Hōnen Hōnen (1133–1212), more fully Hōnen Shōnin Genkū , was a Japanese Buddhist priest and reformer, and the founder of the Jōdo Shū sect of Japanese Buddhism. Hōnen 's life reflects the changing times in which he lived as well as his role in those changes. He was born in the 4 th month of 1133 in Mimasaka province (modern Okayama prefecture ) into a

One-Page Testament | Hōnen Shonin (Dictated 1212 C.E.) "The method of final salvation that I have propounded is neither a sort of meditation, such as has been practiced by many scholars in China and Japan, nor is it a repetition of the Buddha's name by those who have studied and understood the deep meaning of it. It is nothing but the mere repetition of the

17 Poems of Master Hōnen. If from Buddha Amida My heart its col'ring gains, It will be like the beauteous boughs In autumn's crimson stains. Above the thatch of my mountain home The white clouds morning and evening hover. Ah! When shall the hour of that day come That the Birth in Amida's Pure Land purple me shall cover? Ten times Amida's Name shall pass