The Way of Jodo Shinshu

Jodo Wasan 75

King Ajatashatru, enraged and furious,
Uttered, 'My mother is my own enemy!'
Threatening to kill her contrary to the laws,
He turned upon her with his sword drawn.

Anitya

The next four verses relate the events described in the third chapter of the Contemplation Sutra. Indeed, the first five chapters of this sutra are clearly the most important to Shinran. In them we encounter some of the most fearsome and terrible passions of which we human beings are capable - along with our potential for goodness. In the next few verses of the wasan - and Chapter 3 of the sutra - we engage with anger and calm, vice and virtue, purblind stupidity and intelligence, rage and balance, violence and self-control. Shinran, himself, of course was familiar with these passions. He not only experienced them in the course of his life - as when the nembutsu community was confronted with the fury, anger and jealousy of both the monastic and secular leadership - but the inconceivable light of Amida Buddha cast his own inner demons into sharp relief. He confronted them and found a peaceful heart. One can see this in the last section of the Kyo Gyo Shin Sho and some wasan still to come; for Shinran came to be at ease with both gods and demons and saw them as acting as the Buddha's agents to protect and bless him.

For the moment, it is King Ajatashatru who remains our focus. In my reflections upon the last wasan we saw how it was Ajatashatru who committed a series of weighty crimes. First he deposed his father, King Bimbisara. Then, on discovering that the Queen - Vaidehi - was taking food to him, Ajatashatru now flies into a rage. Intending to kill his mother, he declares her to be his enemy. Then he abuses the dharma.

Hearing this Ajatashatru became furious with his mother and said, 'Because you are an accomplice to that enemy, mother, you too are an enemy. Those monks are evil, for with their delusive magic they have kept this wicked king alive for many days.' So saying, he drew his sharp sword, intending to kill her.¹

This paragraph describes some profound human truths at the heart of which is this: the ugliness of self-justification. No matter who we are, it is extremely difficult for us - human beings - to see ourselves as being at fault in any given situation. And those of us who claim to accept our fault are very often feigning it in order to escape notice or retribution. Ajatshatru's absurd name calling and accusations are a common feature of human life. Human history is full of murderous demagogues who harbour the most vicious potential of their own while accusing others of the very things of which they are themselves guilty. But even in mundane circumstances, relationships - and society at large - this kind of behaviour is a common theme. For Shinran, however, the 'abandonment of the mind of self-power' is

to abandon the conviction that one is good; to cease relying on the self; to stop reflecting knowingly on one's evil heart, and further to abandon the judging of people as good and bad.²

Shinran was neither self-righteous nor self-defensive; he neither attacked others nor defended himself.

We see here then, in this Wasan, Ajatashatru in enraged and outspoken opposition to - not only relatively innocent people but also - the dharma, no less. At the same time he, himself, is contemplating matricide, an evil which - in the time of the Vedas - was so outrageous as to be unspeakable and inconceivable. It is impossible in this fuming man to see one who, within a few years, would become a benefactor of the Buddha Dharma and a virtuous and wise lay disciple.

Unless, of course, one is in tune with the dharma. For one of the 'signata' (Sk. lakshana) of existence (conditioned things - samskara) is change (Sk. anitya). Although this is a threatening and frightening fact to us - who are attached to our possessions, status and loved-ones - it nevertheless heralds positive change as well.

So, the enraged and abusive Ajatashatru became the gentle and devoted follower of the dharma.

For those of us who live outside of Japan but who draw all that is important from the well of the Pure Land dharma it is sometimes difficult to see an environment in which this teaching will be widely received and celebrated. The intensity of its unpopularity in some circles is plain to see in the way it is dismissed or even treated as an object of hatred and scorn close to Ajatashatru's attiude to the sangha - 'evil monks'. But, believe me, things can change. Fashions and outlooks can transmute within a few years. In Australian society, at any rate, it can surely be said the the Pure Land dharma is a teaching whose time has not yet come. This is primarily because it flies in the face of the powerful prejudices and superstitions which prevail in our time; most notably, the overwhelming prevalence of a materialistic world view and the cult of self-esteem. However, as night follows day, these chic beliefs will tumble like a pack of cards - and disappear into the ether.

On the other hand, the Pure Land way has endured since the time of Shakyamuni's enlightenment. As Shakyamuni rightly said, it will altogether endure well beyond the final extinction of the dharma.

At this time there is a severe drought in Australia, which is now developing into famine. Drought is a fact of life on this continent and experienced and wise farmers restrain the temptation to bemoan their misfortune and instead turn their attention to consolidating their resources for a better time. In the same way we Pure Land followers would do well to consolidate our resources by deepening our insight and acquaintance with the dharma so that we may have something useful to offer those who may seek us out in time to come.

- 23 September, 2002.

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1: TPLS, p. 318.

2: CWS, p 459.

Iris