A Study on the Origin of "Shinshin-ichinyo" with Reference to the Source Texts of Dogen and Eisai

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  • Naka Hiroji
    The Special Nursing Home for the Aged:Karipu-Atsubetsu, Medical Room

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  • 「心身一如」の由来を道元・栄西それぞれの出典と原典から探る
  • シンシン イチニョ ノ ユライ オ ドウゲン エイサイ ソレゾレ ノ シュッテン ト ゲンテン カラ サグル

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Abstract

Background: While Western medicine has been based on the religious concept of the distinction between body and soul, Japanese psychosomatic medicine, on the other hand, is based on the concept of mind-body unity. The term shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如mind-body unity) has been thought to have its origin in the term shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如body-mind unity) of Dogen. However, Yuasa et al. have recently claimed that its origin is the term shinjin-ichinyo (心身一如mind-body unity) of Eisai. Method: The author consulted their original source texts and studied the meaning of both shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如) and shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如). Results: Eisai (1141-1212) had studied Buddhism in China, where he copied the Zen-on Shingi (1103), which he subsequently carried back with him to Japan. In 1198 he wrote his book the Kozengokokuron. Though the original manuscript is now lost, the text of Kozengokokuron was later published in 1666 and then disseminated after 1778. Here the expression does appear as shinjin-ichinyo (心身一如), but only in a passage on zazen quoted from the Zenon Shingi, where the phrase appeared as shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) instead. It is thus likely that the phrase was shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) in the original Kozengokokuron as well, and that this was mistakenly reversed to shinjin-ichinyo (心身一如) at some point between 1198 and 1666 in the course of the manuscript being copied and recopied. From the above, the author concludes that Eisai's term shinjin-ichinyo (心身一如) is not the correct origin of the term shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如). Dogen (1200-1215) used the expression shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) in his book Shobogenzo Bendowa, written in 1231. The problem of how the first two characters 身 and 心 could have been reversed to produce the term shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如) is satisfactorily explained by the author. Historically, the expression shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) has emphasized the first character 身, meaning body, while shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如) has emphasized the first character 心, meaning mind. Conclusion: The term shinshin-ichinyo (心身一如) has its origin in the term shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) that was written by Dogen and probably by Eisai as well. The original meaning is shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如), with the emphasis on the first character 身, meaning body. The concept of shinjin-ichinyo (身心一如) lives on in psychosomatic medicine in Japan.

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