Zennain Chinkai’s Interpretation on Selecting Those Who Commit the Five Heinous Deeds and Slander the True Dharma

Abstract

In Chapter VI of the Ketsujō ōjōshū 決定往生集 written by Chinkai 珍海, he deals with the contrast that the person who commits the five heinous deeds and who slanders the True Dharma is excepted from the relief of the eighteenth vow in the Lager Pure Land Sūtra 無量寿経, while the person who commits the five heinous deeds and the ten evils is saved in the section on the lowest class of rebirth 下品下生 in the Contemplation Sūtra 観無量寿経.Through those questions and answers in this chapter of Chinkai’s work, I would like to elucidate the originality of the interpretation on the selection of those who commit the five heinous deeds and slander the True Dharma.