The Concept of Gratitude in Shin Buddhism by Taitetsu Unno

The Concept of Gratitude in Shin Buddhism by Taitetsu Unno t the heart of Shin Buddhism (Jodo Shinshii) their attitude to the world even without such an A is a radical transformative experience, consis awareness. The Japanese idiomatic expression, tent with the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, which Okage-samo, is a case in point. Whatever one's converts a being, bound to the infinite burden of present circumstances, he or she lives by virtue of saqtsara, into a free liberated person who, willingly the workings and sacrifices of countless others, taking on the responsibilities of his karmic exis including nature. (Kage means "shade," protec· tence, manifests wisdom and compassion in rela tion, assistance, beneficence, kindness; and 0 and tion to the world. This positive affirmation of SIlmtl are honorifics.) Thus, Okage-SIlmtl prefaces life comes from a deep sense of gratitude to all the words of gratitude expressed by a person forms of existence, a gratitude rooted in being recovering from illness, a man beginning anew itself and permeating one's every thought, speech, after a failure in business, a scholar publishing a and action. Gratitude, in this profound sense, is book, a woman who has raised fme children, an not simply a mere attitude, a deep feeling, or artist who has achieved success-in none of these even a desirable virtue; it is as elemental as life cases does an individual claim to have made it on itself. his own. In fact, just to be alive is Okag.. SIlmtl our life is a gift of nature and aU the hidden forces The original tenn for "gratitude" in Sino contained therein. Japanese is en (in Chinese) or on (in Japanese). This term connotates kindness, goodness, favor, Such an appreciation for life comes from a blessing, benevolence, and grace which make humble sense of self. From gratitude is born this possible one's life and existence. Later, with the sense of natural humility which, in turn, deepens strong influence of Buddhism , it took on the addi· one's gratefulness to all things. Both continue to tional meaning of the feeling of gratefulness or grow with maturity and age; they are the qualities thankfulness, as well as the deep wish to repay or of a truly wise, humane person. The consequence reciprocate for a salutary act.! The two cannata· of humility and gratitude is compassion, a compas tions, however, are inseparable, since the latter is sion that is unforced and free flowing. These mani the natural reaction to the former, and the former festations of what it means to be truly human cannot be talked about without some sense of the gratefulness, humbleness and compassion-are latter. The English word "gratitude" fails to ade· the natural flowerings of life, free of any will, quately convey this twofold sense but since there purpose, judgment, or discrimination. are no other equivalents in Western languages, it must suffice for now to convey the dual meaning The concept of gratitude has deep roots in of the original term. Indian Buddhism in which recognition or aware nes~ of favors (krtajfia, katanniij is not only essen· Although the profound sense of gratitude is tial to the religious life but, more fundamentally, brought to awareness in the person who has been to human life itself. It even becomes the propelling touched deeply by life, it has been the fundamen· force behind acts of compassion, even though one tal ethos of East Asian people and permeates is not the recipient of any favor or kindness. This 25 is because life is a vast network of interdependence One of the frrst examples of the more standard and mutuality that constitutes being. In early form appears in the Sutra on the Meditation on Buddhism this appears in the affrrmatioll of daily the True DhamuI, translated in A.D. 359.5 The life, as exemplified in the Eightfold Noble Path, four objects of gratitude, enabling one to come based on the principle of the Middle Way and into contact with the Buddha Dharma, are mother, negating any concept of an absolute. In Mahayana father, Tathagata, and teacher of dharma. They Buddhi.ml Nagarjuna gave it a fuller expression are considered to be "fields of merit" (punYIl in his philosophy of dependent co-origination. ksetruj, any devotional acts to them being con The basic motivation behind the bodhisattva's sidered meritorious for advancing on the religious six paramitii is said to be a sense of gratefulness, path. Among them, the fourth, the teacher of the crucial component being kshiil1li with its dharma, was considered to be crucial. dual connotation of "tolerance" and "wisdom." Through the practice of tolerance one is able to In the ninth century different formulations of become cognizant of the standpoint of others, as the Four Gratitudes appear in sUtras translated well as of favors or bleSSings received; hence, it during this period. In theMahiiyiinaSiitra onMedi makes possible the birth ofwisdom.2 tation of the Mind of Original Birth the four are listed as I) father and mother, 2) sentient beings, Chinese Buddhi.ml, in spite of its variegated 3) king, and 4) Three Treasures of Buddha, expression, inherits this understanding of life and Dharma, and Sangha.6 Among these the gratitude enriches it with some basic assumptions of its to sentient beings reflects the interdependent own. They may be summarized in the assertion nature of existence, and the inclusion of king or that "the genuine Chinese cosmogony is that of ruler is thought to reflect certain periods of Indian organismic process, meaning that all of the parts Buddhism. In another version, Siitru on Embracing of the entire cosmos belong to one organic whole Truth in Yarious Buddha Realms, the Four Grat~ and that they all interact as participants in one tudes are given as 1) king, 2) father and mother, spontaneously self-generating life process ... 3 3) benefactors of the dharma, and 4) sentient beings in all the universes. 7 The concept of gratitude which evolved in East Asia, thus, is a deepening appreciation for the In contrasting the fourth century and the ninth interdependency and interpenetration of life as it century formulations scholars have pointed out is. It rejects any kind of a supreme being or power that the latter show accommodation to Chinese that rules over human destiny, as well as any values, exemplified in patriarchal Confucian nihilistic and fatalistic acceptance of things. Grati ethics, listing the father first as the primary object tude is an essential and integral part of the ecology of mial piety and the ruler as the exclusive object of life. of loyalty. The religious dimensions are found in the reverence for the Three Treasures and for The first formulation of Four Gratitudes, sentient beings. The former, on the other hand, reflecting the original connotation of en or on still retains remnants of matriarchal Indian society as bleSSing, caring, kindness, and benevolence, with the mother given priority and the religious was used to translate the Four Embracing Acts components, the Tathagata and teacher of dharma, (catJiiiri samgra/unJastiinij taught in Indian maintaining their central place. Buddhism.4 The four are generosity, loving words, beneficial acts, and empathy, all highly The patriarchal nature of Confucian hierarchi acclaimed qualities of a bodhisattva. But this was cal ethics can be summarized, for example, in the a special usage, quite different in contents from following statement found in the Classic ofFiliDl what was later to become widely associated with Piety: the popular understandingofthe Four Gratitudes. The connecting link between serving one's 26 father and serving one's mother is love. The and gratitude in the religious sense which ulti connecting link between serving one's father mately expresses thankfulness for this human life, and serving one's prince is reverence. Thus, the vehicle through which one realizes supreme the mother elicits love, while the prince caDs enlightenment. While the horizontal and vertical forth reverence; but to the father belongs relationships are inseparable, the basis for grati both-love and reverence. 8 tude is clearly the vertical one between the Buddha and oneself. This great tradition of filial piety directly countered the central practice of the Buddhist This rejection of particularistic ethics on the tradition-renunciation of the family and the horizontal plane is characteristic of Japanese worldly life. This conflict ultimately forced the Buddhism in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333). Buddhists to justify their ways by making accom· In spite of the fact that Buddhism was intimately modations to the prevailing family ethics. This bound to the state from the time of its introduc they did by arguing that renunciation itself was tion into Japan in the sixth century and that filial the highest form of filial piety, since the forsaking piety was an accepted social and ethical norm, the of worldly life for supreme enlightenment meant leaders of Kamakura Buddhism, such as Honen, that ultimately one would return to save aU beings, Shin ran, Dogen, and Nichiren, were adamant in including one's own parents. Moreover, filial piety claiming the superiority of the Buddha Dharma should not be solely a matter of the present but over aU secular aUegiances. of past and future lives; the entry into religious life meant that seven generations of ancestors Both Honen and Shinran, affirming the exclu would also be saved.9 sive reliance upon the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha, negated the conventional social norms. The sacrosanct nature of familial ethics led According to the Tract Lamenting the Devilltions, the BUddhists to forge several apocryphal siitras, Shinran states unequivocaDy: two of the most famous and important being the so-caUed UllllmblUllJ Siitra, composed around I, Shinran, have never even once pronounced A.D.

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