Kaneko Daiei’s Understanding of the Structure of the Kyōgyōshinshō

Abstract

This paper examines how Kaneko Daiei 金子大栄 (1881–1976) understood the structure of the Kyōgyōshinshō 教行信証. Kaneko’s analysis of the structure of the Kyōgyōshinshō centered on the relationship between the truth and expedient means. There are mainly two ways in which he understood their relationship. One is that the truth turns into expedient means in order to become involved with all sentient beings. This idea is already found in Shinrankyō no kenkyū 親鸞教の研究 published in 1925 and continued until he wrote Kyōgyōshinshō no kenkyū 教行信証の研究in 1956. The other stressed that the importance of expedient means is realized only when one awakens to the truth. This position is advanced in Kaneko’s “Nibusaku Kyōgyōshinshō” 二部作『教行信証』 dating from 1965. This latter idea represents the peak of this thinking concerning the structure of the Kyōgyōshinshō. Inasmuch as the former idea emphasized the importance of expedient means, there was a risk that it would lose sight of the importance of the truth. The latter idea arose in response to such criticism.