A Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism

·期刊原文
Sand & Pebbles: The Tales of Mujuu Ichien, A Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism.
By Robert E. Morrell. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1985.
Pp. xxii+383.
Reviewed by Shigenori Nagatomo
Philosophy East & West
V. 36 (October 1986)
pp. 438-440
Copyright 1986 by University of Hawaii Press

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p. 438

Robert E. Morrell introduces to the English speaking world for the first time in book form a translation of one of the Japanese classics, Shasekishuu, a document toiled over for thirty years by a Kamakura Buddhist monk, Mujuu Ichien (1226-1312). Mujuu's concern in writing this book was to "bring people into the marvelous Way of Buddha's teaching ... through the wanton sport of wild words and specious phrases" in order "to illustrate the profound significance of this splendid doctrine" (p. 72). In his encounter with these "wild words and specious phrases" the reader is asked to "extract gold and jewels from sand and pebbles," first in the original, and now in Morrell's translation.

To realize Mujuu's intention fully, Morrell approaches the original on two levels: (1) as a literary work and (2) as a Buddhist text. This is indicated by the choice of words in the title of Morrell's book: "tales" as well as "a voice for pluralism in Kamakura Buddhism." In fact, Morrell seems to have adopted these two levels in an effort to reflect the fluctuating assessment of Sand & Pebbles within Japanese intellectual history itself, for the book has

p. 439

been received at various times as a Buddhist tale (bukkyoo setsuwa) and as a "dharma-talk in kana-syllabary" (kana hoogo). Therefore, Morrell carries the burden of communicating on these two levels in his translation, an ambitious goal.

Morrell organizes his book into three parts. Part I is an introduction to Mujuu's life and his "world of ideas." The first two chapters provide a brief biography of Mujuu that situates the reader afresh within the social and historical milieu, so distant and different from our own, in which Mujuu lived out his life as a monk. These two chapters are particularly important for the philosophers who, soaring high on the wings of abstract speculation, seem to disregard the historical and cultural context in which a body of ideas is formed. The third chapter in Part I is Morrell's attempt to organize and reiterate Mujuu's Buddhist "world of ideas."

It is in these first three chapters that Morrell advances his interpretation that Mujuu's "voice" for Buddhism was fundamentally pluralistic. In Mujuu's "world of ideas," the doctrine of hooben, "skillful means," as propounded in the Lotus Suutra is a key note that resonates throughout this Buddhist universe. The concept of "pluralism" -- as Morrell uses it -- means first that Mujuu, unlike the other Kamakura reformers, did not advocate any one school of Buddhism as the only viable vehicle for entrance to Buddha-dharma. Further, Mujuu included some elements of Shintoism as well. Morrell's interpretation accurately reflects Mujuu's own, for Mujuu maintains that "there is not just one method for entering the Way, the causes and conditions for enlightenment [satori] being many" (p. 71). Curiously, however, in his introduction to Mujuu, Morrell does not address himself to the meaning of dreams which Mujuu often quotes in Sand & Pebbles as one of the essential kinds of phenomena in religious experience and awareness.

Nonetheless, insofar as Morrell in Part I does provide a credible introduction to Mujuu's life as well as to his "world of ideas," this section serves as an integral stepping stone to Part II, especially for the reader unfamiliar with the Kamakura period. Without it, the reader might well be adrift in reading the translation which follows, and at a loss to appreciate Mujuu's "world of ideas." Part II, therefore, is a translation and a summary of the text, Sand & Pebbles, forming as it does the bulk of Morrell's book. The first chapter (of ten) of Sand & Pebbles is translated fully into English, and the following chapters are interposed with paraphrase and summary of the text. It is difficult to discern the criterion according to which Morrell chooses to translate some sections of the text while summarizing the others. Throughout Part II, Morrell's struggle to represent the two levels of literary and Buddhist text in Sand & Pebbles is evident. His translation is reliable as long as the reader restricts himself to the literary aspect of the original. The reader can find rich allusions to the life of commoners in the Kamakura period that are not found in "the better-known literature of the military class and of the court" (p. 41). In this respect, Morrell's translation will be of interest to the historian, anthropologist, and sociologist, not to mention those who are interested in Kamakura literature.

However, when Morrell's translation is evaluated from a philosophical or Buddhological point of view, the reader has to be careful not to take the translated meaning of Buddhist terminology at face-value, for the translation does lack philosophical sensitivity. Take the example of inga, rendered as "moral causality." But "causality" in Buddhism is not certainly restricted to moral causality as such. This is perhaps a reflection of the translator's emphasis on literature at the expense of philosophical subtleties. It is misleading also to use capitalization for Buddhist terms (except for proper nouns) because it

p. 440

suggests that Japanese Buddhism advances a "metaphysical" reality apart from the phenomenal reality. Rather, it recognizes a "meta-psychical" reality concretely instantiated in the phenomenal reality. For that matter, Buddhism has never entertained "meta-physics" in the sense of "going beyond physics." The translation suffers generally from an inconsistent rendering of Buddhist terms. Again, the term "satori," which has now become part of our English vocabulary, is rendered variously as "apprehension of Reality," "enlightenment," and "comprehension"; this suggests that Morrell has opted in his translation for emphasizing the literary aspect of Shasekishuu rather than its philosophical or Buddhological aspects, in spite of his sensitivity to the two levels.

These inadequacies are in large part overcome, however, if readers refer to the extensive endnotes where they can obtain a more technical understanding of Buddhism. Part III is a mere appendage to the preceding two Parts, providing only several pages of translation from Mujuu's Collection of Casual Digressions (Zootanshuu). The reason for this appendage is not immediately clear.

In order to "extract gold and jewels" of the splendid Buddha-dharma from Morrell's Sand & Pebbles, the reader is invited to plunge himself into an alchemical meditation upon this work. Only with this meditation can Mujuu's Shasekishuu receive the philosophical recognition commensurate with Mujuu's intention. It is only then that the reader will be rewarded by a glimpse into how wonderful it is to achieve in his everyday life the state of nonabiding that is captured in the pun, Mujuu the monk, mujuu the nonabiding.

Shigenori Nagatomo