Shinran (1173-1263 CE), the founder of True Pure Land Buddhism (Jōdo Shinshū), is widely appreciated for the depth of his psychological insight, especially his exploration of the inner dimensions of faith. Struggling with doubts and turbulent emotions, he came to the realization that in the Pure Land path, "nirvana is attained without severing karmic afflictions." This dissertation examines the soteriological basis for this striking claim by analyzing a passage from section 9 of the Tannishō [A Record Lamenting Divergences]. In that passage, he deviates from long-held Buddhist tradition to argue that the very presence of karmic afflictions, rather than their complete elimination, is assurance of one's salvation. In interpreting this well-known passage, the dissertation brings two new perspectives to Shinran studies: his relation to traditional Tendai Amidist practices and an often overlooked terminological distinction in his writings.
First, by examining his deployment and reframing of religious practice in light of his training at Enryakuji on Mt. Hiei, this dissertation uncovers striking continuities between Shinran's radical approach and traditional Japanese Tendai visualization and recitation practices. This discovery runs counter to the common assumption that Shinran’s Pure Land Buddhism represents a sharp break from Tendai. Second, a careful tracking of Shinran's use and definition of two terms for “entrusting faith” (shinjin and shingyō) reveals that although the two are often considered near synonyms, they actually refer to two distinct realms of experience. Namely, shinjin refers to that of the Shin Buddhist practitioner, that is, to the affective state of which ordinary beings are capable through faith. By contrast, shingyō refers to the enlightened heart-and-mind of Amida Buddha. In other words, his primary distinction between the realms of ignorance and enlightenment is made along affective lines. For Shinran, the experience of entrusting is an affective response that sentient beings make when they are touched by the compassionate activity of Amida Buddha. Further, this affectively "roiled up" experience of entrusting is itself a positive indicator of the (self-) illuminating activity of Amida Buddha in the Pure Land practitioner's life. As the karmic afflictions are the targets of Amida's compassionate activity, and simultaneously, the sign and assurance of that working, we see that for Shinran, one's very awareness of the presence of karmic afflictions is itself the verification of Amida's working.
To analyze further that affective dynamic between Amida and the Pure Land practitioner a comparison is made with Maurice Merleau-Ponty's non-dualistic notion of "flesh." In his exploration of the "tissue of things" between the seer and the seen, Merleau-Ponty shows an important way that human beings connect intimately with their perceptual world. Viewed from that perspective, the affects (however troubling), play a crucial role in Shinran's understanding of the Pure Land Path. They are the tissue connecting the Pure Land believer with Amida Buddha, and the ground upon which an affective community of believers are united through their inner awareness of themselves as struggling and flawed individuals.