Fundamentalism is a phenomenon most commonly associated with Christianity and Islam, although there is at least one Fundamentalist sect associated with Jodo Shinshu.

What is Fundamentalism and why does it exist? First of all Fundamentalism never appears in isolation. It always appears after the appearance within its particular Tradition of another phenomenon called Modernism. This is necessary because Fundamentalism grows out of Modernism and is meaningless without it.

Fundamentalism is essentially a reaction against Modernism. It is sometimes thought of as being Traditional or Orthodox, but in fact it is the very reverse. It is a reaction against Modernism that gives Modernism the advantage that everything is defined in Modernist terms. Fundamentalism does not in essence disagree with Modernism. In fact it does Modernism the favor of accepting all its basic precepts at face value even if it tries to reject them.

So what are the basic precepts of Modernism without which Fundamentalism could not exist?

1. Regarding Religion/Tradition as a purely historical/cultural phenomenon.
   
2. Regarding Religion/Tradition as a purely human invention.
   
3. Regarding the basis of symbolism – on which all Traditions to some degree rest – most notably the Platonic/Theistic Western Traditions – as purely human in origin.
   
4. Having a strong interest in history, because it regards all these things as being purely historical/developmental phenomena, non-different from any other historical/cultural phenomena.
   

In this it is hugely assisted by the Evolutionist revolution of the mid 19th century which led to the triumph of Modernism as the underlying ideology of the West.

Fundamentalism (rightly) frames its argument against Modernism as a defense of religion as something outside of and superior to the historical process.

Fundamentalism is the reaction against Modernism in its Western (here including Islamic) form.

Without Modernism it could not exist.

In this it is put at a vast disadvantage by the near-universal adoption of Modernism as the basic ideology of the West that was sealed by the Evolutionist Revolution of the mid-19th century – a coup d’état that had been several centuries in the making.

So, for example, Modernism tackles the question of the age of the earth and cites scientific evidence that it is far older than Biblical narratives suggest. Naturally this implies an extremely literalistic interpretation of Biblical and other texts.

Fundamentalists fall into the trap of defending this literalism. In fact Fundamentalism and literalism are often taken to be synonymous.

In relation to Jodo Shinshu, Modernists attack literalist interpretations of the Sutras and other texts. In this they are on good ground. Clearly they are not meant to be taken as literal statements of mere material fact.

What Modernists appear to see them as, however, is the symbolic expression of psychological and cultural phenomena – often near-devoid of any content that might realistically be called “Spiritual” or genuinely religious.

It often leads to a kind of Buddhist-tinged “social gospel” and is closely (if ironically) often associated with attempts to disengage Jodo Shinshu from anything that smacks of Christianity (or genuine religion in general) and make it conform to Western concepts of “Buddhism” that are often predicated on the so-called “scientific world-view”.

In this the Modernist position is clearly in error. Amida-sama’s vow is not to improve those rooms within the burning house that haven’t yet caught fire but to rescue beings from the burning house altogether.

That is, to rescue us from the Samsara with its Heavens, its Hells and its endless round of death and rebirth.

This is the summit to which all the Traditional/Religious Paths lead. Our Path does so via the vast mystery of the Fundamental Vow (to rescue us from the burning house) and the Nenbutsu.

I believe that our Path has become even easier than it was in Shinran Shounin’s time – just as it has in the other Traditions. But in any case it leads to the same Summit.

Amida-sama is as old as the Gods of other traditions and – from our point of view – encompasses them all. Amida-sama is not a “historical figure” – if by that we mean some being who existed at a particular time and passed on to another existence – a creature still bound by the Samsara. That is why it is so wrong for both Fundamentalists and Modernists to claim “historicity” for Amida-sama.

Amida-sama is certainly a real Buddha and for that very reason not limited by history or by the lifespan of this particular world-system.

Was the Amida-sama who made the Primal Vow countless kalpas ago a “Buddhist”?

Probably not as we now use the term.

Amida-sama is not contained within religious or other Formulas. Amida-sama is the Absolute. Our task is coming to terms with the vastness and mysterious limitlessness of the Primal Vow as it is contained in the nenbutsu.

We need not worry. All we need to do is trust.