At the San Mateo Buddhist Temple, October is the month in which we celebrate Buddhist women of the Nembutsu, including Shinran Shonin’s wife Eshinni and their youngest daughter Kakushinni, who worked tirelessly to ensure that the joy of the Nembutsu would be passed on to future generations. We also remember Lady Takeko Kujo, who promoted the well-being of all people at a time of social upheaval as Japan entered the modern word, Lady Yoshiko Ohtani, who provided much-needed inspiration and guidance for Jodo Shinshu Buddhists throughout the world during the period of healing and rebuilding following World War II, and all the deceased members of the San Mateo Buddhist Women’s Association.
The courageous leadership of Buddhist women in our tradition can be seen in earliest days of the flowering of the Pure Land teaching in Japan. Our founder Shinran Shonin’s teacher Honen Shonin taught that by simply entrusting in Amida Buddha’s compassionate vow to liberate all beings and reciting the Nembutsu, it was possible for any person to break free from the cycle of birth and death through birth in Amida Buddha’s realm of peace and bliss. At that time in Japan, many mainstream Buddhist teachers taught that people who engaged in professions such as fishing and leatherworking, those who had broken monastic precepts, and women in general were so burdened with negative karma that they would surely remain bound to the cycle of birth and death at the end of their present life.
Because Honen taught that gender poses no obstacle to birth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha through the Nembutsu, women from all segments of society were drawn to his community. In late 1206, while the Emperor Gotoba was away from the capital on a pilgrimage to the Kumano Shrine, his consorts Suzumushi and Matsumushi joined a Nembutsu gathering led by Honen’s followers Juren-bo and Anraku-bo. After hearing the Nembutsu teaching, the emperor’s consorts experienced a great change of heart and took ordination as Buddhist nuns. As imperial consorts, it would have taken great courage for Suzumushi and Matsumushi to abandon the world of palace life. The emperor wielded great power in his world, but the hearts of his consorts turned away from that world and turned toward Amida Buddha’s realm of peace and bliss. In hearing the Nembutsu teaching, they came to the radical realization that in the light of Amida Buddha’s wisdom and compassion, the lives of all people are equally precious. It is not difficult to see how the Nembutsu teaching was a source of consternation for the emperor and the established Buddhist schools.
When the emperor returned and discovered that Suzumushi and Matsumushi had renounced their lives in the imperial palace to join Honen’s Nembutsu Sangha, he became enraged and ordered Juren-bo and Anraku-bo to be executed along with two other leading followers of Honen. Honen was sent into exile on the island of Shikoku. Seven more of his followers, including Shinran, were dispossessed of their monkhood and sent into exile, scattering the community throughout Japan. While many lamented the exile, Honen encouraged his disciples to view their exile as precious opportunity to share the Nembutsu teaching beyond the capital. Honen’s disciples took that teaching to heart, and as a result, the Nembutsu teaching flourished in the rural provinces to an extent that likely would not have been possible had it not been for their exile.
In this way, the courage and commitment to the Nembutsu shown by Buddhist women like Suzumushi and Matsumushi have been pivotal to the flowering of the Nembutsu teaching down through the ages to our present day. In remembering the many women who have found a true refuge in the Nembutsu teaching, let us deepen our gratitude for the wisdom and compassion of Amida Buddha that they have guided us to encounter.
Namo Amida Butsu