Key Terms

• mappō 末法
• Amida 阿弥陀
• nenbutsu 念仏
• Genshin (942-1017)
• Hōnen (1133-1212)
• Shinran (1173-1262)

Buddhism and class:

"Tendai is for the royal family, Shingon for the nobility, Zen for the warrior classes, and Pure Land [Jōdō] for the masses." D.T. Suzuki

Origins in T'ang Chinese Buddhist thought:

According to the Chinese monk Shan-tao (613-81) there was a monk named who in a previous age, as part of his training, had pledged to save all who call upon him--take them to the "Pure Land" -- Shan-tao began to emphasize "taking refuge in Buddha Amida" or (in Japanese -- nenbutsu)

Genshin (942-1017), introduces Amida to Japan

• a monk of the Tendai sect
• Genshin was a remarkably prolific writer -- at least 40 treatises on Buddhism are attributed to him
• MOST INFLUENTIAL TREATISE was the Ōjōyōshū -- The Essentials of Salvation
  
• important aspects of the Ōjōyōshū?
  • tariki (salvation through an external force) vs jiriki (salvation through internal force) -- the Ōjōyōshū argues that salvation through one's own power is extremely difficult
  • a more efficacious way of acheiving slavation is the nenbutsu -- chanting and meditating on the name of Amida Buddha

  The teaching which shows how to obtain birth into Paradise and the easy way of training for becoming a Buddha, is, for the sinners of this dark world, just as easy as seeing with one's eyes or walking with one's feet. As it is such a blessed teaching, shall not who seek with an earnest heart enter this way, priests and laymen, men and women, the noble and the ignoble, the wise and the foolish? Only the revealed and the hidden teachings are comprehensive, and the causes and circumstances and the religious disciplines are numerous, but these are not difficult for the clever and wise who can easily understand things. But what about myself, one who is only a foolish man? I cannot comprehend these difficult things and walk in this hard way. That is why I have turned to the one gate of nembutsu. I have now peace of heart and so have decided to set forth briefly in outline the teaching of the scriptures in regard to this matter. ... cf. Lu 1: 121:122

  • there are graphic consequences for failing to move along spiritually -- you go to HELL and there you are brutalized by demons for eons
  • for a description of the torments of hell see Ōjōyōshū in de Bary, et. al. Sources of Japanese Tradition, 1:217-222
    
• Socio-political implications
  • this is an easy sort of Buddhism to popularize
  • salvation does not require monasticism or great insight
  • BUT court nobility loves it anyway
  • So does Kamakura shogunate
  
  

Hōnen (1133-1212)

• develops Amida Buddhism further
• he begins to emphasize the nembutsu as the core of religious practice: anyone saying the nembutsu will be reborn in the Pure Land
• mappō is the end of a era of Buddhist truth. Buddhist teachings are garbled because of flawed transmission and only the simplest forms of practice are reliable
• Hōnen believes that the 1200s are an age of mappō -- therefore he thinks that the only valid teaching is the nenbutsu
• if you avail yourself of Amida's compassion, all other Buddhist teaching is meaningless

"I have carefully examined the qualifications necessary in these latter degenerate days for all sentient beings to attain birth into the Pure Land of Perfect Bliss, and I find that no matter how meager one's religious practices may be, he should not give way to doubt, for ten repetitions of the sacred name are quite enough, indeed even one. And it matters not how great a sinner a man may be, he should not give way to doubts; for, as it says, Amida does not hate a man, however deeply stained with sin he may be. And though the times be ever so degenerate, le t him not doubt. For even sentient beings, who will live in the period after the Law has perished, can be born into the Pure Land. How much more men of our own times! Even though we be indeed unclean, we need not doubt the possibility of attaining auspicious rebirth, for it is specifically stated that we are but ordinary mortals, painted with evil passions" c.f. Lu  1:127-28

• Hōnen wins over Emp Go-Shirakawa, but other Kyōto sects are jealous -- he is banished 1207-1211

Shinran (1173-1262)

• visionary popularized of Amida Buddhism
• a minor noble, leaves Kyoto for countryside,
• describes himself as neither monk nor layman
• begins practice of married monks -- open defiance of tradition
• Shinran introduces concepts of
  • grace -- we are blessed because even in this life we know we can be reborn in the Pure Land
  • faith -- true, pure faith in the saving power of Amida is equal to the enlightenment of the bodhisattvas or Buddhas
• difference with for Hōnen:
  • for Hōnen, chanting the nembutsu was part of achieving salvation
  • or Shinran one simple pure utterance was enough
• for parallels between Shinran and Christianity see Tanninsho -- Lu 1: 135 8a

• important because he was an active proselytizer in villages
• used to go to villages and have people dance while intoning the nenbutsu
• he also integrated Shinto belief -- he was inspired by a shinto oracle which then became associated with Amida
• major change to doctrine was that one needed to chant the nenbutsu with fervor, single-mindedness
• completely abandoned hierarchy

• Nichiren (1222-1282) de Bary, et. al. Sources of Japanese Tradition, 1:303-306
• Contemporary doctrine