Great Construction
Daijo and Shojo
Since antiquity the words Daijo [Mahayana] and Shojo [Hinayana] have existed. These are of course Buddhist terms, and in Buddhism they have been widely and profoundly discussed. Whether it is due to my limited study or what, I have yet to hear a convincing explanation. Regarding this issue, I will explain my personal perspective.
To begin, putting it briefly, Shojo is vertical and Daijo is horizontal. In addition, Shojo is the emotions and Daijo is reason. Because Shojo distinguishes good and evil and tends toward precepts and commandments, generally it is apt to be considered good. Because daijo does not distinguish good and evil and is free and flexible, seeing it as good is difficult. To illustrate this as simply as possible, I will give several examples.
Let us suppose there is a thief. In order to reform the thief, the Shojo way to handle the issue is to admonish for evil ways and try persuasion to stop the committing of crimes, but handled in a Daijo way, you yourself temporarily become an accomplice, and watching for an opportunity, you would say something like, “Not making much profit and living anxiously from doing evil things is rather tiresome, isn’t it?” You would try to get the thief to give up doing evil things and provide guidance toward the path of good.
Another instance is filial piety whose basis is obeying the parent, but there are times when the individual seeking to be independent and accomplish something must leave the parent, but the parent says no. Unavoidably, the parent is disregarded and home, left. After working toward a goal and striving, success is achieved, and the individual returns home. The parent is naturally happy for the child’s success, and it turns out that the individual has performed a great deed of filial piety. When this situation is evaluated, staying with the parent is a Shojo way of filial piety and leaving home to secure success is a Daijo filial path.
On a different level, nationalism and ethnicism are a Shojo good. Communism as well is a class-based love which is a Shojo good. Words that include the suffix “-ism” can be considered Shojo good, so there comes the time when an impasse is reached. Truth cannot be considered as such unless it is based on a Daijo, global, love of humanity. Because it stemmed from a Shojo idea of love for the nation state and a Shojo-based loyalty Japan saw the pitiful conclusion of defeat based on an ideology of invasion. Previously the phrase popularly used, the Imperial Way, was a Shojo type of patriotism. That is because even if the Imperial Way ideology had been propagated outside Japan, there would have been no one with whom it would find acceptance. Thus, unless there is something which all of humanity can acclaim and rejoice over, it cannot be said to have eternal life. That which all the world can sympathize with and praise is true Daijo. In the first place, any concept ending with ism is limited and will give birth to other isms. Such becomes the cause of conflict, which finally leads to war, and as it becomes disaster for humanity, it means that the good of Shojo is the evil of Daijo and the good of Daijo is the evil of Shojo. Here, however, caution is called for. Because there is the danger of mistakes being made when expounding the way of Daijo for the first time to members of the general public, start teaching about Shojo, and then when a certain level of understanding about Shojo has been reached, an explanation of Daijo should commence.
Next, let me explain about Daijo and Shojo in religion. Ordinarily, Buddhism is Shojo, and Christianity is Daijo. Buddhism is fire, Christianity is water. Fire burns vertically and water flows horizontally. Therefore, Buddhism is narrow and deep. It is isolated and does not spread horizontally. Conversely, since Christianity is Daijo, it has spread to every corner of the world. Interestingly, within Buddhism which is Shojo, there is a distinction between Daijo and Shojo. Amitabha is Daijo and yin. The Lotus Sutra sects are Shojo and yang. Daijo is “other power” or “help from without” while Shojo is “self-help” or “power within.” Believers of the Amitabha-based sects believe that if they chant “Hail to the Amitabha Buddha!” they will be saved. In contrast, believers of the Shojo Lotus Sutra sects say that it is not enough to chant the Buddha’s name, one must also do penance and perform ascetic acts. Thus, until now vertical and horizontal in religion have been separate, but in the end, vertical and horizontal will join. The two must become the balanced cross.
In this sense, depending on the time, place, and occasion, activity becomes vertical, or it becomes horizontal. The very activity of innumerable changes, infinite variety, unlimited manifestation is truth. The activity of the balanced cross is the underlying principle of the way of Kannon. The personality or character of Kannon can be fairly well understood and known by the facts that since antiquity, the Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World has been said to be neither male nor female, male and female. In addition, the original body is the Sacred Regarder of Cries has six manifestations, with a thousand arms, with eleven faces, as Cintamanicakra, as Cundi, as Amoghapasha Lokeshvara, or as Hayagriva. These can further manifest in thirty-three aspects. Furthermore, it appears in many names such as Boddhisattva Seeing-Everything, Boddhisattva Inexhaustible Awareness, Boddhisattva Endowing-Fearlessness, Tathagata of Unhindered Light, Tathagata of Bright Light, Tathagata Everywhere-Light-Mountain-King, Tathagata Supreme Mystic, and in particular is the manifestation of Sacred Regarder of Cries as Maitreya Ceaseless-Emanation. Incidentally, together, the three bodies of the Tathagata Amitabha as Maitreya Truth-Body, Tathagata Shakyamuni as Maitreya Reward-Body, and the Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World as Maitreya Ceaseless-Emanation are known as The Three Honorable Ones. Additionally, the Maitreya of the Sun is Regarder of Cries, the Maitreya of the Moon is Amitabha, and the Maitreya of the Earth is Shakyamuni. One point which must be considered here is the theory that the original substance of Boddhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World is Heavenly Shining Great August Deity, but this is a mistake. Heavenly Shining Great August Deity manifests as Tathagata Mahavairocana.
Essays on Faith, page 33, September 5, 1948
translated by cynndd
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“Daijō to Shōjō,” published as the sixteenth chapter of Shinkō Zatsuwa (Essays on Faith), September 5, 1948, and while Meishu-sama still alive reprinted in the essays anthology for ordinary believers and members of the general public Tengoku no Fukuinsho (Gospels of Heaven), page 32, August 25, 1954, has previously appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.
“Daijo and Shojo,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, page 53, no date.