida's philosophical interpretations, I will try to reveal the relationship between duality and oneness in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism.

(1) The Perspectives of Suzuki and Nishida Explaining the dualistic conditions of human beings residing inthis world, Suzuki writes in Buddha. of Infinite Light:

11) Shinran, Hymns of the Dharma-Ages: A Translation of Shinran's Shozomatsu wasan, trans. Dennis Hirota and others (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1993), 21.

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Subject and object, before they split, emerge from where there is no subject or object yet. This world that we take for granted and see is intellectually reconstructed; it is not the real one. We have re-formed it through our senses and our intellect working at the back of the senses. We reconstruct this world and believe that our fabrication.is the real thing. (39)

The polarity between subject and object is ascribed to their split in human cognition. In this connection, Nishida writes in the first chapter "Pure Experience" in An Inquiry into the Good:
When one directly experiences one' s own state of consciousness, there is not yet a subject or an object, and knowing and its object are completely unified. This is the most refined type of experience.l2

Offering a further explanation of the relationship between subject and object, he also writes in the same work:
The distinction between subject and object is a relative form that arises when one has lost the unity of experience, and to regard subject and object as mutually independent realities is an arbitrary view. (31-32)

Nishida, from his philosophical standpoint, criticizes the dualism concerning the split between subject and object. It is popularly believed that subject inside and object outside confront each other and human beings generally regard both the self representing the outside world and the outside world represented by the self as substantial. Generally speaking, human conception or cognition itself tends to be understood as dualistic.
12) Kitaro Nishida, An Inquiry into the Good, trans. Masao Abe and Christopher lves (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990), 3-4.

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From the Mahayanistic viewpoint of oneness, the world of birth-anddeath is itself nirvana. This principle is the quintessence of Mahayana Buddhism. In Suzuki's perspective, therefore, the Pure Land can be identical with this world, even though human dualistic cognition recognizes them as different or separate. In this regard, Suzuki writes in

Buddha of Infinite Light:

According to my understanding, Pure Land is right here, and those who have eyes can see it around them. And Amida is not presiding over an . ethereal paradise; his Pure Land is this defiled earth itself. (24) With regard to the relationship between the absolute and the relative, he speaks in this manner: When we say NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU, namu is self-power, or ki. Amida-butsu is Other-power, or ho. Thus, NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU is the unity of ki and ho. This unification is the oneness of Amida and ordinary beings, Other-power and self-power, this world and Pure Land. So, when NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU is pronounced, it represents or symbolizes the unification of the two. (28) The absolute and the relative in human conception are necessarily dualistic; however, he understands that they are nondualistic in the Name, "NAMU-AMIDA-BUTSU" in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism. Quoting Suzuki's idea of the nondualistic relationship between this world and the Pure Land, Nishida writes in the last part of "The Logic of the Place of Nothingness and the Religious Worldview": This corrupt world reflects the Pure Land, and the Pure Land reflects this corrupt world. They are mutually reflecting mirrors. This points to the interconnectedness, or oneness, of the Pure Land and this

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corrupt world. ( 123)

Nishida also expounds "the absolute identity of negation and affirmation" in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism through his own words. He writes in the same work:
I think that it was perhaps only in Japanese Buddhism that the absolute identity of negation and affirmation was realized, in the sense of the identity of the actual and the absolute that is peculiar to the Japanese spirit. Examples of this realization are found in such ideas of Shinran as "in calling on the name of Buddha non-reason is reason" and "effortless acceptance of the grace of Amida"(102).

Thus Suzuki and Nishida understood Shinran's Pure Land thought from the Mahayanistic viewpoint of oneness. (2) Shinran's View I will hereafter make an attempt to examine Shinran's view of the relationship between duality and oneness. He states in the chapter "The True Realization of the Pure Land Way" in KyogyiJshinshii:
When foolish beings possessed of blind passions, the multitudes caught inbirth-and-death and defiled by evil karma, realize the mind and practice that Amida directs to themfor their going forth, they immediately join the truly settled of the Mahayana. Because they dwell among the truly settled, they necessarily attain nirvana. To necessarily attain nirvana is [to attain] eternal bliss. Eternal bliss is ultimate tranquility. Tranquility is supreme nirvana. Supreme nirvana is uncreated dharma-body. Uncreated dharma-body is true reality. True reality is dharma-nature. Dharma-nature is suchness. Suchness is oneness. 13

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Paraphrasing one after another, he reaches conclusion that the foolish beings who dwell among the truly settled realize oneness, that is, nonduality. This part seems to represent the vector from duality to oneness. Shinran refers to the term "dharma-body (Skt. dharmakiiya)" in the last part of the previous quotation. Concerning the two dimensions of it, he writes in Notes on 'Essentials of Faith Alone ':
For this reason there are two kinds of dharmakaya in regard to the Buddha. The first is called dharmakaya-as-suchness and the second, dharmakaya-as-compassion. Dharmakaya-as-suchness has neither color nor form; thus, the mind cannot grasp it nor words describe it. From this oneness was manifested form, called dharmakaya-ascompassion.14

Human beings cannot grasp "dharmakaya-as-suchness" because it is based on oneness and has neither color nor form. In contrast, they can grasp "dharmakaya-as-compassion" based on duality which manifests itself from oneness. This part seems to represent the vector from oneness to duality. In this connection, Shinran cites the passages from The Commentary on

the Treatise written by T'an-luan (476-542) in chapter "The True Realization of the Pure Land Way" in KyogyoshinshiJ. T'an-luan was the Chinese Pure Land master and was the third of the seven patriarchs in Shinran's
13 ) Shinran, The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shiman Kyogyoshinsho, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1987), 3:355-56.

14) Shinran, Notes on 'E8sentials of Faith Alone~ A Translation of Shin ran s Yuishinsh i5-

mon'i, trans. and ed. Yoshifumi Ueda (Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1979),42-43.

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Pure Land teaching. T' an-luan states in this manner:

It is because, stated in brief, they enter into the phrase "one-dharma."

The preceding seventeen phrases on the land's adornments, eight phrases on the Tathagata's adornments, and four phrases on the bodhisattvas' adornments are "extensive." That they enter into the

phrase 'one-dharma " is termed in brief. Why is it explained that

extensive and brief interpenetrate? Because all Buddhas and bodhisattvas have dharma-bodies of two dimensions: dharma-body as suchness and dharma-body as compassionate means. (3:375-76)

According to T'an-luan, dharma-body has two dimensions in the same way as we have seen, that is, "dharma-body as suchness" and "dharma-body as compassionate means." He continues to explicate those two dimensions as follows:
Dharma-body as compassionate means arises from dharma-body as suchness, and dharma-body as suchness emerges out of dharmabody as compassionate means. These two dimensions of dharmabody differ but are not separable; they are one but cannot be regarded as identical. Thus, extensive and brief interpenetrate, and together are termed "dharma." lfbodhisattvas do not realize that extensive and brief interpenetrate, they are incapable of self-benefit and benefiting others. (3:376)

If "dharma-body as compassionate means" and "dharma-body as

suchness" can be respectively regarded as representing duality and one ness, this part of the citation seems to show the reciprocal relationship between those two dimensions. It well expresses the subtle relationship between duality and oneness beyond human rationality in Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism.

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5 Conclusion
Shinran's Pure Land Buddhism generally tends to be understood as based solely on dualism formed by such antagonistic notions as "Amida Buddha and a sentient being," "the Pure Land and the world ofbirth-anddeath," and "enlightenment and blind passions." However, as we have seen, it has two phases: (1) The phase of duality where the relationship between the absolute and the relative is dualistic, and (2) The phase of oneness where the relationship between the absolute and relative is nond ualistic. The absolute and the relative seem to be dualistic in appearance; in other words, an existential or experiential level of the condition. From a spiritual point of view, this level can be regarded as unreal and delusory discrimination. In contrast, the absolute and the relative seem to be mutually identical in spiritual reality; that is, an essential or idealistic level of the condition. This level can be paraphrased as nondiscrimination. Therefore, whether the spiritual standpoint is taken or not, the relationship between the absolute and the relative varies and two phases of duality and oneness form a reciprocal structure. 15 This concept is, in my perspective, at the core of his thoughts. Thus, Shinran's Pure Land thought, as occasionally pointed out, has a potential for being a bridge between the East and the West in respect of whether their worldview inclines toward duality or oneness. The precise
15) Enunciating a parallel idea to this one, Ralph Waldo Emerson writes in "Plato; or, the Philosopher" in Representative Men: By religion, he [each student] tends to unity; by intellect, or by the senses, to the many. A too rapid unification, and an excessive appliance to parts and particulars, are the twin dangers of speculation. (294)

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understanding of his thought, in my view, is not merely for retaining the accuracy in translation but also for acquiring the opportunity for intercultural understanding. For this reason, clear and faithful translations of his work become highly important. For such translations, other than effective performance in both source language and target language, a detailed interpretation of Shinran's core concept is indispensable, such as that which I have tried to present in this study. Works Cited
1 Primary Sources Shinran. Hymns of the Dharma-Ages: A Translation of Shinran's Shozo-

matsu wasan. Translated by Dennis Hirota and others. Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1993. --.Hymns of the Pure Land Masters: A Translation of Shinran's Koso wasan. Translated and Edited by Yoshifumi Ueda. Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1992. --. Notes on 'Essentials of Faith Alone': A Translation of Shinran's Yuishinsho-mon'i. Translated and Edited by Yoshifumi Ueda. Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1979. --. Notes on the Inscriptions on Sacred Scrolls: A Translation of Shinran' s Songo shinzo meimon. Translated and Edited by Yoshifumi Ueda. Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1981. --.Passages on the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shinran's Jodo monruijushii. Translated and Edited by Yoshifumi Ueda. Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1982. --. The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho. Translated and Edited by Yoshifumi Ueda. Vol. 1, Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1983. --. The True Teaching, Practice and Realization of the Pure Land Way: A Translation of Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho. Translated and Edited by
Yoshifumi Ueda. Vol. 3, Kyoto: Hongwanji International Center, 1987. Bloom, Alfred. Strategies for Modem Living: A Commentary with the Text of

the Tannisho. Berkeley: Numata Center, 1992.

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Yuien. Tannisho: A Primer. Translated by Dennis Hirota. Kyoto: Ryukoku University Translation Center, 1982. 2 Secondary Sources Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Oxford Authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited by Richard Poirier. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Nishida, Kitaro. An Inquiry into the Good. Translated by Masao Abe and Christopher lves. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1990.

--.Last Writings: Nothingness and the Religious Worldview. Translated by David A. Dilworth. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987. Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. Buddha of Infinite Light. Boston and London: Shambhala Publications, 2002.