OSHIO S PROTEST (OSHIO HEIHACHIRO GEKIBUN)
    Oshio Heihachiro's manifesto for revolt during the great famine of 1837 begins with a reminder to his countrymen that Heaven's blessings would be withdrawn from the ruler if the people were driven to desperation. Appealing to the benevolent founding principles of the government established by Ieyasu, it condemns the self-seeking cor­ruption and immorality that had spread throughout the ranks of the government since the establishment of the Tokugawa peace, claiming that the entire populace now burned with rancor against the government.

    Since the time of Ashikaga Takauji, the Son of Heaven has been removed from participating in government and has been deprived of the power to distribute rewards and punishments. Therefore the rancor of the people no longer has a place of appeal and has reached to Heaven itself. In response. Heaven has sent down a long series of calamities. Forgetting the "humaneness that unites all beings as one body," the officials of the Osaka magistrate's office are conducting the government for their own selfish ends. They send tribute rice to Edo, but they send none to Kyoto, where the emperor himself resides. On top of this, in recent years the moneyed merchants of Osaka have accumulated vast profits from interest on loans to the daimyo and appropriated great quantities of rice, living a life of unheard-of luxury. . . . Knowing no want themselves, they have lost all fear of Heaven's punishment and make no attempt to save those who are begging and starving to death on the streets.
[Nihon keizai taiten, vol. 45, pp. 673-76; BS]

INNATE KNOWLEDGE AND THE SPIRITUAL
Oshio Heihachiro NOTES ON "CLEANSING THE MIND" (SENSHINDO SAKKl)
    The phrase "cleansing the mind," derived from the Xici commentary on the Classic of Changes, refers to a method of mind Cultivation and control by which all selfish and self-limiting thoughts are dispelled and the mind returns to a state of pure spiritual openness and unobstructedness as expansive as the open sky and as luminous as the Heavens. This openness and receptivity is referred to as the Supreme Vacuity or Emptiness (taikyo) in Neo-Confucianism. It is especially emphasized in the Wang Yangming school as the ultimate source of spontaneous innate knowledge (the faculty of knowing), transparent and translucent when undistorted by bad habits, partiality, or selfishness. In this state, the mind clearly reflects both the underlying unity and the moral differences among all things and affairs and responds to them accordingly.

a:1. Heaven does not mean only the vast blue space of the sky above. Even the empty space between stones or the hollow inside a branch of bamboo is also Heaven. If so, how much more is this true of what Laozi calls the "spirit (god) of the valley." The "spirit of the valley" is nothing other than the human mind. Accordingly, the fact that the wondrousness of the human mind is the same as Heaven can be verified in the sage. Because the ordinary person has lost this openness, however, we cannot say that this is the case. [p. 370]
2. The Vacuity outside the body is itself Heaven. What is called "Heaven" is one's own mind. Here one can realize that the mind encompasses all things. For this reason, if we see a living thing, even a plant, a tile, or a stone, killed or broken or destroyed, it causes pain in our hearts. This is because all these things exist originally and essentially in our mind. If beforehand, desires are obstructing the mind, then the mind is no longer empty. If it is no longer then it is only a little insensate thing, not the substance of Heaven. It is already alienated even from our own physical body, not to mention from other things. Is it not fitting that a person in such a condition be called a "small person"? [p.370]
6. If we speak from the point of view of physical form, the body envelops
the mind, and the mind is inside the body. If we look at it from the point of view of the Way, the mind envelops the body, and the body is inside the mind. A person who takes the view that the mind is inside the body will find himself encumbered by things the moment he abandons the effort of holding on to and preserving it. A person who realizes that the body is inside the mind will always enjoy the wonder of transcendence, and he will always be able to put things to work for himself. The student should know the difference between putting things to work for oneself and being encumbered by things, [p. 371]
7. The reason that [Confucius's disciple] Yan Yuan was spoken of as "empty" is that he often returned to the Supreme Vacuity. But he still had a little way to go. The sage, on the other hand, from beginning to end, is nothing but one Supreme Vacuity, [p. 371]
10. The person who is bound up by things wavers even in ordinary times. How much more will he waver in the face of an emergency? The person who is grounded in the earth does not waver even in the face of an emergency, let alone in ordinary times. For this reason, one must know to abide in that in which it is proper to abide, [p. 372]
11. When you are going to help someone in distress, you should check whether or not there is a ripple of movement in the depths of your spirit. If there is the slightest ripple, then selfish desire is already there, and your mind is no longer [in accord with] Heavenly substance. If your mind is not [in accord with] Heavenly substance [i.e., completely open to perfect goodness], then it is best not to help the person, [p. 372]
13. If in deep sleep you experience chaotic and repugnant dreams, these are nothing but shadows of your own self-deception in that solitary awareness at the core of your waking consciousness. But if you truly reach the realm where you are not self-deceived in that solitary awareness, you will be a realized person. That is why it is said that "the realized person has no dreams." It is not that he has no dreams but that he has no chaotic and repugnant dreams. The cases of King Wuding of the Shang dreaming of the sage Fu Yue and of Confucius dreaming of the Duke of Zhou would not have been possible if they were not realized people, [p. 372]
14. The return of the human mind to the Supreme Vacuity also begins by being vigilant over the mind in solitude (shindoku) and working to overcome the self. If one does not enter by vigilance in solitude and the conquering of self, then it will turn into the vacuous and misguided way of Zen. It is a matter of a difference of a hair's breadth that becomes a gulf of a thousand ri. Thus this is a point at which the student of the learning of the mind-and-heart can easily go wrong, [p. 373]
16. The vacuity of an ordinary person's heart cavity is the same as the vacuity
of a sage's heart cavity. But there is a vast difference in the clarity or turbidity of their psychophysical natures (kishitsu). The vacuity of a poor person's house is the same as the vacuity of a noble person's house, but the walls, roofs, and floorboards are very different in their level of beauty and quality. Now the vacuity of the heart cavity is the vacuity of the Supreme Vacuity, and the vacuity of the Supreme Vacuity is the vacuity of the heart cavity. Originally they are not two. After all, it is the physical nature that constitutes its walls. Accordingly, if a person studies and transforms his physical nature, he will be the same as the sage, and just like the sage his radiance will reach to the ends of the universe, encompassing all and penetrating all. For those who engage in learning without transforming their physical natures, what is it after all that they are learning? Such learning can only be called a shallow and vulgar pursuit, [p. 373]
19. "The resolute scholar (shishi} and the humane person do not seek life at the expense of humaneness (jin). Life is something that can be extinguished. Humaneness as the virtue of the Supreme Vacuity cannot be extinguished for all time. It is misguided to throw away what can never be extinguished to protect what is extinguishable. Accordingly, it is truly reasonable that the resolute scholar and the humane person should choose the former and give up the latter. This is not something that the ordinary person understands, [p. 374]
21. If the heart has not returned to the Supreme Vacuity, without fail it will be moved. Why? Because in an earthquake all things that have form—even the towering mountain peaks and the fathomless ocean—will shake. But no earthquake can ever shake the Supreme Vacuity. Therefore, only when the heart has returned to the Supreme Vacuity can one speak of it as "unmoving." [p. 375
25. The ki of the blood-force thrives when the blood thrives and declines when the blood declines. Therefore it is not something we can rely on. The great floodlike ki does not grow stronger or weaker with the rise and fall of the blood but constantly fills the body and mind, not declining or changing until death, [pp. 375-76]
26. The ki of the blood-force is corrupted and dissipates with death, but the
great floodlike ki is not corrupted and does not dissipate with death. The moral power and meritorious deeds of the sages, worthies, and heroic personages radiate throughout the universe, and as the years pass, they only shine more brightly. Why is this? This is the great floodlike ki. The ordinary person has no trace of this. Bound to the physical ki, he always feels impatient or fretful, passing his days sluggishly and irresolutely and ending up rotting away not much differently from an insect or a plant. Is this not a great pity? Is it not a great shame? If one thinks on this, how can one afford to neglect the all-important word "diligence"? [p. 376]
57. For the mind to return to vacuity, one enters by making the intentions sincere and being vigilant [over one's mind] in solitude. And if one's intentions are sincere, then there will be no occasion for anger, fear, hankering, or worry to arise. If even one of these is present, then the mind is not vacuous, [p. 386]
58. If the mind has not returned to the Supreme Vacuity but one speaks of innate knowledge, then it is all sensory knowledge, not the genuine innate knowledge. The genuine innate knowledge is nothing other than the spiritual intelligence of the Supreme Vacuity. Except for the person who understands the Way, who can realize this? [p. 386]
106. The commendable words and virtuous actions of other people are them­selves the goodness in my own heart, and the disgraceful words and evil actions of other people are themselves the evil in my own heart. For this reason, the sage is unable to regard these things with indifference. The tasks of ordering one's family, ruling the state, and bringing peace to the realm are nothing but preserving all that is good in one's heart and eliminating all that is evil. . . . [p.404]
129. Humaneness is the life of the Supreme Vacuity; rightness is the com­pletion of the Supreme Vacuity; ritual decorum is the penetration of the Su­preme Vacuity; wisdom is the luminosity of the Supreme Vacuity; [and] trust-worthiness is the oneness of the Supreme Vacuity. ... [p. 413]
162. Ordinary people regard Heaven and earth as infinite and everlasting but regard their own selves as something perishable. Therefore they concern themselves only with giving free rein to their desires while their physical vitality (kekki) is still strong. The sages and worthies, on the other hand, regard not only Heaven and earth as infinite but also their own selves as Heaven and earth. Therefore they are not afraid of the death of the body but fear the death of the spirit (kokoro). As long as the spirit does not die, one's unendingness can rival that of Heaven-and-earth. Accordingly, one regards one day as the same as a hundred years, bracing oneself with unwavering firmness as if one were standing at the brink of a chasm, unable to let go of oneself for even a moment. For this reason, one does not let one's resolve be moved by external things and does not seek longevity through the indulgence of desires. One concerns oneself just with eliminating human desires and holding firm to the principles of Heaven. . . . [pp. 430—31]
B:2o. In studying the Way of the sages, we entrust everything to our innate knowledge of the good. Therefore we are like someone crazed (kyosha) in our efforts to make public what we perceive to be right and wrong. Accordingly, we
have no way of telling how much trouble from other people this will bring upon us. Nevertheless, to end up diminishing our sensitivity to right and wrong just because we are afraid of the trouble it will cause us is something that a man of character (jofu) would consider shameful. And what honor (menboku) would we have to be able to meet the sages in the afterlife? Therefore, I concern myself with nothing but following my resolve (kokorozashi). [p. 465]
36. From the vacuity in the mouth and nose to the vacuity of the five viscera;
and the heart, all are the vacuity of the Supreme Vacuity. The spiritual intelligence of the Supreme Vacuity is completely collected in the vacuity of the five viscera and the heart. Thus these cavities are the dwelling places of humaneness, rightness, ritual decorum, and wisdom. These four virtues are nothing but the spring, summer, autumn, and winter that circulate within the Supreme Vacuity. If one looks from this perspective, then the four virtues and the four seasons, while different, are also the same. Accordingly, the ancients said "Man is Heaven, and Heaven is man." Confucius said, "What does Heaven say? The four seasons alternate and the hundred things are given birth. What does Heaven say?" Here he was using Heaven to speak of human virtue. In that case, is it not also reasonable to say that "Heaven is man and man is Heaven"? [p. 473]
41. The Supreme Vacuity encompasses the world, and the world is encompassed by the Supreme Vacuity. And although things go through a myriad changes and transformations, they have never been able to obstruct the Supreme Vacuity. Here we can see why the capacity of the sage's mind is without obstruction, [p. 474]
57. Only after the mind has returned to the Supreme Vacuity can real moral
principles be maintained. If a person has not returned to the Supreme Vacuity real principles will [still] lie buried, and there will be nothing to distinguish him from a material thing. There is nothing more shameful than for a human being to be no different from a material thing, something without that spiritual nature (rei). If everyone in the world feels no shame about this, then what is going to happen to that spiritual nature? [p. 479]
69. The Supreme Vacuity is filled to the brim with real principles and real vital energy (ki). Moreover, things that have form, even when they are not empty within, also all possess perfect vacuity in the core of their being. This can be verified by examining plants and trees, [p. 487]
[Oshio Heihachiro, "Senshindo sakki," in NST, vol. 46, pp. 370-86, 404-5, 430-31, 465, 473-74, 479, 487;
12. Analects 17:14.