Hōnen
1133 CE–1212 CE · Mimasaka
1133–1212 CE
Hōnen (1133–1212 CE) founded the Jōdo-shū ('Pure Land school') of Japanese Buddhism. Born in Mimasaka province (modern Okayama) and trained on Mount Hiei, he came to teach that in the present degenerate age liberation is reached not by arduous self-effort but by single-hearted recitation of the name of the Buddha Amitābha (the nembutsu), trusting in Amitābha's vow to bring the faithful to rebirth in the Pure Land. His exclusive emphasis on the nembutsu drew opposition and a period of exile. He is well documented.
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Mimasaka
What they did here
Birthplace of Hōnen.
About Mimasaka
Mimasaka was an old province in the inland part of what is now Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It was the birthplace, in 1133, of Hōnen, the monk who founded the Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) school of Japanese Buddhism, centred on the recitation of the name of Amida Buddha.
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Hōnen’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Works
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