Vol. 3, Issue 1 (March 2023)

Jodo Shinshu International
Buddha’s Wish
A Buddhist Quarterly
Volume 3, Issue 1
2023

MISSION STATEMENT
Sharing with the world the deep and humbling joy of awakening to
Amida Buddha’s Universal Aspiration that enables each and every
person to live a spiritually fulfilled life.
ABOUT THE MISSION STATEMENT
This mission statement was articulated to convey a number of overarching
themes and goals that this founding committee wanted to share with its readers
through this quarterly journal. By introducing first-hand accounts of people
who have experienced the warmth of Amida Buddha’s embracing Compassion,
readers can be inspired by the message of Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo
Shinshu Buddhism.
Through these religious experiences and accounts from people around the
world, it is our hope to spread the message of Amida Buddha’s Great Aspiration
for all beings—despite race, color, creed, or any other divisions among us—to
awaken to a life of spiritual fulfillment. When we awaken to this message of
Amida’s universal embracement, each person can live in the here and now,
with a sense of profound self-reflection, joy, and hope that will lead one to live
in deepest gratitude for the Buddha’s benevolence.
We are excited to be a part of a movement that will spread a message of
unity and hope through Amida Buddha’s universal solidarity.
Namo Amida Butsu.

Volume 3, Issue 1, Published February 2023
Jodo Shinshu
International
A Buddhist Quarterly
IN THIS ISSUE
6 Journey Toward Jodo Shinshu
Interview with Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia
8 Tanluan: Birth in the Pure Land as birth to no-birth
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
14 Spiritual Values and Personal Identity
Dr. Alfred Bloom

Jodo Shinshu International is published quarterly by the
Jodo Shinshu International Office, a not-for-profit religious
corporation.
Volume 3, Issue 1.
Content copyright © 2023 Jodo Shinshu International Office.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system, without written permission.
Editors-in-Chief: Rev. Kodo Umezu, Rev. Ai Hironaka
Committee: Rev. Yuika Hasebe, Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji
Contributors: Dr. Alfred Bloom, Rev. Jérôme Ducor, Rev.
Enrique Galvan-Alvarez, Rev. Ai Hironaka, Rev. Uma Lama
(Ghising), Minako Kamuro, Rev. Melissa Opel, Shogyo Gustavo
Pinto
Design & Layout: Travis Suzaka
Printing: Kousaisha, Tokyo, Japan
Support: Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara, Madeline Kubo
Image Sources: Upsplash and Wikipedia
Jodo Shinshu International Office
1710 Octavia Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
www.jsinternational.org
EXPLANATION OF CALLIGRAPHY
Out of Deep Sorrow...
The phrase for this issue is 本 願 (hon-g(w)an) which literally means the Primal Vow (of Amida
Tathagata). “Primal” means original or primary. This is the Buddha’s Wish for all sentient beings.
We, without exception, are living our lives wishing for all to experience peace and happiness. Yet,
we constantly find ourselves experiencing difficult situations individually and collectively.
Do we know the way out of these conditions? We put our conventional wisdom together and try to
find the way to solve issues, yet we don’t seem to have the answer to this question.
It takes true wisdom, the Wisdom of Buddha, to shine a pure, bright light upon us to illuminate
the root of our never-ending pains and sufferings. Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Wisdom
and Compassion, established the Primal Vow out of deep sorrow in order to bring about the birth of
all people in the Buddha’s Land so they may be freed from the endless cycle of sufferings.
Shinran Shonin, in his writings, states;
Śākyamuni Tathagata appeared in this world
Solely to teach the oceanlike Primal Vow of Amida;
We, an ocean of beings in an evil age of five defilements,
Should entrust ourselves to the Tathagata’s words of truth.
We live our lives not knowing that we are being urged to hear Amida’s call coming from the Realm of
True Reality. Without hearing the Buddha’s compassionate words of truth, we will not be able to live
fully, and will inevitably repeat the cycle of pain and suffering. Therefore, according to the Pure Land
masters and teachers, hearing the Buddha’s calling is the most urgent matter in our lives.
This year, we will be commemorating Shinran Shonin’s 850th birthday and
the 800th year of clarifying the true essence of the teaching of the Pure Land
(Jodo Shinshu). It will be a great opportunity for us to listen to the true words of
Śākyamuni Tathagata and Shinran Shonin.
Rev. Kodo Umezu
Rev. Kodo Umezu is a retired minister and former Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of
America who currently serves as the President of the Jodo Shinshu International Office.

Journey Towards
Jodo Shinshu
Interview with Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia
PART TWO OF THREE
Rev. Sonam attended the Buddhist Churches of America’s Shinran Shonin 750th Memorial Observances in
February 2010. We are pleased to present the second of three parts of his roundtable discussion with BCA
ministers from that occasion as originally printed in BCA’s monthly newsletter, Wheel of Dharma.
In part one, Rev. Sonam talked about his life as a monk of Tibetan Buddhism. In part two he discusses
his encounter with Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. In part three he describes his Jodo Shinshu Sangha and his
dream for the future.
6

INTERVIEW WITH REV. SONAM WANGDI BHUTIA
When did you come into contact with Jodo
Shinshu?
I used to go to Bodhgaya, where Buddha was enlightened.
Every day I practiced there in the shade of a Bodhi tree.
I did meditation there. Every year I went there. Twelve
years ago I met a disabled person from Japan [Hiromichi
Mukaibo]. He couldn’t walk or [feed] himself. He
traveled in a wheelchair. I thought, “This person might
be in sorrow. He might have come from Japan to find
happiness.” I tried to teach him some Buddhism, even
though I myself was grappling with many confusions in
my mind.
He spoke English to me. I said, “Buddhism ... is
medicine for the mind. Shakyamuni Buddha said that
to his followers. ‘My teaching is medicine for your mind.
Think of me as a doctor and think of yourself as a patient,
and take my teaching as medicine.’ That medicine should
be taken according to the prescription. If you don’t
take that medicine according to the prescription, it will
become poison. Suppose you are given medicine that is
[prescribed] for one week. If you say that you want to get
well soon and you eat the week’s-worth of medicine all
at once, then that medicine will become poison. So one
must closely follow the doctor’s direction and take the
medicine accordingly. Then, one will slowly get healthier.
Remember, if you take it all at one time, then that
medicine will become poison. That is what Shakyamuni
Buddha said to us.”
Together, Hiromichi Mukaibo and I shared many
conversations thereafter. We talked many, many times. He
asked me many questions. I told him I had been practicing
Buddhism since childhood. After 21 years, I still could not
extinguish my blind passions and negative views. This was
what I was confused about.
Then he said, “You and I are quite different. I don’t
have any confusion. I’m very pure. I’m very happy. When
I leave this world, I will go to the Pure Land.”
How simply he said that to me! He was not even a
practicing monk; he was doing nothing. No meditation. I
said, “How can you easily go to the Pure Land like this,
without doing anything, without practicing anything?”
And he said, “That’s Amida Buddha’s teaching. That is
the working of Amida Buddha. That is the working of the
six characters.”
It was very difficult [to understand]. If I had said, “Ah,
ok,” it would be like taking all the medicine at one time. [I
thought,] “You are wrong. Your thinking is like Christian
thinking, not Buddhist thinking. In Buddhism you have to
practice, you have to purify your mind. In Buddhism you
have to know yourself. This is not the way. You think that
if you believe in Amida, he will take you to the Pure Land.
Is this the way?”
We discussed this matter in great extent. I thought
[Mr. Mukaibo] must be wrong. He was led to be confused
by a wrong Buddhist master. I thought that I had to teach
him, and I must show him the right path. I just wanted to
talk with him, because I was confused before, and now, I
was even more confused! He said he was definitely going
to the Pure Land, and I was not going to the Pure Land.
So that is what made me interested in Jodo Shinshu. I just
wanted to know what Amida Buddha was. How did the
Name work? It took me a very long time to understand
Jodo Shinshu. It took more than four years. It’s very
difficult to understand Jodo Shinshu.
About the Interviewee
Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia is the head
minister of the Hongwanji Buddhist
Society, Nepal, Kathmandu-Hongwanji,
the first Jodo Shinshu Temple in the land of
Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth.
7

FEATURED ARTICLE
Tanluan: Birth in the Pure
Land as birth to no-birth
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
Among the Seven Patriarchs selected by Shinran, Tanluan (476-542) stands out as a
particularly free and original mind. Some aspects of his Pure Land teaching may even
remind us of the paradoxical language of the Chan (Zen) masters, even though this
school had not yet developed at the time.
He is the first of the Seven Patriarchs whose life can be traced with some precision,
thanks to the monumental chronicles produced by the Chinese Buddhists, who were
very concerned with retaining historical lineages for posterity. In particular, we
discover that Tanluan only encountered the Pure Land teaching a dozen years before
8
Author’s Note: My deep thanks to Dr. Helen Loveday for improving my English.
(Left) Gelonglongzhu. Map of Wutaishan the Sacred Place. 1846. Woodblock print on linen.

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
his death, the first part of his life having been devoted to
research in other aspects of the Greater Vehicle.
Tanluan was born in Yanmen, one of the gates of the
Great Wall, in northern China (Shanxi province). At the
time, China was divided into two empires: in southern
China the Liu-Song dynasty ruled, and in northern China
the Bei-Wei dynasty. About 60 km southeast of Yanmen
lies the Wutaishan mountain range, an important religious
centre for both Buddhists and Taoists. According to the
earliest biographies of Tanluan, which date back to the 7th
century, he frequented these places already as a teenager
and, in fact, he was eventually recognised during his
lifetime as an accomplished master of both traditions.
After receiving Buddhist ordination, he studied the
texts of the Mādhyamika, the philosophical branch of the
Greater Vehicle founded by Nāgārjuna, the first of the
Seven Patriarchs.
Subsequently, he embarked on the study of a collection
of sūtras known as the Great Collection Sūtra (Daijikkyō),
which comprised no less than thirteen texts in thirty
volumes. He eventually set about composing a followup
commentary on this compendium, but fell seriously
ill halfway through his work. He then had the idea of
prolonging his life for the time necessary to complete his
commentary using the methods of Taoist medicine. To do
so, he undertook, at the age of more than fifty, a journey
of some eight hundred kilometres to meet Tao Hongjing
(456-536), the most illustrious master of this tradition,
who lived on Mount Maoshan, in southern China. At
that time, around 527-529, Tanluan was himself a fairly
advanced Taoist master, for not only did Tao Hongjing
agree to receive him, but he even gave him a dozen
volumes of Taoist texts.
On his way back, Tanluan stopped at the North
Chinese capital, Luoyang, where he had a decisive
encounter with Bodhiruci. The latter was a renowned
Indian monk-translator, and Tanluan asked him if
Buddhism offered any methods of prolonging life which
were better than Taoist ones. At this question, Bodhiruci
spat on the ground in disdain and replied to Tanluan:
“Even if you could attain long life, you would only put off
death for a while. In the end, you still transmigrate…”.
Thereupon, the Indian master gave Tanluan the Sūtra of
the Contemplations on the Buddha Immeasurable-Life (Kangyō),
translated a century before, saying to him: “This is the
method of the Great Immortal! Practice by relying on it
and you will obtain deliverance from births and deaths!”
With that, Tanluan threw the texts he had received
from Tao Hongjing into the fire, abandoned his work of
commenting on the Great Collection Sūtra, and with firm
conviction, turned to the method of birth in the Pure
Land. It is likely that on this occasion Bodhiruci also gave
him Vasubandhu’s Treatise on the Pure Land (Jōdoron), which
he had just translated into Chinese, around 529-531.
*
In the end, it was on the Treatise of the Pure Land and
not the Sūtra of Contemplations that Tanluan composed a
Commentary (Ronchū), which paved the way to his fame.
This choice was probably justified by the conciseness of the
Treatise and by the greater freedom of interpretation that
it offered Tanluan by allowing him to draw inspiration
from other sūtras, such as the Sūtra of Immeasurable-Life and
the Sūtra of Amida.
Nevertheless, the importance of the transmission of
the Sūtra of Contemplations to Tanluan cannot be overstated.
9

FEATURED ARTICLE - TANLUAN: BIRTH IN THE PURE LAND AS BIRTH TO NO-BIRTH
He would draw from it some of the most original themes
of his doctrine, not least the principle of birth in the Pure
Land even for the worst criminals who have committed
the five perversions (killing one’s mother, one’s father or an
arhat, spilling the blood of a Buddha, causing the schism
of the Community).
According to Tanluan, birth in the Pure Land is made
possible for them by the mere recitation of the Buddha
Amida’s Name, as taught by the Sūtra of Contemplations in
the passage on “The lower beings of the lower class” (gebon
geshō). This is quoted in full by Tanluan in his Commentary,
where he explains that the excellence of this practice lies
in its object, namely “the Name with the infinite, pure and
true merits” of the Buddha Amida (§ 43). Here it should be
remembered that the name “Amida” is the Sino-Japanese
transcription of the Sanskrit “Amita,” the latter being the
combined abbreviation of the double original name of
the Buddha of the Pure Land in the Western direction:
Amitābha (“Immeasurable-Light”) and Amitāyus
(“Immeasurable-Life”).
According to Tanluan, the names of the Buddhas are
not simply names, which are but designations of a thing
and not the thing itself: much like the finger that points
to the sun, but only indicates what it is referring to but
not being the sun itself. On the contrary, the names of
the Buddhas are none other than the thing they designate
(myō soku hō 名 卽 法 ); they merge with it, as if to embody
it (§ 52). In fact, for Tanluan, the name of the Buddha
Immeasurable-Life even embodies the entire canon of
the Pure Land (§ 2). In short, by hearing this name with
faith, the practitioner is thus endowed with the equipment
in merit (skr. puṇya-saṃbhāra) essential to ward off one of
the two major obstacles on the path to Enlightenment:
passions.
As for ignorance, which constitutes the second of these
obstacles, it is removed by the equipment in wisdom (skr.
jñāna-saṃbhāra), from which the one who commemorates
the Buddha Amida benefits, ipso facto, through His
embrace by His light, in accordance with the Sūtra of
Contemplations which states:
“His light fully illuminates the universes of the
ten directions, and it embraces the beings who
commemorate the Buddha without abandoning
them”. (9th Contemplation)
Thus, commenting on the meaning of the Buddha
Immeasurable-Light’s Name, Tanluan says:
“The Buddha’s light is the mark of His wisdom. His
light illuminates the universes of the ten directions
without having any limitations and it effectively erases
the black darkness of ignorance of the beings in the
ten directions”. (§ 52)
Because the Buddha’s Name conveys the totality of His
merits to all beings, and because His light of wisdom
universally illuminates them, Tanluan concludes that the
process of birth in the Pure Land is entirely conditioned
by the “power of the primal vow” of the Buddha Amida
(hongan-riki, § 126). This perspective, which constitutes
one of Tanluan’s fundamental contributions, may have
been inspired by this crucial passage from the Sūtra of
Immeasurable-Life:
“By the power of the primal vow of this Buddha,
those who hear His name and wish to go to be born there
all reach His realm together and naturally attain the
irreversible”. (Tōbōge, 18)
10

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
Tanluan is particularly well
known for contrasting the
power of Amida Buddha’s
vows with the practitioner’s
personal power (jiriki),
through the famous
expression ‘Other Power’
(tariki).
Tanluan is particularly well known for contrasting
the power of Amida Buddha’s vows with the practitioner’s
personal power ( jiriki), through the famous expression
‘Other Power’ (tariki).
The corollary of the Other Power is the ease of
practice based on it, as opposed to the difficulty of the
practice based on personal power, as Tanluan points out at
the opening of his Commentary (§ 1). In concrete terms, this
ease is represented by the Sūtra of Contemplations, according
to which ten commemorations of the Buddha are enough
to be born in the Pure Land, although, according to
Tanluan, there is no need to count them (§ 43). And
this practice is dazzlingly fast, since there is no interval
between the practitioner’s last thought at the moment of
death and his first thought once born in the Pure Land.
In terms of speed, Vasubandhu’s Treatise of the Pure
Land already argued that one who encounters the power of
Amida’s vow is filled “quickly” with His merits (stanza 19).
But Tanluan is even more explicit: by being born in the
Pure Land through Amida’s 18th vow, it is “at once” (soku)
that one escapes transmigration in the cycle of births and
deaths, while simultaneously entering the irreversible, the
8th of the ten stages of bodhisattvas, which ensures that
they “necessarily” attain liberating extinction according to
the 11th vow (§ 73 and 126).
Together with the practice of pronouncing the
Buddha’s name, Tanluan’s method requires a particular
state of mind: the heart of faith (shinjin), which will be
without mental reservation and without intermittency (§
43). This is nothing other than the “single heart” (isshin)
with which Vasubandhu opens his Poem.
As can be seen, the ease of the method advocated here
does not require its followers—even the worst criminals—
to first erase the fundamental obstacle of the passions
in this world. That is to say, in the end, “without slicing
through the passions, they obtain the status of nirvāṇa” (§
60).
Let there be no mistake: we are no longer faced
with a gradual, step-by-step progression on the path to
enlightenment, but with a sudden and abrupt leap, which
leads the vilest and most ordinary beings directly to the
highest levels of the path. This original interpretation of
Tanluan is one of the first of its kind in Chinese Buddhism,
while it was soon to make its characteristic mark on Chan.
The boldness of this revolutionary interpretation conveyed
by Tanluan’s Commentary, moreover, led to the frontal
criticism of the Idealist school (Yogācāra), as can be seen
from the Compendium of the Greater Vehicle of Asaṅga.
Does this mean that Tanluan’s method is too good
to be true? He himself was well aware of the originality
of his radical interpretation, but he anticipates objections
masterfully by declaring that “extraordinary words do not
penetrate the ear of the ordinary man” (§ 90). And for the
Chinese master, the conclusion is obvious: “This Buddha
realm is none other than the ultimate way to become a
Buddha, the unsurpassed suitable means” (§ 105).
All the doctrinal elements of Tanluan mentioned so far
would deeply influence Shinran’s teachings. For Shinran,
the discovery of Tanluan’s Commentary was crucial. For it
was a discovery. Indeed, Hōnen, Shinran’s own teacher,
seems to have known almost nothing about this text, of
which he only quotes the passage on the difficult path
of personal power and the easy path of the Other Power
(Hōnen, Senjakushū, ch. I). Instead, Shinran quotes from
it at great length in his major work, the Kyōgyōshinshō.
Some twenty years after composing the latter, he again
11

FEATURED ARTICLE - TANLUAN: BIRTH IN THE PURE LAND AS BIRTH TO NO-BIRTH
If nothing exists by itself,
nothing is born and nothing
disappears in absolute
reality.
undertook to annotate in full a printed copy of Tanluan’s
Commentary, a valuable document which is still preserved.
The importance of Tanluan’s Commentary on Vasubandhu’s
Treatise was so great to Shinran that he eventually adopted
his own name by combining the names of these two
authors in Japanese pronunciation: Seshin (Vasubandhu)
and Donran (Tanluan).
There is also a more discreet dimension of Tanluan’s
thought in Shinran’s teaching, but it is of extreme
importance for its philosophical background: it is the
Mādhyamika doctrine (“Medialism”) in which Tanluan’s
Commentary is bathed.
According to Buddhism in general, everything that
exists, that is each and every constituent element of
reality, is the result of a complex interplay of causes and
conditions giving birth to this or that effect, which will
disappear when these causes and conditions are exhausted.
According to Mādhyamika, this phenomenon of cause and
effect unfolds in relative reality. From the point of view of
absolute reality, no element arises from itself because no
element is capable of existing by itself, in other words all
elements, all things are empty of an intrinsic nature of their
own. This is the principle of universal emptiness (śūnyatā),
which is one of the many synonyms for the absolute in
Greater Vehicle Buddhism (see Jodo Shinshu International,
Volume 2, Issue 3, “Nāgārjuna and the Easy Path to
Awakening”).
If nothing exists by itself, nothing is born and nothing
disappears in absolute reality. This is the principle of
‘no-birth’ (mushō), which is one of the other synonyms
*
of the absolute. Complex as they are, these notions are
crucial in presenting the Greater Vehicle. Thus, it is by
obtaining the “insight towards the no-birth of elements”
(mushō bōnin) that a bodhisattva reaches the eighth of the
Ten stages, the “Irreversible.” This is characterised by the
fact that the bodhisattva then unites these two qualities
which are like the two wings of a bird: on the one hand,
he obtains wisdom through his perception of the emptiness
of all elements, while on the other hand he also retains
the universal compassion by which he aspires to become
a Buddha in order to deliver others. One of Tanluan’s
important contributions about the nature of the Pure
Land is to show that when the bodhisattva Dharmākara—
who later becomes the Buddha Amida—produced
his forty-eight vows, he had already reached precisely
the eighth of the Ten Stages by acquiring the “insight
towards the no-birth of elements” (§ 10). For Tanluan, the
conclusion is obvious:
“Clearly, this Pure Land is the birth to non-birth
according to the Primal vow of purity of the
Tathāgata Amida. (…) The objectification of this
principle of birth [to no-birth] is what is called ‘the
Pure Land’.” (§ 81)
Obviously, epressions such as “ birth to non-birth”,
or “birthless birth” (mushō no shō) “ are paradoxical
language, the latter being the least adequate to approach
an evocation of the absolute. This position is resolutely
assumed by Tanluan in a most Mādhyamika style:
“When the realm of the operations of the mind
disappears and the path of language is overtaken, all
12

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
elements are immobile, such is the characteristic of
nirvāṇa” (§ 49).
Such an attitude will find its way to Shinran, who says:
“In the nembutsu, it is nonsense (mugi) that makes
sense. Because it is incalculable, inexplicable, and
inconceivable”. (Tannishō, ch. 10)
During his lifetime, Tanluan enjoyed great
recognition, including that of the emperor who ordered
him to stay at the Dayansi Temple in Bingzhou, a
provincial capital of northern China (today Taiyuan,
Shanxi province). But Tanluan had not lost the taste
for mountain retreats that he had had since his youth,
and he is known for finally remaining at Xuanzhongsi
Temple in the mountains some 70 kilometres southwest
of Taiyuan. However, it is not always clear whether his
reputation was due to his mastery of Buddhism or Taoism.
In the latter tradition, he also had a proper name which
was “Grandmaster Xuanjian of the Wei” and he also left
Taoist works, including a Treatise on the Regulation of Vital
Breaths (Tiaoqilun).
His Buddhist work, apart from the Commentary on
Vasubandhu’s Treatise on the Pure Land, also includes a
work entitled “Praise for the Sūtra of Immeasurable-Life
with Questions and Answers”, of which manuscripts
dating from the Tang Dynasty have been discovered in
the Dunhuang caves. It consists of two texts, each with
its own title. One is the “Poem in Praise of the Buddha
Amida” (San Amida Butsu Ge) in fifty stanzas; the other is
*
the “Abridged Treatise on the Meaning of the Pure Land
Peaceful-Happiness” (Ryakuron Anraku Jōdo gi). The latter is
not quoted by Shinran, but the Poem in Praise of the Buddha
Amida made such an impression on him that he composed
a Japanese adaptation of it (San Amida Butsu Ge wasan) in
forty-eight stanzas, which he included in his Hymns of the
Pure Land (Jōdo wasan).
In the Jōdo-Shinshū temples, Tanluan is depicted
sitting on a temple chair, dressed in Chinese monastic
wear, and holding a fly swatter in his right hand.
FURTHER READINGS
Tanluan: “Commentary on the Treatise on the Pure Land”, “Gathas
in Praise of Amida Buddha”; The Pure Land Writings, Vol. II (The Shin
Buddhist Translation Series, gen. ed. Tokunaga Michio); Kyoto, Jodo
Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, 2018.
Inagaki, Hisao: T’an-luan’s Commentary on Vasubandhu’s Discourse on the
Pure Land, A Study and Translation; Kyoto, Nagata Bunshodo, 1998.
Ducor, Jérôme : Tanluan : Commentaire au Traité de la naissance dans la
Terre Pure de Vasubandhu (Bibliothèque chinoise, vol. 31) ; Paris, Les
Belles Lettres, 2021.
Pruden, Leo M.: “A Short Essay on the Pure Land, by the Dharma Master
T’an-Luan”; The Eastern Buddhist, New Series., vol. VIII, no. 1 (May
1975), p. 74-95.
About the Author
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
Rev. Jérôme Ducor is the minister in
charge of the Shingyôji temple (Geneva).
He has been teaching Buddhism at
McGill (Montreal) and at the universities
of Geneva and Lausanne, besides being
the curator of the Asia Department at
the Geneva Museum. He is the author of
various Buddhist publications, including
a translation of Tanluan’s Commentary
and his own book, Shinran and Pure Land
Buddhism.
13

FEATURED ARTICLE
Spiritual Values
& Personal Identity
Dr. Alfred Bloom
14
Shotei Takahashi. A Starlit Night. c. 1936. Woodblock Print.

DR. ALFRED BLOOM
The issue of spiritual values and personal identity or the
question of the meaning of life and self-responsibility are
major issues in modern life, particularly in connection
with the development of youth. In this essay I would
like to pursue the topic from the standpoint of Shinran
(1173-1263) in Japan. He was the founder of the Shin
Buddhist tradition. Though he lived a long time ago, his
insights are still relevant today. Further the question of
personal identity is a major problem in our contemporary
society. Young people, and even older people, ask the
question: Who am I? What is the worth and purpose
of my life? In earlier times these questions were more
easily answered, because our family and community
defined our identity for us. In Japan it was one’s group
that generally defined the role and status of a person’s
life. There was a clear set of values and way of life. The
question was rarely raised individually. Around the
world the same situation has existed so that people were
defined by their ethnic relations, family heritage, national,
state or local communities, and sometimes by religious
affiliation. However, in our contemporary, international
and multicultural world such definitions have become
inadequate to resolve our many personal problems or
establish satisfying community relations.
There is a phrase we often see, exhorting us to
think globally and act locally. It suggests that we should
have a wider vision of ourselves in relation to the
human community, but to realize that vision within our
immediate life situation.
Where do we secure such a broad vision of humanity,
and why is it important today? In brief, a world vision
of humanity is a spiritual vision. It is rooted in religious
understanding. We do not get such a perspective from
our national or ethnic communities or immediate family
relations, because all groups work for their own particular,
rather than universal, interests, often competing with
other groups. Only a religious understanding which
transcends our differences can provide a sound basis for
uniting the world community of which we are a part.
Our deepest and enduring sense of identity comes
from realizing our connection to the larger world of
spiritual reality. We come to see ourselves as expressions
or manifestations of that reality, working to bring people
together and to break down barriers of distrust, hatred
and prejudice.
The values that are required for a self-identity which
includes the world of others are love-compassion, justice,
peace and mutuality-community. Without these values
functioning in our world, we cannot live meaningfully
and securely. We can only attain a secure identity when
these values motivate our lives, because they are lifeaffirming
values, rather than death-destructive values. All
the great religious traditions affirm the supremacy of life,
growth, and creativity over death, decay and destruction.
These faiths are the source of hope in a violent and selfdestructive
world.
Shinran, the founder of Shin Buddhism, taught that
Amida Buddha, whose name means Eternal Life and
Infinite Light, is reality itself. Amida Buddha, through
his fundamental Vows, works within our own minds
and hearts, experienced as the aspiration for a fuller
and deeper life in this world and in the Hereafter. The
awareness of Amida’s unconditional compassion and
wisdom is the essence of true entrusting or shinjin, that is,
true entrusting or faith, which is the core of Shin Buddhist
life and teaching.
The values that are required
for a self-identity which
includes the world of others
are love-compassion, justice,
peace and mutualitycommunity.
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The deliverance given by trust in Amida Buddha’s
Vows is the release from self-striving, self-serving religious
efforts, distorted by egoism, and the awareness of a
deeper self identity as a focal point in the world for the
fundamental life-sharing values of love, compassion,
justice, peace and community. Shinran’s teaching offers a
vision of reality which transcends all human distinctions,
which we often employ as a means to categorize,
discriminate or judge people or to prove our superiority.
Shinran highlighted the non-discrimination and inclusive
nature of reality in his major text, the “Teaching, Practice,
Faith and Realization” (Kyogyoshinsho): “In reflecting on
the ocean of great faith (shinjin), I realize that there is
no discrimination between noble and humble or blackrobed
monks and white-clothed laity, no differentiation
between man and woman, old and young. The amount of
evil one has committed is not considered, the duration of
any performance of religious practices is of no concern. It
is a matter of neither practice nor good acts...It is simply
shinjin (trust or faith) that is inconceivable, inexplicable and
indescribable. It is like the medicine that eradicates all
poisons. The medicine of the Tathagata’s Vow destroys the
poisons of our wisdom and foolishness.” It will be argued
that Shinran’s view is idealistic. That is true, but the world
functions and has meaning only to the extent we pursue
positive ideals and realize life-affirming values. Hatred,
prejudice, and violence destroy life, emptying everything
of meaning. A life which is based on what we hate, rather
than what we love, offers a shallow identity which is selfdestructive,
because it places a low evaluation on life itself,
even our own life. To divide people and isolate them as
objects of hate means to deny our true identity as persons
who are interdependent and share the same life with all
others.
Consequently, Shinran defined religious faith as
the working of the mind of enlightenment. The mind of
enlightenment seeks to bring compassion and wisdom to
realization in the lives of others.
In our world, wracked by violence and hatred,
threatened by blind passion, and darkened by spiritual
ignorance, we all need to establish our identity and
assume our responsibility to life by deepening our faith
and commitment to the ideals and values manifest in
Amida Buddha, the Buddha of Eternal Life and Infinite
Light. Only by such conviction can we maintain hope
for the future of ourselves, our children and the human
community. Only such a vision will truly answer the
question: Who am I? What is the value of my life? Thank
you. Namo Amida Butsu.
About the Author
Dr. Alfred Bloom
Dr. Alfred Bloom (1926-2017) was one
of the world’s foremost authorities on
the study of Shin Buddhism and left a
rich legacy for Buddhist seekers in the
West. He completed his doctoral studies
at Harvard in 1963 with a dissertation
on Shinran’s life and thought. Especially
remembered among his many books and
articles are his commentaries on Tannisho
and Shoshinge, as well as The Promise of
Boundless Compassion.
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EDITOR’S POSTSCRIPT
Thank for reading this first issue of the year. I hope that you are enjoying our
sharing of the joy of Shinran Shonin’s teachings, and I humbly ask for your
continued support for Jodo Shinshu International Quarterly Journal.
In recent years, I have heard that membership is declining in many religious
institutions world-wide. Particularly in Japan, this last year, an important
social issue has been to address the following: What is religion and what should
religious organizations be to the people they minister to?
What is the role of religion? This is an important question, and there are many
ways to answer it. Rinyu Fukagawa Wajo said that the role of religion is to help
people; to nurture them toward doing the right deeds, even when no one is
watching. Furthermore, he said that by following the Jodo Shinshu teachings,
one can develop into a person who is capable of doing the right deeds despite
there not being any recognition or gratitude by others. This is because we
continue to listen to the one-way working of Amida Buddha, who never asks
for anything in return from us. For example, by listening to the teachings, a
young person can become someone who compassionately asks an old person,
“Grandpa, isn’t the weather nice?” or “Grandma, is everything okay?” without
expecting any recognition for showing concern for them. Would it not be nice to
live in a world that operates in this way?
From what is shown in media and news, there are still many issues that cannot
be solved by human logic. The Jodo Shinshu life is one that questions the selfrighteousness
that is inextricably tied to human logic, and instead, encourages us
to listen to the Buddha’s logic. JSIO would like to continue to share with you the
Buddha’s logic through this quarterly journal.
Namo Amida Butsu.
Rev. Ai Hironaka
Rev. Ai Hironaka is the resident minister of Lahaina
Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. He was born in Hiroshima,
Japan and attended Ryukoku University, majoring in Shin
Buddhism. He was previously assigned to the Hilo Betsuin,
Aiea Hongwanji Mission, and the Hawaii Betsuin.
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Jodo Shinshu International Office