Shinran’s view of the characters in the Contemplation Sutra

Fragment from my Commentary on the Contemplation Sutra. It is a work in progress and under constant revision. Click here to read the other chapters.

Master Rennyo considered that 

“Shakyamuni used the five grave offenses in which Vaidehi, Devadatta, and Ajatasatru were involved as compassionate means to cause women and those who have committed the five grave offenses in the last Dharma age to aspire to birth in the Land of Serene Sustenance (the Pure Land of Amida); He assured us that even such people would unfailingly attain birth in the Land of Serene Sustenance if they took refuge in the inconceivable Primal Vow. This you should know.”[1]

Shinran already went even further than Rennyo in this matter and considered that all the events presented in the Contemplation Sutra were a play by enlightened actors to create the proper conditions for the teaching on Amida Buddha in its implicit and explicit aspect to appear in our world. In chapter I of his Kyogyoshinsho, he said, 

“I reflect within myself: The universal Vow difficult to fathom is indeed a great vessel bearing us across the ocean difficult to cross. The unhindered Light is the sun of wisdom dispersing the darkness of our ignorance. Thus it is that, when conditions for the teaching of birth in the Pure Land had matured, Devadatta provoked Ajatasatru to commit grave crimes. And when the opportunity arose for explaining the pure act by which Birth (in the Pure Land) is settled, Shakyamuni led Vaidehi to select the land of peace. In their selfless love, these incarnated ones - Devadatta, Ajatasatru, Vaidehi - all aspired to save the multitudes of beings from pain and affliction, and in His compassion, Shakyamuni, the great hero, sought indeed to bless those committing the five grave offenses, those slandering the Dharma, and those lacking the seed of Buddhahood. We know, therefore, that the auspicious Name embodying the perfectly fulfilled supreme virtues is true wisdom that transforms our evil into virtue, and that the diamond-like shinjin so difficult to accept is true reality that sweeps away doubt and brings us to attainment of Enlightenment”.[2]
 
He also explained in the Hymns of the Pure Land (On the Contemplation Sutra),
 
“Amida and Sakyamuni, employing compassionate means,
And Ananda, Maudgalyayana, Purna, Vaidehi,
Devadatta, King Ajatasatru, Bimbisara,
Jivaka[3], Candraprabha[4], Varsakara, and others –
 
All of them great sages –
By various means, brought the most foolish and lowest
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
Of evil people to enter the Vow
That does not neglect people of grave offenses and transgressions.
 
Since conditions for the Pure Land teaching had matured,
Shakyamuni and Vaidehi, manifesting compassionate means,
Led the minister Varsakara to bear witness
And King Ajatasatru to commit grave offenses.
 
Let us overturn the three minds of self-power, whether meditative or nonmeditative,
Which vary with each practicer;
Let us aspire to enter into shinjin (faith)
That arises from Amida’s benefiting of others.
Shinjin: the true and real shinjin of the Primal Vow.”[5]
 
This interpretation by Shinran may seem shocking for many, so I do not imagine that my readers will easily accept it. However, such things are very common in Mahayana and Vajrayana vehicles of Buddhism. For example, in the Lotus Sutra that was taught by Shakyamuni at the same time with the Contemplation Sutra, He discloses the deep truth that the whole story about Him leaving the royal palace of the Sakya clan followed by the attainment of perfect Enlightenment was just a play, because He actually became a Buddha many kalpas ago (check the footnote to read the respective passage[6])! So, to play various roles, appearing in disguise and pretending to be unenlightened is something that Buddhas and Enlightened Bodhisattvas do all the time in many samsaric universes for the sake of guiding sentient beings and for creating the best conditions for certain teachings to appear in the world. I explain this in great detail in section two of my Commentary on the Sutra on the Buddha of Infinite Life (Larger Sutra), so please also refer to that book.
Just to give you another example – the King Anala, who was actually a Bodhisattva in disguise, admitted in the Gandavyuha Sutra (final part of the Avatamsaka Sutra) that He sometimes manifests illusory evil people who experience the effect of their bad karma to help existing samsaric beings to avoid evil and aspire for Enlightenment,
 
“Noble one, I have attained the Bodhisattva liberation called the attainment of illusions. Noble one, most of the inhabitants of my kingdom kill, steal, practice sexual misconduct, lie, slander, abuse, indulge in idle talk, are avaricious, are malicious, hold false views, commit bad actions, and are fierce, aggressive, and cruel, and they maintain a behavior consisting of all kinds of bad actions. There is no other way to instruct them to turn away, to desist, from that sinful behavior.
 
Noble one, in order to guide, ripen, control, and benefit these beings, motivated by great compassion I manifest the illusory images of executioners, through which I execute the illusory images of the condemned. I make the illusions of those who punish and execute in various ways the illusions of those who have followed a path of bad actions. I also emanate those who experience the unendurable sufferings of having their feet, hands, noses, ears, limbs, smaller parts, and heads cut off. When the beings who live in my realm see that, they become distressed, afraid, and terrified. After that, they are careful to avoid committing bad actions.
Noble one, when in that way I have used that method and see that these beings are distressed, terrified, and alarmed, I then turn them away from the path of the ten bad actions, cause them to possess the path of the ten good actions, and establish them in the path to omniscience, which is the ultimate attainment of joy and happiness and the cessation of all suffering.”[7]
 
However, in manifesting under the appearance of evil beings Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not actually harm anybody, as it is also the case with the Contemplation Sutra where all those involved, including the characters who apparently hurt each other, were Enlightened beings in disguise, and thus, beyond illusion and suffering. Bodhisattva King Anala explained,
 
“Noble one, I do not cause harm to any being with my body, speech, or mind. “Noble one, I would wander in the most extreme suffering of the Avici hell, but I would not even once have arisen in my mind the wish to cause harm to even the smallest being, a minute insect seen on the tip of a blade of grass, existing in the realm of stupidity, which is rebirth as an animal, let alone to a human being in my realm, who has the ability to develop the path of good actions.
Noble one, I do not generate the qualities of a bad action in my dreams, let alone deliberately.”[8]
 
So, the opinion of Shinran that all the characters in the Contemplation Sutra, including Devadata, Ajatasatru, Bimbisara and Vaidehi, were enlightened beings in disguise setting up a play to create the proper conditions for the teaching on Amida Buddha to be promoted in the world did not appear out of thin air but it was rooted in the Mahayana teaching.

 Please support my Dharma work and Amidaji with a one time donation or by beccoming a Patron (constant supporter). Any little help is appreciated and very much needed.  Namo Amida Bu 🙏

---

[1] Rennyo Shonin Ofumi IV-3, BDK English Tripitaka 105-II, 106-I, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1996, Berkeley USA, p.104-105
[2] The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.3
[3] Jivaka was a nephew of king Bimbisara who served as a royal minister. Also, a famous and skilled physician who once cured the Buddha of a serious illness. The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.129
[4] Candraprabha (“Moonlight”): the name of one of King Bimbisara’s ministers. The Three Pure Land Sutras - A Study and Translation from Chinese by Hisao Inagaki in collaboration with Harold Stewart, Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai and Numata Centre for Buddhist Translation and Research, Kyoto, 2003, p.123
[5] The Collected Works of Shinran, Shin Buddhism Translation Series, Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, Kyoto, 1997, p.346
[6] “The devas, humans, and asuras in all the worlds all think that the present Buddha, Śhakyamuni, left the palace of the Sakyas, sat on the terrace of Enlightenment not far from the city of Gaya, and attained highest, complete Enlightenment. However, O sons of a virtuous family, immeasurable, limitless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas have passed since I actually attained Buddhahood. […]Since then I have constantly been residing in the Saha world, teaching the Dharma and inspiring sentient beings. I have also been leading and benefiting sentient beings in incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of other worlds”
The Lotus Sutra, chapter 16  (Taishō Volume 9, Number 262), translated from the Chinese of Kumarajiva by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research,  2007, p223-224 
[7] Gaṇḍa­vyūha (The Stem Array), Translated by Peter Alan Roberts under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, https://84000.co/translation/toh44-45#UT22084-037-007-4236
[8] Gaṇḍa­vyūha (The Stem Array), Translated by Peter Alan Roberts under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, https://84000.co/translation/toh44-45#UT22084-037-007-4236