By the Rev. John Paraskevopoulos

Jōdo Shinshū is not a religion of goodness but a religion of truth.

Gesshō Sasaki (1875-1926)

This is a question I am asked frequently. Seeing as we find, among humanity’s religions, so many options available to people in the modern world, why should we take any notice of Shinran’s teachings? How do the insights of a Buddhist thinker from medieval Japan speak to us today? Indeed, the great number of religious perspectives available now — all making widely different claims — have led some to believe that none of them can be true. This conclusion, sadly, makes many seekers abandon the spiritual quest altogether. Can we find a way around this predicament?

It’s hard to contend that a certain belief system is authentic just because we happen to have been born into it. Of course, being culturally comfortable in one’s own tradition is important but that alone is not enough to ensure that its claims against other faiths will always be valid. Therefore, we need robust criteria to help us find a path that fulfills our deepest spiritual needs while giving us the discernment to make sense of the world.

In this four-part series of short essays, we’ll explore the value of Jōdo Shinshū in light of the major questions that weigh on the minds of many when they reflect on our perplexing existence. In today’s world, religions face serious challenges from an array of secular forces: materialism, relativism, hedonism, individualism and consumerism. As a result of these seductive, powerful influences in our society, there is now much greater confusion about matters of faith than ever before, with many of us having become more sceptical and uncertain in our convictions.

In such a fraught climate, Jōdo Shinshū has a great deal to offer humanity today just as it did eight hundred years ago. While the lives of people in Shinran’s times might seem remote from ours, they were, fundamentally, much the same because the facts of the human condition have not changed. I also believe that Shinran, while remaining a steadfast Buddhist, had some profoundly original things to say; in particular, he revolutionised the nature of spiritual practice by teaching a bold vision of ultimate reality and how awakening to it can greatly benefit our lives. There is a universal quality to his thought that can touch us deeply if we approach it with honesty, sincerity and a hunger for the truth.

Before going any further, it’s important to remember that notions such as orthodoxy (‘correct understanding’) and tradition (‘that which is handed down’) actually matter. These may seem antiquated and old-fashioned because they’re not in keeping with our fast-paced world where ideas and values are constantly changing. But this is precisely the problem. When we lack an anchor in the depths of our spiritual heritage, our efforts to make Shinran’s teaching relevant to the modern world will be in vain. This cannot succeed when we’re cut off from the nourishing sacred truths bequeathed to us by so many masters of our school over the centuries.

We should, without question, clarify how Shinran’s outlook is meaningful to us today but we must do so while remaining faithful to the insights of our tradition. Otherwise, we’ll make the teachings of Jōdo Shinshū mean whatever we want them to, in keeping with the fickle ideological fashions of our times. Inevitably, this leads to doctrinal distortions and a betrayal of the founders’ objectives.

We often read back into the sutras and commentaries of the past our own contemporary biases, in the belief that we’re somehow advancing our understanding through interpretations we think are modern and ‘sophisticated’. However, if the spiritual intentions of Shinran and his successors haven’t been properly grasped, then we’ll gain little benefit from studying them. Therefore, there’s a pressing need to acquire the mind of Shinran and put him front-and-center of our dharma outreach efforts — without, of course, sacrificing critical thinking and scholarly accuracy in our translations and studies.

Before we embark on sharing the teaching with others, we need to ask ourselves: Have we really come to grips with what Shinran is saying? Are we confident that we’ve understood him correctly? His thinking can, at times, be elusive and subtle so we need to consult reliable teachers and good dharma friends. Most importantly, though, we must recall our true end: the peace, certainty and self-knowledge that are given when our lives are touched by the presence of Amida Buddha, which is never away from us.

The many difficulties we face today have become especially acute in the political, social and educational domains. Conflict, violence and division have reached boiling point in many parts of the world without the prospect of any peaceful resolutions emerging on the horizon. Everywhere we turn, we find that fiery passions, having first seized our hearts, are then stoked incessantly by others (including political demagogues and the media).

During these times of momentous upheaval, we need to draw sustenance from the wellspring of immeasurable light and life that lies at the heart of our tradition. Only when we take refuge in that which is ‘true and real’ can we receive the unfailing wisdom that cuts through the toxic ‘lies and gibberish’ all around us, of which the Tannishō speaks so vividly.

While Shinran boldly revealed the confronting reality of our unenlightened lives, we mustn’t forget that what’s intrinsic to his message is the spiritual joy that comes with an abiding true faith, understood as the arising of Amida’s mind within us (not something that we generate). This joy cannot be granted or taken away by this world of uncertainty. In our everyday struggles to secure happiness and well-being, a life of nembutsu can bring great comfort in the awareness that we’re enveloped by the unconditional benevolence of the Primal Vow — precisely in the flawed and broken condition we find ourselves. This allows us to effortlessly partake of the Buddha’s nature which dispels our self-induced darkness and gives us freedom to live beyond the oppressive confines of our false self.

In the following parts of this essay, we’ll consider the key features of Jōdo Shinshū that make it a unique and compelling spiritual vision — one that is open to all who thirst for the wonderfully liberating transformation it offers.

Go to Part Two ▶