Winter Pacific Seminar Features ‘Issues in Jodo Shinshu Heterodoxy’ at OCBC

More than 140 in-person participants and 23 others who joined online were treated to hear four outstanding BCA ministers discuss “Issues in Jodo Shinshu Heterodoxy” at this year’s Winter Pacific Seminar.

The event was presented by the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) and the BCA’s Buddhist Education Committee (BEC) at the Orange County Buddhist Church (OCBC) on Jan. 25.

Bishop Rev. Marvin Harada, Rev. Kiyonobu Kuwahara, Rev. Dr. Takashi Miyaji and Rev. Dr. Mutsumi Wondra made presentations in English and Japanese, providing personal insight regarding the seminar’s topic. The half-day seminar provided a glimpse into this complex issue and generated wishes for more time, more information and more discussion.

Heterodoxy refers to a deviation from accepted or orthodox opinion or doctrine. Rev. Dr. Miyaji said in Nishi Hongwanji’s history, there were three major debates into doctrinal heterodoxy. These debates were so sensitive and combustible that a schism developed that threatened to ruin the Hongwanji-ha.

Each presenter offered a perspective of orthodoxy and the many challenges from many leaders with differing interpretations and understanding that became major issues of heterodoxy. The Nishi Hongwanji confronted these heterodoxy as it organized and prepared ministers to follow one orthodoxy based on basic Buddha-Dharma teachings.

Rev. Harada expressed an essential requirement in our current approach to doctrine is to allow a broader interpretation of orthodoxy in Shin Buddhism that allows “magical moments” for individuals. These “magical moments” will allow Shin Buddhism to resonate individually. This is important if we expect the Dharma to spread, he said.  

Rev. Harada said that the acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma considers that his performances are not perfect, but are aimed to evoke emotion and to create a “magical moment.”

This allows the music to live in somebody else, he said. Rev. Harada said the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Dharma needs to inspire a “magical moment” so that the Dharma will continue to spread.  

He believes that we treat Jodo Shinshu teachings as pure and perfect and that our responsibility is to preserve and protect those perfect teachings.  This is important, he said, but he added that at the same time, we must be gracious to broaden the expression. 

Rev. Kuwahara provided two key points: 1) role of doctrine; and 2) relationship between Shinjin and Nembutsu. He said that doctrine is necessary to understand as our guide and must be interpreted properly. He described borders between countries, with each country having different laws of driving, voting, alcohol drinking, etc.   

“Is my understanding correct?,” Rev, Kuwahara said. “Is my interpretation right?” 

He said that it is important to ask ourselves this when we think about Shinjin, the Nembutsu, Amida Buddha and the Pure Land. The doctrine is a tool to guide us and a mirror to look at ourselves. 

Different schools of Buddhism offer different doctrines or teachings. There are borders that separate and if we decide if it is outside our border, then it is invalid or illegitimate, which is called heresy or heterodoxy. But, if it is within our borders, he said it is valid and legitimate and we consider it as orthodoxy. 

Rev. Kuwahara said we must look to ourselves and question if our understanding and interpretation is correct. Hongwanji-ha has a staff that examines doctrine and determines what interpretations and understanding is proper and valid. 

Rev. Kuwahara discussed the role of Shinjin with a question. Because of Shinjin, he asks: Do we say the Nembutsu or do we attain Shinjin as we recite the Nembutsu?  

Rev. Dr. Miyaji spoke about “Ichinen Kakuchi,” or “One Thought Awareness.” This is a long-standing debate at Hongwanji-ha, he said. The heterodoxy is: In order to have Shinjin, one should have a distinct awareness of it in one’s heart and mind. If we cannot recall the exact time when Shinjin occurred, it is not considered genuine and the person is said not to have Shinjin.  

The issue of Ichinen Kakuchi can be traceable back to a major debate that occurred in the Hongwanji’s past, known as the “Sango Wakuran Incident.” 

The basic premise was how does Shinjin manifest in the practitioner and should the person show they have Shinjin if they indeed have it, he said.  

Rev. Dr. Miyaji said there were two opposing positions. The first group answered “yes” to the above questions. They were known as the Old Interpretation School, supported namely by the Noke, or Chief Excelsior in Shinshu. The other group who answered “no” was the Reformed Interpretation School. They believed that one does not necessarily need to show that they have Shinjin because this might lead to followers believing that devotional actions would be a way to acquire Shinjin, which would be a form of self-practice, or jiriki.  

This debate became so argumentative and unresolvable that the Hongwanji had to appeal to the Bakufu Shogunate to step in and settle the issue, according to Rev. Dr. Miyaji. 

What was decided, he said, was that the Reformed Interpretation School was closer to founder Shinran Shonin’s thoughts. As a result, the Noke was abolished, and a new system of a council of scholars, called Kangakuryo, as opposed to one supreme doctrinal authority, was put in place. The new orthodox position was that it was not necessary to make a show of one’s Shinjin through signs of devotion in one’s actions (body, speech and mind). 

According to Rev. Dr. Miyaji, similar to this issue is Ichinen Kakuchi, where one must know (namely through the action of the mind) when exactly one has acquired Shinjin. The orthodox position is that when we say that one must know when Shinjin occurred in the past, the individual is relying too heavily on one’s memory, something that we all know to be quite fallible and subject to misapprehensions and mistakes. 

Instead of focusing on when exactly we acquired it in the past, he said, we should focus on questioning what a true and authentic Shinjin is, and whether one has come to truly take refuge in Amida Buddha’s Great Working here and now. 

Rev. Dr. Miyaji concluded by saying: “Can we ever talk about Shinjin in its entirety? No. Should we then stop talking about Shinjin because we can’t talk about it in its entirety? Also no. We have to come to accept that there is always going to be a major part of this dynamic phenomenon that we won’t be able to discuss entirely or fully comprehend.

“However, we should not misconstrue that to mean that we are somehow barred and excluded from being immersed in Amida’s Great Compassion,” he continued with a smile. “And that’s the beauty of being a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist: We are embraced even though we don’t fully understand that. That’s what it is to be a bombu (ordinary person). Be the bombu, my friend.” 

Rev. Dr. Wondra offered “Issues of Wrong Views in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.”

Rev. Dr. Wondra discussed why rules are necessary for training and teaching and understanding of the Dharma.  

Rev. Dr. Wondra used Los Angeles Dodgers superstar baseball player Shohei Ohtani’s dog Decoy as an example of being well-trained when Ohtani threw the ceremonial first pitch before the baseball game to Decoy. Ohtani trained Decoy to “catch” the baseball in his mouth and then run to Ohtani, who was on the pitcher’s mound.  

She said the scholars at Nishi Hongwanji returned to the sutras for clarification and to the main teachers for their writings of the Dharma. The writings of Honen Shonin, Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin were revisited and examined for their contextual correct understanding, which we follow today.

Rev. Dr. Wondra stressed that ministers do not create or generate new teachings. The Kangaku and Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha follow the teachings described in sutras, the “Pure Land Sutra,” “Contemplation Sutra,” “Amida Sutra,” and the writings of the Seven Masters, Shinran Shonin and Rennyo Shonin. The teachings are based on this core and significant documents.

The seminar concluded with a question-and-answer session and a resounding request from the audience to revisit this issue and to discuss further to assure our understanding of the Jodo Shinshu teachings are correct.

In much gratitude to the Winter Pacific Seminar co-sponsors IBS and CBE, co-hosts Southern District Minister’s Association and the Southern District Buddhist Education Committee, the seminar’s presenters and to all of the participants.