Zonkaku (1290-1373) was a great-great-grandchild of Shinran, the founder of the Jodoshin sect. He traveled throughout Japan, and wrote many books to spread Shinran's doctrine. The Hoonki is one of Zonkaku's works.
In my previous paper I analyzed the motive of his book. He insisted in it that filial piety in Buddhism is better than filial piety in Confucianism. This is because in Confucianism filial piety causes happiness in this life, but in Buddhism filial piety causes happiness in this life and the life to come. And Nembutsu is the best form of filial piety.
In this paper I will analyze the tale “The correspondence between Shotoku-Taishi and Zenkoji-Nyorai.” This tale was well-known in medieval times. Amida-hijiri holymen spread the story to many areas.
Zonkaku used this tale as an example of memorial services for transfering merit. He insisted that we should perform such memorial services to repay indebtedness.
However, his thought was not the same as Shinran's. For Zonkaku, merittransferance memorial services were a means to an end to spread Shinran's doctrine.
