Although he refused to recognize any disciples, Shinran had, in fact, many ardent followers, including Yuienbō, the author of the Tannishō. The Tannishō was probably written about 1280. Yuienbō’s reason for writing the tract is given in the text itself: to refute deviations from the true faith that had arisen among Shin followers after Shinran’s death. The Tannishō has continued to exert a profound influence

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 (jingtu; Japanese, Jōdo). Pure Land practice was initially predicated on the aspiration to achieve proximity to a Buddha either through a meditative vision or through Rebirth

Nenbutsu, also transcribed as nembutsu (Chinese, nianfo; Korean, yombul), is the religious practice in Pure Land Buddhism of chanting or invoking the name of the Buddha Amida (Sanskrit, Amitābha or Amitāyus; Chinese, Amituo). There are many Buddhas, but in practice, nenbutsu typically refers to chanting Amida’s name: In Japan, the practice consists of reciting the 6-character formula Namu Amida Butsu (Chinese, Namo Amituo Fo), “Homage

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

The English term Pure Land is used as a handy equivalent for the East Asian notion of a purified Buddha-field, a large extent of space made pure and beautiful by the presence of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. In its specific usage the phrase “the Pure Land” is one such purified world, the Buddha-field of the Buddha Amitābha. Called Buddha-fields (Buddhakṣetra), these worlds are made beautiful

Texts predicting that the Buddhist religion will last only 500 years do not subdivide this figure into smaller periods. With the advent of longer timetables, however, Buddhists began to identify discrete stages or periods within the overall process of decline. A wide range of periodization systems can be found in Indian Buddhist texts. Clearly there was no consensus among Indian Buddhists on the total duration