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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
Mahayana Buddhism is called the religion of grace. In other words, the very core of its teaching is dependent on the compassionate work of Amida Buddha, the Saviour of all sentient beings. In this article I, who am today a Christian, would like to show how, through the Jodo Shin- shu teaching which was established by Shinran (1173—1262), and which very fully embodies the essence of Mahayana Buddhism’s teachings, I came to understand the doctrine of ‘Nishu Jinshin’ (‘Two kinds of deep belief’), and why this doctrine has been so important in my religious development.
To do this I must first write about the beginnings of my knowledge of Christianity. When, for the first time, I heard the name of Jesus Christ, from my elementary school teacher, Miss Yamano, I was just six years old. One day, in her class, we were talking about the greatest people in the world, and she told us the stories of Buddha, Hideyo Noguchi and Jesus Christ, among others. I still clearly remember what she told us about Jesus Christ: ‘Jesus Christ is the man crucified on the cross for all people’s sake.’ I remember it because I was deeply impressed by this, and wished to meet this man. However, since I was a small boy, I did not know anything at all about an institutionalised Christianity. Nevertheless, from that time onwards, Jesus Christ became a great man for whom I longed. He was also the first person to teach me the value of self-sacrifice for the sake of others, something the consciousness of which grew steadily stronger in me under the influence not only of people whom I met but also people whom I knew through their writings.
1 ‘November Third’ by Miyazawa Kenji, from The Penguin Book of Japanese Verse translated by Bownas, Geoffrey and Thwaite, Anthony, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1964Google Scholar, copyright (c) Geoffrey Bownas and Anthony Thwaite 1964. Reproduced here by by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
2 Otto, Rudolf, The Idea of the Holy, Oxford University Press, 1958, p. 50Google Scholar.
3 Otto, Rudolf, Religious Essays, Oxford University Press , 1931, pp. 25–6Google Scholar.
4 Heidegger, Martin, Sein und Zeit, Tubingen, 1984, pp. 11, 12fGoogle Scholar.
5 Here I follow, with minor changes, Professor Kakus Miyaji's translation, Tannisho, Ryukoku University Press, Kuoto, 1980Google Scholar, ch. 3. I am grateful for Professor Miyaji's tuition at the Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, in 1988.
6 ibid. ch. 2.
7 ibid. ch. 9.
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