Shinran
(1173–1262), Japanese Buddhist philosopher. Entering the monastic life as a child, Shinran served as a menial monk at the Enryakuji, a center of Tendai (in Chinese, Tiantai) Buddhist teaching near the summit of Mount Hiei, located northeast of Kyoto. Distressed by his inability to overcome desires and attachments, he was deeply moved by the teachings of Honen of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect and in 1201 became a disciple. When Honen was banished for his antiestablishment ideas, Shinran was also implicated and banished to the area that is now Japan's Niigata Prefecture.
Pardoned four years later, Shinran migrated to the Kanto area of eastern Japan and resumed preaching the absolute power of the Buddha Amida through the incantation of the nembutsu, the name of the Buddha Amida. Following the death of Honen, Shinran was forced to grapple with his doubts and problems on his own. In the monumental Teaching, Practice, Faith, Attainment, he describes the three stages of conversion and concludes that faith, bestowed by the grace of the Buddha Amida, is all that is necessary for attaining rebirth in the Pure Land.
Developing Honen's teachings, he founded Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land Faith) as an offshoot of Jodo Buddhism. Whereas Jodo Buddhism had held that chanting Amida's name could bring salvation, in Jodo Shinshu a single recitation, if made with true faith, was enough for salvation. Shinran also defended the Buddhist clergy's abandonment of celibacy and the prohibition against eating meat.
Further Reading
Kashiwahara, Yusen, and Koyu Sonoda, eds. (1994) Shapers of Japanese Buddhism. Trans. by Gaynor Sekimori. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing.
Tsunoda, Ryusaku, William Theodore de Bary, and Donald Keene. (1958) Sources of Japanese Tradition. Vol 1. New York: Columbia University Press.
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