MURYOKO
'Infinite Light'
Journal of Shin Buddhism
Harold Stewart
The Decline of the Dharma
From the moment when that metaphysical realization or mystical revelation which forms the esoteric heart of any Tradition is exoterized into a social institution, its decline begins. The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, foresaw that verbal formulation of the Dharma would betray his Enlightenment and that the birth of the Sangha meant the beginning of the decay and death of the Tradition that he was to found. Hence his initial reluctance to preach at all, and his later prophecy of the Four Ages of Decline and Extinction through which the Buddha-Dharma, transient like all composite things, through which they would inevitably pass.
Fewer and fewer in each successive age understand or wish to follow any spiritual path: more and more are concerned only with acquiring material possessions or political power. So in these latter days, religion for most of its adherents means little more than membership of its social institution with obedience to its priesthood and its moral regulations in attenuated forms; while comprehension of its inner dimensions, its metaphysical or mystical essence, is increasingly lost. Once the spiritual core of a Tradition has died, its outer husk soon desiccates or becomes corrupt. Then disaffection and loss of faith will follow and the doubtful will abandon their Tradition and either succumb to gross materialism or be converted to some pseudo-religion like communism.
Despite this outward decadence of the social forms of religion, it is some consolation to reflect that its essence is, and always has been, inward, and that the Divine Spirit behind every Tradition is immortal. But the external forms are not therefore superfluous, since they provide a framework to guide adherents and offer a safeguard against spiritual aberrations and erroneous views. This is the main function of doctrinal formulas and iconographic canons. So long as the myths, symbols, rituals, and sacred arts that enshrine the interior spirit of a Tradition are preserved intact, even when their priestly custodians no longer understand their full significance, it is always possible that in the future they may be reanimated by the Divine Spirit working through saint or sage or inspired artist. But once the old forms degenerate, are corrupted, or destroyed, the aspirant must seek elsewhere for a spiritual path, or he must wait till the Divine Spirit appears in a fresh revelation and creates new forms.
Secularist historians never tire of reminding us of all the evils committed by men in the name of religion. But is it not strange how seldom they mention the numerous benefits (social, psychological, moral, and cultural) that the spiritual influences mediated through those mercenary and maladministered religious institutions have conferred on mankind over millennia? Religion as a whole is reduced merely to its human abuses and identified with the exploitation and control of the masses by priests and kings. As though atheistic commissars and irreligious capitalists were never guilty of such manipulation ! There is also the sly implication that priests and their dupes are to be convicted of malfeasance because of their adherence to their religion, not because they have failed to follow its precepts.
But as G. K. Chesterton saw so clearly: 'Those abuses which are commonly supposed to belong to religion, belong in truth to all human institutions. They are not the sins of supernaturalism, but the sins of nature'. The original revelation was divine; it is its later corruption that reveals the human touch. As both sacred and secular institutions are under the administration of innately ignorant and fallible men, they must inevitably deteriorate and decay. So the gradual decline of the Shin Tradition since the time of its founder can be no exception to the Buddhist axiom of transience and should therefore occasion no dismay. Even though heredity and environment may help to mould character, familial descent alone is no guarantee of spiritual lineage; and so some of Shinran's natural descendants have inherited a spark of his genius, while others have not. Fortunately for us, Amida's transference of Faith in no way depends on any religious rite or organization and is not transmitted through any priestly intermediary to the devotee, but directly by the Name. And so outward corruption cannot obstruct or destroy the Other Power.