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愚禿鈔

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Text ID
KR6t0354
Date
1255–1255
Dynasty
日本

Yútū chāo 愚禿鈔

The Foolish-Shorn-Monk’s Notes by 親鸞 Shinran (撰)

About the work

A two-fascicle doctrinal notebook by 親鸞 Shinran, named after his characteristic self-designation Gutoku 愚禿 (“the foolish-shorn-monk” — adopted at the time of his 1207 exile and defrocking, signifying that he is neither a monk nor a layman). Conventionally dated to Kenchō 7 / 1255 on the basis of internal references; Shinran would then be 82 years of age. The work is a kuden-style topical catalogue of the principal Pure-Land doctrinal distinctions, with the binary contrast kenja-shin / gutoku-shin (“the wise one’s faith” / “the foolish-shorn-monk’s faith”) as its organizing axis.

Abstract

The opening epigram sets the organizing contrast: “Hearing the wise one’s faith — manifesting the foolish-shorn-monk’s mind. The wise one’s faith: inwardly wise, outwardly foolish” (聞賢者信。顯愚禿心。賢者信。内賢外愚也). The work then enumerates the binary distinctions through which Shinran’s mature doctrine is organized:

  • jiriki / tariki (self-power / other-power);
  • jōdo / edō (Pure Land / soiled land);
  • junshū / sōshū (sequential-cultivation / reciprocal-cultivation);
  • senju / zōshu (exclusive cultivation / mixed cultivation);
  • kekkō / shōkō (decisive / wandering);
  • senchaku / fusenchaku (selected / non-selected);
  • senchaku-hongan / jōrai-hongan (the selected-original-vow / the all-encompassing-original-vow);
  • jōnen / sannen (concentrated-thought / scattered-thought);
  • kennin / kanin (manifest-witness / contemplative-witness);
  • and many more.

Each binary is glossed with citations from the canonical sources (Wǎngshēng lùn, Tánluán, Shàndǎo, Hōnen), and the final position is consistently that the Gutoku takes the passive side — tariki, Pure Land, exclusive, manifest-witness — against the active / self-power / contemplative side of the Way of Sages.

The work is sometimes characterized as Shinran’s philosophical glossary — a personal lexicon of his doctrinal categories, prepared for his own reference and for the instruction of senior disciples. Its compressed kuden-style is distinctive: short articles, frequent citations, minimal connecting prose, no closing summation. The work assumes prior familiarity with the Kyōgyōshinshō and is best read as a companion to it.

Translations and research

English translation: Yoshifumi Ueda & Dennis Hirota (trans.), in Notes on ‘Essentials of Faith Alone’ / Lamp for the Latter Ages / Gutoku’s Notes / A Collection of Letters (Hongwanji-ha, 1979); also in Hongwanji Translation Series, The Collected Works of Shinran (1997); Inagaki Hisao (trans.), Gutoku-shō: The Notes of Shinran (Hongan-ji Office of International Affairs, 1989). Treated in James C. Dobbins, Jōdo Shinshū (Indiana UP, 1989); Alfred Bloom, Shinran’s Gospel of Pure Grace (1965); critical text in Shinran Shōnin zenshū 親鸞聖人全集 (Hongan-ji, 1985).

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