"Kan Muryo Kotobuki Kei" Kogi (Chiku Ma Gakugei Bunko)

[Machine Translation] "Nembutsu" is a practice deeply familiar to the Japanese people. The three fundamental sutras of Pure Land Buddhism that teach the recitation of this nembutsu are known as the "Three Pure Land Sutras," and the last of these to be compiled is said to be the *Sutra on Contemplating the Infinite Life Buddha* (the *Contemplation Sutra*). However, the core of the *Kanzeon-kyo* s teachings lies strictly in visualization" (kanzo) the act of visualizing the Pure Land and the form of the Buddha while the Nembutsu appears only at the end as a means of salvation for those unable to practice visualization. What does this structure of the *Kanzeon-kyo* signify? This book unpacks this difficult-to-understand sutra through clear, modern translations and commentary. What emerges from this analysis is the image of human beings as ordinary people" who are compelled to seek religion, and the innovative nature of the scriptural interpretation that Honen and others devised for their salvation. The best introductory book on the *Sutra of Contemplation*.

日本人に馴染み深い「念仏」。この念仏を称えよと説く浄土仏教の三つの根本経典が「浄土三部経」であり、そのうち最後に成立したとされるのが『観無量寿経』(観経)だ。ただし観経の教えの中心はあくまで浄土や仏の姿をイメージする「観想」にあり、念仏は、観想ができない者の救済手段として最後に登場するにすぎない。観経のこうした構成は何を意味するのだろうか?本書は平明な現代語訳と解説で、理解が難しいこの経典を読みといていく。そこから見えてくるのは、宗教を求めざるをえない「凡夫」としての人間の姿と、その救済のために法然らが導き出した経典解釈の革新性だ。最良の観経入門書。