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PREFACE

The publication of the Kõsõ Wasan as the sixth volume of the Ryukoku Translation Series is of great joy to all involved. As noted in the English translation of the Jõdo Wasan (RTS Vol. IV), the Ryukoku Translation Center was started in 1958 by the late Kenju Masuyama, former Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America and the President of Ryukoku Univer­sity at that time, to translate the works of Shinran, founder of the Jõdo Shin sect, so that Buddhism as he understood it, could come to be known by the peoples of the world. Since its inception, the center has worked on and published the English and Portuguese translations of the Shõshin Ge (1961) and the English translations of the Tanni Shõ (1963), the Jõdo Wasan (1965), and the Kyo Gyõ Shin Shõ (1966). We are now adding to this list the English translation of the Kõsõ Wasan, soon to be followed by the translation of the Shõzõmatsu Wasan.

As to the contents of the Kõsõ Wasan, since it is explained in detail in the introduction of this text there is no need to do so here. However, it might be noted that this text was written by Shinran during the second year of Hoji (1248), at the age of 76. It was written together with the Jõdo Wasan with the intent of showing how the teaching of faith in Amida Buddha (i. e. the nemhutsu teaching) was transmitted from India to China and then to Japan by the seven patriarchs. The merits and virtues of these people are praised in this work. The two Indian patriarchs, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, have ten hymns devoted to each, while those in China, Donran, Dõshaku and Zendo, have thirty-four, seven and twenty-six hymns, respectively, devoted to them. As for the Japanese Patriarchs Genshin has ten and Genkũ (1132-1212), twenty hymns devoted to them. These one hundred seventeen hymns comprise the hymns in praise of the Patri­archs. In addition to these there are two more hymns explaining that when Buddhism came to Japan it was already the age of the decadent dharma and how the people in this age could only be saved through the nembutsu. These two hymns show the deep interrelationship between Shinran’s view of this world being in the age of the decadent dharma and of the problem of attaining Buddhahood.

This translation was begun in 1963 under the guidance of Hisao Inagaki, then director of the Translation Center, with the assistance of William Masuda, then a foreign graduate student at this university. However, Mr. Inagaki went to England in 1965, and Rev. Masuda returned home to Ame­rica the following year; the work on this translation was suspended for a year. Work on this translation hit a high pitch in 1970, and the manu­script began to gradually take form up to this day—where it is now ready for publication. During this period of roughly ten years Prof. D. Fugen, Dr. R. Fujiwara, and Prof. D. Fujimoto (all former professors at this university) were of great assistance through their suggestions and criticisms. To these people and to all who directly or indirectly assisted on this translation, I would like to express my thanks for their time and cooperation.

That the true meaning of Shinran’s nembutsu teaching can now be con­veyed-to people today through the praises of the Seven Patriarchs in trans­lation, is a joyful event in our lives.

March, 1974

Shõhõ Takemura

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

General

Selection of the Seven Patriarchs

The Seven Patriarchs

The Wasan Form

Text

TRANSLATION

Hymns on Nãgarjuna1

Hymns on Vasubandhu

Hymns on Donran

Hymns on Dõshaku

Hymns on Zendo

Hymns on Genshin

Hymns on Genkũ

Concluding Hymns

APPENDICES

The Seven Patriarchs and Their Writings

on the Pure Land Teachings

Manuscripts of the KõSõ Wasan

List of Chinese Proper Nouns

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

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