← The CanonThe Canon

← The Canon: all 125

The Canon · No. 053

Pure Land Buddhism

Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu; Jingtu

c.5th c. CE – present · Dharmic / Indian · Living · China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan

V. THE MEDIEVAL WORLD — c.500 – 1500 CE

How many

The most widely practised form of Buddhism in East Asia. Jodo Shinshu is the largest Buddhist denomination in Japan.

Who began it

Developed by Tanluan, Daochuo and Shandao in China; brought to full form in Japan by Honen (1133–1212) and radicalised by his student Shinran (1173–1263).

What it is for

To make liberation available to people who cannot realistically undertake monastic discipline — farmers, fishermen, soldiers, women, the illiterate, the busy. Pure Land is Buddhism's answer to the objection that the path is only for monks.

What it worships

Amitabha (Amida), the Buddha of Infinite Light, who as the monk Dharmakara vowed not to accept buddhahood unless all who called on him with sincere trust would be reborn in his Pure Land.

What it holds

We live in mappo, the degenerate final age, in which self-powered practice (jiriki) no longer works. What remains is other-power (tariki) — reliance on Amida's vow. Shinran pushed this to its limit: even the act of calling on Amida is itself given by Amida, so nothing whatever is one's own achievement. His most startling line, from the Tannisho, is that if even a good person is reborn in the Pure Land, how much more so an evil person — because the good person still imagines they are contributing.

What it does

Nembutsu — recitation of Namu Amida Butsu, I take refuge in Amida Buddha. That is essentially the whole practice. Shinran abolished clerical celibacy and married openly; Jodo Shinshu priests have been married householders ever since, and the office is generally hereditary. No monastic rule, no dietary restriction, no meditation requirement.

After death

Rebirth in Sukhavati, the Western Pure Land — described as a jewelled paradise, but functionally a place where conditions are perfect for attaining enlightenment, so it is a staging post rather than a final destination. In Shinran's reading, birth there is assured in this life the moment trust arises, which removes anxiety about death entirely. This is the closest thing in Buddhism to salvation by faith alone, and the parallel with Lutheran justification has been noticed by both traditions.

Its texts

The three Pure Land sutras: Larger and Smaller Sukhavativyuha and the Contemplation Sutra. Shinran's Kyogyoshinsho; the Tannisho, a short record of his sayings and one of the most read religious books in Japan.

Its branches

Chinese Jingtu (usually practised alongside Chan rather than separately); Japanese Jodo Shu (Honen) and Jodo Shinshu (Shinran); Vietnamese and Korean forms.

Of note

Western accounts of Buddhism concentrate on meditation and emptiness. Numerically, the most common Buddhist practice on earth is reciting a name in trust that someone else has already done the work.

Its timeline

  1. c.150 CE Pure Land sutras translated into Chinese.
  2. 402 CE Huiyuan's group on Mount Lu vows rebirth in the Pure Land.
  3. 613–681 CE Shandao systematises the practice in China.
  4. 1175 CE Honen founds the exclusive nembutsu movement in Japan; he is later exiled for it.
  5. 1207, 1224 CE Shinran exiled with Honen; later founds what becomes Jodo Shinshu.
  6. 1415–1499 CE Rennyo turns Jodo Shinshu into a mass movement.
  7. 1488–1580 CE The Ikko-ikki — Pure Land peasant leagues seize and govern Kaga province for nearly a century and fight Oda Nobunaga to a standstill. An egalitarian religious peasant republic in feudal Japan.
  8. 1580 CE Nobunaga's eleven-year siege of the Ishiyama Honganji ends; the movement is broken as a military force.
  9. 1602 CE Tokugawa splits the Honganji into East and West to weaken it; both survive today.
  10. 1899 CE Buddhist Churches of America founded by Japanese immigrants.
  11. 1942–45 CE Japanese American internment; Pure Land temples become community centres in the camps.

Sources

Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.

The Atlas   The Door