THE 500TH YEAR MEMORIAL Service for Rennyo Shonin (1415 - 1499), the Eighth Head Priest of the Hongwanji, was observed over a ten-part, one hundred day period from March through October of 1998. This commemoration took place on a scale considerably larger than the two previous memorials for Rennyo, each of which was held over periods of eight days. The 400th Year Memorial Service took place from April 7 through 14, 1894, while the 450th Year Memorial Service was held from April 10 through 17, 1948.

Indeed, the flurry of recent activities concerning Rennyo has been very gratifying. Research projects, public lectures and symposia on Rennyo, as well as groups studying his writings his Letters (Gobunsho, or Ofumi) and his memoirs, known as Rennyo shonin goichidaiki kikigaki (The Recorded Sayings of the Master Rennyo) are still taking place in many locales. Moreover, publications related to Rennyo are now being produced in greater numbers than before.

The popular writer, Itsuki Hiroyuki, has authored two books on Rennyo. The first is entitled Rennyo: Seizoku guyu no ningenzo (Rennyo: A Human Being of the Sacred and Secular Worlds).² The second book is a drama script entitled Rennyo: Ware fukaki fuchi yori (Rennyo: From the Depths of My Abyss).³ It is said that Itsuki was writing this drama at the time when the Hanshin - Awaji earthquake of January 7, 1995, occurred and that the impact that the earthquake had upon him is strongly reflected in the work. In a booklet distributed at a performance of the drama,⁴ Itsuki states the following,

Honen, Shinran, Rennyo. Each of these three religious individuals was uniquely different from the others in nuance and shading. This is the way that I would describe them:

First, Honen was a person who taught us about easily practicing a matter of utmost importance. Next, Shinran, who was Honen's disciple, was a person who sought to examine this easy matter truly and deeply. In contrast, Rennyo, who relied upon Honen and Shinran, was a person who, throughout his life, sought with all of his might to transmit this profound matter as widely as he could.

To practice the important matter easily;
To examine the easy matter deeply;
To transmit the deep matter widely.

These three aims represent the intentions which I also first had when I set out as a writer; they remain my secret aspirations that I cherish even today. Now as we dramatize Rennyo's life, I believe that it is necessary for us to meditate anew on these three aspirations.

With these words, Itsuki presents his own view of the historical development of the nembutsu, which flowed through Honen (1133 - 1212), Shinran (1173 - 1262) and Rennyo. They also reveal the view of humanity of an author who has presented one literary work after another to the world.

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On August 30, 1996, a second year student in my class at the university died in a traffic accident. Both the young man and his father, who had been at his side guiding him, died. This young man, who had received his driver's license five days earlier, was practicing his driving on the road when he crossed over the center line while attempting to pass a vehicle in front of him. Colliding head-on with a truck that had been approaching from the opposite direction, the vehicle in which he was riding was crushed beneath the truck. Both the young student and his father died instantly.

I went with the chief of my section at the university to take part in the funeral service at the family temple in Hyogo Prefecture. Standing before the two caskets for the family photograph the young student¡Çs mother fought back her tears as she simply repeated the nembutsu. According to the young man's mother, he had just decided that he wanted to succeed his father as priest of the temple and so had received his priestly ordination in March of that year. His father had just retired from his teaching post, at which he had worked for many years. He was also just at the point of regaining his health, having overcome an illness that had lasted for over one year. The young man was twenty years old; his father was sixty-two.

My relationship with this young student was very brief. He had attended twelve sessions of my class during the spring term from April 11 through July 4. Yet he was an excellent and serious student, having submitted all of his class reports and never once having been absent from class. It was truly regrettable that his young life ended much too soon, with his goals only partially realized.

Namoamidabutsu...