「真仏土文類」における「大悲の誓願」の解釈について

抄録

Previous studies have aimed to interpret the ‘Vow of Great Compassion’ 大悲の誓願 in Shinran’s comment found at the beginning of the chapter of his Kyōgyōshinshō called ‘The True Buddha and Land’ 真仏土文類 by directly connecting it with Amida’s 12^th and 13^th vows. However, this paper challenges this idea by stressing that contextually the ‘Vow of Great Compassion’ is not necessarily connected to the Vows of Immeasurable Light and Life. The reason is that the first sentence does not directly lead to fulfillment by the 12^th and 13^th vows, but after the third sentence it does show that the True Buddha and the Land are created by the 12^th and 13^th vows. For example, Shinran’s Jōdo Wasan 浄土和讃 (Hymns of the Pure Land) speaks of the Tathāgata of Inconceivable Light establishing the Primal Vow, which explains that the True Buddha and Land were made as a cause and result of the ‘Vow of Great Compassion.’ Thus, the ‘Vow of Great Compassion’ does not necessarily represent the 12^th and 13^th vows, but rather possibly represents the 18^th vow.