PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

Eckel: Defining a Usable Past 61The Primal VowIn the Tannishø, one of Shinran’s disciples reports that the master isfond of saying: “When I ponder on the compassionate Vow of Amida,established through five kalpa-s of profound thought, it was for myself,Shinran, alone. Because I am burdened so heavily with karma, I feel evenmore grateful to the Primal Vow which is made decisively to save me.” 12When someone comes to Shin Buddhism for the first time, knowing a bitabout the language of the Indian Mahåyåna, perhaps, but unfamiliar withthe distinctive flavor it acquired in Japan, it is hard not to notice theemphasis that falls again and again on the concept of the Primal Vow ofAmida Buddha. Shinran insists throughout his writings that salvationcomes through the agency of the Vow. It is the vessel of Amida’s Vow thatcarries a person across the ocean of birth-and-death, and it is the Vowthat elicits a person’s deepest feelings of gratitude. Why does the Vowtake on such primary importance? Why does Shinran not attribute theagency of salvation directly to Amida Buddha and dispense with theVow altogether?One way to answer these questions is to step into the story of salvationas it appears in the two Sukhåvat∆vy¥ha S¥tras, the Indian texts that servedas the source of the Pure Land tradition. 13 An abbreviated version of thestory might sound like this: Ûåkyamuni, the Buddha of this historical era,was staying near a city in India, surrounded by a large group of disciples,and he began to tell a story. Far away in the west, he said, there is apleasurable (sukhåvat∆) land, designed to delight all the senses; presidingover this land is a Buddha named Amitåyus (Immeasurable Life) orAmitåbha (Immeasurable Light). How did this land come to be? In thedistant past, he said, a bodhisattva named Dharmåkara made a series ofvows, promising that he would not become a buddha until he couldpreside over a land that had certain characteristics. When his vows wereready to be fulfilled and the land created, Dharmåkara achieved full,perfect awakening and became the Buddha Amitåyus or Amitåbha. Thedistinctive content of the vows gave the land its distinctive features,including a vow that established the mechanism of salvation. Amongother things, Dharmåkara promised that if someone hears the name ofAmitåbha Buddha and remembers him with a trusting mind (prasannacitta),Amitåbha will stand before him at the moment of death andrelieve his fears. Another vow establishes similar conditions for rebirthin the Pure Land. 14This story of salvation, leading from the career of the bodhisattvaDharmåkara to the land of Amitåbha Buddha, helps explain why Shinranfelt such gratitude for the Vow. He felt that his own life history had beeninfused and transformed by the power of Dharmåkara’s promise. But this