On the Truth-concept
in Shinran
and Anselm
-A Study in Comparative
Philosophy-Tadashi KASAI
St. Shinran (親 鸞1173-1262), founder of the True Pure Land Sect, is one of the most prominent Buddhist priests and leaders in Japan. St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) is one of the foremost figures of me-dieval theology and philosophy in Europe. It has often been pointed out by both Japanese and foreign scholars that Shinran's Buddhist thought has much in common with Christian thought. The aim of this brief trea-tise is to obtain a clearer grasp of the fundamental features of these two philosophical concepts by making a comparison of and exploring their resemblance and difference, especially in terms of the `fundamental truth.'
According to Shinran's teachings, it is the last fruition of the Unsur-passed Nirvana to tell the true Enlightenment with the help of Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha), and thus, we humans join supreme Buddhas ranked along with Amida-butsu. Even an ordinary man, who has each and every affliction and illusion in his life, will attain the Rightly Established State in which he is destined to be born to be 'bodhisattava'
on `Mahayana' in the Pure Land, immediately after he gains the faith and practice. One who gains the Rightly Established State unfailingly attains Nirvana, teaches Shinran.
What is meant by Nirvana is literally expressed in a precise equivalent for `attaining Nirvana' as follows;'
To attain Nirvana is to attain the Tranquil and Extinguished State. The Tran-quil and Extinguished State are the Unsurpassed Nirvana. The Unsurpassed Nir-vana is exactly the same as the Uncreated Dharm-a-kaya. The Uncreated
Dharma-( 12 ) On the Truth-concept in Shinran and Anselm (T. KASAI)
kaya is the Real State. The Real State is Dharmata. Dharmata is Tathata. Tathata is the one Tathata.
A similar definition of Nirvana is also found in `Yuishinsho-mon' i,' which describes the doctrine as follows;"
Nirvana is equivalent to Emancipation, the Uncreated, the Peaceful Bliss, the Eternal Bliss, the Real State, Dharma-kaya, Dharmata, Tathata, the One Tathata, and Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is epuivalent to `Tathagata,' and this `Tatha-gata' pervades the numerous worlds. It fills the minds of the ocean of all sentient
beings.
`Yuishinsho -mon`i' subscribes to the doctrine as follows;')
There are two kinds of Dharma-kaya in Buddha-nature. One is Dharma-kaya of Thusness, and the other Dharma-kaya of Expediency. Dharma-kaya of Thusness has neither color nor form. Therefore, it is beyond the grasp of the mind and cannot be described in words. However, it was through this One Tathata that Tathagata assumed his own form in the figure of Dharma-kaya of Expediency under the name of Dharmakara-bhiksu and established the forty-eight great Vows. Tathagata is said to have been named `Tathagata of unhindered light filling the ten directions' by Bodhisattva Vasubandhu.
This `Tathagata' is named Sambhoga-Kaya Tathagata in recognition of the karma-cause of the Vows. This is Amida Nyorai (Amitabha
Tatha-gata). This `Sambhoga-Kaya' - from which many `nirmana-kaya' are formed, radiates the unhindered light of wisdom all over the numerous
worlds; thus, Amitabha Tathagata is also named `Buddha of unhindered light filling the ten directions.' It has neither color nor form. Therefore, it is the same as Dharma-Kaya of Thusness. It dispels the darkness of ignorance, unobstructed by evil karma; therefore, it is named `unhindered light.' Shinran teaches, Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha) is light, which has the form of wisdom. From 'Ching-t `u-wang-sheng-lun-chu' (Judo-o jo-ronchu)
by Donran (T' an-luan) quotes Shinran as follows'):
There are two kinds of Dharma-Kaya in Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. One is Dhar-ma-kaya of Thusness, and the other Dharma-kaya of Expediency. Dharma-kaya of Expediency comes out of Dharma-kaya of Thusness. Dharma-kaya of Thusness
is manifested in Dharma-kaya of Expediency. Dharma-kaya of Thusness and ma-kaya of Expediency are different and yet not to be separated. They are one
and yet not the same. Shinran himself also believes so. That is, Dharma-kaya of
Thusness is the ultimate principle. Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha), who is
ma-kaya of Expediency, comes out of Dharma-kaya of Thusness. Dharma-Kaya
of Thusness, which is sunya and tathata, the fundamental truth.
Shinran on the one hand accepts the traditional thought of Ojo, which ranges from faith (cause) to Nirvana (effect). OjO means "birth in the Pure Land." However, Shinran on the other hand claims that Ojo starts right after faith is attained. Shinran's Ojo does not retrogress from the present life. This concept of Oju is his originality in the development of the Pure Land teachings. According to Shinran, OjO does not necessarily mean `after death.' Those who attain true faith even before their death are numbered in the group of the Rightly Established State." The Rightly Established State describes one who is to become a Buddha (i.e. the Enlightened One).
For Shinran Ojo is to realize `Nirvana.' The Pure Land, which is the place where `Nirvana' is realized, is the true Land. The Pure Land is also called the `Land of Infinite Light.' Light is the symbol of wisdom and compassion. Therefore, the Pure Land is the Land of wisdom and compassion. According to Shinran, Nembutsu (recitation of the Buddha's Name) is the only way to Enlightenment. Tariki (para-tantra), which is the power to reject Ego-attachment (atma-graha), is equivalent to Eta or Engi. Man is awakened by Hongan (`purva-pranidhana,' the original vow, specifically Amida's orginal vow), and lead to the way to a Buddha. Tariki (para-tantra) and Hongan (purva-pranidhana) are nothing but a practical form in which Engi is performed.
The following is the summary of the above. Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha) is an expedient (upaya) to see the truth. The expedient (upaya), which is the power for the truth to accept other things as true, is its practical way to realize it. For Shinran the ultimate truth i. e. the funda-mental truth is the One Tathata. It is also named `Tathata,' `Dharmata',
( 14 ) On the Truth-concept in Shinran and Anselm (T. KASAI)
or the Real State. The Real State , which is `animitta' (formlessness), has no fixed and substantial form . What lies at the very basis of Shinran's teachings is Engi ('pratitya-samutpada' ) , that is the truth of the tradi-tional Buddhism. It is `sunyata' (non-substantiality) . Consequently Shinran is a great original thinker of Buddhism , yet succeeding to the orthodox Mahayana Buddhism.
In the "Monologion, "6' his first systematic treatise , St. Anslem provides a discussion of the divine essence , established by 'sola ratione.' In this work the word `Divine' appears only twice; one in the beginning of the Preface, "regarding meditating on the Divine ," and the other in the end of Chapter Eighty, "Then this Spirit is truly God, and ineffably the only God of the Trinity.""
In Chapter Eighty, the last chapter, of this work, Anselm calls the `summa e
ssentia' God for the first time in his life. God i.e. `summa es-sentia,' is `summa vita,7 'summa ratio,' `summa salus,7 'summa justitia,' `summa veritas
,' `summa bonitas,' `summa magnitudo,' and `summa ae-ternitas.' By this `summa essentia' itself and through itself, everything was produced from nothing. It is God or the Spirit that exists perfectly and absolutely. All the other things almost do not exist or scarcely exist. The sole Creator Spirit exists, and all the created things do not exist. However, that does not mean that all the created things do not exist at all. That is because, Anselm stresses, they are created from nothing through the Spirit, which alone exists absolutely.
In his "Proslogion, "8' which contains the famous Anselm's ontological argument discussing the existence and nature of God, Anselm defines God as "something than which a greater cannot be thought." Anselm stresses that God has various attributes. Thus God is justice, compassion. God is wisdom, truth, and 'lux inaccessibilis.' God has neither color nor form. God is before and beyond all things. God is in the Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. That is, "something than which a greater cannot be thought," Anselm stresses, must be everything that ought to be believed about the Divine.
( 15 ) What Anselm discusses in his "De Veritate"9) shall be studied here.
In the beginning of Chapter One is written "`Deum esse veritatem. credi-mus' (We believe that God is truth). " Anselm stresses that the Supreme Truth has no beginning and no end. Furthermore, in discussing the na-ture and kinds of truth, Anselm deduces the essence of 'rectitudo' from any truth. Thus Anslem stresses that the Supreme Truth is 'rectitudo.' Then he remarks, "Consequently, if I am not wrong, truth can be defined as the essence of 'rectitudo' perceptible only to the mind. "10) Truth is not merely adequate to thought and existence, but adequate to sensuous and intellectual activity of the mind and 'rectitudo.'
Truth, 'rectitudo' and justice, which are all definable, are not exchang-able. 'Rectitudo' of free will kept for its own sake, that is what justice is. There is no justice that is not 'rectitudo.' Nothing should be called justice itself except 'rectitudo' of free will. We humans, given 'rectitudo' of free will from God, are endowed with justice so that we may have it, will to have it, and keep it. The Supreme Truth exists by itself, and when something exists in accordance with the Supreme Truth, it is named the Truth, or 'rectitudo,' of that thing, says Anselm.
In his "Meditationes" Anselm describes Christ in terms of the essence of truth as f ollowsll) :
Truth does not deceive anyone. Those who do not know truth deceive them-selves. Christ, the Saviour of mankind, is truly both God and man, and that His work demonstrated this fact.
Anselm, as a Christian, adheres to his hope that his soul goes after Christ.
The following is the summary of the above. For Anselm the Supreme Truth i. e. the fundamental truth is Christ. Christ, in the Christian doc-trine of the only God, is "Three in One, and One in Three."
It is observed above that for Shinran the ultimate truth i. e. the funda-mental truth is the One Tathata, or tathata. His discussion is based on the Mahayana Buddhism thought of 'pratitya-samutpada' and `sunyata' which was originated by Nagarjuna. On the other hand, for Anselm the
( 16 ) On the Truth-concept in Shinran and Anselm (T. KASAI)
Supreme Truth is God i. e. Christ in the Holy Scripture. Thus both Shin-ran and Anselm are original and even profound thinkers of different thoughts.
Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha) and Anselm's God are comparable. Ami-da is said to literally be `amitabha' (infinite light) and `amitayus' (infinite life). Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha) is Buddha of light and life. Accord-ingly it appears that Amida-butsu (Amitabha-buddha) is similar to Anselm's God. However, Anselm's God is One who "creatio ex nihilo," which namely means that the world and man deserve existence only because they were created by God. Therefore, Anselm's God is completely different from Shinran's Amida-butsu, which is based on the 'pratitya-samutpada' thought.
The relationship between God and man in Christianity and that be-tween 'dharma' ('pratitya-samutpada') and man in Buddhism are different.
'Pratitya -samutpada' is the truth in terms of human being. If the
principle of `pratitya-samutpada' is true, then in theory God as substance cannot be accepted. According to the fourth antinomy") in Kant's pure reason, Anselm belongs to the thesis and Shinran to the antithesis. They are a typical example of the two types of religion that I have long discussed in my papers. These two great thinkers truly understand what the Supreme Truth is.
1) Shinshu Shogyo Zensho (r真 宗 聖 教 全 書 』) Kyoto: Oyagi Kobundo, 1941. Vol. 2, p. 103.
「必 至 滅 度 即 是 常 樂,常 樂 即 是 畢 寛 寂 滅,寂 滅 即 是 元 上 浬 繋,元 上 浬 繋 即 是 元 為 法 身,元 為 法 身 即 是 実 相,実 相 即 是 法 性,法 性 即 是 眞如,眞 如 即是 一 如 。」 2) op. cit., p. 630. 3) op. cit., p. 630. 4) op. cit., p. 111. 「諸 佛 菩 薩 有 二 種 法 身。 一 者 法 性 法 身,二 者 方 便 法 身 。 由法 性 法身 生 方 便 法 身, 由方 便 法 身 出 法性 法 身 。 此 二 法 身,異 而 不 可 分,一 而 不 可 同 。」
5) op. cit., p. 605, 625, etc.
6) S. Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Opera Omnia, ed. F.S. Schmitt, Stutt-gart-Bad Cannstatt, 1968, vol. I, p.1ff.
7) S. Anselmi 0.0., vol. I, p. 87.
( 17 ) Vere igitur hic est non solum deus, sed Bolus deus ineffabiliter trinus etunus.
8) S. Anselmi O.O. , vol. I, p. 89ff . 9) S. Anselmi O.O. , vol. I, pp. 169-199. 10) S. Anselmi O.O., vol. I, p. 191.
Possumus igitur, nisi f alloy, definire quia veritas est rectitudo mente sola perceptibilis.
11) S. Anselmi O.O., vol. Il[ , p. 84.
12) Kant, I., Kritik der reinen Vernunft. B. S. 480f. Der Antinomie der reinen Vernunf t.
Vierter Widerstreit der transzendentalen Ideen.
Thesis: Zu der " Welt gehort etwas, das entweder als ihr Teil, order ihre Ursache, ein schlechthin notwendiges Wesen ist.
Antithesis: Es existiert iiberall kein schlechthin notwendiges Wesen, weder in der Welt, noch auBer der Welt, als ihre Ursache.
<Key Words> Shinran, Anselm, Truth
