On past and present reincarnations of Moriya

Prince Shotoku

article by Shingyo Yuri Demianov - Amidaji Russia

In the Dharmaraja Sutra (AN 5.133), addressing an assembly of monks, the Buddha says:

“Monk, a wheel-turning monarch provides just protection and security for his court, relying only on principle—honoring, respecting, and venerating principle, having principle as his flag, banner, and authority. He provides just protection and security...”

Throughout history there have been many great statesmen who faithfully followed this and other teachings of the Buddha. One of these men was the father of Japanese Buddhism - Prince Shotoku Taishi. Being a true ruler-sage, striving to exalt his country and his compatriots, distinguished by an extraordinary breadth of views, open to new ideas, following the traditional mores of the Confucian way of life, Shotoku was a real example of a Buddhist layman, combining the life of a skilled student and preacher of the Teachings of the Buddha with the affairs of the court and his country.
Master Shinran Shonin highly valued the prince and revered him as the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Kuse Kannon:

“Great Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the world-saviour,
Who appeared as Prince Shotoku,
Is like a father, never leaving us,
And like a mother, always watching over us.”

One of the most important acts of the prince was the compilation of a unique document called the Seventeen Article Constitution, which some people consider the world's first Constitution. Shinran describes it this way:

“He composed the seventeen-article constitution
As the standard for the imperial law.
It is the rule for the peace and stability of the state,
The treasure that makes the country prosperous.”

In the second most important point of the Constitution, Shotoku teaches:

“The three treasures, which are Buddha, the (Buddhist) Law and the (Buddhist) Priesthood, should be given sincere reverence, for they are the final refuge of all living things.”

Living at any country, every Buddhist, for whom the Buddhadharma is the cornerstone of life, I think will agree with these words.

Master Rennyo wrote:

“Obey the king’s law in your outward actions but cultivate the Buddha’s Law in your heart.”
“Make Buddha Dharma the master and worldly matters the guest.”

Very often, especially in our age of Mappo, there are leaders in our world who are the exact opposite of Shotoku Taishi. Like the maras, going against the Buddha, they destroy the Dharma and seek to destroy the Sangha. Sometimes these dictators introduce inhuman criminal laws, preaching various perversions. In the history of Shotoku Taishi, there was one such person who prevented the spread of the Dharma with all his might. Shinran wrote:

“While the Prince was spreading the Buddha Dharma
In order to teach and guide sentient beings,
Moriya of Yuge, being a malicious antagonist,
Followed him like a shadow.

The traitorous minister Moriya of Yuge, of the Mononobe clan,
Harbored a mind of deep spite;
Burning temples and pagodas,
He sought to annihilate the Buddhist teachings.

At this time, pained with grief
At the destruction of the Buddha Dharma,
The Prince spoke to the emperor
And had soldiers dispatched.

Joining the bow of meditation and the arrow of wisdom,
The Prince at once
Struck down the traitorous minister Moriya
In order to benefit sentient beings.

There are those who seek to destroy temples, pagodas, and the Buddha Dharma
And to bring the nation and sentient beings to ruin;
Such people are reincarnations of Moriya;
They should be repudiated and overcome.”

Like Moriya, another opponent of the Dharma, in the person of the emperor, persecuted Shinran Shonin. The Venerable Master severely denounced him and his court for destroying the true teaching, thanks to which all living beings can be saved by the Power of Amida Buddha:
 
“The emperor and his ministers, acting against the Dharma and violating human rectitude, became enraged and embittered. As a result, Master Genku (Honen) – the eminent founder who had enabled the true essence of the Pure Land to spread vigorously [in Japan] – and a number of his followers, without receiving any deliberation of their [alleged] crimes, were summarily sentenced to death or were dispossessed of their monkhood, given [secular] names, and consigned to distant banishment. I was among the latter.”

Kennyo Shonin

 Much later, another man named Oda Nobunaga, like a demon, plundered the temple complex of Mount Hiei and killed many monks, attacked Ishiyama Hongan-ji (at that time the main temple of our Jodo Shinshu School). Kennyo Shonin, the 11th successor of Shinran Shonin, raised an army, as Shotoku Taishi once did, against the forces of this anti-Buddhist scoundrel and fought staunchly against him for 10 years until the Emperor intervened and demanded both sides to make peace. I am sure that a person like Kennyo has always put the Buddha's Teachings above all else, never forgetting what Master Rennyo said:

“The Buddha is, of course, central in our teaching. The purpose of following the ‘king’s law’ in the secular world is to allow the ‘Buddha’s Law’ to be primary. Unfortunately, many people make the ‘Buddha’s Law’ secondary and the ‘King’s Law’ primary. This should not be allowed.”

“Further, (the Venerable Master Shinran) carefully stated that we should observe the principles of humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom and sincerity. He stated that outwardly we should honor the laws of the state but that deep within, we should consider the shinjin of “Buddha-centered power” based on the Primal Vow to be fundamental.”

Today, as many centuries ago, like a reincarnation of that Mononobe no Moriya, a new enemy is rising in the form of so-called liberal Buddhism. They are trying to destroy and pervert the Buddha Dharma by justifying blind passions, indulging in all kinds of perversions and spreading false views. Seeing the slander by the modern day followers of Moriya against the orthodox teaching of the Pure Land, Amidaji stands in their way like a barricade “born out of the Nishi Hongan-ji branch like a new vigorous tree from an old root, respectfully acknowledging the efforts of all Monshus, priests, teachers and lay members who transmitted the true teaching to us through many generations” (Amidaji Constitution).
 
From the spiritual point of view, Amidaji appears to me as Ishiyama Hongan-ji, surrounded by hordes of all kinds of heresies commanded by the new Oda Nobunaga under the name of modernism and “liberal Buddhism”. Josho Sensei, like Kennyo Shonin, has raised the banner of the True Teaching of the Jodo Shinshu School, calling everyone to resist and defend the Dharma in this rapidly degrading age of Mappo.

Namo Amida Bu🙏