Kakunyo

The Crane Circle crest, the family crest of the Honganji families, descendants from Kakunyo. Kakunyo (覚如, also written as 覺如; 1271–1351) was a key figure of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism active from the late Kamakura period through the Nanboku-chō period. He was the great-grandson of Shinran and served as the third Monshu (head priest) of the influential Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto. As head priest of the Ōtani Hongan-ji, he played a decisive role in transforming Shinran's mausoleum into a fully institutionalized Buddhist temple. He is thus regarded by modern scholars as the de facto founder of Hongan-ji as a true religious institution with a doctrinal orthodoxy and regular services.

Kakunyo was also the first to write a biography of Shinran. He was a prolific author whose works asserted the doctrinal authority of Shinran and the Hongan-ji orthodoxy over numerous deviant views and practices. Kakunyo's liturgies comprise an important part of Jōdo Shinshū services, and he is considered to have contributed significantly to the Hōonkō ceremony. Furthermore, his biography of Shinran, the is still an important source on Shinran's life today.

Biography Kakunyo was born in Kyoto on February 16, 1271. His childhood name was Kōsen. His father Kakue was the son of Shinran’s youngest daughter, Kakushin-ni, while his mother was the daughter of Nakahara, Governor of Suō Province. Kakunyo's eldest son was the influential Zonkaku, his second son was Jūkaku, and his grandson Zennyo later became the fourth head of the Hongan-ji lineage. Kakunyo died at Hongan-ji in Kyoto (present-day Sōtai-in) on February 23, 1351.

Early life and education Kakunyo was initially educated in the Tendai school, studying exoteric and esoteric teachings under Jishinbō Chōkai and Sesshō Hōin Sōchō of Enryaku-ji. He was also ordained a monk and studied Hossō Buddhism at Kōfuku-ji, as well as studying Sanron doctrine with Jishōbō Ryōnen.

Beginning in around 1287, Kakunyo was educated in the Pure Land teachings of Hōnen and Shinran by Nyoshin, Shinran’s grandson, who visited Kyoto for Shinran’s monthly memorial services. He also received teachings from Yuien of Kawawada. Kakunyo's study under these two men impacted him deeply, leading him to become seriously committed to the Pure Land teachings of Shinran. His son Zonkaku was born on 1290, and that same year, Kakunyo traveled with his father Kakue and Jinga Hōgen to various Shinran-related sites in the Kantō region. He also pursued extensive Pure Land doctrinal study under Anichibō Shōkū of the Seizan's school Higashiyama branch at An’yō-ji. This figure is possibly the author of the Anjin Ketsujō Shō, which Kakunyo cites. Kakunyo also studied Kōsai’s teachings under Shōen of the Ichinen-gi branch’s Jikō-ji. In 1311, for Shinran’s 50th memorial, he rebuilt both the sacred image and the Eidō (Hall of the Portrait).

Formation of Hongan-ji From the early 1310s onwards, Kakunyo worked toward institutional consolidation of Shin Buddhism around the Honganji temple, constructed around the restored mausoleum of Shinran at Ōtani (the Ōtani Byōdō). The dispute was also partly based on Zonkaku's association with the rival Shin temple of Bukkō-ji and its leader Ryōgen, which Kakunyo saw as a threat to Honganji influence. This dispute caused serious divisions between Shin Buddhist congregations and various Shin groups withheld their support from Honganji at this time. Despite several attempts by Shin congregations to reconcile the two figures, Kakunyo never trusted Zonkaku again.

During the turmoil of the Kenmu era (1334–1338), the new Hongan-ji was destroyed by fire in 1336, and the first draft of the Shinran Den’e was lost. Kakunyo sought refuge at Zonkaku’s residence in Ōmi. In 1337 he returned to Kyoto, residing at Kuon-ji on Nishiyama and composing the Honganshō and Gajashō. In 1338 Zonkaku was pardoned and restored into office. However, in 1342 Kakunyo again disowned him, resuming authority.

In 1350 Kakunyo pardoned Zonkaku once more, though he arranged for the succession of the head priest office to pass on to Zennyo, the son of his second son Jūkaku.

Kakunyo died on February 23, 1351. His funeral was held at Ennin-ji. His mausoleum is preserved within the Ōtani Hombyō (Hongan-ji Nishiyama Betsuin) for the Hongan-ji-ha lineage and the Ōtani Sobyō for the Ōtani-ha lineage.

Role in Honganji doctrine and practice Whatever the diversity of Kakunyo's education, he came to develop a strong faith in Shinran's teaching that true faith (shinjin) was the only cause of birth in the Pure Land, while nembutsu was a natural grateful response arising from shinjin. Kakunyo soon became a staunch defender of this view, which differed from the standard Jōdo-shū position that saw the nembutsu itself as the main cause of birth. This also led Kakunyo to see Jōdo Shinshū as being a distinct school of Pure Land Buddhism, one which was different in several respects from the growing Jōdo-shū sect, especially the influential Chinzei branch. Zonkaku's teachings also drew from that of other Pure Land schools, such as Seizan. As Dobbins writes, "Kakunyo's description of his face-to-face association with Nyoshin echoes the master-disciple relationships of the traditional schools of Buddhism, on which doctrinal transmission and religious authority were based. Although Shinran himself disavowed the position of religious master, the lineage that Kakunyo claimed through Nyoshin in effect cast Shinran in that very role. Through this lineage Kakunyo invested himself with doctrinal authority and effectively united it with his hereditary right of Honganji caretakership, thereby making the office not only administrative but ecclesiastical."

Kakunyo was also concerned with defining what was the orthodox Shin Buddhist doctrine against wrong beliefs. To this end, he wrote the Gaijashō (Notes Rectifying Heresy) to establish the "proper" Shin doctrine. This polemical work contains a list of around twenty topics and critiques the wrong or heretical practices and views one by one. Examples of these heresies include the usage of salvation registers (myōchō), a register of names of people who had said the nembutsu and were considered to be sure to attain birth in the Pure Land and the use of portrait lineages (ekeizu). He also rejected the worship of religious teachers as being embodiments of Amida.

Works Kakunyo’s corpus is extensive and foundational for the doctrinal and institutional identity of Hongan-ji. His major works include:

Hōon kōshiki Hongan-ji Shōnin Den’e (also Goden-shō, Shinran Den’e) Shūi Kotoku Den Shūjishō Kudenshō Honganshō Gaijashō Ganganshō Saiyōshō Shusse Gan’i Kyōgyōshinshō Tai’i (a summary of the essentials of the Kyōgyōshinshō)

Related texts by disciples and associates include the Boki Ekotoba (10 vols.) by Jūkaku and the Saishukyōjū Ekotoba (7 vols.) by Jōsen.