Shandao (Shan-tao, 613-681) was born at Suzhou in the present Anhui Province. When young, he entered the priesthood and devoted himself to the study of the Larger Sūtra of Amitābha and the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. One day he saw a painting of the Pure Land, which led him to aspire for it. He visited Mt. Lu and other places to study and practice the Pure Land

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 4th month of 1133 in Mimasaka province (modern Okayama prefecture) into a provincial military family.

Hōnen (May 13, 1133 – February 29, 1212) was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo-shū ("The Pure Land School"). He is also considered the 7th Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch. Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow, even during the perceived

Genshin (942–1017), also known by the title Eshin Sōzu, was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Tendai sect and patriarch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. He was among the first promoters of the Nembutsu chanting in Japan in 10-11th centuries. Genshin was a Tendai teacher, but considered one of the forerunners of the later Japanese Pure Land schools. Work Contemplation upon Amida Buddha's wisdom-eye

Kūya (903-972) was a Buddhist wandering ascetic in Japan who was the pioneer of popularising the practice of the Nembutsu (chanting of Buddha Amitābha’s invocation) amongst the common people in order to attain salvation and entry into the Pure Land of Amida. Because of his perceived historical significance, scholars have frequently tried to reconstruct a historically accurate account of his life: Kūya Rui as most

Kūya Kūya (903-972) was an itinerant Japanese priest who, along with Genshin and Jakushin , was among the first promoters of the practice of the Nembutsu ( chanting of Buddha Amitābha’s invocation ) amongst the common people in order to attain salvation and entry into the Pure Land of Amida . Kūya 's origins are unknown, but some sources claim that he may have been

The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra contains the first known mentions of the Buddha Amitābha and his Pure Land, said to be at the origin of Pure Land Buddhism in China. The Sūtra is built as a conversation on Dharma between Buddha and Bodhisattva Bhadrapāla, in presence of many other venerable Bodhisattvas and Bhikṣus regarding constant remembering of Buddha Amitābha in the Western Pure Land and the

Amitābha (“immeasurable light”), or Amitāyus (“immeasurable lifespan”), are the Sanskrit names of a Buddha who in Mahāyāna Buddhism is represented as the supernatural ruler of “the Land of Bliss” (Sukhāvatī), a paradise-like world in the Western part of the universe. According to the doctrine associated with his name and commonly called Amidism (from the Japanese form, Amida), he is a superhuman saviour. Amitābha belongs wholly

Pure Land Buddhism signifies a wide array of practices and traditions within Mahāyāna Buddhism directed to the Buddha Amitābha (Amitāyus) and his realm, Sukhāvatī (Land of Bliss), which came to be referred to in Chinese as the Pure Land. Mahāyāna recognized the existence of in-numerable Buddhas and even Bodhisattvas who presided over their own Buddha-fields (Buddhakṣetra), realms that they had purified or were in the