Notes on the Americanization of Jiido Shinshii Buddhism: Urgency, Adaptation, and Existential Relevance in America, 1986 and Beyond

by Tetsuo Unno

PREFACE ''Buddhism is a doctrine of salvation" (italics are Conze's).3 And Professor Frederick Streng oets are the divine messengers of the inward affirms that "Nagarjuna's articulation (of the P soul. Therefore, theirs are the words I borrow Mlidhyamika philosophy) is more than a set of here to invoke the American soul: its spirit, its propositions; it is the articulation of a vision darkened terrain, its unconsciousness. which seeks to release human beings from suffer· ing; i.e., to save them" (italics are mine).4 Even "Midway in our life's journey,/I went astray / the Zen Master Dogen expounds, "Forgetting from the straight road and woke to fmd myself/ body and mind, by placing them together in alone in a dark wood" (Dante). "Dark, dark my Buddha's hands and letting him lead you on, you light, and darker my desire" (Roethke). "Things will without design or effort gain freedom, attain fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy Buddhahood. ,,5 is loosed upon the world,/The blood·dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/The ceremony of inno· Jodo Shinshu's efforts to adapt itself to its cence is drowned;/ . .. /Surely some revelation is American setting must be viewed in this light. at hand" (yeats), "Oh, Mary,/GenUe Mother/ That is, its spread, or increase in followers, is open the door and let me in./ ... /1 have been secondary. The ultimate reason Jodo Shinshii born many times, a false Messiah,/but let me born must make itself accessible to America is that again/into something true" (Sexton). "Lord, I Jodo Shinshii possesses infinite potential towards am not worthy /Lord, I am not worthy /but speak the salvation of America-from a collective condi· the word only. (T.S. Eliot).! tion of crisis and dul)kha.

Jado Shin shu responds, in the words ofShinran THE AMERICAN CONDITION TO WHICH Shanin, "(The Power of Amida's Vow) is aUght JODO SHlNSHU MUST ADDRESS ITSELF that illuminates the long night of ignorance /Do not grieve over the blindness of one's eye of Books on America, written during the past five wisdom/For the Vow is a vessel that floats us on years are overwhelmingly dark.6 This is not a the great ocean of birth and deathlDo not despair reflection of Cassandra·like alarmism or pessi· over the gravity of one's evil." Although still mism, but rather of realism. For aside from the only dimly perceived in America, the "Something nuclear sword that hangs over us all, America is true" and the "Word" prayed for by the poets faced with a number of crises: urban violence, a quoted above is the Name, Namu Amida Butsu, devastating national debt, an epidemic of drugs, a which vows the salvation of the unsaveable. breakdown of basic social institutions such as the family, a loss of stature among nations, a loss of BUDDHISM IS A RELIGION OF SALVATION a sense of community (Americans sue each other with greater frequency than any other people), a The renowned scholar of the prainapiiramitii breakdown in ethical values (e.g., widespread tradition, Edward CODze, writes, in its core, cheating among students) and the dehumanizing

II effects of modern technology, for example. More· Even the quintessentially American trait of over, pollutants poison our land, water, plants, individualism, that affirmation of the dignity and animals, and ourselves; the disposal of one trillion even the sacredness of the individual, it appears, pounds of non-nuclear but hazardous waste as noted first by the French writer and political material and one hundred million pounds of scientist Tocqueville, has a dark side. That is, nuclear waste material, produced each year, lack individualism is prone to develop into a sense sufficient control. of isolation and fragmentation,8 These, then, are some of the crises that define the American America's karmic past continues to rebound. condition, 1986. American Indians remember the decimation of their people and culture and speak out with THE TRADITIONAL SOURCES OF ANSWERS increasing rage. Blacks act out from their collec­ AND RESOLUTIONS: PHILOSOPHY, tive unconscious, filled with the memories of PSYCHOLOGY, RELIGION AND THE ARTS more than 240 years of slavery. America's policy of national egotism, manifest toward Mexico and Allied against the critical conditions outlined the Central and South American nations' destiny above are the traditional sources of wisdom: is nOw bearing fruit. The tragedy ofViet-Nam con­ Philosophy, Psychology, Religion and the Arts. tinues to haunt. Even heretofore quiet I apanese­ An examination of these, however, fmds them, in Americans are now protesting their forced removal the main, powerless. For example, with regard to to relocation/concentration camps (1942-1945). philosophy, it can be said that aside perhaps from a crude form of pragmatism ("if it works, Beyond this, the world's population increases it's right and true"), America has no philosophy by eighty million each year and, albeit indirectly, in the way Bushido or Code of the Warrior per­ America is beginning to feel its effects. The shift vaded Iapanese life for hundreds of years. There from an industrial to a technological state is are, of course, thousands of scholars who teach resulting in the phasing out of the middle class philosophy as a technical subject at colleges. and the bifurcation of American society into the Among them, however, are few who live and die very rich and tbe very poor, with its resultant their philosophy as did Socrates, Kierkegaard, or sense of dislocation. Increasing mobility under­ more recently, Saftre. mines social cohesion; the writer Vance Packard notes that America is becoming a nation of The vast majority of Americans live, for the strangers. The relatively poor quality of education most part, unconsciously, by pseudo philosophies has produced a nation in which one·third of its which, for want of a better term, may be described people are functionally illiterate. Seven hours of as usensualism" ("ifit feels good, do itn); or unar- T.V. watching every day has blurred the distinc· cissism" (Me, Me, Me); or "anarchism" ("I'll do it tion between image and reality. Finally, as the if I feel like it; it's a free country"); or "quantity­ sociologist Robert Bellah notes, in American ism" ("the bigger the better; the more the mer­ n society "the economy is geared to deliberately rier ); or "self-gratificationism" (HI want more stimulate insatiable human desire.,,7 and I want it now"); or "vigilantism" (uI'll take care of him personally, with this"); or "consumer­ Perhaps sensing America's weakened condition, ism n ("I just have to have that"); or "success-ism U other industrial nations are overtaking America. ("I don't care how I do it, I'm going to make it"); Briefly stated, while they export, we import; they or "commercialism" ("O.K. now, let's figure out emphasize responsibility, we harangue each other a way to make this profitable"); or "hype-ism" about our "rights"; they invest in their future, ("exaggerate a little; what's important is to get we mortgage ours; they save, enriching their it out there; to publicize, to promote"); or national wealth, we compulsively spend and Uentertainment-ism" (''The most important deplete our national wealth. thing? To have Fun!! !"). These, of course, are

12 not solutions. They are the problem. Mailer, et al.). Because of the failure of these tra­ ditional sources of wisdom, many Americans, Psychology, for the most part, is also powerless especially the young, are, according to Harvey to do anything toward resolving the American Cox, "Turning Eastn9 for spiritual sustenance crisis. Although there are over two hundred forms and resolution. Toward Zen, Nichiren and Tibetan of popular psychologies, they are, in essence, Buddhism, but ultimately to the Jiido ShinshIT useless, mainly because their basic presupposition Buddhism of Shinran. is that our conscious mind can significantly influ· ence our unconscious. Depth psychology or THE BRIGHT SIDE OF psychoanalysis is, of course, more powerful and THE AMERICAN SHADOW more effective, but to be effective, according to Freud. one must attend a one-hour session with Despite the dark and foreboding account an analyst, five days per week, for five years. above, America possesses certain basic strengths Very few can afford that kind of time or money. which make it an especially fertile ground for the spread of Jiido Shinshii. We must begin with the The deepest source of resolution for human two pillars that serve as the foundation of Amer­ suffering is religion. Of the status of religion in ica: The Declaration of Independence and the America, 1986, several things can be said: First, Constitution of the United States. The former there is a resurgence of interest in religion. How­ proclaims the equality of all persons and their ever, a large part of it is on the lower levels, with being endowed with certain Unalienable Rights its emphasis on quasi-magical practices, healing, of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. this-worldly benefits and political power. Second, The latter guarantees the freedom of worship and the religious message of Christianity has been the prohibition of a government-established reli­ inter-mixed with popular psychology, diluting gion (First Amendment). It provides equal protec­ the purity of its teaching. Christian thinkers such tion under the law (Fourteenth Amendment). as Tillich have made profound interpretations of And it guarantees the rights of citizen against U.S. Christianity, but these have not fIltered down to or state infringement based on race, color, or the masses. And third, the message of such theolo­ previous servitude (Fifteenth Amendment). Con­ gians as Altizer that "God is dead u may reflect, trast this with the religious situation in the partially at least, the spiritual condition in People's Republic of China, the Soviet Union, or America. God, of course, is Absolute and cannot Iran, and the importance of these two documents die. However, the traditional ways of explaining/ becomes self-evident. Objectively, America is understanding/experiencing God may have died blessed, as we all know, with tremendous natural in America. That is, they no longer elicit any deep resources: land, space, minerals, soil, water, etc. spiritual response; they have no real meaning for Its technology leads the world; its material afflu­ Americans. This absence of God is reflected in a ence is unmatched. darkening America. Psychologically, Americans still retain their And what of the arts? It can be said that no pioneering spirit and they continue to seek new one describes the human condition with greater challenges and religions. Philosophically, they are sensitivity, depth, and accuracy than writers. pragmatic and willing to test and use anything that However. despite their sometime incandescent works, whether it be a new gadget, psychotherapy, genius for conveying their perception and experi­ or religion. Its comparative lack of tradition ence of the American condition, they, for the enables it to move smoothly into new territories. most part, have no answers. No resolution. They report, but they do not prescribe. This is true for From the very beginning (the Puritan separa­ poets (Eliot, Sexton, et al.), for playwrights tists, the Plymouth Colony, the Constitution, (O'Neill, Miller, et al.), and for novelists (Bellow, etc.), religion has always played an integral part

13 in American life. This trait continues, symbol· This need, I believe, is self-evident. ically, in the use of the phrase, "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, in the saying of invocations at ADAPTATION AS ESSENTIALLY state and national assemblies, in its habit of self· A DIALECTICAL PROCESS reflection and even self-reproach, and in its quick­ ness to help the sick, hungry and poor. No other By "dialectical," I simply mean "the interplay country, for example~ has ever matched America's of opposites" in which apparently opposing truths compassion towards those seeking refuge from mutually influence and enhance each other, much persecution and suffering. as two pieces of glowing charcoal face each other. With reference to Jodo Shinshii in America, the These are some of the reasons that America "opposites"that present themselves are as follows: possesses the potentiality to serve as the next religious matrix for a new growth of Jodo Shinshil. JOdo Shinshil Buddhism in America must retain Should this transpire, the implications are infmite its traditional doctrines. At the same time, it must because America is both the future of, and a be modified, adapted, and made to conform to its model to, the world. The effects may rebound to American setting. While grounding Jodo Shinshii the.country of its origin, Japan. in its objective doctrine, subjective religious exper­ ience must be clarified and emphasized. While the CHANGE AND ADAPTATION AS AN preservation of the purity of Jiido Shinshil doc­ INTEGRAL PART OF BUDDHISM trine must be of prhnary concern, there should be no hesitation in making use of insights from Buddhism's essence is Compassion and Wis­ other traditions; e.g., philosophy, psychology, dom, and both are manifested as, and through, literature, modern physics, Zen/Tibetan/Yoga­ upiiya. "Upiiya" means effective methods, tools, cara/Madhyamika Buddhism. or techniques used to convey Buddhism.Buddhism flourished outside of India, in distant lands such While holding Faith to be of the essence (the as China, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Indonesia and Japan vertical dhnension), a more detailed attention because of the skillful application and exercise of must be paid to the problem of how to ethically upiiya. manifest that Faith in society (the horizontal dhnension). While affirming the suddenness of The "Biographies of Eminent Monks"IO the one moment of awakening to Faith, stress records numerous examples of Indian and Central must be placed equally on the importance of Faith Asian monks employing a variety of techniques as a gradual process; that is, the nurturing of the to convey Buddhism to the native Chinese. awakening to Faith throughout one's life. The Donran, whom Shinran Shlinin revered, used moment of Faith must also be viewed as occurring Taoist examples to explain Pure Land concepts. 1 I in linear thne, as well as continuously taking (References to Taoist concepts were widespread place in the Absolute Now. Faith must be experi­ during the early years of Buddhism in China). enced as both the absolute negation of the self The North Indian Bodhiruci, Donran's teacher, and the absolute affumation of the self. While used a feat of magic to convince the Chinese of emphasizing the hnportance of a Spiritual Guide Buddhism's power. 12 The Central Asian monk, (Zenchishiki!Kalylir,lamitra), the need to let go Fo-t'u-ch'eng hnpressed the Chinese with his one's attachment to the teacher must be stressed. ability to cure iIlness.1 3 Shinran radically altered the reading of scriptural passages and shaped The quintessence of Jiido Shinshii is absolutely Pure Land doctrine for the sake of the people of paradoxical (for example: "the meaning of na­ the Kamakura Period. In like manner, a diversity meaning") but this must be made comprehensible. of upiiya must be employed in the struggle to In the Chapter on Faith in the Kyogyoshimho, adapt Jodo Shinshil to its American context. the Ocean of Great Faith is seen as negating

14 all opposites (sudden/gradual; thought/absence born (musho no sho). Meaning is the negation of thought; meditation/good works, etc.).l4 How­ meaning (mugi no gi). Non-practice is practice ever, this negation must be experienced as trans­ (fugyo no gyo). "To think that one has attained cending both negation and affIrmation. Faith is to not attain; to know that one has not attained is to attain." I 5 "That which is shallow The American institution of Hido Shinshii (in matters of Faith) is deep."16 (BCA) must ground itself in the Hongwanji in Kyoto, lapan, and at the same time work to Thus, the adaptational process is involved and establish a separate identity here in America. complex. For it to evolve correctly, three major We must exert ourselves toward the spread of components must be present: I) clear and objec­ Iodo Shinshii to others, but at the same time tive knowledge of the doctrine of Iodo Shinshii know that the ultimate source of that exertion (that is, its basic texts), 2) subjective or spiritual lies in Tariki or the "Power of the Absolute depth, and 3) time itself. Other" and notinjiriki, the power of the limited, egotistic self. With regard to salvation, we must CONCLUDING REMARKS be fully aware that there is absolutely nothing for one to do; one is neither capable of, nor It must be emphasized that in the attempt to required to contribute to, one's salvation. And adapt and to become existentially relevant, the yet one must exert ourselves to understand and crucial thing is not numbers, money, knowledge, fully comprehend or experience this point. administration, or secular notoriety. Such have their place. However, what is of ultimate impor­ Iodo Shinshii must be seen as dealing with tance is spiritual depth; depth that is based on one's personal, psychological and social prob­ Tariki, the Other-Power and notjiriki, one's own lems, but at the same time it must be known that power, of which the essence is delusion, deme­ its ultimate concern is with those problems that ment and powerlessness. have no solution: death, absolute evil, irreversible karmic bondage, etc. The Iodo Shinshii follower Moreover, such spiritual depth must be mani­ must decry the depth of his or her evil and un­ fested in the person of one, single individual; conditionally affIrm that evil is the seminal source concretely and historically. The worth of a true of salvation. In the act of Faith, one must see Buddhist is affirmed by two men of different that one dies utterly (Zen nen myojii) and simul­ traditions and times. Zen Master Watanabe Genshu taneously is born anew (Gonen sokusha). (1869-1963) said, "Even one or two who are True Monks will do. Should they appear today in In Faith, one must see that one's evil is abso­ our country, Iapanese Buddhism will be saved by lutely fixed, unredeemable, and beyond salvaging that fact alone." 17 Approximately five hundred and that this evil undergoes ultimate transforma­ years before, Rennyo Shanin taught that "The tion to become its opposite. We must revere the flourishing of a religion has nothing to do with symbols of Hido Shinshii, and at the same time the large numbers of people who gather or with transcend the symbols and see the Reality to the greatness of its secular power. The flourishing which they point. Ultimate effort must be of a religion is dependent on even one person expended to go to the Pure Land to be born a attaining Faith." 18 Buddha (ojo), knowing that the fmal goal is return­ ing to this demed, floating world of suffering to work for the deliverance of all sentient beings FOOTNOTES: (gensl5). 1. Dante, The Inferno. Iohn Ciardi (Tr.), Finally, and in a slightly different vein, birth The Inferno (N.Y.: The New American into the Pure Land is, in truth, no longer to be lib., 1954), p. 28.

15 Roethke, "In a Dark Time." Yeats, Surviving a Nuclear War. (Other simi­ "The Second Coming. H Sexton, U Jesus, lar titles: Nuclear War Survival Skills; the Actor, Plays the Holy Ghost." T.S. Assured Survival-Putting the Star Eliot, uAsh Wednesday." Wars Defense in Perspective; The Cold and the Dark-The World After Nu­ 2. Shinran Shonin, ShozomatJu Wasan, clear War, etc.) Verse 35. George L. Waldbott, M.D., Health Effects 3. Edward Conze, A Short History of o[ Environmental Pollutants. Buddhism (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1980), p. 21. Pranay Gupte, The Crowded Earth.

4. Frederick J. Streng, Emptlness-A Study Jonathan Kwitney, Endless Enemies­ In Religious Meaning (Nashville: Abing­ The Making of an Unfriendly World. don Press, 1967), p. 171. Nonnan Corwin, Trivi4lizing America­ S. Dagen, Shobogenzo Chapter V, uLife The Triumph of Mediocrity. and Death." Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto (Ed. and Tr.), Zen: Poems, Maxine Schell, Llmlts-A Search for New Prayers, Sermons, Anecdotes, Interviews Values. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1965), p. 41. James Coates and Michael Ki11ian, Heavy LOlSes-The Dangerous Decline of 6. A sampling of material published be­ American Defense. tween 1980-86 (with the exception of the work by Packard). For reasons of Eliot Currie, Confronting Crime-An space, bibliographic infonnation has American Challenge. Why There is So been kept to a minimum. Much Crime in America and What We Can Do About It. Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Nar­ cissism-American Life in an Age of Sanford J. Ungar (Ed.), Estrangement­ Diminishing Expectations. America and the World.

Joseph Granville, The Warning-The Charles Murray, Losing Ground-Ameri­ Coming Great Crash in the Stock can Social Policy 1950-1980. Market. Why It Is Inevitable. What You Can Do to Avoid It. Jonathan Kozol, Rliterate America.

Vance Packard, A Nation 0/ Strangers. Montagu and Matson, The Dehumaniza­ tion of Man. David Burnham, The Rise of the Com­ puter State-A CbiIIing Account of 7. Robert N. Bellah, "The Contemporary the Computer's Threat to Society. Meaning of Kamakura Buddhism." A lecture delivered at a Symposium on David and Holly Franke, Safe Places for Kamakura Buddhism. Univ. of Hawaii, the 80s-Over 100 Suburbs, Towns, 22 January 1973, p. 22 of an unpub­ and Villages Where You and Your lished manuscript. Family Can Live, Work and Go to School, Safe from Crime. 8. Robert N. Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart-Individua1ism and Commitment Edward Zuckerman, After World War in American Life (N.Y.: Harper & Row, IIJ-The U.S. Government's Plans for 1985), p. 37. Perhaps the best socio-

16 logical study of the American character 12. T-50-428/c. since Tocqueville's seminaIsocio-political classic, "La Democratie en Amerique" 13. Arthur Frederick Wright, "Fo-t'u-teng," (2 vols.. 1835. 1840), and the later. Harvard Journal o[ A.datic Studies; "The Organization Man" and tiThe Vol. 11, 1984. p. 325. Lonely Crowd." 14. Kyogyoshinsho; Shin.hiiShogyoZensho. 9. Harvey Cox, Turning East-The Promise Vol. II. p. 68fline 10. and Peril of the New Orientalism (N.Y.: Simon and Schuster. 1977). IS. Goichidaikikigaki, No. 214 (Rennyo).

10. Kao-seng chWln. by the monk Hui-chao 16. Attributed to Honen Shonin. in a letter (A.D. 497-554). Comprised of257 major to Renshobo of Kumadani. Refer to and 243 ancillary biographies. Taisho Bukkyo Daiji-i. Vol. I. p. 660. Shin.hiiDaizokyo (hereafter abbreviated as ''T''). Vol. 50. pp. 322-424. 17. Daihorin; June. Vol. 46; No.6. p. 152.

11. Wang-shilng-lun chu. T-4()'835/c. 18. Goichidaikikigaki. No. 121.

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