Kyogyoshinsho - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 is the longest chapter of the Kyogyoshinsho, and brings other Buddhist sects and practices into the context of Pure Land Buddhism as varying forms of skillful means. Other Buddhist writers in medieval Japan similarly tried to categorize Buddhist sects into a form of hierarchy, and here Shinran attempts to do the same. Shinran believes that in the era of Mappo, most of the original practices and teachings have died out or lost their efficacy, and so the only viable path left is the Pure Land path.

The end of Chapter 6, the Postscript, includes a brief autobiography, particularly during and after Shinra's exile from Kyoto in the year 1207. He writes about how he came to Hōnen's teachings in the year 1201 and feels he has remained his disciple ever since. He explains that his motivation is to share his joy in finding the Pure Land and hopes that others will take refuge in Amitabha as well. Shinran concludes the Kyogyoshinsho with a passage from the Flower Garland Sutra:

On seeing a bodhisattva

Perform various practices,

Some give rise to a good mind and others to a mind of evil,

But the bodhisattva embraces them all.