a structural analysis of dhikr and nembutsu*

A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF DHIKR

AND NEMBUTSU*

KOJIRO NAKAMURA

Repeated utterance of a divine name or a sacred formula is a religious be-havior commonly observed in many world religions. There are, to give a fewexamples, hesychasm of Eastern Orthodox Christian monks; dharani and mantra

of Indian Yogis; dhikr of Sufi Muslims; nembutsu of Japanese Pure Land Buddhists.The Jews also have a similar practice in the tradition of Merkabah mysticism,and the Sikhs have imran. The striking similarities among these religious prac-tices have already drawn attention of some scholars.(1) It can hardly be said,

however, that these phenomena have adequately been studied yet in a generalframework by comparative religionists.

What is the meaning of this practice in each religious tradition and in the

general framework of man's religious consciousness? The purpose of the pre-sent essay is to make an attempt to analyse the structures of dhikr and nembutsuby comparison toward a unified understanding of those similar religious pheno-

mena. (2) To be specific in its scope, our study will be confined to the dhikr ofGhazali (1058-1111), a great Muslim theologian and spokesman of orthodoxSufism (Muslim mysticism), and the nembutsu of Honen (1133-1212), founder

of the Pure Land Sect (Jodo-shu) of Buddhism in Japan.

* This is a part, with revision, of the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to Harvard

University in 1970 under the title, "Al-Ghazali's Idea of Prayer." He is grateful toProfs. A. Schimmel and M. Nagatomi of Harvard University: the former guided hiswhole thesis work and the latter read this part and gave valuable suggestions duringthe process of revision.

(1) Cf. L. Gardet, "Un probleme de mystique comparec: la mention du nom divin (dhikr) dansla mystique musulmane," Revue Thomiste, LII (1952), 642-79; LIII (1953), 197-216; E.Benz, "Nembutsu und Herzensgebet," Buddhism and Culture, Dedicated to Dr. Daisetz TeitaroSuzuki in Commemoration of His Ninetieth Birthday, ed. by Susumu Yamaguchi (Tokyo: Suzuki-

gakujutsu-zaidan, 1960), 126-49; M. Eliade, Yoga; Immortality and Freedom, trans. by W. R.Trask (2nd ed.; New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1969), 212-19, 408. See also L.Massignon, Essai sur les origins du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (New ed., Paris:

J. Vrin, 1954), 88-98.(2) It is also a fascinating subject, although a very difficult one at the present stage of our study,

to investigate the historical interaction, if any, among them and to trace their origins.

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BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES

The two great personalities lived far apart from each other in time and space

in the totally different cultural milieus with little possibility of influence, director indirect, from one upon the other. Ghazali was born in 1058 A. D. and

brought up in the north-eastern part of the present Iran and spent his life in theheartland of Islam.(3) His father, and possibly his mother too, died in his child-

hood. From an early age, if his own account in the Munqidh is correct, it washis habit and custom "to thirst after a comprehension of things as they reallyare."(4) He had been intellectually too critically-minded and too self-confident

to accept naively the traditional authority by the time he reached adolescence.Being unable to be satisfied with the given answers, he wanted to verify all thetraditional beliefs and truths all by himself, and thus became seriously engagedin studying every branch of religious sciences (Qur'anic studies, theology, philo-

sophy, Islamic jurisprudence, and others), seeking the ultimate Truth.To a certain extent he was successful indeed in this quest; he mastered all

these sciences, and was socially rewarded for his endeavors and achievements.In 1085, at the death of Imam al-Haramain, a great theologian and jurist of his

age, under whom Ghazali had studied with other eminent students, Ghazalimoved from Nishapur to the Camp of Nizam al-Mulk, vizier of the Seljugid Sul-tan. This vizier surrounded himself with scholars and poets as a patron, andwas making every effort to restore Sunni Islam against rampant Shi'ism at that

time, with the support of Muslim intellectuals. Ghazali was duly received, andin 1091 he was appointed professor at the Nizamiyya College (Madrasah) ofBaghdad, the highest position and the most coveted honor for the Muslim scholarsin those days.

With all this success and his thoroughgoing intellectual quest, however,he came to realize that he was still devoid of the true faith (yaqin),(5) or experi-mental understanding of the truth which he had been pursuing, demonstrating

(3) For his life, see his autobiography, al-Mundiqh min al-dalal ("Deliverance from Error"),translated by W. M. Watt in his The Faith and Practice of al-Ghazali (London: George Allen &Unwin, 1953), 19-85. For the critical study, see, among others, D. B. Macdonald, "TheLife of al-Ghazzali, with especial reference to his religious experiences and opinions," TheJournal of American Oriental Society, XX (1899), 71-132, which has not been superseded yet.See also W. M. Watt, Muslim Intellectual: A Study of al-Ghazali (Edinburgh: EdinburghUniversity Press, 1963).

(4) Munqidh (Watt), 20-21.(5) To give a brief account of this important term, Ghazali uses it in two different meanings:

that of logicians and theologians on the one hand and that of the Sufis on the other. In

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A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF DHIKR AND NEMBUTSU

and teaching, namely, the unity of God (tawhid), expressed in the Muslim confes-

sion: "There is but one God," and the life in the Hereafter. To put it epistemo-logically, Ghazali fell into deep skepticism and was desperately struggling to find

the solid basis for knowledge of the religious truth. Ethically he came to beaware of, and admit with daring frankness, the gap between his actual way oflife and the imperative of God as he understood as a result of his ruthless logical

pursuit. But he also realized that the gap could not be bridged by intellectualeffort, and that Truth was a divine gift bestowed freely by God upon the Sufiin the ecstatic experience of fana' ("passing-away").(6) In this mystical experien-ce, the Sufi intuitively knows his own nothingness and utter dependence uponGod, and the overwhelming reality and universal sovereignty of God (tawhid).

All man can, and should, do is to prepare himself and wait for this grace bydetaching himself and emptying his thought and will of all concerns but God.Dhikr is one of the major methods in this purgative way of the Sufi.

After the acute inner crises and the agonizing process of decision, Ghazali

finally denounced his position, honor, family, wealth, and all that would obstructhis devotion to God, and set off from Baghdad to lead a Sufi life. He spent abouttwo years in Syria as a wandering hermit, and then came back to his native town.

There he continued the Sufi practices with a small number of his disciples, whilecomposing many works, for about ten years until his death, except for a short

period of teaching at the Nizamiyya College of Nishapur.

On the other hand, Honen was born in 1133 A. D, as a son of the local war-rior class in the present Okayama prefecture, approximately 150 miles west of

Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.(7) He was also bereft of his father, and pos-sibly his mother altogether, at his age of nine, when they met a night assault bya rival warrior. It is reported that his dying father left him the last will that hedo not revenge on his enemy but forsake the worldly life to become a Buddhist

the former sense, it means to accept a certain statement because it is logically proved andfree from doubt (shakk) or any possibility of doubt. In the latter sense, on the other hand,it means to accept a statement not only because there is no doubt about it, whether logically

proven or based on the generally accepted authority, but also because it grips one's heartto such an extent that it dominates his entire concern and there is a full commitment to it.For more details, see Ghazali, Ihya' 'ulum al-din ("Revivification of the Religious Sciences")

(4 vols.; Cairo: 'Isa 'l-Babi 'l-Halabi, n. d.), I, 73 (K. 'Ilm, bab 6); F. Jabre, La notionde certitude selon Ghazali (Paris: J. Vrin, 1958).

(6) See infra, p. 85.(7) For his life, see one of the oldest biographies composed by a monk, named Shunjo, at the

imperial command about a century after Honen's death, Honen the Buddhist Saint: His Lifeand Teaching, translated and annotated by H. H. Coates & R. Ishizuka (Kyoto: Chion' in,1925). For the critical study of his biography, see, among others, Encho Tamura, Honen

(in Japanese) (Tokyo: Yoshikawa-kobun-kan, 1959).

77

monk, seek salvation and pray for his father.(8) Honen was sent to a cloister-temple nearby and stayed there under the care of the monk. However, it didnot take this scholar-monk long to detect Honen's serious devotion to Buddhistlearning and his unusual talents for it. Thereupon, in 1145, Honen moved

in accordance with the wise recommendation of this teacher to the Enryaku-jiMonastery Temple at Mt. Hiei, the headquarters of the Tendai (Ch. T'ien t'ai)school of Buddhism.

As his long studious engagement in learning and vigorous disciplines and prac-tices in the search for Truth proved to be vain and fruitless in bringing him light,he became gradually frustrated and irritated by his own sense of inability and

hopelessness, despite the reputation of his rare intelligence. This made him moreand more skeptical about the traditional way to enlightenment through "theSage's Path" (shodo-mon), or the path of self-effort, and he was spending gloomydays in despair of reaching Truth thereby, when he was introduced through the

commentary of Shan-tao (Ja. Zendo; d. 681), to the gospel of Amida Buddha,or the message of salvation by rebirth in the Pure Land through "the Pure LandPath" (jodo-mon), or the path of other-power, expounded in the Three Canonical

Sutras of Pure Land Buddhists.(9) He was now firmly convinced that man, insuch a degenerate and decadent age of Dharma (mappo),(10) was totally deprivedof chance and ability to attain the ultimate Truth by his own self-effort, self dis-

(8) Coates & Ishizuka, Honen, 103-4.(9) These are The Larger Sukhavati-vyuha, The Smaller Sukhavati-vyuha and Meditation on Buddha

Amitayus. The first two are translated from Sanskrit into English by Max Muller andthe last one is rendered into English from the Chinese text (the Sanskrit original being missing)by Junjiro Takakusu for The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX, and they are reproducedin Buddhist Mahayana Texts, ed, by E. B. Cowell, et al (New York: Dover Publicaions,1969), Part II, 1-75, 89-103, 161-201 respectively. For the study of these sutras, seeKotatsu Fujita, Genshi-jodo-shiso no Kenkyu ("A Study of Early Pure Land Buddhism")

(Tokyo: Iwanami-shoten, 1970).(10) According to the Buddhist view of history, there come three periods of time after the death

of Buddha: shobo (Sk. saddharma), zobo (Sk. saddharma-pratirupaka) and mappo (Sk, saddharma-vipralopa) in succession. In the period of shobo, there are the true teaching of Buddha, thosewho put it into practice, and those who attain the goal of enlightenment altogether. Inthe next period of zobo, there are the true teaching of Buddha and those who put it into

practice, but with no result of enlightenment. In the last period of mappo, there is the trueteaching of Buddha, but no one puts it into practice and attains enlightenment any more.There are different views about the time-span of each period with consequent differencein the calculation of the beginning of mappo. In Japan unusual succession of political distur-bances and natural calamities around the time of Honen produced a universal consciousnessamong the people that they had stepped in the period of mappo. The background of thismappo-consciousness is indispensable for understanding of Honen's thought (For moredetails, see Kyoichi Kazue, Nihon no Mappo-shiso ["The Saddharma-vipralopa Thought in

Japan"] [Tokyo: Kobun-do, 1960]).

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cipline, or good work as exhorted in the traditional Buddhism, but by exclusivelydoing a simple practice of nembutsu in accordance with Amida's Original Vowand with a single-hearted trust in Him and His saving power. This took place

in 1175, when Honen was forty-three years old.(11)Thus Honen identified himself with those common people who were deeply

sunken in sinful and wicked acts in the karmic law of suffering, forsaken by the

traditional abstruse teaching of Buddhism, which required good work, disciplineand full-time devotion. He began preaching and propagating the new messageto them, and eventually founded an independent Pure Land sect of Buddhism.This innovation of Honen in doctrine and practice vexed the established Buddhist

tradition represented by the Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara and the Enryaku-ji Tem-

ple at Mr. Hiei (Nanto-hokurei) and associated closely with the political establish-ment and authority, and inevitably incurred such an unprecedented vehement

opposition to him and produced such a dangerous situation that the ImperialGovernment was moved to take a final step to issue an order to ban the nembutsu

practice throughout the country and to exile Honen and his eminent disciplesin 1207. In less than a year, however, the order was rescinded, though he wasnot allowed to return to Kyoto until 1211. And he died the following year.

PRACTICE OF DHIKR

The word dhikr (from the verb dhakara) literally means "to remember or re-

call" and "to mention or utter," that is, both man's mental activity and vocalcommunication. It is no wonder that in the Qur'an these human actions arein most cases associated with God. Man is commanded over and over again"to remember" God, His works, and His favors (2:47, 2:63, 2:200, 7:69, etc.).

Dhikr as vocal communication is often used in connection with the worship of

God in the sense of "mentioning God's name," "praising or glorifying Him byinvoking His name" (20:34). As such, it tends to be associated with particular

places or occasions such as the mosque (2:114, 22:40, 24:36-7, etc.) and ritual

prayer (salat) (20:14), and even to be identified with ritual prayer itself (38:32,62:9).(12) At the same time, the way of "mentioning God's name" became

gradually specified and established, though there is no explicit statement in the

Qur'an about the formulas used on those specific occasions. Despite this process

(11) There are some scholars who disagree on this date (See E. Tamura, Honen, 34-40).(12) If the central meaning of ritual prayer is "praise of God's greatness and power, and thanks-

giving for the salvation bestowed by Him" (F. Heiler, Das Gebet: eine religionsgeschichtlicheund religionspsychologische Untersuchung [5th ed.; Munich: C. Brugel & Sohn, 1923], 444),then it is no wonder that dhikr of God as such should be the essential part of ritual prayer,or even be regarded as ritual prayer itself.

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of reification or institutionalization, however, dhikr has never lost the characterof a free, "extra-canonical," devotional act, especially for night vigil in the Qur'an

(73:6-8, 76:25, 87:15). It is this last usage, together with the Qur'anic exhorta-tion of constant remembrance of God (62:10, 63:9, etc.), that inspired the piousMuslims of the early generations.

Because of its great meritoriousness in expiating sins, dhikr, as praise of God

by invoking or calling upon His name was practised assiduously, together withrepentance (tawbah) and other ascetic exercises, by these early Muslims who were

preoccupied with the idea of the approaching Last Judgment, in order to escapefrom the eternal doom of hellfire.(13) On the other hand, among the Sufis, who

were the spiritual heirs of those early ascetics, the same dhikr continued to be prac-tised, but not so much merely for such meritoriousness as rather for its conduci-veness to promoting concentration of the mind in their effort toward the final

goal of mystical experience (fana'). Ghazali is one who gave a theoreticalexpression to this practice of dhikr. Later it underwent further developmentamong the Sufi orders (tariqah), absorbing external influences, and came to be

practised in groups as well as in solitude, with accompaniment of various techni-ques-breathing, bodily movemens, music and others. And each order hascome to be associated with a particular manner of dhikr, and thus dhikr has becomethe main distinctive practice of each Sufi order.(14)

The usages of the term dhikr in Ghazali's thought are widely ranged from the

general and Qur'anic to the specifically Sufi one. We may be able to group theminto five. First, as man's mental activity, dhikr is an endeavor to keep the mindin constant remembrance of God, or a laborious effort to turn his concerns preoc-

cupied with worldly things toward God by remembering Him constantly.(15)As long as a man is occupied with the remembrance (dhikr) of God, he is free fromworldly concerns, and thus there is little chance for Satanic insinuation andtemptation. Indeed, the remembrance of God is the safest refuge from Satan.(16)Yet it is very hard to keep on remembering God all through daily life, especiallyfor the beginner who is still preoccupied with this world. He easily slips backinto heedlessness (ghaflah) of God, and thus Satanic insinuation (waswas) creeps

in.(17)

(13) Generally speaking, as a religious behavior which originally came into being as a spontan-eous response to God, becomes formalized, its meritoriousness is more and more emphasized

(Cf. F. Heiler, Das Gebet, 150-56, 479-85).(14) For this later development of dhikr, see L. Gardet, "Dhikr," Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.),

II, 223-27, and the bibliography cited therein.

(15) Ihya', IV, 176 (K. Khawf, Bayan ma'nan su' al-khatimah), et passim.(16) Ihya', III, 29 (K. Qalb, Bayan tasallut al-shaitan).(17) Therefore, dhikr must go hand in hand with other ascetic practices such as repentance, renun-

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Secondly, dhikr means a kind of "spiritual exercise," or meditation on one'sown death, the torment in the tomb, the eschatological events like the Last

Judgment, God's punishments in Hell (as well as on earth), or His gracious gifts,eternal joy in Paradise, and the like. This type of dhikr may seem to be similarto the previous one. However, the two are different methodologically from eachother; the latter leads to the higher state of dhikr,(18) whereas the former produces

a certain mood or sentiment in the heart, say, fear (khawf), gratitude (shukr), orhope (raja'), and this mood in turn will become a spur for more earnest engage-ment in the remembrance (dhikr) of God and in other exercises as well.(19) Gha-zali particularly urges the novice to be mindful of his own death, which may

come at any moment, and of his perilous position before God and what will occurto him thereafter. Then, says Ghazali, his delight in, and attachment to, thetransient world will disappear.(20) In this second type of dhikr as remembranceor meditation, its object is for the most part something other than God Himself.

The practice of meditation will become more effective when it is repeatedregularly. To be sure, this idea of repetition is also included in the connotationsof dhikr (or tadhakkur). For it purports not only to remember a certain idea,but also to establish it in one's heart as a real virtue by repeating the remembrance

of it. A better understanding of this semantics of dhikr may be obtained bycontrasting it with fikr (discursive meditation), another meditative exercise, which

means to produce a new idea or knowledge by combining two known differentones.(21) Whereas fikr is heuristic, dhikr is self-preserving. If these two medita-tive exercises are employed altogether with regard to God, the novice is not only

able to multiply his knowledge ('ilm) of God, but to strengthen and establish itin his heart.(22) If the exercises are conducted with reference to the mercy of

God, man's love of God will be increased; if they are done with reference to Hismajesty, man's fear of Him will be strengthened.

Thirdly, dhikr means repeated invocation of God's name or utterance of asacred formula. In the Prophetic traditions the practice is commended because

ciation, seclusion, poverty, and another effort to "transform one's whole character after theattributes of God" (takhalluq bi-akhlaq Allah) in order to sever the attachment to the world.

(18) See infra, pp. 83-84.(19) Ihya', I, 138-39 (K. Taharah, qism 3, naw'1); I, 163-64 (K. Salat, Bayan al-dawn' al-nafi').(20) Ihya', IV, 434-36 (K. Dhikr al-mawt, bab 1). For the similar meditations in Buddhism

and Christianity, see H. C. Warren, Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1896), 297-300, 360-62; Genshin's Ojo-yoshu (see infra, p. 87); andSt. Ignatius Loyola's The Spiritual Exercises (passim). In Genshin, this meditation on thevarious forms of the Buddha is the essential meaning of nembutsu.

(21) Ihya', IV, 412 (K. Tafakkur, Bayan haqiqat al-fikr).(22) Hence Ghazali often uses these two terms (dhikr and fikr) in combination (Ihya', I, 194 [K.

Salat, bab 7, qism 1]; I, 334 [K. Awrad, bab 1, Fadilat al-awrad], et passim).

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of its meritoriousness, particularly its "sacramental" nature, so to speak, in expiat-ing one's sins. For example,

[The Messenger of God] said, "If one says, 'Glory be to God, and praise be toHim!' (Subhana 'llah wa-bi-hamdi-hi)(23) a hundred times a day, his sins fall offfrom him, even though they are like the foam of the sea."(24)It is related: "When a man says, 'There is but one God' (La ilaha illa 'llah), the

word comes on the leaf [of his book](25) and passes by [the records of his] sin,erasing them, until it finds a good deed similar to itself, and then finally nestles

down beside it."(26)Ghazali, however, does not take the merit of this dhikr as it is expounded in thetraditions. His attitude toward it is interpretative. He rather regards thereported merit of dhikr as symbolic of the special inner state which is induced in

the heart of the Sufi by its repeated utterance.(27)It is essential, according to Ghazali, to pronounce the formula with the pre-

sence of mind, without any discrepancy betweem the tongue and the inner state

of the utterer, as a tradition says, "He who professes single-heartedly (mukhlisan),' There is but one God,' will enter Paradise."(28) The pronouncement of theformula must be done "single-heartedly" or "sincerely" (sidqan), without anyother object or purpose whatsoever in the heart (see infra, n. 34). And, moreover,this presence of mind in this dhikr must be constant, with no interruption.(29)

Otherwise there would be no use of dhikr. When the Sufi novice performs dhikrhis inner state must be exactly like that of one who is fighting for the single causeof God (jihad), without any other object in mind but the Blissful Vision of God

(ru'yat Allah) in the Hereafter. This is the very state which is expressed by theformula: "There is but one God" (tahlil).(30)

We may conclude from the above discussion that mental dhikr is more essen-tial and cardinal than vocal one, which is rather an auxiliary, yet important,

method or "support" for mental dhikr. This idea of primacy of meditative aspectis also implied when the practice of dhikr is methodically and systematically or-

(23) As for the arguments about the syntax of this formula, see E. W. Lane, An Arabic-EnglishLexicon (8 parts; London: William & Norgate, 1863-93), II, 639.

(24) Ihya', I, 300 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih).(25) I. e., the book in which each man's deeds are recorded. It is to be handed down and shown

to him on the Day of Judgment (Cf. Qur'an, 83: 7-8, 18-19, 84: 7-12).

(26) Ihya', I, 300 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tahlil).(27) Cf. Ihya', I, 303 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih).(28) Ihya', I, 299 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tahlil).(29) Ihya', I, 303.(30) This is, according to Ghazali, the reason why the Prophet Muhammad preferred tahlil for

dhikr to the rest of the formulas (Ihya', I, 305 [K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih]).

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ganized in combination with other similar practices-discurvsive meditation(fikr), Qur'an-recitation (qira'ah) and supplication (du'a'). By performing allthese practices in turn, the Sufi keeps his mind in constant remembrance of God,while averting boredom (malal) which comes from repeated practice of the same

act.(31) Thus Ghazali repeatedly stresses the presence of mind during these

practices, as well as dhikr.(32) Dhikr turns useless when it is nothing but a move-ment of the tongue, with no mind in it.

Indeed, it is burdensome and requires constant effort to turn the mind tothe practice of dhikr and keep on doing it. This is particularly so in the firststage of the Sufi novitiate when his mind is not bent on the practice yet complete-ly. Nevertheless, as the formula is uttered repeatedly over a long period of time,

with the mind in the remembrance of God, the practice of dhikr becomes in theend something familiar (uns) and palatable to his nature, and the initial hardshipin it gradually disappears, and joy, sweetness or love (hubb) in it results instead.In general, certain food, for instance, no matter how repugnant and distasteful

to one's nature at first, turns sweet and pleasant in the end, when he tries to eatit with every effort and continues the practice. In like manner, no matter howunpleasant and impracticable a certain act may seem at first, repeated practice

will eventually render it pleasant and joyful, and finally turns it into a secondnature. The same is true with the practice of dhikr. It becomes in the endsuch a blissful thing that the Sufi cannot endure without it.(33)

When familiarity (uns) with dhikr of God and love (hubb) of it have taken firmroot deep in the heart, man's thought and concern are cut off from all but God.This implies that he has attained the state of single-heartedness (ikhlas).(34) The

(31) These four practices are called "the Four Offices" (al-waza'if al-arba'ah), which constitutethe main part of the daily practices of Ghazali (Cf. Ihya', I, 333-67 [K. Tartib al-awrad];Ghazali, Bidayat al-hidayah ["The Beginning of Guidance"], trans, by W. M. Watt, in TheFaith and Practice, 86-152).

(32) Ihya', I, 303 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih); I, 305 (Ibid.), et passim.(33) Ihya', I, 303 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih). Cf. Inya', II, 292 (K. Sama', bab 2, ma-

qam 2), et passim.(34) This is one of the key terms in Chazali's thought. Originally it meant "to keep something

clear and pure, or free from mixture." In the Qur'an, it is mostly used to mean "absolutedevotion to God," in opposition to ishrak (associating something with God; polytheism)(C. van Arendonk, "Ikhlas," Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, 161). Furthermore, accordingto Ghazali, it means that man's action is motivated by a single pure intention. Forexample, when a man gives alms, its motive is not mixed with vanity, eye-service, orany other similar intention. And finally it means to orient man's every single thoughtand act to the supreme goal of the Meeting with God in the next world; or such an innerstate of man. This is called the "absolute single-heartedness" (ikhlas mutlaq) (For moredetails, see Ihya', IV, K. Niyah. Cf. the same inner state [shijo-shin] required in the practiceof nembutsu, infra, p. 89).

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orientation of his whole personality is now totally reversed. This is the statewhich is implied by the fourth usage of dhikr.

It is the inner state reached as a result of constant practice of dhikr, bothmental and vocal, and other ascetic practices as well.(35) It is the higher spiritual

state in which a man is solely bent on God and his mind is completely submergedin the thought of God. This is what Ghazali means when he says that "the realessence of dhikr is established in the heart only after the heart is consolidated in

God-fearing (taqwa) and purified from blameworthy qualities."(36) Now nomatter what the Sufi may do, his mind and thought always turn to God. No

effort is needed for the remembrance (dhikr) of God. He is freed from all worldlyconcerns, and is ready for the next dhikr.

The fifth-and last-usage of dhikr is the most intensified method ofrepeating incessantly the name of God (Allah) or a simple phrase like "Glory

be to God!" (Subhana 'llah), without being disturbed by any other thoughtwhatsoever. While practising this dhikr, the Sufi eventually,

... comes to a state in which his effort to move his tongue drops off and it looks

as if the word flows on his tongue all by itself. Then, let him stick to this untilany trace of motion is removed from his tongue and he finds his mind persever-ing in dhikr. Then, let him still stick to this until the image of the word, its lettersand shape are effaced from his mind and there remains the idea of the wordalone in the mind, clinging to it, as if it were glued to the mind, without

separating from it. (37)In this process, we see the mind of the Sufi gradually concentrated and

recollected upon the word of dhikr and what is expressed by it. Characteristicof this dhikr is that all such practices as Qur'an-recitation, reading of the Prophetictraditions, or supplication, which may distract the mind, are shunned, and thatonly a short simple phrase is used for dhikr. The word used is such that whenit is uttered uninterruptedly the repetition soon turns mechanical. And thismechanical and monotonous repetition holds the mind from engaging in logicaland imaginative wanderings and thus from drifting away from the word of dhikr.

The Sufi can advance up to this point by his own will and effort (ikhtiyar).(38)But no one is able to step further on and attract the mercy of God. He has onlyto wait bare and surrendered to God's initiative and His will, with his mind

completely empty, until the light of the Truth illumines his inner heart. Aboutthis final state (fana'), Ghazali writes as follows:

(35) See supra, p. 81.(36) Ihya', III, 35 (K. Qalb, Bayan tafsil madakhil al-shaitan).(37) Ihya', III, 18-19 (K. Qalb, Bayan al-farq bain al-ilham...).(38) Strictly speaking, however, this "will and effort" is not his own, but God's.

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He is like one dumbfounded (madhush), absorbed in the sea of the witnessing

('ain al-shuhud), whose inner state resembles that of the ladies who cuttheir hands, witnessing the beauty of Joseph, when they were dumbfounded

and their perceptions were gone.(39) The Sufis express this state by saying that"he has passed away from himself" (faniya 'an nafsi-hi). Whenever a manhas passed away from himself, he has passed away all beside himself. Then it

is as if he passed away from everything except the Witnessed One, and passed

away from the act of witnessing. For the heart, whenever it turns aside to view

the act of witnessing and itself as a witness, becomes heedless of the Witnessed

One. And for him who is infatuated in a thing which he sees, there is no turn-

ing aside, in his state of absorption, toward his witnessing, nor toward his own

self through which his vision comes, nor toward his heart in which his joy is....(40)

This is the ecstatic state in which the object, or "the Witnessed One," hasso completely permeated and absorbed the mind of the subject that he is not

conscious of himself, but only of the object. To bemore precise, the subject doesnot have his consciousness of the object, since he is not conscious of himself. Noris there consciousness of his witnessing of the object. Only the Witnessed One

occupies his mind. In this state, therefore, there is no disparity nor differentia-tion of the witness, the witnessed one and the act of witnessing. This is thetime when "the true nature of the Truth" (haqiqat al-Haqq) manifests itself,(41)or "the True One" (al-Wahid al-Haqq) is seen(42) and "the secret of the Divine

Kingdom" (sirr al-malakut) is revealed.(43) This is the goal of the Sufi way.(44)There is no more need of dhikr than there is no need of the guide once the destina-tion is reached. For dhikr presupposes the subject of dhikr (dhakir) and its object

(madhkur). When this disparity disappears, there is no dhikr any more. (45) In

(39) Cf. Qur'an, 12:31.(40) Ihya', II, 288 (K. Sama', bab 2, maqam 1).(41) Ihya', III, 395 (K. Dhamm al-ghurur, sinf 3).(42) Ihya', IV, 241 (K. Tawhid, Bayan haqiqat al-tawhid).(43) Ihya', III, 18 (K. Qalb, Bayan al-farq...).(44) The vision of God is not complete in this world. It is but a foretaste of the blissful experience

of seeing Him in the Hereafter. Man's worldly existence is a preparation for this supreme

goal.(45) Cf. Ihya', I, 304 (K. Adhkar, bab 1, Fadilat al-tasbih); al-Zabidi, Ithaf al-sadat al-muttaqin

bi-sharh asrar Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din (10 vols.; Cairo: al-Matba'at al-Maimuniyyah, 1311 A.H.),V, 23.

L. Gardet is right when he says, in discussing the development of dhikr, that "al-Ghazzali's analysis in the Ihya' halts at this stage" (i.e., the dhikr of the heart and the stepof "absorption" [dhyana] of Yoga), falling short of the stage of the dhikr of the "inmost being"

(sirr) and samadhi of Yoga ("Dhikr," EI2, 225), in so far as he is referring to Ghazali's desc-ription of dhikr in Ihya', III, 18-19 (supra, p. 84). It must be borne in mind, however,that this does not represent the whole picture of his mystical experience.

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this mystical experience, the Sufi is given an experimental understanding, withunshaken conviction (yaqin), of the truth about the overwhelming reality of God

as well as man's utter dependence upon Him, and about the life in the Here-after. (46) Faith has been established.

PRACTICE OF NEMBUTSU

The word nem-butsu (Sk. buddhanusmrti; Ch. nien-fo), literally and originally,

means to remember (nen) the Buddha (butsu) or to meditate on the Buddha.(47)Technically it came to mean to keep an idealized Buddha in mind and meditate

on His merits, virtues, or His forms, and later to hold the name firmly in mindwith "a desire to turn the gracious attention of the Buddha toward the sinfuldevotee."(48) This nembutsu as a meditative exercise was further elaboratedand developed along with other Buddhist practices. On the other hand, nembutsuin the meantime also came to be identified with vocal repetition of the name

of the Buddha (namu-amida-butsu)(49) by the Chinese patriarchs of the Pure Landtradition, especially Shan-tao (d. 681), the most eminent representative of thistradition and the spiritual mentor of Honen.(50)

Thus we see two distinctive types in nembutsu: one is mental or meditative

(kanso-nembutsu), and the other vocal (shomyo-nembutsu).(51) Nevertheless, down

(46) See supra, n. 44.(47) It was a natural desire of the bereft followers of Buddha to remember the Enlightened Master

as he had lived among them, with deep affection and respect. Nembutsu as a vocal invoca-tion of bis name was used at this early stage in this sense of affectionate address (RyosetsuFujiwara, Nembutsu-shiso no Kenkyu ["A Study of the Nembutsu Thought"] [Kyoto: Nagata-bunsho-do, 1957], 7, 12-15).

(48) D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism (3 series; London: Luzac & Co. for The EasternBuddhist Society, 1927-34), II, 140.

(49) Sk, namo 'mitabhaya buddhaya; Ch. nan-wuo-mi-t'o-fo, which means "I put my trust in AmidaBuddha." When this is repeated rapidly in Japanese, it sounds like "Nam-man-dabu."It is interesting to notice, in passing, a parallel development from "mental" to "vocal"in both dhikr and nembutsu.

(50) For this development, see R. Fujiwara, Nembutsu-shiso, 107-221. Unfortunately, this finalaspect of Shan-tao's Pure Land thought which had been reached at the end of his life, didnot see its due development by his successors in China.

(51) For the various kinds of nembutsu, see R. Fujiwara, ibid., 2-3. Honen himself classifiesnembutsu into three types: nembutsu of the Maka-shikan, or Mo-ho chih-kuan (Ch.), which is themeditative and contemplative method for enlightenment in the orthodox Tendai school(i.e., utterance of the name of the Buddha and meditation on Him as one of the methodsfor concentration); nembutsu in the Ojo-yoshu (see later) (i.e., both meditative and vocalnembutsu for rebirth in the Pure Land); and nembutsu commended by Shan-tao (i.e., simpleutterance of the name of Amida Buddha for rebirth in the Pure Land with trust in Him).For the Tendai school, see Leon Hurvitz, "Chih-i," Melanges Chinois et Buddhiques, XII (1960-62), 1-372.

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to the time of Genshin (d. 1017),(52) whose influence was decisive in the formationof Honen's belief in the Pure Land and who introduced him to Shan-tao's works,

nembutsu, both meditative and vocal, was employed side by side with other prac-tices as one of the auxiliary methods for mental concentration and contemplationtoward the final goal of enlightenment.(53) Although Genshin advocated forthe first time in Japan the salvation through rebirth in the Hereafter and elaborat-

ed in detail the manners and merits of nembutsu in his widely read Ojo-yoshu ("Es-sentials for Rebirth in the Pure Land.")(54) as the most efficacious practice for it,he did not emphasize so much the vocal aspect of nembutsu as the meditative one.

And it is Honen who made clear that nembutsu should be identical only with simpleutterance of the name of Amida Buddha, and singled it out as the only possibleway in these latter days of evil and degeneration (mappo) for those sinful andwicked like himself to be born in the Pure Land, while rejecting all self-disciplinary

practices based on man's self-power on the other hand, and removing all the elabo-rate meditative elements out of nembutsu on the other. Honen says in his oft-

quoted Ichimai-kisho-mon ("The One Sheet Document"):By nembutsu I do not mean the practice of contemplating as engaged in by thesages of China and our country. Nor is it the recitation of the Buddha's name

practised as the result of understanding the meaning of the term "nen (think-ing)." It is just to recite "Namu-Amida-Butsu" without doubting that this willissue in rebirth in the Pure Land.(55)

This choice of nembutsu (senjaku) by Honen and exclusive practice of it is

based on the Original Vow (hongan; Sk. purva-pranidhana) and its fulfilment as isexpounded in the Canonical Sutras of the Pure Land tradition and interpretedby Shan-tao. Amida(56) as Hozo Bosatsu (Sk. Dharmakara Bodhisattva) is saidto have made the Original Vow, which is differentiated into forty-eight vows.The most impo rtant of them is the Eighteenth Vow, called "the Vow for Rebirth

in the Pure Land by Nembutsu," in which Amida vowed:When I have obtained Buddhahood, if those beings who are in the ten quarters

(52) For him, see Mizumaro Ishida, Kanashiki Mono no Sukui: Ojo-yoshu ("The Salvation of thePitiful: the Ojo-yoshu") (Tokyo: Chikuma-shobo, 1967).

(53) See Tetsuei Sato, "Eizan ni Okeru Jodo-kyo no Kenkyu," Bukkyo no Konpon-shinri ("TheFundamental Truth of Buddhism"), ed. by Shoson Miyamoto (Tokyo: Sanseido, 1956),1051-76.

(54) Part of it is translated into English by A. K. Reischauer under the title, "Genshin's OjoYoshu: Collected Essays on Birth into Paradise," Transactions of Asiatic Society of Japan,2nd Series, VII (1930), 16-97.

(55) Quoted from Daiei Kaneko, "The Meaning of Salvation in the Doctrine of Pure LandBuddhism," The Eastern Buddhist, n. s., Vol. I, No. 1 (1965), 58.

(56) Sk. Amitabha ([Possessor of] infinite light) or Amitayus ([Possessor of] infinite life). SeeK. Fujita, Genshi-jodo-shiso, 287-335.

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should believe in me with serene thoughts, and should wish to be born in my

country, and should have say ten times thought of me (or repeated my name), if they

should not be born there, may I not obtain the perfect knowledge;...(57)

(Italics is mine)And He engaged in disciplinary practices and passed through all sorts of religious

austerities during many kalpas(58) of time, thus transferring the full merit of all

these practices upon His devotees through nembutsu. And to be sure He is now

preaching in the Western Pure Land as the Buddha, and thus His Vow has allbeen fulfilled.(59) All His devotees, in consequence, are assured of their rebirth

into the Land of Bliss, only if they accept single-heartedly this gospel of Amida's

fulfilled Original Vow and commit themselves to this belief by calling upon His

name assiduously, thus showing their willingness to be saved. The meritorious-

ness of nembutsu is such that ten repetitions of the name, or even once, is enough

to save all sentient beings; how much more if it is repeated more.(60)

(57) There are some discrepancies between the Sanskrit text and its Chinese translations.This passage is quoted, as translated into English by Bunyiu Nanjio from Sanghavarman'sChinese translation which has been used among the Pure Land Buddhists in Japan. Itis appended as Note to Max Muller's English translation of The Larger Sukhavati-vyuha (E. B.Cowell, et al, Buddhist Mahavana Texts, Part II, 73-75), since this 18th, together with the21st, is entirely wanting in the Sanskrit text. The crucial point is how to interpret theword nen in the phrase:"...should have say ten times thought of me (or repeated myname)" (Ja. naishi-ju-nen). Originally and traditionally it was understood to mean "...should have say (naishi) ten times (ju) thought of (nen) me" (R. Fujiwara, Nembutsu-shiso,40-56; K. Fujita, Genshi-jodo-shiso, 546-47: Jodo-sanbu-kyo, Chinese text, Japanese trans-lation and annotations by Hajime Nakamura, et al, Iwanami-bunko [2 vols.; Tokyo:Iwanami-shoten, 1963-64], I, 281-82 [note 136]). Following Shan-tao, however, Honentook "nen" as meaning "utterance (of the name)," taking into consideration the passage inMeditation on Buddha Amitayus on those who will be born in the lowest form of the lowest

grade: "...'Even if thou canst not exercise the remembrance of Buddha, thou mayst, at least,utter the name, "Buddha Amitayus."' Let him do so serenely with his voice uninterrupt-ed;...on the strength of (his merit of) uttering Buddha's name he will, during every repeti-tion, expiate the sins which involve him in births and deaths during eighty millions of kalpas

(see note 58)" (Buddhist Mahayana Texts, Part II, 198; Showa-shinsu-Honen-shonin-zenshu["Collected Works of Honen"], ed. by Kyodo Ishii [Tokyo: Jodo-shumusho, 1955], 321,370-71). As for the interpretation of the words "naishi-ju (-nen)," see infra, n. 60.

(58) A general term for a long period of time, the length of which is so great that it cannot bedefined by the month or the year.

(59) Honen-zenshu, 317, 364.(60) Honen humbly surmises the reasons for Amida's Original Vow for rebirth by nembutsu and

mentions two. The one is that nembutsu is the easiest of all practices. The other is thatit is the most meritorious of all practices, because of the inexhaustible merits of the Buddha. The former is what had been surmised traditionally. But Honen's originality lies in hisadding the second reason thereto and giving a systematic reinterpretation to the Pure Landdoctrine (Shinshu-yoron ["An Outline of the Shinshu Doctrine"], [published by RyukokuUniversity, Kyoto, 1953], 39-40). And this comes from Honen's strong conviction that

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Although the merit of nembutsu is infinitely great, its meritoriousness presup-

poses faith on the part of those who practise nembutsu. Now faith consists of threefactors, named "three hearts"-"a most sincere heart" (shijo-shin), "a deep

believing heart" (jin-shin) and "a longing heart" (eko-hotsugan-shin).(61)By "a most sincere heart" is meant "a heart true to the full, that is, a heart

which in every act of the body, in every word of the mouth and every thoughtof the mind, is true."(62) It is sincerity and single-heartedness in all men's inner

and outer acts in loathing this transient world and aspiring rebirth into the PureLand. By "a deep believing heart" is meant, on the other hand, a heart whichtruly recognizes man's moral incapacity, sinfulness and unworthiness of salvationin this age of decadence, and on the other a heart which has unshakable trust in

the saving power and compassion of Amida Buddha expressed in His message ofthe Original Vow, no matter how sinful and wicked he may be; that is to say,"a deep believing heart" means to face up man's existential situation of total

lostness, and yet, at the same time, to have a sincere hope of salvation throughthe gracious power of Amida Buddha. By "a longing heart" is meant the sincere

aspiration which "prays for birth into the Pure Land, presenting, with a true anddeep believing heart (to Amida in the Land of Bliss), the whole of one's stock of merit, resulting from actions[,] whether worldly or religious[,] performed in the

past or present by one's body, mouth or will, and also that merit which results from regarding with satisfaction similar action performed by other men, whethercommon mortals or holy beings."(63)

It goes without saying, however, that one does not have to understand allthis argument. "If only he continues incessantly the practice for rebirth in the

Pure Land without regard to the eye of other people," says Honen, "the three

the compassion of the Buddha is equal to all sentient beings, without regard to their diffe-rent abilities and capacities, because there is neither limit nor bound to the compassionof the Buddha. It is, therefore, derogatory to this compassion of Amida Buddha for amortal to make a distinction in His act of salvation because of man's inability and weak-ness. Rather it is the poor, the weak, and the wicked and sinful who are more entitled toAmida's compassion and saving-power (Honen-zenshu, 319-20, 367-69). It is in this spiritthat Honen interprets the above-mentioned naishi-ju-nen. According to him, naishi, whichis put into "say" by B. Nanjio (see supra, n. 57), should be interpreted as "even only," and

ju (ten) should not be taken arithmetically. Rather the phrase naishi-ju-nen should be under-stood in the spirit of "...down to ten times or even only once" (Honen-zenshu, 321, 371. Seealso R. Fujiwara, Nembutsu-shiso, 51-56), although there are some scholars who try to confinethe "once" repetition only to the special case of those who are about to breathe the last

(Akihisa Shigematsu, Nihon jodo-kyo Seiritsu-katei no Kenkyu ["A Study on the Formation ofthe Pure Land Sects in Japan"], [Kyoto: Heirakuji-shoten, 1964], 394-403).

(61) Honen-zenshu, 328-34, 382-93.(62) Coates & Ishizuka, Honen, 414.(63) Coates & Ishizuka, Honen, 419-20.

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hearts will be established all by themselves."(64) Anyhow the fundamental

characteristic of Honen's nembutsu is this faith, without which the utterance of

the name is useless, as well as its repeated practice.(65) Honen encourages his

nembutsu followers to do ceaseless uttering of the name of Amida Buddha at every

moment, "with an entire trust in the merits of the Great Vow, looking up in con-

fidence to Amida with every repetition,"(66) following Shan-tao's famous words:

Only repeat the name of Amida with all your heart, whether walking or standing,

sitting or lying. Never cease the practice of it even for a moment. This is the

very work which unfailingly issues in salvation, for it is in accordance with the

Original Vow of that Buddha.(67)

It is said, in fact, that Honen used to utter the name seventy thousand times a

day.(68) He also recommended his followers to fix the number of repetition and

live up to it. Needless to say, the number itself is not the issue here. The essen-

(64) Honen-zenshu, 467, 519, et passim.(65) Thus Honen's idea of nembutsu sounds simple. But this does not mean that it is crystal clear.

Indeed there is much room in his thought of nembutsu (together with his priestly and disci-

plinary way of life) for various interpretations. Even during his lifetime, some of his follo-wers asserted, stressing the aspect of faith in Honen's nembutsu, that one utterance of the namewas sufficient for rebirth because of the infinite meritoriousness of nembutsu (the Ichinen-gibranch); some became antinomian; some, on the other hand, stressing the aspect of practice

(work) in Honen's nembutsu, asserted the necessity of as many repetitions as possible andthe desirability of good work (the Tanen-gi branch). This last group eventually becameidentified as the orthodox line of Honen, called the Pure Land Sect (Jodo-shu). AlthoughShinran, one of the devoted followers of Honen, did not claim to found an independent sect,regarding himself as a faithful disciple of his master, he stressed the aspect of faith in Honen'snembutsu and pushed it to its logical limit. And thus Shinran's followers, calling themselvesthe True Pure Land Sect (Jodo-shin-shu), tend to distinguish Shinran from Honen, regardingthe former as the final culmination of the Pure Land tradition. On the other hand, thefollowers of Honen also make a distinction, though from a different point of view, betweenHonen and Shinran, regarding the latter as rather unorthodox. Even in the academicworld, there is no unanimous understanding of Honen's nembutsu thought, particularly inhis relation to Shinran, though it has been a dominant tendency to make a fundamentaldistinction between the two. Some see that Honen understood nembutsu quantitativelyand hence his emphasis of many repetitions of nembutsu (Cf. A Shigematsu, Nihon Jodo-kyo;Shinryo Mochizuki, Jodo-kyo no Kenkyu ["A Study on the Pure Land Sects"], [Tokyo: Kaneo-bun'en-do, 1922]). The others in contrast say that Honen's nembutsu should be understood

qualitatively in the same way as Shinran's and stress the continuity between Honen andShinran (Cf. Fumio Masutani, Shinran, Dogen, Nichiren [in Japanese] [Tokyo: Shibun-do,1956]; Kyoichi Kazue, Hongan-nembutsu no Erabi: Senjaku-shu ["The Choice of the OriginalVow: the Senjaku-shu], [Tokyo: Chikuma-shobo, 1967]). Between these two stands are thereintermediate views. I myself understand that Honen's nembutsu consists of both practiceand faith; that is, practice (of nembutsu) is faith itself in Honen. We shall discuss this

problem in more detail in the next chapter.(66) Coates & Ishizuka, Honen, 405.(67) Coates & Ishizuka, ibid., 408.(68) Honen-zenshu, 458.

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tial point is how one should assiduously be engaged in the nembutsu practice as

much as possible.(69)However, this constant repetition of the sacred name does not mean to en-

courage the principle of self-effort; if the devotee supposes that he will be savedby his effort of repeated practice of nembutsu, he is in a dire mistake, no matter

how laborious his effort may be. This is technically called the nembutsu by

jiriki (self-power). On the other hand, no matter how assiduous his practice ofnembutsu may be, it is not by jiriki but by tariki (other-power), and thus issues in

salvation, if it is practised in sincere reliance upon the saving power of AmidaBuddha.(70) Therefore the devotee must practise nembutsu continuously day and

night, while attributing all the merit not to himself, but to Amida.If the devotee is negligent of the practice of nembutsu, believing that one or ten

utterances of the name is sufficient for rebirth in the Pure Land, his faith hinders

the practice. On the other hand, even if he never stops practising nembutsu,

believing that one or ten utterances of nembutsu might be insufficient, his practice

is hindering faith. Be assiduous in practice, therefore, believing that one ut-

terance of the name is sufficient for rebirth (71)

CONCLUDING ANALYSIS

We must now turn to a comparative examination of the structures of dhikrand nembutsu and make a clarification of their similarities and dissimilarities.First of all, according to Ghazali, God is the Creator, who directly participates

in every being and movement in the worlds. Man, for example, wills, thinks,and does something. But the real agent in these acts is not he, but God. Manis a mere locus through which God carries out His eternal will. Therefore,there are two aspects in human conduct: man's act and God's manipulation.

Nevertheless, most people are not aware of this fact, or we should rathersay, they are, but there is no real commitment to this belief, since they are boundto the worldly concerns and pleasures, and thus forgetting about God and theMeeting with Him (liqa' Allah) in the Hereafter. How is it possible to realize

this truth and have the real commitment to it? That is, however, not somethingwe obtain, but a gift given freely by God upon man as His special grace; Ghazali

came to this conclusion after his vigorous intellectual efforts and despair.This does not mean, however, that man should just sit back and wait for

God's initiative. On the contrary, man can, and should, prepare himself for

(69) Ibid., 650, 668, et passim.(70) Coates & Ishizuka, Honen, 404-5.(71) Honen-zenshu, 464.

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the divine gift according to God's custom ('adah) and predestination (qada').

Although God can do and does whatever He wills, there is a certain customor order in His acts in executing His will. Hence man can make preparations

for the divine gift according to this God's custom. And man's acts in these

preparations are also predestined by God, since no matter what man does, it isHis will and acts. To overcome this dualism in man and realize intuitively the

universal sovereignty of God is the goal of the Sufi. Thus man must make every

effort to turn his central concern from this world to God and the Hereafter, andwait with his mind and will absolutely empty and bare to the oncoming of thedivine grace. Dhikr is one of these methods or means, though the most efficaciousone, for this purpose. Therefore, once the goal is attained, there is no need of it.

In Honen's thought, on the other hand, Amida Buddha is not the Creator,

but the Savior. Amida is not involved creatively in the phenomena of the worldas the sole agent. Mar is suffering amidst the endless flowings of doing and

undoing under the karmic law; that is, man's present acts and conditions aredetermined by his previous ones, and his present ones in turn determine the future

ones. To overcome this bondage and become liberated from the endless cycleof suffering is the goal of the Buddhists. However, when Honen was despairedof all the traditional methods based on self-discipline and self-power, includingthe old type of nembutsu, there is no way out left for him but to hang on the saving

hand stretched out by Amida Buddha, namely, the nembutsu of the Original Vow.For Honen, therefore, the question is whether or not to accept the nembutsu

with trust in Amida. There is no other reasoning about its meritoriousness, nor

psychological explanation for it as Ghazali did. To do so means to Honen tothrow doubt on Amida's intention. Whereas Ghazali's attitude toward dhikris interpretative and indirect, Honen's attitude toward nembutsu is direct and"sacramental." In other words, Honen's idea of nembutsu is more like that

of those who practise dhikr, accepting its meritoriousness as expounded in theProphetic traditions, while Ghazali's idea of dhikr is more like that of those nem-butsu practitioners prior to Honen in Japan, who rather stressed the meditative

or contempletive aspect of nembutsu as one of the self disciplinary methods towardthe perfect knowledge. Honen, rejecting once for all this elaborate, self-dis-ciplinary, contemplative type of nembutsu as well as other practices as ineffectiveand impracticable for those sinful and wicked in these latter degenerate days,

chose only the nembutsu of the Original Vow as the sole remaining way. HenceHonen's nembutsu is both practice and faith, while Ghazali's dhikr is nothing but

practice as a method toward the true faith or the spiritual conviction (yaqin).The following diagram shows this contrast of the structures:

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(Faith1 means uncommitted faith; Faith2 fully committed one.)

With this difference in mind, let us have a still closer look at the structuresof the two. In both dhikr and nembutsu, to begin with, this transient world is

denied a positive value and rejected as something loath. Man is required, inboth cases, to reorient his whole life by shifting his ultimate concern from thisworld to the Hereafter for the Meeting with God in Paradise (in the case of Gha-zali) or for rebirth in the Pure Land (in the case of Honen). And the actual

state in which man is wholly oriented toward the next world is technically calledikhlas (single-heartedness) or shijo-shin ("a sincere heart") and eko-hotsugan-shin

("a longing heart") respectively.We have already seen in the case of dhikr how difficult and painful it is for

those enmeshed in the love of this world to sever all the worldly bonds and turn

their preoccupation toward the life in the Hereafter. Why is the same not truewith the case of nembutsu? How is it possible to practise nembutsu with full faithin Amida Buddha to such an extent that our whole life is joyfully committed toHis message and totally oriented to salvation in the Hereafter? This is also an exremely difficult task, at least for some people, and indeed Ghazali spent his

whole life in search of the true faith (yaqin). Honen's answer to this question,however, is simple and categorical: Have faith in Amida Buddha and practisenembutsu assiduously, and nothing else. But whence this faith? Probably weshould see the secret in the repeated utterance of Amida's name. In fact, I

propose to see the same psychological basis underlying in Honen's nembutsu thatwe have seen in Ghazali's dhikr.

When Amida's name is repeated over and over again at a stretch, accordingto D. T. Suzuki,(72) it becomes mechanical with no conscious effort and, therefore,with no conscious realization of the "hearts." As long as there is an intelligiblemeaning attached to the name, it suggests an endless train of ideas, feelings and

imaginations. The mind then either becomes engaged in working a logical loom,or becomes inextricably involved in the meshes of imagination and association.

(72) D. T. Suzuki, Essays, II, 142; Suzuki-Daisetsu-zenshu ("Collected Works of D. T. Suzuki")(30 vols.; Iwanami-shoten, 1968-70), VI, 50-54.

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On the other hand, when meaningless sounds are repeated, the mind stops rightthere, not having any chance to wander about. Images and promptings are

less apt to creep in. When the name of the Buddha is thus mechanically repeated,it produces a subtle consciousness in the mind of the devotee-"a state of un-

consciousness in which ideas and feelings superficially floating are wiped off,"(73)that is, the state of concentration, called samadhi. This is the same state as fana'

for which the Sufi aspires.(74) It is at this very time that the devotee realizesthe saving grace of Amida has reached him. To be sure, he then knows that"we who have been calling Amida's Name for salvation now turn out to be the

ones who, all the while, have been called by Amida to awake and take refuge in

him."(75) This is the time when faith is established in the heart of the devotee.Faith is now understood to be a gift from Amida, not something obtainable byhuman effort. The following diagram shows this change:

Thus nembutsu is in a sense a dhikr of the Pure Land Buddhist. However, whatis established in man's heart in this final state is, in Ghazali's case, faith in God,not in dhikr, which is nothing but a means, while in Honen's case it is faith inAmida invoked in nembutsu and His saving power in it.

It is from the standpoint of this final state or other-power that Shinran re-formulated in a consistent way his master's teaching in terms of Amida's initiative,

and thus removed all ambiguities inherent in Honen's nembutsu, by emphasizingman's utter impotence and attributing all his practice and faith to Amida.

Nembutsu for Shinran is not man's practice through which Amida's grace reacheshim, but the expression of man's gratitude for His grace which is already givento him.

Hallaj (d. 922), a celebrated Sufi, is talking from the same standpoint whenhe says as follows:

It is Thou that castest me into ecstasy, not the dhikr;

(73) D. T. Suzuki, ibid., 145.(74) In fact, it is often reported that Honen has attained this state of mind (Coates & Ishizuka,

Honen, 206-7, 212, 722, 730).

(75) D. Kaneko, "The Meaning of Salvation," 59.

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Far from my heart be the thought of cleaving to my dhikr;

The dhikr is the pearl of the shroatpiece which hides Thee from my eyes.(76)So is Rumi (d. 1273), another Sufi saint, when he tells about a man who cried

upon God till his lips grew sweet with praising Him; and then fell asleep despairedof God's response; and thereupon heard a voice in his dream, saying, "Whydid you hold back from praying unto God? Indeed, your 'O God' is God'sresponse, 'Here am I.'"(77)

Ghazali is more concerned with the method or process to this higher state.And so is Honen. But Honen categorically denied to interpret nembutsu in termsof method, at least explicitly, as Ghazali did. That would mean to retrogressinto the old types of nembutsu. However, in this very denial of self-disciplinary

factor (jiriki) in nembutsu, on the other hand, are other practical benefits. Thedevotee has only to utter the name, without bothering himself about the mannerand effect of contemplation during the nembutsu practice. And this is extremely

helpful for him to concentrate the mind. Furthermore, there is a well-knownfact that "a voluntary effort to think of and to realize the object of the desired

suggestion is found not to be successful."(78) This means that the more effortsa man makes to concentrate the mind, the less successful his attempt proves to be.However, the nembutsu devotee, upon every utterance of the name, is required to

remove all jiriki or self-power consciousness and is thus practising self-denialand humiliation, which means to reduce his "voluntary effort" to zero level. (79)

It is not our contention in this essay, however, to suggest that Honen was a

pragmatist. The foregoing is our interpretation of Honen's nembutsu, not hisown. Whether or not Honen himself saw nembutsu as we do does not primarilyconcern us here. We simply propose to see the above-mentioned psychological

factors working in Honen's nembutsu practice. Even if he knew it someway orother, he could not formulate it in explicit terms because of the very fact thatfor him the merit of nembutsu is absolute and therefore beyond any human investi-

gation. Dogmatically nembutsu is not meritorious because of the inner effectthat its practice produces in the devotee's mind. It is not a method for this

(76) H. A. R. Gibb, Mohammedanism, A Galaxy Book (2nd ed.; New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1962), 133.

(77) R. A. Nicholson, (ed. & tr.), Rumi: Poet and Mystic (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1950),91.

(78) R. H. Thouless, An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion (2nd ed.; Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1924), 164. This is called "the law of the reversed effort."

(79) This same function is performed by du'a' (supplication), an expression of self-denial andhumiliation in Ghazali's thought (Cf. Ihya', I, 305-16 (K. Adhkar, bab 2]). Dhikr and du'a'are complementary to each other. Therefore, any attempt to understand one of thesewithout regard to the other remains incomplete.

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effect. It should be practised simply because "it is in accordance with the Ori-

ginal Vow of that Buddha" (supra, p. 90). This is the main point of differencewhich distinguishes Honen from Ghazali who interpreted dhikr explicitly in termsof method. And this interpretation was made possible by the very nature of the

general framework of his thought, namely, the unity of God (tawhid).

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a structural analysis of dhikr and nembutsu*

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