Zòujìn fǎyǔ 奏進法語
Dharma-Discourse Presented to the Emperor by 眞盛 (撰)
About the work
A single-fascicle vernacular Japanese Dharma-discourse (J. hōgo 法語) by Shinsei 眞盛 (1443–1495), founder of the Tendai Shinsei-shū 天台真盛宗 and the fudan-nenbutsu 不斷念佛 (continuous nenbutsu) discipline. The work was presented to the Emperor as a court-imperial Dharma-instruction on the central nenbutsu-rebirth doctrine.
Abstract
Authorship. Catalog meta consistently attributes to Shinsei.
Date. Within Shinsei’s mature ministry, 1486–1495 CE. Shinsei’s principal court-engagement period was after his establishment of the Saikyō-ji teaching headquarters in 1486 and before his death in 1495.
Content. The work opens directly in the vernacular hōgo style:
“The mind-set of ōjō (rebirth in the Pure Land) — surely Your Majesty has by now polished it in your heart. But as I have received [the imperial request to address it], I shall briefly speak. Customarily, by reciting the nenbutsu, by the power of this nenbutsu one obtains rebirth — this is the disposition to understand…”
(御往生ノ安心ハ。定メテ御心ニ研カセ給ヒ候ハンナレドモ。承リ候ニ付テ。一端申シ參ラセ候。常ニハ念佛ヲ申シ候テ。コノ念佛ノ力ニヨリテ往生センズルゾト心得)
The discourse proceeds through the Tendai enkai / nenbutsu integration that defines the Shinsei-shū doctrinal position:
- The proper anjin (安心, “settled-mind”) for rebirth.
- The threefold mind (三心) of the Guānjīng tradition — sincere, deep, and dedicatory.
- The single-mind (一心) of the Lotus tradition, which integrates all three.
- The continuous practice (相續) — Shinsei’s foundational fudan-nenbutsu discipline.
Significance. The work is one of the principal vernacular doctrinal statements of the Tendai Shinsei-shū doctrinal program. As a court-imperial presentation, it also demonstrates the institutional recognition accorded to Shinsei’s reformist program in the late 15th century — the late-Muromachi imperial court’s acceptance of his Tendai-Pure-Land synthesis as orthodox and worth promoting.
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation located.
- Standard biographical sources: Saikyō-ji bunken kenkyūkai, Tendai Shinsei-shū Saikyō-ji shi — the head-temple history.
- Jacqueline I. Stone, Right Thoughts at the Last Moment (Hawaii, 2016) — discusses fudan-nenbutsu and Shinsei’s reform in the broader context.