一心不乱 isshin furan Single-Minded Concentration
The four characters for an undivided mind, followed from the Chinese sutras into everyday Japanese and into English.
Abstract
一心不乱, isshin furan, is everyday Japanese for giving the whole mind to one thing and letting nothing else take it, and the dictionaries add that in early use it was a Buddhist phrase [1]. The earliest known use of the four characters is in Chinese Buddhist translation, in the 正法華經, Dharmarakṣa 竺法護's translation of the Lotus Sutra, dated 286, where they describe minds whose meditation is complete [2][3]. They stand also in the Amida Sutra 阿弥陀経, translated by Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 about 402, one of the principal sutras recited in China and Japan, which promises that Amida will appear at the hour of death before whoever hears of him and holds fast to his name for one to seven days, with one mind, not scattered [4][5]; the first Japanese instance the 精選版 日本国語大辞典 gives quotes that sutra [1]. I read it as one state of mind whose object has changed, from meditation, to the Buddha's name, to whatever a person is doing.
Overview
The sense. デジタル大辞泉 defines 一心不乱 as 心を一つの事に集中して、他の事に気をとられないこと。また、そのさま。, concentrating the mind on one thing and not letting it be taken by anything else; or that state, with the examples 「一心不乱に祈る」, to pray single-mindedly, and 「一心不乱に研究する」, to study single-mindedly [1]. The 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (日国) gives the same sense, ただ一つのことに心を集中して、他のことに注意を奪われないでいるさま, and marks an older one: 古くは、雑念を捨て心を一つにして仏に帰依する意の仏語, in early use, a Buddhist term: casting off stray thoughts, making the mind one, and taking refuge in the Buddha; the 四字熟語を知る辞典 says both [1]. JMdict gives wholeheartedly; with heart and soul; intently; with undivided attention; with intense concentration; single-mindedly [6]. So there are two senses, an older Buddhist one and a current general one, and the dictionaries lead with the current one.
The words. 一心 is one mind. 日国's second sense of it is 心をただ一つのことに集中すること。他事を思わない心。専念, concentrating the mind on one thing alone; a mind that thinks of nothing else, and its note on the word's history says that from the sense of the Sanskrit eka-citta, which 一心 translates, 「ある一つのことだけを考える」, thinking of one thing only, came 「ある対象に心を集中して、心を動かさないこと」, fixing the mind on an object and not letting it move, and that 一心不乱 was born of it [7]. The same note sets apart another sense of 一心, 人々の心を一つに合わせること, many people's hearts made one, whose Chinese-text examples, the 荀子 among them, it says are mostly in scenes of war, and which appears often in Japanese wartime documents; that sense belongs to 一心 alone, and the 一心 of this phrase is the other, one person's mind on one thing [7]. 不乱 is not disordered: デジタル大辞泉 gives 乱れないこと。また、乱さないこと, not being disordered; or not disordering, with 「一心不乱」 as its one example, and 日国's earliest instance of the word alone is from 1603–04, 「Furan(フラン)。ミダレズ」 [8]. デジタル大辞泉 and 日国 head the phrase いっしんふらん, isshin furan, and 日国 adds 中世は「いっしんぷらん」とも, in the Middle Ages also isshin puran [1]. The two Taishō texts cited here write the last character 亂, and 乱 is its modern form: デジタル大辞泉 heads the character 乱〔亂〕, and the 字通 gives 亂 as its 旧字, old form [9][4].
The text in English. The phrase has come into English through the Amida Sutra, translated once from each side. Max Müller, in 1894, from the Sanskrit: with thoughts undisturbed shall keep it in mind for one, two, three, four, five, six or seven nights [10]. Hisao Inagaki, in 2003, from Kumārajīva's Chinese: holds fast to his Name even for one day, two days, three, four, five, six, or seven days with a concentrated and undistracted mind [11]. Müller, translating the Sanskrit, writes nights; Kumārajīva's Chinese counts days.
The historical record
286. The 正法華經, Dharmarakṣa's Lotus Sutra. The 正法華經 is one of the three Chinese translations of the Lotus Sutra that survive, beside Kumārajīva's 妙法蓮華経 and a third; the 世界大百科事典 (旧版) adds 一般に用いるのはクマーラジーバ訳である, the one generally used is Kumārajīva's [3]. CBETA gives the Taishō text to Dharmarakṣa, 西晉 竺法護譯, and dates it 286 [2]. In its seventeenth chapter, 勸助品第十七, the Buddha tells Maitreya, whom he addresses as 阿逸, of a man who for countless years gives every being in the world whatever it wants and then, thinking himself old and weak, resolves to lead them into the Buddha's teaching [2]. The passage follows, at the line where the four characters stand [2]:
尋如所念，以律檢非導之典教，黎庶一時俱履道跡，往來不還無著得證，諸漏以盡禪定具足，威神巍巍得八解門，一心不亂。於阿逸意云何？彼時士夫所建福施，有能思惟限量者乎？
Then, as he had resolved, he led them by the rule that checks wrong and by the canon's teaching, and the people all at once set foot on the path: going and coming, not returning, unattached, they gained the realization; their outflows were exhausted, their meditation was complete, majestic in power they gained the gates of the eight liberations, one mind, not scattered. 阿逸, what do you think: could anyone measure the merit of the gifts that man gave? Here 一心不亂 is the last of a run of attainments, the mind made one and not scattered as the fruit of finished meditation; no Buddha's name is held and nothing is promised at death [2]. It is the earliest known use of the four characters together, in Chinese Buddhist translation.
About 402. The Amida Sutra, Kumārajīva. The 佛說阿彌陀經 is Kumārajīva's translation, dated 402 at CBETA and 402年ごろ, about 402, in デジタル大辞泉, which describes it as the sutra in which the Buddha praises Amida's Pure Land in the west and urges people to call his name and be born there [4][5]. The passage [4]:
舍利弗！若有善男子、善女人，聞說阿彌陀佛，執持名號，若一日、若二日、若三日、若四日、若五日、若六日、若七日，一心不亂。其人臨命終時，阿彌陀佛與諸聖眾，現在其前。是人終時，心不顛倒，即得往生阿彌陀佛極樂國土。
Śāriputra! If a good man or a good woman hears Amida Buddha spoken of and holds fast to his name, for one day, two days, three, four, five, six or seven days, with one mind, not scattered, then when that person's life is ending, Amida Buddha and his holy company will appear before them. At the end that person's mind will not be overturned, and they will be born at once in Amida Buddha's land of utmost bliss. Here the phrase says how the name is held, with the whole mind for one to seven days, and the sutra sets beside it the mind at death, 心不顛倒, not overturned [4]. The 日本大百科全書 (藤田宏達) says how widely the sutra was read: 「とくに鳩摩羅什訳は、その流麗な訳文とあいまって、中国、日本では代表的な読誦経典の一つとなり、浄土信仰を広く流布せしめる役割を果たした」, Kumārajīva's version above all, with its flowing style, became one of the principal sutras recited in China and Japan, and played its part in spreading Pure Land faith widely [5]. The same entry says the Sanskrit original, probably composed about AD 100 in north-western India, is now lost in India: 悉曇文字で日本に伝えられたものだけが残っている, only what was handed down in Japan in Siddham script survives [5].
984. The Sanbōe 三宝絵. The first Japanese instance 日国 gives for 一心不乱 is in the Sanbōe, in the copy it cites as 観智院本, dated 984, and it quotes the sutra [1]:
阿彌陀経 云〈略〉阿みだ仏の名号を聞持ちて、若一日、若二日、若三日乃至七日一心不乱、臨終の時に心顛倒せずして
The Amida Sutra says … hearing and holding the name of Amida Buddha, for one day, two days, three days, up to seven days, one mind, not scattered, at the hour of death the mind is not overturned, and …; the 〈略〉, omitted, is the dictionary's [1]. The 世界大百科事典 (旧版) describes the Sanbōe as a book of the late tenth century, 仏典をもとにしながら難しい漢文をはなれ，こなれた和文の表現で語られる, based on the scriptures, but told in easy Japanese, away from difficult Chinese [12]. In the first instance 日国 gives, the phrase enters Japanese inside the sentence of the sutra.
1623. いっしんぷらん in a book of the rosary. 日国 gives its medieval reading いっしんぷらん from a book it names ロザリオの経, the rosary book, of 1623: 「ixxinpurãni(イッシンプランニ) Oracio ヲ ツトメン タメニ」, so as to perform the Oracio single-mindedly (ixxinpurãni, isshin puran ni) [1]. The phrase is here in a book named for the rosary.
1974–1975. Two modern writers. The 四字熟語を知る辞典 quotes two writers of the 1970s, one in each sense: in 1974, a bishop, the emperor's old nurses and their ladies-in-waiting who 一心不乱に読経し、お祈りをし, read the sutras and prayed single-mindedly, and in 1975, a China that seemed 国造りに一心不乱, single-minded in building the nation [1].
一心不乱 in English
1894. Max Müller. The Smaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha, in Buddhist Mahāyāna Texts, part II, the forty-ninth volume of the Sacred Books of the East, § 10, translated from the Sanskrit: No, whatever son or daughter of a family shall hear the name of the blessed Amitâyus, the Tathâgata, and having heard it, shall keep it in mind, and with thoughts undisturbed shall keep it in mind for one, two, three, four, five, six or seven nights,—when that son or daughter of a family comes to die, then that Amitâyus, the Tathâgata, … will stand before them at their hour of death, and they will depart this life with tranquil minds [10]. His Introduction says where his Sanskrit came from: Chinese translations were known in China and Japan, But it was not known, nor even suspected, that the Sanskrit originals of some of them had been preserved in the temples and monasteries of that distant island, and he tells of coming into possession of Sanskrit MSS. and copies of Sanskrit MSS. from the Buddhist monasteries in Japan [10]. With thoughts undisturbed stands where Kumārajīva has 一心不亂, and nights where the Chinese has days.
2003. Hisao Inagaki, in collaboration with Harold Stewart. The Three Pure Land Sutras, revised second edition, The Smaller Sutra on Amitāyus, § 5, translated from the Chinese: Śāriputra, if a good man or woman who hears of Amitāyus holds fast to his Name even for one day, two days, three, four, five, six, or seven days with a concentrated and undistracted mind, then, at the hour of death, Amitāyus will appear with a host of holy ones [11]. A concentrated and undistracted mind gives the Chinese's two words, 一心 and 不亂, one English word each.
Today. JMdict gives single-mindedly; with undivided attention among its glosses [6]. The title Takase Studios gives the design, Single-Minded Concentration, renders the current sense as a noun; word for word the phrase is one mind, not disordered, and the title says the first half and leaves the second implied. A rendering should keep both halves, the mind gathered and the mind not scattered, as Inagaki's pair does [11].
A reading
The four characters keep one shape through every use the sources show. In 286 they describe minds that have finished the path, their meditation complete, made one and not scattered [2]. In the Amida Sutra, about 402, the same words are given a task, holding fast to a name for one to seven days, and that is the use Japan learned, quoting the sutra in 984 [4][1]. What the dictionaries now lead with, concentration on any one thing, keeps the act and lets the particular object go [1]. I read 一心不乱 as one state of mind through all three: what changes is what the mind is held on, never how it is held. So the phrase is not a Pure Land phrase lent to study or practice; it was in Chinese Buddhist use before it stood in the Amida Sutra, and the 1970s writers still use it both for prayer and for building a nation [2][1]. Of the two English versions I would keep Inagaki's pair, concentrated and undistracted, since 一心 and 不亂 are two words and each says something the other does not: the mind gathered on one thing, and the mind not pulled apart. Signed, 典.
Notes
The Sanskrit. The Taishō's note at the phrase in the Amida Sutra sets the Sanskrit beside it, as the edition prints it, Avikṣptacitta [4].
Japanese Scrolls by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase
References
- 「一心不乱」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 四字熟語を知る辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%80%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%8D%E4%B9%B1-434263
- 竺法護 譯, 『正法華經』, 卷第八, 勸助品第十七, Taishō vol. 9, no. 263, p. 118a, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T09n0263_p0118a27
- 「正法華経」, 世界大百科事典 (旧版), under 法華経, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%AD%A3%E6%B3%95%E8%8F%AF%E7%B5%8C-1340388
- 鳩摩羅什 譯, 『佛說阿彌陀經』, Taishō vol. 12, no. 366, p. 347b, with the editors' notes, at CBETA. https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T12n0366_p0347b10
- 「阿弥陀経」, デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典, 日本大百科全書 (藤田宏達) and 改訂新版 世界大百科事典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%98%BF%E5%BC%A5%E9%99%80%E7%B5%8C-27273
- JMdict (EDRDG), entry 1163610, 一心不乱, at jisho.org. https://jisho.org/word/%E4%B8%80%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%8D%E4%B9%B1
- 「一心」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and デジタル大辞泉, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%80%E5%BF%83-31481
- 「不乱」, デジタル大辞泉 and 精選版 日本国語大辞典, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%8D%E4%B9%B1-621067
- 「乱」, デジタル大辞泉 and 字通, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B9%B1-138779
- F. Max Müller, trans., "The Smaller Sukhâvatî-vyûha", in E. B. Cowell, F. Max Müller and J. Takakusu, Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. XLIX, part II, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1894, Introduction p. vii and § 10 p. 99, at the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/buddhistmahy02cowe/page/99
- Hisao Inagaki, in collaboration with Harold Stewart, The Three Pure Land Sutras, revised second edition, BDK English Tripiṭaka, BDK America, Moraga, 2003, The Smaller Sutra on Amitāyus, § 5, p. 93, read on the house's shelf.
- 「三宝絵」, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 世界大百科事典 (旧版), at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%9D%E7%B5%B5-514825