Rennyo, the Shin Buddhist Superhero!
There are many Superheroes – Captain America, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Superman, you name it. Rennyo (1415–1499), the 8th generation abbot from our founder, Shinran, is a Shin Buddhist superhero. More than anyone else, he brought Shin Buddhism into the highest ranks of Japanese Buddhism. That’s why he is regarded as the second founder and the restorer. What made him so successful? One reason was his biological mother’s wish before she left her six-year-old son, when Rennyo’s father, Zonnyo, married his formal wife, Nyoen, someone from high society. His mother’s wish was for Rennyo to restore the Hongwanji (Shinran’s temple) because nobody visited there at that time.
Rennyo lived in a very difficult time of continued political upheaval and turmoil. People worried about today and tomorrow, full of anxiety which made them pursue spiritual liberation. Doesn’t it sound similar to the current time? We have gone through the unprecedented Covid experience, war continues on in the world with countries needing to defend themselves, people suffer under the continuing effect of inflation and the increasing gap between rich and poor.
In order to deal with the pressures of political power and from his own followers, Rennyo needed to maneuver with various parties as a wise political strategist to protect his temple, Hongwanji. As his temple membership increased, other Buddhist schools became jealous of Rennyo’s popularity. Rennyo was forced to move from one location to another when he instinctively recognized the threat of a possible attack by local lords or other Buddhist schools. Finding a good location, he immediately started building a temple to share the Dharma. Sooner or later, the Dharma gatherings started everywhere he traveled, and temple towns flourished.
Rennyo’s personality was outward, always engaging with his followers and sharing the Dharma in various ways. He was concerned about how he could transmit Shinran’s teachings and traditions to ordinary people in a simple, accurate, and easily understood way. His inspirational ideas never stopped. First, he published the Shōshinge and Wasan chanting book and introduced chanting with a special melody. He wrote the Myōgo (Amida Buddha’s Name – Namo Amida Butsu) onto scrolls and distributed them along with the Shōshinge and Wasan chanting book to villagers anywhere he traveled. It was the beginning of the Shin family ritual at home.
He also started writing the messages, called The Letters, to communicate with his followers, just like blogs, eventually writing about 200 letters. Later, his grandson selected about 80 letters which were made into a collection of Rennyo’s Letters. Those letters are read with special intonation to be comfortably heard and gratefully appreciated. Rennyo used popular terminology to explain Shin ideas, and thereby wedded Shin teachings to the idiom of his time. His greatest accomplishment was to render Shinran’s doctrinal abstractions into simple religious formulae accessible to the humblest followers and to explain them in the context of daily devotional practices. We can only wonder what would Rennyo think if he were alive today?
This topic will be explored in more detail along the EVERYDAY BUDDHIST Course Pathway with our upcoming course offering titled 30-B. Rennyo - Propagator and Revitalizer. For this and our entire course offering you can subscribe for $10/month or save $25 with an annual subscription of just $95/year for unlimited access to all new courses and content.
