These doctrines concerning
repetitions, however, are all considered but "temporary expedients." So
also is the rigid classification, so prominent in "the old sects," of
all beings or pupils into three grades. As in Islam or Calvinism, all
believers stand on a level. To Shin-ran the Radical, the practices even
of J[=o]-d[=o] seemed complicated and difficult, and all that appeared
necessary to him was faith in the desire of Amida to bless and save. To
Shinran,[9] faith was the sole saving act.
To rely upon the power of the Original Prayer of Amitabha Buddha with
the whole heart and give up all idea of _ji-riki_ or self-power, is
called the truth. This truth is the doctrine of this sect of Shin.[10]
In a word, not synergism, not faith _and_ works, but faith only is the
teaching of Shin Shu.
Shinran, the founder of this sect in Japan, was born A.D. 1173 and died
in the year 1262. He was very naturally one who had been first educated
in the J[=o]-d[=o] sect, then the ruling one at the imperial court in
Ki[=o]to. Shall we call him a Japanese Luther, because of his insistence
on salvation by faith only? He is popularly believed to have been
descended from one of the Shint[=o] gods, being on his father's side the
twenty-first in the line of generation.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353