Part Two
Chapter 2: Shinran's Answer

Shinran's Answer

Why are we born, and why do we live? Why is it wrong to take one's own life, even amid great pain? What is the ultimate purpose of life?

With unswerving conviction and courage, Shinran gave an answer that is brief and brilliant: There is a great ship that will bear us cheerfully across life's sea of ceaseless suffering, and our mission is to board this ship and live in eternal happiness.

The introduction to Teaching, Practice, Faith, Enlightenment, Shinran's most important work, begins with these lines:

Amida's inconceivable Vow is a great ship that carries us across the sea that is difficult to cross, and his unimpeded light is the sun of wisdom that destroys the mind of darkness.

This is a great manifesto for all humanity. It means that Amida's Vow to save all beings is the sun that eradicates the darkness which is the root of human suffering, and a great ship on which all are borne cheerfully and happily across life's sea of endless waves of tribulation. To board this ship is indeed the purpose of life.

What does it actually mean to board the great ship that carries us across the sea of suffering? Answering that question is the theme of this book. In a nutshell, it is this: to have one's darkness of mind (the root of suffering) eliminated, and know the joy of life that exults, “How glad I am to have been born human!” Shinran left many writings, but it is fair to say that everything he wrote can be summed up in these words.