The Location of the Five Right Practices for Birth in Amida’s Pure Land in Shin Buddhist Teaching: On Sekisen Sōei’s Gutokushō giki

Abstract

This paper addresses how to locate the notion of the “Five Right Practices for Birth in Amidaʼs Pure Land” in the entire structure of Shin Buddhist teaching based on Sekisen Sōeiʼs 石泉僧叡 （1762-1826） commentary Gutokushō giki 愚禿鈔義記. He regarded the ‘five right practices’ as a concrete aspect of the notion of nembutsu as an expression of gratitude for Amidaʼs compassionate working. What is to be noted is that the notion of the “five right practices” does not indicate that there are five kinds of expression of gratitude for Amida Buddhaʼs compassion. Concerning this issue, Sōei claims that the notion of the “five right practices” is to be classified into two, main and subsidiary, and “right” is to be used for the main practice.