Vol. 3, Issue 2

Jodo Shinshu International
The Path Toward the Pure Land
A Buddhist Quarterly
Volume 3, Issue 2
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 2, Published June 2023
Jodo Shinshu
International
A Buddhist Quarterly
IN THIS ISSUE
6 Journey Toward Jodo Shinshu
Interview with Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia
8 Why I Affirm a Common Dualistic Shin Buddhist Narrative
John Esse
12 Obon and Family Values
Dr. Alfred Bloom
14 Daochuo: The Right Teaching, at the Right Time, for the Right Person
Rev. Jérôme Ducor

Jodo Shinshu International is published quarterly by the
Jodo Shinshu International Office, a not-for-profit religious
corporation.
Volume 3, Issue 2.
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: Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia, Dr. Alfred Bloom,
Rev. Jérôme Ducor, John Esse
Design & Layout: Travis Suzaka
Printing: Kousaisha, Tokyo, Japan
Support: Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara, Madeline Kubo
Image Sources: Upsplash, The British Museum, Wikipedia
Jodo Shinshu International Office
1710 Octavia Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA
www.jsinternational.org

The path toward the Pure Land extends from the Pure Land.
- Rev. Daiei Kaneko

How did you create a Jodo Shinshu sangha in
Nepal?
Journey Toward
Jodo Shinshu
PART THREE OF THREE
Interview with Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia
Rev. Sonam attended the Buddhist Churches of America’s Shinran Shonin 750th Memorial Observances
in February 2010. We are pleased to present the last 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. Bhutia talked about his life as a monk of Tibetan Buddhism. In part two, he discussed
his encounter with Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. In part three, he describes his Jodo Shinshu Sangha and his
dream for the future.
I started this mission in Kathmandu. It’s been more than
eight years now [since] I started teaching Jodo Shinshu
in India and Nepal. I started alone. First, I rented one
small room and started to give teachings to my friends. I
thought I couldn’t make [people] understand about Jodo
Shinshu in Nepal... because it’s similar to Christianity. But
I always explain the Forty-eight Vows. I always explain
Dharmakara’s long, long retreat, his work to create the
Name, and how powerful the Name is, Namo Amitabha,
how it works.
First, I started from me and became two, two to
three, now I have more than 300 members. All are in
their twenties and thirties. All are very young. So, we
gather together on Saturday, everybody chants Shoshinge.
I translated Shoshin-ge into Nepali, and I tried to chant
Shoshin-ge in Nepali...the rhythm was not good.
I gathered all the members and said, “If you chant
Shoshin-ge in Japanese, if you chant in Nepali, if you chant
in Tibetan, [all these languages are] Buddha’s language.
This is Buddha’s word. You can chant in any language,
you don’t [have to] worry. So now they chant the original
and everyone is perfect. Whenever we sit in the hall, the
hondo, the young girls and boys say, “I want to chant
...” and everyone wants to sit in the front [to lead the
chanting]. Everyone is perfect.
They are very, very interested in these teachings because
they are easier to understand. They don’t have to practice
lots of other Buddhas..., we have only Amida Buddha.
My members are all free. Without paying they can
become members of the Kathmandu Hongwanji. We have
6

INTERVIEW WITH REV. SONAM WANGDI BHUTIA
lots of classes. We even teach Japanese language here.
Sometimes, to those who are not interested in Buddhism,
we say you can come to learn Japanese. And [when] they
come to learn Japanese, at that time I teach Buddhism.
Since Shakyamuni Buddha was born in Nepal, we must
learn what Buddhism is. I start from Buddhism then
slowly I go to Jodo Shinshu. I make [them] understand,
and then they say, “Sensei, I want to become your
member. I want to join your class on Saturday.” So, I’m
very glad [that] through the teaching of Amida Buddha
today, Kathmandu Hongwanji is able to make lots of
Dharma friends. I’m very happy.
Who pays for the temple? Who pays for that
beautiful building?
I have a guest house here. Some Japanese come and stay
there. I charge $30 per night. And some [people] come
and when they see our activities they give us donations.
I always do hard work and I do my best. So that is how I
run my temple in Kathmandu. You can also visit. Once in
your lifetime you have to visit where Shakyamuni Buddha
was born. And you have to visit where Shakyamuni
Buddha was enlightened.
Tell us about your plans and dreams for the
future.
I started Jodo Shinshu in Nepal. That was my dream and
now I have a bigger dream. That dream is Bodhgaya.
Bodhgaya is where Shakyamuni Buddha was enlightened.
If you go to Bodhgaya you will see lots of temples
there, every kind. I say Bodhgaya is a super- market for
Buddhism. You can listen to any kind of Buddhism there.
From all over the world, people gather in Bodhgaya.
They come to listen to the Dharma, they come to find
happiness. They want to clear their doubt in Bodhgaya.
But Jodo Shinshu, [although] it’s a very old sect in Japan,
we still don’t have a center in Bodhgaya. And all the time
I think, we must have one center here in Bodhgaya. We
have to give the message to [people from] all over the
world about what Jodo Shinshu is.
Last year I went to visit Bodhgaya and I tried to find
land. I just want to make a small place to gather and give
the message about Jodo Shinshu. But there are restrictions
now. I tried to occupy one land but they said you can’t
build a temple [within] three kilometers [of Bodhgaya]
because now it’s a World Heritage Site. You can’t build a
temple inside the area. Everyone has built already. Now
we can’t. But still I have dreams [that] near Bodhgaya
we can start a center and gather there. People come from
all over the world; they go to all the temples and want
to listen to something new. At least they could get the
message of Jodo Shinshu there, so I am trying.
I have requested [help from] many people in Japan.
We must have one temple there because we are a sangha.
Why am I studying Buddhism? Not only for me. If I
understand Buddhism, I have to make others realize also.
This is our duty. A sangha has to understand Buddhism,
protect Buddhism, and make others understand. That is
the meaning of this robe. So I think I still want to give
this message from Bodhgaya to many people from Africa,
South- east Asia, and Europe. I want to give the message
about the Hongwanji, Other Power, the Forty-eight Vows,
and Amida Buddha’s working. I’m sure everybody will
accept this teaching. For the first
time they might be confused, but the
second time they will understand a
little bit, and the third time they will
realize it.
That is what I am dreaming to
start. Everyone should be together
and go to Bodhgaya. You can go
to Bodhgaya and realize yourself.
We must have one temple there in
Bodhgaya. That is my big dream.
About the Interviewee
Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia is the head
minister of the Hongwanji Buddhist Society
of Nepal, Kathmandu-Hongwanji, the
first Jodo Shinshu Temple in the land of
Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth.
7

FEATURED ARTICLE
Why I Affirm a
Common Dualistic
Shin Buddhist Narrative
John Esse
8

JOHN ESSE
Ever since a few months after my spiritual awakening
experience almost 45 years ago, which was absent any
religious belief system, Buddhism’s Pure Land doctrine
has provided the spiritual foundation for my life. While
in comparison with millions of others I live in relative
ease, I have nevertheless endured an array of hardships
and obstacles. Perhaps not surprisingly, my low points
have been the times when I have most appreciated the
compassion and benevolence of Other Power, as imagined
by me in the form of Amitabha Buddha, his manifestation
as the eternal Sakyamuni Buddha of The Lotus Sutra, and
the many cosmic Bodhisattvas emanating from Amida
who benefit sentient beings throughout the universe.
More specifically, I have been sustained due to the
unquestionable yet inconceivable felt reality of Amida’s
embrace in the context of my own inadequate capacity
for practice. The confidence that I am accepted just as
I am by Amida has given me much comfort over these
many years, knowing that he will never forsake me. I thus
personally rely on the saving power of Amida’s Primal
Vow, knowing that no self-power practices on my part are
needed, and that no retrogression is possible.
To help frame my sense of concrete assurance, I want
to share a snippet from the November, 2016 Scientific
American pertaining to how children learn languages.
In that article, the authors say new research shows that
young children use various types of thinking that may
not be specific to language at all, such as the ability to
classify the world into categories. These capabilities allow
language to happen. If this hypothesis is valid, it has
significant implications for helping us understand the basic
dilemma that we face in trying, through various practices,
to perceive reality from a non-dualistic perspective, as is
encouraged by many of the Buddhist self-power-oriented
teachings. If the nature of language and of thinking itself
inherently discriminates this versus that, we can conclude
that such an attribute is a root cause accounting for our
ordinary dualistic mode of perceiving and relating to the
world. Hence it is extraordinarily difficult for humans to
experience non-dual consciousness and the associated
awareness of our mysterious interconnectedness.
Going a step further in reflecting upon the teachings
in the prajnaparamita sutras, we can gain at least an
intellectual appreciation for the fact that reality is neither
dual nor non-dual. In other words, we are told in these
sutras that it is important to avoid becoming attached even
to emptiness (sunyata).
To reiterate, our common ordinary way of perceiving
is dualistic because we do not have the Buddha’s nondual
wisdom-perspective (prajna). We routinely break our world
down into this as different from that, me as different from
you, me as different from Amida–even though from a
nondual perspective no being truly has an existence that
is completely separate and independent of others. That
said, we each do have our individualized characteristics
and life trajectories based on countless causes and
conditions. It is not that we are all one undifferentiated
entity. I like the term “not-two.” The comparison
It is extraordinarily difficult
for humans to experience
non-dual consciousness
and the associated
awareness of our mysterious
interconnectedness.
9

FEATURED ARTICLE - WHY I AFFIRM A COMMON DUALISTIC SHIN BUDDHIST NARRATIVE
between waves and the ocean is an apt metaphor that we
read in the texts.
Much Buddhist literature is designed to help us not
be trapped by our ordinary dualistic way of perceiving
reality. However, again, we don’t want to get hung up on
non-dualism either. That is just another extreme which
leads down other dead-end paths, such as nihilism,
or a temptation to think we need to establish nondual
consciousness via various meditative and non-meditative
practices in order to attain supreme perfect enlightenment
(anuttara-samyak-sambodhi). I avoid this latter extreme by
simply reflecting on my gross limitations as regards any
form of practice. I frankly tried following the bodhisattva
path, and failed. I am too filled with blind passions - with
greed, with aversion, and with ignorance.
The fact of the matter is that the words I’m using
right now (which are based on language that evolved as a
function of my brain being wont to categorize) have only
a minimal ability to communicate the actual nature of
fundamental reality. Nor can the prajnaparamita sutras,
despite their amazing profundity, perfectly describe the
nature of reality. However, words and concepts can be a
more-or-less effective “finger pointing to the moon.” This
is why there is beneficial meaning in a religious doctrine
that resonates with what is ultimately true.
In any case, from the point of view that neither
dualism nor non-dualism accurately characterizes reality,
I can sincerely say, it’s not problematic for me to view the
Shin Buddhist narrative dualistically. It is actually quite
natural for me, as an ordinary unenlightened being. Such
a belief system provides comfort. It hurts no one. And
most importantly, it resonates as true in the heart, which
functions beyond all words and concepts. Haven’t millions
upon millions of Pure Land Buddhists over the centuries
thought about Amida as a personal savior? Count me
with them.
Perhaps by taking this approach I am accepting and
affirming a myth. However, a consensually imagined
and mutually accepted mytho-poetic scenario is not,
strictly speaking, a falsehood. As the Lotus Sutra teaches,
the Buddha utilizes expedient means to help us beings
in this saha world to make progress on the spiritual path,
to enhance our ability to endure hardships, to give us a
greater sense of happiness, and to have a higher level of
comfort about what the future holds, given the context of
dukkha, the suffering that is so often present in our human
life, and the inevitability of our own demise. And as I
approach the three-quarter century mark in my life, I
As the Lotus Sutra teaches, the Buddha utilizes expedient
means to help us beings in this saha world to make progress
on the spiritual path, to enhance our ability to endure
hardships, to give us a greater sense of happiness, and to have
a higher level of comfort about what the future holds...
10

JOHN ESSE
...no way of breaking the world down, no dualistic perspective,
however profound, can articulate definitively who we are, what we
are, and/or the nature of the environment in which we live.
frankly contemplate death almost daily. I am therefore
willing to acknowledge that the story about Dharmakara
Bodhisattva becoming Amida and having a land of
ultimate bliss in the western part of the universe where
I will be reborn when I die (where I will immediately
attain enlightenment and be able to return to this world
to help others in ways I am incapable of doing now) is an
expedient or skillful means. Prajnaparamita, sunyata, and the
broader Mahayana scriptural framework is, to my mind,
also a form of expedient means. No written system can tell
the whole story.
In summary, the basic idea is that no way of breaking
the world down, no dualistic perspective, however
profound, can articulate definitively who we are, what
we are, and/or the nature of the environment in which
we live. Such understandings and insights are literally
inconceivable and cannot be characterized by use of words
and concepts. Such insights are also beyond my ability
to fathom, as a being filled with blind passions. After all,
didn’t Master Shinran himself, in The Tannisho, say that
he didn’t know if Honen’s teaching of the Nembutsu was
true, or would lead to his ending up in hell, but that he
would be bound for hell in any case, so (he reasoned) why
not believe in Honen and the other Dharma-masters
regarding the efficacy of the Nembutsu as promised in The
Larger Sukhavati Sutra?
So, I believe that our Jodo Shinshu system of pure
grace, as it is shared in orthodox Dharma-talks, has face
validity. This common, shared dualistic interpretation
gives me great comfort, and helps me appreciate the
amazing opportunity I have as a human being to be
alive, to help others as best I can, and to try to make a
positive difference during my travels in this mysterious
universe, knowing that nothing I do is for the purpose of
spiritual advancement toward enlightenment in this life.
Meanwhile, the benefit of having confidence in that future
outcome has already been freely gifted to me by Amida!
All I can say, in gratitude, is Namo Amida Butsu!
About the Author
John Esse
John Esse is a retired clinical psychologist
living in North Carolina, USA. He is a
member of the West Los Angeles Buddhist
Temple.
11

FEATURED ARTICLE
Obon and
Family Values
Dr. Alfred Bloom
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Bon no Tsuki (Bon Festival Moon). 1887. Woodblock Print.
The British Museum (Asset No. 433813001).
12

DR. ALFRED BLOOM
The Obon festival is among the world’s most colorful
religious and cultural observances. It was instituted as a
special celebration in Japan by Prince Shotoku to beheld
in the Lunar 7th month, 15th day (now our July 15) in
commemoration of the ancestors.
The concentric circles of gaily dressed dancers, young
and old, rotating around the yagura to the rhythmic
beat of the taiko drum and the melody of the ondo music,
depicts harmony in the family and community. Everyone
moving their arms in graceful gestures, waving their fans
in symbolic action, and stepping sinuously one after the
other suggest the dynamic teaching of the Flower Garland
Sutra (Hua-yen-sutra) that One is All and All is One.
While the Buddhist principle of Universal Harmony
seems unrealistic in our fragmented and divided society
and world, it is an ideal which challenges us and beckons
us in our daily life, and especially so at Obon time.
The Mogallana story, which forms the basis of Obon
observance, dramatizes for us our indebtedness and
obligations to our forebears through spiritual reflection.
Mogallana, an ancient Buddhist monk, as a result of his
meditations and spiritual insight, received a vision of his
mother suffering in the hell of hungry spirits. Moved by
his mother’s suffering, he consulted with the Buddha and
sought a way to release her.
Modern people cannot easily appreciate this ancient
story which highlights the mother’s selfishness and the
violent form of punishment which she was condemned to
endure for centuries. Nevertheless, the underlying theme is
the son’s devotion, concern and compassion for his mother.
Consequently, the story reinforces contemporary interest
in family values, not simply as political or social reaction
to the corruption of society, but as the positive principle
that promotes a healthy society and community.
Shin Buddhism, while maintaining family values,
also goes beyond the boundaries of the biological family.
Shinran said that he never said Nembutsu (the recitation
of the name of Amida Buddha) once out of filial piety. He
went on to say that in the flow of endless time, we have
all been mother, father, brother and sister to each other.
He transcended the traditional Confucian biological
emphasis on family to the family of humanity common to
East-Asian cultures. Those who are closest to us may have
a claim on our sentiments and duty. However, according
to Shinran, we must never forget our relationship to the
whole world of interdependent beings, nor that family
values represent a spiritual relationship which promotes
not only the harmony of our natural family, but also our
community and the world.
As we reflect on the deeper meaning of the Obon
festival, let us renew our dedication to the inclusive and
universal values of Buddhism which makes the world and
all beings our spiritual family.
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.
13

FEATURED ARTICLE
Daochuo
The Right Teaching,
at the Right Time,
for the Right Person
Rev. Jérôme Ducor
Author’s Note: My deep thanks to Dr. Helen Loveday for improving my English.
14

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
D
aochuo (562-645), Jap. Dōshaku, was born in Shanxi
province, as was Tanluan, twenty years after the
latter’s death, an interval during which North China
was reunited, in 550, under the Northern Qi dynasty.
Finally, in 589, the entire country was reunified under
the Sui dynasty. In these greatly troubled times a special
factor of anxiety was developing for Buddhists: that of
the decadence of the Buddha’s teaching itself. Among the
three world religions with universal vocation, Buddhism
is indeed the only one to foresee its own disappearance,
subject as it is to the universal law of impermanence.
According to tradition, the death of the Buddha Śākyamuni
was to be followed by a period of five or ten centuries
during which his teaching remained the same and bore
fruit. This was the “period of correct Law.” But then came
a period of a thousand years during which the teaching
froze and became nothing more than an image of itself,
without providing any results for practitioners. This was
the “period of counterfeit Law.” Finally, a period of ten
thousand years opened up which marks the progressive
collapse of the Law of the Buddha until its complete
disappearance. This is the “period of the vanishing of
the Law” (mappō), which we are currently in. As a matter
of fact, according to the calculations of some Chinese
masters, this last period would have begun in 551 A.D.,
some ten years before the birth of Daochuo.
Of the first half of his life, we know that he received
ordination at the age of thirteen (575), a date which
suggests that he was temporarily defrocked two years later,
because of the persecution which then struck Buddhism
in northern China (577-578). Following his master’s final
instructions, he embarked on the study of the Sūtra of the
Great Final Nirvāṇa, a sutra famous notably for its assertion
that all beings possess Buddha nature. The identity of
Daochuo’s master at that time is not known, but there
are many contemporaries whose names have remained
attached to this sūtra and who received imperial favours,
the most famous one being Fashang 法 上 (495-580).
Moreover, unlike Tanluan, Daochuo was a meditator
and he practised Chan under the guidance of Huizan 慧
瓉 (536-607), who had established himself at the Kaihuasi
開 化 寺 temple near the city of Taiyuan. At this time, the
Chan tradition was beginning to form into a school, and it
is notable that Huizan and Daochuo were contemporaries
of those masters who were to be considered the 3rd and
4th patriarchs of Chan: Sengchan 僧 燦 and Daoxin 道 信
(580-651).
In any case, Daochuo continued his study of the
Nirvāṇa Sūtra to the point where he was able to give some
twenty-four lectures on it. In the meantime, he had settled
at the Xuanzhongsi temple, located only about fifteen
kilometers from his birthplace and seventy kilometers
from Taiyuan. It was the same mountain temple where
Tanluan had lived some sixty years before, and Daochuo
always celebrated his predecessor at every lecture. So
much so that the example of Tanluan, whose virtues
were commemorated in a stela, eventually led him to
renounce the Nirvāṇa Sūtra and make himself, as it were,
his posthumous disciple. It was in the year 609, Daochuo
was forty-seven years old, and he would devote the second
half of his life to the Pure Land method.
His biography tells us that Daochuo focused exclusively
on the commemoration of the Buddha Amida, and that he
went so far as to repeat His name 70,000 times a day. But
he was above all a demanding meditator, and it is reported
that in practising the Sūtra of Contemplations on the Buddha
15

FEATURED ARTICLE - DAOCHUO: THE RIGHT TEACHING, AT THE RIGHT TIME, FOR THE RIGHT PERSON
Immeasurable-Life he perceived the marks of the Pure Land
to such an extent that his merits accumulated daily and
his reputation grew to the point of attracting “monks and
laymen, women and children, who filled the mountain.”
As a matter of fact, posterity only remembered him by the
title of “meditation master” (zenji).
In 628, at the age of sixty-six, Daochuo believed his
last hour had arrived, and his followers rushed to surround
him. However, the audience was dumbfounded when
Tanluan appeared on a seven-jewel boat to announce
to Daochuo that his place was ready in the Pure Land,
but that he still had some karmic remains to manifest
before he could enter it. It is from this time, it seems, that
Daochuo began to lecture on the Sūtra of Contemplations,
on which he is said to have preached no less than two
hundred times. From these lectures came the only
surviving work of his: A Collection of Passages on the Land of
Happiness (Anrakushū). However, its author, framed by those
two giants Tanluan and Shandao, is something of a poor
relation among the Seven Eminent Masters, and the study
of Daochuo has been comparatively neglected. The lesser
interest he has aroused in the past may also be due to the
nature of his book, whose exegesis was already judged by
his contemporary biographer Jiacai to be disorganised and
the order of the chapters confused. However, it provides
essential definitions that will mark the Pure Land stream
known as the “Shandao Tradition” (Zendō ryū), which goes
from Tanluan to Shinran via Hōnen, the latter’s master.
In fact, Daochuo’s contribution was nothing less than
to provide a specific identity for the Pure Land tradition in
the form of a school (shū 宗 ), not in the institutional sense
that this word would take in Japan, but, at least, in the
broad philosophical sense of the term. Such a school would
be properly defined by the preservation and transmission
of a specific body of scripture in a line of transmission
resembling a filiation. As a matter of fact, the Anrakushū is
the first text to define a canon, a lineage of masters and
a classification of the Buddhist teachings within the Pure
Land tradition, each of these three criteria helping to
define a Buddhist school as the notion was then developing
in China.
As far as the canon of the main scriptures is concerned,
Daochuo lists six texts. The first three are none other than
those that would constitute the “Trilogy of the Pure Land
Sutras”: the Sūtra of the Buddha Immeasurable-Life, the Sūtra of
Contemplations on the Buddha Immeasurable-Life and the Sūtra
of the Buddha Amida.
His lineage of masters includes “Six Great Virtuous
Masters of India and China who examined the Holy
Scriptures in detail and encouraged us to turn to the Pure
Land.” The first of them is the Indian Bodhiruci, the
great translator who passed on the Pure Land teaching
to Tanluan, who comes fourth in this list. It ends with the
name of Fashang, the specialist of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra at the
time of Daochuo.
However, Daochuo’s most famous contribution,
which earned him his place in history, is certainly his
classification of the teachings. It is a most radical one.
While the masters of the other schools worked out
sophisticated systems, such as the five-period classification
of the Tiantai school, Daochuo simply divides all the
teachings given by the Buddha during his long life into
just two categories: those belonging to the Method
of the path of the saints (Shōdōmon), which implies the
sanctification of the practitioner in this world of ours, or
those belonging to the Method of the Pure Land (Jōdomon),
16

REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
Daochuo’s answer says
that while everything can
be blended at the level
of absolute truth, we
beings are immersed in
relative truth and need
characteristics in order to
progress on the path.
leading to birth in the realm of the Buddha Amida from
the next life, which, according to Daochuo, is the only way
that remains accessible to us in the period of the vanishing
of the Law.
Daochuo’s classification is accompanied by a
distribution key. This key is that of the correspondance
between a teaching and its recipient. The tradition speaks
of 84,000 teachings of the Buddha, and these are all said
to lead equally to enlightenment, on the express condition
that they are each adapted to the needs and abilities of a
practitioner in particular. According to Daochuo, all the
teachings of the Method of the path of the saints are too
difficult to put into practice today. This difficulty is due to
two reasons. The first is diachronic: we are currently too
far removed in time from the Buddha and are deprived of
the influence of His personal presence. The second reason
is synchronic: the truth to be realised is too profound
for our superficial understanding. The only remaining
alternative is thus the Method of the Pure Land, which
Daochuo summarizes as follows:
The great compassion of the Buddhas urges us to turn
to the Pure Land. If only beings unify their thoughts
and always practise nembutsu exclusively and with
application, all their obstacles will be erased naturally,
by this very fact ( jinen), and they will certainly be born
in the Pure Land, even if they have used their whole
life to commit evil. (Chūshakuban § 26)
In conclusion, Daochuo does not limit himself to theory.
He invites beings to deepen the introspection of their
incapacity for any other practice:
Why then do they not evaluate themselves and have the
resolution of leaving the cycle of births and deaths by
the nembutsu?”
In his efforts to define the Method of the Pure Land as
a school in its own right—in the broad sense of the term
school—Daochuo also had to situate it in relation to other
schools, which were developing at that time in China and
which, in his opinion, distorted the true dimension of the
Pure Land. These were mainly the schools of the Idealist
tradition and Chan (Zen). Some elements of this discussion
may still be useful today. Indeed, today’s reader of the Pure
Land sutras may be confused by their flowery language,
seemingly far removed from the superb paradoxical
abstractions of the sutras dealing with universal emptiness.
Thus, for example, the description of the Pure Land itself,
which sounds incredibly wonderful with all its ornaments
made of the most precious jewels.
The problem, according to some opponents of
Daochuo, is that such a description is based on socalled
“characteristics”, “marks” or “forms” (sō). Now,
characteristics are generally at the core of the cycle of
births and deaths. The passions that bind us to this cycle,
such as desire or hatred, arise through grasping the
characteristics of beings and things that attract or repel
us. Characteristics are thus objects of attachment to the
cycle of births and deaths. In contrast, absolute reality is
indescribable because it escapes our characteristics: it is
featureless, “without characteristics” (musō).
Daochuo’s answer is to distinguish two kinds of
characteristics. The first are those of our own illusory
universe and which constitute the objects of our passions:
these are characteristics of attachment and are called
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FEATURED ARTICLE - DAOCHUO: THE RIGHT TEACHING, AT THE RIGHT TIME, FOR THE RIGHT PERSON
Closeup of Daochuo on scroll of Seven
Masters of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.
Wikipedia.
“bonds.” The second are the characteristics of a Buddhafield
such as the Pure Land of the Buddha Amida:
these characteristics are the expression of the Buddha’s
various merits and make us love them while inciting us to
make the vow to be born in his Pure Land, so that these
characteristics receive the name of “deliverance.” To put it
in Daochuo’s own words:
By grasping the pure characteristics of the Pure
Land in the Western direction one promptly obtains
deliverance and receives the utmost happiness.” (§ 42)
Let us then return to the ornaments of the Pure Land
described in the sutras. These include, among others,
the ground made of jewels, the ponds lined with jewels
and the bejeweled trees. Despite appearances, these are
different from the decoration of a divine paradise. For in a
Buddha-field, all these jewels clink together, and the sound
they make is none other than the preaching of the Law
(Dharma). Similarly, the direction of the west, which is
that of the Pure Land, is not arbitrary. Daochuo sees it as
an allegory of the afterlife, by analogy with the sun, which
is commonly said to be born in the east and to die in the
west, in relation to its rising and setting (§ 39).
Besides, Daochuo undertook to respond to the criticism
of the Chan school that the practitioner must seek the Pure
Land in his or her own heart. In summary, Daochuo’s
answer says that while everything can be blended at the
level of absolute truth, we beings are immersed in relative
truth and need characteristics in order to progress on
the path. And one of these characteristics is precisely the
distancing of the Pure Land, which constitutes a “beyond”
of our world of suffering.
Here we discover a constant in the Sino-Japanese Pure
Land tradition of Daochuo and his successors, which will
make it successful: the objectification of the Amida’s Pure
Land, whose distancing from our soiled universe ensures
the spring of the soteriology. It should also be noted
that it is this objectification that will doctrinally justify
the development of the particularly rich iconography of
representations of the Buddha Amida and his Buddhafield,
especially from the time of Daochuo.
However, the most direct attack on the Tanluan’s
Pure Land teaching inherited by Daochuo came from a
contemporary of the latter, Jingying Huiyuan (523-592),
who posed the following alternative: either the Pure Land
is of a superior nature, and access to it is reserved for
evolved bodhisattvas; or ordinary beings can access it, and
its nature is limited.
Huiyuan belonged to the Idealist current of the
Great Vehicle, which had created a system distinguishing
three dimensions or “three bodies” of a Buddha. The
first is the “elementary” body, i.e. the very heart of a
Buddha’s attainment of enlightenment, which is perfectly
indescribable and impossible to represent. The second
is the “retribution” body: this is the final status of a
bodhisattva who realises the ultimate goal of the Great
Vehicle by becoming a true, unsurpassed and perfectly
accomplished Buddha as a reward for his practice. The
third is the “transformation” body: these are the various
temporary forms that a Buddha of retribution can take
thanks to his sublime powers to adapt his preaching of the
Law to the needs of beings. However, Jingying Huiyuan
states that the Buddha Amida is only a body of adaptation
or transformation and not a Buddha in his real and
ultimate dimension. On the contrary, Daochuo maintains
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REV. JÉRÔME DUCOR
that Amida is indeed a body of retribution and that
ordinary beings can nevertheless be born in his Buddha
field, all by virtue of or in retribution for His Vows.
In his time, Tanluan was not yet aware of the Idealist
school’s theory of the three bodies of a Buddha, and it
was Daochuo who undertook to adapt it in his own way.
According to his interpretation, the elementary body is
“the essence of the Buddha Awakening”, while the body
of retribution is enlightenment as “non-obstruction of
full communication.” The expression evokes that famous
passage in the Sūtra of Amida which explains the name of
this Buddha by saying:
The light of this Buddha is immensurable and it
illuminates the realms of the ten directions without
being obstructed. That is why he is called Amida (i.e.
Amitābha: Immeasurable-Light).
Or again the Sūtra of Contemplations:
His light fully illuminates the universes of the Ten
Directions and embraces the beings of nembutsu
without abandoning them.
Eventually, the body of transformation is “full
communication for the benefit of beings”, that is the
concrete manifestation of the body of retribution in our
world. For Shinran, the Buddha Śākyamuni would indeed
fit this definition.
Daochuo was not only an exegete with sophisticated
arguments. He also knew how to play the role of a true
master with the crowds. For example, he encouraged
people to gather together to accumulate the number of
The light of this Buddha
is immensurable and it
illuminates the realms of the
ten directions without being
obstructed. That is why he is
called Amida (i.e. Amitābha:
Immeasurable-Light).
recitations of the name of the Buddha Amida, stacking
red beans to count them. To simplify this calculation, he
distributed rosaries of his own invention (nenju, or juzu),
which he made by piercing soapnut seeds to thread them.
And in his practical recommendations, he taught never
to turn your back on the Pure Land, except for natural
needs. Eventually, says his biographer Jiacai, everyone
over the age of six recited the name of the Buddha Amida
in the three counties of Jinyang, Taiyuan and Wenshui in
Shanxi province. Daochuo’s reputation even reached the
imperial court. Around 635, when the emperor Taizong—
the second ruler of the Tang dynasty founded in 618—
was on his way to Taiyuan, he made a detour to the
Xuanzhongsi temple to visit Daochuo and make offerings
to him. About the same time, Daochuo was visited by a
young monk who was to become his great disciple: this
was Shandao (613-681), who will be the subject of the
next article.
Daochuo died some twenty years later, on the 27th
of the fourth moon of the 19th year of the Zhenguan era
(645). It should be noted that this was a key period in the
history of Buddhism. Indeed, at the very beginning of that
year, the great pilgrim and translator Xuanzang (602-664)
had made a triumphant return to the capital Chang’an,
after a sixteen-year journey through India and Central
Asia. It was also around the same time, in 641, that the
princess Wencheng, related to the emperor Taizong, was
married to Songtsen Gampo (?-649), the king of Tibet,
thus contributing to the development of Buddhism in
that country. Finally, in 640 in Japan, the monk Eon
had given a lecture at the imperial palace on the Sūtra of
Immeasurable-Life, after a journey of some thirty years in
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China (608-639), during which he could have met Daochuo and Shandao.
In Jōdo-Shinshū, Daochuo is depicted in the same way as Tanluan, seated
on a chair, but with his hands placed one on top of the other in a meditative
posture hidden under the flaps of his monastic costume.
Correction to Vol. 3, Issue 1, Tanluan, p. 12b
Obviously, expressions such as “ birth to non-birth”, or “birthless birth” (mushō no shō) are
paradoxical language, the latter being the least inadequate to approach an evocation of the
absolute.
FURTHER READINGS
Chappell, David Wellington: Tao-ch’o (562-645): A Pioneer of Chinese Pure Land
Buddhism; Ph.D. New Heaven (Connecticut), Yale University, 1976.
Inagaki, Zuio Hisao: Collection of Passages on the Land of
Peace and Bliss, An Le Chi, by Tao-ch’o; Horai Association International, 2014.
A Collection of Passages on the Land of Happiness, to be published by Jodo Shinshu
Hongwanji-ha in “The Shin Buddhist Translation Series” (gen. ed. Tokunaga
Michio).
Mochizuki, Shinkō: Pure Land Buddhism in China (td. Leo Pruden, ed. Richard K.
Payne & Natalie E. F. Quli), 2 vol.; Moraga, BDK America, 2016.
Tanaka, Kenneth K.: The Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine, Ching-ying
Hui-yüan’s Commentary on the Visualization Sutra; Albany, State University
of New York Press, 1990.
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.
Crossing
Over
To
Jodo
Shinshu
Discovering the Buddhist Path
Jodo Shinshu International Office
CROSSING OVER
TO JODO SHINSHU
This publication is a collection of essays of those
who have found Jodo Shinshu and are sharing in
their joy of discovering the Nembutsu. If you are
interested in receiving a copy, please contact us
at office@jsinternational.org
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EDITOR’S POSTSCRIPT
This year is a very special year for the Jodo Shinshu tradition. In Kyoto,
Japan at the mother temple Hongwan-ji, special services are being observed
throughout this year to commemorate the 850th anniversary of Shinran
Shonin’s birth and the 800th anniversary of the establishment of the Jodo
Shinshu teaching.
“Jodo Shinshu” is a term that was coined by Shinran Shonin which means
“the True Essence of the Pure Land Way.” The true essence of the Pure Land
Way refers to the teaching of Amida Buddha’s Fundamental Vow. There are
many Buddhist paths, but Shinran Shonin considered the Pure Land Way to
be the most appropriate for people of today. Shinran Shonin expressed his deep
appreciation for the causes and conditions that brought him to encounter Amida
Buddha’s Fundamental Vow and wished for all people to encounter and hear
this Vow so that they too can live their lives with true fulfillment.
When the Jodo Shinshu International Office was in the planning phase of
this Buddhist journal, we had many discussions about what its name should be.
Our decision was what you see now in the front cover: Jodo Shinshu International.
The title of any publication is its most important element and we were happy
that we selected a title with the phrase “Jodo Shinshu” in it. Our committee
members felt strongly about letting everyone know about the name “Jodo
Shinshu.” The aspiration of our group is to share Shinran Shonin’s appreciation
of Pure Land Buddhism. Today, there are many Jodo Shinshu followers
throughout the world. This journal is a vehicle all of us to share our joyous
appreciation of the Pure Land Way together with those who are looking for the
path that will lead them to the Realm of Nirvana.
I would like to thank you for continuing to read Jodo Shinshu International.
I hope you will continue to enjoy reading our publication and I hope you will
share it with your Dharma friends. It is through our sharing of the Dharma that
we express our appreciation for Shinran Shonin’s teaching of the Fundamental
Vow. Once again, thank you very much for reading this journal. If you have any
comments, please feel free to contact us.
Palms Together,
Kodo Umezu
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.
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Jodo Shinshu International Office