Controversy as Hagiography: The Disputed Life of Shinran in Early-Modern Shin Buddhism

Scholarship on Shinran hagiography tends to focus on the production of narrative accounts of the life of this Japanese Buddhist founder, while overlooking controversies and debates surrounding details of his life. This paper challenges that prioritization, arguing that such controversies are themselves moments of hagiographical production—key moments when a founder’s life is contested, reinterpreted, and mobilized in different ways. Focusing on an influential controversy from the eighteenth century surrounding the Tradition of the True Lineage of Saint Shinran (Shinran shōnin shōtōden, 1715), it examines how disputes over Shinran’s life reshaped both his image and sectarian authority within the Shin Buddhist community. Rather than relying on narrative storytelling, this mode of hagiographical construction unfolded through explicit argumentation and debates over historical authenticity. Analyzing key texts from Ryōkū and his critics, the paper demonstrates how such controversies actively shaped Shin Buddhist history and calls for a broader approach to hagiography.