Shinnyo-en
Shinnyo En is a form of Buddhism established in Japan. It is a sub-school of Vajrayana, which is the esoteric branch of Mahayana Buddhism. There are three major forms of esoteric Buddhism in Japan, including Shingon, Tendai, and Shinnyo En. Shinnyo En is unique in that it has sesshin meditation training, powers of bakku daiju, and is the form of esoteric practice that is open to lay practitioners. Shingon and Tendai teachings are ultimately only available for practice by monks, whereas Shinnyo En practice is open to all.
The Founder, Shinjo Ito, was originally an aircraft engineer in pre-war Japan. In 1936, he resigned and together with his wife founded Shinnyo En. They have since dedicated their lives to religious pursuit.
Shinnyo En has temples and meeting places in many countries. In the United States, temples are located in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, Chicago, and New York. The temple in Chicago is the largest Buddhist temple in the United States.
Shinnyo En is translated to mean "garden of truth," or "garden of Tathata." Tathata is a fundamental concept in Mahayana philosophy and is interpreted as the true nature of all phenomena or as the original state of things.
Shinnyo En is based on the Nirvana Sutra (Mahaparinirvana Sutra is the long name) which is the final Buddhist sutra. Other Buddhist sutras also have a place in Shinnyo En, but the Nirvana sutra is the most prominent.
The Three Treasures
The teaching of Shinnyo En is characterized by three treasures unified as one source of power to liberate the spirits of people from the sufferings that come from their negative karmic influences. Shinnyo En teaches that the kind of problems each person may suffer from is varied depending upon the karmic inheritance from his or her ancestors as well as from his or her own accumulated deeds. According to the doctrine of Shinnyo En, the unified power of the three treasures of Shinnyo Teaching is able to blow the negative karmic elements away and lead each spirit to the total spiritual freedom of Permanent Bliss, Permanent Delight, Permanent Self and Permanent Purity, that are the four virtuous essences taught in the Great Nirvana Sutra.
The three treasures of Shinnyo Teaching are :
- The Stream of Dharma (Buddha's Law)
- Shinnyo Spiritual Faculty
- The Great Nirvana Sutra
The Stream of Buddha's Law
The founder of Shinnyo En, Shinjo Ito, through extremely austere and severe trainings of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism(Daigo-School), inherited the spiritual stream of Maha Acharya, which means the one who has inherited the Spirit of Buddha. Maha Acharya is, according to the tradition of Esoteric Buddhism, the one whose spirit is unified with the sacred stream of the Great Spirit of Maha Virochana (The Buddha that represents all the sources of things and lives in the whole universe as well as the universe itself.). It’s also taught in the tradition of Esoteric Buddhism that Maha Acharya is the one who is allowed to establish a new school of Buddhism. The Buddhist Order, Shinnyo En was established by Shinjo Ito with the absolute credential of Maha Acharya.
Shinnyo Spiritual Faculty
Shinnyo Spiritual Faculty, which Shinnyo En teaches to have been completed through the unification of the spiritual power of Earth having been inherited to Shojushin-in(Shinjo Ito’s wife, Tomoji) and the spiritual power of Heaven having been inherited to Shinjo-Ito(The founder of the teaching) refers to the special psychic power that the followers of Shinnyo Teaching are able to acquire through a long time of altruistic practices and spiritual trainings. It’d be impossible for the followers of Shinnyo En to purify their spiritual entities without Shinnyo Spiritual Trainings (Sesshin Trainings) and Shinnyo Spiritual Trainings could not exist without Shinnyo Spiritual Faculty.
For the followers of Shinnyo En, it may be possible to rephrase this special Spiritual Faculty (they call 'Reino') as Buddha’s Wisdom. Shinnyo Spiritual Training (Sesshin Training), which is unique to Shinnyo Teaching, is believed by the followers to be the extremely precious chance for them suffering from negative karmic influences to touch the sacred spirit of Buddha and by doing so, they can find the way out of their own sufferings and problems. The followers of Shinnyo En are always encouraged to lead their lives based on what they have realized through Sesshin Trainings. And through such efforts they make, they believe they acquire the true happiness and wisdom of Buddha.
The Great Nirvana Sutra
The Great Nirvana Sutra is said to be the ultimate completion of Mahayana philosophies. Each chapter of this sutra is believed to clarify the profound conclusions of the philosophies of Mahayana teachings having been taught beforehand.
It is said that there are four sacred principles taught only in this sutra.
They are :
- Jo, Raku, Ga, Jo,( The Eternity of Buddha’s Spirit, The Absolute Spiritual Comfort liberated from karmic chains, The True Pure Self, The absolute Purity and Clarity of the Spirit)
- Nyorai Joju: The eternity and omnipresence of Tathagata
- Sendai-jobutsu: The Eternity and the unbreakability of Buddha Nature at the core of every sentient being
- The omnipresence of Buddha Nature.(Every single thing, whether it’s a living thing or not, has the seed (Buddha Nature) which is to grow to be the spirit of Buddha).
Shinnyo Teaching teaches that in many chapters of this sutra, the divine sacred powers that blow out the fire of karmic attachments (sufferings and their causes) and lead the spirits of any sentient beings to the great spiritual state of ‘Great Nirvana’ have been manifested.
According to Shinnyo Teaching, one of the Chapters of this sutra, the Chapter of Chunda, indicates that the Supreme Enlightenment of Great Nirvana can be achieved not only by monks but also by laypeople. (Chunda was a blacksmith with sincere devotion to Buddha’s Teachings and Practices, whose offerings were accepted by Buddha before His Entering Nirvana.) This principle taught only in the Great Nirvana Sutra made it possible for laypeople to seek for the the Great Enlightenment of Buddha at Entering Nirvana, according to Shinnyo Teaching.
Shinnyo En teaches that its followers can know the profound and lofty essences of the teachings taught in this Sutra in easily understandable Spiritual Words indicated in Sesshin Trainings and by practicing what he or she realized from the received Spiritual Words, it becomes possible for them to overcome various problems (sufferings), to change their lives to the ones full of delight and gratitude. And Shinnyo En also teaches that through the efforts to transmit the teachings to others with a sincere wish for their happiness, its followers are able to elevate their spiritual ranks to the ones closer to Buddha’s Great Spirit.