CHAPTER IX.

Hozo Biku.

( section section 40-46)

We now come to one of the most interesting features of the Shinshu system.

Amitabha, the Unoriginate, the Boundless in Power and in Love, the Being through Whom the worlds were made, in accordance with the operation of the Law which He Himself had given, and through which alone He manifests Himself to the world, looked down from His Abode and beheld with compassion the miseries of blind and ignorant creatures. He resolved to save them, to bring them back to Himself from their ceaseless entanglements with Life and Death, and, to do so, determined to become man and live as man among the creatures he had come to save. He emptied Himself [**], therefore, of His Divinity and appeared on earth as a King's Son. He emptied Himself of His Royal State, and became a monk, and then, coming into the presence of the Buddha of his time [*+]--Sejizai-o-butsu (in Sanskrit, Lokes'vara Raja), "the King-Buddha, Lord of the World," made the Vow [*++] on which the Shinshu believer

pins his faith. The Vow having been registered, long ages of expiatory labours ensued. These labours were entirely borne as man. Amitabha had emptied Himself of his glory and become Hozo the monk. None of his contemporaries knew who it was that dwelt concealed beneath that humble form, for the Supreme had emptied Himself and veiled His glory. It was as man for man that He must work out the task of Man's Salvation.

Having accomplished that work, [**] He returned to where He was before, and received a Name more precious even than that which he had borne originally. Amida Nyorai, as the Japanese call him, had become Namu-Amida-Butsu. [*+] The name signifies the import of the work accomplished. Amida is no longer merely the Infinite, the God afar off, but the Infinite that has become Finite, that has worked out man's Salvation, that has conquered death (amrita) [*++] and that remains the personified and personal object of the believer's worship and thanksgiving. It requires no great ingenuity to recognize the wonderful parallels to the Story of our Redemption as we humbly believe it.

The question arises, Is Hozo Biku a historical personage or not? The author of Shinshu Hyakuwa is quite certain that he is. We believe in his historicity,