“At One or Not At One?”

During a time when there are intense Christian debates over atonement, the perspectives of the medieval Japanese Buddhist leader Shinran provide points of both convergence and contrast. This essay reflects on the meaning of atonement in Christianity in light of three moments in Shinran’s thought: (1) the state of being not at one: the desolation of life under the sway of the three poisons and a calculating mentality; (2) the beginning of Shin Buddhist practice in repentance arising from Other Power; and (3) mature shinjin, entrustment-mindedness and life transformed with Amida Buddha. In the respective traditions there is an identity with Jesus Christ or Amida Buddha and a movement toward compassion or love for others that is never completed in this world.