8th of November 2023
Jodo Shinshu is often summarised with the phrase "shinjin shoin shomyo ho'on" (信心正因 称名報恩). Shinjin is 信心, it means faith or entrusting, particularly the mind of faith and entrusting. Shoin is 正因, it means "true cause". 正 means correct or true, and 因 means cause. Shomyo is 称名, it means "praising the name". 称 means praise, and 名 means name. Ho'on is 報恩, it means gratitude, or "repaying a kindness".
The first part, shinjin shoin (信心正因), summarises the main innovation of Shinran Shonin: the true cause is shinjin, the mind of faith, the effect being rebirth in Amida Buddha's Pure Land which is taken to be effectively equivalent to enlightenment itself. This is the basic doctrine of Shin Buddhism, and the main thing that distinguishes it from all earlier Pure Land teachings. Shinjin is generally considered to be the absence of doubt, and one expression of doubt is self-power (jiriki, 自力), as opposed to Other Power (tariki, 他力).
Vow 17: If, when I attain buddhahood, innumerable buddhas in the lands of the ten directions should not all praise and glorify my Name, may I not attain perfect enlightenment.
Vow 18: If, when I attain buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and think of me even ten times should not be born there, may I not attain perfect enlightenment. Excluded, however, are those who commit the five grave offenses and abuse the Right Dharma.
– The Three Pure Land Sutras, BDK
Other Power is often capitalised in English, presumably as a form of emphasis or reverence, and is the power of the bodhisattva Dharmakara (the Buddha Amida prior to attaining Buddhahood) that went into his vows, as well as the power of the Buddha Amida continuing to work through those vows. Specifically, bodhisattva Dharmakara is called his causal stage, partly because he "caused" the vows by establishing them. Amida Buddha is called his fulfilment stage, because his very existence signifies the fulfilment of his vows due to the clause "may I not attain perfect enlightenment". The two vows that are most important to Jodo Shinshu are quoted above, the 17th vow, and the 18th vow. The 17th vow describes an effect of Other Power that allows Amida's teaching and wisdom to be expressed universally and constantly heard by all of us. The 18th vow describes another effect that actually allows us to be liberated. Vitally note that we are not involved in either the establishment or fulfilment of those vows, which in fact totally relinquishes us of any effort we can possibly make regarding them.
Self-power simply refers to attempting to make such an effort, either towards the bodhisattva Dharmakara's vows, or towards any other form of enlightenment. Two obvious examples, which are seen by some western Buddhists as the totality of their Buddhist practise and thus can be particularly shocking, are ethical practises and silent sitting meditation. There are two kinds of intention behind the actions of practising ethics and silent sitting meditation. First, these actions can be done because they are Shakyamuni Buddha's teaching and therefore following them will lead to liberation. This is self-power, since one's own efforts are being applied in order to attain liberation. There is still an element of Other Power–relying on the Buddha's teachings–but it is also mixed up with self-power and thus doubt and lacking shinjin. Secondly, these actions can be done simply because they are enjoyable or beneficial in worldly life. This is not necessarily self-power.
A brief discussion is also required on why self-power is doubt and thus the opposite of shinjin. There are various ways to understand this, some more controversial and dogmatic, and some more experiential. Among the former, we have the teaching of the Dharma-ending age, and the nature of beings in this age. In this view, beings today are so selfish and driven by blind passions, that they can no longer do any Buddhist practise, since the practises all become defiled by the selfish mind. More experientially, we may find this is only true for ourselves individually. Further, we may also simply have failed at trying to apply self-power in our own life. Many Shin Buddhist converts came from Tibetan Buddhism or Zen, both arguably self-power driven paths. Some practised for many years with their eye eagerly on awakening or enlightenment the whole time and for many reasons it could not happen, and they became frightened, angry, and distrustful. It is not necessarily religious matters too, failing at something in our own life or coming across something we cannot solve ourselves, be it depression, failing at our job, personal issues, are all potentially examples of failing self-power. This is a primary door into Other Power. Many enter the ocean of shinjin through failing self-power.
The second part, shomyo ho'on (称名報恩), states our attitude towards the sacred practise of the nembutsu, an attitude of gratitude. The nembutsu is simply the name of Amida Buddha, and in its full form is "namo amida butsu", with the last vowel being omitted as is common in Japanese: "buts". Very common shorter forms are "namandab", "namanabuts", "namandabu", and often in chanting, "na-mo-am-i-da-n-bu". All of these are considered equivalent.
Is nembutsu a self-power or Other Power practise? It can of course be the former, for example if we recite nembutsu often with the intention of concentration leading to awakening. However, even out of gratitude it can be a self-power practise! How? Most simply, we can consider a phenomenon of "inverted causality" often found in various spiritual traditions, particularly in Zen. In Zen, we often are faced with stories of how awakened people act. Perhaps we think they are almost aloof, but mysterious, biting with their words, etc. Therefore people end up acting that way, both because they want awakening themselves, and to express to others their awakening, however, they have the causality the wrong way around! Those are expressions of awakening, not causes of awakening. A similar situation happens regarding the expression of shinjin in Jodo Shinshu: we express gratitude because that's what someone with shinjin does, even if shinjin has not awoken in us, therefore our expression of gratitude becomes a self-power practise on the path to shinjin.
How can nembutsu be an Other Power practise? By not saying it at all, that is, letting the nembutsu speak through you, rather than you speaking the nembutsu. This is the ineffable aspect of Amida's Other Power, we can't understand it, because it is the true "suchness" that is expressed by all phenomenal expressions: Amida, nembutsu, sutras, etc. are all phenomenal expressions of something without form. We therefore can't explain or comprehend how exactly Other Power nembutsu works.
Finally, as discussed above, self-power practise is a symptom of lacking shinjin, not a cause of it. Therefore, if we realise we are saying nembutsu in a self-power way, then abstaining from that is also self-power, since we believe that by doing so we can somehow "control" our shinjin.
We should be careful of taking "shomyo ho'on" blindly. It is not immune from doubt and self-power. Even though we are often told to say nembutsu out of gratitude, we should be careful of why we are grateful (while of course, not also expressing a self-power care, since being careful can also be self-power!)