Why Anarchists Like Zen? A Libertarian Reading of Shinran (1173–1263)^85
claims to have not had “even a single disciple”. There were many
who looked up to Shinran as an example to follow, but Shinran’s
logic is based on his understanding of tariki: “if I brought peo-
ple to say the nembutsu [Amida’s name] through my own efforts,
then they might be my disciples. But it is indeed preposterous to
call persons ‘my disciples’ when they say the nembutsu having
received the working of Amida”.^24 Consequently, Shinran regards
the idea that “going against a teacher” mars one’s path to enlight-
enment as both “arrogant” and “absurd”.^25 Students and teach-
ers meet and part because of their conditions and conditionings
(in Sanskrit: karma), and gratitude is a spontaneous feeling, not
something to be cultivated by the student or to be used as a form
of controlling mechanism on the part of the teacher. By shifting
the focus to an individual relationship between the practitioner
and the Buddha, the traditional disciplinary regime of Buddhist
practice is dismantled and translated to a subjective and personal
realm, which does not necessitate social relationships of authority.
Shinran preserves some of those relationships (e.g. his regard for
his teacher and leadership before his students, his loose monastic
identity) in a symbolic way but their original hierarchical content
is emptied or radically redefined.
Shinran’s ideas are a development within Pure Land Buddhism,
a stream of Buddhism focused on the goal of birth in the Pure Land
of Amida Buddha, the realm of effortless enlightenment, through
a variety of devotional and often non-monastic, non-meditative
practices. Unlike other forms of Buddhism, which prescribe med-
itative exercises and a monastic lifestyle in order to achieve the
Buddha’s enlightenment in this life, Pure Land Buddhism aims to
create the necessary conditions for emerging in a realm where en-
lightenment will naturally happen after death. However, as I will
argue later, the transcendent/inherent nature of the Pure Land as
a post-mortem/this life realm varies greatly in different Pure Land
Buddhist contexts. Pure Land Buddhism originated in India and
later developed in various ways in China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam
and Japan. Pure Land Buddhism was first organized as a separate
tradition or school in 13th century Japan, through Honen’s move-
ment and the many lineages established by his disciples. However,
Pure Land practices and ideas pervade Mahayana Buddhism in all