Monshu Koshin Ohtani - The Buddhas Call to Awaken

Monshu Ohtani Koshin assumed the office of Monshu in 1980. From the beginning of his tenure, he has striven to awaken the social awareness of the Nishi Hongwanji denomination of Shin Buddhism. He describes the ideal for members of the denomination: Again, because he is awakened to the realization that the great Compassion of the Tathagata embraces all men equally and constantly, his is a life of brotherhood and mutual trust in all men. Therefore, he is able to break out from the shell of isolation, egocentricity, and selfishness and become actively concerned with society and its well-being. This also, at once, should be the response of the total Hongwanji organization that will have an open door to the world.

He came into office as Japan confronted ecological, economic and social changes that have raised questions about the meaning of life and the relevance of religion in modern society. He has deeply observed how the worlds economic expansion, as well as technological advances, have threatened the meaning of life, while also increasing our material benefits. Therefore at the conclusion of his first Rescript given four years into his tenure, he noted that the value of a religion is determined by its response to such conditions that bring anxiety and suffering to mankind, declaring: Fully aware of the heritage from the Founder Shinran Shonin, I am determined not to rest within the comparative quiet of a closed door, but as a Nembutsu devotee of this new era I will take a meaningful and positive step to strengthen and enlarge the circle of Nembutsu and advance the good and welfare of all people.

The progress of modern life has stimulated greed which seeks wealth beyond personal needs and the acquisition of personal goods in excess. As the Monshu notes, animals only consume what they need, while humans seek much more than they require. The problem is more than making money or accumulating things. It is not simply that material prosperity crushes the human spirit. Rather, without a decline in the human spirit, material prosperity cannot prevail. It is at the cost of the human spirit that material prosperity exists. The loss of the human spirit began before the rise in material prosperity and made it possible.

Monshu Ohtani views our contemporary problems as a spiritual problem which results from a human-centered way of thinking by which he means making Humanity as an absolute standard. This view assumes everything should revolve around a human-beings point of view. It has been a great force leading to the progress of science and technology and the resultant crumbling of true spiritual values which has brought on the flux of material prosperity.

To be human-centered means to place everything under the dominance and control of humans. Such dominance, however, is contrary to Buddhism whose perspective embraces the whole realm of sentient beings. It is not just human beings, but all living things, all that have the breath oflife, that are the object of liberation in Buddhism. This means that any approach to the resolution of modern problems must have a holistic perspective, taking account of its implications for all living beings and the environment.

Though lamenting modern human-centered thinking, Monshu Ohtani employed the phrase our sense of being human, as a means of communicating spiritual values to modern people. He emphasizes what one might call the religious in our life, the sense of our going beyond this world to a dimension of spirituality that lies beyond.

Next, he pointed out that he also used the phrase to urge people to awaken unto themselves, to return to the point where they enter into dialogue with themselves. He states that, It is not until we have an awakening unto ourselves, and by this I mean an acknowledgment of our irrepressible blind desires, an awakening to our sense of being evil and unwell, an awakening to our limitations, that we can begin to restore our true sense of being human and at last learn to live in earnest. It was in order to evoke this self-awakening in people that I chose the wording in question.

However, the use of this phrase raised questions within the Shin community. The Monshu understands this problem because Shin Buddhism views human nature as corrupt, and, therefore, being human in the modern sense is ambiguous. His project, however, is to call people back to the spiritual foundation of life as viewed by Shinran. Contrary to Shinran, modern humanism views human nature as essentially good, while obstacles to the achievement of that good must be cleared away. Further, people generally believe that it is through their own ingenuity and science that they can solve problems themselves. Therefore, to advance his message, Monshu Ohtani critiques the widely understood, modern view, while humbly suggesting the alternative found in Shinrans thought.

Shinrans understanding of human nature, based in Buddhism and his own experience, highlights the term