Doshaku - Doshaku

One of the founders of the Chinese Pure Land sect. Born in Wenshui County, Shanxi Province, his surname was Wei. He was known as a Nirvana sect scholar during the Northern Qi, Sui and early Tang dynasties of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. At the age of 48, he lived in Xuanzhong Temple on Shibi Mountain in Jiaocheng County, and after reading a monument inscribed with the deeds of Donluan in the temple, he immediately abandoned the Nirvana Sutra and began his life as a Nembutsu practitioner. In those days, the Chinese Buddhist community believed that the age of the Latter Days of the Law had come after 500 years of the True Law and 1,000 years of the Semblance Law. Doshaku was convinced that the only Buddhism suited to this time was chanting the name of Amida Butsu, and he spent his days chanting the Nembutsu 70,000 times a day, encouraging people of all ages and genders to chant the Nembutsu. In particular, he worked to popularize "azuki nembutsu," a form of chanting that even children can easily understand, in which each chant is numbered with an azuki bean. His main work was the Anrakushu, which, together with the Sangaikyo sect advocated by Shingyō, who was 22 years younger than Doshaku, had a major impact on the Buddhist world in the Sui and early Tang dynasties. Under his disciple Zendo, the Pure Land doctrine was perfected, and the Nembutsu sect spread from Shanxi to Shaanxi, and throughout central China.

[Makita Akira March 21, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国浄土宗の祖師の一人。山西省汶水(ぶんすい)県に生まれ、姓は衛(えい)氏。南北朝の北斉(ほくせい)・隋(ずい)・唐初にあって涅槃(ねはん)宗の学匠として知られた。48歳のときに交城県石壁(せきへき)山玄中寺に住し、寺内にあった曇鸞(どんらん)の行跡を刻した碑を読んでたちまちにして『涅槃経』を捨て、以後念仏行者としての生涯が始まる。当時の中国仏教界では、「正法五百年像法千年」が過ぎてまさに末法の世に入ると信ぜられていた。この時機に相応した仏教は称名念仏(しょうみょうねんぶつ)だけであるとの信念にたった道綽は日々7万遍の念仏に明け暮れ、しかも老若男女に念仏を勧めた。とくに「小豆(あずき)念仏」といって、子供にもよくわかる、念仏一遍ごとに小豆一粒で数をとる数量念仏の普及に努めた。その主著は『安楽集(あんらくしゅう)』で、道綽より22歳後輩の信行(しんぎょう)の提唱した三階(さんがい)教とともに、隋・唐初の仏教界に大きな影響を及ぼした。弟子善導(ぜんどう)に至って、その浄土宗義は大成され、山西から陝西(せんせい)へ、中国の中央部に念仏宗は広まった。

［牧田諦亮　2017年3月21日］

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