Recently, Buddhist social welfare is an important topic in Japanese Buddhism. However, it is generally limited to considerations of terminal stage medical and social services. But welfare in Shin Buddhist teaching is not so limited. In this paper, the significance of volunteer work in Shin Buddhism is considered.
In the past, volunteer work in Buddhism has been done as part of charity activity. However, there is no record that Shinran was involved in such work. The Buddhism which Shinran clarified is the Buddhism of Faith in Other-Power. Its basis is different from the volunteer work sought by the people of secular society.
What kind of modern meaning can be found in volunteer works in the Shin Buddhist teaching? We must find its clue in the teaching of the 18th Primal Vow. The origin of “symbiosis of healthy subject and the disabled” is also considered there.
