Why Anarchists Like Zen? A Libertarian Reading of Shinran (1173–1263)^103
practitioner to discern in relation to his or her experience of
tariki. As William Godwin’s work proves, the notion of a “private
judgment” can be developed into a critique of state authority and
authority at large. Also, tariki accomplishes the equalization of
all beings, since in the last days of mappo no one can be said to
not need the Buddha’s help. These parallel equalities, which offer
complementary visions of entanglement and liberation, enable so-
cial criticism and can be engaged for militating against hierarchy.
Most importantly, the notion of mappo has a strong relational fla-
vor that identifies the dark age with the dark minds of the beings
living through them, which are equally and mutually entangled in
darkness. Thus, the relational awareness of being deeply involved
in the oppressive realities of mappo can trigger the wish to rebel
and transform.
If we were to apply Shinran’s insight into the ruler’s corrup-
tion, following the same historical logic that makes him imagine
the nenbutsu as the most central and universal Buddhist practice
and also the most appropriate for mappo, it could be argued that
in the latter days’ hierarchy has become corrupting and ineffec-
tive and ought to give way to an alternative social paradigm. The
alternative could be inspired in Shinran’s ondobo ondogyo, the
community of fellow travelers, which resists hierarchical forma-
tions and the ethos of mappo. The horizontal social formation
embodied in the equal discipleship to the Buddha can, thus, be
construed, like the nenbutsu, as the most fundamental Buddhist
social model and in the latter age of mappo, the only viable one.
This model can add to the Buddhist anarchist project a focus on
historical suitability and sensitivity, which does not need to be
rooted in Buddhist eschatology, to balance the emphasis on the
philosophical and ahistorical similarity between Buddhism and
anarchism. Though Shinran’s view of history is rooted in Buddhist
teleological narratives, his critical awareness of his zeitgeist and
attention to historical context and suitability (rooted also in
Buddhist ideas of causation) are helpful tools that can be translat-
ed to other conceptions of history.
The interaction between the age of mappo and the Pure Land
is Shinran’s formulation of the basic Mahayana doctrine of the
mutual dependence of samsara and nirvana, however it can also