Thus Taught Master Shichiri: One Hundred Gems of Shin Buddhist Wisdom (2023, independently published) constitutes the final posthumous work of the great Shin Buddhist scholar Rev. Dr. Inagaki Hisao (1929–2021). As most readers of Buddhistdoor Global are likely unfamiliar with Shin Buddhism, three questions are likely at the forefront of the reader’s mind: who is Master Shichiri? What is Shin Buddhism? And who was Inagaki Hisao? These questions will have to be answered before we treat the book under review. Let us address them in reverse order.
Inagaki is a well-known and beloved name among Anglophone Shin Buddhists. Accomplished as both an academic and a priest, Inagaki is perhaps most widely remembered in the English-speaking world for his translation of numerous texts into English. This effort was motivated by the conviction, inherited from his father, the esteemed Rev. Inagaki Zuiken (1885–1981), that if Shin Buddhism is to survive, it must be spread beyond the shores of Japan.
This segues neatly into the second question. When it comes to Japanese Buddhism, most people—excluding the Japanese themselves—will likely think first of Zen or perhaps Nichiren Buddhism. Shin Buddhism or simply Shin, the English name for Jodo Shinshu, is the largest school of Buddhism in Japan. Shin is a school of Pure Land Buddhism, which seeks enlightenment through rebirth in the Pure Land of Buddha Amida (Skt: Amitabha). Unlike other Pure Land schools, which emphasise that said rebirth is attained through recitation of Amida’s name, Shin teaches that birth is achieved by single-minded entrusting in Amida Buddha to transfer his immeasurable karmic store of merit to the practitioner. This transfer of merit manifests in the practitioner’s mind as faith in the Buddha. For this reason, Shin Buddhism is often said to be a Buddhism of “no practice.”
And who was Master Shichiri? Shichiri Gojun (1836–1900) was a Shin priest renowned for the intensity of his religious experience, his ability to convey the Shin Dharma to everyday people in accessible and novel ways, as well as for his writing and scholarship—none of which is yet available in English. In English, Shichiri is mainly known for his sayings.
Having provided the necessary context, let us turn to the volume under consideration. The Japanese collection of Shichiri’s sayings is a hefty volume recounting hundreds of incidents from Shichiri’s life. Prior to the publication of this book, only a precious handful had been rendered into English. As previously stated, this translation is the final work of Inagaki Hisao, produced at the request of one of his Australian students, Rev. John Paraskevopoulos. The work was still in manuscript form at the time of Rev. Inagaki’s passing to the other shore, and so had to undergo further editing by Rev. Paraskevopoulos—although this is uncredited in the final volume. Additional translation and editing were provided by Rev. Dr. Arai Toshikazu, who also contributes an introduction to the volume.
The book compiles a selection of 100 sayings of the master, arranged so that thematically related sayings are grouped together, although they could be read in any order. The Japanese has been rendered into smooth and eminently graspable English. This is no small feat given the vast grammatical differences between the two languages, as well as the highly suggestive nature of Japanese words which, when rendered into English by less skilled translators, can give sentences an elliptical quality.
Books on Buddhism can be somewhat crudely divided into two categories: introductory works—be they on general Buddhism or a specific school—or those for people already familiar with and/or committed to the Dharma. This work belongs decidedly to the latter category, and is not recommended to the casual reader unfamiliar with Shin Buddhism. For someone seeking to become acquainted with Shin, the editor John Paraskevopoulos’ The Call of The Infinite (Angelico Press, 2016) or the translator Inagaki Hisao’s booklet Amida The Infinite make much better points of entry. (Nembutsu) That said, this book contains helpful footnotes throughout that introduce the reader to any concepts or personages that are mentioned—some of which may even be unfamiliar to a long time Shin follower.
For the committed Shin Buddhist, however, this book is a veritable treasure trove. This applies for those who have already undergone the central Shin religious experience of receiving faith and those who have yet to do so. The book is filled with wisdom deeply useful to both groups, including counsel on prioritizing the Dharma in one’s life, how to psychologically approach entrusting oneself to the Dharma, and how one should live once one has received faith and belief that future enlightenment in the Pure Land is assured. The latter also includes a number of meditations on the place of morality in the life of a Shin person of faith.
Shocking as it may be to most Buddhists, the practice of Shin Buddhism involves no commitment to precepts, and as such Shin writers are not given to dwelling particularly on the issue of morality. Alcohol, in particular, is not shunned by Shin sanghas. This makes Master Shichiri’s frequent dwelling on morality and his apparent injunctions against liquor all the more unique. This may well be due to the fact that Shichiri lived during the Meiji Restoration, an era when the Shin Buddhist establishment promoted a kind of temperance movement—which may surprise many Shin Buddhists today! Indeed, Shin teachers of the Meiji era are generally overlooked in the English-speaking Shin sangha in favour of the earlier masters of the medieval era and more recent teachers.
Perhaps it is due to Shichiri having lived in this liminal period that his sayings have the unique quality that they do—they feel relatable to the modern reader while retaining that old-world disinterest in modern prejudices. Shichiri freely employs metaphors drawn from the modern world, without any evidence that he feels the need to update the Dharma for the times—as if something timeless needs updating! On the other hand, perhaps this does not give this man enough credit for his unique gifts. Indeed, only a deeply gifted mind, and one soaked in the life-giving water of the Dharma, could transcend the grimness of an execution to find beauty as Master Shichiri does in one entry in the book. In this, perhaps the most moving part of this work, Shichiri advises a man of faith sentenced to death: “if the scaffold is compared to this world of defilement, the Pure Land lies just above it.”
If one has a complaint about Thus Taught Master Shichiri, then it is that it is far too short.
References
Inagaki Hisao. 2023. Thus Taught Master Shichiri: One Hundred Gems of Shin Buddhist Wisdom. Independently published.
See more
Amida the Infinite (Nembutsu)
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