Shinran’s View of Genshin:Based Mainly on the “Chapter on the Transformed Buddha and Land (Part 1)” of the Kyōgyōshinshō

Abstract

It is well known that Shinran praised Genshin for determining “truly the difference between the fulfilled land and the transformed land.” In this connection, Shinran cites Genshin’s interpretation as of the Realm of Indolence in the “Chapter on the Transformed Buddha and Land.” Shinran holds that the Land of Indolence is closely related to the Castle of Doubt found in the Sūtra of Immeasurable Life, since they are both places where nenbutsu practitioners who rely on self-power are born. Shinran discovered the importance of these two realms by reading Genshin, who also took up the notion of the Land of Indolence. In this paper, I argue that Genshin’s understanding of the Land of Indolence had a great influence on Shinran’s thought found in the “Chapter on the Transformed Buddha and Land.”