The transmission of the Nembutsu faith from Master Shantao to Master Honen

 

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Selected passages from Honen Shonin 

with commentary

“One night Honen dreamed that he saw a large high mountain facing west and running north and south. A large river ran along the foot of the mountain out of the north, its waves moving towards the south. It seemed to be boundless, and on the eastern side were trackless forests. When Honen climbed half way up the mountain side and looked westward, he saw a mass of purple clouds about fifty feet from the earth flying through the air, and coming to the spot where he stood. While he was wondering at this strange sight, he noticed that countless beams of light issued from out of the clouds, and forth from these beams in all directions flew peacocks, parrots and a great variety of birds, and some of them on alighting strolled up and down the beach. Innumerable streams of light flashed forth from their bodies. After a while the whole flock flew up and went back as before into the clouds. Then the cloud, turning northward, covered the mountain and river. At this sight Honen thought to himself, ‘Surely, there must be someone here about to be born into the Pure Land., when suddenly the cloud turned and stopped right in front of him, till at length it overspread the whole heavens. Then there came forth out of the cloud a monk who made towards the place where Honen was. He was clad in a golden garment from his waist downward, and in black robes from his waist upwards. Bowing respectfully with hands folded towards him, Honen said, ‘And who may you be?’ The monk replied, ‘I am Zendo (Shantao)’. And what have you come for?’ ‘To show my appreciation of your devotion to the practice and dissemination of the one and only discipline of the Nembutsu’”[1] 
Commentary:
The role of that dream was to confirm Honen’s teaching and to show that the transmission of the Nembutsu from Master Shantao to Master Honen was complete.
As you know, Master Shantao lived during the Tang dynasty in China between 613 to 681 while Master Honen lived in Japan between 1133 to 1212, so they could not meet in person during their life on earth. However, as I showed in a previous article, Honen was awakened to faith by the words of Shantao and he quoted extensively from his works, thus transmitting the essence of his teaching. As a Buddha in the Pure Land of Amida, Master Shantao noticed the Dharma work of Master Honen and he confirmed it by appearing in his dream
 
Of course, one does not need to have special dreams or visions in order to confirm his faith and teaching style, so nowadays teachers or even lay people should not think there is anything wrong with them if they do not experience such things. A person of faith always knows that he is on the right Path because faith itself gives him that certainty. However, for future generations that dream was important to show the Nembutsu transmission from China to Japan and from Master Shantao to Master Honen which is why it was painted by Jodai and reached us under the name “Zendo in Honen’s dream”. It was a miraculous event and a confirmation from the Pure Land that what Honen taught was true and it was later used by his disciples, including Shinran, as a point of reference and a confirmation of their own teaching that they view as part of this transmission. We should remember that Shinran never considered himself to be the founder of a new school, but a transmitter of the true Pure Land teaching of Honen who himself received it from Master Shantao. Every school has a spiritual lineage and ours starts with Amida Buddha himself, then Shakyamuni – the historical Buddha, Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, T’an-luan, Tao’ch’o, Shantao, Genshin, Honen, Shinran, Rennyo and various other known and unknown teachers and Masters that helped us receive this wonderful teaching.

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[1] Honen the Buddhist Saint - His Life and Teachings, volume II, compiled by imperial order, translation by Rev Ryugaku Ishizuka and Rev Harper Havelock Coates, The Society for the Publication of Sacred Books of the World, Kyoto, 1949, p. 205-206