Life of Shinran Shōnin

Shinran Shonin (1173-1263) was born at the end of the Heian period when political power was shifting violently from the imperial court to warring clans. Paradoxically, this convulsive period, in which the old order was crumbling, was a period of intense renewal in other areas, such as Japanese Buddhism, which abandoned its iron formalism to give way to new paths toward the awakening of many social strata that had previously been excluded.

Shinran was born into the aristocratic Hino family, a branch of the Fujiwara clan. Both his father, Arinori, and his mother, Kikko, passed away in Shinran's early years.  Thus, at the age of nine, Shinran became a monk under the guidance of the Tendai abbot, Jien. The next twenty years were spent in an intense life of study and ascetic practice on Mount Hiei. 

After those twenty years of intense effort, Shinran gave up hope of attaining awakening through such a regimen of discipline and study. At the age of twenty-nine, Shinran undertook nightly retreats at Rokkakudo Temple in Kyoto to find meaning for his future course. At dawn on the ninety-fifth day, Prince Shotoku appeared to him in a dream. Shinran interpreted this dream as a sign that he should seek Honen. Filled with resolve, he descended Mount Hiei and joined the movement of Master Honen, a former Tendai monk who advocated relying exclusively on Amida Buddha's vow and reciting the nembutsu as a practice. 

During the years he spent at Yoshimizi Monastery under the tutelage of Master Honen, Shinran learned the teaching of the nembutsu, debated with his peers, and eventually received recognition from his preceptor by being allowed to copy Master Honen's magnum opus, the Senchakushu, as well as a portrait of the master himself. 

Around this time, Shinran married Eshinni and began to raise a family. This was proof that Amida's vow reached out to everyone equally without discrimination. However, this gesture was controversial at the time as it was considered transgressive and degenerate.

However, the traditional Buddhist orders were increasingly jealous of the growing popular support for Honen, and in 1207, they succeeded in getting the government to ban his teaching of nembutsu. Several of Honen's disciples were executed and Honen and others of his disciples, including Shinran, were banished from the capital. Shinran was stripped of his priesthood, given a criminal name, and exiled to Echigo (Niigata prefecture) on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Resisting this imperial decree, Shinran did not take the lay title he had been given, but named himself Toku (literally, "head of incipient beard"), declaring himself "neither monk nor layman".

Five years later, the Emperor's pardon arrived, and Shinran could return to Kyoto, but upon discovering that his master had passed away, he decided not to return to Kyoto and to dedicate himself to preaching. The year was 1214 and Shinran, at the age of forty-two, went to the Kanto region to spread the teaching of nembutsu there for twenty years, building a great movement among different social groups.

After wandering through provincial towns and villages, Shinran settled at the age of forty-five in Inada, Hitachi Province. Although his hut was lonely and far from the cities, a large number of truth seekers, noble and humble, laymen and monks, always came knocking at his rustic door. His desire to see the spread of Amida's promise was thus amply consummated. It was here, at the age of fifty-two, that he began to write his famous work Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho, laying the foundations of what was to become the Jodo Shinshu school.

In the vicinity of Inada, there lived a religious leader named Bennen. As Shinran's teachings spread among the people, Bennen's influence began to wane. This caused Bennen's resentment to build up to the point of even attempting to kill the Shonin. Finally, he broke into the Shonin's hut to murder Shinran; however, as soon as he saw the Shonin and heard his voice, the murderous intent vanished instantly. Filled with repentance, he became one of the Shonin's most faithful disciples, Myoho-bo. 

At the age of seventy, Shinran returned to Kyoto to begin a new life devoted largely to writing.  He did not give sermons or teach his disciples but lived with relatives, supported by gifts from his followers in the Kanto area. His wife returned to Echigo to oversee his estate, while it was his youngest daughter, Kakushinni, who remained by his side until the end of his days. From this time came most of his writings: he completed the Kyogyoshinsho and composed hundreds of hymns (the Wasan) in which he succeeded in making the teachings accessible to the common people in their language. At that time, problems arose among his followers in the Kanto area, and he wrote numerous letters and commentaries trying to solve them.

Near the end of his life, Shinran was forced to disown his eldest son Zenran, who caused unrest among Kanto followers by claiming to have received a secret teaching from Shinran. However, his creative energy continued until his death at the age of ninety, and his works manifest an increasingly rich, mature, and articulate vision of human existence that reveals him as one of Japan's most profound and original religious thinkers.

In the winter of 1262, Shinran Shonin fell ill and had to stay in bed. On the twenty-eighth day of the same month, the Shonin died and reached the pure land of happiness and peace at the age of ninety.  It is said that these were his last words: "When you are alone, say the blessed Name and realize that you are not alone but accompanied by another. When there are two of you reciting the Name, there will be three of you: I, Shinran, am always among you." The next morning, his companions and relatives solemnly cremated his remains, in the southern part of the capital.