This paper focuses on the word “everlastingly” （hisashiku 久しく） which is used to refer to the significance of Amidaʼs nineteenth vow in the passage on sangan-tennyū 三願転入 （religious conversion through Amidaʼs three vows） in the “Keshindo no maki” 化身土巻 （Chapter on Transformed Buddha-bodies and Lands） in the Kyōgyōshinshō 教行信証 of Shinran 親鸞 （1173-1262）. In this passage, when Shinran speaks about the nineteenth vow, he says, “I have departed everlastingly from the temporary gate of the myriad practices and various good acts.” On the other hand, the time of conversion regarding which Shinran writes of entering the ocean of the selected vow is expressed as occurring in the present with the phrase “I have now entered . . .”
Why does Shinran use both “everlastingly” along with “now” in this passage? The nineteenth vow has a distinctive position in that there is no reference to entering into it and it is only said that one departs from it “everlastingly.” Thus, focusing on this point, this paper considers the content of the experience described in the passage on sangan-tennyū.
