Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 1995 22/1-2 Two Seemingly Contradictory Aspects of the Teaching of Innate Enlightenm ent (hongaku)

The Sanju-shi ka no kotogaki (The thirty-four item report) is one of the most representative works in the tradition oj hongaku thought in the Japanese medieval rendai school. Two seemingly contradictory aspects can be found when analyzing the theory found in this text. The first aspect is that of the absolute affirmation oftms world on the basis of the principle of self-consistency, which seems to require no practice for realizing enlighten ment. The second is the realization of enlightenment at the “degree of ver bal identity, ” that is, the second stage of the Tendai “six degrees of identi ty. ” Although this is considered the easiest way ofreanzing enlightenment, it is not the same as the affirmation oj the world that requires no practice at all. This contradiction saved hongaku teachings from being completely corrupt. The concept of honmku 本 覚 (innate enlightenment), first encoun tered in the Ta-sheng ch，i-hsin lun 大乗起信 論 lAjtvakening of Faith], underwent centuries 01 profound development m China ana Japan. The most radical expression of this doctrinal tradition is found in the medieval Japanese Tendai school. The term “hongaku thought ” (hon gaku shiso 本覚思想）can be applied either broadly to refer to all teach ings on innate enlightenment, or narrowly to refer only to the devel opment of the concept within the Tendai tradition; in this paper I will use the narrower meaning. The academic study of hongaku in modern Japan was begun by Shimaji Daito and subsequently carried on by Hazama Jiko and Tamura Yoshiro.1 In 1973 Tamura and three other scholars published a critical, annotated edition of many hongaku texts (Tada et al.). This ̂On the history of the studies of Tendai hongaku shiso (Tendai hongaku thought), se