Ryogemon is the creed of Jodo Shinshu
Buddhist teaching, composed by Rennyo Shonin. In it we find all we need to know
and accept in order to be born in the Pure Land of Amida. There are a few
English versions of Ryogemon, but I prefer to use the one translated by Zuio
Inagaki Sensei:
“Having abandoned the mind of self-power to perform
various practices and miscellaneous acts, I have entrusted myself to Amida
Tathagata with singleness of heart recognizing that He has resolved my crucial
after-life problem once and for all.
I understand that at the moment such entrusting Faith arises in me, my deliverance from Samsara is settled with the assurance of birth in the Pure Land, and joyfully accept that recitation of the Nembutsu which follows is to express my indebtedness to Amida.
How grateful I am that I have come to this
understanding through the benevolence of the Founder, Shinran Shonin, who
appeared in this country and of the masters of the succeeding generations who
have guided me with deep compassion!
From now on, I will abide by the rules of conduct
all my life.”
“Various practices and miscellaneous acts” that we abandon include all the religious practices, teachings and actions through which people believe they can achieve perfect Enlightenment and Buddhahood. These can be various meditations/contemplations or non-meditative methods, observing precepts with the thought of transferring the merits thus gained towards Enlightenment[1], etc. Even the saying of Amida’s Name can be placed in this category if it is done while relying on personal power[2].
All these practices and acts are abandoned including the idea that you
can do something by yourself to gain perfect Enlightenment and Liberation from
Samsara. You simply realize that you are limited and incapable to become a
Buddha by yourself and you accept that only Amida Buddha[3] can help
you in this and stop your endless wandering in the repeated cycle of birth and
death.
In the exact moment you entrust yourself to Amida you are assured of
escaping from Samsara and simultaneously assured of your birth in the Pure
Land. In that exact moment (not when you die) you become saved, your karmic
destiny is fixed and you are sure to become a Buddha in the Pure Land. Nothing
which follows this moment of the emergence of faith can in any way influence,
improve or destroy your chances to be born in the Pure Land.
You remain an ordinary person as you have always been until the moment of your death, and even if you die unexpectedly, without thinking on Amida or not being in a good state of mind, you will still go to the Pure Land because you are already saved from the very instance of your first moment of faith (shinjin). So don’t worry about anything, just entrust in Amida and all is assured for you. The saying of Amida’s Name is just the expression of faith and gratitude[4] because Amida saves you without asking anything from you, not even the smallest virtue or merit.
You met the Dharma of Amida’s salvation because of Shinran Shonin’s appearance in this world and his
explanations. His successors who were faithful to his teachings and further
spread them to the later generations, like for example, Master Rennyo, also
provided you with the conditions to meet this wonderful teaching. So they all,
especially Shinran Shonin, deserve your gratitude and appreciation.
The rules of conduct you engage to observe all your life when you enter
the Shinshu sangha are to be found in Rennyo’s Letters[5]. They
are reformulated by me here:
- respect other Buddhist schools and do not denigrate their teachings or followers[6]
- do not belittle other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
- do not denigrate the kami (gods of Shintoism)[7]
- do not put on airs of a high spiritual person – be humble
- do not impose our faith to others of various religions or Buddhist schools
- be careful when you talk about Jodo Shinshu teaching with people who are not karmically mature and not open to understand and receive it – do not impose it on them; in general, speak only when it is truly necessary and at the right time.
- do not be proud and do not become noisy, especially in the public, with your convictions and faith in Jodo Shinshu; be discrete, act normal, and enjoy your faith in silence and humbleness.
- do not denigrate or slight government and local authorities because you have faith and they don’t
- meet your public obligations and duties in full without fail
- take the laws of the state as your outer aspect[8], store Other Power faith deep in your heart and take the principles of humanity and justice as essential[9].
Also by becoming a Jodo Shinshu follower you automatically promise not to distort this wonderful teaching with personal ideas and opinions based on your unenlightened mind. Thus, you accept that the Shinshu Dharma is the wonderful medicine given by Shakyamuni and the Masters to save people from birth and death, and in order for it to be effective you must not change it or alter it in any way since you are not a Doctor or a Buddha yourself. This is a rule of conduct which you automatically and naturally accept when you enter this path. It’s just common sense. If one destroys or modifies Amida Dharma, then this Ryogemon becomes useless and no salvation from birth and death can be possible. So, please be careful when you talk about Jodo Shinshu or when you try to transmit it to others. Indications about this general rule of conduct are to be found everywhere in the teachings of Shinran and Rennyo, so take it as essential when you enter the Shinshu sangha.
[1] We do not discourage people to try to observe the Buddhist precepts for the sake of living in harmony with themselves and others while relying only on Amida to take them to the Pure Land.
[2] For example, if you think that the better you recite it, the more chances you have to be born in the Pure Land, or that the number of recitations and the concentrated state of mind are important, or if you imagine that you can gain merit by this recitation which can be transferred to your birth in the Pure Land, etc.
[3] If one thinks that Amida is a symbol, a fictional character, or a metaphor, as some deluded modern scholars interpret Him, then this Ryogemon is useless. Only those who accept Amida as a real and living Buddha in accordance with Shakyamuni’s description in the Larger Sutra can have true faith in Him.
[4] To say thank you to Amida Buddha
[5] References to these rules can be found at pages 20, 27, 32, 34, 35, 40, 41, 47, 50, 53, 71, 74, 77, 81 from Rennyo Shonin Ofumi (The Letters of Rennyo), published by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Center Translation and Research in 1996.
[6] Rennyo said in one of his many letters referring to this aspect: „Within our tradition there must be no slandering of other teachings and sects. As the teachings were all given by Shakyamuni during His lifetime, they should be fruitful if they are practiced just as they were expounded. In this last Dharma age, however, people like ourselves are not equal to the teachings of the various sects of the Path of Sages; therefore, we simply do not rely on them or entrust ourselves to them”.
[7] We do not rely on the kami, but this does not mean that we denigrate them. As Master Rennyo pointed out in many of his letters, some of the kami worshiped in Shintoism were in fact manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who tried in many ways to bring sentient beings to finally entrust in the Amida Dharma. Thus, by receiving faith in Amida, we fulfill their wishes and aspirations, so we do not need to worship and take refuge in them. Shinran Shonin himself forbade worshiping of the kami and various gods, but he also never said we should denigrate them or their followers. Also, unlike Rennyo, he never spoked in his writings about kami as manifestations of Buddhas.
I would not go so far as to say that the important figures of all religions are in fact, manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We know that in Buddhism, in general, gods are just one type of unenlightened beings among others, so we must not conclude that Master Rennyo tried to make us see all gods from various mythologies or important figures of major religions as being Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. In his letters he specifically made reference to Shintoist kami which other Japanese Buddhist schools also considered as having a link with the Buddha Dharma. I think it would be a mistake to view all spirits, all kami and all figures of Japanese folklore as being Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In order to accommodate Rennyo’s instructions with Shinran’s instructions the best thing to do is to consider that indeed some kami might be manifestations, but to be sure that we make no mistakes and do not come to worship unenlightened spirits or gods, Jodo Shinshu followers should concentrate exclusively on Amida Buddha and leave aside, respectfully, all that is related with Shintoism and its divine figures. Generally speaking, we should never look to Shintoism and especially to other religions as being the same with Buddhism.
Shinran himself quoted Nirvana Sutra in his Kyogyoshinsho, where it is clearly stated that: „the emancipation of non-Buddhist ways is called impermanent, the emancipation of Buddhist ways is called eternal”. So we abandon all non-Buddhist ways and follow only the Buddha Dharma, but in doing this we respect other people’s religious decisions and do not denigrate them.
[8] Act accordingly with the laws of the state you live in. Of course, this does not apply to laws that are inhumane and criminal.
[9] Try to be compassionate and treat all people equally no matter their differences.
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