Jōdo-shū

Jōdo-shū Buddhism focuses exclusively on devotion to Amitābha Buddha (Amida Nyorai), and its practice is focused on the Nembutsu (recitation of Amitābha’s name). As in other forms of Pure Land Buddhism, adherents believe that the faithful recitation of the phrase "Namu Amida Butsu" (Homage to Amida Buddha) results in birth in the pure land of Sukhavati.

The Jōdo-shū as an independent sect is not to be confused with the term "Jōdo Tradition" (浄土系, Jōdo-kei) which is used as a classification for "Japanese Pure Land Buddhism" in general. This broader classification would include Jōdo-shū, the Jōdo Shinshu, the Ji-shu and the Yuzu Nembutsu shu.

History

Background

The work of the founder Hōnen is informed primarily by the Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, especially the work of Shandao. He was also influenced by the Tendai school background in which he trained as a monk. The work of Genshin was also important for Hōnen, as he was a Japanese Tendai monk who focused on Pure Land practice.

Hōnen's Jōdo goso den lists five Pure Land patriarchs, all of which informed the thought of Hōnen to varying degrees. The following five patriarchs are still considered to be the main patriarchs of the Japanese Jōdo-shū school:

1. Tanluan (476–542)
2. Daochuo (562–645)
3. Shandao (613–681)
4. Huaigan (懷感, 7th century)
5. Wulong Shaokang (736–806)

The Founder: Hōnen

Hōnen (法然) was born in 1133, the son of Uruma no Tokikuni of a local ruling family in Mimasaka Province. After a rival official assassinated his father in 1141, Hōnen was initiated into his uncle's monastery at the age of 9. From then on, Hōnen lived his life as a monk and eventually studied at the famous monastery of Mount Hiei. He practiced traditional Tendai Buddhism for some time, but eventually became dissatisfied with it. Influenced by the writings of Shandao, Hōnen devoted himself solely to Amitābha as expressed through the practice of nembutsu.

In time, Hōnen gathered disciples from all walks of life, and developed a large following, notably women, who had been excluded from serious Buddhist practice up to this point. This included fishermen, prostitutes, samurai, and fortune tellers. Some of his followers more strictly followed Buddhist conduct, whereas others assumed they were saved by Amida Buddha and behaved recklessly, earning criticism from established monastic communities such as Enryaku-ji and Kofuku-ji. To counter these criticisms, Honen insisted his followers sign the Seven Article Pledge (七箇条制戒, shichikajō seikai) in 1204, pledging not to disparage other sects, and to uphold the Buddha-Dharma. One-hundred and sixty-three followers, including Hōnen's chief disciples, signed the pledge.

In 1207, Kofukuji monks made another petition to the Emperor to ban Hōnen's teaching. Meanwhile, two of Hōnen's disciples, Jūren and Anraku-bō, were caught proselytizing to some of the ladies in waiting of Emperor Go-Toba, who had then decided to take tonsure and leave the service of the Emperor. In anger, the Emperor decreed that Hōnen and several followers be defrocked and sent into exile, while Jūren and Anraku-bō were executed. This is known as the Jogen Persecution (承元の法難, jōgen no hōnan) of 1207. Eventually, Hōnen was pardoned and returned to Kyoto in 1211, but died soon after in 1212, just two days after giving his final testament, the One-Sheet Document to disciple Genchi.

Early years after Hōnen

The remaining disciples in the capital collected Hōnen's writings and erected a mausoleum. His disciples had already begun work on carving Hōnen's magnum opus, his Senchakushū, into woodblocks in 1207 for printing. The carving of the blocks was completed in 1211 and the first copied were then printed and distributed publicly. This was the first printing of the text of a Japanese Buddhist author and it was a big sensation at the time.

During the fifteen years following Hōnen’s passing, three key figures—Ryūkan, Kōsai, and Shōku—emerged as leaders of distinct factions within Hōnen’s Pure Land movement. They defended their tradition against opposition from established Buddhist schools, worked to establish the legitimacy of Pure Land teachings, and developed their own interpretations of Hōnen’s doctrine.

Ryūkan (1148–1227) emphasized faith in Amida’s vow as the path to salvation and actively defended Hōnen against criticism from Tendai and other sects. Kōsai (1163–1247) promoted the idea that a single recitation of the nembutsu (ichinen-gi) was sufficient for birth in the Pure Land, drawing on the doctrine of innate enlightenment (hongaku). His radical stance gained followers but also provoked strong opposition, even among Hōnen’s disciples. Shōku (1177–1247) argued that all Buddhist practices serve only as preparatory steps toward the ultimate path of nembutsu recitation (seizan-gi), integrating Tendai thought into Pure Land practice. Unlike Ryūkan and Kōsai, Shōku avoided exile during the persecution and led the nembutsu community in Kyoto, where five prominent lineages later emerged.

When Hōnen's work began to circulate in 1227, this further enraged the Tendai monastic community on Enryaku-ji, who wrote attacks against it. Ryūkan’s defense against Tendai critique of the Senchakushū, resulted in the exile of Ryūkan and Kōsai, and force of sōhei warrior monks were sent to raid the tomb of Hōnen. This is known as the Karoku Persecution (嘉禄の法難, Karoku no hōnan) of 1227. Hōnen's body and copies of the Senchakushū were relocated thanks to advance warning, but other writings of Honen's were destroyed, and more disciples were exiled.

In 1239, Hōnen's followers re-carved the Senchakushū into new woodblocks so they could reprint the text again.

Emergence of distinct lineages

As a result of the persecution of 1207 by order of Emperor Go-Toba, and then the 1227 Karoku Persecution, many of the disciples of Hōnen were exiled to remote provinces (though not all were exiled). Each established a local community in their respective provinces and with nuances in the teachings (義, gi). During this time, doctrinal debates flourished among Hōnen’s disciples, and his teachings spread across Japan. Shinran and Ryūkan’s followers established nembutsu communities in the Kantō region, while Benchō strengthened the movement in Kyūshū, and Kōsai spread Pure Land teachings in Shikoku. Each disciple maintained a distinct interpretation of Hōnen’s doctrine.

As doctrinal disagreements between Hōnen's disciples Ryūkan, Chōsai, Kōsai and Shōku escalated, a major debate occurred between two opposing positions: once-calling (Jp: ichinengi) and many-calling (Jp: tanengi). One-calling (defended by Kōsai and also accepted by Shinran) held that you only needed to recite nenbutsu once to be liberated, while many-calling held that you needed to recite nenbutsu as much as possible. Hōnen himself promoted sustained practice as taught by many-calling, though he also said that one could be saved by even a few recitations (but this was not an excuse to abandon practice). The mainstream Jōdo-shū tradition follows this view and promotes extensive recitation while also accepting that a single recitation can lead to the Pure Land.

Kōsai's "single recitation" (ichinen-gi) doctrine held that one can attain birth in the Pure Land through one nembutsu in which "the mind of faith (shinjin) ... is in complete accord with the wisdom of the Buddha." He, along with Gyōkū, emphasized faith, not practice, though his view did not mean that he rejected practice after the establishment of true faith. He also emphasized how the most important nembutsu was the non-verbal, mental nembutsu, seeing the vocalization of the nembutsu as secondary to the mind's "psychological experience of nembutsu-samādhi". His teaching may have influenced Shinran (1173–1262), later recognized as the founder of Jōdo Shinshū (True Pure Land), who also emphasized absolute reliance on Amida’s other-power (tariki), rejecting personal effort as a means to salvation. For Shinran, reciting the nembutsu was not a practice to achieve birth in the pure land, but an expression of gratitude for already being saved by Amida. Shinran also copied and preserved the earliest known compilation of Hōnen’s words, which he titled Saihō Shinanshō (A Teaching to the Western Land, T. 2674). Over time, Shinran's lineage gradually differed enough from others to be considered a separate tradition altogether, though Shinran did not see himself as founding a separate school in his time.

On the opposite side of the debate was Ryūkan, one of Honen's more elderly disciples, who emphasized the efficacy of the nembutsu as a constant practice and encouraged its frequent recitation, leading to his teachings being called the "many callings school" or tanen-gi (多念義). For Ryūkan, constant recitation throughout one's life is what allowed one to attain birth in the Pure Land through the final moment at death by Amida's power. He was eventually exiled to eastern Japan during the 1227 persecution, where he died en route.

Shōkōbō Benchō (1162–1238), the main figure of the Chinzei lineage, was another supporter of the tanen-gi doctrine who criticized the supporters of ichinen-gi and their supposed immorality. He also advocated a balanced practice that included nembutsu and auxiliary practices. Benchō categorized Buddhist practices as either a general form of nembutsu (sō no nembutsu) or the specific practice of reciting Amida’s name (betsu no nembutsu), arguing that the latter ultimately encompasses all other Buddhist practices. Drawing from the Daichido-ron, he wrote extensively to systematize Hōnen’s teachings, notably in Matsudai Nembutsu Jushuin and Tetsu Senchakushū.

Shōku (1177 –1247) remained in Kyoto as the primary leader of Hōnen’s followers, guiding various groups despite brief periods of suppression in 1235 and 1240, which were less severe than the earlier persecutions. Shōku's doctrine was called "unvarnished nembutsu", which taught that the simple recitation of nembutsu without any influences was effective for birth, but he also made room for the auxiliary Pure Land practices and miscellaneous practices which could "color" the nembutsu (even if they were not necessary). He saw other practices as able to be included within the nembutsu (which could never be harmed or ruined by them), a doctrine called "harmonizing of other practices within the nembutsu." He also taught that self-power and other-power were not mutually exclusive. His lineage became known as Seizan-ha.

Only two Jōdo-shū lineages (apart from Shinshu) survive today: the Chinzei-ha branch of Benchō and the Seizan-ha branch of Shōku (with three sub-branches). Other offshoots such as Jōdo Shinshū and the Ji-shū sects are considered different enough to be separate schools from Jodo-shū. The largest branch of Jōdo-shū today is the Chinzei-ha (鎮西派; "The Chinzei Branch"), named after the district of Chinzei in Kitakyushu, the hometown of Benchō. The Seizan-ha (西山派; "The West Mountain Branch") and Kuhon-ji branches grew around the capitol of Kyoto, as Shōkū and Chōsai were among the few major disciples who were not exiled.

Main lineages and disciples

Other disciples of note:

• Genchi, Honen's disciple and personal attendant who stayed in Kyoto. Later, met Ryōchū in 1248, and agreed to merge with the Chinzei branch after reaching an accord. Was Hōnen's witness when he dictated the One-Sheet Document, his final testament.
• Shinkū, helped to establish Hōnen's mausoleum, and later protect its relics during the persecution of 1227.
• Chōsai, the last of Hōnen's direct disciples. Where Honen and other Pure Land followers focused on the 18th, or Primal Vow, of Amida Buddha, Chōsai felt that the 20th Vow of the Immeasurable Life Sutra also applied, and thus taught that other practices in Buddhism would lead to birth in the Pure Land. This was the shogyō hongan (諸行本願, Primal Vow for Miscellaneous Practices") teaching. Founder of the Kuhonji-gi branch (九品寺義), based around Kuhonji temple in Kyoto.
• Kujō Kanezane, an influential member of the Fujiwara Clan, he helped defend and protect Hōnen from some political persecution. A number of letters and poetry exchanged Hōnen and Kanezane have been preserved.
• Awanosuke (阿波介), the fortune-teller, is credited with the double-stranded Buddhist prayer beads used in Jōdo-shū, though he did not establish a branch of his own.

Rise of the Chinzei and Seizan mainstream sects

A generation later, Bencho's disciple, Ryōchū (1199–1287), became his disciple for a year, and then spread Benchō's and Hōnen's teachings throughout Japan before reaching the new capital at Kamakura. Ryōchū helped to legitimize the "Chinzei branch" of Jōdo-shū as the mainstream one, and is credited as the 3rd Patriarch accordingly. He also referred to Benchō, his teacher, as the 2nd Patriarch after Hōnen. Ryōchū's teaching was in direct opposition to those of another teacher popular at the time, Chōsai.

Chōsai (1199–1287), drawing on the Sutra of Immeasurable Life, maintained that all Buddhist practices, not just the nembutsu, could lead to birth in the Pure Land. This perspective, known as the "doctrine of various practices corresponding to the original vow" (shōgyō hongan-gi), held that Amida Buddha had designated multiple Buddhist practices, alongside the nembutsu, as valid paths to the Pure Land. However, this interpretation faced strong opposition from other lineages of Hōnen’s disciples, who saw it as straying from their teacher’s core teachings. Despite this criticism, Chōsai’s approach gained acceptance among established Buddhist schools such as Tendai and Shingon, leading to a significant increase in his followers.

Ryōchū directly challenged Chōsai’s view, arguing that only the nembutsu aligned with Amida’s original vow, and that other Buddhist practices were not inherently conducive to rebirth in the Pure Land. However, he also opposed Shōku’s strict stance that all other Buddhist practices were completely ineffective for achieving rebirth. While rejecting the idea that non-nembutsu practices corresponded to Amida’s vow, Ryōchū nonetheless acknowledged that they could still play a role in reaching the Pure Land. Ryōchū dedicated himself to solidifying the Chinzei doctrine, defending Benchō’s interpretation while refuting the positions of Chōsai and Shōku. While in Kyoto, Ryōchū gave a series of influential lectures in which he argued that the nembutsu teaching supplanted and surpassed the "perfect precepts" of Tendai. He also argued that the nembutsu was a kind of voluntary confession, seeing each recitation of Amida’s name as spontaneously evoking a sense of repentance, leading naturally to the purification of past karmic transgressions.

Ryōchū also met with Renjaku-bo, whose own teacher Genchi, had been another disciple of Hōnen. Renjaku-bo felt that Genchi and Benchō had been in complete agreement, so he willingly united his lineage with Ryōchū's, helping to further increase its standing. Jōdo Shū through the Chinzei lineage continued to develop until the 8th Patriarch, Shōgei (聖冏, 1341-1420) who formalized the training of priests (previously Jodo priests had to train under Tendai or Shingon lineages), thus formally establishing it as an independent sect. Before this, the Jōdo-shū were not formally independent, instead being more of a faction (ha) within the Tendai school.

Meanwhile, Kenni (1238–1304), a disciple of Ryūshin, was instrumental in systematizing doctrine of Shōku’s Seizan school, especially the Fukakusa doctrine. Regarding Ryōchū as a rival, his work criticizes his views without naming him. Kenni composed the Kaijōki, a thirty six fascicle commentary to the Contemplation Sutra. Along with Ryōchū’s (1199–1287) Dentsūki, it is one of the most significant commentaries to this sutra written in the Kamakura period. Kenni's thought integrates Pure Land thought with the philosophy of the Chinese Tiantai school and his commentary quotes numerous Song dynasty Tiantai scholars extensively. Kenni also argued that Pure Land Buddhism was the "True School of the One Vehicle" (一乗真宗, Ichijō Shinshū), identifying the one vehicle teaching with the power of the Buddha. Kenni argued that the teaching of other-power was taught in all major sutras and that all Buddhist practices ultimately relied upon it. Kenni thus stresses that other-power is not confined to Pure Land teachings but is a foundational element across all of Buddhism.

It was also during this period that Ippen (1239–1289), initially a Seizan school monk, was active and established his Ji-shū sect.

Edo Period

In 1590, during the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Jōdo-shū was officially patronized by Tokugawa Ieyasu, leading to an era of great prosperity for the sect that lasted throughout the Edo period and beyond. Due to this new found influence, Jōdo-shū would become the largest Buddhist sect, both in terms of population and influence, throughout the entire Edo period.

At this time, many new temples were founded and the sect spread widely throughout Japan with the aid of the Tokugawa Shoguns. With official support, the major temple of Zōjō-ji was founded in Edo as the family temple of the Tokugawa clan. Previously a Shingon temple, Zōjō-ji was converted to a Jōdo-shū temple, receiving considerable patronage. Several shoguns of the Tokugawa family are still interred in mausoleums at Zōjō-ji, though Ieyasu himself is interred at the Nikkō Tōshō-gū shrine.

In a coordinated effort with the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Jōdo sect was also influential in the conversion and suppression of Christians in Kyushu through monks such as Banzui'i. In the mid-Edo Period, the Jōdo monk Ensetsu introduced the practice of using a mokugyo while chanting nembutsu.

Meiji Period

The Meiji Restoration of 1868 marked a tumultuous period for Japanese Buddhism. The separation of Shinto and Buddhism unintentionally triggered the haibutsu kishaku (literally "abolish Buddhism and destroy Shākyamuni" campaign), a nationwide movement targeting Buddhist institutions, in which temples were demolished, their properties revoked, and their monks forcibly defrocked.

Jōdo-shū, having formerly received considerable patronage from the Tokugawa Shogunate, now embarked on a period of internal reform in which several monks emerged as important reformers, such as Yamazaki Ben'nei, Tetsujō Ukai, and Fukuda Gyōkai.

Shōwa Period

Before and during World War II, Jōdo-shū, along with other Buddhist sects, faced pressure to endorse the actions of Imperial Japan and its policy of State Shintō. Despite the protests of certain members of the sect, the Jōdo-shū organization nevertheless complied with the policy of State Shintō. This included building several temples within Japan’s overseas colonies (all of which would later be destroyed in the years following the war) and providing memorial services to deceased soldiers as well as relief for their families. The school subsequently apologized for its wartime actions alongside the other Buddhist sects of Japan.

After World War II, several temples broke off from the main Chinzei Branch of Jōdo-shū, forming their own independent sects. However, these breakaway branches proved to be relatively short-lived, as, in January 1961, on the 750th anniversary of Hōnen’s death, the majority of the breakaway sects of Jōdo-shū merged back into the primary Chinzei branch, which remains the largest branch of Jōdo-shū.