平安仏教の闇【欲望に塗れた「聖者」たちと4万人が餓死した京都】

Details and registration for the public lecture are available here. For those interested, please register here. ------ Osaka https://kikutani.hp.peraichi.com/sinn... Hiroshima https://kikutani.hp.peraichi.com/sapporo ------ Shinran Shonin was exiled to Echigo at the age of 35. At this time, his monastic status was revoked by those in power. However, he felt no shame whatsoever about this. On the contrary, he expressed his feelings towards those who were revered as monks under the protection of those in power at the time, as evidenced by these words. "The prominent monks and high-ranking priests of the main temples and head temples of this world—they are all despicable." (Those who are considered prestigious in this world, the famous monks and high-ranking priests of large temples—they are people I find utterly repulsive.) He must have been disgusted by the reality of the monks of that time. They were busy performing incantations and prayers that were not originally part of Buddhist teachings in order to curry favor with the court nobles and aristocrats, while only extorting taxes from the common people and ignoring them, repeatedly making unreasonable protests, the main halls and pagodas being impressive on the surface but rife with factional disputes inside, and the monks' personal lives being hidden, which were all the more hideous because they were being carried out in secret—Shinran Shonin, who spent 20 years on Mount Hiei, was well aware of this situation. Furthermore, what the high-ranking priests of Mount Hiei and Kofuku-ji Temple did to his master, Honen Shonin, was something Shinran Shonin could never forgive throughout his life. At that time, ordinary people, who were considered "unfit for Buddhist practice," turned to Honen Shonin of Yoshimizu, who preached Amida Buddha's vow to "save all people," as a beacon of hope. Fearing the rise of Yoshimizu, the large temples influenced the imperial court, leading to the "Jogen Persecution," an unprecedented crackdown in Buddhist history. Honen's school was disbanded, Honen and Shinran Shonin, along with eight others, were exiled, and four disciples, including Juren and Anraku, were sentenced to death. This is the background to why Shinran Shonin could frankly declare that these people were "people he absolutely detested." He felt absolutely unwilling to be grouped with those monks, so far from being disheartened by being stripped of his monastic status and exiled to Echigo by those in power, he said: "If I had not been exiled, how could I have converted the people of this remote region? This too is a blessing from my teacher's teachings." (If I had not been exiled, I would surely not have been able to spread Buddhism to the people of Echigo. How fortunate I was! It is all thanks to Honen Shonin.) Here we see the spirited figure of the saint, knowing that the people of Echigo were waiting for him. In the "Shinran Shonin's Poems," which have been sung for generations in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, there is the line: "My exile was merely a means to an end; the flower of the Dharma scattered in the capital, and now, on the harsh, snowy roads of Echigo, I welcome the spring of the Dharma." Even his exile to Echigo was seen as a skillful means by the Buddha to spread Buddhism to the people of that land. Having been banished from the capital, Shinran Shonin continued to preach the original vow of Amida Buddha in the harsh, snow-covered Niigata region. Then, people appeared in various places, rejoicing and saying, "This is the teaching I wanted to hear!" The flowers of the Dharma bloomed profusely, and Echigo experienced the spring of Buddhism. Where Shinran Shonin departed, the flowers withered, and loneliness ensued; wherever Shinran Shonin went, the flowers of the Dharma bloomed, bringing vibrancy and brightness. That was the kind of person Shinran Shonin was. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Understanding Buddhism" Official LINE Account Here ----------------------------------------------------------------- • Updates on videos and columns • Mini-corner explaining Buddhist terms in simple terms • Exclusive projects for LINE friends, etc. ▼"Understanding Buddhism" Official LINE Account Here https://lin.ee/GbzwYBX ----------------------------------------------------------------- 20-Lesson Free Email Course Here ----------------------------------------------------------------- https://peraichi.com/landing_pages/vi... ↑The free email course reveals the answer to the "meaning of life" as taught in Buddhism. Those who register will receive a bonus booklet, "5 Common Sense Mistakes That Prevent You from Being Happy"! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe to our YouTube channel here -----------------------------------------------------------------    / @bybuddhism   ------------------------------------------...