Hōnen (1133–1212) understood that true nenbutsu pracitioners shall be born in the “reward land” (hōdo 報土), the Pure Land of jōbon jōshō (上品上生, upper grade, upper birth) as described in the Contemplation Sūtra (Guan Wuliangshuofo jing 觀無量壽經). This position was in relation to his doctrinal stance that true practitioners must be born into the highest level of the Pure Land so that they can swiftly return to this world to save all living beings.
Therefore, he taught that, once people undergo a “conversion” (eshin 廻心) in this life, cast away the meditative and non-meditative practices (jōsan nizen 定散二善), and solely practice recitation of nenbutsu, they all shall be born in the Pure Land of the upper grade, upper birth, regardless of their innate human nature corresponding to any of the nine grades. He also maintained that those who doubt the Buddha’s five wisdoms, and practice auxiliary acts (jogō 助行) or miscellaneous practices (zōgyō 雑行), will be born in the border land (henji 辺地), as stated in the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha sūtra. However, Hōnen neither elaborated his understanding of the “Pure Land of the nine grades” (kubon no Jōdo 九品の浄土) as a whole, nor discussed the problem of birth in the closed lotus flower (kegō 華合) as found in the section of the nine grades of birth in the Contemplation Sūtra.
Among the disciples of Hōnen, those who emphasized the significance of shinjin (信心, faith) in Hōnen’s teaching, such as Shinran (親鸞, 1173–1262), Shōkū (証空, 1177–1247), Kōsai (幸西, 1163–1247), and Ryūkan (隆寛, 1148–1227), show a tendency to teach Amida’s Pure Land as “reward land,” rather than discuss it as the Pure Land of “upper grade, upper birth.” By focusing on the issue of birth in the closed lotus flower explained in the section on the nine grades of birth in the Contemplation Sūtra, and taking the position of equating the nine grades of birth with the ideas of embryonic birth and birth by transformation found in the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha sūtra, they developed the theory that the nine grades of birth is itself “birth in the transformed border land (kedo 化土) within the reward land.” They also maintain that this “transformed border land within the reward land” is the buddha land for those who doubt the working of Amida Buddha’s Other Power, and that it is a “land of skillful means” taught to ensure that nenbutsu practitioners do not have doubts about the working of Amida’s Other Power.
Those who developed Hōnen’s teaching in the direction of self-power practices, such as Benchō (弁長, 1162–1238) and Chōsai (長西, 1184–1266), based their theory of the Buddha land on Hōnen’s understanding of Amida’s Pure Land as a “reward land.” However, these two masters taught neither the theory of the transformed border land within the rewarded land, nor the theory of the transformed border land as skillful means. They both understood that the entire section of the nine grades of birth in the Contemplation Sūtra teaches birth in the reward land.
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