鎌倉期淨土敎の時間論的展開 : 一遍の當體の念佛について

Abstract

Ippen-Chishin was a disciple of the fourth generation of the great Honen, the founder of the Jodo Sect in the Kamakura period. Ippen is more popularly believed to be the founder of the Ji-shu Sect, but this particular sect derives its name from the word Jishu (meaning ‘people who pray’ according to the phraseology of Zendo, a Chinese Buddhist priest in the 7th century) with which nomenclature Ippen used to call his disciples. Thus Ippen cannot strictly be called the founder of a new sect, but it is an indubitable fact that he had a system of doctrines of his own : so we must call it an injustice to this great thinker that the Japanese students of Buddhism have in the past paid so little attention to him. Buddhist thinkers, in their strictly metaphysical speculation, do not recognize ‘time’ as a sort of substance. In their theory of time they do not adapt the categorical classification of past, present and future, but maintain that the ‘present’ is the supreme essence of time which involves eternity in itself. In other words, theirs is an idea of the ‘absolute present’. Now Ippen's doctrine coordinated this Buddhistic theory of time and the idea of ‘Nembutsu’ derived from Zendo. This Ippen came to preach the doctrine of ‘Nembutsu in existence’ under the influence of Seizan, the immediate successor of IIonen. The most real religious experience must be sought in the realities of the present moment. The idea of eternity does not refer to the interminable sequence of time, but to a world transcending human proposition at the present moment. In Ippen's conception the ‘Nembutsu’ transcends any idea of time and quantity ; he maintains that the true ‘Nembutsu’ is ‘Nembutsu in existence’. The idea of ‘Salvation in Real Existence’ or ‘Indivisibility of Life and Death’ can be found as early as in the doctrines of Seizan. Ippen's contribution to the development of this particular train of thoughts lies in his introduction of the idea of the Absolute Present. The idea of ‘incessant and interminable repetition of prayers’ was crystalized into that of ‘continuity of discontinuity of the absolute present’. With him both Preyer and Conversion take place in the absolute present, and Rebirth in the Loud of Eternal Happiness (Jodo) should be found in the grace of Buddha at the absolute present, since every moment is absolutely turned into eternity. “My self is not my own self; my heart is Buddha's heart, ” Ippen declared. After Ippen's death, his doctrine was upheld, in turn, by Shinkyo and Chitoku, and their expositions of their master's doctrine are worthy of note. Especially Chitoku's work on the subject expounds Ippen's ideas most faithfully. The similar works by Takuga are also still abund mtly preserved.