A Unified Theory of Tanni-shō on the Concept of Faith

Understanding the Separation of Chapter 10

Abstract

The Tanni-shō was written by Yuien, a follower of Shinran. Yuien grieved over the differences in the notion of faith in the religious community after the death of Shinran, because he wanted to unite everyone around this concept and eliminate their doubt. The Tanni-shō has two sections relevant to this issue: the first contains the alleged words of Shinran, and the second offers what Yuien contends are arguments by others that are different from Shinran's teaching. Chapter 10 bridges these two paragraphs, because both the words of Shinran and the preface of Yuien's criticism appear in it (an observation made in previous scholarship). Satō Masahide's (2005) article “Tanni-shō ronshaku” argues that the original Tanni-shō was actually two books that were separated by this chapter. This paper, however, contends that the words of Shinran in Chapter 10 are theorized in chapters 1-9 and that it is closely connected with Yuien's criticism. Through this evidence, the paper argues that regarding Chapter 10, Satō's views are not in line with those of Yuien on the concept of the absolute “other power” (tariki) of Amitabha that was taught by Shinran, thus presenting a unified theory of the Tanni-shō in accordance with the original text.