Certain Birth in the Pure Land for 600,000 people

 

 

Now, I will examine the verse as it appears in the Ippen hijirie.

 

・The six-character name is the all-pervading (ippen)Dharma.

 

This illuminates the essence of the name. The six-character name Namu Amida Butsu

is the Dharma of things as they really are with which the myriad dharmas of essential

nature and its characteristics are equipped. Originally, “the name” (myogo) was a generic

term that referred to all the myriad dfarmas. Hozo Bodhisattva, prior to his awakening, cultivated the myriad types of good and the myriad practices. By means of this accumulated merit, he manifested himself as Amida Buddha. The myriad practices with which this Buddha’s body is equipped express themselves as the six-character name.

“Ichi” is the essential nature, and “pen” is its characteristics. The nonduality of essential nature and its characteristics is “ippen” (ichi-pen); that is, it is the name. This name perfects all processes of the essential nature and its characteristics.

 

• The beings of the ten realms are the all-pervading (ippen) body.

 

This illuminates the virtues possessed by Dharma body. The first line explains the body of the name in an abstract sense, but this line makes Ippen’s point of view concrete. The physical and spiritual factors (direct karmic retribution) occurring in actual existence, such as foolishness and holiness, purity and impurity, and so on, that are found in the ten realms(hells,hungry ghosts, animals, warriors, humans, heavens, disciples, pratyeka

buddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas); and environmental factors(circumstancial karmic retribution) which include the location where these existences are found, are both included in the name. All of this is illuminated by the wisdom of the Buddha that is realized even in the state of discriminative activity.

 

• When the myriad practices are free from, thought, realization pervades all(ippen)

 

This illuminates the excellent function of the name. Fundamentally, because cultivation of the myriad types of good and the myriad practices is included in the name, it is not particularly necessary to cultivate them. Simply vow to realize through the name the single recitation of the nembutsu that is without characteristics and is free from conceputualization. As this relates to the actual nembutsu practitioner, he should simply recite Namu Amida Butsu, and, surrendering to his voice, recite the nembutsu. This is the defining activity of the myriad practices that are free from conceptualization.

 

• The most supreme among humans is a wondrous lotus.

 

In this way, people who practice the name are supreme among humans. If you compare them to a flower, it must be a white lotus. Among those who practice the nembutsu, they are the most valued and rare.

 

The second poem is thought to be a summary of the important points of the first.

 

• In the six characters, there is fundamentally no birth or death.

 

This illuminates the Dharma body that has been conceived of thus far. Amida Buddha is the Dharma body that neither arises nor perishes. The Amida Sutra explains that this life is of “countless, limitless, enormous eons.” In this way, the Dharma body is thought to always abide in the three realms.  Therefore, fundamentally there is no birth or death. Namu refers to the person who is taking refuge.  Ultimately, because it is subsumed in the name, the six characters of Namu Amida Butsu are the body of the Buddha, and they are true reality.

 

• In the space of one recitation, no-birth is immediately realized.

 

In the present state of the practitioner who recites a single nembutsu, this recitation is no longer a recitation that depends on the merit of the practitioner, but rather, in the present moment of the spoken nembutsu, no living being is turned away, and patient acceptance based on awareness of the non-arising of phenomena is realized. It is the attainment of birth in the Pure Land.

This is the context of the poem, but what is the relationship between the “Certain Birth for 600,000 People” that was carved on the nembutsu printing block and the “Verse on 600,000 People”? The Ippen hijirie states, “There was a nembutsu printing block”(fascicle 3). Thus it seems the block was newly carved at that time. It appears that Ippen took the first few characters of the “Verse on 600,000 People,” which expressed the virtues of the name, and printed them on nembutsu fuda.

( Ippen   106～109ページまで)

『一遍聖繪』の頌の内容をみていく。

 

• 六字名号一遍法
• 名号の法体を明かす、即ち南無阿弥陀仏の六字名号は事理性相の万法を具足している実相法である。元来名号は一切万法を表す総名であって、法蔵菩薩が因位の時万善万行を修し、その積功累徳によって弥陀仏として顕現しその仏体所具の万行を六字名号として顕わしたものである。一とは理性であり、遍とは事相である。理性、事相畢竟不二のところが一遍即ち名号、この名号が、事理性相の一切方法を具足する。

 

• 十界依正一遍体
• 法体の具徳を明かす、第一句は名号の体を抽象的に説明したものであるが、この段には立場を具体的にして、十界即ち地獄、餓鬼、畜生、修羅、人間、天上、声聞、緑覚、菩薩、仏界に分け得る凡聖浄穢等の種々なる現実生存に於ける身体的、精神的なるもの(正報)と、それの存在する場所と考えられる環境的なもの(依報)、それらすべてが又名号のうちに摂在され、差別のままに仏の内証たる仏智に照されている。

 

• 行行離念一遍証
• 名号の徳用を明かす、即ち本来万善万行の修行は名号の中に摂在されているゆえに、ことさら万善万行を修する必要はなく、唯無相離念に一称名号のもとに名号に証契する。これを念仏行者の当体について考えると、唯南無阿弥陀仏の声ばかりして、声に任せて名号をとなえるところが万行離念の行相である。

 

• 人中上々妙好華なお二番目の頌は、前頌の要約と思われる。
• かくの如き名号修行人は人中の上々なるものであって花にたとえれば白蓮の花にも比すべく、念仏人世に尊重され希有なる人をいう。

 

• 六字之中　本無生死
• 所念の法体を明かし、阿弥陀仏は不生不滅の法体、即ち阿弥陀経にもその寿命は「無量無辺阿僧祇劫」と云うがごとく三世常住と考えられる。従って本来生死ないものである。南無とは能帰人をさすのであるが、結局名号に摂せられるため南無阿弥陀仏の六字が仏体であり実相である。

 

• 一声之間　即証無生さて頌の内容はかくのごとくであるが、念仏の形木に彫られた「決定往生六十万人」と、この「六十万人頌」との関連はどのように考えたら良いであろうか。『一遍聖繪』本文に「念仏の形木くだしつかはす」(第三)とあるように、ここで新たに彫られたと考えられる。即ち称名の功徳を表わす「六十万人頌」の頭文字をとって念仏札に印刷したものと考えられる。
• 一声称名の行者の当体においてはこの声はもはや機功による声ではなく称名の当念に一切の衆生は否定され無生法忍を証する。即ち往生を遂げることである。